Chapter 178

Translator: Kurehashi Aiko

Volume 5 Chapter 28: The Sage Thinks About His Companions

Nectar was taking a stroll through the ruins in the middle of the night.

He arrived in a half-ruined auditorium where a branch of the Spirit Tree managed to grow, replacing the roof and scattering the glowing bright flowers all over the place.

There, buried under the soft petals, there was his beloved black dragon, sleeping peacefully as always.

The petals were covering her whole body, and whenever her huge chest would move or her mane sway on the wind they would fall off or raise into the air, creating a magical, almost breathtaking sight, making her scales glow in the night.

The ruins looked rather lively these days, with grass and fluffy moss growing from all over the place.

However, even though they managed to clear the fallen petals from Lava’s body during the day, they were already completely covering her again.

「I know I chose this tree myself, but I didn’t know it would be so much of handful like that.」

Nectar says something like that to himself while cleaning the fallen leaves, and then he takes out the tools he readied beforehand from the corner of the room.

Lava’s body was as good as always. Neither the hot nor the cold were affecting her in any way.

Nectar and Aru knew that since Lava wasn’t waking up for now, it won’t harm her in any way if the fallen petals sit on top of her like that for a while.

But still, it was the part of their daily routine to clean her up like that.

While brushing the leaves from her body, Nectar would talk to her in a gentle manner, like he always used to do.

「Aru really gets along with Elvie. Now, I know that you are technically an adult when you are twenty one, but I still think that this is too soon. But because of your influence, I do believe that Elvie is going to live probably as long as Kyle did back in the day.」

Elvie may not be aware of this yet, but to wield a magic gun properly, one needed to have the amount of magic in them that would be equal to that of the court magician serving at the royal palace.

Taking that into account, it was easy to imagine that he was going to live a long life.

But that was to be seen in the future.

「I know this may come as a surprise, but there’s more to come: you may not believe this, but Iori-kun and Mikoto actually got married.」

While taking care of the petals, Nectar continued.

「Lishella’s wedding was also a big thing in the high society. Lily was really excited about the whole thing. But she took some pictures while she was there, you can watch them when you eventually wake up.」

Lishella Von Avar never officially met face to face.

However, when she heard what happened to Lava, Lishella fully understood the circumstances surrounding her absence at the ceremony.

Her husband was the same young man that she was engaged to. She was also very popular with people all around Hesat, because thanks to her demonic magic she was able to protect a whole lot of people during the evacuation a few years ago. As a result, the people of Hesat even started calling her a “Saint”.

This incident even caused the stigma of her father’s misdeeds to eventually be forgotten, and her family managed to regain their position and status.

「The restoration of her domain seems to be going well, too. Speaking of which, Kyle and Belga come here to visit me quite often. She feels really guilt about all the things she did to us while her memories were gone, so you should be prepared to be apologized to a whole lot once you come around.」

Kyle was the same as Aru around these days. He was travelling around the world, making sure that the circulation of magic was going correctly.

They were taking turns in going to faraway places and staying nearby, adjusting the magic and exterminating monsters if need be.

「They even went on their second honeymoon not so long ago. Kyle chose a really romantic spot.」

According to Aru’s words, the dragons that chose to remain here were all concerned for the world’s well-being, and were keeping a close eye on the excess levels of magic, so that they could remain at a steady levels all the time.

Many things began to change.

Many cities and towns were spared from Eclipse, but that does not mean that there weren’t any damages.

Ficell used almost all magical energy stored up in the spirit tree and was sleeping for many days afterwards.

The spirit tree itself withered away, and so he was forced to spend most of his days asleep in trunks of other trees.

In addition, when the lost earth returned to the world so did the lost leylines, which resulted in more magic catastrophes to occur throughout the land.

However,

「Dragons and demons are doing a great job at getting rid of them together with Kyle and Aru. Their options are fairly limited for now, but with time they should be able to do more and more. Ficell is also regaining his strength, he can stay awake for longer and longer periods of time. He’s still unable to talk with anyone, but we believe this will also return to him with time.」

And even if it doesn’t come back, they would certainly figure something out.

「I am sure that many things will make you happy, and there will be many things which will probably going to cause you quite a headache.」

However, the leftovers from the Godly snow that piled up here and there, the new monsters were showing up all over the place, and the ones that were already there became way more powerful.

Nectar knew that this wasn’t all of the aftereffects. Not only the monsters or the environment, but also the people were slowly changing. Isha’s report confirmed that, after she gave up her seat of the court magician.

「Allegedly, more and more children are able to see the spirits. In time, magic surely will become more and more commonly known. However, it is surely is annoying. This God of ours could surely do a better job. I am sure that you are still asleep because she screwed her job at some point.」

Letting out a sigh, Nectar gathered the petals in one place.

「Oh, yeah, that’s right. We still don’t know where Lute, Palette and Adversa are. But Kyle heard a certain rumor.」

Shortly after the crisis was over, Lute’s group disappeared together with Adversa.

But, before disappearing, Lute lifted the spell that was placed upon Belga’s memories.

“This is it for us.” He said something like that to Belga and then they left. They haven’t heard from them ever since.

「It seems that they are always present whenever there is the Godly Snow and it is causing trouble. The details vary with each case, but overall the activity of the malfunctioning leylines always calm down when they arrive on the scene.」

Nectar remembers the silver dragon with blue mane, with whom he only exchanged but a few words.

Adversa looked like a stubborn and disciplined dragon but in truth he was mentally just like a teenager or a young adult. If he was to maintain the world’s balance on his own it would be extremely difficult for him, and so he had his friends coming with him and supporting him in his duty.

He tried to ask Ficell or Ten for more details, but they were reluctant to tell him anything, only saying that “It should work out eventually”.

