Chapter 515 – 515. The Cave Dwarf (4)
The neat mana that flowed from Regina condensed in the air, and a calm wind began to surround it.
It is the process of summoning the wind spirit that Regina made a contract with.
[Intermediate Spiritual Art]
[Summon the Spirit of the Middle Level]
“This…”
Eunhyeon had seen Regina’s spirit once during the last ancient demon subjugation.
Who the spirit really was, he recalled how embarrassed he had been when he realized it.
Now he was reunited with one of those past ties he had given up on that he would never see again.
[Queen? What brings you here… Uh… ?]
Sylvia, a middle-class spirit who manifested in the underworld at the call of Regina, the queen of elves, was taken aback when she noticed the presence of Eun-hyeon in her throne room.
[Uh, why are you here… ?]
“You must have regretted it because you seemed to have been too ambiguous before.”
[When am I!?]
Sylvia’s startled and questioning attitude was not the kind of people that could treat the elven queen.
Originally reincarnated as a spirit by the power of the World Tree, Sylvia was no longer obligated to follow the Elf Queen, but it was impossible for her to change her habits that had been inherited since her birth overnight.
It wasn’t such a bad feeling for Regina that Sylvia was yelling at her as if to argue with herself.
“At that time, we couldn’t even talk properly. Teacher?”
“… It did.”
As the top priority was to deal with the ancient demons and the dragon Renat, the culprit who summoned them, she had no time to share her impressions of her reunion with Sylvia, whom she hadn’t seen in a long time.
Even after the fight was over, as they were busy rebuilding the contaminated land and forest, the reunion between Eunhyeon and Sylvia was fuzzy and ended in an ambiguous way.
It was Regina’s small consideration to give Eunhyeon time to talk to Sylvia on the condition that she write a letter of introduction from the dwarf.
“Slow down and talk.”
“… Lily?”
“Yes. Master.”
“For a moment… Won’t you leave your seat?”
“All right.”
Lily immediately caught her mood and nodded her head.
Although she had a mysterious feeling when she first saw an unfamiliar being called a spirit that was summoned to the underworld after being condensed with magical power, she immediately recognized that it was an existence intertwined with Eunhyeon in a complicated story.
“First, let me guide you to the teacher’s residence.”
Not knowing how long their conversation would take, Regina took Lily from her seat and left her audience room at Eun-hyeon’s request.
Regina, her queen, doesn’t seem to care at all, though the unfortunate situation arises when her elders and her guests come to visit her queen, leaving her seat empty.
“…”
Following Regina, who led her, Lily cautiously followed her.
Responding to Regina’s summons in the audience room, she wanted to ask about the relationship between the manifested spirit and her Eunhyun, but she is full of worries about whether she can ask it herself.
The spirit and Eunhyeon looked at each other with complicated expressions and an awkward air current flowed, so I was more concerned.
“Does it bother you?”
“Yes?”
She keeps glancing at herself, and Lily’s gaze is a sign that Regina, whose senses are sensitive, can tell without looking behind her.
She’s a demon with this attitude, she asked Lily, feeling that her perception, which had been embedded in her own head, was slowly fading away.
“What is the relationship between the teacher and the spirit I summoned?”
“…”
Of course you have to be concerned.
More worrying than anything, do Illyana and Eleanor know about this?
Various thoughts came and went in my head, and Regina laughed when she missed the timing to answer no to Regina’s question and went silent.
“Before that spirit became a spirit, she was a resident of the same forest as us. And he is someone who had a relationship with the teacher in the past.”
“…”
“You look very unwilling for what you’ve been curious about.”
“That, that… Anyway, the story of the master’s past… Wouldn’t it be right to listen directly to the master?”
That’s a fair argument.
Even though half of it is mixed with the blood of the devil, who is the same as the enemy of the continent, her actions and words reveal her upright and upright mind.
She really is different from the first impression, the more you look at her, the more you like her.
‘As well as those two, the teacher’s wives are really special.’
One of them is a high-ranking magician who boasts excellent magic skills enough to resurrect the world tree and is counted among the fingers of the entire continent.
The other is a priest called a saint who can use the divine power of a higher world after being chosen by the gods.
And even the devil who possesses pure and clean magical power that is unlike anything in front of his eyes.
Hearing that she had four wives, Regina even wondered what kind of person her last wife would be.
With that thought in mind, Regina continued her words while maintaining her smile.
“Okay. But the story I want to tell is not a teacher-centered story.”
“Yes?”
“We elves are just talking about what happened in the past. And what kind of efforts the teacher made for our village there.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“…”
“…”
An awkward silence filled the inside of the audience room, where only the two of them were left.
Although they had recognized each other’s existence and faced each other directly during the battle to subdue the ancient demons, at that time it was not a situation where the two of them could have a leisurely conversation.
According to Regina’s insight, it is true that Sylvia was regretful about it and did not try to express it.
If we met again, she imagined and feared many things about what she should say and what expression she should make.
By making the choice to commit suicide, she left a lifelong scar on his head, so what excuse could she make for herself?
