DMHS 56

–Ahahahaha! Yeah! This is it!

Balls of flame poured down like rain. The forest, which had dried up with no flow of life left, was instantly swallowed by fire. Betias laughed loudly and ran through the flames.

The girl who arrived at the village erased her smile. She stomped her feet and shouted to the people.

–It is serious! The forest caught fire! If it keeps going like this, the water of life will burn before the black land swallows it. Everyone, hurry! Take the water of life and go somewhere else!

But not only the elder, nobody moved their feet. They only watched Betias with unreadable eyes.

Betias felt like her chest would explode.

–Fire is different from the black land. According to the records left in the Library of Eternity, the forest has burned three times before. Each time we moved our home. This time is the same. Everyone must evacuate outside the forest!

Only then did one of Betias’s older sisters step forward. She stroked Betias’s head and answered.

–Alright.

It was the answer she had been waiting for, yet for some reason she could not feel relieved.

–Really? We can’t stay here like this. Everyone has to leave.

Her sister smiled kindly.

–Of course, Beti. Have you ever seen me lie? We will perform the ritual to break the branch of the World Tree and then go. You go wait outside the forest first. Young elves are not allowed to take part in the ritual.

Betias blamed herself for doubting her sister even for a short while.

Elves were different from humans. They did not know how to speak lies or trick others.

Her impatience must have brought up the human distrust that made up half her blood.

–The fire is spreading fast so you must hurry.

Betias reached the east, far from the fire. She spun around in place at a spot where she could see the forest, waiting for the elves to come out. She was so caught up thinking of what was ahead that she lost track of time.

‘Where should we go?’

‘We will have to find a new forest to live together in.’

‘We might need the help of humans. When that happens, I will step up and handle it.’

‘Don’t worry too early. When the time comes, I can do everything.’

Because of that, Betias only noticed something strange after a long while.

‘Why are they still not coming out?’

Fwoooosh.

At that moment the fire roared up high. Thick smoke flowing out of the forest blocked her sight.

Betias stared blankly at the flames. The fire pit was burning down the home she loved more than anything in the world.

“……”

The blazing fire turned everything into a handful of ashes.

“……”

Only then did Betias realize. All the elves, including her mother and sisters, had chosen to disappear with the Eternal Forest. Even if Betias had done something worse than this, nothing could have changed their decision. Everything ended like that.

“……”

Betias no longer cried. She watched the burning forest with a face cold enough to bring frost.

It took a full week for the Eternal Forest to burn down completely. A week later heavy rain poured from the sky.

Ssshhh.

Betias stood in the downpour and looked around at the forest turned into ashes.

Because the fire had burned everything, the black land had not spread past the last point Betias had checked.

Only the bare frames of the village buildings remained. Even so, Betias could tell whose house each building had been. Every elf lay quietly on their own bed as they accepted death.

Betias gathered the remains and buried them. With stones she found nearby she set up headstones one by one.

Time passed and Betias became a companion of the Hero. She defeated the Demon King. All the black land in this world vanished. And then…

The ashes left after everything burned down became natural fertilizer. Seeds carried from far away sprouted in the Eternal Forest. Grass and trees grew thickly, forming a new forest.

After completing the task of defeating the Demon King, Betias walked into the newly formed forest. She built a tower shaped after the World Tree, and she laid a spell on the forest so no outsider could enter.

Not everything was the same as before, but Betias herself remained unchanged.

She looked at the forest alone.

The forest was always the same. One was the whole, and the whole was one.

It reached out toward the place where the sun stood high and lay down together in the direction the wind blew.

The only one who could not do so was her.

The memory ended there. Lucien was back in the corridor of the Magic Tower. Outside the window dolls kept falling endlessly.

‘Not a good sight for my mate to see.’

Lucien thought of Kian and opened the door before him.

The cool breeze gave him a short relief, but then he found Kian hanging on the balcony, looking ready to jump down any second.

He hurriedly held Kian and tried to calm him, but the suffocation did not go away.

‘It is difficult.’