Even though Lute’s group said that they are not obliged to do anything for this world, instead focusing on things they wanted to pursue on their own, but they were still using their talents to help the people out.

Adversa was probably unable to forget his duties as a dragon, even though he was finally free. He must have felt good about himself, being able to travel around the world and helping people out of his own volition.

Nectar felt as though he was finally able to understand Lute’s feelings.

After Nectar finally got the cleaning done, he decided to keep the petals and use them as the fertilizer for some herbs.

He put his hand on Lava’s shiny neck.

One of the reason that the piled up petals weren’t going all over the place was because Nectar cast a spell on the place, preventing the huge gusts of wind from blowing here.

Even so, the night air was getting warmer and warmer as the days were going by, and soon enough spring was right around the corner.

Looking around the room, it was full of gifts and presents Nectar received from all of their friends.

Nectar was currently sitting on a tatami mat given to him by the people from Towa, and the pieces of art and furniture were given to him by Isha, Kyle and Seram.

Ligurila was bringing clothes for Lava every year, and right about now Lava was covered with a huge and warm blanket, huge enough to wrap her whole body. She was also bringing clothes for Nectar and Aru. Thanks to that, even winters by Lava’s side were pretty enjoyable.

During summer and hot days there was even a magical fan here, installed by Iori and Elvie sometime earlier. They were ready for every weather possibility.

Her current room was a real sight to see.

「I love you so much, Lava. You are the only one for me.」

For five years Nectar didn’t received a reply, but he was sure that his feelings were getting across.

Even though Lava was still silent, Nectar’s cheeks were blushing strongly.

Decades have already passed, but he was still blushing everytime he would tell her that he loved her.

He already lost the count of how many shameful of happy memories they experienced together.

However, during that time there were a lot of things they learned or noticed about one another.

「You know, Lava. During my training to become a spirit, I was thinking about you all that time. Were you doing the same?」

No, she probably wasn’t. After all, he did something terrible to her.

He disappeared just like that without even saying goodbye.

Nectar was well aware of the fact that reading the other people’s emotions wasn’t his forte.

He used to memorize body language and expression and associate them with specific emotions, but there is only so much you could memories without actually experiencing various emotions himself.

He came to understand sadness, he came to understand pain, he came to understand anger and witnessed evil.

It felt so different from observing. By actually experiencing them all, Nectar finally felt as though he could understand.

You can fight monsters all you want. You can acquire as much knowledge as you possibly can. But knowledge without experience is worth nothing. He used to analyze things and amassing knowledge, but people would always tell him that he was slow on the uptake.

Those were the times when he would hardly even realize how exhausted he was, both physically and mentally.

He didn’t even understand why Kyle’s expression would be so sad all the time.

Then he met Lava and everything began to change.

The girl that was a being far stronger and more majestic than anyone he ever met, but at the same time sadder, more helpless more lonely than anyone else. She was like a boiling pot of emotions, emotions that he was struggling so hard to understand.

When he came to know and understand her, he also came to understand his own helplessness.

But above everything else, he was overwhelmed by the vividness of the world she was seeing.

The more he knew, the closer he was growing to her, he realized that his knowledge was really nothing.

What was it like to like someone? What was joy? How did it feel to be unhappy?

He soon found himself longing for her smile, he wanted to spend more and more time together with her.

For the first time in his life, he found himself to desire something other than magic. It surprised him just how feverishly he was longing for it.

He felt as though he was being repeatedly broken apart and molded again by her.

It was then that he came to know that she was originally a human.

Sure, it was astonishing for a scholar such as Nectar to learn that there were other worlds beside his own, but nothing could bring him greater joy than learning something new about Lava.

She was the one who taught him about being human. This was a miracle in and out if itself.

「Still, I didn’t understand that at all. Yes, that’s right, not even a Sage knows everything the world has to offer. I know that it wasn’t intentional, but I must have done and said many cruel things. I regret them now.」

Words alone weren’t enough. Again, but this time as a spirit, Nectar wasn’t able to fit in.

This must be the curse he was forced to bear throughout his life.

How sad she must have been? How painful must it have been for her?

He thought he has become very human because of her, but as it turned out, he still had a long way to go.

There was still much that could be improved.

But that’s okay.

Lava is here with him now. Their bond was still here, he could feel it inside of him. That’s why he knew that she was still alive.

He would wait for her to come back to him, either in life or in death.

Now he knew how hard it was, how much it hurt.

「It’s been five years. Only five years. It’s not as long as you had to wait. I will wait as long as the need be.」

He really thought so. But,

In a show of affection, Nectar put his forehead right to Lava’s face.

His body heat was being transferred to her cold scales.

「But I really miss you. I can’t help it bu to miss you.」

There was Aru. There were their friends. So many people were waiting for her to come back, there was so many things he wanted to experience with her.

And yet, Nectar could only think about how much he loved her, more than anything else in this world.

It was sad that she was not herself. That even though she was here with him, she was somewhere else entirely.

「Please, Lava. Hurry up and come back to me.」

He kissed her gently and cuddled up to her. He was used to her not responding, but it always hurt just the same.

He wanted to stay with her, but he also promised Aru to sleep properly back at the house.

Even if he tried to pretend, Aru would see right through him. So he had to uphold that promise.

He wanted to pull his forehead away, to wipe off his tears.

He thought he felt something moving under the palm of his hand.

However, he thought so many times before, all in vain.

Illusion born out of expectations, and so he smiles to himself, grief and despair slowly creeping all over him.

But this time he could hear her muscles moving, and Nectar rose his face, his heart full with foolish expectations.

The moment he looked at her face, her golden eyes opened up for the first time in five years.

「La ––」

「You fucking idioooooottttttttt!!!!!!」

Lava screamed loudly, smacking Nectar with her long neck when he wanted to give her a hug.