Chapter 115. As Per The Original
Do they like such places?
“It’s peaceful.”
Reflecting on the conversation he had with Seraphina a moment ago, Johann looked down at the view of Ponitan.
<He’s really important to me. So promise me you won’t treat him carelessly. Then I’ll take it back.>
<……>
She really didn’t understand a man’s heart at all. Saying something like that would upset anyone, no matter how gentle they were. When she asked when he started liking her, his heart lifted to the clouds, but then she immediately said another man was important to her.
“How annoying.”
So, wasn’t she saying she’d hate him forever if he got on Cyril’s bad side? Why should he be in Cyril’s good graces? Why should the great Marseus…
Thinking of that fox who pretended to be sick in front of Seraphina but wore a smug expression when she wasn’t looking made his blood pressure rise.
“Damn it.”
Johann ran his fingers through his hair irritably.
The sea breeze teasingly caressed his cheek as it passed by.
<…You don’t have to take it back.>
<What did you say?>
<I said it’s fine.>
He shouldn’t have said that. He should have made her take back the words about hating him forever. Johann squinted down at Seraphina, who had descended below. She had reached the beach after navigating the narrow alleyways.
<Return to your base station.>
<All of a sudden?>
<The Battle of Agulena is over. There’s no danger of dying, so return.>
<I submitted my resignation! Accept it!>
<No.>
<Why not?>
In the end, they argued. Johann let out a long sigh as he gazed at the distant horizon.
<Your abilities are needed, and you’re being irresponsible!>
<There’s Aveline, Aveline!>
<Why do you keep going on about Aveline when you’ve barely met her?>
<She was praised as being so great in the newspapers! So please forget about me!>
<Forget? Did you just say everything you wanted to?>
<Yes! I said it all! I was destined to die anyway, so just think of me as dead and forget about me!>
<How could…>
Johann felt as if he had been struck hard in the head with a blunt object. Honestly, he still felt numb. He couldn’t say anything for a long time. He didn’t know if he was angry, upset, sad, or disappointed.
It was an emotion he couldn’t even understand himself. Amidst the complex and tangled emotions, he gave a short command in a choked voice.
<Go.>
<Your Majesty… My words were…>
<Withdraw. It’s an order.>
<……>
<Immediately.>
<…Yes.>
At the word ‘order,’ Seraphina could say nothing more and bit her lip. Her shoulders slumped as she walked away, her steps looking dejected. Although he felt her occasionally looking back as she moved away weakly, Johann didn’t glance at her even once.
Forget?
Think of me as dead?
How could she say such a thing!
What a cruel woman.
Johann felt his insides heat up as if he had swallowed a ball of fire.
To Seraphina, was he really nothing?
He remembered every detail of the time they spent together, having replayed it over and over in his mind…
<Let’s see… The location is Sarnade Hall?>
<It’s the building on the left.>
<Ah, thank you… Huh?>
One day in early summer.
He remembered the warm breeze that blew over the woman who had casually turned around. Her eyes, growing larger and filled with a vibrant orange hue upon seeing him, were vividly etched in his memory.
Back then, he merely thought of her as interesting, an amusing person.
After all, she was the purifier who had appeared after a long time.
<When did you start liking me?>
But now he knew for sure.
Johann couldn’t take his eyes off the tiny figure of Seraphina walking on the distant beach and muttered softly.
“Since the first time we met.”
His murmured words didn’t reach her and scattered faintly with the salty breeze.
* * *
“Tsk.”
I kicked the innocent sand for no reason.
I felt uneasy. As if I had committed a tremendous mistake.
“Annoying.”
I didn’t even know who I was annoyed with.
Was it Johann, or was it myself?
Listening to the waves crashing in my ears, I walked along the long beach. I always thought of the sound of the waves as refreshing and pleasant, but now it felt like a whip scolding me for doing something wrong.
Johann said he liked me.
Telling someone like that to think of me as dead and forget me…
Even if it slipped out unintentionally, it was something I shouldn’t have said.
“But I was really destined to die.”
Though no one was listening, I mumbled as if complaining.
“What would you have done if things went according to the original story?”
What do you mean, what would he do?
He would have gone to Aveline and clung to her, saying he liked her.
Yet he acted so coldly.
Even though he probably intended to forget me soon.
“Haa…”
I let out a long sigh as I gazed at the distant horizon.
