0% I was taken aback.
“At least you should have lived. But why are you dead. Why did you die and co here!”
Sobbing, Lotte pulled in her arms. It seed she was thinking that she had died and was in the afterlife.
At my friend’s unexpected reaction, I actually laughed instead.
First, I was relieved that Lotte was alive and well, and second, I strangely felt like playing a prank.
Sure the Demon King was coming, but it was too good to let this pass.
Snickering on the inside, I put on my best act.
“Still, I’m glad we’re in the sa place. I thought I’d go to hell.”
Then Lotte began crying even harder, to the point that the officials doing maintenance work on the World Tree were giving her a ‘what’s with her’ kind of look.
So before Secuel stepped in, Lotte cried and cried for about 30 minutes in my arms.
The life that I had given in paynt was absolutely worth it.
“...What. I, lived?”
Imdiately after hearing what had happened from Secuel, Lotte’s face turned dumbfounded.
“Yeah, we’re both alive.”
I finally couldn’t help myself and burst into laughter.
Despite not being soone who was good at expressing their feelings, I couldn’t stop laughing. This made think that I did change a lot.
Realizing that this whole situation had all been playing a prank–
Lotte’s cheeks turned as red as an apple.
Afterwards, she wouldn’t lift her head until we got back to the dorms, and once we got back, she planted her head in the covers and didn’t show face for a while.
“I said it was a joke. You can stop being angry.”
- I’m not angry.
“Then why are you like that.”
- .......
A girl’s heart was a mystery.
Peek.
After so ti of kicking at the covers, Lotte poked her head out slightly. Her cheeks were still red.
“Thanks.”
Lotte said, smiling.
“For saving .”
“Well, it’s us, so.”
“What happened to the others?”
My face hardened quickly at that question.
“...The situation’s pretty bad.”
After Pasmo’s attack on the World Tree, they had lost many lives yet again.
Father Wilbur Vierbein, Yufiel’s distant relative, those who had been maintaining the World Tree with them, the mages who had struggled in battle.
And the students who had been on the field trip.
“This is only the beginning. The Demon King is back.”
“What, why?”
“The Lodestones were all taken. This was my fault.......”
I couldn’t raise my head.
If only I had been quicker.
No, if only I hadn’t had such twisted thoughts, the world wouldn’t have beco so bleak.
And as I was there making a mournful face–
Bang! went the door, and soone ca into the room.
A girl with glossy, plum-colored and small, cute fox ears and tail.
It was Freyr.
“Hey, how is that your fault!”
When the heck did she get here.
Marching up to , Freyr tsked and scolded .
“You didn’t do anything wrong. Not back at Tilette, and not even now. I helped you and saved you, so what is this? I don’t believe it, seriously!”
“You.......”
Freyr hugged , not even giving a chance to talk.
I could feel soft and squishy cheeks.
Then she began spilling everything she hadn’t been able to say until now.
‘I’m happy that you’re back’ was basically what it was about, but she spewed words like rapidfire that I didn’t catch everything.
“See, I’ve been wearing that ring that you gave all this ti. I believed, you know, that you were going to co back!”
But I could feel her sincerity.
Once again, I was glad that I was on this side.
Lotte also smiled and also showed her index finger. The ‘Ring of Fervor’ that she had received as the winning prize for the art festival was still shining brilliantly, its color untarnished.
“Freyr’s right. It’s not your fault that the Lodestones were taken or that the Demon King ca back. Okay?”
“.......”
“Where’s your answer.”
“Okay, I got it.”
With a sigh, I raised my hands in surrender.
Smiling brightly, Lotte continued.
“At least the three of us are back together. Freyr and I have been studying hard, so we should be of so help.”
She was right.
Unlike the beginning when I had been a slave, now there were people who trusted for who I was that I could share the work with.
If we put our minds to it, then things should go smoothly.
“Lotte’s right! The Demon King? So what? We can just make it go boom with that bomb of yours, no?”
Freyr wagged her tail and grinned.
I automatically stroked her head and smiled along with her.
“Yeah, we were working together to do that in the first place.”
“That’s right.”
“So, should we brainstorm together once again?”
Soon, we stopped with the personal conversations and started talking business.
Although it was nothing more than a newbie who had just beco an academy professor and two undergraduate students whispering together...
This conversation began to change the fate of the world.
**Many people were killed or injured in the attack on the World Tree.
In the process many bereaved families were born, and of course hated . The fact that I asked yesterday to go to wake and received stern refusal was proof of that.
As a result–
The elves’ were split on their opinion of .
- What are you doing? Throw her into prison!
We're in a dire situation with the Demon King being resurrected. Let us pardon her for now.
Have the laws died in this country? What exception is there in punishing Beasts?
She's under the Elental Kings’ protection. If we make the wrong move, then the public might....
The Parliant was debating on whether to put into prison or not.
I say discussion, but if you turned on the radio, there were only sounds of things being thrown.
- Citizens! Our country’s democracy is dead.
That one over there, get him replaced. Replace him, now!
We ask in earnest that the President take responsibility and voluntarily step down....
“...Don’t listen to the news, Aether.”
Even Lotte and Freyr were advising that. They didn’t want to get hurt, I guess.
To be honest, I didn’t care what they said about .
I was worried that there would be consequences for those around .
In particular, the perception of Golden-Eyeds was getting worse with the ‘Demon Army’s chief executives = Golden-Eyed’ hypothesis having been confird.
So I was slowly getting worried about the other Golden-Eyed girl besides .
Akasha? Rosemary?
My lovely sisters. Of course I was worried about them as well.
