Chapter: 330
Today’s the first time I’ve seen fairies, but from this day forward, I hereby withdraw my support for them. From now on, the fairies and I are one and the same; any persecution or disregard against fairies shall be seen as a challenge to the Executive Manager of the Empire. Should anyone disagree, let’s settle this with a duel.
“Thank you! Thank you!”
“Heavenly Auntie’s energy, good. We’ll be full for a long time.”
“Good human! Good human!”
The eternal blue sky’s energy imprinted on my body. Now that I’ve said they can take it for free, the fairies twirled joyfully around me.
Some even clung to my hair or perched on my shoulders. Considering how they were avoiding others’ touches, this seemed like the highest form of gratitude.
‘Such good kids.’
Watching the chattering fairies also fueled my hatred for Apels. How could such innocent, pure children be driven to the brink of extinction? Is this really what humans are like?
Apels, you deserve to be doomed.
“Hey, Carl? What do you mean, Heavenly Auntie’s energy?”
Unlike the joyous fairies, the others were clearly confused. It seemed the fairies were yearning for the power of the deity dwelling within me, but I was neither a priest nor a devoted follower. Anyone clueless would find this utterly baffling.
“We had something to do with heretics in the Northern Region. The nomads worshipped the heavenly deity. I believe that’s what they’re talking about.”
As I said this while casually tapping my chest, Marghetta, who had been spaced out for a moment, quickly nodded. Having seen my wounds before, she must have grasped enough from that.
“Oh, so that’s it.”
Recalling those wounds seemed to darken Marghetta’s expression momentarily, but she quickly regrouped and wrapped up the conversation. With many around not knowing about the wounds, it was awkward to prolong that topic.
Of course, only Marghetta understood; everyone else still wore puzzled expressions—
“Well, I don’t know what happened, but fortunately, the fairies seem to have the solution.”
Marcilio subtly cut off any chance for further probing. Once he wrapped things up like that, it would indeed feel awkward to ask more.
I exchanged a light nod of gratitude towards Marcilio, who returned it with a faint smile.
‘He must have been worried.’
Marghetta wasn’t the first to notice my injury. Marcilio was aware before she was.
After linking up with Marcilio post-the Great Purge War, I had shown him my wounds and asked if they could be treated. While other mages had failed in their attempts to heal me, there had been a glimmer of hope given that I believed he might have more success. Despite that, I was still in this situation.
Anyway, from Marcilio’s perspective, these wounds would weigh heavily on him as well, especially as a lover’s scars. Seeing a potential for unexpected healing must bring him joy.
“Well! I’ll take it right away!”
“Yeah.”
And then there were the fairies, standing at the center of this miraculous healing. Their palpable excitement prompted me to nod gently. To be honest, I was also quite nervous.
It had been a long, painful time. Once the eternal blue sky’s energy dissipated, my wounds would be just ordinary injuries, healable by magic or divine power. Finally, I could say goodbye to this damn wound—
“Ah, the clothes are in the way. Let’s take them off first.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“I’ll take them off! I’ll take them off!”
Suddenly, my brain froze. Kids, ‘take off’ my clothes? Isn’t it supposed to just be taken as is?
However, before I could utter a word, the fairies’ wings sparkled, and my top gradually became transparent, revealing my body. Ah, so they weren’t removing my clothes entirely, just making them see-through. Must be some nifty fairy magic.
“……”
Coming out of my moment of denial, I looked around, and naturally, all eyes were on the exposed wound.
“Ah, ugh, huh? Oh, O-Oppa…?”
Seeing Louise shiver, I could only shut my eyes.
Oh man, this is bad.
In an instant, my lover had gone from a saint to a sinner.
“Oppa! W-What—what happened here!”
Irina was gasping, her eyes brimming with tears.
“Wounds, wounds! How could you have such wounds without me knowing…”
Louise stammered, clearly panicking.
“With that body, you split the heavens, huh?”
“You never seemed to be in pain, though?”
Erich and Rutis whispered, visibly shocked for various reasons.
Yeah, definitely bad. I wanted to hide this as much as possible; if it were to be revealed, I planned to disclose everything slowly. But this was way too abrupt. At least it was fortunate that Marghetta quickly blocked the little lord’s gaze when she noticed my disappearing clothing. That kind of sight could be traumatic for a ten-year-old.
But that was about all the fortune there was.
“Wait a second, Oppa, but you were wearing regular clothes, not swimwear at the beach, remember?”
