Nurturing the Hero to Avoid Death

Translator: mii

Editor(s): ASplashOfMusic, sleepchaser

The succeeding events all happen so suddenly.

My vision turns into a field of pure white.

I don’t know whether it lasted for a moment or a few minutes, but everything became white. I can’t see anything.

After that, my sight returns to normal, just as sudden as the previous phenomenon.

I don’t know what happened, but just before my sight returned, I heard a small trembling voice, saying, “I’m sorry…”

It’s the voice of a little girl who sounds like she’s about to cry any time soon.

And even when everything was previously still dyed with pure white, I saw several white feathers fluttering down from the sky in the midst of the vast whiteness.

That’s—

“…Jeez,” someone says with a sigh from above.

Turning my gaze to the source of that voice, I notice that the dawn-colored knight has placed one hand on his waist as he palms his forehead with his other hand. His eyes are also cast down for some reason, and he… groans with a conflicted expression on his face.

How rare. Actually, this might be the first time I’ve ever seen Schwede frown like that.

It’s clear that he’s thinking about something troubling, but I don’t know what’s going on. I look up and stare at him.

Slowly, the knight opens his eyes.

He still has a frown and looks like he’s in a bad mood. Despite this, he also has a complicated expression, like he’s feeling somewhat regretful. I can see some resignation mixed in too. I don’t know how to describe it.

Meanwhile, I start to hear soliloquy murmurs from all around us. It is then that I remember the situation we’re in, causing my body to twitch.

No good. Currently, we’re… almost at the center of the hall. And many people are surrounding us and trying to catch us.

I desperately work my mind into overdrive to come up with how I can break through this predicament until my brain’s one step away from heating up. I hurriedly shift my gaze to the entrance, wondering whether there’s some way to break past all the people.

“Huh…?”

Nobody’s looking at us.

The hallway is also in complete silence.

Puzzled, I look around again, noticing that most people are absentmindedly looking up at the ceiling, mouths open wide. It’s like their thoughts are not here but still in dreamland.

It’s so quiet that I can hear the sound of my breathing. No one is moving. Not even a twitch. I feel like I’m trapped in some illusion where time has stopped.

I don’t know how long my confusion with what’s going on with the people around me lasted. Maybe a few seconds or a few minutes. But after that, everyone starts to move again, as though they’ve just managed to recover from their state of shock. It is then that I finally understand that time hasn’t stopped.

Yet even after everyone starts to move again little by little, nobody looks like they’re going to come for us.

Some of them sit down as if they’ve lost their strength, shaking their heads and looking at the people nearby. They then look up at the ceiling as if they’re looking for something.

Some of them continue to stand still, a dreamy expression still on their faces.

There are also warlocks and knights who knelt on one knee and put their hands together, also looking up.

White feathers flutter around us from above.

The pure white feathers look weightless, fluttering upward and side to side as if they’re dancing and then descending again.

Fluffy.

Suddenly, the hallways become brighter. A soft streak of light from above enters the room through the broken window on the wall.

From my limited view of the sky through the gap of the window, I can’t find any black clouds… All I can see is the blue sky peeking between the clouds, which becomes thin and torn-off all of a sudden.

Such a beautiful, clear, and endless blue.

As I absentmindedly gaze at the transpicuous color that makes me feel like I can see through it, the blond-haired head that I’ve been hugging and pressing against my chest moves.

Alfred’s body temperature is as high as the kids, so even though my clothes are damp after rolling around the rain-soaked floor, I don’t feel cold. Rather, I feel warm.

Then noticing how Alfred isn’t moving, I suddenly realize that I’ve been hugging him tightly. Panicked, I loosen my grip.

I was so desperate that I pressed his head to my chest as hard as I could. Maybe… he couldn’t breathe and was choking.

I sling my arm over Alfred’s shoulder, but he doesn’t react at all.

What happened? Maybe he’s lacking oxygen and can’t even speak right now. I’m sorry, Alfred. I didn’t do that intentionally. It’s just that all I could think earlier was that I had to protect you. But now I end up suffocating you. Just what am I doing? How stupid.

Uneasy and wanting to check if he’s alright, I peek at Alfred in my arms, who is acting too obediently.

But… he doesn’t look like he’s suffocating at all. I bring my face a bit closer and strain my ears. The sound of his breathing is shallow, but I don’t think that he’s suffering from lack of oxygen.

His blue sky eyes are now a pale and gloomy color. Even though I’m looking at him from a very close distance, he doesn’t look up at me. On the contrary, I don’t even know where he’s looking.

Like the people around us, his heart seems to still be in the land of dreams somewhere. And judging from his expression, he hasn’t woken up from his dream.

“…Al?” I timidly call out.

His eyelids quiver, and his eyes return to its usual sky-blue color.

Alfred slowly raises his face and looks straight at me. He opens and closes his eyes several times before circling his arms around my waist.

…For some reason, his arms are trembling so much.

He’s hugging me so tight that it hurts. It feels so painful that I want to tell him to loosen his arms a bit, but his behavior reminds me of when the kids grow scared after listening to my scary story and cling to me desperately… So I just stay silent.

This doesn’t happen often. Most of the time, Alfred can remain calm and collected no matter what happens. Even if he’s surrounded by armed knights, he doesn’t panic. Not even a bit. He’s usually such an unruffled guy that’s not scared of anything, and yet—

“Al? What happe—”

“The white light… is…”

I swallow the words I’m about to say.

White light?

No way.

I start to panic and look around.

Even until now, everyone in this place still has that same absentminded expression, appearing to be lost in their thoughts.

No way…

Not only Alfred, but all of them too.

Did everyone also see it?

The white light She emitted.

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