Chapter 129: Break up

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Translator: Soafp

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It was winter. Despite being indoors, the temperature was dropping below 10 degrees Celsius.

Elphus was wrapped in his blanket, dozing off after a long time.

“Elphus! Wake up! Something terrible has happened!”

A voice he didn’t recognize suddenly echoed in the room.

Rubbing his heavy eyelids, he sat up and saw a “blue raccoon?” floating in the air.

At first, he didn’t understand, but then he remembered it was Aoi, the spirit he had contracted with the day before yesterday.

“Why are you here so early in the morning… What’s wrong?”

“It’s terrible! Aldo has headed to the enemy’s territory to fight the ‘Master.'”

Again, for a moment, Elphus didn’t understand what was being said.

His brother should be resting in his room.

He hadn’t seemed well yesterday evening and hadn’t shown up for dinner, but…

Challenging the “Master” alone? That’s impossible. There’s no need for him to do such a thing.

However, the fact that this spirit didn’t need to lie was also true.

He suddenly woke up and rushed to his mother’s room.

Running through the mansion in his pajamas, he ignored the maids and butlers, who looked surprised.

He quickly arrived at his father and mother’s bedroom.

Without bothering to knock properly, he opened the door, and his mother was sleeping, drooling in her futon.

For a moment, he felt sorry, but now was a matter of urgency.

“Mom, please wake up. Something terrible has happened to Nii-sama.”

He woke his mother up and told her everything he had heard from Aoi.

At first, his mother was drowsy, but her expression quickly turned serious, and she immediately started moving.

“El, arm yourself immediately. Meet me in the living room when you’re done.”

With a word to him, she shouted loudly enough to be heard throughout the mansion.

“Roland! Gather Ashera and Halva in the living room!”

She shouted into the corridor after opening the door, then returned to her room to change.

“El, don’t just stand there watching me change. You should change too!”

“Yes…”

He immediately hurried back to his room, put on his armor, and rushed to the living room.

When he arrived, his mother was already wearing a robe, and Ashera and Halva were in their loungewear, waiting.

But Ashera’s demeanor was strange… Her eyes were swollen, as if she had been crying all night.

Perhaps losing her arm was a shock…

After confirming that everyone was there, his mother started talking.

“El, call Aoi out.”

He reached out to Aoi through the ring on his right hand.

The ring glowed, and Aoi appeared.

“If Aldo hasn’t gone to help yet… maybe it’s better to give up on him already.”

Aoi said jokingly, glancing at Elphus as if giving up.

Before Elphus could complain to Aoi, his mother spoke up.

“Aoi, if you say something like that again, I’ll kill you no matter what you are…”

His mother was serious. Although her tone wasn’t harsh, everyone in the room knew she meant it.

“I-I’m sorry, Nee-san… B-but Aldo…”

“I don’t want to hear about that. When did he leave?”

“It was about an hour ago, I think. It should have been about that long since he left my territory.”

“In that case, it’ll take about two more hours to reach the Demon’s Forest.”

Ashera interrupted the conversation between Aoi and his mother.

“Aldo headed to the Forbidden Forest?”

“……”

“Yeah, even though I tried to stop him. How does he plan to fight in the enemy’s territory?”

While Mother couldn’t answer Ashera’s question, Aoi answered in her place.

“H-He went alone?”

“Yeah. Even though I haven’t taught him how to fight with the Master yet… Haa“

Ashera tried to rush out of the room, but Halva stopped her.

“Let go. Father.”

“Where are you going? With just one arm like that?”

“I’m going to help Aldo!”

“Aldo-sama is an ‘Apostle’! He’s different from us. I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Yesterday, Rafina-sama told me about ‘Apostles’ and the ‘new race’…”

Ashera tried to break free from Halva’s grip, but she couldn’t balance properly with just one arm and ended up being caught by Halva.

“Let me go to Aldo!”

“No, you can’t!”

“I’m Aldo’s fiancée!”

“That’s not true anymore!”

“Huh? Why… How do you know?”

“…”

Halva avoided Ashera’s gaze with a guilty expression.

“What do you mean?”

“…”

“What do you mean?! Father!”

“…Last night, I proposed to Aldo-sama to annul the engagement.”

Ashera’s expression turned startled, then she glared at Halva with a face that looked like she was about to cry.

“F-father… It’s… all… your… fault… for… making Aldo… say such things!”

“…”

“Why… Why… would you do such a thing…”

Tears welled up in Ashera’s eyes.

“Aldo-sama is an Apostle. He’s under the protection of the spirits. But you’re just an ordinary human. With that arm… surely you’ll run out of strength somewhere. I don’t want to see the place where you die…”

“I’d gladly give my arm or leg for Aldo!”

“…”

“I’m going to Aldo!”

“No! Don’t you understand that if you go now, you won’t be able to come back!”

“I don’t care! I want to be by Aldo’s side, even if I can’t come back!”

“Why… Why don’t you understand… Ashera… I just wanted… you to be happy…”

There was a glint in Halva’s eyes too.

“F-father… Thank you… Goodbye…”

With that, Ashera rushed into her room.

Leaving Halva, who had collapsed, alone in the room, staring at the floor.

Without saying a word to Halva, my mother and I headed to Ashera’s room.

Of course, we couldn’t possibly witness Ashera changing clothes.

With just one arm, it would be difficult for her to change clothes by herself. My mother helped her.

A few minutes later, the door opened, and my mother invited me into the room.

The window was wide open, letting the winter breeze into the room.

“El, please… take care of Al…”

Mother couldn’t use spatial kicking. She knew she’d just be a burden. She must have realized that.

