*
[It looks fresh and nice~! Well, it seems like we’re still far from dating. (ᵕᴗ ᵕ⁎]
The status window popped up again.
Ninety percent still needed to see the ending. The number ten felt quite insufficient.
But now it was my turn to repay her.
The gentle pure white wolf who said she would teach me about love.
If the current Pina Grancia doesn’t know love, then I can teach her.
Because love isn’t a one-sided feeling.
[Honestly, it’s a pity! If it continued, Pina Grancia could have had a pure love harem!]
The harem route… can that really be called happiness? I personally don’t think so.
Now it’s time for Pina to receive the love of just one person. That’s fair.
I can’t change the unhappy past, but I can change the future.
[There are both young Su-hyun and adult Lee Soo-hyun here. The Nameless Saintess might have wished for that too…?]
No way. Pina Grancia is serious about love.
‘Thinking about it, how did Pina, as a saintess, become an advocate for pure love?’
It would seem like she forgot everything in ignorance. She couldn’t have ignored the power of the Demon King…
“..Pina?”
“Um. The smell of Licht….”
I feel a strong pressure around my waist. Pina has been sticking her nose into my body and sniffing it for a while now.
Her wolf tail is shaking vigorously like it has a motor, and her ears are relaxed, as if she’s feeling comfortable while lying down.
“Pina, could you let go now? My ribs are breaking…”
“No. Su-hyun has to listen to Pina big sister…”
What in the past led Pina to say such things? Was the status window right?
I did hear the younger me call her big sister earlier.
“I wish Licht would be a little more… honest.”
“If I become too honest, there will be big trouble.”
Pina pouts and looks up at me with puffed cheeks. Her sulking attitude is fascinating.
“You’re always like this. Trying to bear everything alone.”
“..I’m sorry.”
Pina’s thin smile draws my eyes, and her cheeks, red from crying and laughing, feel like a blush.
“It’s okay. This big sister will wait.”
She calls herself big sister while beaming at me. I wonder where that usual empty glass-like expression went.
“Okay, Pina big sister…”
“Hehe, this side is definitely more fun to tease..”
With her embracing hands, she tickles my back.
At this point, she’s more of a nine-tailed fox than a wolf. If her goal was to eat my liver, she succeeded.
“Pina, if you keep doing that, I won’t just stand by.”
I can’t just let her have her way.
As I gently stroke the tail swaying in front of me, Pina’s body shivers.
“Hu… Ughh…”
Maybe I should use something like a comb. But it’s still too soft. It feels like a huge body pillow.
“Licht… stop it…”
For someone who said don’t, her tail doesn’t avoid my touch and keeps sticking to me.
“Nope. Big sister.”
Pina is often more honest with her body than with her words, even when I pet her head.
“…You’re such a complete pervert. A pervert.”
Pina’s face turned completely crimson before she finally let me go.
“Licht, you’re from a world like this…?”
“..Probably. This is my childhood era.”
On a night where the moonlight softly rises, Pina Grancia began to question me about my origins.
“..It’s beautiful.”
Her profile looking interestingly at the beams of light pouring down the night road is adorable and precious, with her hands gently clasped as if appreciating a work of art.
“I remember when I first fell here, I was so scared because I didn’t know anything… It’s fascinating.”
She’s so absorbed in the scenery that she forgot this is Tardun’s trial.
I moved closer to Pina and lightly placed my hand over hers. She looked at me in surprise.
“I prefer night views to daytime views, Pina.”
The streetlights are turning on one by one, illuminating the road softly. I subtly told her.
“..Why? Night is dark. You won’t be able to see the scenery…?”
Wanting to know more about what we don’t know about each other, I no longer want to run away from my feelings.
“In this world, there are things that can only be seen once darkness blankets them.”
The same goes for people’s lives.
The light steps of office workers heading home.
The smiles of families leaving shops after dinner while laughing together.
A middle-aged man carrying a cake, as if it were a family birthday. The sound of happy chatter is heard.
“If it wasn’t dark, the bright things wouldn’t stand out, right? I really like these small lights.”
In the summer, cicadas buzzed, and the people on the streets, regardless of age or gender, lived carrying their own light.
“I see. I understand now…”
Pina rested her head on my shoulder with a nudge. The softness of her hair and weight are comforting.
“It really is… a fairy tale world, Licht.”
Vwoosh—. A plane passed over our heads.
The steel bird crossed the sky. Pina now watches it, no longer surprised. Has she crossed a threshold of amazement?
“A prince from a fairy tale….”
Her tremors ceased, perhaps from the relaxation. I wondered if the person in front of me was the same.
“No way. Where would you find a prince wearing a black helmet in this world?”
Pina spoke in a gentle tone.
“..You are my knight, Licht.”
