[If Side Story: In the Next Life…]
Crack
Even in the dark forest where even moonlight barely penetrated, the bright red pool of blood he shed remained etched in her mind.
“Sh-sherpa!”
Suddenly, a sinister black spear was thrust deep into his chest, and his gaze was slowly losing its focus.
“No! Sherpa! Don’t leave me like this!”
Transparent tears streamed from her blue eyes.
Eris hugged him, who looked like he could collapse at any moment, with a frightened expression, continuously shouting for him to hold on.
“I love you, I’m telling you I love you! I can’t do this without you, please… Sherpa, please.”
Did he hear Eris’s voice?
Sherpa slowly raised his blood-dripping hand to her head.
Even this action seemed extremely exhausting, but he slowly parted his trembling lips.
“Da, Daniel… my name.”
“Daniel… Daniel… that’s a nice name. How cruel of you to tell me now.”
But it was so manly that Eris looked up at him while gripping his clothes tightly.
“Don’t cry, quickly… run away.”
“I won’t! Where would I go leaving you behind?”
While shedding tears, Eris pressed her lips against Daniel’s. It was brief, but their kiss was intense, full of emotion.
As Daniel slowly lost his vitality, Eris whispered into his ear to reassure him.
“It’s okay, I’ll find you in the next life. Please be in a place easier to find than this forest.”
“…”
“I love you, Daniel.”
A massive black spear pierced Eris’s heart.
Sniff
Her nose felt so cold.
The flowing tears didn’t stop, and thanks to that, her vision was blurry, but she could sense that the previously dark surroundings had brightened.
‘What is this?’
Other than the pain of losing the one she loved, the pain of the spear piercing her heart was gone.
Did Artemis also guide her to the afterlife? But unexpectedly, a voice rang in her ears.
“Eris! You need to wake up and get ready now!”
“…Huh?”
“Uh? Did you cry? What’s wrong? Is there a problem…?”
“Serdi?”
“Yes, that’s right. Serdi.”
The small-bodied elf who worked as a maid, Serdi.
Eris couldn’t help but be flabbergasted by the sight of her, having not seen her since entering the Forest of the Demon Realm.
“What’s going on?”
“Are you, by any chance, feeling unwell? Should we cancel today’s event speech? I could go tell the queen that you seem unwell.”
“Event?”
As Eris tilted her head, Serdi pouted her cheeks, looking a bit frustrated.
“Today is the Life Festival of Yggdrasil! Why are you like this?”
“Life Festival?”
The life festival, held once every hundred years.
It was the day Yggdrasil shared its infinite warmth across the continent, and the only day the flowers bloomed on Yggdrasil.
‘A life festival with Serdi?’
And she had to give a speech?
Eris hurriedly got out of bed in her pajamas, thinking it was impossible.
“E-Eris?”
Leaving a startled Serdi behind, she opened the door.
Before her eyes, Yggdrasil, already destroyed by the army’s master, was filled with the corpses of elves wandering like magical beasts.
*
Countless elves were looking up at the podium before her.
Seeing the living kindred, Eris felt a pang in her heart, constantly wondering how it had come to this, but she couldn’t find an answer.
‘Either way, it seems I’ve been given another chance.’
This wasn’t a dream.
It wasn’t an illusion.
This was clear reality, and she had traveled back in time.
“Then, please welcome the guardian of Yggdrasil, Miss Eris with a round of applause!”
At the elf queen’s call, Eris slowly walked forward.
As the guardian protecting Yggdrasil, she had prepared a long speech about the greatness of this enormous tree and its overflowing love, but.
‘There’s no way I can remember that.’
Had it already been several years?
She had long forgotten about any speech for the life festival.
She glanced at the elf queen once and then at Serdi.
The elf queen encouraged her with a gesture to do well, while Serdi clenched her fists tightly, lending her strength.
No way, the speech she practiced years ago couldn’t suddenly come back to her.
“Phew.”
Eris took a deep breath and looked down at the many eyes of her comrades fixated on her.
Since it was all or nothing, Eris boldly declared to everyone.
“I’m getting married!”
*
“…”
Daniel managed to hide the tears welling up in his eyes behind a strained expression.
Late at night, Daniel opened the door of his dormitory, dragging his packed belongings.
Today, he had been expelled for reasons like sexual harassment, violence, and not appearing for exams.
All were false accusations, but Daniel chose to flee without having the chance to protest.
He gazed at the room he had packed up secretly.
Though it was a short time, the racing heartbeat he felt when he first entered this place still vividly remained.
He had enrolled in the prestigious Aios Academy of the kingdom.
He thought only joyful things awaited him, but Daniel’s expectations had been shattered in less than a month.
Click
He closed the door and walked down the corridor, dragging his belongings.
