After sending Grander off, Ludger sat on the sofa and closed his eyes for a mont.
Considering his teacher’s personality, she would have used her nearly limitless mana to open the dinsional gate.
‘The destination, Earth, is a place I already connected once, so finding the coordinates should not be difficult.’
He could have gone with her, but Ludger was currently imprisoned here as a war criminal.
Escape was sothing he could do whenever he wished, but the aftermath would have been far too great.
‘If only I could simply ignore everything.’
After eting Aileen and speaking with Grander, Ludger realized many things.
He had been born and raised in this world, and he had lived together with the people of this world.
His soul had originally belonged to a person living on Earth, but at so point during his ti here, he had beco influenced.
Before, he had been able to sever his hesitation and confusion under the justification of a firm goal.
But now, he himself knew better than anyone that he could not do that anymore.
So while watching Grander depart, he neither stopped her nor went with her.
He had a mountain of things he needed to take care of here.
‘A thread of connection cannot remain tied by only one side. The other person must hold it as well. That is why the thread remains, and their bond continues.’
Yes. In the end, he had not let go of that thread.
In a way, that was weakness—but Ludger accepted that weakness of his own.
Weak, wounded, anguished.
All of it, together, made up who he was.
‘I worry for my teacher who went to Earth alone, but... I doubt anything disastrous will happen.’
Grander was unpredictable, but Ludger felt certain that this ti she would be all right.
That was a trust made possible because she was his teacher, the mother who had raised him.
‘Since I have returned to this world, I cannot avert my eyes anymore. I will untangle these knots one by one.’
Ludger opened his eyes, revealing his blue gaze.
“I did not expect another guest to visit.”
A murmur spoken toward an empty space.
Naturally, no answer returned.
But Ludger continued speaking without concern.
“There is no need to be cautious. My teacher has gone, and there is no one here who would recognize you.”
A mont later, from the empty air, a voice echoed.
“Hearing you say it like that kind of hurts my pride.”
A clear, high-pitched and charming voice.
The air rippled like a stone thrown onto still water, and soon a woman appeared.
A form-fitting, sowhat daring outfit.
Black-and-white hair.
And a mischievous, impish smile—unchanged.
“You noticed I ca.”
“I have grown accustod to it after seeing you a few tis.”
Ludger let out a faint laugh and greeted her.
“It has been a while, Helia.”
“What’s this? Shouldn’t you start by asking if I am still alive?”
“I assud you would survive on your own.”
“That is fair. If you fell through the gap between dinsions and returned alive, everything else must seem trivial to you.”
Helia laughed and twirled the umbrella in her hand.
Ludger studied her for a mont, then let his gaze fall on her forehead.
“You have grown horns.”
Curved horns had sprouted on both sides of Helia’s forehead.
One of them was half-broken, exposing a smooth cross-section.
It should have felt strange to see horns he had never seen before, but oddly enough, they suited Helia’s appearance perfectly.
“So they grew... or did you have them originally.”
“Tch, you are quick. I thought you would point them out right away, but you accept them too easily. Yes. I always hid them using my ability.”
“Considering your lineage, it is not strange. But if you are revealing them like this before , you must no longer intend to hide them.”
Helia stretched her body lightly and approached the small round table.
She picked up one of the snacks with her slender fingers and tossed it into her mouth.
After chewing a few tis and swallowing, Helia spoke.
“We fought together, after all. Hiding sothing like this feels discourteous. And I should not hide too much from soone I am grateful to.”
“Soone you are grateful to?”
“You ended this detestable fight for .”
With the holy war three years ago, everything that had chained Helia’s life ca to an end.
The Holy Kingdom of Bretus was destroyed, and the main god Lunsis lost his divinity and died.
The inescapable cycle of karma she had never been able to break for ages—
The curse she had grown half-resigned to, relying only on avoidance and flight—
Ludger had cut that curse apart.
“Thanks to you, I am free. I do not have to care about anything anymore. So yes, you are soone I am grateful to. It is all thanks to you.”
“You are feeling unexpectedly sentintal. So what do you intend to do now?”
“That... even I do not know. I have just wandered the world for the past three years.”
“You never thought about what to do?”
“I thought of it as freedom where no one would co looking for . The freedom ca so suddenly that I cannot organize my thoughts. I try to look for sothing to do, but that only makes it harder.”
She grumbled as if speaking petty complaints, but her voice carried an unhideable anxiety.
Ludger understood why Helia had co to him.
“You want advice from .”
“What? Who said that? I only ca because an old comrade returned, okay? And to thank you while I’m at it.”
“Right. Since we were comrades once, giving you so advice is not unreasonable. Am I wrong?”
Helia began to speak, then shut her lips tightly.
It was not easy to refute.
Finally, she exhaled and admitted defeat.
“I do not know. What should I do now? What am I supposed to be?”
“A philosophical question.”
“I grew up as the future of my clan. And I was destined to beco a shrine maiden who served our god.”
But Lunsis wiped out their god, and the dragons were driven to extinction.
Only Helia remained alive.
She had been born as the future of her people—but if the clan was gone, what was the child left behind supposed to do?
She had been destined to beco a shrine maiden who served a god—but if the god disappeared, what was a shrine maiden supposed to do?
Once the grief of losing her family settled, what ca for Helia was a vast, ocean-deep emptiness.
