ERTHMB Chapter 110

Strange Waiting

Eugene arrived at the guild entrance and dismounted from his horse. The tightly shut log door was massive. In truth, he could have easily cut it down if he had wanted to, but Eugene just stood there blankly.

Meanwhile, the sun rose higher and the air became slightly warmer. Then there was a rattling sound from behind. When he turned around, he saw a large man with a prosthetic arm pulling a cart.

The man looked Eugene up and down once, then kicked the door to have someone inside lift the latch, and went in. As the door was about to close again, he looked back at Eugene.

“What are you doing? We don’t need any fancy shiny statue decorating our door.”

Only then did Eugene move. He passed by Flam and stepped into the guild. Perhaps because it bordered the forest, there was still a murky fog that hadn’t completely lifted inside the guild.

It was an environment where one could easily take a wrong turn, but Eugene didn’t bother to retrace his steps. His feet moved toward Helena’s lodging on their own, so there was no need.

Eugene stopped in front of Helena’s room window. This time too, instead of calling for Helena, he stood quietly and waited. Even if she wasn’t inside, she would come if he waited.

Eugene wasn’t accustomed to waiting, but that wasn’t a reason he couldn’t do it. If Helena was his purpose, he could certainly do so.

As he stood there blankly staring at the curtained window, someone approached him.

“The young lady isn’t here.”

It was a voice Eugene recognized. Eugene only turned his head to confirm who it was, then fixed his gaze back on the window.

Eden just stared intently at his profile. Then he cleared his throat and began.

“Your eyes will return soon.”

“……?”

“Haven’t the sclera and vitreous already started forming again?”

Eden pointed to Eugene’s eyes. In the empty sockets, though still hazy, fine golden light was emerging.

Even so, Eugene responded with a face that showed he didn’t understand. In fact, he had no way of knowing whether his eyes had returned or remained as they were.

Because he smashed every mirror he looked into, there wasn’t a single smooth surface left in the hotel room where he was staying. Even the windows were replaced daily.

Yet when he went to check the next morning, they were always shattered into glass fragments scattered across the floor.

Eden frowned somewhat at Eugene’s strangely sluggish attitude. He let out a dry laugh and said,

“What, did you think they’d disappear forever? As I said, it follows the law of causality, didn’t I? Since the tracking spell has been lifted, your eyes will return too. Your right eye was originally weak, so it’s taking some time…”

Eden stopped his lengthy explanation midway. Seeing Eugene’s listless expression, he felt like a ridiculous clown babbling alone.

He had taken away vision, not voice. He wondered briefly if Eugene had become mute.

Most of all, his attitude of not caring either way was the strangest thing.

“Still, it’s surprising. To think you were prepared to sacrifice your sight just to find one person.”

Eugene maintained his sluggish demeanor before responding slowly.

“……Eyes exist to see what needs to be seen.”

So you’re not mute after all. Eden’s worry finally lifted. Eugene still didn’t look at him, but he opened his mouth.

“What use are they if what you want to see disappears?”

Eugene lowered his eyes. The hazy golden irises disappeared, covered by his eyelids. Eden could sense some resignation and complete surrender in that quiet appearance.

Eden turned his gaze to the window and asked casually,

“Do you want me to take you to where the young lady is? This time there’s no price required.”

“……”

Eugene fell silent again. To Eden, even his breathing now sounded sluggish. So much so that at some point, it might stop without anyone knowing.

Eugene looked up at the window again. His open eyes were hazy even in the morning sunlight. They were purely white, as if he had swallowed all the fog that had been spread across the streets.

Eugene stood there like a scarecrow in front of Helena’s room for a long while. When Helena still didn’t appear, he left without another word.

****

Helena pressed her body tightly against the wall and breathed heavily.

She had been returning from morning training at the training ground.

It had been just five minutes since she quickly hid herself upon seeing Eden and Eugene standing in front of her lodging building. Helena, who had been on the second floor of the adjacent building after stopping by Gelda’s office, had been able to secretly look down at them.

‘Could he have more injuries…?’

Eugene looked very haggard. His eyes were dark and his cheeks were on the verge of being sunken in. He looked like someone who had suffered from a terrible incurable disease for years.

For this reason, Helena had tried to just pass by pretending not to know, pretending she had never seen him, but for some reason found herself hiding and listening.

But Helena shouldn’t have done so.

‘Eugene… gave up his eyes because of me?’

Her heart sank with a thud. Helena barely managed to use the wall she was leaning against as support as she slid down to the floor.

It couldn’t be true. It shouldn’t be true.

Eugene Evergale had to remain a ruthless and cruel man to the end. He had to be forgotten from her life forever. He shouldn’t leave new traces like this again.