In a small voice like a sleepwalker.
Hearing that title from when she was the Nameless Saintess made the air around us feel warm.
I never thought I’d hear such words from Pina again.
[Kainel♡Ariel 35% “DOWN↓”]
In that moment, the status window appeared before my eyes again.
[Kainel♡Ariel 34%…. 32%….]
The love level I had seen before was decreasing.
A foreboding feeling arose. This only happens when there’s a threat to my surroundings.
‘Why is it dropping now…? Could it be…?’
Originally, Tardun’s shrine is a place where four must form a party.
But contrary to that, since earlier, only Pina and I could be found inside the shrine.
If the hero couple couldn’t enter here, perhaps such a miracle occurred because of that.
“Pina, we need to get out of here quickly.”
A newly appeared black door in the distance. I stood up and ran towards it.
*
The underground prison of the Grancia Empire.
It’s said that no one can escape due to hundreds of magical barriers and a complex labyrinthine structure.
“Well, this foolishness is finally over.”
The man with red hair and sunglasses muttered as he gazed at the heavy iron chains in his hands.
After thoroughly losing to Emperor Rock, Finn had been imprisoned in the underground cell.
The sharp edge of an axe was carelessly cutting through his body, and he was barely hanging on.
Bound and plastered like a cicada against the wall, he was the Demon King of Might.
“Damn it, if only it were a bit wider, I could summon the colossus… I could’ve turned that emperor into mashed potatoes.”
He trembled his hands.
“..Am I really going to die in a place like this?”
The guards around him were strict. Each one wore the armor of the imperial knight regiment.
It didn’t seem like anyone was coming to rescue him.
Except for one person.
“Ugh..!”
From far away, dying cries began to be heard, and thud, thud. The guards in front of me began to fall one by one.
In the now quiet space,
“..Shh.”
Someone appeared beyond the iron bars, gently pressing a finger to their lips. A shadow emerged from the darkness.
“Magic Hat? What’s that look? Are you in disguise again?”
Only after seeing the black mask that she usually wore at her waist did Finn realize she was the Demon King of Truth.
“That’s too much. This is my ‘real’ appearance. Finn.”
The woman with short black hair was Blanc, who worked as an instructor at the academy.
“Well, I’m a cheap theater clown, so you couldn’t be expected to know.”
Picking up the dagger lodged in her neck, she smiled gently at Finn.
“Finn, what would have happened if I was any later? I nearly followed after my little sister.”
“Shut up. My sister is still alive…”
Finn struggled, his face twisted in despair. The rattling of chains echoed through the cell.
“I know! I know! Once the prophecy is fulfilled, everything will be okay, so don’t worry.”
Blanc sighed deeply and once again changed her attire to that of a sorceress.
“Oh come on, I was just kidding to amuse you. Clearly, you lack a sense of humor.”
A card flew towards the lock. It was a trump card adorned with a black joker emblem.
Pakan! Dozens of magical circles shattered instantly. The lock easily released, like a dagger piercing the target.
“..I’ve already moved Intinium to a more useful place, so don’t worry about that.”
With a flick of her hand, Blanc snapped the thick handcuffs in half. Clang, the chains fell to the floor.
“Did you feed him? If not, he will struggle to hold on.”
Finn, loosening his long-immobilized body, cracked his neck and wrists.
“Oh, he’s probably doing just fine~! I was told lycanthrope meat is nutritious.”
With a twisted grin that seemed almost eerie, Blanc laughed, as if she had some deeper scheme.
“Alright, we need to punch that Rock right in the face now….”
Upon seeing that pathetic face of his, Finn grimaced and prepared himself.
“..No, once we get out of here, you need to hide until I come back.”
Blanc’s hand shuffled the trump cards, a slight stack of paper floating up.
“Why should I do that? Shouldn’t I seek revenge on the fool who locked me in this pathetic prison?”
Finn ground his teeth, trying to resist Blanc’s command.
“Don’t be swinging around a Holy Sword without abilities.”
“…”
That small rebellion was quickly brushed aside.
“Are you really not going to see your little sister again?”
With a smirk. Although it was a slightly threatening remark, Blanc smiled as if it were nothing serious.
“..No, I can’t do that.”
Finn started walking toward the exit. Perhaps still heating with anger, his fist clenched tightly.
The moment the man fully disappeared into the darkness, Blanc began to clap.
“Alright, alright! Guards! It’s time to wake up~!”
As soon as she called, the soldiers that had just seemed dead started to rise.
Chik, chik. The resurrected bodies began kneeling before the Demon King.
Watching this scene, the woman pulled out a pair of glasses and a red revolver from her pocket.
“When the real one dies, the replica becomes the genuine article!”
Blanc spread her arms wide, delivering a speech as if addressing an audience.
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