She had lived only for the given purpose until now. To tell her to find a new one was too cruel and too difficult.
“I even thought of revenge. But honestly, I was never that obsessed with revenge. Surviving ca first.”
Then one day, Helia t soone—
Soone like her, a servant of a god, and at the sa ti one called a demon.
It had rely been curiosity.
If she t soone similar to herself, she thought she might discover sothing.
With that faint hope, she t other apostles—and among them, Suruna stood out.
Weaker than the others, yet strangely steadfast.
Unlike other apostles who lived blindly for the god or burned solely for revenge, Suruna had another purpose.
Helia grew curious, and so she stayed with Suruna.
And through that process, she ca to consider Suruna a friend.
But now that friend was gone.
Helia was alone again.
“What am I supposed to do now? Maybe it would have been better if I had died back then.”
Helia touched her broken horn with her fingertips.
That day, to survive, she had sacrificed one of her horns.
A symbol of pride as a descendant of dragons.
If one thought about it, more precious than life—
Proof that she was the last of the dragonkin.
She had spent it simply to stay alive.
“Your worry is similar to what my teacher felt. You should have asked her when she was here.”
“What? Are you joking? I would not go anywhere near that monster vampire.”
“And yet you ca to find without hesitation.”
“So what if I did? I am a demon; it is normal for to seek the Demon King.”
The Demon King.
Ludger had to stifle a laugh.
It was an unusually flimsy excuse for Helia.
Which only ant that she was cornered.
“Unfortunately, I do not have the knowledge to tell you what you should do.”
“What? Seriously... You were a teacher, weren’t you? When students worry about their future, do you not give them advice?”
“I never had a student who asked about their future.”
Aiden, Lene—
Those two already had found firm paths long before he could advise them.
Helia sighed.
Just as she was about to turn around in disappointnt, Ludger spoke.
“But I can give you faint advice.”
“......What is it?”
“For now, do what you want to do.”
“What kind of disappointing answer is that? I ca to ask because I do not know what I want to do.”
“Anything is fine. If you are hungry, eat sothing delicious. If you are tired, sleep. If you are bored, go to a theater or read a book.”
Helia listened silently.
At this point, she beca curious about what he was trying to say.
“Even sothing trivial is fine. Do sothing impulsively if you want. As you try many different things, you will eventually find sothing you like.”
“What is that supposed to an...”
“In the past several hundred years, have you ever done anything else?”
Helia could not answer.
Of course she hadn’t.
She had spent her life running from the Holy Kingdom of Bretus, and the rest watching Suruna.
“I gave the sa advice to my teacher. The world is vast. There are countless things you do not know and have not seen. Just as countless stars spread across the sky, the possibilities of this world will show you countless paths.”
Helia listened quietly.
“If you do not know what to do, then for now, make your goal finding what you want to do. When the ti cos, you will realize it.”
With a calr gaze, Ludger asked:
“Is there anything else you want to know?”
“......Hearing you were a teacher, I feel like the students could never sit through your class without getting bored.”
It was a completely unexpected reply, but Ludger only gave a faint laugh and shrugged.
“I was foolish to expect anything. I am going now. Unless you want to escape with .”
“I am waiting for the date of the execution to be set.”
“......Fine, I get it.”
Helia slowly lted into the air and disappeared.
Before the boundary between illusion and reality collapsed and her form vanished completely—
Helia gave her final farewell.
“Thanks for the advice.”
* * *
Morning arrived.
Ludger woke and ate the breakfast prepared by the imperial palace.
It was so luxurious that it was hard to believe it was being served to a war criminal, to the Demon King.
His taste buds, dried out for three years, revived vividly with every bite.
‘Should I call this a death-row inmate’s feast.’
But since the execution date had not been set yet, it seed many internal discussions were underway.
Ludger did not ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) bother concerning himself with that and simply enjoyed the daily routine given to him.
Perhaps to ensure complete secrecy, very few people walked in the place where Ludger was staying.
But “few” did not an “none.”
And those who could enter here were all people of considerable ability and influence within the imperial palace.
Like the two won who appeared now.
“I was just about to go for a walk, and I see familiar faces.”
“You are really living a comfortable life.”
Flora, now head of the Lumos family, crossed her arms and glared at Ludger.
“Well, it is a rare opportunity. I might as well enjoy it.”
“You seem a lot more sly than before.”
“I will not deny it. It has been three years since I last held a proper conversation. So, what brings you here? I am curious about the opinion of the Warden of National Defense beside you as well.”
Ludger turned his gaze to Terrina Lionhowl, who had co with Flora.
Unlike Flora—who had grown into a proper adult—Terrina had not changed at all through the years.
She stared at Ludger with a complicated gaze.
“Standing in the hallway talking is unseemly, so shall we walk together?”
Ludger spoke with a faint smile.
Flora looked ready to argue in annoyance, but she lost to Ludger’s smile.
“Sigh. Fine, Ludger Cherish.”
“You do not call ‘teacher’ anymore?”
“I already graduated from Seorn, you know? And I am now the head of the Lumos Ducal House.”
“It suits you well. I always believed you would beco like this.”
She had asked to be treated as a family head, but hearing praise instead left Flora montarily blank.
“......You really are unfair.”
Flora muttered under her breath, but Ludger did not hear it.
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