# 17
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I already know the answer.
You must have because I cut out your heart before going back in time.
But I asked this question to tell you indirectly:
Abandon your doubts, and let each one of us go our own way.
I wasn't particularly interested in his answer, so I thought about this in secret and pulled the sleeping bag up to my shoulders.
“You look like my fiancée.”
What? His fiancée? My eyes widened in surprise and I repeated the question because of his unexpected response.
“You look like my fiancée who left me and married someone else.”
Oh my God...were Eveliana Rosebelaire and Lloyd engaged? I was amazed by this setting, which never appeared in the novel.
That Eveliana...did she abandon her fiancé and annihilate his family as well?
What an amazing woman by all standards.
“Ah, I see… Mr. Lloyd’s betrayal? She is truly an amazing woman...”
In an instant, the hero turned into a miserable man chasing his ex-lover with his sword, but he did not seem to care.
Knowing the background of events, I looked at Lloyd's back, which looked lonely, and thought:
Lloyd, Eveliana Rosebiller no longer exists. Forget that bad woman and start a new life.
I wished him a fresh start and then fell asleep.
The warm sun was shining, accompanied by the chirping of birds.
There was a delicious smell that suggested to me that Bree had prepared breakfast and left.
The pleasant-smelling bed was very soft and comfortable.
I did not want to get out from under the warm quilt because of the cold air I felt on my face.
At that moment, someone's voice was heard:
“Wake up.”
Do I have to go to work today?
I could not give up the delicious sleep, so I muttered sleepily:
“Brie, just five more minutes.”
“She, you.”
Bree started shaking me violently.
“Bri, five more minutes...”
I grumbled and pulled Bree's head into a hug.
A fresh, pure scent emanated from that coarse hair.
“Oh, Bree, did you use shampoo?”
I felt the hair with my hand and found it soft, unlike Berri's harsh hair.
What is this, Bree? Have you invented hair conditioner in this world?
I opened my eyes a little to see what was wrong, but I did not find gray hair, but rather black hair.
“Oh….”
I blinked in disbelief, then a memory quickly passed through my mind.
°You have been appointed as a special therapist.°
Oh my God! I'm not home!
So, the head I'm holding is not Bree's, but...
It's the head of Lloyd, who until yesterday had doubted my identity.
I screamed loudly, pushed him away, and suddenly stood up.
Because of the luxurious and soft sleeping bag that I used after a long break, I slept deeply as if I was in my bed at home.
I never imagined that the person I would try to hug to get more sleep as I do with Bree would be Lloyd.
Lloyd, who I had grabbed, had his hair messed up like a mushroom, and his face was red, perhaps with anger.
I have perished!
I bowed down again and again asking for forgiveness:
“I...I'm sorry! I sincerely apologize, sir!”
He apologized to me yesterday, but he may withdraw his apology and return to threatening me with the sword again.
Lloyd looked at my confused state and shook his head:
“...It's okay. Eat your breakfast.”
I looked where he pointed, and found a pot of soup boiling over the campfire.
“Wow! Did you make that, Mr. Lloyd?”
He nodded, then poured a ladle of hot soup into a plate and served it to me with a piece of bread.
Because I had spent the previous day hungry from walking and then fainted after the monster slaughter scene, my stomach growled at the sight of the delicious food.
“I will eat happily!”
I started sipping the soup quickly.
As soon as the soup filled with meat and vegetables entered my mouth, I felt as if I was in another world, and the word delicious floated into my mind.
What a wonderful soup! If a restaurant opened like this
The taste was a huge success!
I began to devour the soup greedily.
I can say that it is tastier than the expensive soup in the famous restaurant in Zironia.
"Mr. Lloyd, it's really delicious. You're a great cook!"
I finished the dish in an instant while praising him. Lloyd seemed embarrassed by the sudden praise and cleared his throat:
“Okay, eat another plate.”
He filled my plate with soup again.
Then it suddenly occurred to me:
Aren't I supposed to do these tasks as a commoner?
I looked at Lloyd warily, but he didn't seem interested, and since his food was so delicious, I continued eating quietly.
Wow! He is skilled at fighting, strong in build, and a skilled cook. Lloyd, you are an ideal husband.
His rank rose in my eyes because of this delicious food.
After finishing eating and cleaning the place, I quickly packed my bags and asked Lloyd, who was waiting for me:
“Excuse me, Master, when will we reach the Holy Land of the Dark Forest?”
