“Hey, um… everyone.”
It was Garm who spoke up hesitantly, scratching her cheek with a troubled look.
“Just now, well…”
Gurba took over for Garm, who was finding it hard to speak.
“Yes, the source of that magic was Hresvelg. That wind magic was likely Level 3 at best. To be able to release it with that output, it must be that child or someone who has received her protection. There is no doubt.”
“I thought as much. I’m not good with mana other than my King’s… but even I could tell that one.”
“Right…? Then, then… Nifl, why didn’t you say anything to Fuu-chan?”
Garm and Hresvelg often acted together and got along well due to their mental youthfulness. Garm, who understood the personality of the lonely spirit well, found it easy to imagine that she must be waiting for a helping hand.
The help Hresvelg sought was none other than the return of The Corpse King.
And naturally, when she recognized Hresvelg’s presence, Garm intended to tell her as a matter of course. However, what stopped her was Nifl’s word: “Goodbye.”
“……I couldn’t stomach the idea of just letting someone who left Helheim before anyone else and gave up on believing in The Corpse King simply taste the sweet nectar. That is all.”
Her eyes shining coldly and her brow furrowed in dislike decorated Nifl’s features, reminiscent of sharpened ice, making her look even sharper and colder.
“……Liar. If you really thought that, Nifl, you wouldn’t ignore her; you’d start a fight. You’d go to assert dominance. You’d crush her with the fact that you kept believing while Fuu-chan gave up.”
The youngest’s unreserved opinion made the self-proclaimed Right Hand’s cheek twitch.
“Garm, leave it at that. It’s effective against Nifl.”
“It is not effective. But well, the difference between me and that bratty girl is indeed obvious.”
Though Gurba intervened to mediate, Nifl let her hair flutter as if proudly boasting of her loyalty. Seeing the Right Hand, who had no intention of yielding the top spot in matters related to The Corpse King, Garm couldn’t help but feel a sense of inconsistency in her previous actions after all.
Even from the perspective of Nidhogg, who had been hiding in Nifl’s cloak, it was clearly strange behavior.
Nifl’s stance toward the female members, especially Nidhogg and Hresvelg, was “I am The Corpse King’s number one.”
She didn’t hate them; she competed with them. If she found something disagreeable, she would criticize them head-on. That was Nifl.
If that was the case, her action of leaving the guild without touching Hresvelg was certainly mysterious.
Attempting to interrogate her, Garm puffed out her cheeks while trying to glare harder than usual.
That sight unintentionally tickled Nifl’s protective instincts, causing her cold expression to break unconsciously.
“……I’m sorry, Garm.”
“Confess already~!”
Stroking the head of the wolf girl who was protesting with her hands up, Nifl lowered her gaze gently as if she had resigned.
“……That girl… she’s made a mess of her loneliness. She looks a lot like someone I don’t want to remember.”
What she recalled was a memory of snow. That loneliness withers life. That loneliness warps the heart.
Nifl knew this well.
“It is a sad thing, but the blank one hundred and eighty years that still linger in all of our hearts… those will not disappear even after The Corpse King’s return. The Corpse King is there for the future after those one hundred and eighty years, but he is not there in the past. ……Whether we reach the conclusion that everything is fine because he returned depends on us.”
The Eight Precepts who follow The Corpse King are not puppets.
Each one has a life and possesses emotions. Helheim exists because The Corpse King showed actions worthy of respect, the fact that they were saved remains, and he showed power worthy of following.
Nifl and the other Eight Precepts are by no means sycophantic hangers-on who merely flatter him.
Naturally, there are times they harbor doubts about his actions.
Even so, it is because of the trust he built that the Eight Precepts look up to Hel as their King.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.GITHUB.IO
One hundred and eighty years. The Eight Precepts, who were directly involved, understand that it was more than enough time to damage what The Corpse King had built.
Nifl still trembled with joy at the sight of his return and chose to follow him once again.
Garm was eager to repay the King who taught her about the world.
Nidhogg liked the strongman known as The Corpse King, who gave her meaningful combat rather than idle slaughter.
