Chapter 15: Reunion

A fortnight had passed.

“I am Licorice.”

I looked back on the past while engraving each letter on the snow with the tip of my root.

“Time has passed so quickly…”

I thought back to when I first learned the words “sky” and “snow.”

From that day on, every day was a series of new discoveries.

Oldin taught me the letters by drawing them with his staff, and Lien taught me words related to nature one by one.

“But the hardest thing was…”

The conversation I had with Marianne every evening.

She truly believed in Michel.

But the Michel she spoke of was different from the one I knew.

“Michel is merciful. He never wants blood.”

“He cherishes all life.”

Every time I heard that, I thought to myself, “You don’t know. The true Michel… The Michel who was moved by the blood festival.”

But why?

Whenever I saw her sincere prayers, a corner of my heart ached strangely.

Do I really know Michel’s will?

Whenever I had such doubts, I started training even more intensely.

[Marianne] Human LV48

[Oldin] Human LV94

[Brian] Human LV53

[Arthur] Human LV102

[Kevin] Human LV41

☆☆

[Lien] Human LV93

[Hapel] Human LV101

I became their training partner because I wanted to repay the favor of teaching them diligently.

At first, they were so overwhelmed by Bugle’s murderous spirit that they couldn’t even stand properly, but now they were able to fight to some extent.

‘This is strange. The humans’ levels went up little by little.

At first, I thought it was because of experience points.

But experience points go up when you kill enemies, right?

Oldin’s explanation for that was this.

“We humans grow through training and enlightenment. Growth doesn’t happen just by killing enemies.”

His words shook my worldview.

I definitely level up by gaining experience points like in a game.

However, humans are different.

They don’t have levels, and they are simply ranked by strength.

It felt like I was the only one in a game in this world.

‘What on earth am I…?

I saw the status screen, the stars, and levels…

I looked at the smart butterflies, but they didn’t seem to know anything either.

Even the butterflies who took on all sorts of positions like assistants, network administrators, and strategists didn’t know the answer.

‘Ah… I guess I should ask the master.’

Suddenly, I thought of the master.

He hadn’t shown up for two weeks.

Sometimes, as I looked at the snowy mountains, I thought, ‘Maybe…’ and my heart would ache.

‘Surely… he’s not really going to be released, is he…?’

My head became complicated as I pondered the unanswerable questions.

At times like this…

(Training! Start!)

I powerfully engraved the letters on the snow with the tip of my root.

As always, the adventurers’ faces instantly hardened.

Even though two weeks had already passed, they still looked tense in front of me.

“Already… training again…” Brian said in a tired voice.

The sword in his hand was trembling slightly.

“Let’s rest for a moment…”

Before Kevin could finish his words, light green pollen decorated the sky.

It couldn’t be helped that his growth was the slowest.

It was because he couldn’t use his specialty, fire magic, at all.

“If you use fire, you’ll die!”

Those words must have traumatized him for the rest of his life because of a single mistake during the first training.

For the Bugs, who were ice and bug types, and for me, who was ice and grass types, fire was a double weakness!

Oh, and I’m not an ice type?

My only ice skill is ‘Freeze Block!’

However, even with [Inferno Stigma], I was fatally weak to fire.

In any case, the murderous eyes of hundreds of Bugs were still watching him.

“Fight! Now!”

The Blizzard Hornets took flight all at once.

Now, I was proud of how they formed a perfect formation at the command of a single command.

“Brian, back!”

“Got it!”

Kevin stepped back and cast ice magic.

His once sloppy ice magic now flew with considerable weight.

However, his eyes still showed thirst.

It must have been the frustration of not being able to use his original specialty, fire magic.

“Let’s go!”

Hapel’s greatsword flew through the hornets.

At first, she couldn’t read the movements of the bugs at all, but now she was able to predict and cut the bugs’ flight patterns, which was impressive.

“Indeed… A-class is different.”

“This is truly incredible growth,” Lien said, pulling back the bowstring.

“Getting stronger at this rate…”

“Yes…”

Oldin gripped his staff tightly.

“But isn’t this growth worth our lives?”

“Life?”

It’s not even funny.

How kindly I’ve been training you.

(Marianne! Forward!)

Marianne stepped forward with trembling steps.

The star symbol around her neck glowed faintly.

(To Michel! “Offer blood!”)

“No!”

Marianne’s shout echoed through the snowy mountains.

“Michael… Michael is definitely not that kind of person. Offer blood, that’s…”

‘Oh, there she goes again. The annoying sermon began.

Every time this happens, I think this, but Marianne doesn’t know Michael at all.

What a devout believer I am!

I have the trait of [Michael’s Flower] and have even received [Michael’s Cheer], so I am the one who is truly a believer of Michael!

‘Yes, yes. Just because you’ve believed for a long time doesn’t mean you know better.

How much can humans understand Michael with their short lifespans?

But why does my heart keep feeling so suffocated?

The training continued.

However, that day in particular, I couldn’t concentrate.

Marianne’s words kept lingering in my head.

That’s when.

‘Ugh…!

My whole body suddenly started to tremble.

The detection radar didn’t pick up anything, but the flower petals instinctively fluttered.

This… this feeling…

The excitement of meeting someone I had been waiting for for a long time enveloped my whole body.

What is this…?

Emotions that I couldn’t understand rationally enveloped my whole body.

Joy, gladness, longing…and that was the moment.

A being appeared on the detection radar.

Jul Master.

It was the same as before, with silver hair as soft as moonlight and perfect beauty.

It was our reunion after two weeks.

‘As expected! You didn’t abandon me after all!’

The feeling of joy burst out.

In a way, it was only the third time I had seen you, but my body already knew.

The memories of the three years we spent together…

Although they weren’t in my head, had this body not forgotten?

‘Ah. I suddenly realized.

This overflowing loyalty, this overwhelming feeling I was feeling right now, maybe it was natural.

A natural feeling toward the master who raised me and cared for me.

It felt like the three years of time deeply engraved in my subconscious were coming back to life with my whole body at this moment.

‘Master…

The petals, soaked in joy, sparkled under the moonlight.

Suddenly, the air around me froze.

My whole body stiffened.

An absolute fear of death swept over us, incomparable to the oppressive feeling of the flower, Licorice, that I had felt before.

An overwhelming presence, as if a giant glacier were falling on our heads, weighed us down.

As an A-class adventurer, I had experienced countless dangerous moments, but this was the first time I had felt such fear.

I felt the shield in my hand tremble.

Hundreds of bugs also stopped moving at once.

The Blizzard Hornets, who usually flew confidently, were stuck to the ground like ice statues.

The Isis flies hid behind Licorice, their trembling wings folded.

I slowly raised my head.

What kind of being could possibly emit such an aura…?