TEASER CHAPTER 8 PART 33
Perhaps they were
hidden by spirit magic.
Triforium appeared
before Shina's eyes and sighed in front of his surprised great-granddaughter.
"Of course, we
were waiting for you. The spirits told me that you were coming out of the
academy that the humans had built."
"Hi Shina,
haven't seen you since the opening party."
Standing next to
Triforium was Shina's prospective fiancée, Rauls.
Rauls put a gorgeous
smile on his handsome face, which everyone admired, and raised his hand in a
casual manner.
His smile, which
perfectly fit the description of a friendly nobleman, would be an enchanting
smile similar to a narcotic for women.
Shina, on the other
hand, simply bowed her head in response to Rauls' greeting with a blank
expression.
As always, Shina's
lack of interest in Rauls' greeting was not unusual, and Rauls, perhaps
accustomed to it, only smiled wryly.
"I've already
told you what I want to talk to you about. We are going back to the
village."
"I refuse. To
me..."
The matter that
Triforium talked about was the same as during the opening festival. Shina also
tried to respond with the same answer.
However, unlike at the
opening festival, Triforium began to continue his words before Shina could
finish hers.
"I have friends,
I have companions, I have colleagues I believe in. I'm not going to listen to
those lies."
"Wait a minute,
what do you mean by lies!"
Mimuru raised her
voice at Triforium, who dismissed Shina's words with a single sentence.
"Our friends, the
spirits, have told me everything. If it is not a lie, let us call it empty
words. You have performed the blood-covenant ritual without telling the person
who is the most important to you what it means, and you can't even talk about
the curse you received as a result. So what makes one a companion, what makes
one a friend, what makes one a colleague?"
Triforium has lived a
long time as an elf. It took no effort at all for him to talk to the spirits
around him and have them eavesdrop on Shina's condition.
And with the help of
the spirits, Triforium has discovered that Shina can no longer even sense the
spirits.
"That's…"
And Triforium's words
accurately hit the gap in Shina's heart.
Shina stammered as she
was struck by the gap in her heart.
"Shina. I
wouldn't blame you. Since you have lost the ability to sense even the presence
of spirits, it is not surprising that you have become like a foolish human
being. It is all that man's fault that you have become like this, isn't
it?"
In front of his silent
great-granddaughter, Triforium somewhat softened the tone of his voice.
But his words put the
blame for the whole thing on Nozomu Bountis alone.
Shina couldn't help
but open her mouth at the words and actions of the elf, which exude feelings of
disdain for human beings and, above all, seek to humiliate the person she held
in her heart.
"You're wrong!
That was what I wanted to do! I want to repay him, I want to help him! I don't
want him to go through that again!"
He was angry with
himself for hurting his friends. That was why she wanted to do something about
it.
The pent-up, depressed
feelings that had been building up. As if reversed, they overflowed at once,
exposing her bare heart.
