The Hero’s Brother Is Bound To Be Depressed - Chapter 267



268 – A friendly smile

Ellie cried. She wasn’t lying or acting, she was crying sincerely. She cried like a child until her pretty face was marred by her tears and snot. For a long time she tried to get her words out in muffled pieces, and clutched her skirt with both hands to stop her crying. In the end, neither was of much use. It took a while for Ellie to stop crying.

I did nothing until Ellie stopped crying. He didn’t look at her or comfort her. I didn’t think about anything in my head or plan anything. I just felt her crying seeping into the emotions that I couldn’t erase from a corner of my heart.

When I turned my head and looked at Ellie, who had stopped crying, I saw her shrug her shoulders and meet my gaze like a scared little animal, and somehow I laughed. The idea that a girl who had reached the level of an archmage would cry like a child in front of her childhood friend was hard to believe in reality.

When I laughed out loud at that thought, Ellie sighed and then laughed along with me.

“… “My appearance is a mess, isn’t it?”

The eyes are greatly swollen, and the face is full of snot and tear stains. Compared to how beautiful she looked before she cried, of course she looked like a mess.

“This is the worst Ellie I’ve ever seen.”

When I nodded and answered that with a smile, Ellie, who had cleaned up her messy face with her sleeve, narrowed her eyes and came closer to me.

“… “It was bad.”

Ellie’s expression as she said that was not persuasive at all. Because she couldn’t hold back her laughter and the corners of her mouth were twitching. Seeing that, I looked at Ellie in silence for a moment. She suddenly became curious about what Ellie would think of Ross four years after experiencing his death.

But it felt somehow embarrassing and awkward to ask that directly. In the end, what came out of my mouth were such stupid words that I immediately regretted saying them.

“I’m also a mess in the other world, right?”

I regretted that there would have been a better question. But when Ellie heard my answer, her eyes blinked, and then she burst into laughter.

“You’re even cooler than I always wanted you to be.” Is it because it’s been a while since I last saw you? You’ve become more handsome. I think I’ve gained muscle like a man and grown taller. “I guess you ate a lot of delicious food in that world?”

I couldn’t help but laugh along with Ellie’s small chuckle and loud laugh.

Ellie suddenly asked me if I had an idea.

“But why did you come to this world?”

Realizing that I had only explained to Ellie that she could create a passage to another world, I explained further about the current problem. Ellie looked startled and incredulous when I explained that I didn’t know how to return to my original world.

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“Uh, you used magic to go to another world without any doubts, even though you didn’t know where you were going?!”

“It was an unavoidable situation… .”

Seeing Ellie react as if she had just heard something stupid for the first time, I stroked her chin and averted my gaze.

Ellie grabbed my wrist and said, “Chuck,” and gave strength to the hand she was holding, telling me to look at her. She looked desperately at the wall, thinking that if she turned her head, she would be scolded, and then she saw something that looked familiar.

“That… “It’s a closet, right?”

I couldn’t mistake it for anything else because I had been using a wardrobe with the exact same design every day for several months. That was clearly a closet leading to another area connected to the Messiah club room. But Ellie must have thought I was talking nonsense to change the subject, so she got up from the sofa, put her hands on both of her waist, looked down at me with scary eyes, and said,

“Ross, don’t talk back. Any magic can only be used after hundreds of safety tests. But suddenly, without knowing how to use it, you can use magic that fell from the sky without any doubt?! What are you going to do if you go to the wrong world and never come back?! “Have you ever suspected that it was someone’s clever trap?”

It certainly seems like this place is a few years away. She couldn’t believe that Ellie, who was cute and whiny, turned into this nagging person. She didn’t even have a good excuse so she just had to get scolded.

After nodding enthusiastically and saying ‘That’s right, I made a mistake’ dozens of times as I was told about the safe use of magic and sermons about my careless choices, Ellie finally calmed down and gave me an answer about the wardrobe. .

“That closet has been here from the beginning. Rather, I find it strange that you know that closet. “No student has ever entered this room.”

I brought up the story about the club room to Ellie, who tilted her head. We talked for a while without any sweets or a cold drink, but strangely enough, I enjoyed telling my story to Ellie. Ellie listened to my story as if she was interested and asked questions along the way to resolve any doubts that arose from my insufficient explanation.

