Seated on the couch, Ivan briefly gazed at the bed.
The bed stirred, and its edge smoothly descended like a ripple.
Blond hair fanning out like a wheat field, and amidst them, pointed ears protruding. It was Elpheira.
“Oh? Are you awake? Did you sleep well?” (Elpheira)
Ivan swiftly surveyed Elpheira’s form. She was elegantly clad in silk pajamas. He lowered his dagger with a sigh of relief.
“Why am I here?” (Ivan)
“Don’t you recall?” (Elpheira)
“Hmm.” (Ivan)
“Don’t just respond with ‘Hmm.’ Do you truly not remember last night?” (Elpheira)
Elpheira chuckled, gracefully exiting the bed.
She playfully flicked the fallen clothes.
“What did I do?” (Ivan)
“Nothing.” (Elpheira)
Ivan is a trained intelligence agent. It doesn’t mean he trusts his self-control but rather that he can gather enough information just by observing the other party’s appearance and demeanor.
If he had done ‘something’ while sleeping, Elpheira wouldn’t be in such a neat state.
Sensing his gaze, Elpheira pouted and teased, “You didn’t do nothing, but it’s not like nothing happened at all.” (Elpheira)
“…What?” (Ivan)
“The Saintess came and went.” (Elpheira)
She muttered while applauding lightly.
The door soon opened, and the maid approached, starting to arrange snacks on the table.
Casually brushing the maid aside, she picked up a teacup filled with black tea.
“Please have something. You must be quite hungry.” (Elpheira)
“Where’s my nutrition bar?” (Ivan)
“Huh? What’s that?” (Elpheira)
“The one that was in my vest. I had it in the slit.” (Ivan)
“Oh… Are you talking about the dog treat? I gave it to our Blanc to eat, but she didn’t want it, so I thought it was spoiled and threw it away… Wait, you mean that was for humans?” (Elpheira)
“Blanc…?” (Ivan)
“My dog. She’s cute. Do you want to see?” (Elpheira (
Ivan glanced at the colorful finger snacks on the table, swallowing a sigh.
Such foods, composed only of sweets and carbohydrates, were meager, providing excess calories and insufficient nutrition.
About to comment on throwing a nutrition bar to a dog, he lifted the teacup, organizing his thoughts.
There’s something more important than that. Nutrition bars could be found in the director’s office anytime, but what mattered now was the current situation.
He is a rational and broad-minded person.
“So, the Saintess came and went.” (Ivan)
“Oh, yes. She went to check on. Oh right! Why did you insist you were fine back then!” (Elpheira)
Elpheira forcefully placed the teacup down, expressing her frustration.
Understanding the emotional rollercoaster of an adolescent girl (not really) was a challenging and futile pursuit, so Ivan simply listened in silence.
“It’s a curse! The Saintess spent the entire night yesterday attempting to dismantle it. Honestly, what is all of this?” (Elpheira)
“Unfortunate.” (Ivan)
Ivan nonchalantly shrugged as if it were inconsequential.
“Did the Saintess mention anything?”
“Well… She just came, cried for a while, prayed all night, and departed, instructing me to visit the sacristy three days a week.” (Elpheira)
“Within the expected range.” (Ivan)
Ivan took a sip of tea and stood up.
Dealing with someone entrenched in the concept of happiness, the repercussions of his final words were foreseeable. The absence of happiness leads to unhappiness.
“Oh… um, then… to the extent of ‘that trap’….”
Was it a curse that imposed overwhelming ‘unhappiness,’ like that indescribable ‘happiness’ when he saw Ivan leaving the room?
Thinking of Ivan escaping from that room, Elpheira swallowed hard.
“I already thought it would be like this. This university has a Saintess, and she’s the most proficient in curse removal on this continent.”
“You… anticipated… everything?”
“Yeah.”
“Really… you must be insane! Then why didn’t you say anything! If you had waited until the Saintess woke up instead of going straight to her, what if… what would we have done!”
“If it was an urgent type of curse, I would have spoken first. And a curse infusing unhappiness doesn’t harm life, so there was no rush.”
“You…!!”
Elpheira cried out with tear-filled eyes.
“You’re strange. Seriously, something is really strange about you. I thought it was just because you’re human, but why have you changed like this? You weren’t like this before!”
“I wasn’t that person.”
“Yeah! You were originally…!”
“Let’s not change the subject.”
Ivan organized himself, putting on his clothes. Quickly checking consumables like his utility vest and self-made slingback, he turned his head.
“Elpheira, your concern shouldn’t be about worrying about me.”
“What… do you mean?”
“You’re a student. Your role is to learn well and occasionally engage in… practical learning like this.”
For a disciplined party of heroes, the next generation hero party, the main characters in future scenarios, experience and learning were the only things they needed.
Therefore, everything else fell under Ivan’s responsibility.
Their journey towards the ending. Safely, flawlessly pushing the scenario forward and finally facing the ending credits.
That process would be his ‘story.’ The last page he unfolds would probably be there, and it must be there.
So, his safety, the safety of the hero party members, threats outside of the scenario—none of those were Elpheira’s concerns or worries.
It was Ivan’s responsibility. And being a selfish person, he disliked others interfering with his duties.
Ivan gave a brief nod to Elpheira, who was staring at him in a daze, and swiftly left the room.
The residence of the elves.
Ivan furrowed his brow in the bright daylight.
Right next to the university, there was an extremely luxurious area. Commonly referred to as the ‘Elven Dormitory,’ this area was the residence where nobles from Kalion gathered.
