Chapter 31 - A Hallow Laugh

Dale laid in bed, groaning and lost in thought.

Do you know how it feels to be hit with a hammer until you give the answer the other party wants after being kidnapped?

No... no. Let's skip this as there's an even more shocking event that makes this seem trivial.

Then, do you know how it feels when you come to your senses after being hit with a hammer dozens of times, and something that should be there is gone, let's ignore the fact that it wasn't working—and something that shouldn't be there is present?

Fuck... fucking hell!

To put it bluntly, it felt pretty shitty.

No, since the dick is gone, should I say it felt quite empty?

...Anyway, that wasn't important, but because something precious had disappeared, anger welled up and his head started to hurt just from breathing.

Loose clothes, longer hair... 

No, why did the hair grow in the first place? Does it make sense?

Anyway, the slender arms and ankles, and the inexplicable swelling.

These things were more painful than the fact that he had been tortured, so he kept groaning and unable to bear it any longer, he roughly put on some clothes and started running towards that trash bastard.

***

As Liana's rough coughing spread through the room, I felt that something had gone wrong and opened my mouth, "Liana, that was the cure you gave me, right?"

"..."

"Right...?"

Why is there no answer?

As I felt a headache coming on and sighed, Liana added an excuse, "...Well, it did cure, so isn't it fine?"

Because she was spouting nonsense, I gave her the same cold look as before, and Liana closed her mouth and avoided my gaze.

She must have realized how ridiculous her own words were.

Deciding to formally complain about this later... what was important now was dealing with Dale, no, Dasoon, so I sighed.

"Loraine, bring that Dale guy here. If we leave him alone, he'll probably break down the door and come in."

"Yes."

I sent Loraine with a sigh, and soon after, someone burst into the room with a loud shout, forcefully opening the door, "You son of a bitch!"

I looked at the woman... who had entered and glared at Liana again.

Liana just kept coughing unnecessarily and pretended not to notice my gaze.

I let out a long sigh and tried to calm Dale down, but suddenly, to check if the contract I wrote yesterday was working properly, I deliberately provoked him.

"Dasoon, you're here?"

At the word “Dasoon”, Dale's eyes widened, and he tried to grab my collar while letting out a high-pitched scream, but…

"Uweeek."

As if the protective measure I had written in the contract had activated, he started dry heaving on the floor, vomiting.

Seeing this, I realized that the contract was being applied well and pushed Dasoon away.

"But it's a bit much, so could you move away?"

"Ugh... you bastard. Ugh."

Perhaps because the original protagonist's appearance was so handsome, Dasoon's appearance was quite pretty too, but maybe because I knew Dasoon's true form, I felt a strange aversion, so I deliberately kept my distance and stepped back.

Siren scurried to my side and started narrowing her eyes, wary of Dasoon.

Seeing this, Dale spat out curses like “This is really fucked up” and expressed his anger, then as if his mind had calmed down, he took a deep breath and said to me, "...Haa. Change me back while I'm asking nicely."

Since I didn't need to take responsibility for this, I glanced at Liana.

Liana smiled reluctantly and provided a solution.

"If you wait just one day, the medicine will wear off, so you don't need to worry too much."

"Ha-a day? You want me to stay like this for a day?"

"..."

Liana just closed her mouth and smiled, either because there was no other way to undo it or because she didn't want to tell even if there was a way.

Seeing this, I inwardly sighed and fell into thought for a moment.

It would be right to use it as a stick rather than a carrot.

Since I had written a clause that he couldn't refuse orders, I thought it wouldn't be bad to use the threat of turning him into a woman if he didn't listen.

Just as I was deciding to look for another carrot to give Dale, someone knocked on the door and delivered a message to me.

"Young Master, Elisia has requested an audience."

At the mention of Elisia, my expression hardened for a moment and I was about to refuse the audience, but seeing Dale flustered in front of me, an interesting thought occurred to me, so I said I would accept it.

"Yes. Then I will guide Elisia to the reception room."

I nodded to show I understood, then I spoke to Dale beside me, "You're coming with me too. Get ready."

"What? Me?"

"Yes, you."

"This is completely insane."

Although Dale showed an extreme rejection reaction, he had no choice but to follow me, grinding his teeth, since he couldn't refuse orders, anyway.

