***
“UGH! That jingle jingle rascal, really!”
An unusual-sized red portal appeared near the shore of the Ansirium lake, and from there, a young man, who was caught gallantly walked out.
“You just have to choose an item, that’s it! Ah-oh!”
A young man and the spirit of fire came out of the portal. Andal, who ground his teeth as if he was depressed, caught the young man staring at the bag he was dragging.
“…Are you here?” Abyss, who found the two walking out from the portal, got up from where they were sitting.
“I have nothing left to tell you. For the rest, you’d better hear it from him. If he doesn’t tell you… It’s probably a way to find out for yourself in the ‘That World’ you’re about to go.”
Until a while ago, they still hadn’t heard much more about Riley’s story. Abyss, who had advised them to hear the story from the person himself or find out for themself, walked toward Andal.
“Those stories… are they real?”
“Warrior, demon king, how do they…”
“But Iril, You saw it in person that evening. Mrs. Inaril and young master struck the sword with a whistle…”
“That kid… Abyss’s ability is also hard to believe if what he said wasn’t true.”
Behind Abyss, who was walking towards Andal, the rest of the group were panicking. They quietly turned their head and looked at Nainiae.
“Nainiae.”
Not only did she know all of these facts, but she also knew more about Riley’s stories.
“Tell me just one thing, just one.”
“…”
“I won’t ask you anymore.” Sera, who was sitting next to Nainiae, grabbed her hand and asked. “The story of the young master that Abyss told us… Is it all true?”
The expressions of Nara, Iril, and Priesia, including Sera, were endlessly serious, but… to what extent they were guessing this fact, they were staring only at a distant place with an unconventional expression.
“…yes.” Nainiae barely nodded after hesitation. “It’s true.” She thought that if she hid more, only doubts between each other would build up. She was honestly aware of it and said everything they had just heard was real.
“Oh my God…”
“Is this the past life, the present life… right now…”
“Then we’re going to go…”
“That’s right. It is not the world below, but the world where he lived.” Ian, who looked at the group who made desperate expressions at Nainiae’s words, spoke out.
“Well, those facts… is there any reason not to believe?”
“Mr. Ian…”
“Have you ever heard the story that he has committed countless evil deeds in his previous life? No, he has lived a life that deserves praise, and he just hasn’t spoken about it.”
Without stopping, he swung his sword to rescue many people, and finally the unfortunate warrior died with the Demon King… That was all about Riley’s story that Abyss shared.
“You guys, I don’t know what priestess Priesia is thinking. When I heard this story, I just wanted to help him more.” While listening to Abyss’s story, Ian, who was sitting on the ground, stood up and looked at the group.
“I just follow.” Like a butler.
After checking his sleeves, checking his tie, and then checking his own sword on his waist, Ian closed his eyes and recalled the moments he had been with Riley.
‘Young master, let’s hold the sword.’
‘No, I won’t.’
‘Young master, the sword!’
‘Annoying.’
‘Young master!’
‘Hide and seek is fun! Right?’
‘Why the hell!’
‘…’
‘Why the hell aren’t you holding the sword?’
‘I have killed the Demon King with great difficulty…’
‘What?’
‘…Can I take a rest now?’
At the time, he didn’t understand what he was talking about, but… now, he was proud to be able to understand a little bit of what Riley used to say when he was young.
“…Huhu.” Ian smiled quietly. “I’m not wrong.”
When Riley was a kid… Ian, who recalled himself excited to see his potential behind him, was relieved that he wasn’t wrong. He was delighted.
“Mr. Ian…” Among the rest of the group, who looked at Ian blankly, Sera was the first to stand up with a smile.
“That’s right. Nothing has changed.” Following Sera, Nara and Iril also got up from their seats and began to wander as if they were worried about it. “I’ve never heard of a Basilisk who can’t pick people… Although the personality of the young master annoys people around him, he cares about them that much. I also know for sure. He didn’t keep it a secret because he was trying to trick us.”
“My grandmother allowed him to hold her sword, so we can just follow him. My grandmother also told me to listen carefully, and have something to learn.”
As the group got up one by one, Priesia, who was looking up at them, bit her lips with a gloomy expression.
“I…” Priesia was reminiscing about the moment last spring when Riley told her to live for herself.
‘…you have power.’
‘Power?’
‘You have strong enough power to stop Astroa with a blow.’
‘Power…’
‘I heard it from Nainiae. Not only that, but I clearly remember what you just showed me.’
‘…’
‘If you have the power, if you have received revelation… Don’t you have to use that power to protect people?’
‘I don’t think so?’
‘What? What is that…’
‘What if I don’t do it?’
‘That, that’s…’
‘Are you going to talk to the people around the neighbourhood? Young master of the Ipheletta family actually has tremendous power? But he’s just fooling around?’
‘…’
‘Or are you going to follow me and bother me? Are you going to pour out your divine power into my dying body and bless my cursed body to force me to fight? Saying that I am not allowed to fall here because I have received revelation?’
On that day, she came to understand Riley’s feelings as she poured out her life for herself. Priesia’s feelings were so heavy that it couldn’t be summarized in a word because they were so complicated.
‘Leave me alone… I want to rest…’
It was because Riley’s words seemed to come to her mind over and over again.
“Did you tell lady Iris?”
