The Pushover Young Lord in a Romance Fantasy Won't Take It Anymore - Chapter 72

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Haruto

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◈ The Pushover Young Lord in a Romance Fantasy Won't Take It Anymore ◈

Chapter 72: We've Seen Everything There Is to See of Each Other

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The sensation of floating was not entirely unfamiliar.

I was drifting through darkness without a single ray of light.

Was this the afterlife? It felt as though I were sinking into a bottomless abyss.

No one knew the state of my body better than I did. It would not have been strange if I had died twice over.

As that vague question crossed my mind, a strangely familiar sensation wrapped around my entire body.

It was an unfamiliar sixth sense beyond the five senses, impossible to describe in words.

If I had to compare it to something, it was like the dream I had on the night before the Founding Festival. That lucid dream which replayed memories from my first life.

Just like then, my body had no form. Only my consciousness existed.

But the sight that unfolded before me was not a recreation of my memories.

An unfamiliar, alien Otherworld I had never experienced before spread out before me.

Countless figures swarmed below. Tens of thousands, no, perhaps even more.

Dark crimson horns. Protruding fangs. Black membranous wings. Black and ash-gray skin.

An army of demonkind densely filled the earth.

Each of them held a spear or sword high overhead. Their mouths were wide open as though they were shouting.

Strangely, I could not hear a single sound. It was a world as silent as a void.

Only the overwhelming sight remained.

‘...That...’

When I unconsciously turned my gaze to the right, I saw a massive figure.

Strangely, only its form was hidden in shadow. All I could make out was a dim silhouette.

It was looking down at the vast army.

An instinct beyond my senses stirred. Even without seeing it, I felt as though I knew what it was.

A being who commanded ten thousand demons and defied ten thousand deaths.

‘The Demon King.’

Only then did I realize it. This was neither the afterlife nor a dream.

It was an independent Otherworld born from the Demon King’s Death-Thought Form.

‘...!’

A chilling shudder ran through me.

The Demon King, who had been looking down below, turned his head. In that silent space, his gaze tangled with mine.

Ssssh...

Darkness began closing in from every direction. The army lined up beneath me vanished into the shadows like candles being snuffed out.

Only the Demon King and I remained in that space.

Whoooosh...

Black mana, visible to the naked eye, rose from the Demon King’s body.

Its mere presence made it difficult to breathe and robbed me of my will to fight.

It was no mere black mana like that wielded by the undead I had faced underground. The pressure bearing down on me was beyond comparison.

The Demon King’s Death-Thought Form had recreated the power of his prime.

As I was now, I would not last even a second against that monster.

Even the Holy Sword would not change anything. Even the Holy Sword Keeper would have to yield before him.

Suddenly, the Demon King clenched his fist.

That tiny movement alone made me take a step back.

Tap.

The Demon King’s fist touched his chest.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

He began striking his chest repeatedly. It was an incomprehensible action.

My confusion lasted only a moment before my energy sense sharpened.

There was no life within his chest. The very heart I had pierced.

Tap.

The Demon King was striking a chest without a heart.

Ssssh...

That was when it happened.

Faint red-gold embers began burning at the root of my heart as well. Sparks started scattering into the air.

I silently looked down at the lingering embers.

Tap.

Then I raised my gaze again. The sound of the Demon King striking his chest had stopped.

Thud.

The Demon King walked toward me. I felt no killing intent.

Even up close, his face remained hidden in shadow.

My gaze naturally swept across the area. This was because the hundreds of thousands of demons that had vanished into the darkness had reappeared.

But the army could not maintain its forms and turned into ash. Though there was no wind, it scattered through the air.

The sight seemed to proclaim that the Demon King’s era had ended.

The Demon King did not turn his head. He only looked down at me.

A long silence passed between us. Then the Demon King opened his fist.

He placed one hand behind his back and laid the edge of his other hand over his chest.

