Chapter 19
## Episode 19
Her butt throbbed from hitting the floor.
But it wasn't just her body that hurt.
Along with the pitch-black fog, a scene too overwhelming for a young child like Iri flooded in.
*'This must be the elder's nightmare!'*
At that moment, Cookie murmured in despair.
"Damn it....... Did you unconsciously attempt magi purification?"
"......!"
She had only wanted to smooth out the elder's pained expression......
"It's the side effect of failed purification. 'Nightmare Sharing' has activated!"
Cookie's words gradually faded.
Before she knew it, countless corpses piled up before Iri's eyes.
Amid the massive mountain of bodies, Declan stood tall.
"If Your Highness leaves like this, the people will resent you. They'll say you're a man who didn't even recover his wife's body."
"......"
"Even so, will you honor Lady Olivia's final words?"
Declan's face twisted in agony.
He read the bloodstained note over and over.
[Declan, I have something to say.
If I die to a monster, leave my body behind.
Let the body killed by a monster rot away in the plains.
I worked to save people.
So I don't want to return to the castle as a magi-corrupted corpse.
Magi-infused corpses reek terribly and corrupt those around them.
I don't want to harm the precious people.
Let me die honorably as a knight.]
He read the note with bloodshot eyes again and again.
It was a note she used to write playfully before every deployment.
Now turned into her final words, he glared at it as if committing it to memory before turning his head.
"......She was a great knight."
"If you return like this, the people will resent you......"
Such things didn't matter to him.
"Well, will they hate me as much as I hate myself?"
"......"
"Olivia was a knight who loved this world more than anyone."
"......"
"So I have to honor her final words, don't I?"
A lonely sunset like bloodstained water hung behind Declan's back.
He gazed long at what was presumed to be Olivia's body, then murmured solemnly in a voice devoid of any moisture.
"......So that you can rest in peace, I'll protect our children. Even staking my life on it."
Iri held her breath tight.
It felt exactly like that scene repeating infinitely in his mind.
Iri quietly watched the elder's back as he turned from the plains.
She just wanted to live happily with her grandmother.
But seeing the elder trapped in darkness made her heart ache.
*'Is it because of the magi?'*
Cold sweat beaded slowly on Iri's forehead.
And at that moment.
With a crackling noise, Iri returned to reality.
And what entered Iri's eyes was......
"What."
The elder's face, now right in front of her nose.
Having seen her through hazy vision perhaps, Declan flailed at empty air urgently and moved his lips.
"......What kind of dream is this vivid?"
"Not a dream-nimida."
The moment those words ended, Declan quickly pulled away from Iri and retreated to the far end of the room.
It was instinctive.
Regaining her senses, Iri raised her arms toward him, showing off her pure white Magi Blocking Suit.
"Don't worry-nimida! No magi-nimida. I even wore the bread cake-nimida."
"N-No...... It's fine. You think the Magi Blocking Suit is invincible or something....... Never come close again."
His voice was hoarse and muddled.
Even so, he tried to put as much distance as possible between them.
"It's dangerous."
Iri saw worry fill Declan's red eyes before it halted.
As her heart throbbed with an inexplicable ache and she lowered her gaze.
Declan asked back, like a grim reaper—no, like an instructor facing a mischievous child.
"......But you, why are you here?"
"Gasp."
"Why did you sneak into my room? ......I'll let this one slide. Go back. It's dangerous if you come too close."
"N-Not sneaking-nimida. I, I came to say thank you-nimida! For the presents!"
Declan rubbed his dry face and whispered lowly.
"Ah, the presents. It was nothing."
His eyelids trembled faintly before closing.
Seeing that fragile movement, Iri's breath caught abruptly.
In truth, her reason for trying to save the elder was simple.
To prevent the North's fall and save her grandmother.
So she could eat lots of yummy food with her grandmother and live happily ever after.
But the scene she'd just witnessed replayed in her mind.
The place piled with countless corpses.
The lonely back standing tall alone.
And......
"......So that you can rest in peace, I'll protect our children. Even staking my life on it."
Was she perhaps one of his 'our children' too?
No way.
Iri had never been an adult man's 'our child' even once.
Yet that voice knotted like a lump in her heart, making her keep thinking of it.
And slowly, such thoughts arose.
World's end.
Grandmother's death.
Hero......
Setting aside all that, she just hoped he wouldn't suffer.
The elder, unlike her, carrying the heavy burden of 'saving the world' all alone, so arduously.
Worry for him, pity, or something indefinable mixed into a jumble.
A tiny emotion sprouted a small bud in her heart.
Just like a seed germinating steadily.
So Iri decided to be brave.
"I, I've made up my mind-nimida!"
"......You still haven't left?"
Even at Declan's puzzled question, Iri stood tall.
"Yes! I really really want to learn purification sorcery-nimida. Super fast growth swoosh swoosh-nimida!"
As she boldly declared her ambition, Declan furrowed his brow.
Seeing her sparkling eyes, he chuckled softly.
Iri had no great powers at all.
Still, her earnest will to learn diligently pleased him.
*'I don't know why she's so eager to learn this much.'*
Thinking it was probably just childish whimsy, he said to Iri.
"Good girl. Yes, a Purification Sorcerer will come soon, so learn diligently. Even at 1-star, you need to know how to handle your Purification Power."
"Good girl?"
"Yes, good girl."
"Wow! The elder praised me-nimida!"
Seeing Iri beam brightly, he felt that was enough.
In Iri's mind, a praise sticker imaginatively bloomed fluffy clouds.
*'I got praised!'*
But weird.
She hadn't done anything that amazing, so why praise?
The elder wasn't Hammuni, who praised her just for eating well.
Iri felt a bit confused and wanted to ask why, but held back.
She had to act polite and mature like a good child.
Then, Declan muttered in a hoarse voice.
"Before that, we agreed on two months in the North, right? You need your grandmother's permission."
Iri's eyes widened hugely.
"Gasp, right-nimida! Will you deliver a letter to Hammuni?"
"Yes. I need her permission too. Without your letter, your grandmother might think I kidnapped you."
*My grandma doesn't think bad things like that.*
"Here it is-nimida!"
"Huh?"
"I carried it in my pocket every day to give to the mailman uncle right away!"
"......"
With her lips slightly pouted, Iri held up the letters she'd written every single day.
Skimming the contents, he paused at the section reading [Hammuni! Do you know about the elder?].
"You're sending all this?"
"Yes! Hammuni and Iri share everything because we're super super close-nimida!"
"......Except this one."
Declan pulled out the letter marked [elder] and said.
"We'll inform the South directly about the extension of your stay."
"Yes! Then I should write that I'll go to the Magic Tower to learn purification sorcery too-nimida!"
Iri whistled excitedly in delight.
So Iri didn't know.
The super powerful aftermath her letter would unleash in the South......
