It was then.
“Noona!”
A shadow suddenly sprang up behind the two.
“Noel?”
Elses turned around, her eyes wide with surprise.
In contrast, Astaire’s expression stiffened for a moment before quickly returning to normal.
Unaware of the shift in mood, the child spoke in an excited voice.
“I want to go with you tomorrow morning, too.”
“With me?”
“Yeah. I’ve decided. I’m really going to become a hero.”
“Oh, really?”
Elses’ face lit up with delight.
A little while ago, after resolving the situation, Astaire had visited Noel’s house.
As a cardinal, he explained to Noel’s parents his proposal to raise Noel as an apprentice priest.
“Noel has divine power. And he has the courage to help those in danger.”
“Our child…?”
“Yes. It means he has the qualities to become a priest. If both of you, and Noel himself, are willing, I would like to take him to the Holy Kingdom and train him as a priest.”
Many people wished to become priests.
Especially commoners, who struggled to survive day by day.
Becoming a priest meant receiving a monthly stipend from the Holy Kingdom, and more importantly, it was one of the few ways for a commoner to gain honor.
Even so, priests faced greater risks than ordinary people and had to live apart from their families, so no one was forced into it.
“You can take your time and let us know before our order leaves the village.”
For the sake of maintaining order, Astaire planned to station the Holy Knights in the village until the duchy’s knights arrived.
Since it was a life-changing decision for a child, he had expected it to take time.
Yet, not even half a day had passed since he made the proposal, and Noel had already come looking for them.
“I talked to my mom and dad. They both gave me permission.”
“That must have been a difficult decision. They’ve made a tough choice.”
Noel grinned shyly.
Just then, a Holy Knight approached Astaire.
“Your Excellency, a moment, please.”
Astaire excused himself, saying he would be back shortly.
Noel quickly took the seat where Astaire had been sitting just moments ago.
Elses, recalling the words she hadn’t been able to say earlier, met Noel’s gaze.
“I know it’s late, but thank you, Noel. For coming to stop me in the forest today.”
Noel blushed slightly and gave a small, sheepish smile.
“I want to be a hero, too! Heroes help each other, right?”
“And thank you for believing in me. Even after hearing everything, it wouldn’t have been easy to take my side.”
“You said it yourself, Noona. That I have good eyes. When I looked with my own eyes, you seemed like a good person.”
The child’s eyes sparkled brighter than the stars in the night sky.
Elses smiled proudly at Noel, who was repeating the very words she had once told him.
“Wow, did I really say that? Hearing it like this makes me sound really cool, doesn’t it?”
“It’s not cool if you say it about yourself.”
“Tch.”
Elses pouted playfully, and Noel giggled.
She gently ruffled his soft hair and gave him a piece of advice.
“Go home now and spend time with your parents. You won’t see them for a while, so tell them you love them a lot. Sleep with them, too.”
Noel, still young, was likely too caught up in excitement to grasp the weight of the farewell awaiting him tomorrow.
As someone older, Elses wanted to make sure he wouldn’t regret how he spent his time today.
Noel nodded, seeming to understand her words.
Satisfied, Elses held out her fist to him.
“Let’s get along from now on—as fellow heroes.”
Returning the same words and gesture Noel had given her before.
For a moment, the boy blinked in surprise, then, as he recalled the gesture, grinned and lightly bumped his fist against hers.
****
The reason the Holy Knight summoned Astaire was because of a visit from the village chief.
“Thank you for saving our village. We had no other way to repay you, so we prepared a small token of gratitude.”
The villagers had brought food.
Thanks to them, Elsez and her companions were able to have a hearty dinner.
“I guess it’s about time to get up.”
As the gathering gradually started to wind down, Elsez took some food she had set aside earlier and moved to a quiet spot.
“Reti.”
She had been secretly concerned about the little fluffball, who had been silent all day.
“Come out. Eat this.”
There was no response. When Elsez nudged a button, her inner pocket twitched slightly, and then, sluggishly, Reti—who had taken the form of a stuffed rabbit—crawled out.
“…I don’t need it. You eat.”
Drooping ears, a dejected voice. No matter how she looked at him, he seemed down.
“Is it because of what people said earlier today?”
“…Wasn’t I the reason you were misunderstood?”
“Did you really not expect that when you attached yourself to my soul?”
At Elsez’s sharp question, Reti flinched and shrank even further.
