Only the Party Members Returned, Not the Hero - Chapter 46



46. Mask of Healing (4)

46.

Meow.

“… ….”

Meow.

A cat with a mixture of white and yellow fur is meowing while being held in the arms of the wizard.

The name of the sorceress who grabs the cat’s front paws, moves forward as if she were punching, and fiddles with the soles of her paws to her heart’s content. The name of the wizard is Elish Charlotte.

Why are you doing that?

It’s cute.

Miscellaneous thoughts are mixed in my head.

“Where did you get that from?”

The odd thing is that we’ve never had a cat in our house.

I had never raised a pet in both the Temporary Residence and the Mansion.

“I just caught it from outside.”

“Isn’t that a nuisance? Cats have families too.”

“Cats are territorial animals, so unless they have kittens, they don’t really have a family.”

His. Meow

Elish pretends to hit my knee in place of the cat paw.

Softly, the cat’s front paw touches the knee.

“That sounds cute.”

“Me, me?”

“A cat. What are you thinking?”

“Ah, cats are naturally cute.”

The wind blows up, then it becomes a deflated balloon and only the cat squats.

“So, why did you suddenly come in and then come out and only the wizard came?”

“I was afraid that if the three of us each talked about what we wanted to say, it wouldn’t interfere with Ellen’s rest, so we each decided on an order.”

“Since long ago, such things have been agreed upon very quickly….”

I leaned back comfortably on the back of the sofa with my legs crossed.

Originally, there was only one chair in my room at the temporary lodging, but before I knew it, I had two sofas.

It’s because Nia, who stopped by several times, forcibly pushed two sofas in, saying it was uncomfortable to sit on.

“Ah, I have something to give you. I have to give it to you before I forget.”

Elish, who was sitting across from me, put the cat on her thigh, then pulled out a sparkling glass from her pocket and held it out.

A holy cup containing the essence of the moon.

I received the holy cup carefully.

The essence of the moon was swaying translucently in the holy cup like mist.

It felt much lighter than water, and it felt like it would fly into the air with just a little shaking.

“This is the essence of the moon.”

“Yes. And there are caveats.”

“Precautions?”

I had a hard time getting it, but there are also precautions.

Elish must have read my displeased expression. She cleared her throat several times before continuing her words.

“You own the current essence of the moon. Originally, essences only recognize the ownership of the person who created them, so it is difficult to pass them on to others, but you can use this holy cup to pass them on.”

“You speak as if you have an ego.”

“Because it is such a magical material. There is no self.”

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Elish’s explanation was like that.

If ownership of the essence is transferred through the Holy Cup,

The original owner suffered from ‘pure water poisoning’ and had to take time to purify.

“No, I am addicted to something. Be cheeky.”

“Won, even if you say that to me….”

“Whew.”

“Cheer up….”

“Yes, what. How do you purify?”

“You just need to spend about two days in the place that is the subject of the curse. So, in this case…. Since the ban on anchors was born in the Selsata Sea, it is enough to spend two days in the Selseta Sea.”

The story of the goddess of the lunar month, which is already vague.

Certainly, it was stated that Ergenuk’s ancestor received power from the goddess of the calendar moon reflected in the sea off Selseta.

The face of the portrait I saw at that time is flickering.

It was pretty.

“It’s a little far from there.”

“It’s still better than living with essence poisoning.”

Nodding.

Anyway, I think it will be after going to the sea to rest completely.

I placed the holy cup carefully on the table.

“Oh, and.”

Hesitantly.

What are you trying to say?

Elish, who had been watching me for a while, gently bit her lower lip.

As if he wanted to be comforted by her, he placed his hands neatly on top of her cat and carefully brought out her question.

“… It seems that mana has changed.”

Elish knew instinctively.

At least it wasn’t because of her that his mana changed.

Elish expressed her heart to him with all her heart in her own way, but she was not strong enough to change him.

I felt as though I had received a declaration from someone.

So it was bittersweet.

The bitterness of chewing herbs filled my mouth continued to linger.

It was hard to force a smile.

“… Iknow, right.”

I couldn’t help but understand Elish’s feelings, but I couldn’t help but answer like that.

It was not changed for a specific reason, nor was it intentionally changed.

After a fierce battle, when I came to my senses, my mana and image had changed.

It may be an overly expedient explanation, but what can the truth do?

“… ….”

Elish thought he was ugly for asking such a thing.

Still, he slowly opened his mouth.

“Maybe, some… For some reason, if that happened, even if I ask… ?”

Not yourself.

Have you changed your mind because of someone else?

Even if it were so, it was clear that she had nothing to say to her hero, but her heart began to pound for fear that he would say so.

Mana still flows from his heart to hers.

Clear.

Beautiful.

It was pitiful.

“I don’t know.”

Elish stared blankly at Ellen.

And she immediately lowered her head.

“… If you don’t want to say it, you don’t have to, just, that….”

“No, seriously. I really don’t know. Now, why would I lie, since I’ve seen everything I can’t see.”

“Ugh, yes… ?”

Again, Elish raised her head and looked at her Ellen.

At least Ellen’s expression, seen by Elish, felt like it was sincere.

Even though there was embarrassment and resentment in his emotions, he did not feel any emotions related to lies.

“That’s right.”

Elish was relieved.

