Chapter 39

〈 Chapter 39: Liar 〉

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Ding! Apis sighed with relief deep in her heart.

The reunion was just like the vision from her memories.

Unlike the elves, who felt like they were at odds with the very concept of change, humans could transform completely in the blink of an eye due to trivial circumstances.

Sometimes, the dreams they longed for would end in disappointment.

Sometimes, they lost things they tried so hard to protect.

With just a few decades, those minor connections could fade away from the mind.

But Apis had seen the disgrace of her short-lived kin, who couldn’t shake off those minor connections, leading themselves astray and losing themselves over the past hundred years since she left her hometown.

Thankfully, he hadn’t changed at all.

His weak nature, which made him run away at the first sign of trouble, his foolishness in not being able to leave those in need behind, and the calming atmosphere he brought that eased her heart when they were together.

Nothing had faded; nothing had dimmed.

Apis believed without a doubt that he would return to their side, that they could reclaim the warmth of the past.

“Apis.”

Who are you?

Apis had no way of knowing who this man was.

His cold smile felt like it could peel her skin away with just a touch. A chilling breath.

She couldn’t find a single puzzle piece that matched the alien form of this person who didn’t feel like the one she had known and shared conversations with just moments ago.

She could not accept this being, who seemed to be pretending to be an old comrade.

No, she didn’t want to accept it.

“I have no intention of returning to the Hero Party.”

It was unpleasant. It was disgusting. It was unsatisfactory.

Not because her proposal had been rejected.

But because, despite his heavy gaze upon her, he wasn’t truly looking at her.

It felt like that forced grin, pulled by the corners of his mouth, would tremble and whisper that everything was irrevocably over.

“Moreover, for the rest of my life, I never want to see the Hero’s face ever again.”

Who are you?

Who the hell are you?

Even though the person who had the answer to that question stood right in front of her, Apis couldn’t help but keep asking herself.

Like a scared child who couldn’t bear to check for the monster lurking under her bed.

She was simply afraid. Simply terrified.

Apis couldn’t even bear to meet the dim, foggy eyes of the man before her.

◈◈◈

“What do you mean by that?!”

“It’s quite literally what it means.”

Apis grabbed him by the collar.

Like a bug stuck to a window, that coldness, densely packed in her insides, was interrupting her breathing.

But pretending as if nothing was wrong, Apis tried to act tough.

“I’m not asking that! Don’t you know how much Dawna, Bigtim, and the Hero have been searching for you?! Do you have any idea how desperate we were, that we even ended up here?!”

“Are you all here right now?”

“…!”

Why was it?

It was surely her who held onto his collar, seizing the conversation, yet why was this man calmly continuing to speak while she was just left gathering the broken fragments of their conversation?

Apis couldn’t understand it at all.

“…Did you know?”

“It would be strange if I didn’t. You told me yourself that you visited the monastery with the ‘kids.’ And I knew from the start that we would reunite with everyone not too far from now. No matter how hard I tried to run away, I could never shake all of you off.”

When she first met the man, she hadn’t brought up the Hero because she had no time for it.

However, having spoken with him now and feeling a friendly breeze from their conversation, the fact that everyone, including the Hero, was here felt like a delightful surprise, a type of entertainment to conclude their talk.

It turned out she had been saving the topic of the Hero until now.

“After hearing rumors that dungeon explorations had slowed a month ago, I was preparing for a day like this. Whether the Hero came to find me alone, or one of you came, or all of you came together. Running into you at the village bookstore was unexpected though…”

The man gave an awkward laugh.

But Apis sensed a chilling tension from that slick smile, something unnamable that felt ominous.

For instance, a sudden hiccup.

A habitual reaction that occasionally slipped out, having nothing to do with his original intent.

Shortly after, for the first time in her life, Apis felt fear towards this weak man.

“…Why?”

“Pardon?”

“Why don’t you want to meet the Hero…?”

Apis squeezed her courage to ask him.

The man, like someone trying to recall where he placed his house key, casually blinked his eyes twice before answering softly.

“Because I don’t want to die.”

“…What?”

It was then.

A formless, fierce power surged fiercely from Apis’s grip on the man’s collar.

“Say it again! What did you say?!”

“C-Cough! I-I don’t want to d-die…”

His legs lifted into the air.

That was because Apis had lifted him completely with one hand holding his neck.

But even as he struggled for breath, though his face was turning pale from lack of oxygen, he didn’t lose his gentle smile and made no attempt for even minimal resistance.

“Ugh!”

“Phew!”

Soon after, Apis released her grip, and immediately, the man sprawled on the ground, gasping for air as if thankful just to be able to breathe.

The man was sprawled on the floor, while Apis looked down at him.

However, the one who had emotional composure was clearly the man, while it was Apis who was losing her sanity.

“I already wrote in a letter. I can’t follow your adventures anymore. I just can’t keep up.”

“You’re serious about that…?”

“Of course I’m serious…”

“Are you really being serious—!!”

“…”

At Apis’s desperate shout, for the first time, the man lost his composure and twitched his lips.

The reason Apis was angry was none other than that.

Even if his reason sounded terribly pathetic.

Even if it was petty, awkward, and so trivial that everyone could ridicule him.

If that was his genuine reason, Apis had every intention to understand him deeply and respect his choice.

She had even come to terms that their long search might end in a sorrowful farewell due to circumstances beyond his control.

Yet, he was lying.

Hiding his true feelings and treating her like a complete stranger.

The way he built up a solid wall around his heart, as if she had no right to know, made her blood boil.

“What if I broke your legs and dragged you to the Hero? What would you do?”

“You’d have to beg Apis not to do that…”

“Ha! That’s your request?”

“It’s a plea. How could I, in my position, make such a request of Apis.”

That brutal silence pressed down the air around them for a while.

In the end, Apis almost resorted to drawing her weapon.

“Can you say the same thing in front of the Hero?”

“Of course. I would pronounce it clearly, word for word. I really don’t want to see the Hero’s face ever again.”

“…You!”

It was the firmest refusal one could imagine.

The feeling that surged from deep within her, like being pierced by an arrow in the heart, was undoubtedly betrayal.

He never showed Apis his true inner thoughts.

She had thought of him as a comrade. She had thought of him as a friend. She had even thought of him as family, having shared a bond deeper than blood.

“…Ugh! You bastard!”

In the end, the first to raise the white flag and leave was Apis.

Trying to persuade him with words was futile, and dragging him to the Hero was out of the question.

“I’m sorry… Apis…”

His empty apologies fell upon her back continuously, but Apis chose to ignore his pitiful voice.

She wanted to repay the miserable feeling she had right now just a bit. The only revenge she could carry out against him at this moment was that.

As the sun set and the moon opened its groggy eyes, Apis still couldn’t fully suppress the turmoil in her heart.

“I’m here… H-Hero…”

“Apis! Is it true that you were looking for the Priest?!”

Now, it was her turn to be the liar.

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