“…”
Hanging on to the Nameless’s upper body for quite a while.
For some reason, this position was becoming increasingly embarrassing, and I cleared my throat with a bright red face.
“Ahem, um.”
Clearly, a signal saying, ‘Please let me down now.’
After spending quite a long time with the Nameless, I thought he would understand, but he just tilted his head as if he didn’t get it. He cheekily smirked at me.
“Why are you doing this?”
I had never raised this little rascal like this; how did he turn into this sly fox…?
With a heavy sigh, I buried my head in the Nameless’s shoulder. Naturally, my voice came out mumbling and heavily suppressed.
“Are you really asking because you don’t know?”
“Yes, I am truly dimwitted and have many things I don’t know.”
“This kid…”
I lightly punched the Nameless’s head.
Despite this, the Nameless merely smiled without a hint of pain.
And so, trying to smile at the suddenly friendly atmosphere, I nearly managed to. But—
“Don’t try to brush this off, just let me down quickly!”
Recalling why the atmosphere had turned like this, I decided to up the intensity.
-Thump!
I slapped the top of the Nameless’s head.
“Ugh, understood.”
The Nameless let out a short groan and pouted before releasing me.
“…Really.”
Why does he insist on picking me up at every opportunity?
I shook my head.
My disciple, the Nameless, surely respects me far too much as his master.
So, wanting to be a bit closer, perhaps that’s why he acts like this.
Hmm.
I nodded.
“Although what you say is true, this time, you…”
“I need to check Lucius’s condition first.”
Ignoring my pathetic disciple’s protests, I moved on.
“Heh.”
Feeling strangely good, a tune escaped my lips.
…
Had I walked about five steps?
The surroundings, which I had thought were merely bright, suddenly started to look dark.
With my usual quick perception, I stopped humming and put on my most serious face, trying to prevent them from overthinking about me.
At that moment, the sound of a woman weeping faintly reached my ears, sending a twinge of sympathy through me.
“…”
I squinted my eyes and looked down at the gloomy folks.
I wasn’t sure if I was the right person to comfort them, considering I was the cause of their current state. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if whatever I said would ease their feelings, but…
…I had to at least try.
The reason I came here wasn’t just to exterminate the strange demon, I was also after the sheath. Plus, I couldn’t keep lingering in this cold, dark, damp cave forever, could I?
I wanted to get out soon.
Letting out a small sigh, I crouched down in front of Lucius, who was still self-blaming.
Admittedly, facing a man so closely made me uneasy, so I maintained a decent distance.
However, Lucius seemed completely oblivious to my presence, as he showed no reaction even though I was right in front of him. Watching him blankly, I raised one hand and—
-Smack!
I slapped Lucius’s cheek.
“Harang…?! What on earth are you doing?!”
Lucius seemed confused and was still staring blankly, not processing what had just happened.
I didn’t want to wait for him to regain his wits, so I immediately opened my mouth.
“What are you doing?”
“…?”
With one hand on his slapped cheek, Lucius slowly turned to face me, puzzled.
It seemed he was contemplating why I had slapped him.
A good sign. At least his mind was functioning again.
Interpreting his reaction positively, I spoke again.
“Did I not ask what you were doing?”
“…I was just taking a moment to think.”
I looked at Lucius, who answered with a calm tone.
Blood started to trickle down from his forehead, splattering onto his face; any onlooker would mistake him for a demon rather than a hero and might rush to the church in panic.
“Thinking, huh…”
I narrowed my eyes slightly at Lucius and spoke in a dry voice.
“Are you serious?”
Not sure how to interpret my expression, Lucius trembled slightly, then averted his gaze. What a rude move.
But I said nothing to him.
Just because he turned away from me, could he really escape the scrutiny of other gazes?
“…Lucius.”
As Lucius caught sight of Elia, who was hugging him from behind, his movement abruptly froze.
His pupils started to shake, and a trembling voice slipped out.
“Saint…?”
Elia rubbed her eyes, then placed her hand over his.
“I really don’t know what you’re so sorry for…”
“…”
“But… whatever it is, I am truly alright.”