Even though she had a desire to talk to her again, Sylvia could not speak to Eun-hyeon because she was afraid of it.
The first to break this heavy silence is Eun-hyeon, who is in front of Sylvia, who doesn’t know what to do in this situation.
“Long time no see. Sylvia.”
Sylvia trembled slightly as her translucent shoulders lifted at the sound of her voice calling her name.
There was the same familiarity in her voice as when she called herself 400 years ago, but there was a distinct difference in her changed designation.
[Hey, why don’t you call me older sister now… ?]
“I am older than Sylvia now?”
[…]
Seeing Eun-hyeon shrug her shoulders and smile, a part of her heart feels very sad.
[She said how old she was…]
“Less than 400 years have passed since then.”
[Where did you learn the habit of talking back? You weren’t like this before!]
“Because many years have passed.”
[You really… ! Whoa…]
Sylvia, who had been thinking and hesitating until now, let out a long sigh as if she had lost her energy as she felt herself being made a fool.
“Are you feeling better now?”
[Joy. I don’t know.]
It was a little prank to ease her tension, but Sylvia turned her head away and expressed with her whole body that she was offended.
She was only old, but her personality, which strangely did not show an older appearance even during her lifetime, seems to be the same.
[How did he get older and smirk? When she was 60, she was still mild.]
Even from a human point of view, 60 years old is already old enough to grow old, but Eun-hyeon, whose body has not progressed in aging thanks to the blessing of the goddess, was no different from a child to the elves.
“Because a lot happened. After that…”
[…]
Eunhyun’s expression, which implies her various meanings, contained various emotions including bitterness.
Stunned at her moment, Sylvia turned her head again to look at Eun-hyeon and decided to honestly express her feelings, which had been hesitant until now.
[… I’m sorry.]
“Yes?”
[At that time… I made the choice to cut my throat and kill myself in front of you…]
When she was captured by a dark elf and held hostage with her blade draped around her neck, Sylvia committed suicide by thrusting her throat into the blade herself.
It was a noble and glorious sacrifice as an elf to not become a burden to her people, but Eun-hyeon kept thinking about it.
“… Are you okay.”
Eunhyun smiled bitterly at her and accepted Sylvia’s apology.
“I am in very good condition now.”
Her spirit, which had become more and more impoverished as she lived for a long time, was gradually healed through the many efforts of her wives, including her Belldandi.
Now, with their help and the help of many people, I am busy preparing for the dangers that will come to this place.
It’s different from the past, when I always struggled to move alone in the dark.
[… I see.]
Seeing her sincere bright smile, Sylvia was able to relieve a part of her guilt-heavy heart.
Sylvia herself died, leaving the village of the elves, she could not fathom what Eun-hyeon was experiencing and what she was now, she had reached this moment.
She slowly floated in the air and lowered her own body to land on the ground and then, sitting in her chair, she came forward to Eun-hyeon and she faced him.
[Can you tell me? The experiences you’ve had so far…]
“… Yes.”
Eun-hyeon started to tell her own story with a small smile.
Sylvia, who heard all of her Eunhyeon’s story, lowered her head and muttered softly.
[It must have been difficult…]
It was a short word, but her murmur was enough to become a warm consolation in Eun-hyeon’s heart.
Soon, after she finished her story, Sylvia’s shape began to blur.
As her magic power supplied by Regina was gradually depleted, her form maintained in her underworld was gradually crumbling.
[It’s already time like this.]
We were just talking, but when did time pass so quickly, the sun had already set outside and night had come.
[Also… Can we meet and talk?]
“Sure. Regina is not that mean.”
[… The queen is already nasty enough.]
Regina, who summoned and neglected her self, must have been embarrassed and smiled happily imagining herself at a loss for what to do.
“See you next time with a smile. It’s not an awkward start like today. … Sister.”
[… Huh.]
Sylvia smiled as if she was very happy with Eunhyun’s words, who promised her the next move.
Just by calling her by a familiar title again, as before, the guilt that had been weighing heavily on her heart so far disappeared little by little.
[See you again. Hyuna.]
When Sylvia is reverse summoned and disappears when time runs out, only Eun-hyeon is left alone inside her throne room.
She immediately opened the door and went out into the hallway, where Regina was already waiting.
“It’s been a long story.”
“… Regina. It was so mean.”
“Huh, is that so? But she says Sylvia is bad. Because that’s how she grunted and showed off. You wouldn’t know how frustrated I was as a viewer.”
Seeing off Eun-hyeon, who was moving her steps and heading outside her building, Regina showed her relieved expression as if she had finally relieved her tightness in her heart.
“I have already delivered the letter of introduction to the dwarves to Lily. Are you leaving tomorrow?”
“It should be. I want to do it as quickly as possible.”
“Please come back often and talk to Sylvia. Otherwise, I think I will be frustrated again.”
“… Okay. Okay.”
Eunhyun accepted Regina’s mischievous joke with a small bitter smile.
When she came out of the building, she was seen off by Regina and moved to her own abode, where her Lily would be waiting.
