After the Raynus territory, the next destination was the Dronoar territory.

On Agril’s back as it flew at lightning speed, Adwin opened his mouth.

His expression was somewhat embarrassed.

“Sorry, Xenia noona.”

“What for?”

“You let me have the first territory to visit. You must be just as anxious as I am.”

When we decided to visit the regions related to our party members first, Xenia had generously yielded the first destination to Adwin.

It must have weighed on his mind.

Xenia, on the other hand, laughed heartily.

“Pffah. You were worrying about that?”

“But still.”

“Don’t overthink it. I did it because I wanted you to think better of me.”

“What?”

“This time, you have to help.”

That was right.

What was in the Dronoar territory was Ophelia’s fake body.

Her real body was being kept by Idria.

Once Idria handed over the real body, Adwin would have to transfer the soul.

I asked Idria,

“But why did you insist on keeping Ophelia as one of your underlings?”

“…….”

“You would have known she would never come around to your side even if she died.”

Sobius, Pirensha, and Sabach each had circumstances like being twisted from the beginning, but Ophelia clearly wasn’t like that.

In fact, she had refused Idria to the very end, exactly as her nature dictated.

Idria answered as though it were nothing.

“Certainly Teranaim was…….”

“Ophelia.”

“……Ophelia kept refusing me. I also considered giving up on her halfway through.”

She continued slowly.

“But there are five fingers.”

“You didn’t seriously keep her for a reason like that, did you?”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“…….”

“Heh-heh. I’m joking.”

Neril spoke icily.

“Try joking after reading the mood.”

“I really have fallen far.”

“Yes. I know that very well.”

“……You have probably guessed it, but from the moment I intended to make Kaeld a fake hero, I started searching for people who could become his party members.”

Idria pointed her chin at each of us.

“No matter how many times I searched, there were no talents greater than you in this era. So while I was at it, I wondered whether I could extract additional lies through Kaeld’s party members.”

“I figured as much. You wanted to make Xenia think Ophelia was the Demon King’s underling and push her to kill her, right?”

And by doing so, gather lies.

Xenia’s face turned pale.

Idria nodded.

“If you knew, why ask?”

“It just felt strange. You cherish the children you grant your power to as if they were your own.”

“…….”

“If your child rejects you, you would send them away, not keep them tied nearby and mistreat them. Even if it was for extracting lies, it didn’t seem like you.”

My words seemed to leave Idria speechless.

As if it were something she had never once considered.

She blinked several times before opening her mouth.

“No matter how much I explained, persuaded, or begged, Ophelia wouldn’t accept it. So without realizing it, I must have grown to hate her. Considering I sent her out as bait to face you instead of letting her go.”

“…….”

“I was in the wrong.”

I shrugged and answered,

“No. You did great. Thanks to that, we were able to save her.”

But Idria didn’t reply.

She looked gloomy for quite a long time after that.

We had the Demon King apologize in the Dronoar territory as well.

The giant insect incident that had happened here.

And before that, the event that had driven young lord David to the brink of death.

Even the fact that Idria had extended her claws toward Ophelia, who was from Dronoar.

The residents were just as agitated as those in Raynus.

“The Demon King apologized!”

“Give Ophelia back, you bastard!”

“Calm down. The Hero said he would set things right one by one.”

“She will definitely come back. Xenia-nim, I’m so glad for you.”

“Lord David must be overjoyed too.”

We immediately met with the lord.

To our surprise, the lord was David.

He greeted us with eyes already red.

“Hero, welcome.”

“Did you inherit the title?”

“Haha, yes. It turned out that way.”

“And the former lord? Is he well?”

“Of course. And guess who treated him.”

Even now Serein puffed up proudly.

“Well, I did put in quite a bit of effort back then. Don’t ever forget it.”

“Ah, miss Serein, you were with Kaeld at that time, right.”

“Please forget it.”

The former lord, Count Acaine de Hofmann, was still perfectly healthy and traveling around after passing the title to his son.

Though he was rushing back because of the Demon King’s trial.

“I suppose meeting him will be difficult?”

“Yes. We still have a long way to go.”

“I cannot hold back the Hero. I will welcome you properly next time.”

“Haha, yes.”

“But… um…”

He glanced nervously at me.

I gave a faint smile and lifted my hand.

Chijik.

Space opened.

Lisel and Xenia carefully reached in and pulled Ophelia out.

Thanks to Adwin’s proper measures at the time, she was peacefully asleep.

Idria spoke without much thought.

“Teranaim. It’s been a while.”

Xenia shouted fiercely,

“Shut it! Call her that again and see what happens.”

“…….”

“Haa. Just keep your promise.”

Idria’s reaction was a bit different from when she had undone Somel’s petrification curse.

Brrr.

With trembling fingers, she snapped.

Chijik.

A spatial fissure formed.

Idria reached in her arm and took something out.

Thud.

The figure that collapsed onto the floor was Ophelia’s original body.

David practically began wailing at that point.

“Uuugh. Ophelia…”

“If you cry that hard now, what will you do later? Save it.”

“Hhhk. Yes, yes, Hero.”

“Alright. Adwin, please.”

Adwin nodded and began reciting the spell.

At that moment, Idria hurriedly spoke.

“Wait.”

“……?”