He thought everything would work out once he found his mate, so why was everything so complicated?

Honestly, Lucien had no interest in the kingdom’s affairs. He only wanted to take his mate and go to the Dragon Realm.

The problem was his mate. Kian showed far too much concern for human matters. Lucien had whined and begged him to stay by his side, but it was no use.

Not only that. Instead, Kian grew distant from Lucien, who treated his own matters as worthless.

On the night they spent in the bandits’ hideout, his mate went out the window saying he would save a girl named Mila.

Lucien stayed alone in the room, he was lost in thought.

‘If it keeps going like this, my mate will leave me. When he abandons me, he will not even have a small regret.’

That was something he absolutely refused.

In the end Lucien accepted that saving people was important to his mate. So he cleared out the bandits just as Kian wanted.

It was the same here in the Magic Tower. The only reason he searched the tower that reeked with a musty smell was because he wanted to please his mate.

‘And yet all I found out was the half-elf’s shabby past. After so much patience, the one who returned to me was my mate, covered in another creature’s blood.’

While Lucien grew irritated with the suffocating situation, Kian slowly came back to his senses.

‘Huh…’

Kian had buried his head on the shoulder of someone smaller than himself. A gentle hand slowly stroked his back. It was careful and kind, like putting a child to sleep with a lullaby.

‘Where is this?’

The answer came to him as soon as he asked.

‘The Magic Tower!’

Kian pushed Lucien, who was holding him. He rushed to the balcony, but the dolls’ leaps had already ended.

Light reflected from the beads rolling across the faraway grass stabbed his eyes.

‘I must find the shaman.’

As if he had read that thought, Lucien spoke.

“The shaman is not here. This magic was designed in advance.”

“But we can’t be sure.”

“If you want to go, I won’t stop you. But if it were me, I would search the Tower Master’s corpse. That body might disappear at any moment.”

It was a fair point.

“You are right. Since the book I brought from that room vanished without a trace, other evidence might vanish too.”

“Come with me.”

Lucien opened the door connected to the stairs. But beyond the door was not a staircase, it was the Master’s room.

Kian laughed.

‘If I ask how he did it, he will only answer that it just worked.’

“Is this what you were talking about? ‘The day of judgment will come.’”

Lucien stood with folded arms facing the wall, then he turned back.

“The words written in blood are still here. The corpse that was under them is gone though.”

“Was the corpse here?”

Lucien pointed with his foot to a spot.

“There is a trace of black magic.”

“Really?”

When he moved his foot, a magic circle was there just as he said. It must have been hidden under the body before.

“What kind of magic did he use?”

“I don’t know that. I will draw the shape of the circle, then we can ask someone.”

“That is a good idea.”

Lucien roughly searched the Master’s desk and found a pen and paper. He crouched on the floor and before long he had copied the circle exactly.

Kian clicked his tongue inwardly when he received the paper with the circle drawn on it.

“Lord Lucien, you draw well too.”

“Is there anything here that shows drawing skill?”

“You copied the intricate pattern of the circle exactly. I cannot do that.”

“Lies.”

“…I will show you.”

Kian looked at the circle and drew it on another sheet. He tried as carefully as he could, but the result still came out far off.

Lucien blinked quickly when he saw Kian’s drawing. His long lashes quivered up and down.

“You are joking, right?”

Kian knew it did not suit the situation, but he could not hold back his laughter. He belatedly covered his mouth with his palm and hid his laughter with a cough.

“Is it so surprising? This is the first time I see you this flustered”

“Wouldn’t you be surprised? A proper magic circle turned into a watermelon.”

“How does this look like a watermelon?”

“The round shape and the black stripes look exactly like one.”

Kian was dumbfounded. He knew his drawing skill was poor, but he did not have the talent to transform a detailed circle into a watermelon.

“Let us ask other people too. We can see what it looks like to them.”

“I always welcome a bet. Since the winner must get a reward, how about a hundred kisses morning and evening?”

“That sounds more like a punishment than a reward.”

“Then tell me what you want.”