“No, I kept it a secret from her.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell lady Iris that either.”
“That’s what we need to convince.”
“No, it seemed that lady Iris was making some guesses.”
“Well, she has a good eye.”
“Maybe she’s waiting. The moment when young master Riley tells her himself one day.”
Priesia, who was overhearing the conversation between the members of the Ipheletta family, sighed with her head down.
‘If he has lived that kind of life, it’s understandable that he hates priestesses. Maybe… maybe even now, he feels uncomfortable with me…’
When Abyss told them about the bad relationship with a priestess, Priesia hid her gloomy expression and sighed deeply… Riley was back.
“I’m here.”
The group greeted Riley with a fresh smile, except Priesia.
“Ah, young master.”
“Welcome.”
“I’ve been waiting.”
“…?” Riley, who frowned at the excessive responses, looked back at Abyss and walked backwards wondering why they were like this. “Why are they like that?”
Abyss, who was walking while looking at Andal who was huffing, turned to Riley’s question. “Hmm? Ahh.” Abyss, who looked at his friends who were smiling awkwardly at Riley, replied with a cackling voice as if he knew it. “I told them.”
“Told them? What?”
“A little bit of your story.”
When Abyss conveyed the words ‘a little’ by making the shape of a claw with his thumb and forefinger, Riley, who had twitched his facial muscles without knowing it, looked at the part of him again.
“It was a shock at first, but it didn’t change that much.”
“Young master is a young master, you know?”
“If you want to make a point here, you only told Nainiae and didn’t tell them… is it right?”
As the words that were thrown word by word, Riley, who pouted his lower lips, fluttered his bangs, scratched the back of his head and blew his breath, ‘Woo!’
“Tz… what, okay?”
He was going to tell the story someday anyway. Riley, who thought the timing was just a little earlier, pushed the bag in his hand forward to hide his sloppy expression.
“Enough with my story, first take the goods.”
As Riley started rummaging through the bag, the group, who turned their gaze toward it, wondered what it was and question marks appeared on their faces.
“This?”
“It’s a gift. Before going.”
To be precise, it was a life jacket and a safety device so that it wouldn’t be dangerous in ‘that world’.
“Sera.”
“Yes?”
“Here, take it.”
“Young master, this… It looks very expensive.”
“It’s expensive. It’s not mine, so you have to be careful.”
“Oh my…”
Riley, who presented the ‘best twin sword’ that Andal chose in his cave, called the next person to give the gift. “Nara.”
“Ah, yes…” When his name was called, Nara came to Riley in a sloppy manner.
“You have a spear.” Like Sera, the ‘best spear’ picked by Andal himself was transferred from Riley’s hand to Nara’s.
“For mercenaries who earn a day and live a day… It’s a little weird. If you don’t just take this, young master…”
“Take it fast. My arm hurts.”
“Th, thank you. I’ll cherish it as much as I can.”
Riley, who delivered the spear to Nara, searched the bag like Santa Claus and looked for the next person. “Iril.”
“Yes! Yes!”
When Iril raised her hand and advertised that she was here, Riley, who twisted his lips, asked playfully. “The gift, what do you think it is?”
“Hmm, a potion to grow taller?”
“Boom, unfortunately not.” Riley, who took out a straight sword from the bag and delivered it to her, looked at her as if he wanted to hear what she felt.
“Oh, thank you, but… maybe it’s a little too much for me.”
When Iril, who smiled awkwardly at the mana flowing out from the sword, stepped back, Riley approached the next person to give him a gift. “Ian.”
“Young master…”
“Sorry, but I don’t have yours.”
Ian’s expression turned pale.
“Just kidding. Take it.”
It seemed that Ian had already determined that it was a good sword. What Andal chose as a gift for him was ‘one-eyed glasses’ with a wide shape.
“It’s glasses?”
“I will tell you how to use it later, so just keep it for now.”
After spending a lot of time contemplating Nainiae’s gift in Andal’s cave, Riley thought that he should deliver the gift quickly and go to that world before Andal could really explode, and next was Priesia.
“…what are you doing?”
“Ah…”
Priesia, who had been squatting alone and hugging her knees, carefully raised her head to Riley’s voice.
“Yo,young master.”
“What are you doing? Looking miserable?” Riley put his hand in the bag and handed out a brown book to her.
“This?”
“Ah, my arm hurts. Take it quickly.”
Priesia accepted the book reluctantly and looked at the book blankly. “…thank you.”
“Just in case, if it’s because of the story that you heard from Abyss before… you don’t have to.” Riley turned around and added a little as he walked toward Nainiae, his last turn. “But if it’s about you, I knew you were very good.”
Leaving Priesia who was looking at his back blankly, Riley sighed and approached Nainiae.
“Young master.”
“You don’t need to make that face.”
As Nainiae was making a gloomy look, Riley, who raised his hand to his head, asked. “He said you didn’t say it until the end?”
“…”
“As I said before, it doesn’t matter because I was going to say it anyway. And…” Then Riley, who moved his hand to her head to make her hair look messy, whispered while looking at the other five. “…let’s talk privately for a moment.”
“Yes?”
The reason why he whispered was not because of the ring… it was because she alone received three gifts, which was why he called her separately, afraid that the others would be jealous.
“…I have something to give.” Riley muttered inside. It was never like this before.