My heart felt as if it was being crushed by a huge rock. It hurt so much it was hard to breathe.
After all, he was destined to love Aveline.
A woman who wasn’t me…
“You bastard.”
I cursed Johann, who hadn’t done anything wrong.
The presence of Aveline, who had already made a name for herself as a purifier, grew uneasily in a corner of my heart.
* * *
In the capital, Elmon.
The imperial palace, without an emperor, was surprisingly running smoothly.
Even with the disappearance of Seraphina, the strongest purifier in history, the gloomy atmosphere from before was nowhere to be seen.
“Miss Aveline.”
Ionia looked at the pure woman in front of her with a polite, elegant smile.
When she first arrived at the imperial palace, she was scruffy, but after being washed and cleaned, she seemed more suited to dominate social circles than a battlefield.
Ionia recalled her first meeting with Aveline.
Hearing that a guest bearing the emperor’s token had arrived, Ionia hurried to the reception room, leaving her mountain of work behind.
<Nice to meet you. I am Ionia, the prime minister of the Granz Empire.>
<Oh, wow. I’m meeting someone important.>
Aveline was a woman who knew nothing of noble etiquette.
She reminded Ionia of her first impression of Seraphina. Although this one seemed a bit more gentle.
<It is indeed the emperor’s token. How did you receive it?>
<An undead appeared in the village I lived in, and His Majesty happened to pass by and saved us.>
<And?>
It wasn’t a token that could be given for such a trivial reason.
Ionia adjusted her glasses with her index finger and looked directly at Aveline.
Whether she was overwhelmed by the grandeur of the imperial palace or had difficulty speaking, Aveline hesitated, her lips moving silently.
But perhaps sensing that Ionia’s patience was short, she quickly spoke up. Her voice lacked confidence.
<I think I am a purifier…>
<Purifier?>
Ionia’s eyes lit up.
She was full of complaints about the foolish emperor who abandoned his duties for half a year, blinded by a woman, to tour the continent, but if he had picked up a rare purifier, it was something worth forgiving everything for.
<To what extent can you purify?>
<Well, I’ve only used it once, so I’m not exactly sure.>
<Let’s test it right away.>
With that, Ionia took Aveline to the purifier testing grounds.
The results were astonishing.
Contrary to her delicate appearance, Aveline was fearless. Not only did she face the ghouls head-on and purify them, but the range of her purification ability was also considerable.
Wanting to verify further, Ionia ventured outside the city, driven by curiosity. She hastily ordered Jesuf to assemble a knight order and rode to a place where there were high-level undead.
Though she grew up in a rural area, Aveline knew how to handle a horse.
Where did such a talent come from?
She was capable enough to immediately take Seraphina’s place.
What do you mean take her place?
She was much better.
She didn’t scream while purifying, she efficiently cleansed high-level undead, the range was unprecedented, and she could ride well without a unicorn’s blood in her veins.
Perfect.
Ionia silently praised Johann infinitely as she looked up at Aveline descending the stairs.
“Jesuf will accompany you halfway.”
“Yes, Miss Ionia.”
Aveline nodded in response. With a face that seemed capable of dominating social circles, she was dressed not in a gown but in combat attire. Adjusting her leather gloves, Aveline finished descending the stairs.
“I’m nervous about my first deployment.”
“The Imperial Knight Order will be with you until the Guardian of the North returns.”
Jesuf, who was already outside, spoke confidently.
An urgent request had arrived from the butler of Hilton Castle.
With Claude absent, the undead in the Grodes Mountains were becoming more rampant. They requested support, be it a knight order, a purifier, or a mage—anything would do.
These heroes or those heroes, really.
Jesuf clicked his tongue inwardly.
Beside him, Ionia bid farewell with a businesslike tone.
“It’s not easy being assigned to a rough place, but Hilton’s situation isn’t good.”
It was the place where Seraphina had fainted several times after overexerting her purification ability. She eventually fled, terrified.
“If I can repay the favor with my humble abilities, I’ll go anywhere.”
Her humble response surprised not only Ionia but Jesuf as well.
She was perfect in many ways.
To fill the vacant spot left by Seraphina.
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Night-Owl-Reader
This is why I don’t like Ionia. She fails to see that working Seraphina like a dog constantly making her travel between the heroes was too much. She was largely responsible for constantly making the FL travel with no rest and she seems to view the purifiers as objects just to be used. Over working good hard working employees will make them snap at some point.