I Became The Tyrant Of A Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 412

Winter Silver Merchant Guild branch. The guild leader’s room.

Serenade was asleep.

She was slumped over on the sunlit desk, buried in a mountain of documents she had been working on.

She was already thin, but she had lost even more weight. Her disheveled, water-colored hair had grown a bit longer in the past half-year, becoming quite long.

Standing beside her as she slept soundly, using her thin arms as a pillow, I was speechless.

I could see a scar on her white forearm. It was a wound she had received during the battle with the goblin army.

“…….”

A lot had changed in half a year.

But the scar she got because of me was still clearly visible.

I quietly took off my coat and placed it over Serenade’s shoulders. Even though it was still warm in early autumn, she might catch a cold if she slept like this.

‘Maybe I should greet her later.’

How tired must she have been to fall asleep like this? It’s hard to wake her up.

I was about to leave after taking one last look at her sleeping face when…

“Umm……”

Serenade’s long eyelashes fluttered, and her silver eyes slowly opened.

Our eyes met.

“…….”

Serenade blinked blankly, then slowly raised her upper body from the desk. She rubbed her eyes a few times with her hand and murmured as if puzzled.

“Is this a dream?”

I smiled gently.

“Would you like it to be a dream?”

“……Even if it’s a dream, it’s fine.”

Serenade took my hand and placed it against her cheek, quietly feeling the sensation.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Your Highness, even in my dreams.”

“……”

“You’re so heartless… I’ve been waiting for you my whole life, but you should have at least let me know if you were alive……”

I looked at her with pity as she mumbled in a sleepy voice, then asked cautiously.

“If you were to meet me in reality, what would you want to do most?”

“……”

“This is a dream, so I’ll let you do what you wanted to do most.”

Serenade looked up at me blankly, then answered shyly.

“I want to kiss Your Highness on the forehead. Just like I did to you when you were very young.”

I quietly knelt down in front of her.

Serenade carefully parted my bangs like she was unwrapping a ribbon on a birthday present, then brought the tip of her delicate nose to my exposed forehead.

“Do you remember? When we were very young, when we played and fell asleep together, I used to give you a goodnight kiss on your forehead like this.”

“……”

“Since some point, as you grew up, you became shy, so I couldn’t give you goodnight kisses anymore… but I was always sad about it.”

Soon, her cool and soft lips touched my forehead and slowly moved away.

Thud.

Following that, she pressed her forehead against mine. With her eyes closed, Serenade murmured in a wistful voice.

“I miss those beautiful days.”

“……”

“Beautiful you……”

…It seems she really still thinks this is a dream.

Then, should I be a little more daring?

I slowly pulled away from her forehead, stood up, and smiled at her as she sat on the chair.

“Serenade. Have you ever received a goodnight kiss from me?”

At that, Serenade’s silver eyes widened.

“……No. But I was the older one. I always kissed Your Highness on the forehead and tucked you in.”

“You’ve always only given to me.”

I carefully swept Serenade’s bangs to the side.

“From now on, I’ll gradually repay you as much as you’ve given me.”

And then, I slowly bent down and kissed her on the forehead.

Serenade quietly closed her eyes and received my forehead kiss. A soft smile appeared on her lips.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve had such a happy dream. After Your Highness disappeared, I was always heartbroken and uncomfortable… I couldn’t sleep properly at night, and I only had nightmares.”

“……”

“Since I had such a happy dream, maybe when I wake up… Your Highness will be back soon.”

Serenade slowly opened her eyes, and her smile turned a little sad.

“Thank you, Your Highness. Even if it was a dream, I was happy. But now I have to wake up. Because a dream that is too sweet… hurts when you wake up.”

I chuckled.

It seems like it’s time to wake her up.

“It’s not a dream.”

“Huh?”

“I said it’s not a dream. This is reality.”