“Let me speak with her one last time, just as she is now. Please.”

“What are you talking about?”

“On the way here, something Mide said kept echoing in my mind. That if a child rejects her parent, the parent should just let her go.”

She continued hesitantly,

“That was right. I made a mistake. Instead of trying to understand a child who hated me, I used her as bait and pushed her into danger.”

“…….”

“I want to apologize for that.”

“You can apologize after she returns to her original body. Though I doubt she will accept it.”

“To me, Ophelia who returns to her real body is no longer my child.”

Idria looked at me with a desperate expression.

“Please. Let me apologize to ‘Teranaim’.”

“…….”

“Please.”

The others looked at me.

Even Xenia, who was the closest to Ophelia, was asking with her expression:

–What do you think, Mide?

But this wasn’t a difficult question.

“You’re asking the wrong person.”

“What? Ah… right. I should ask Xenia…”

“What are you talking about. You should ask her directly.”

“Mm?”

“I will ask Ophelia first. If Miss Ophelia says she wants to meet you while she is still in Teranaim’s body, then I will let you meet. If she refuses, that’s the end of it.”

This was the natural way of thinking to me, but Idria still didn’t seem to understand.

I sighed and added,

“You are the offender. We are third parties. No one among us has the authority to decide this matter.”

“…….”

“Step outside. I will wake Ophelia and ask her.”

“……Alright.”

Idria slumped her shoulders and left.

Serein muttered,

“Do we really need to entertain that kind of request?”

“We are not accepting it. We are just relaying the message.”

“I’m saying we don’t even need to relay it. From Ophelia’s point of view, that’s probably a memory she wants erased.”

“Well.”

If I were Ophelia, I would want to meet Idria.

There would be things I would want to say.

But I didn’t say more and looked at Adwin.

“Let’s begin.”

“Ah, yes.”

Adwin chanted his spell.

First, he began by waking Ophelia’s sleeping soul.

“Mmm.”

Ophelia slowly opened her eyes.

She blinked, still not fully grasping the situation, then suddenly sprang up.

“Lord David!”

“Wow. She looks for David before she even looks for me.”

“X-Xenia?”

“Yeah. It’s me. Did you sleep well?”

“Sleep? It feels like I just closed my eyes and opened them again.”

Adwin’s necromancy really was impressive.

Apparently quite some time had passed since the Dronoar incident, but to Ophelia it seemed like just a moment.

David burst into tears he had been holding back.

“Ophelia.”

“Lord David. You stayed by my side.”

“Of course. Well… I wasn’t there the entire time, but…”

“Pfft. You can just say you were. No need to be weirdly honest.”

“It’s such a relief you’re safe.”

“Am I safe now?”

Her expression darkened.

She looked down at her hand.

“This body isn’t mine.”

“…….”

“So I… failed…”

“You should say that while looking over there.”

I shifted my body slightly to show her the real Ophelia.

Her eyes widened dramatically.

“T-that…?”

“A lot happened, but to summarize: we defeated the Demon King. And we found your real body.”

“Xenia.”

“All that’s left is returning you to your original body… but before that.”

Xenia looked troubled and glanced at me.

I scratched my head and spoke.

“There’s someone who wants to meet you.”

“W-who?”

“Idria. The Demon King.”

I delivered Idria’s message.

Ophelia listened quietly without any sign of agitation.

Instead, it was Xenia who became nervous.

She spoke carefully.

“The choice is entirely yours. If you don’t want to see her, we will chase her out immediately. Though she was already kicked out.”

“…….”

“You’re not going to meet her, right?”

“I will.”

Of course.

Everyone stared at her in shock.

I shrugged and asked,

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I have something I need to say to that Demon King.”

“Alright.”

I walked over and clicked the door open.

Idria cautiously stepped inside.

“Teranaim.”

“Wait.”

“……?”

“I heard the general situation from the Hero. You want to apologize to me, but the reason I agreed to this meeting wasn’t because I wanted to hear your apology.”

“…….”

“I’m going to speak. I’m going to speak, so you just listen.”

Idria dumbly nodded.

Sss.

Ophelia drew in a breath and said,

“Listen well, Demon King.”

“……!”

“I don’t want your apology.”

“W-Why not?”

“Why? You’re asking why?”

Ophelia’s voice rose sharply.

“Because your apology doesn’t change anything! My lost time. The memories I should have made with the person I love. The swordsmanship I honed but is now rusted. Even the acquaintances who died while I was gone. You can’t return ANY of it!”

“……!”

“An apology isn’t something you end with a simple ‘sorry’. You have to throw your whole being into repaying the damage you inflicted. But you can’t repay ANY of it!”

“……Teranaim.”

“Don’t call me that name.”

Idria pressed her lips together.

Ophelia took several deep breaths, then continued in a calm, cold voice.

“I will never forgive you. Not ever.”

“…….”

“Do you have anything to say? Demon King.”

Strictly speaking, the thing Idria wanted to apologize for wasn’t turning Ophelia into an underling.

It was for using her like bait while she was her underling.

But Idria looked so shocked she didn’t even seem aware of that.

Her lips trembled open and closed a few times.

She looked up at the ceiling, then down at the floor, repeatedly.

And after a long time, she finally answered as if coughing up blood:

“No. Nothing.”

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