## Chapter 240 – Malice (4)
After everything subsided, Ryu quietly opened his eyes and could definitely feel that he was much better. He cautiously asked Low, who was standing in front of him,
“Is it over now?”
Low quietly embraced Ryu, who had been suffering from an unknown fear. Ryu buried his face in Low’s chest, which had a slightly sweet scent, and calmed himself for a moment. Low gently stroked Ryu’s back and opened her mouth.
“You don’t have to worry anymore.”
“I think I did the right thing by coming to you, Low.”
“There won’t be any problems for a while. However…”
She trailed off at the end of her sentence. The phrase “for a while” shook Ryu’s anxiety.
“It hasn’t completely disappeared. I’ve only scattered the malice that had accumulated for now…”
Ryu’s face darkened again. He asked Low again in a trembling voice, as if to confirm.
“So, you’re saying the same thing could happen again?”
Low answered Ryu, who asked in a despondent voice, in a very calm tone.
“That’s right.”
So, does that mean this situation will continue?
“I can solve it every time, but… that’s not a fundamental solution.”
Low’s words stopped registering in his ears at some point. Unlike before, in the drooping atmosphere, Low patted his shoulder.
“Let’s go up and rest for now.”
Ryu nodded instead of answering and staggered out of her arms. Claire could only watch the scene from behind, unable to offer any comfort. Now that she knew the weight he carried, she realized that there was no consolation she, as a mere vassal who had only thought of him as a talented student favored by the Demon Kings, could offer.
In the heavy atmosphere, the three people went back up to Low’s room and were each sparing with their words.
Ryu sat on the bed, staring blankly into the air, and Claire sat on a small chair, looking at Ryu worriedly. Low, who was moving with a leisurely atmosphere as if she were in a different world, put different refreshments on the table than before and cautiously opened her mouth.
“Rest here for a moment.”
“Yes?”
As soon as she finished speaking, Low disappeared without even hearing an answer. Ryu was embarrassed by Low’s disappearance without leaving a trace, as if she had never been there in the first place, and got up from his seat.
He had never seen Low disappear without saying a word like this.
In a situation where his mind was already disturbed, unexpected things happened one after another, and Ryu began to wander around the room anxiously.
Claire carefully spoke to him.
“Are you okay?”
Only then did Ryu stop walking and look at Claire. He still had an anxious look on his face, but he nodded, trying to look okay.
“I’m fine. You must be in trouble too, Claire, getting caught up in something like this.”
Claire shook her head and replied.
“You don’t have to worry about me. I’m ready to follow you anywhere you go, Ryu.”
It would be a lie if he said that he wasn’t burdened by her blind loyalty, but it felt pretty good to have someone who consistently followed him.
Low had told him to rest comfortably, and he couldn’t keep showing an anxious appearance forever. He wasn’t alone now, was he? It was time to show at least a little trustworthy side.
Ryu sat down again, took a breath, and asked Claire a trivial question in a voice that was much better than before.
“How do you usually spend your time, Claire?”
“Me? I don’t really do anything special. I just train or take care of the work that has piled up at the academy.”
“It must be tiring. Managing so many people in the position of student council president.”
Then Claire smiled faintly.
“If you had accepted my offer back then and joined the student council, I would have been a little more comfortable.”
“Th, that’s…”
Claire stared at Ryu and burst into laughter. Her smiling brightly like a child was completely different from Claire’s usual atmosphere.
“I’m just kidding. The academy is too small of a stage to hold you, Ryu.”
“I didn’t know you could joke.”
“I’m not such a rigid and boring person either. It’s just that people around me misunderstand me.”
“I’m glad to see a new side of you, Claire.”
Claire stared at Ryu’s face as he spoke with a bright smile, and then quickly averted her gaze, as if she realized that her face was slightly red.
“Y, you shouldn’t say things like that to just any girl.”
Ryu, who had thought of Claire as just a rigid person like everyone else, became more and more interested in Claire, who was showing more diverse reactions than he had expected.
While the two were talking in a more comfortable atmosphere than before, space twisted again and Low appeared.
“Did you wait long? Let’s go to District 4 right away.”
Ryu doubted his ears at the sudden remark.
“Yes?”
Low gestured with a nonchalant expression, and the surrounding objects gathered in one place and began to compress. Was she packing those as luggage? As he wondered, Ryu came to his senses and opened his mouth again in a louder voice than before.
“District 4? What do you mean?”
“Didn’t I tell you before I left?”
“No…”
Low sat down nearby and slowly began to explain.
“My child, what periodically dwells in your body cannot be completely eliminated. The reason you’ve been okay so far is because the power hasn’t taken hold yet…”
Even hearing it again, it was a desperate situation.
“Now that you are slowly awakening the power of the dragon, you must bear the weight of that power.”
“If it’s a power that can hurt the people around me, I’d rather not have it…”
Ryu clenched his fist tightly and trailed off.
“That’s why we’re going to District 4 to solve it… so put your worries aside.”
“What’s in District 4?”
He remembered hearing that it was an area with artisans who made various weapons and armor and who were skilled in metallurgy. It didn’t seem like it would be helpful to him right now. But Low wouldn’t do anything unnecessary, so he decided to listen quietly.
“Rampaging magic power needs to be tamed, refined, and controlled as your own power. You can get equipment in District 4 that can easily help with that.”
After listening, he understood what she meant. However, there was one thing that bothered him.
“If you disappear without saying anything, Aser will worry…”
Aser shouldn’t know about this. He must think that if he just solves the secret dwelling in Ryu’s body, he will return immediately, but if he suddenly leaves for an indefinite trip to District 4, he will surely worry.
“Can’t I at least tell him and come?”
Low shook her head and said in a slow tone.
“I just finished talking to him, so you don’t have to worry about it…”
Was that why she left for a while?
He couldn’t imagine Aser easily allowing it, but he couldn’t go against Low’s words either. Besides, if it was a way to solve Ryu’s problem, there was no justification for refusing.
Low looked in the direction of Claire and opened her mouth again.
“Ah, and you, the child over there. You are no exception.”
Claire was startled and widened her eyes, pointing at herself with her finger.
“Are you talking about me?”
“Yes… in order to protect my child from now on, you must also have that much power, right?”
Claire felt a surge of emotion.
Wasn’t this Low, who had the most mysterious atmosphere and overwhelming power in the Demon Realm and was followed by so many people, acknowledging her? She was so moved by that fact that she didn’t feel anything strange about her calling Ryu her child.
The one who was experiencing a bigger problem than that right now was none other than Ryu.
He didn’t care about going to District 4 to solve his problem. What Ryu was concerned about was Veronica, the Demon King who ruled District 4. He had been aware that Veronica’s eyes, which had spewed out harsh words to him when everyone had gathered at Aser’s mansion before, were not pleasing.
Low was next to him, so there wouldn’t be any major problems, but it wasn’t a pleasant thing to directly accept people’s malice into his body.
But he couldn’t live in the shadow of others forever. He couldn’t hurt those who protected him.
He decided to just focus on moving forward now.