Ellie nodded with a satisfied smile as if she understood everything.

“Now I understand why the closet feels familiar. This place is now called the Black Magic Tower’s room, but it was previously a warehouse used by the first principal. “I inherited it from my teacher.”

Of course, Ellie’s teacher would be Principal Nelson. He said that if he had inherited it… This was definitely a place I used to visit with my teammates. But before I could say what came to mind, Ellie spoke first.

“That’s right, this must be the Transcendence Academy secret room you mentioned. “I had no idea until you told me.”

I looked around the room at Ellie’s words. The old wallpaper changed, and the beds and bookshelves in the room changed positions or disappeared… I could see that it was the same as the club room structure I remembered. It was even like the ceiling was open and you could see a night sky full of stars.

“I see.”

Nowhere in the novel was it mentioned that Ellie used the secret room as the magic tower’s room. It seems that probability played a role. The club room was certainly a very useful place for everyone, so it was natural to pass it on to a student who could become an archmage. We got the club room before Ellie was Nelson’s student, so she didn’t steal it on purpose.

“I could have gone somewhere better than here.”

He is an archmage who can handle all elemental magic. If you wanted to, you could build a magic tower in the middle of the capital so tall it would surpass the clouds.

“Because I’m still a student. And I plan to stay at the academy even after I graduate.”

I tilted my head at Ellie’s words. When she thought about it, after the ending, she never thought about what kind of life Ellie lived.

“Why do you want to stay at the Academy?”

Ellie could have everything if she wanted to. He could sweep up all the gold coins on the continent and create a place several times better than this place. What reason would there be for Ellie to remain at her academy?

At my question, Ellie sat next to me with a smile on her face.

“Principal Leora promised me the position of assistant principal. “I promised to only give lectures once a week, so he won’t have any inconvenience in studying magic.”

As if that wasn’t the end of her words, Ellie looked at me for a moment, pursing her lips and appearing to hesitate. She waited without prompting, and finally Ellie opened her mouth.

“… And I will be able to make at least a little atonement to you as I wish.”

I unconsciously flinched at Ellie’s words.

“what… ?”

“It wasn’t until I lost you that I realized what a b*tch I was. How precious you were to me. I regretted it every day, loathed myself, and even considered suicide. It’s not a lie. If Roel hadn’t persistently persuaded me, I would have definitely committed suicide. Because losing you hurt more than losing half my soul.”

Ellie looked at me with a sad smile. She couldn’t deny that those eyes were sincere.

“The day I decided to live, I made a promise to myself. Protecting the Academy from victims like you… . “I thought it was the kind of atonement that a person who would never be forgiven could do.”

I vaguely thought that Ellie would forget her pain and live happily after meeting Roel. But even after becoming a grand wizard, she couldn’t forget Ross. Her feelings about Ross remained like an indelible scar deep in her heart, and time could not heal. He repeats living each day with regrets and pain. Her chain of guilt as Ross became the reason why Ellie could not leave her academy.

Suddenly this thought occurred to me. Ellie and I are very similar. We are very different on the outside. There was no resemblance whatsoever. However, it is difficult to determine who is superior or inferior to the stupidity of not being able to let go of your emotions even though a corner of your heart is rotting and rotting. Maybe it’s because we are childhood friends.

But there were also things that were clearly different from me. In the end, I chose to run away, forgetting everything about Ellie, out of fear of losing her heart and being deeply hurt by her again.

Unlike me, Ellie chose to stay at the academy rather than run away. Even if she acted like that, Ellie knew better than anyone that she had no chance of being forgiven by me. But she, Ellie, chose pain over her oblivion. She refused to lose her feelings for Ross, even though she knew that the pain would forever prevent her from forgetting her own sorrow, her regret, and her pain.

The academy was hell for Ellie. It is a place where she sinks into a swamp of regret and depression, endlessly reminded of her own unforgivable mistakes, her disgusting ugliness. That’s why Ellie can’t leave her academy. This hell was the only place where she could freely atone for Ellie, and where she would never forget Ross.

I sighed. And he spoke with sincerity.

“You are more stupid than me.”

After hearing what I said, Ellie smiled even more sweetly.