Ignoring the elves who glanced at him, he walked straight towards the university.
Even during breaks, reporting took precedence.
He briefly regretted scrutinizing Elpheira’s mansion one last time.
It wasn’t something to dwell on. To a child, his words might have been quite aggressively phrased.
But it wasn’t easy. Even if the curse had been completely lifted, the ‘memories’ wouldn’t disappear even with the blessing of the Saintess.
The memories of the past, stirred by the curse of unhappiness, meticulously brought forth even the trivial parts he had forgotten over the years, forcing raw emotions to resurface.
North wind and sun.
Ivan let out a bitter smile.
It seemed he was more vulnerable to the north wind than the sun.
As he reflected, all happiness in this world had been exhausted over the past years, and what remained on this land was only duty.
To put it plainly, the absence of ‘happiness’ is ‘unhappiness.’
In other words, most of the past he could recall was generally unhappy.
He could finally escape that room after contemplating 30 years of unhappiness alone.
Memories momentarily forgotten due to fainting resurfaced through conversation, delicately unraveling Ivan’s emotions.
It was immature.
Ivan decided he would eventually apologize to Elpheira and turned away.
***
*Thud.*
Elpheira sniffled while staring at the closed door for a while, accompanied by the sound of it shutting.
The human from those unfamiliarly changed times.
The swift and short life of a human.
The temptation of happiness and the curse of unhappiness.
Grace and wounds.
The words tangled in her mind gradually began to form clearer pieces, intertwining.
She was a magician. Magicians, by nature, were a profession that viewed situations with reason rather than emotion.
Therefore, halfway out of professional duty and the other half out of ingrained habit over the years, she regained composure.
*Click.*
Swallowing the lukewarm tea, she opened her eyes narrowly.
‘A trap that lures based on what the target desires the most.’
The traps she encountered at ruins included treasures of gold and silver, various rare spell books, and elixirs difficult to obtain even with vast wealth.
And what the man faced was…
‘A comb.’
She pondered how that could be possible. The conclusion was simple. The man’s immediate desire at that time was only that, nothing more.
It meant he didn’t particularly love combs to the point of fetishizing them (to some extent, it was true); rather, it signified that he didn’t have anything better to desire at the moment.
‘No desires.’
Elpheira’s eyes gleamed sharply.
Being next to the most beautiful woman in Kalion, from a human perspective, thinking of a modest comb while a mythical beauty of an elf stood perfectly intact, confirmed the fact that it wasn’t a trivial comb.
Elpheira nodded in agreement with this valid conclusion.
‘It’s broken.’
Even if the inference was wrong, the fact that the conclusion was correct was being proven here.
Does the Saintess know? What about my father? If those who were once companions with that man didn’t notice, and if only I knew that fact…
‘I have to do it.’
Elves, fundamentally, adhere to desires. Not in the sense of indulging in base pleasures, but as a natural consequence of the logical idea that if something is precious, an elf should rightfully own it.
One couldn’t entrust precious items to a hasty and reckless being, risking damage.
Therefore, Elpheira, as an excellent elf, drew a conclusion.
‘None but me.’
Teaching happiness to a man who knows not happiness could be quite an intriguing endeavor.
Just as dogs have varying lifespans depending on the breed, it seemed that man, despite being human, had a remarkably short lifespan.
First, restore his lifespan to make him a bit younger, periodically improve his constitution, feed him something better than that dog treat, and so on. If she did all that, he would naturally feel ‘happy.’
She gently embraced and caressed the small poodle that was wriggling at her feet, smiling.
***
“What did you encounter at the ruins?” (Elizaveta)
“I encountered someone who claims to be a deity. It was impossible to determine the identity on the spot, but I will consult the Saintess and include a report as an attachment.” (Ivan)
“No, no, no. I understand… A trap? Magic? A seal from two thousand years ago?” (Elizaveta)
“Yes.”
Elizaveta clenched her forehead and murmured.
“Why on earth is something like that in the university’s basement… Why wasn’t it even mentioned in the royal archives? If such a thing was sleeping beneath the capital, I should have… this kingdom should have known…”
Ivan didn’t feel the need to explain ‘common knowledge’ to people of this medieval world.
The sealing of ancient evil beneath the capital’s underground was within the realm of common knowledge.
“Yeah, so, how did you… destroy it?” (Elizaveta)
“It could only play tricks with human desires, at most.” (Ivan)
“Oh, that’s a bit… like something out of an epic. To hear such a story in the era after the Demon Lord’s demise, are you okay? Were you hurt?” (Elizaveta)
“Yes, Your Highness.” (Ivan)
Ivan spoke while kneeling on one knee.
“It had no physical ability to exert force.”
“Right, then how did you destroy it?”
“I smashed its head.”
“…???”
***
Isabelle and Ecdysis sat together on a bench, seemingly spaced out.
“Why on earth…?”
“Why did uncle…?”
Coming out of the elf’s house, and that too from ‘that brat’s’ house?
From morning, with disheveled hair and shabby attire. Clearly returning from a night out, judging by the appearance.
Both of them, being long-time friends, simultaneously arrived at the same conclusion.
“An affair…?”
The proposition that an affair could happen between them held no meaning for these two.
What mattered more was that Ivan appeared at ‘that brat’s’ house.
As longtime friends, they silently agreed on the same conclusion and planned their next move without conversation.
This time, it’s an ‘alliance’.
Oh, of course.
Forming a party of warriors to confront the wicked elf witch!