“Leave it to me, Mom.”

With that, Ashera and I rushed into the sky from the window.

My magic power would recover quickly within Aoi’s realm.

If I carried Ashera, it would reduce her magic consumption.

“Ashera, I’ll carry you to the limits of your realm.”

At my words, Ashera smiled faintly and shook her head.

“I’m Aldo’s fiancée. Even if your are his younger brother, Elphas, you can’t touch me.”

I’m such an idiot. Thinking about it from the opposite perspective, if I were in Marl’s position, I could understand what Ashera was saying.

“I’m sorry, Ashera. I was reckless.”

“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

With a fleeting smile, Ashera and I flew through the sky.

Since leaving Aoi’s realm, we’ve been running on the ground to conserve magic power.

Using space kick to travel in a straight line would be faster, but it would be pointless if we ran out of magic power when we arrived.

We’re heading towards the Demon Forest, but Nii-sama is more than an hour ahead of us.

Honestly, it wouldn’t be surprising if he’s already engaged in battle with the Emperor.

I calm my restless emotions and hurry towards the Demon Forest.

[Ashera PoV]

I’m running with Elphus towards the Demon Forest.

What I’m thinking about is yesterday… I quickly noticed something was off with Aldo.

I went to check on him out of concern and found him sitting in a dark room, staring out into the night. Despite the cold, he hadn’t used any air conditioning magic…

When I held his hand, it was as cold as ice, so I quickly warmed it with air conditioning magic.

Even when I tried to talk to him, Aldo didn’t respond and just kept crying…

I couldn’t understand why he was crying. Eventually, Aldo continued crying and finally said, “I want to cancel our engagement.”

Why couldn’t I imagine what Aldo was feeling at that time?

Aldo would never abandon me. I still remember his face when he came chasing after me.

Why couldn’t I believe him? If I had just laughed it off, Aldo would have surely joked around with me…

In the end, I ended up confronting Aldo and crying before storming out of the room.

I blamed it on “Father’s fault” earlier, but it was really my fault. I couldn’t fully believe in Aldo, and that’s my fault.

I need to meet Aldo again and talk to him…

If… by some chance… it’s too late… I’ll sell my soul to the devil if I have to, just to kill the Emperor…

It’s been almost two hours since we started running. It’s about time we arrived at the Demon Forest.

As I’m thinking about this, we emerge into the eerie atmosphere of the forest.

It’s not exactly the same as my memory from five years ago, but this distinctive engulfing feeling confirms that it’s undoubtedly the Demon Forest.

Elphus seems to feel it more keenly, furrowing his brow as he runs alongside me.

We’ve arrived at the Demon Forest, but I don’t know where Aldo is…

“Elphus, please use area sonar.”

Using area sonar would reveal our position to magical beings. Even though I haven’t used magic at all, there’s no guarantee that the Emperor can’t use magic.

In fact, there’s a possibility that he could summon even more terrifying magical creatures.

But Elphus nods once with a determined expression.

For a moment, Elphus sends out a probing magical energy around us.

I can’t use it myself, but Elphus closes his eyes and concentrates, not missing any trace of magical energy.

After about ten seconds, Elphus opens his eyes and shakes his head.

I’ve heard this before. Without magic, it’s difficult to detect with range sonar. And then… the word “death” crosses my mind.

I can’t stay here any longer, so I use space kick to ascend into the sky.

From above, the Demon Forest looks like a vast expanse of trees. It’s difficult to spot anything from the sky.

When I was about to give up searching from above, I saw a faint light.

My heart raced. I descended to the ground, following the faint light, and there lay a “filthy staff.”

Passing magic through the staff, it began to glow… This was the staff I obtained in the “Claw Fang Labyrinth.”

Realizing this immediately, I tightly gripped the staff and scanned the surroundings. There… though I could only see his back, that armor unmistakably belonged to Aldo… Upon closer inspection, there were countless goblin king corpses strewn about in the distance.

Aldo lay motionless on the ground, not even a twitch. Even with my magical sight, I couldn’t see any magical energy.

A person without magical energy… The word “death” began to dominate my mind.

Frozen with fear, I stood there until Elphus descended from the sky beside me.

Elphus found Aldo, and with a burst of energy, approached him.

Elphus called out to the fallen Aldo, touched his cheek, shook him, trying to wake him up. But there was no sign of Aldo stirring…

My legs trembled. I was afraid of what Elphus would say next… Unable to run or approach, I could only watch.

Light…

Suddenly, light poured from Elphus onto Aldo… it was a magical light. Slowly but surely, Aldo’s magical energy returned… He’s alive.

Aldo must have used magic right up until the moment of death. Receiving magic from Elphus, he slowly opened his eyes and slowly rose.

Overwhelmed with joy, I threw myself at Aldo as if yesterday had never happened. Aldo seemed a little bewildered, but he hugged me tightly in return.

“Ashera, I’m sorry…”

“No…”

“I guess I really can’t do without you…”

“Yeah…”

“Can we forget about yesterday?”

“Yeah…”

“Once again… will you marry me?”

“Yeah…”

From then on, there were no more words. Aldo and I embraced each other silently, confirming each other’s existence.

[Aldo PoV]

I seem to have survived when I thought I was going to die.

To be honest, I have no idea why I’m still alive…

But right now, I’m just sincerely grateful to be alive.

When I get back, I’ll talk to Halva. He might not forgive me right away, but I’ll keep trying until he does.

I’ll show my sincerity and talk to him. After all, he is going to be my father-in-law.