The Demon King gradually lowered his posture. Very slowly, he bowed deeply toward me.

As though showing respect.

“...”

I stared blankly at him. I understood the meaning, yet I could not comprehend it.

Fwoosh...

Starting from his feet, the Demon King’s massive body began to crumble.

Even as he scattered as a handful of ash, he continued bowing to me until the very end.

The ash flew toward me. It gathered together and seeped into the root of my heart.

Before I could fully understand what had happened.

Flash!

My consciousness flickered awake, breaking through the long darkness.

* * *

My consciousness flickered awake.

My vision gradually cleared, and dazzling light poured in.

“...Young Lord?”

Among the blurred figures, ruby-red eyes shook with shock.

Lucia blinked as though she could not believe it, then reached out toward me.

Her soft hand carefully touched my cheek. Her fingertips trembled as they brushed my lips, as though checking my temperature.

“Ah...”

A tearful sound slipped from Lucia’s lips.

She pressed her lips together, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to spill. Then she forced a sorrowful smile.

“You foolish man.”

Lucia gently supported the back of my head.

She bent down, buried her face against my neck, and carefully embraced me. A restrained voice escaped with the breath against my ear.

“I thought you were going to die. This time, I really thought...”

My shoulder grew damp. I could not joke around like usual.

“I’m sorry. I made you worry.”

I gently patted her back.

Lucia let out the breath she had been holding and slowly pulled away.

She wiped her reddened eyes with the back of her hand.

“You were unconscious for five days. You were hovering between life and death for nearly a week.”

“Five days? No, what happened to the expedition during that time? The mana stone mining and the follow-up party?”

“This man, honestly!”

Lucia grabbed my face with both hands. My lips were pushed out like a goldfish’s.

“Young Lord. Is that something you should be saying right now?”

Lucia tightened her grip.

When I groaned at the feeling of my skin being pulled, she reluctantly let go.

“Don’t worry. The expedition is over, so what could possibly be wrong? If there’s a problem, it’s you, Young Lord. You’re the biggest problem...”

“More importantly, wasn’t there any good news? Like a mana stone vein being discovered?”

“Ha... This is the time to think about your own body first, isn’t it?”

Hmm.

I let out a low sound.

Come to think of it, five days was not enough time to find a mana stone vein.

The work would have been delayed since the person in overall charge had been hovering near death as well.

“You’re thinking about work again, aren’t you?”

“Of course not.”

“Don’t lie. Do you think I don’t know what you’re thinking?”

She had always read my mind like a ghost. Back then, I even wondered whether that was some kind of romance fantasy protagonist buff.

“Be grateful I’m only scolding you. I wanted to hit you when you woke up, but I’m holding back because you’re a patient.”

“If you hit me now, I’ll die.”

Haa...

Lucia pressed a hand to her forehead and let out a deep sigh, as though the ground itself might cave in.

It must have been serious enough that even a light joke did not work.

“You were barely clinging to life. They said it would not have been strange if you died at any moment.”

“...”

“It would be quicker to ask what part of you is not injured. How do you feel? Can you move?”

“This is strange. I can’t feel my lower body.”

“What!?”

Lucia went pale and sprang to her feet.

Just in case, I lightly wiggled my toes.

“Hmm. Thankfully, they move. It feels numb, like I have a cramp.”

“Ah, that would be...”

Lucia’s gaze turned toward my lower body. I looked down as well.

A bright yellow head was lying facedown on top of the blanket.

Soft, even breathing reached my ears.

Celine was asleep with her face pressed against my thigh.

Lucia reached out to wake Celine, but I stopped her with a raised hand.

Before she could ask, I answered first.

“If she’s not waking up even with us talking this loudly, she must have stayed awake for days. Let her sleep.”

“You know her well. It’s all because of you, Young Lord.”

That was my fault too. I had no choice but to admit it.

A strange sense of discomfort suddenly struck me, and I slowly rotated my shoulder.

