The Obsessive Maniac Is Trying To Confine Me Chapter 227 - Side Story Chapter 17

I safely installed the new heating artifact.

And now, in my hand, I was holding the completely broken old artifact.

It seemed it had breathed its last the moment I returned.

…Which meant one thing.

While I was gone, this little thing had endured until the very end, protecting the potatoes.

It was a tear-jerking true story.

…Wait, I didn’t water them?!

This was bad.

I had to supply water to the potatoes quickly!

Just thinking about the potatoes being thirsty right now made my heart ache.

I had just turned to go when—

“…Found you.”

A voice that made my spine go cold.

When I turned around, a man who looked as if he had been carved from the night itself stood there like a shadow.

His bright red eyes glimmered eerily in the darkness.

“…Yurtha?”

I was startled.

Why was he here?

I didn’t know the reason, but this worked out perfectly.

I should tell him to go draw some water from the tank.

“…Did you think that if you hid in a place like this, I wouldn’t find you?”

What on earth was he talking about?

At that moment, Yurtha stepped out from the darkness.

At the same time, a realization flashed through my mind.

“Yurtha, don’t tell me you think I—”

“It’s useless, noona. No matter where you go, I’ll find you.”

…He thinks I was trying to run away.

Unbelievable.

“It seems your body has completely recovered. Seeing how well you’re moving around.”

Yurtha strode toward me.

“No, that’s not—”

“Then there’s no problem leaving this land now.”

“Hey, let me finish—”

“Don’t.”

He suddenly grabbed my arm and pulled me.

My body instantly tilted toward him as I lost my balance.

“Ah—!”

“What are you trying to say this time to tempt me again?”

Without letting go of me, he began walking forward.

As if he intended to leave this land immediately.

I just came out to save the potatoes—that’s not tempting you!

Part of me felt ridiculous.

When you act like a lunatic like this, isn’t it natural that I’d try to run away?

“Yurtha, I wasn’t trying to run.”

“Then what were you doing?”

“I came to check on the potatoes—”

“Ha. And you expect me to believe such a half-hearted excuse?”

This bastard isn’t listening at all.

Damn it.

If it were Richard, he would understand my sincerity about the potatoes!

I held my aching head.

Maybe it would be better to just give up explaining.

It’s not like this is the first time talking to him has been impossible….

Yeah.

Let’s just give up.

“Fine. Think whatever you want.”

By this point, I was getting irritated too.

You always want things your way.

It’s exhausting every single time.

It was ridiculous that I had even thought, for a moment, about trying to change my relationship with Yurtha.

“But our relationship will never change.”

“….”

“I’ll hate you forever. Just like now.”

Just as I was about to give up—

Shing—

Yurtha suddenly drew the sword at his waist.

“…What are you doing?”

I asked uneasily.

“I should get rid of that shabby cabin after all.”

“…What?”

Why did your logic jump there?!

Yurtha smirked.

At that moment, dense mana gathered at the tip of his sword.

“You lunatic! Don’t destroy it!”

If that hits, the cabin and the potatoes—

“From now on, noona will live in my house. There’s no need for a trash heap like that.”

“No, my potatoes! At least avoid the potato field—!”

I desperately clung to Yurtha’s arm.

I had to stop him.

This lunatic was going to destroy my potatoes!

Do you know how hard it is to grow food in this cursed land?!

“Ha. Those damned potatoes again.”

A vein bulged on Yurtha’s forehead.

He deliberately swung his sword.

The target was the vegetable garden beside the cabin—the one I had carefully tended.

BOOM—!

With a deafening roar, dirt and dust exploded like a storm.

“Aaaah!”

I screamed and collapsed to the ground, still clutching Yurtha’s arm.

It was over.

My potato farm.

My food supply.

My children…

“…Huh?”

After the dust cleared, I rubbed my eyes.

The cabin was perfectly fine.

And the garden…

“…Whoa.”

The ground had been turned over deeply and evenly.

The hardened earth had become soft like premium soil with a single strike of Yurtha’s sword energy.

…If I purified it, could I even farm there?

Even plowing a field a hundred times with an ox wouldn’t create soil like that.

“…I missed.”

Yurtha clicked his tongue and raised his sword again.

I jumped up and blocked his path.

“Wait.”

“Move aside, noona. I’ll hit it properly this time.”

“No, wait. Yurtha.”

I looked up at him with sparkling eyes.

Perhaps my gaze made him uncomfortable, because Yurtha hesitated.

“…Why are you looking at me like that?”

“…Do you see that empty land over there?”

I asked cautiously.

“Could you strike there once more? A little deeper this time.”

“…What?”

Yurtha looked down at me like I was insane.

But I was serious.

“…Noona.”

What now?

“Did you go mad from the shock of me destroying this land?”

Huh?

“Are the memories you made here that precious?”

Uh… what?

Yurtha’s cold gaze shifted toward the cabin.

As if that place were the root of all evil.

He clenched his teeth.

What am I supposed to do with this lunatic?

He won’t listen.

And he keeps trying to destroy the cabin.

I felt like grabbing the back of my neck in frustration.

Just then, a faint vibration spread beneath my feet.

It felt like something deep underground was shifting its body.

A low, heavy tremor.

Was it the aftershock of Yurtha’s sword strike?

…Well, he did overturn the earth.

But something felt strange.

The vibration didn’t stop.

Instead, it became more regular.

Stronger.

Wait.

A chill ran down my spine.

Slowly.

Very slowly.

I lifted my head.

Beyond the horizon, something that looked like a gigantic black pillar connecting the sky and the earth was moving.

A great disaster that occurred in the cursed land.

A weather anomaly.

A massive tornado was approaching.

 

 

 

****

 

 

 

The border post of Piet Territory.

Soldiers were stationed there.

They watched the distorted sky beyond the land with stiff expressions.

A massive tornado connected to the pitch-black sky was tearing across the earth.

In the cursed land, all kinds of abnormal weather occurred.

Tornadoes were common.

But a tornado of that size only appeared once every two or three years.

“It’s an abnormal weather event. If we enter now, we’ll die.”

“And it’s not an ordinary tornado. It’s a mass of malice. Even a priest with holy power wouldn’t survive.”

Only holy power could purify the cursed land.

The knight commander stared toward the cursed land beyond the border.

An ordinary tornado would last at most an hour before disappearing.

But the cursed land was different.

“The tornado will last between three days and a week.”

“What? A whole week?!”

“Yes. It’s not ordinary wind. It’s a massive mana storm formed from condensed malice. Afterward, that malice will spread everywhere…”

If that happened, the farms in the territories near the border would be ruined.

And the soil and air would suffer all kinds of damage.

“Gasp!”

Shocked voices rose from all around.

The knight commander frowned at the undignified noise and turned his head.

A carriage bearing the seal of the Evantes family was arriving.

There was only one person who would ride that carriage.

At last, the carriage stopped.

A tall, slender man stepped out.

Argen Evantes.

“We greet the Marquis.”

Everyone bowed at once.