Elqueeness [EN]: Chapter 541

541.

“Sybel, can you climb a cliff?”

“I can, but… how about I just carry you?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“I can fly too. I think I can go back to my true form and fly with you.”

It would be safer and faster than Bijo, he added with a gentle smile, his face radiating a halo. Overwhelmed, I involuntarily brought my hands to my mouth.

“Sibelius, are you an angel?”

“Huh? Well, a unicorn is part of the heavenly army, but I wasn’t an angel…”

“I meant you’re so cool.”

“Oh, really? Th-that’s what you meant.”

Sibelius blushed, looking embarrassed. He must have received all sorts of praise while working as a chef at Lamias’ mansion, but he seemed vulnerable to this kind of compliment. Ellyuen, watching him, looked somewhat displeased.

“We should go somewhere without people first, since I have to transform.”

“Yeah, there are too many eyes here.”

Looking around, I tensed slightly at the gaze that reached me. The knight who had questioned me earlier was watching us intently again. He seemed to notice that there was one more person in our group. Ellyuen was wearing a hood, but perhaps because his presence was so strong, he stood out even though he was hiding his appearance. The knight was muttering something with his colleagues, which didn’t seem good.

“We need to hurry.”

Sibelius nodded immediately, his expression serious. Then Ellyuen’s voice was heard.

“Is our destination the place where you and I first met?”

“Ah, yeah. That’s right. I’m going to start there.”

“I see.”

He answered briefly and flicked his finger lightly. At that moment, a blue magic circle rose from the floor, and streams of water soared in all directions.

“Huh? Wait? What is this… !”

As I turned around in confusion, the surrounding view was greatly distorted. I felt like my body was floating, and at the same time, I felt something whizzing past.

No, maybe it was me that was whizzing past. When my vision cleared again, a completely different scene unfolded before my eyes. The crowded square had disappeared completely, and all I could see were dense trees. On one side, a long river stretched out as far as the eye could see, flowing quietly. It was an unfamiliar situation, but the scenery itself was familiar. It was a place I had been before.

If I wasn’t mistaken, this was definitely in front of the river where I had summoned Ellyuen. The Renea River that ran through the Forest of Origin in Dalia Territory of the Epen Kingdom, was it? No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t understand it, so I just blinked my eyes blankly. What on earth is going on?

“How can a Spirit King use teleportation magic…”

Sibelius, who was also looking around in bewilderment, muttered with a flustered face. Only then did my stopped brain barely start working again. Ah, that’s right. It was teleportation magic. Feeling the strength drain from my legs, I collapsed to the ground. “El!” Sibelius, startled, quickly supported me.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

I slowly nodded to him as he examined me urgently, and then I raised my head. Ellyuen, who met my eyes, sent me a calm gaze. Now that I think about it, why did I forget that? Ellyuen, my amazing father, could use teleportation magic even when he was Elquines.

“…Father.”

“What.”

“How could you do this to me?”

The hardships I had gone through quickly flashed through my mind. Getting tired of the long voyage, missing the train and having to climb the rugged mountains, getting motion sickness on Bijo, and so on. Even when rescuing the priests, I had to run endlessly through the endless cave. All of those things could have been easily solved with teleportation magic.

The betrayal I felt was greater than when he said he would kill me. Ellyuen seemed to recognize my sorrow. He opened his mouth after a short silence.

“There is value in experiencing everything firsthand. You can’t just try to solve everything easily.”

It was a heartbreakingly painful lecture.

* * *

Feeling betrayed by Ellyuen was one thing, but saving time thanks to teleportation magic was a good thing. Considering the journey when I crossed over to the Empire, it was almost a month’s worth of time saved.

However, there was one unexpected problem here. The Epen Kingdom is in the north, and the temperature is lower than in the Empire. The season, which had entered early winter, was warm enough with just one coat when I was in the Empire, but not here. The weather, where white breath rose even when you just breathed, seemed to have already entered below freezing.

I had prepared various items for the long journey, but I didn’t have any thick winter clothes because I was planning to buy them along the way (I threw away the ones I used to wear because they were old). The same was true for food. Since I didn’t have any plans to camp out for a while because I was going to be wandering around the city, I had only prepared a small amount of emergency food. Sibelius seemed to be in the same situation.