It wasn’t that late yet, so the whispers and sneers of surrounding male students surrounded him like a stench, turning the timid boy into a criminal.
“Wow, what a criminal.”
“Those timid guys can’t distinguish between their fantasies and reality.”
“Doesn’t he just look like a criminal? Totally.”
“Ugh, true.”
“…”
Daniel took a final glance at Ares’s door.
His childhood friend, whom he had always been with in his hometown.
With such a disturbance, he should’ve come out, but Ares’s door remained firmly closed.
Just in case, he slowly approached.
“Well, I mean….”
“Seriously?”
“Ares is hilarious!”
Inside, he could hear several girls and Ares laughing heartily over something.
He raised his hand to knock but, in the end, Daniel could do nothing and turned toward the stairs.
“What, is that?”
“Unbelievable.”
“Is that a real elf? I’ve never seen one before!”
Those noises from the stairs.
A woman with pointed ears was leading a group of male students, but she didn’t even glance at the other boys as she walked down the corridor.
Thanks to that, most boys in the room rushed out into the hallway, including Ares.
Finally, she stood before her shy little partner.
“Daniel, right?”
Flowing, cascading blonde hair and blue eyes.
Fair skin and a voluptuous body.
Daniel wondered why someone like her was looking for him, but he nodded for now.
“What’s your last name? I only heard your first name.”
Blushing slightly, Eris scratched her cheek, while Daniel, flustered, replied.
“Mc-McLean. Daniel McLean.”
“Alright, Daniel McLean. Daniel McLean.”
Murmuring Daniel’s name as if savoring it, Eris smiled sweetly, indicating she liked it.
She slowly knelt before him.
“Um…?”
As flustered Daniel tried to step back, Eris gently took his hand and cautiously kissed his palm.
“Daniel McLean, as promised, I’ve found you. You asked me to be in an easier place to find than the forest, and you obliged.”
“Uh? What are you talking about…?”
Flustered, Daniel wondered if she was looking for someone else, but Eris looked up at him with a gentle smile.
“I am Eris, the guardian of Yggdrasil. I’ve come to keep my promise to you, Daniel McLean.”
In front of many students, Eris declared.
“Please marry me.”
*
Yggdrasil, Eris’s home.
Daniel, brought here without understanding, looked around restlessly, unable to hide his anxiety.
Anyway, he had been expelled, and he didn’t want to return to his hometown, so he had nowhere to go, but he hadn’t considered coming to the elf village either.
“Here, try this.”
Eris, wearing an apron, offered him a plate.
There was something that looked like food on it, but Daniel hesitantly put it into his mouth.
“How is it?”
“I-I don’t know.”
“Really? You don’t know? Hmm, it seems this isn’t to your taste.”
Eris crossed her arms and put some of her own cooking in her mouth.
‘It’s weird. Daniel has always cooked for me, but I’ve never actually made anything for him, so this is hard.’
In truth, she had made something once, but after that, Daniel told her not to approach the kitchen.
“It’s alright, I’ll make sure to cook well according to Daniel’s taste from now on. Because I’m your w-wife.”
Hearing Eris’s face turn red while saying this made Daniel’s mouth twitch as he finally mustered the courage to ask.
“Uh, what exactly are you doing for me? What do you mean by marriage…?”
“So you finally asked?”
Though he had heard he was timid before, he had silently come to Yggdrasil from the Academy, and she was relieved it had finally come out.
“Daniel, you know about past lives, right?”
“P-Past lives? If you mean previous lives before now, then yes…”
“In your past life, you accomplished something incredible, which is why you’re blessed in this life. You can think of it that way.”
“Incredible things? Me?”
“Yes, incredible things.”
Daniel couldn’t believe it, looking down at his hands, but Eris slowly approached him to give him a gentle hug.
“So it’s okay. You can forget the unjust accusations, the relationship with your childhood friend; it’s alright to let those go. Even without those, you’ve become a wonderful, amazing man.”
“…Ugh.”
In the end, as Daniel broke into tears, Eris held him tightly, and Daniel wept in her embrace until he was exhausted.
After crying for a long while, Daniel slowly disentangled himself from Eris and asked.
“By the way, what was the incredible thing I did in my past life?”
He seemed to have no trust in the current self, being curious about his past life.
Eris playfully smiled and pulled him into a tight embrace, whispering in his ear.
“You conquered the most beautiful elf, beloved and respected by many elves.”
“Eh?”
“You were quite cute when you were little.”
Laughing softly, Eris lay beside Daniel, blushing as she said.
“By the way, there’s still one promise among those I made that hasn’t been kept.”
“Is there— is there another?”
“This is the last one.”
Eris slowly leaned toward Daniel, pulling him into a tight embrace as she whispered.
“Half-elf.”
