46 – Rate -10

“That’s the smell! If someone manipulated the smell…”

“What are you talking about? Hell, what effect did my smell have? I wouldn’t be disgusted for no reason.”

Instead of his usual lofty and confident tone, Nerwen muttered in an anxious and nervous voice.

However, it didn’t seem like he was completely lying.

“The smell… shook me. It cleverly twisted the hand holding the bowstring, and kept me thinking about it. I sometimes felt hostility toward you and others with you.”

“So. Isn’t it now?”

She closed her eyes for a moment and inhaled through her nose.

“Similar…but different. A positive smell mixed with a smell I have to admit…”

“Then what’s the point? Are you saying I’ve been manipulating you, as you initially suspected?”

But Nerwen shook his head. If I affirmed this, I would seriously intend to wield the holy sword.

“That’s not it. I’m not suspecting you. What I’m suspecting is… something else.”

“What if the other side?”

“I’ve been thinking about it for a long time. Fortunately, thanks to the Elder Elf as my therapist, I was able to get at least some information.”

Certainly, it was a look that needed treatment. But I didn’t know that I could meet other elves in that prison.

“She said that the identity of the smell I felt was lust.”

“What? Then the shit I just did on my bed…”

I couldn’t accurately grasp the situation because it was such a shocking sight and I couldn’t believe it, but I must have smelled something.

“I thought so from the beginning? Ha, I’m going crazy.”

“Ah, no! I didn’t know this either! Elves don’t give birth in that… lascivious way! I didn’t know! There’s no way I could know what lust smells like! I know what it smells like when I feel it, but I don’t know what an elf’s lust smells like!”

He was not interested in the elf’s physiology. What I’m wondering is, so what does that have to do with her actions?

“Well, I understand that far. So?”

“Right now… I can still smell it, but it’s much better. I’ll be in pain without you, but I won’t go berserk.”

No matter how much I thought about it, her behavior just now couldn’t be considered normal, but I didn’t have a big enough heart to worry about her.

“The important thing is, I don’t hate it. At first, I thought it was just because I couldn’t feel the sensation I always felt. But, now I know for sure. I don’t hate this feeling.”

“…that.”

“Yes. Even if you think it’s impossible, it’s not impossible. Who benefits the most when I’m disgusted and angry with others?”

It’s a ridiculous assumption, but if it was true, there was someone who should be suspicious.

“Of course, it is difficult to manipulate the will and senses of a person who is noble from birth, the opponent of the World Tree. However, it is not impossible if you slightly change the senses with a curse.”

And that is impossible for me, who is not even a wizard. It’s lust, and manipulating the smell is impossible with my skills.

However, it was not impossible if a being possessing a tremendous level of magic took a long time to prepare.

And, I had no plausible intentions. If I had made such a plan to hug Nerwen, I would have realized it when we met at the imperial palace.

However, I didn’t do that.

If, indeed, some irresistible emotional change is taking place in her, and I have been pointed out as the cause, and if it is out of line now.

“Yes, I… I think this is the work of the Demon King.”

That, obviously, was able to explain the case with too much convenience.

It is different from princesses, wizards, and saints. They each created a conflict with me according to their own thoughts. Whether I can admit it or not, they had their reasons.

But elves are different. In a sense, she was the one who hated me for the primordial reason of smell.

“Certainly, according to that hypothesis, a lot can be explained.”

Why did she smell strange to me, who was no different from other people?

Because of the devil’s curse.

Why, for no other reason, does she want to please me instead of hating me?

because the devil is dead

Not necessarily all curses disappear with the death of the caster, but some curses required the caster to continuously inject magic.

Even if it disappeared naturally, there was nothing strange about it.

“I still don’t get it. There’s no proof that it’s true. Even if it’s true, I’m not going to forgive you.”

Whatever one may say, Nerwen has not really been brainwashed to such an extent that he cannot take care of even a handful of reason.

Even if I believed everything she said without a single doubt, in the end, all the demon king did was put a strange smell on me.

She was solely responsible for hating me, discriminating against me, and insulting me.

“I know. But… maybe we can share the responsibility.”

“What?”

“As I said, I intend to join you in your revenge. Whoever it is.”

Nerwen lightly lifted his bow, which was on the side of the bed. A fresh, subtle scent of forest and wind emanated from the trees.

“No, no matter how much, if you bring the things you use for fighting to the bed…”

“It’s not dirty. I can vouch for that… Anyway, I won’t deny that it’s my fault.”

She blushed a little and put her bow back on the chair next to her.

“However, everyone is responsible for what happened to you. I don’t think it should be possible for someone to escape responsibility just because ‘you didn’t know’.”

Seeing Nerwen confidently looking at me, I felt like I was going to get sick of that impudence.

Seriously, she might not have hated me.

You might have thought that it was just a lowly creature with a filthy, disgusting smell, and that it was not worth hating.

“You can take your anger out on me at any time. As the Great Warrior of the World Tree, I can’t lend you my power, but I don’t mind doing anything to myself.”

“take no interest.”

“But, before you take revenge on me, shouldn’t you know exactly how much the punishment is?”

I feel like I’m being duped, but there’s no way to clear up the questions.

“And, you’ll need clues about the return. I’ve heard that you need the remains of the phoenix, right?”

“…That’s right. I said that.”

If nothing else, the information about the return was invaluable. It would be information that the Imperial Library and even wizards wouldn’t know.

“I don’t know the location, but the old elven elders who live around the World Tree might know.”

“At the level you might know, it’s very disappointing.”

“There is a legend. I don’t know about the remains, but even I, a warrior, have heard of the legend about the place where the Phoenixes live.”

“Well…”

In a way, it is natural.

Among the information that humans have, the most valuable things are gathered in the Empire.

It was an era when there was a large gap between regions, so if you go to a remote area, you could have come up with information that is not available here, but you can say that you have already found information that can be obtained with money.

Then, of course, instead of the information that humans have, information that humans do not have should be obtained. And the easiest information to find is information about Nerwen, an elf.

“Let’s go to the World Tree together.”

“I really… hate it.”

It felt bad, but it was necessary. I have no choice but to endure it.

But at the thought of having to go on a trip with this arrogant elf, I couldn’t help but sigh.

“…until we go to the World Tree. The way to persuade has increased.”

“It’s an opportunity to use the most noble born person to your heart’s content. If you are an ordinary person, even if you give a billion dollars…”

Nerwen bit her lip slightly. Bowing her head right now to me would be difficult to accept considering her pride.

“No, if it weren’t for the wrong I did to you, this is an opportunity money couldn’t buy.”

After thinking for a while, I nodded.

It’s hard to hate. If I see her suffering more than the time I’ve been through, and if I get her help and return to Earth someday.

If I didn’t even see Nerwen’s face, only the facts would remain, with the emotions faded in the memories.

As long as the fact that she tormented me countless times and created anger during the journey to defeat the demon king, in the end, helped me in the end.

Even if he couldn’t forgive her, it might be possible to bury his hatred in time.

“…okay.”

Revenge is necessary, of course. It’s something you have to do. However, what I want is a happy life. There is no choice but to take revenge for that.

If there was something I had to give up, I had no choice but to give it up.

“For now, only one hit.”

“Well?”

With a bang, she fell unsightly to the ground. No screams escaped Nerwen’s mouth, but the hardwood floor she bumped against made her moan for help.

“Let’s leave tomorrow. You pay for the floor yourself. I’ll go to another inn, so in the morning, come out to the central fountain in the plaza.”

“Keugh… Heh, I get it.”

After a moment of admiring her disfigured face, I opened the door and walked out of the inn.