“We have arrived.”
"Yes…?"
This empty space is the Holy Land?
Isn't there supposed to be in the Holy Land a big rock or a monument or something like that?
Lloyd seemed to read my expression, so he walked towards the dense bushes and suddenly disappeared.
I thought he had teleported away and left me, so I called him anxiously:
"Master Lloyd? Where have you gone? Master! Where are you?"
“Walk towards me.”
Lloyd's voice was heard from nearby.
I quickly headed towards the bushes, and found a transparent barrier.
I put my hand on it, and my hand looked as if it had been cut off because it disappeared behind the barrier.
“Is it a magical device?”
I muttered and entered through the transparent barrier.
"wow… ."
The terrain of the forest has completely changed.
I saw a gloomy sky and a wide plain where Lloyd stood alone.
They were just ordinary bushes on the outside, but the inside was a different world.
In the wide plain there was a stone floor the size of a sports field, and in the middle of it was a large cylindrical rock.
The rock was covered with inscriptions that frequently appear in the Tyrrhenian cult.
“This is the Holy Land.”
I followed Lloyd, looking around in fascination at the cylindrical rock.
“Oh… what is this?”
As we approached the rock, the inscriptions began to light up brightly.
“How beautiful! Does it always shine like this?”
Lloyd's face became serious:
“...No, this is the first time.”
So this is a problem.
Why does the light turn on suddenly? While Lloyd was examining the rock, he suddenly stopped:
“Come and look here.”
Lloyd pointed his finger at a gap in the rock, and there was a glowing black object moving inside it.
I was disgusted to see that thing moving.
"Disgusting! What is this?"
“It's 'magi' (demon energy) leaking out from here.”
Lloyd's face grew stern.
What do we do? If I could, I would get cement and fill that gap.
I felt a shiver at the word “Maggie” and I stepped back and stepped on something.
I looked down and found a small piece of stone that had fallen to the ground, and it was the same shape and size as the hole in the rock.
“There's a piece that fell here.”
I picked up the piece and asked Lloyd:
“Can’t we put this piece inside the gap?”
Lloyd thought for a long time, then nodded.
I placed the piece inside the gap, and it made a sound and flashed a light, then went out.
The gap disappeared as if it had never existed.
“Wow, I was right!”
Lloyd nodded again.
After a while, the luminous patterns on the rock disappeared and returned to their original appearance.
“Are we going back now?”
It was simple, but I felt mission accomplished.
Lloyd slaughtered the orcs yesterday, and we closed the mage hole in the rock, so all that remains is to return, right? I wanted to go home and rest.
I stretched out waiting for his response, but he didn't answer.
I looked at him and found him staring at the rock silently.
Where he was looking, a button appeared that was not there before, and it was glowing red.
“What is this button?”
"I don't know."
Since it was glowing red, I felt that it should not be touched, so I asked Lloyd anxiously:
“Shouldn't we be back now? Mr. Lloyd?”
But Lloyd ignored my words.
And then he pressed the button as if enchanted.
And at that moment...
“Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”
A loud siren sound emanated from the rock, and the inscriptions began to glow red.
The rock began to rotate violently, and a red beam shot out from one of the inscriptions.
The beam began to move up and down with a thunderous sound, violently smashing the stone floor.
I looked around, and it seemed that the beam did not go beyond the stone floor.
“I think we'll be fine if we get out of the stone floor. Let's run fast!”
But Lloyd was staring at the red button with a lost face.
“Careful!”
I saw the beam approaching us, so I pushed Lloyd, who was lost in thought, and we rolled on the ground.
“Kaaah.”
Lloyd's groan was heard.
I quickly approached him:
“Master, get up quickly, the beam is approaching again.”
As the rock rotated, the beam returned toward us at a uniform speed.
Lloyd regained consciousness and got up immediately.
“Follow me quickly!”
I screamed at Lloyd and started running madly off the stone floor, dodging the rays.
“We survived.”
When I reached the normal ground, I looked behind me.
The rays emanating from the rock were rotating rapidly and seriously smashing the stone floor.
I turned to Lloyd.
He furrowed his eyebrows and held out his right arm.
Blood was dripping from his arm, which no longer existed.
“Mr. Lloyd, where did your arm go?”
He looked silently at the stone floor. There, Lloyd's arm lay in a pool of blood.