Louise’s murmur sharpened Irina’s gaze even further.
She still remembered that, huh? I appreciate her remembering the little things, but this wasn’t the time.
“You both knew, didn’t you?”
And with her eyes now fixed on Marghetta and Marcilio, who had relatively kept quiet, it was clear they felt guilty, shivering slightly.
“I knew a bit, but since it was something Carl was hiding, I thought it would be better for him to tell you himself.”
“I understand you’re concerned because the wound is severe, but it’s not as serious as you might think. It won’t impede your life as long as you don’t purposely poke at it.”
Suddenly, Marghetta and Marcilio had become the ones in awkward silence, scrambling to explain. It didn’t matter how plausible their excuses were; the fact that they had kept quiet still stood.
Naturally, Louise and Irina’s expressions remained dark. The shock of realizing how unaware they had been of their lover’s injuries—especially since they had been the only ones left in the dark—was visibly unsettling.
“If I had known you were in pain, I wouldn’t have bothered you. During the Anti-Challenge Tournament, or even when you dragged me around during surprises, and all the other favors…”
Louise’s guilt-laden words made me break into a cold sweat. I’m not that much of a problem. It’s just that the wounds don’t heal completely—that’s all.
“Humans seem to be crying.”
“What do we do? What do we do?”
“Did we mess up?”
“Mom, Mommy…”
In the midst of the awkward atmosphere, the fairies circling me ducked back into my hair, trembling. They seemed to think the people were upset because of their presence.
No, it’s not your fault. I mishandled things. It’s all my bad karma.
“Hey, kids.”
Taking a deep breath to muster some courage, their tearful gazes bore into me. Honestly, that was a bit daunting.
“It’s hard to speak comfortably about this issue, and that’s why I hadn’t mentioned it so far. I wasn’t trying to hide it; I just thought it would be best to talk about it eventually.”
Still, those tearful eyes remained unchanged. Even I felt like my excuses were coming in late after being caught.
But it’s sincere. What pride do I have in flaunting an indelible wound? I had tried to find the right timing and didn’t want to rush it, but things just got tangled. I ended up worrying them while also making them sad.
“Once we return to the hotel, I’ll explain everything, so could you let it slide for now?”
Ultimately, instead of coaxing them, I suggested an odd compromise. Given the presence of club members and the little lord, this wasn’t exactly a comfortable place to lay everything out.
And by showing the fairies trembling subtly nearby, Louise and Irina finally seemed to grasp the situation. Surely, they wouldn’t want others to sense our issues.
“You absolutely have to explain it to us.”
“Got it.”
But being in our company meant we’d likely suffer longer. I suppose I should just chalk that up to the consequences of failing to control the timing.
“…You can come out now.”
“Okay. Got it, got it.”
The hesitant fairies slowly emerged from my hair and began touching my wounds before glowing.
This is a bit bittersweet. If I’d known this would happen, I’d have done it outside.
“Huh? Huh?”
“Strange, strange.”
As I gazed down at the fairies in a daze, the once sparkling fairies nervously spoke up.
What’s strange now? If something goes wrong here, I’ll be the one stuck cleaning up. If this keeps up, I’ll have to reconsider our bond from a united front to a basic supporter relationship.
“Heavenly Auntie, you were here.”
?
“That’s a moose—”
Before I could finish the sentence, my vision abruptly faded to white.
Today is clearly not my day. Or maybe I’m being punished for trying to skimp on tapping into divine powers.
And, it looks like the latter is highly likely.
‘Crap.’
All I could see was pure white. It wasn’t just my vision going white, my entire being seemed to have dropped into a white void.
Is this a teleportation? But without a sense of mana shifting, it doesn’t feel like a teleport. No, I even doubt this is a proper space. Did I fall somewhere? Or has my spirit been dragged off to some bizarre place instead of my body?
But right now, that’s not my concern.
“Well, it’s nice to finally meet you.”
Now that all the fairies attached to me and everyone else nearby was gone, another presence suddenly appeared.
“I wonder how long it’s been since I met a mortal.”
A woman with deep blue hair down to her waist and blue eyes matching her locks—she wore the attire of the nomads I had seen far too frequently in the Northern Regions.
“Well, should I say it’s nice to meet you?”
Upon seeing the woman grinning while swinging a leather satchel, my instincts kicked in.
Things seem to be getting pretty serious.
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