“Haha, what are you talking about? Look, even if I pinch my cheek like this, it doesn’t hurt…”

Serenade lightly pinched her cheek, then blinked quietly.

“Oh? It hurts…?”

“Right?”

“But, if this is reality, how could Your Highness be in front of me…”

“Well, because I’m back.”

Serenade looked up at me in disbelief, her silver eyes gradually filling with tears.

I smiled awkwardly and spread my arms out to the sides.

“I’m back. Serenade.”

“……”

“I’m sorry for making you worry. Well, since I’ve caused you trouble, you can hit me as hard as you want…”

Serenade didn’t hit me.

Instead, she knocked over the chair and jumped up from her seat, then ran straight into my arms and hugged me tightly.

“It’s not a dream, it’s not a dream, it’s not a dream…”

Holding onto me, she cried.

“I thought I would never see you again… I was so scared…”

I quietly looked down at her small shoulders as she sobbed in my arms, then awkwardly lowered my arms and held her shoulders.

“I make you cry a lot.”

I gently patted her back as she sobbed, unable to breathe, and whispered.

“Thank you. Serenade. Thanks to your advice back then, I was able to find myself.”

Your words that if I were to be shattered, I could live as shattered.

Thanks to those words, I was able to find myself and return here.

Always… truly always, I am only receiving from this woman.

So, let me say it one more time.

“From now on, I’ll gradually repay you as much as you’ve given me.”

I gently stroked Serenade’s back until she calmed down.

I hope I can make this woman cry less in the future.

I hope I can make her smile more often than cry.

I prayed while thinking that.

***

Serenade didn’t want to let go of me, but I managed to persuade her to let go. I had to go greet the others as well.

Serenade seemed very worried that I might disappear again. I assured her several times that I wouldn’t go anywhere now.

“Really? Really? You won’t disappear without a word anymore?”

“Of course, of course. Should we make a pinky promise?”

I made a pinky promise with Serenade, who nodded her head.

I wiped her tear-stained cheeks with a handkerchief for the last time. Her beautiful face was a mess from crying so much.

“Lastly, blow your nose!”

“Hmph…”

Serenade obediently blew her nose as I told her to. She cried so much that this young lady seems to have regressed a bit… well, she’s cute, so let’s leave it at that…

Whether it was because she was exhausted from crying, relieved that I was back, or because she hadn’t been sleeping properly, Serenade fell asleep as soon as I laid her down on the bed in her room.

After taking one last look at her sleeping face, I went outside. I had to finish greeting the remaining people.

Flash!

I teleported to the base camp of the Lake Kingdom dungeon.

I heard that the Holy Grail Expedition was staying here, and I also wanted to meet Kellybay and Muyeong.

‘It’s working fine.’

I was worried that the gate might throw me into the spirit realm again like before, but thankfully, it was working fine.

Well, I went through all that trouble to fix the system, so if it broke down again, the director would really be torn to pieces.

“Oh! You’re back, lost lamb!”

As soon as I entered the base camp, Kellybay greeted me happily.

Seeing the familiar, warm-looking bald dwarf after a long time made me feel relieved. I laughed out loud.

“Everyone else was crying and making a fuss when I came back, but why are you so cool, Master Craftsman?”

“I can read faces a bit, and you don’t have the face of someone who will die a lonely death somewhere.”

“Then how will I die?”

“Can’t you tell by looking in the mirror, you rascal? You have the face of someone who will get stabbed to death while chasing after women.”

Kellybay chuckled.

“Just kidding, a while ago, two Nightmare Legion Commanders fell at the same time in the depths of the dungeon. I immediately realized. That your disappearance was related to it.”

“You’re really good at noticing things…”

I honestly admired him, and Kellybay shrugged his shoulders.

“At least since I came here, no human has defeated a Nightmare Legion Commander. But you defeated four of them in a year.”

“……”

“If two more suddenly fell, wouldn’t it be reasonable to think that you were involved?”