The Forest of Origin is a remote area where people rarely visit. It means that it is difficult to obtain daily necessities by ordinary means. Just in case, I followed the path I remembered and went to Ransi’s house, but only the site remained, as if it had already been demolished and moved.

“If someone had told me in advance that they could teleport, I would have prepared for this situation.”

“So, if you’re dissatisfied, I’ll take you back to the Empire.”

“Ahaha, no. Dissatisfied? Don’t say such a terrible thing.”

I quickly smiled and answered at the cold gaze. Being dropped back into the Empire, I broke out in a cold sweat at the thought that this was by no means an empty threat. Okay, so what if I came unprepared? The cold is more bearable than I thought, and if I really have to, I can hunt rabbits like I used to. Either way, I would have to visit a village someday, even if I had prepared thoroughly. Thinking about it that way, it wasn’t even a problem in the first place. Besides, I even had a cheat key for this journey.

“Are we camping here today? I’ll set up the tent.”

Sibelius began to drive stakes into the empty lot. He was laying out pieces of paper with letters written on them, as I had seen him do before. Soon, a thick wind blew, his eye color changed, and golden horns sprouted on his forehead. As the spell was uttered one by one, beams of light soared in all directions. This was also a familiar sight. When all that was over, we were inside a cozy room.

“I made it using magic circles and subspace. How is it?”

“As expected, a cheat key…”

“Cheat, what? What does that mean?”

“It means you’re the best.”

How much I had missed this ability whenever I had to camp out! When I grabbed his hands tightly and said that, Sibelius, with his eyes wide open, smiled with a flushed face.

“I-I’m glad you like it. Anyway, you don’t have to worry about accommodation wherever you go in the future.”

“Yeah, I trust you!”

“He’s the best if you just treat him well.”

I suddenly heard a low mumble. When I turned around, Ellyuen was standing there with an uncomfortable expression. He said I was the best if you just treat me well. I wondered if I had been that blatant, but when I thought about it, I guess I was. I decided to reflect a little. More than that, Ellyuen’s tone seemed a little different, but was it just my imagination? It was just a passing sound, so I wasn’t sure.

“El, aren’t you hungry?”

“Ah, now that you mention it, it’s already lunchtime. Should we eat something?”

“Then I’ll prepare a meal. Is there anything you want to eat? There aren’t many ingredients, so there’s not much I can make.”

Sibelius smiled and took out the cooking utensils. The sight of him standing in the kitchen and putting on an apron was as natural as flowing water.

“El?”

“Uh, uh, it’s nothing. I want to eat bean soup…”

“Bean soup? That’s a relief. I think I can make that. Do you like bean soup?”

“Yeah, I like it the most.”

“Then I’ll make bean soup as an appetizer, and prepare a formal dinner that goes well with it.”

Oh my god, what should I do? I don’t think I’ve ever been so moved in recent times. I blankly nodded my head in a daze, and I heard Ellyuen clicking his tongue. “A seducer has stuck to him.” Unsatisfactory mumbling continued, but I pretended not to hear it. Even in the midst of all this, I couldn’t stop my face from grinning.

Anyway, the meal that Sibelius prepared was excellent. It had been a long time since I had shared a meal with someone since Ifrit returned to the Spirit Realm(?). We sat facing each other at the table and discussed our future plans while eating lunch.

“Are you going to investigate this forest?”

“Yeah, for now. At first, I’m just going to focus on the forest, and then gradually expand the scope. So, let’s decide on a cooking schedule.”

“Cooking schedule? Are you worried that you’ll get tired of my food?”

“There’s no way that could happen. I can never get tired of your cooking. I wish I could ask you to make it every day. But preparing meals is not an easy task. It doesn’t seem fair for one person to handle it all.”

“I don’t mind doing it every day.”

“No. I’ll do it tonight.”

“Hmm, okay.”

Sibelius nodded, looking disappointed. Ellyuen, who was watching us, shook his head. He had an expression that said I was wasting my energy on useless things.

And that evening, Sibelius smiled after taking a bite of the food I made.

“El, I’ll just take care of the meals.”

“…Is it bad?”

“I’ll take care of the meals.”