“Well… that’s true, but…”
“Reti, didn’t you ever resent me? I tried to kill you at first, just like everyone else.”
At Elsez’s sudden question, Reti blankly stared at her for a moment before recalling the past.
“At first… I did.”
But as he watched her over time, he slowly started to understand.
“But the more I watched, the more pitiful you seemed.”
A memory of Elsez, standing against her uncle’s family, flashed through Reti’s mind.
“Lonely.”
The sight of her breaking down at her grandmother’s death, and the times she longed for the four people she had left behind in her world.
“Fascinating.”
And despite all that, how she always got back up to help those in need.
“…And then, I started to like you.”
Reti had always longed to live among others. And all those sides of Elsez—the one he had observed—were what he had come to admire.
As she quietly watched him, Elsez finally spoke.
“I resented you at first too.”
Reti flinched.
“Ugh, why did this thing have to attach itself to me? Why do I have to go through all this?”
“S-Sorry…”
“But the more I watched, the more I realized you weren’t that different from me. You just… want to live happily with everyone too, don’t you?”
After becoming a Demon God, she had come to understand Reti’s heart.
How lonely and terrifying it must have been to be shunned in a world that rejected him simply for being different.
Elsez finally answered the question Reti had asked her a few days ago.
“Even if we find a way to separate our powers, I won’t kill you.”
Reti stared at her blankly.
“When that time comes, I’ll help you.”
Today, she had seen the possibility.
How just one person—Noel, who believed in her—had been enough to shake an unyielding prejudice.
“I will be that ‘one person’ for you.”
Elsez played with Reti’s drooping ears and grinned.
“Even if I have to turn the world upside down.”
At that moment, Elsez’s figure shimmered like a star in Reti’s eyes.
****
At a time when everyone was asleep.
A lone shadow appeared in front of the tent where Elsez was staying.
Just as the figure approached the tent, a low, chilling voice sounded from behind.
“What are you doing here?”
Turning toward the voice, there stood Rashiel, dressed casually in a shirt.
Bathed in moonlight, he was beautiful—yet at the same time, eerily unsettling.
For a brief moment, the shadow—Astaire—showed a flicker of surprise in his eyes, but he quickly concealed it and turned to face Rashiel.
“And you? Why are you out here instead of sleeping?”
“I was worried my missing roommate might be snooping around someone else’s tent.”
The battle for the inn’s beds had ultimately ended with everyone agreeing to sleep in the tents instead.
As a result, Cassian, Tezette, Astaire, and Rashiel were sharing the same tent.
Even in the face of Rashiel’s obvious sarcasm, Astaire remained unbothered.
“There’s something I need to confirm with the lady.”
“She’s probably asleep.”
“…It is quite late. I suppose it would be better to check tomorrow.”
Without argument, Astaire accepted Rashiel’s words and turned away.
But then, Rashiel’s voice rang out from behind him.
“Even if she’s awake, don’t come at this hour.”
Astaire slightly furrowed his brows and glanced back. As if answering the unspoken question in his gaze, Rashiel added:
“Because it annoys me.”
The night breeze carried his voice, brushing past Astaire with an eerie chill.
Astaire’s eyes darkened with a clear sense of hostility as he stared at Rashiel.
“I don’t think that’s something for you to interfere with.”
Unlike how he was in front of Elsez, Rashiel only smirked at Astaire’s sharp edge.
But only for a fleeting moment.
That mocking smile was soon overlaid with a cold, emotionless chill.
Astaire gave him a curt warning.
“I heard you haven’t been sleeping well. You should get some rest.”
“I’d probably sleep just fine if my roommate actually came back and stayed put.”
“…I just need to clear my thoughts for a bit.”
With that, Astaire turned his back on Rashiel.
He could feel Rashiel’s piercing gaze following him, but he didn’t look back. Instead, he walked straight toward the campfire at the center of the campsite.
Crackle, crackle—
The fire crackled softly, its embers flickering in the dark.
Astaire’s eyes wavered as he gazed into the flames.
All day long, a thought had lingered in his mind, refusing to fade.
When he had held Elsez in his arms today—
Along with her warmth, he had felt something else. Faint, yet unmistakably foreign.
A power that didn’t belong with such warmth.
The same power he had sensed on the night of the incident in the royal palace.
The same power he had felt in the forest today.
The power of a Demon God.
“Why…”
Why did that power emanate from you?
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