Lucius’s brow began to furrow. However, no one interpreted this as annoyance.
Instead, it looked like he was flustered, unsure of what to say.
Elia kept stammering as she spoke.
“So, please… stop now…”
Elia seemed to bow her head low, trying to hide her expression.
Seeing Elia like this, Lucius seemed to find words to say, his lips moving, yet the words that came out were shockingly the same.
“…I’m sorry.”
The back of my neck began to ache.
…How long must I watch this guy dig his own grave?
Regardless of Elia’s shaking shoulders at Lucius’s words, I could no longer sit still, feeling too frustrated.
I furrowed my brows and began to speak.
“Lucius.”
He turned to look at me without replying.
I took a light breath to prepare the many things I wanted to say next and opened my eyes coldly.
“I don’t know what troubles you have, but…”
“…”
“Ultimately, this is something you chose for yourself, isn’t it?”
Upon my words, Lucius bit his lip tightly.
But my point wasn’t finished. In fact, the main point began now, I would say.
“If you had entrusted that demon to me and protected Elia, this situation wouldn’t have happened.”
“…”
“Not to mention you’re still just a rookie, aren’t you?”
Seeing Lucius lower his head in frustration, I continued to look down at him with icy eyes.
My words still weren’t done.
“Why didn’t you let me deal with that demon?”
Of course, even if you did, you would have come up with some excuse to refuse. But Lucius didn’t.
“Was your judgment clouded by some petty desire for revenge?”
That was a guess.
In Lucius’s eyes and voice as he looked at Jackal, I sensed a deep-seated hatred.
“Just as you said with your own mouth, reflect on who caused this situation.”
After finishing my statement, a brief silence followed. If I left it here, perhaps my relationship with the hero and his group would sour.
So, I had to say something to empower him. Something that could make him feel a sense of responsibility.
This time, differently from before, I opened my mouth in a voice that wasn’t cold but carried a hint of warmth.
“Isn’t that just our fine Hero?”
“…Correct.”
“If you react like this to such a minor issue, what will happen in the future?”
My words that trivialized the situation made Lucius furrow his brow.
Looks like he didn’t appreciate that much.
I couldn’t help but chuckle at Lucius’s expression and then turned serious once more.
“Can you not feel the heavy burdens of countless hopes on your shoulders?”
“…Hopes?”
“Yes, hopes.”
Lucius lifted his gaze and began to meet my eyes.
“Lucius, strangely enough, you are the hope of many.”
“But look at your current state.”
“Who would see you as a hero? Who would see you as hope?”
My words pierced toward Lucius.
He remained silent, biting his lip, absorbing what I said.
“Right now, you are nothing but a pathetic loser.”
“…I know.”
Seeing how he reacted to the word ‘loser,’ it seemed he was quite sensitive to that.
“You say you know? No, you don’t know.”
“…What do you mean—”
“If you really knew, you would be taking action to resolve it. So why are you just sitting around sulking?”
Lucius’s body twitched.
And from his lips came a voice laden with hesitation.
“I… am…”
A voice that sounded far from satisfying—a coward’s voice.
I let out a deep sigh, scratching the back of my head.
“Ha… what a pathetic guy you are. What, should I motivate you or something?”
“…”
“Tch, why do I even have to say these things to this guy.”
Letting out a brief lament, I spoke again.
This time, my gaze shifted from Lucius to Elia, who was behind him.
“For the sake of the saint beside you, for your precious connections, for all those countless people who believe in you.
You must not surrender here.
Is it heavy? Yeah, it must be really heavy.
But what can you do? You’re a hero. You are the hope of the people.”
I took a brief pause to catch my breath.
Seemingly out of place for me, I had been talking non-stop, causing me to struggle with my breathing.
“You probably forgot this, so I’ll reiterate.”
“…”
“Do not yield here.”
To be honest, these were all superficial words, devoid of any real sincerity, but…
When I caught a glimpse of Lucius’s eyes, they seemed to shine brilliantly once more.
At the very least, my words hadn’t gone to waste entirely.
Well, I guess that’s a relief.
I nodded.
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