At The End Of The Hidden Greenery - Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Cough! Cough, cough!

After Jiwoo had raised her voice suddenly, she coughed as if she was going to die the next moment.

Her throat had been burning from a while ago, so she couldn’t help but cough.

Helka rushed to her side. He knew how she screamed and moaned for quite a long time—demanding that he put it in—until she fainted. That’s why her throat was this hoarse.

Helkainis watched Jiwoo as she coughed and then waved his hand in the air. His wrists and fingers moved lightly. Then a glass of water flew over from a table somewhere in the room.

“Here.”

When Jiwoo accepted it, an oval-shaped magic circle appeared over the glass of water. The inside of the circle was filled with letters that Jiwoo could not recognize. Then it glowed blue, and clear water poured out.

“Ah…!”

The stream of water aimed precisely at the inside of the cup made her startled. She almost dropped the cup out of surprise, but Jiwoo received it with both hands. Helkainis was said to be an excellent mage. Seeing how effortless he made that look, it seemed convenient to have magic. She was surprised that she was served like that.

The water was cold as if it had been taken out of the refrigerator. Still, it was as if all her body fluids had gotten sucked by Helkainis, so the cool water was very much welcome.

Helkainis asked after confirming that Jiwoo finished drinking the glass of water.

“…What’s your name?”

“You can call me Akarna.”

“Akarna?”

Helkainis widened his eyes wide as she said those words. Then he said it again, as if he was really surprised.

“The Akarna of Caranazion?” Jiwoo couldn’t help but ask back. “What is that?”

“Hmm…”

Helkainis, who had been observing Jiwoo for a moment, reached out in the air. Then, a translucent sphere filled with illusion was created in the air. It was like a hologram.

A blue background representing the sea appeared. It was not a familiar place to Jiwoo, but the two white and green masses floating on it seemed to represent the continents of this world. And three storms were raging between the two continents. It looked like a globe, but it wasn’t Earth.

Jiwoo realized that she had truly fallen into a different world.

Helka, who confirmed that Jiwoo was concentrating on the illusion, first pointed to the white mass. It was a pure white continent that looked like Antarctica.

“This is our hometown and the land of the divine beasts, El Ragnile.”

Next, he pointed to the green continent beyond the vortexes.

“This is Caranazion. You said you are the Akarna of this Caranazion.”

“Yes.”

Jiwoo nodded and listened to him, and Helka explained other things as well. Next he pointed to the three storms in the center of the two continents.

“And these vortexes divide the continents. Not just anyone can cross them.”

“How did you get over here?”

“Because I’m not that ‘anyone’.”

It may sound arrogant, but speaking plainly, he seemed much more humble than he was.

“Then what is your name? The Akarna is the position you have. It means a human being, not a name.”

“Ah… I…”

Jiwoo’s face turned red. It’s been a long time since she’d said her name.

“I’m Seo Jiwoo.”

“Seo-joo?”

As expected. She thought it was a fairly easy name to pronounce, but people here couldn’t say her name correctly.

When she was living in the temple, she had to explain and correct her name several times. However, everyone tried roughly a couple of times and ended up getting frustrated when Jiwoo kept trying to correct it.

Then, one day, she was asked why she kept insisting on such a strange name when she had a glorious name of Akarna, and Jiwoo broke the habit of saying her original name. It had been five years since then.

“…Just call me Akarna.”

Helkainis tilted his head with a blank face.

“I can’t do that. It’s not your name.”

“It’s not really that important.”

“It’s important. I’ll have to practice. You’re the person I’ll have to apologize to for the rest of my life. If I don’t even know your name, it won’t feel sincere.”

“What?”

“I scared you…”

“You didn’t.”

Helkainis tilted his head again, at a loss.

“But if that’s not true, my condition cannot be explained.”

It was true. Having licked and sucked and suckled Jiwoo from head to toe last night, he looked much better than when she first saw him.