Gurba was once again won over by his personality and his power to use the armaments he made to their full potential without excess or deficiency.
Now that many years have passed since that painful parting, the four acting with The Corpse King is not an obligation, but free will.
However,
“Hresvelg is a very delicate child, and the one who hates loneliness the most. The ‘loneliness’ I speak of here is not about the mission imposed upon her since birth. It is the true loneliness she felt because she knew the family called Helheim. The one who gave her that… was none other than The Corpse King.”
Listing the facts and looking at it from a bird’s-eye view, the Eight Precepts were being jerked around by The Corpse King’s selfishness.
He loved the organization he created like a family, suddenly disappeared without saying anything, and then lightheartedly returned without even explaining the reason.
“Surely, various emotions are swirling within Hresvelg. I believe the only one who can resolve that is not us, but The Corpse King, and it is also something he should do. That person would absolutely say the same.”
The one who nodded most deeply to Nifl’s resolute declaration was Gurba.
“It would be easy for us to inform that child of the young master’s return. But if we do that, in the end, Hresvelg might lose her way to spit out those emotions. As Nifl says, she is delicate… and yet, she thinks of us very dearly. Seeing us following the young master again, what do you think that child will do?”
Gurba lowered his gaze as if passing a baton to Garm, who was looking down with a somber expression.
Garm gripped her cloak tightly, her voice trembling.
“Probably… she’d smile, even if it’s a lie, and stay with us… she’d swallow everything down.”
“Yeah. That’s exactly why she needs to spit it out. Directly to the young master.”
“It is painful to keep quiet, but forcibly bringing them together is a poor move. We must simply leave it to her and The Corpse King’s actions.”
“I see… I-I’m sorry…”
Nifl shook her head slowly and once again gently stroked the head of the girl whose ears had gone limp.
It was strangely easy for Garm to understand the explanation.
The reason the Eight Precepts each naturally chose to be alone was because they would remember.
The days when The Corpse King was there remained vivid and brilliant in their memories, and just seeing the faces of comrades who praised the same man as their King made those days easily resurface.
It was synonymous with being forced to face the loss they had to deal with as long as they lived.
Everyone scattered, and only Nifl remained at Eljudnir.
It was also Nifl’s will that she continued to ache at the traces of The Corpse King remaining in the mansion.
But she also understood all too well the feelings of the other members of the Eight Precepts who left the mansion to avoid seeing those traces.
Therefore, while she might boast of the strength of her own feelings, she had not a shred of intention to reproach the actions of the other members.
“When she reunites with The Corpse King, what Hresvelg will think and what The Corpse King will say… that can only be known at that time, in that place. All we can do is watch over them.”
“Fwaah… is the long talk about things we already knew finished?”
Pinching the wing of Nidhogg, who let out a yawn from boredom, Nifl began to play with it, flapping it back and forth. Seeing Nidhogg letting her do as she pleased, Garm laughed happily.
The Eight Precepts each have strong connections and hold various forms of respect for one another.
After all, Garm still wanted Hresvelg to be among them. That feeling remained unshaken.
However, she decided there was no need to rush.
She believed that if they talked properly and fought properly, the opportunity would naturally arise.
“Now then, it should be about time for The Corpse King’s talk to be over. Garm, can I ask you to sense him?”
“Yeah!”
As the revitalized Garm cut off her senses other than hearing, just as she had done at the guild…
[Ah—… Garm, can you hear me? I’m waiting in front of the stall near the Senoskar Trading Company. Ah—, Garm, can you hear me…?—]
The voice of the King, repeating the same message over and over, reached her ears.
“The King is waiting!!”
Garm broke into a run without hesitation.
Because she remembered that no matter what process they went through, there was no regret or anxiety in believing in him.
Visit the request page If there’s a Japanese Light Novel (LN) or Web Novel (WN) you’d like me to translate
When the donation goal progress bar above hit 100% one novel will be chosen for translation
| Table of Contents | Next* |
Support the Author by Buying the Original Books!