Looking at Dale like that, I smiled slightly and moved my feet towards the reception room where Elisia would be waiting.

***

As I entered the reception room, fiddling with the hammer in my chest to calm my mind, I saw Elisia.

"Have you been well?"

Judging by her still soft tone, it seemed she hadn't given up on her plan yet.

Hearing Elisia's words, I slowly sat down on the sofa and looked at her.

...

As in the original work, she still seemed to be suffering from hallucinations and auditory hallucinations, as I could see dark circles under her eyes and pale skin.

Perhaps because I had poured out all my emotions, even seeing this, I didn't particularly feel anything.

...As I was looking at her, I suddenly remembered why I came to like Elisia.

After my parents passed away, during my elementary school days when I was living with my grandmother.

While living a life where I suffered all sorts of shame due to poverty and was not understood by anyone,

In my third year of middle school, I came across a fantasy novel in the library.

That novel was a common fantasy novel centered on the hymn to humanity that was popular at the time, but the scene where Elisia reached out to the protagonist when he had lost all his power and fallen to the bottom, and made him stand up again, was so impressive that I came to like her.

I didn't remember the exact reason.

It might had been because I wished there was someone like that for me.

Or if not that, because I didn't have parents, I might have tried to imitate it out of curiosity about the emotion of someone's love.

If not even that, when even my grandmother who was taking care of me passed away, I might have clung to it more because I felt truly left alone in the world.

...Well, these things aren't very important now, so let's move on.

Anyway, that experience and thought that was ingrained in my childhood continued for 5 years.

The important thing is that these things became a part of my life.

So in January of my 21st year.

I was transmigrated into this world, and I was so happy to meet Elisia that I tried to make her look at me properly just once, but she broke her promise to face me properly if I brought warmth to the North.

She proclaimed the things I had achieved as if she had done them herself, took my sacrifices for granted, and not only did she give flowers from the flower garden I had given her as a gift to Dale, despite being my fiancée, she refused even my request to just listen to me once, saying it was meaningless...

Forget rational emotions or whatever, I just lost all human affection for her and ended it.

Throwing the hammer was just me exploding after accumulating things for a year.

So I didn't want to be entangled with her anymore, nor did I want to share understanding, so I just looked at her expressionlessly.

Elisia looked at me like that and calmly pointed to Dale... no, Dasoon.

"I want to discuss something important, but who is that woman?"

"She's a new guard, you can ignore her."

It seemed like she was indirectly asking me to send her away, but I wanted to show Dale Elisia's true self, so I refused.

She nodded awkwardly with a smile.

"Ah... I see."

Judging by how easily she let it go, it seemed there wouldn't be much problem even if I told her.

Or maybe she judged that she could handle it even if rumors spread.

So Elisia turned her gaze away from Dale and said to me, "The reason I came this time is to tell you some very important information, Damian."

Among the recent events, the only one with high importance was the council's decision to appoint Dale as a hero, so she was likely to talk about this.

I nodded, pretending to suppress my emotions despite still being angry, and Elisia continued speaking, "The council has decided to appoint Dale as a hero."

"What?"

"It means exactly what I said. The council has judged Dale suitable to be a hero, and after a simple test, they plan to make Dale a hero."

Dale, who was behind, flinched when his name was mentioned.

Feeling that reaction, I laughed a little inwardly and continued speaking, "...So why are you telling me this?"

"As I said before, I'm doing this because I regret all my actions. There's no ulterior motive at all."

I knew it was a lie.

All of Elisia's actions were for the North, so I already knew this was just her saying this to retract the engagement annulment and bring back the warmth.

But to continue the conversation, I kept my mouth shut and just met her gaze.

She pretended to be upright and said to me, "So what I want to say is... when Dale becomes a hero, it will be a great danger to you."

"..."

"As I told you before, Dale holds a great grudge against you."

"I'm sure he does."

"Yes. Right now, since Dale is a commoner, he can't directly affect you... but once Dale becomes a hero, things will be different."

Seeing that I didn't say anything, Elisia seemed to judge that she could continue talking, and calmly brought up the story she had told before.

"Dale is trying to kill you..."

Before she could finish her words, suddenly, Dale, who was behind, let out a hollow laugh and muttered, "This is fucking insane."