At least to think that no one else has intervened yet.

With the thought that being at ease is cowardly.

“How could I not know that… ?”

Still, I was curious about what I was curious about, so I continued to ask.

“I will. But I really can’t remember, and I don’t know what happened. To be honest, I was on the verge of dying at that time too….”

I also doubted that.

Why did the mana change so suddenly?

“And what.”

I think I was reminded of something, but funny enough, I couldn’t remember what it was.

“I don’t even want to remember.”

“Ugh, huh? Why is that? Mana has changed, but you don’t want to remember, so you’re saying things you’ve never heard before.”

I thought the smell of old books blowing from somewhere was familiar, but there were a lot of things to be done right now to get wet with sentimentality.

“There’s a lot to do, and sooner or later we have to leave for the waters of Selsata.”

“That’s true….”

“If you’re in a daze all day with memories you never know will come back, who’s going to play the role of a warrior? Is that cat?”

When I threw a joke to lighten the mood, the cat opened its mouth as if accepting the joke.

Haaah.

A cat yawning on Elish’s lap.

A dainty fang is revealed.

Elish nodded her head.

“Eh. If that’s Ellen’s choice, I won’t comment further.”

“Thank you. It just makes my mind wander.”

That’s why.

It’s not that I didn’t really try to think of it.

Lying in bed, I tried to regain my senses over and over again. Shards of fragmented memories floated around in my head like shards of glass.

Draw a blue rose in your heart,

It itself becomes a sword and is held in his hand….

But the more I went back in memory to recreate that day, the headaches were natural.

Unbeknownst to me, the emotions that made my face distort first filled my heart like the sea.

I came back a few times in vain.

I didn’t know why.

“Oh, I almost forgot again.”

Elish leaned closer to me.

“Now that the official move has been successfully completed, we will be contacted from various places.”

“Most of these must be a nuisance.”

“Isn’t it still better than before? I wouldn’t even doubt the qualities of a hero.”

“I see.”

Yeah, you must be busy now.

I happened to take my first steps as a hero with too much success.

Elish, as if she had said what she wanted to say, was twiddling her fingers as she placed her hands over the cat’s fuzzy fur.

Elish has definitely helped me.

If you hadn’t already trained as a scarecrow,

It was something that I did not know what would have happened again in a moment of urgency.

Thank you, it was helpful.

Should I say that?

“Elish.”

“Ugh, yes. Speak.”

When she calls her name with ease, I shrug her shoulders and look at me again.

I have a headache for a while, so I slowly close my eyes and open them.

As if I had a headache, I felt calm again.

Why did I call you by name?

I couldn’t remember, so I pronounced her name once more.

“… Elish Charlotte.”

“Why… Are you calling… ? Do you have something to say? Or what am I doing wrong….”

As I called her name in succession, she shrunk her body as if she was about to shrink and glanced helplessly without even paying attention to me.

… Why did i try to call

I still can’t remember as if it was volatilized.

I just quietly looked at Elish.

“… ….”

Elish doesn’t even ask why anymore.

She just gently rubbed the tips of her thumbs with her eyes down.

It was new.

The time to face each other like this.

She must not have been an evil person from the beginning.

The unavoidable fact of being a nonconformist.

Because I was born as a wizard, I was so scared that I was born as a person who was naturally incapable of handling mana, even though I was born with the talent of a wizard more than anyone else.

You must have told me like that.

Just casually said the question that came to mind.

“Do you have any injuries?”

Hearing the unexpected question, Elish was startled and looked at Ellen with her eyes wide open.

“Me, me? Of course I am not injured anywhere. Well, we didn’t fight that long…. In fact, she said Ellen did it all by herself, so maybe it’s okay to say she fought this…. More than that, she thinks it’s more important that Ellen isn’t hurt….”

Gibberish.

She watched him blankly.

How should I express this feeling?

It wasn’t a grandiose feeling like forgiveness or apology.

It’s true that I hate you, but I hate you less than yesterday.

Still.

Every time her eyes that criticized me in the classroom several years ago overlapped with her warm eyes looking at me now, I would harden my expression without realizing it.

Wouldn’t it have gotten a little better?

Yes. That much.

Ah, I finally remembered what I was going to say.

“Thank you in many ways.”

“Ugh, ugh, what did I do…. I just did what I was supposed to do….”

“Still.”

“Heh, heuh, hehehe, hehehe. Okay. Got it. On the contrary, thank you for saying that.”

“So let’s go now.”

“Huh? Already? Hasn’t it been a while yet?”

“I’m going to rest, so get out, quickly.”

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“Wait, it’s not me, it’s the cat saying it doesn’t want to go out… !”

Elish’s excuses for not having an Ultang, and the crying cat as if they were in harmony.

Meow, meow.

Elish’s fingers, which had nowhere to go, began tickling the cat’s paws again.

Only innocent cats clasped their palms.

He yawned again.

.

.

.

“Euenchi!”

“Why is that?”

“Cat fur, poeng-e! Acquire!”

“What is it, hair doesn’t fit your body?”

“That, like that, han, ha, hafu, keeps coughing, oooh, oolong, oolong tea!”

“Is it oolong tea?”

“Not that….”

As a punishment for not leaving when I was asked to leave.

Elish had to cough until the cat was released.