“It’s expulsion, Daniel.”
The dean, with a face full of wrinkles that screamed kindness, coldly declared this to me.
Expulsion.
Did I just get expelled from the Aios Academy, the best on the continent?
Why? How?
“We have no place for a student like you who lacks camaraderie, is violent, and has no manners.”
I couldn’t utter a single word.
I felt tears threatening to spill from my eyes, but I held them back, determined not to feel the sting of defeat.
“If you have nothing to say, you may leave.”
After that frigid declaration, the dean casually turned his gaze to the papers on the desk.
It was an unspoken signal telling me to leave without a word.
In the end, I couldn’t voice the injustice tearing me apart inside. I left the dean’s office with just a low sigh.
‘Maybe this is for the best.’
Yeah, being at the academy would only be a nuisance. Aside from two childhood friends from my hometown, I had no one, and many students despised me for my humble lineage.
Amidst the pressure, the interference from students, and the professors’ discrimination, I became branded as an incompetent student.
“But Ares and Rin…”
My childhood friends who had enrolled at Aios Academy with me. I wanted to at least say goodbye to them.
I caught a glimpse of them walking together outside.
Seeing them go through the door side by side brought back memories of townsfolk always saying how well they suited each other.
Tears that I had fought back in front of the dean flowed freely now.
Sniffle.
When I opened my eyes again, I was faced with reality.
A dense, dark forest. I had briefly dozed off leaning against a tree.
The dream had felt so real that I had to check my body.
A robust body of a twenty-something. Many scars made it look a bit unsightly, and a bandage was wrapped around my shoulder due to an injury.
“Are you okay?”
When Eris asked, I straightened up and assured her I was fine. Though her ears, a symbol of elves, had been cut during battle, she remained dignified, resilient, and beautiful, just as an elf should.
“What about the army?”
“It seems they’re still some distance away. Thanks to the traps you set.”
“I’m just buying us some time.”
As I gathered my equipment and stood up, Eris grasped her staff and sword, speaking up.
“But where do we go from here?”
“We need to go deeper into the forest. The magical beasts will prevent the army from entering freely.”
The Army of Death that had covered the continent.
Made up of the dead, they swept across the land, leading to the annihilation of all kingdoms, turning the world into a place filled only with death.
Could any living humans be left?
Probably not.
Where we were now was the ‘Forest of the Demon Realm’, which humans called hell.
The fact that the demonic army had advanced this far meant that there was nowhere left on the continent untouched by their grasp.
This forest, infamous for its horrors to humans, had now bizarrely become the sole sanctuary for them.
Of course, that would soon come to an end.
“What if…”
Eris, following behind me, spoke up.
With time pressing, I didn’t feel like answering, but then she dropped a shocking line.
“If everyone is dead and it’s just the two of us left, would you marry me?”
“What?”
I was taken aback, never expecting something like that to come from an elf, but she was surprisingly blushing.
“Well, if both humans and elves are extinct, then you’re the only mate left, right?”
“That’s… true.”
“We would become the start of a new humanity. One day, half-elves will rule the world.”
Seeing Eris chuckle softly made me chuckle as well. It felt like that possibility was actually unfolding before us.
Maybe it wouldn’t happen, but I smiled and gave an answer to the impossible promise.
“Sure, sounds good.”
“……!”
Did she not expect that sort of answer?
Being used to putting up walls around people, she looked momentarily shocked, then gave a bright yet bashful smile I had never seen from her before.
Then suddenly, she jolted and asked,
“By the way, what’s your name? Until now, I’ve just been calling you Sherpa.”
“Oh, right.”
I realized I hadn’t told her my name.
Thinking about it, our first encounter had been the guide in the Forest of the Demon Realm and an elf looking for materials.
“I’m…”
Thud.
A sinister black spear pierced through the chest of Eris.
Despite coughing up blood, she looked like she wanted to say something to me but ultimately couldn’t, her hand dropping limply, warmth seeping into the ground.
“Eris!”
I rushed toward her, but a figure clad in black armor appeared behind her.
“You are the last.”
The master of the Army of Death.
A monster deemed a calamity sent by the god to the continent locked eyes with me.
Neither its name, age, nor gender was revealed.
It callously drew its sword and pointed it at me.
What did it mean by “the last”?
A question popped into my head, and the creature seemed to read my thoughts.
“You are the last human left on the continent.”
“Ha…”
I let out a hollow laugh.
I never imagined that the words which felt like nonsense would take on such seriousness.
So we really were the last of humanity.
I wanted to tell Eris, but she was already lifeless.
With my sword drawn, I couldn’t find any words to say.
Since I knew it would just kill me anyway.
Thus began the duel.
The advancing Army of Death enclosed me and their master, but I had no time to worry about that.
Knowing my life was already forfeit, I swung my sword with all I had.
“I will kill you and then go!”
Objectively speaking, my swordsmanship was superior.
But I couldn’t counter its magic.
I’d struggled with magic since forever, so I had a few tricks, but they were nothing against a mage of this caliber.
Would I really be able to kill it?
What on earth was this monster trying to achieve by destroying the continent?
“Damn you!”
I swung my sword shouting that.
The helmet it wore came off, revealing cascading black hair. I could have struck down the monster right then and there, but I hesitated.
“…Rin?”
My childhood friend with whom I used to frolic in the village.
Always beautiful and kind-hearted.
My first love.
Thud.
A sword stabbed into my heart, the intensity of heat and pain hitting me, but I couldn’t take my gaze away.
Rin’s sword was ruthlessly pulled out, and I could only watch in disbelief, speechless.
Tears formed in her lifeless eyes.
Thus, my story may have come to an end.
Never having revealed anything, my life had been one big mystery, but now I had no chances or time left.
Yeah, I thought that.
“It’s expulsion, Daniel.”
So I believed this was a dream.
The dean with his wrinkled face.
The unique smell of disinfectant mixed with that of old books in the dean’s office.
The sunlight filtering through the window and the expulsion notice thrust before me.
‘Is this a dream?’
But it wasn’t a light before death.
A light before death is something you see before you die, and I had definitely died.
“Our academy has no place for a student like you who lacks camaraderie, is violent, and has no manners.”
So I thought it was kind of a dream, but what was peculiar is that unlike the dream I just had, I could move and act freely here, with all memories intact.
“If you have nothing to say, you may leave.”
The scene replayed as if it were my dreams or memories. The dean turned away to the papers, casting a spell of expulsion upon me.
Staring blankly at the expulsion notice, I raised my middle finger at the dean, already engrossed in his work.
“Fuck off.”
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