Lord of Disease (JP-GL) 399

399: A Lost Light

The limit of my mana came quickly. Stamina and mana were similar. My entire body, which I had been forcing to move like a puppet with a blood-soaked bandage, was screaming.

I cut the mana to the bandage—or rather, it disappeared the moment I lost my focus.

The bandage, which was now just stuck to me with blood, came undone with a sticky sound, and the blood that had soaked into it dripped from the end.

The fighting knife, which had lost its support, slipped from my hand and stuck in the wooden floor. The axe, which had also slipped from my hand, clattered.

I had the illusion that my vision was turning red… but it didn’t seem to be an illusion. A few of the small blood vessels in my eyes must have burst. Even when I blinked, the red in my vision didn’t completely disappear.

The air was filled with the smell of blood, and even though I was used to it, it was getting to me.

Some had their necks cut, some had their heads split, and they were lying on the floor.

There was only one living human left.

Marta was holding the wound she had received from the machete, but from the amount of bleeding, it was a fatal wound. If she had had the best mages, and good medicine, and a nutritious meal, and a quiet environment… perhaps. But in this place, she could not hope for even one of those things.

“…Marta.”

I stumbled towards her and reached out… and my hand stopped.

I was a dark elf. What could I do for her, a human, now?

“…Lizlit-chan? Are you… alright?”

Her breath was ragged, and yet, she called me by my name. And she reached out and, grabbing the hand I had extended and then stopped, she pulled me closer. Her strength was weak. Even weaker than mine, and it would have been easy to shake her off.

“I am… a dark elf.”

And yet, for some reason, that was all I could say. She smiled, her eyes still closed.

“…I knew.”

“—Huh?”

“If I were to help you up, your long ears would touch me… And after that, I undressed you and put you to bed… there’s no way I wouldn’t have noticed.”

“Then why didn’t you… kill me?”

She could have killed me easily. She could have had Gustav bite me, or she could have slit my throat with a knife, or if she didn’t want to shed any blood, she could have put a wet cloth over my face.

“Because I’m just a trapper…”

“Before that, you’re a human. Our—enemy…”

We and the humans had been fighting for over three hundred years.

“You’re from the country on the other side of the wall… Listrea, right?”

“…Yes. I am a soldier… and an assassin… of the Listrea Demon Kingdom.”

“Then let me ask you, why didn’t you kill me…?”

“Huh? …That… is…”

I realized that I had not even considered that option. Even though she had saved me. Even though she was a human from an enemy nation. Just because she was a human. Just because she was a different race. She should have been an enemy.

No, before that. The fact that she had known I was a dark elf.

“…Are you saying you were taking care of me, thinking I might kill you?”

I couldn’t believe such a human.

“Well, yes. …That’s about right…” Marta sighed.

“In the end, to be attacked by a human… and to be worried about by a demon… it’s strange, isn’t it…”

“Marta.” I squeezed her hand.

“Even now, I can treat your wound…”

“It’s a wonder I can even talk…” She shook her head. And yet, if there had been even a one in a million chance, I would have done it. But to dream of such a ‘high probability,’ I had seen too much of death.

“I have… one last request.”

“Anything. —On the kindness of having my life saved.”

“Can I… touch your ears…?”

“…My ears?”

“Yes… I haven’t really touched them. I was afraid you would wake up… and if you noticed, I wouldn’t be able to explain it away…”

“…By all means.” I brought my face closer and placed her hand on my ear.

She touched them for a while, and then, gradually, her strength faded… and even with me supporting her, the strength left her fingertips, and her hand fell from my ear.

“That was… my last wish.” She sighed, satisfied.

“…Thank you, you cute thief.”

“…I am an assassin. I… only know how to kill…”

If I hadn’t been an assassin? If I could have used healing magic. No, in the first place. If I had been a more skilled assassin. If I had had the skill to easily kill a group of amateurs like this, even with an injury. …If I had been more skilled, I might not have been injured in the first place.

I would not have met her. And even if I hadn’t come, she would have been killed by the thieves anyway. That was all. That was all, and yet. There was a part of me that couldn’t accept it.

“…Dark elves… live much longer than humans, don’t they?”

She opened her eyes. Light brown eyes. Eyes that did not reflect the light. And yet, in my eyes, her smile was reflected.

“You can learn other things.”

Those were her last words.