Judging by the fact that he said the same thing twice, it must be really bad. To be honest, it didn’t taste good even when I ate it. I just threw in everything that looked okay, and it ended up tasting like something that was neither this nor that. It wasn’t usually this bad, but I guess the problem was that I was too greedy, thinking I had to make it well. I was about to say that I would do better next time, but I was overwhelmed by his intense gaze and just nodded obediently. In fact, even if I made it well, it would only be edible, and I wasn’t confident that I could make it delicious.

“You’re the problem, you are.”

I thought I heard someone scolding me from somewhere. Since I was thinking that way myself, it was hard to tell whether it was an inner resonance or another delusion.

The daily routine that followed from the next day was simple. Wake up in the morning, eat a meal, take a light look around, then eat lunch again and go out a little further. After coming back and eating dinner, that was the end of the day. We spent the whole day exploring the area, and when we felt like we had explored the area enough, we moved to another place. As a result, there were inevitable things that followed, and the most common of these was hunting monsters.

“Kiiiek!”

“El! Behind you!”

At the urgent warning, I immediately turned around and stretched out my sword. The monkey-headed monster that jumped up and pounced on me screamed sharply and fell away. After completely cutting off its breath, I no longer felt any signs of rushing at me. Looking around, Sibelius, who had dealt with the other monster, approached me.

“Good job, El. I think the rest have all run away.”

“Yeah, good job to you too.”

They say it’s also called the Forest of Monsters. As if to prove that we had met a monster as soon as we arrived, there were really a lot of monsters in the Forest of Origin. The further we went inside, the more they seemed to swarm. It was cumbersome, but on the other hand, it was reassuring. Because of this, the probability that someone would accidentally pick up the Lapis [a magical stone] while passing by was almost zero.

‘He always picks a place just like himself to fall into.’

I swallowed the complaint that wouldn’t reach him and started collecting the monster corpses. As I sat down to start the work, Sibelius, who sat down next to me, helped me and asked.

“Are you collecting these too?”

“Yeah, the monkey-headed goblin’s teeth, claws, and tail hair are useful. They’ll sell for a good price.”

If there’s one truth I’ve learned since before I became a hunter, it’s that monsters are all money. It’s not a hunt I want to do, but it’s hard to ignore the assets that are so obvious. So, after the battle, I’ve been taking care of the by-products, focusing on the valuable ones. The knowledge I forced myself to study for the certification exam played a big role. The amount of money I’ve collected by selling these by-products, which I take down to the village once a week to go shopping, is already considerable. I seem to be living a more hunter-like life here than when I was in the system.

“That’s it. Let’s go back now.”

After finishing the cleanup, I swept the by-products I had collected into a sack and stood up. Sibelius also shook his body and stood up. Then, he suddenly turned to me and fixed his gaze on one side.

“El, your gloves are very worn out.”

“Huh? Oh, that’s right. This was the last spare. Is tomorrow the day we go to the village? That’s good. I need to get some gloves too.”

“Come to think of it, El always seems to be wearing gloves. You don’t take them off even when you sleep. Isn’t it uncomfortable?”

“Ah, it’s just a habit. It’s more uncomfortable not to wear them.”

“I see. Then El, shall I make you some gloves later?”

At the overlapping scenes, my body flinched without me realizing it.

“Huh? Yeah?”

“I accidentally found out before that there’s a leather that doesn’t wear out or break even after a long time. It’s said to be surprisingly comfortable to wear. If I make gloves with that, you won’t have to keep changing them.”

“Oh, that’s true, but…”

“Actually, I learned sewing when I was at the Duke’s residence. I’m still clumsy, but I’m going to start practicing in earnest. When I can make something useful, I’ll make you new gloves too.”

For a moment, no thoughts came to my mind at the face that was smiling shyly.

The sound he had muttered sometime ago came to my mind. The gaze that stared at me with an expression that I didn’t know whether I wanted to laugh or cry. Sibelius had realized the real reason why I wore gloves in the past at that time. It was to hide the mark of the Demon God on the back of my hand.

Maybe he even realized that I had traveled through time. But he didn’t mention it at all.

Because he knew that I wouldn’t believe him even if he told me, and that mentioning it in any way would hurt each other. So he was handling all of that alone.