Even after Eugene left the guild, Helena couldn’t get up from her spot for a long time. Her heart wouldn’t stop pounding. It echoed in her ears like the thick sound of a ship’s horn.

Fortunately, just then a cuckoo called. As if following a set routine, Gelda opened her window and spat out curses. With that outcry, Helena barely came to her senses.

Helena forced strength into her still trembling legs and ran back to the training ground.

……

Clang, clank! Cla-ga-ga-gak!

Elai’s room and the training ground were close. It wasn’t suitable for quiet conversations, let alone discussing Rihalt’s political situation.

But Ian deliberately chose this place and had the knights gather. Naturally, the meeting couldn’t proceed smoothly, and Ian had to stop speaking repeatedly.

“While the reconnaissance unit that went north searches for the rebels’ dwelling, we will center around Chetscher—”

Clang! The relentless clash of steel rang out without pause, cutting off his words.

Finally, after looking around nervously, Dion decided to step forward. Of course, it wasn’t entirely voluntary—Elai had poked him hard in the ribs.

Still, his concern for someone was genuine. The someone who was now causing the noise and making Ian’s insides churn.

“I’ll go check, my lord. She’s been going at it for two days without rest.”

“……Haah.”

Ian let out a deep sigh and rubbed his dry face. He kept his hand pressed against his face from forehead to chin without removing it. Then, in a muffled voice with his lower lip half-covered, he ordered,

“You go check.”

The knight designated by his gaze was Odyssey. Odyssey reflexively stood up in surprise.

“Me?!”

“Since you’re already up, go right now. And don’t come back until you stop her. That’s your mission today.”

“How could I possibly stop the lady? It would be better if you went yourself, my lord—”

“Until Helena stops, don’t even think about coming in.”

After giving his firm order, Ian resumed the meeting as if nothing had happened.

Odyssey could only bite his lips in frustration before reluctantly leaving the room and entering the training ground.

There was Helena, training in a trance-like state. The sword hilt she gripped was now stained with blood seeping from her blistered hands.

But Helena didn’t stop.

Like someone obsessively repeating simple motions to forget something, she swung her sword.

Perhaps because her aura manipulation, which had seemed to be going well for a while, was blocked again, her movements were even more rough. Even though she craved and desired so frantically, her aura wouldn’t be controlled.

It was clearly her own energy and power. It should have flowed into the sword like one body to be used, but it wouldn’t.

Odyssey let out a light sigh and stepped forward.

“Please stop now, my lady. You’ll suffer greater harm at this rate.”

Clang, claaang! Despite Odyssey’s plea, the only response was the sound of metal. Odyssey had no choice but to draw his sword and step into Helena’s trajectory.

“Tomorrow, or the day after if not then. It won’t be too late to try again. You don’t need to be impatient.”

Odyssey clashed blades with her somewhat roughly. The blades made a scraping sound as they slid against each other.

Now facing him at a much closer distance than before, Helena let out an unfiltered harsh voice.

“I hate the word ‘again’ the most. You should know when to give up if it doesn’t work, not always telling me to try again.”

“I didn’t mean it that way—”

Cla-ga-gak!

Taking advantage of Odyssey’s momentary carelessness, Helena twisted her wrist to strike away his sword and aimed for the opening. As Odyssey barely managed to block it, Helena continued,

“But what I hate most is myself, who decides to try again hundreds of times.”

The blade’s edge filled with indiscriminate anger was as fierce as exploding fury. Odyssey finally put his full strength into the confrontation.

Helena’s heel, which had seemed to be pushing him back, was now pushed back in the opposite direction. Helena gritted her teeth and endured.

“Really, this time, next time, the time after that. Somehow thinking that just one more try might really work, I can’t let go of my attachment and try again—I hate myself the most.”

Since she received the force head-on instead of deflecting it to the side as she normally would, her wrist ached. Even so, Helena pushed the blade brutally.

“Again, again, and again—when will it ever end!”

Helena struck with desperate force as her final blow. Clang! An unusually fierce explosive sound tore through the space for an instant. Wind swept through.

Odyssey let out a faint groan and briefly closed his eyes. When the dust finally settled, Odyssey suddenly felt his grip had become lighter.

He immediately said to Helena,

“But my lady. Look.”

“……?”

“It worked.”

Helena breathed heavily, her shoulders heaving. As she slowly lifted her head, there was some refreshing energy flowing down her rough throat.

Looking ahead, she saw Odyssey’s sword, cleanly cut in half. It was the trajectory of her aura that had flown without touching a single hair. It was straight and uniform. A trajectory without regret.

Like Basil, who no longer appeared in nightmares.