The flesh around my shoulder had clearly been torn away in my desperate battle against the Demon King.

Yet now, I could feel my deltoid, and moving it did not hurt. I could even rotate my shoulder blade upward with ease.

It was not just my shoulder.

With a doubtful feeling, I felt around my face and body. I could not feel any traces of the burns that had blistered and peeled my skin.

“...”

I glanced at Lucia and unbuttoned my shirt.

Lucia’s pupils shook briefly, but perhaps because of the unusual situation, she only watched.

Flutter.

I took off my shirt completely and looked down at my upper body.

New flesh had grown in, leaving no scars. My body had regenerated perfectly.

“Is that also a ring knight’s healing ability?”

Lucia looked as though she already knew, but she still appeared shocked.

“It was not treatment?”

“Young Lord, listen carefully. Even if the Saintess of the Holy Empire had come, your condition was severe enough that treatment would have been impossible. To be honest, we can’t believe that you healed naturally either.”

Not only had the flesh around my shoulder been torn away, but every bone in my body had twisted.

I had avoided excessive blood loss only because my entire body had been thoroughly seared. Put another way, my entire body had practically been roasted.

Those were only the external injuries. The internal injuries had been far worse. Every organ in my body should have lost its function.

Yet those wounds had slowly healed over five days, and I had eventually regained consciousness.

Even I found that healing ability unbelievable. No matter how I dressed it up as a miracle, it could not be explained.

The final scene, dreamlike yet far too vivid, came back to me.

The handful of ash created as the Demon King’s body crumbled. The sensation of it seeping into my heart.

The favor, or perhaps respect, he had shown me at the end...

“This makes no sense.”

Lucia murmured quietly.

Instead of answering, I silently looked down at my chest. I could not tell Lucia about that just yet.

“Sometimes, things happen in this world that make no sense. It makes no sense that I killed the Demon King alone in under three minutes either.”

Now that I thought about defeating the Demon King, I grew curious about the public’s reaction.

The success of the Ashen Forest Expedition. The Holy Sword’s temporary awakening. The Demon King’s revival as an undead. And me, the one who defeated him.

Five days had passed. Surely everyone in the Empire knew by now.

I wanted to ask Lucia, but I held myself back.

I could already imagine her scolding me. ‘You’re in this condition, and that’s what you’re curious about?’

“Mmm...”

A wriggling sensation came from my thigh. Celine rubbed her face against me and shifted in her sleep.

There were dark tear stains on the small part of her face that was visible. Only then did I notice that the thin hospital blanket was damp as well.

Whether it was tears or drool, I hoped it was tears.

“She must have cried a lot.”

“Don’t even get me started.”

Lucia lightly smacked my shoulder.

No surprise she was so hopelessly devoted to her brother. I felt sorry, but part of me was also touched.

“You have no idea how worried we were, Young Lord. Me, and Lady Celine too. Especially...”

Lucia trailed off. I felt like I knew what she meant even without hearing the rest.

“Where is my sister?”

“She’ll be back soon. Actually, she stayed in the sickroom until yesterday. She did not leave for four days or eat anything... Lady Selena may not be as badly hurt as you are, Young Lord, but her condition has worsened considerably too.”

“Good grief. Do you know how hard I worked to save her?”

A bitter smile touched Lucia’s lips.

Knowing Selena, she was surely blaming herself.

She acted tough on the outside, but she was quite soft inside. No phrase suited her better than tough on the outside, soft on the inside.

“Could you bring her here?”

“Of course. Right away...”

Lucia stopped speaking. Our gazes naturally turned toward the door.

They said that if you spoke of the tiger, it appeared. It seemed the same was true of the Black Lion.

Creak...

The door opened, and footsteps came through the gap. Then they stopped dead.

Selena looked haggard, as though she had not slept a wink for five days.

The dark circles beneath her eyes were so deep and dark that they seemed like part of her skin.