I heard that Rosemary was being held in the Empire, and Akasha was under investigation by the prosecution just because she didn’t have a guardian Elental.
I was probably going to go to court soon, too.
With that in mind, I headed towards the university hospital where my pupils had been admitted.
Knock knock.
- Who is it?
“It’s your teacher. I’m coming in.”
- Co in.
Creak.
When I opened the door and entered, two girls were there facing each other in the 2-person room.
One was reading a textbook, the other a piece of literature.
The one reading the textbook was Yufiel Vierbein, and the other was the Golden-Eyed elf, Leninya.
The two had been hospitalized after sustaining near-serious injuries.
“Are you feeling better?”
“Yes.”
“We’re almost recovered thanks to the Elental.”
The doctor had said. If it hadn’t been for Secuel’s healing, they could have died from blood loss.
Really, no matter how many tis I thanked the Water Elental King, it wouldn’t be enough.
I chatted with the two students for a bit, then cautiously brought it up.
“By the way, Leninya. Is everything else okay?”
“What do you an?”
Quirking her head, Leninya put down the book she was reading.
“You might also get into trouble because of .”
“Why? You didn’t do wrong, and neither did I.”
Ah, thanks for saying that, but...
The world wasn’t such a kind place, after all. I was scared that this gentle-natured child might get associated with and experience sothing awful.
As if she noticed what I was feeling, Leninya spoke up with a slight smile.
“Miss, I know what you’re worried about. In fact, a lot of people make the mistake of making hasty generalizations.”
“.......”
“Of course there are weird people within the Golden-Eyed, and even in the Demon Army, probably. But that’s not us, at least. The world might call you, Miss Aether, a monster, but as a fellow Golden-Eyed, I will still honor and respect you.”
I was quite touched by Leninya’s speech.
So this is why you serve as an educator.
Sohow, I felt like I could relate to Miss Heerlein.
“Because you’re my comrade, Miss.”
“......?”
What? Comrade?
“...Where did that word suddenly co from?”
“Here, it says in this book.”
Then Leninya gave a peek at the book she was reading.
At first I had thought it was so kind of adult novel because it was all red, so I hadn’t bothered to ask what kind of book it was....
“As long as there is mutual understanding, Golden-Eyeds are comrades and companions, and when a younger person addresses soone older, they are referred to as ‘comrade’.......”
The hell is this book.
“What in the world is that?”
“It’s a philosophy book that talks about how the Golden-Eyeds can escape from this current hegemony. My uncle left this for the other day to read when I got bored.”
Shlifff–Leninya flipped the pages.
“There should be a passage that you like as well.”
She started reading the first passage of the book.
“Unite, o Golden-Eyeds of the continent...!”
“Wait, stop right there.”
Sothing was strange.
Conscience of Yufiel, I cut off Leninya. Luckily, Yufiel didn’t seem to have much thought about it due to reviewing her textbook.
“Can I borrow the book for a sec?”
“Of course.”
Just in case, I took the book from Leninya and quickly scanned the passage.
[The history of the Golden-Eyed is a history of ethnic struggle.]
[Ethnic struggle is class struggle. In order to secure full rights for Golden-Eyeds, the staff must be sharpened into sharp hooks.]
[Make the High Elves tremble before the waves of Golden-Eyeds! We have nothing to lose in this revolution except our shackles, and the entire continent to gain.]
“When did this book co out?”
“When I checked, it’s only been a few months.”
“......Huup.”
Should I tell her to read this or not.
Not that I have the right to tell her what to do, but if Leninya reads this hard-toned book and becos narrow-minded....
Then that would beco my responsibility as her teacher.
“Would you mind talking with for now and reading the book later? If you have ti, of course.”
“I’m good with that.”
“You co, too, Yufiel.”
Yeah, let’s talk academics.
Leninya was sothing of a genius herself, and Yufiel was full of passion and was going to do great things in the future.
“It just so happens that both of you are working in my lab.”
It was to bring the two closer together. I gathered Yufiel and Leninya, and presented a series of plans.
“Would you like to research a magic with ?”
The more people, the better, even if it was just to do miscellaneous work. In fact, I ca to the hospital to make this offer to the two of them.
“What kind of magic?”
“You heard that the Demon King was resurrected, right? I’m planning to build a large-scale spell to stop him.”
“......!”
Leninya and Yufiel’s eyes sparked.
“I want to.”
“I want to!”
Good. This brought up the number of participants to five.
Although all four of them were just students, they were all exceptionally talented. They could surely be used for transmutation or mass production.
I patted the heads of the two enthusiastic students and thought about what ca next.
First I would have to convince the governnt, the Parliant, and many others to build a research team.
And in order to do this, Verl’s help was necessary.
“.......”
But I hadn’t seen Verl at all today.
What was he doing and where at a crucial ti like this.
**A dark hour.
Verl was heading towards the heart of the Elental Realm.
[Swish, swish.]
The Wind Elental King, Aerial, volunteered to be Verl’s guide.
Following the direction Aerial was pointing, Verl soon arrived at the spring.
“Huu.”
An aborted sigh.
[......?]
“I’m going to do it. No matter what.”
[Nod.]
Aerial looked disapproving, but she nodded reluctantly.
Originally, not just anyone could enter the Elental Realm. Only those who were permitted by great Elentals could enter as guests.
At so point, Verl had gained Aerial’s favor.
Because she loved a person’s willingness to save others.
Aerials observed the boy from a distance. Ti flew as she picked flowers and weaved them into a crown.
Then when 24 hours was up–
[...!]
Splash.
A young man ca out of the spring.
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