Instead of screaming and losing his mind in pain because his whole body was contaminated with miasma, he was able to explain not only ordinary conversations but also fairly deep knowledge.

And he used magic freely and effortlessly.

“I don’t know how the Akarna got here, but I must have tried to chew on you after I lost my reason. That’s the way I had lived.”

“……”

Helkainis could evaluate his condition with a level head.

As Jiwoo remained silent, Helkainis continued to speak, as he thought he needed to give her more explanation.

“As a stranger who deviates from the rules of this world, you instinctively know how to cut off threats that deviate from their rules. So, as I borrowed that power from you, Akarna…”

Jiwoo, who was quietly listening to the explanation, shook her head.

“What did you say?”

“I borrowed that power from you, Akarna,”

“Not that.”

“You instinctively know how to cut off threats that…”

“Before that.”

“A stranger who deviates from the laws of this world, instinctively…”

Jiwoo cut off Helka’s words there.

“What do you mean by that? That I deviate from the laws of this world.”

“Originally, it was used to mean someone who does not belong to this world, one who has crossed dimensions.”

One who has crossed dimensions. It was a formula that perfectly explained Jiwoo’s condition.

“…Are you saying that I’m not God’s envoy?”

“Hmm…”

Helka, who had been speaking without hesitation, was a little worried this time.

As she waited for him to speak, her palms were sweating. She got impatient.

The crown prince said this before—that these other races did not believe in divine power. The alchemists, too, from beyond the outer wall were heretics in the face of divinity. However, Helkainis affirmed the existence of Akarna himself. So she couldn’t easily imagine what to say.

Helka finished his worries and spoke quite coldly.

“There is no God. Only phenomena exist.”

“Then… What about the Akarna?”

“Your body, which has crossed dimensions, only expresses its ability to adapt to unfamiliar laws.”

“……”

So, what about God’s will or whatever? Was the temple hiding the truth by saying that the Akarna had a great mission?

They covered her eyes and took advantage of her.

If crossing dimensions was something that could exist as ‘knowledge’, there was a high possibility that the method of crossing itself would be conveyed.

They said that the temple had summoned her. When Akarna died, they threatened to summon a new body, threatening Jiwoo while forcing the duty of the Akarna unto her.

But what if, in the first place, it wasn’t a miracle from God?

If there was no God despite the temple’s existence, then were they just using her as propaganda? ‘It’s a miracle of God. It’s a blessing from God’. No, she didn’t want to think about the temple any more.

She was already past feeling any disappointment. There was something more important than that.

‘Maybe there’s a way back home.’

Helka was a mage who lived as long as the old tree. If he affirmed the existence of a stranger from another dimension, another order, and another place, he might have know how to cross dimensions.

“Then, Helkainis. There’s something I want to ask you.”

“……”

However, Hellkainis, who had answered all the questions so far, suddenly became quiet.

“Helka?”

“Um…”

It was strange. He’d been faithfully answering Jiwoo’s questions until now, to the extent that his demeanor could be called mechanical—but then he suddenly slowed down.

Black eyes stared blankly into the air. His lips were half open and his eyes were dazed.

“Hello. Helka?”

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Jiwoo moved closer to Helka and grabbed his arm. She tried to shake his arm in case he’d come to his senses. Helka swayed to and fro when pushed and pulled.

His fine black hair moved softly like a wave. Then, suddenly, his eyes shone like a wild beast’s as he grabbed Jiwoo’s forearm.

“AH!”

Jiwoo stiffened her shoulders in surprise, but he wouldn’t let go of her arm. And he spoke quickly.

“You must run.”

“Wh, what?”

“I think I’ll scare you again.”

“NO!”

What does that mean all of a sudden while they were having a normal conversation?

As Jiwoo looked puzzled and was not sure what to do, Helka’s face came closer to her. The rational figure she had been talking to until just now was no longer to be seen. He was smiling brightly again.

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