Oh, hearing it like that, it seems like a very reasonable guess…?

“So, you defeated two Nightmare Legion Commanders… you must have obtained the magic cores, right?”

Kellybay raised his fierce eyes and held out his hand to me.

“I’ll make you an awesome Nightmare Slayer. Come on, take them out!”

“……No. I couldn’t recover the magic cores.”

“What?! No, where did you drop such precious things!”

I scratched the back of my head awkwardly. In the first place, I was thrown into the spirit realm right after I couldn’t finish things, so there was no way I could recover the magic cores or anything.

The last images of Raven and Salome flashed through my mind.

My heart felt a little heavy.

“Then, what about the Goblin God King’s magic core? Give me that at least! I’ll make something cool! Hurry!”

“……Why are you so obsessed with making Nightmare Slayers? It’s dangerous equipment.”

“Don’t you know how fun it is to make equipment with such materials? Also, after only handling top-notch materials, how boring do you think it was for me to make equipment with mediocre materials for the half-year you were gone?”

Kellybay held a hammer above his head and swung it around.

“Remember! You have to keep entrusting me with difficult equipment production and rare equipment production! You can’t go missing for such long periods in the future! Got it?”

“Yes, yes, I understand…”

I decided to do all the pending equipment requests at once soon.

“Ah, Your Highness! You’ve returned!”

At that moment, Kellybay’s assistant, Hannibal, came out of the smithy.

This boy, who still had his eyes covered by his messy hair, had also grown a lot in the past half-year. Kids really grow up fast…

Hannibal, who enchants equipment with spirits, was now openly carrying several spirits dangling on his back.

During the half-year I was gone, Kellybay produced weapons and armor as much as he could, and Hannibal also enchanted spirits as much as he could and supplied them to Crossroads.

It seems that the defense line of Crossroads was able to hold out thanks to this powerful spirit equipment. I’m grateful.

After praising the two and having various conversations.

I looked around the base camp. There were several NPC adventurers, but Granny Coco and Muyeong were nowhere to be seen.

“Those two said they had something to take care of in the depths of the dungeon… well, it’s always like that. I’ll tell them your story when they come back.”

“Yes. Please do.”

As we were finishing our conversation, I saw five elves rushing towards us from the other side of the base camp.

It was the Holy Grail Expedition. Berdandi, who was at the front, screamed while tearing at her hair when she saw me.

“Kyaaaaak! Ashniiiiim!”

This is the first time I’ve met someone who screams when we reunite. I waved my hand happily.

After a while, I was surrounded by the five elves, and we talked about what had happened in the meantime.

These five had been helping with the defense of Crossroads and had been exploring the dungeon on their own while I was gone.

“We have opened the path to the ‘Magic Tower’ in the 8th district. Now that Ash-nim is here, we can leave to conquer it anytime!”

The Holy Grail is in the ‘Magic Tower’ dungeon in the 8th district.

We can finally leave to fulfill their long-cherished wish.

Berdandi, who was smiling brightly with her characteristic tear mole, immediately hardened her expression.

“Ah, of course… the Magic Tower dungeon itself is a powerful place, and there’s another defense battle in a few days, so we’ll have to think about it after that…”

“Don’t worry. We’ll get through the defense battle safely, conquer the Magic Tower, and find the Holy Grail.”

“Hic, you don’t know how much I missed Ash-nim’s confident voice…”

Berdandi pretended to wipe away tears. I chuckled and looked around.

“But, what about Burnout and Bodybag? I thought they would be here with you.”

The Shadow Squad was disbanded.

The only remaining survivors were Burnout and Bodybag.

I secretly thought that Berdandi, who was an elf like them, would take care of them, but they weren’t here.

When I brought up the two of them, Berdandi’s face hardened slightly.

“Those two… have been with Lily-nim for a while now.”

“With Lily? Why?”

“Well, actually…”

Berdandi made a bitter expression.