Chapter 31
I wanted to go beyond a contractual relationship and make the Hero obsessed, dependent, and entangled with me.
So that he wouldn’t be able to leave my side, and would have no choice but to remain in the North.
As Evelyn blinked her big eyes, a flash of coldness crossed Elliot’s gaze.
It was simply a matter of acting in ways that benefited both parties.
Elliot soothed his stinging conscience. If the evil god couldn’t be sealed or killed, they would all die anyway.
He forced his eyes and mouth to curve into a smile. And when he saw the Hero unable to look away from that smile, he couldn’t help but laugh.
‘It’s almost too easy.’
Even without trying too hard, the Hero seemed ready to fall for him.
“I’ll do my best to make your name known throughout the Empire.”
He pulled her small hand close and kissed the back of it. At the faint tremble that followed, Elliot chuckled deeply.
Evelyn, her cheeks turning pink, suddenly flung open the bedroom door and entered. Elliot leisurely followed behind.
The quickened steps of the Hero betrayed just how flustered she was.
“I’ll go wash up first!”
My Hero is so shy. A group of maids hurriedly followed Evelyn inside.
She’ll be even more embarrassed once she comes out.
Knowing what the maids had prepared, Elliot slowly ran his fingers across his lips. The voice of Countess Barrett came to mind.
[“Please, make my daughter happy!”]
It was the face of a parent desperately wishing for her child’s happiness.
The Hero’s happiness, huh.
Elliot tilted his head back.
There was no way someone like him could make anyone happy.
With a bitter smile, Elliot turned to follow the attendant waiting for him toward the bathroom.
“Yaaawn.”
“Did you bring the gift you got yesterday?”
Evelyn, who had woken up late, nodded at Raven’s question as he entered the drawing room.
“Getting married without even telling me? What on earth were you thinking?”
Raven crossed his arms and glared at her, but Evelyn wasn’t the least bit intimidated.
“Something important came up.”
Should I tell him?
The Tower Master still didn’t know about the evil god’s resurrection. Raven wasn’t the type to blab, but Evelyn couldn’t even begin to imagine the consequences if the news leaked.
If he hears about the resurrection, what would he do? He might rush up north immediately.
“Something important? For you? What is it?”
Evelyn hesitated. Should I make Raven a companion?
The Hero needed allies to fight with, and the most suitable mage was right in front of her.
The Tower Master’s cherished protégé, practically worshipped. A mage on track to break the 7th circle barrier before thirty and ascend to superhuman ranks.
Thinking about her childhood friend’s credentials, he was a perfect fit to be the Hero’s companion. Before leaving the bedroom, Elliot had also recommended recruiting Raven if possible.
It wasn’t even a hard decision. She had to lock him down before another country tried to poach him.
“Raven.”
“No.”
Evelyn scratched her head at the immediate answer.
Maybe because they were childhood friends, he could see right through any prank or request she tried.
“Still, you have no choice. Become my companion.”
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
Raven blinked in confusion at her words, then scoffed.
“Did seeing the Hero again in the North make you fall even harder?”
He was still teasing her for that fleeting childhood crush on the Hero.
“Heheheh.”
How do I explain that I didn’t just fall harder—I became the Hero?
Evelyn stalled for time with a spooky chuckle.
“What is it?”
“I married a Grand Duke and became a Hero.”
“Not even novels have titles like that anymore.”
“…”
Jerk.
The book Tinya gave her was titled “Knight and the Stable of Love”. What was so bad about that?
Evelyn pouted and took a deep breath.
“For real. I was chosen by the Holy Sword.”
As soon as her playful tone disappeared, Raven paused mid-sip of his tea.
“Want to see it for yourself?”
Before he could even escape, Evelyn pulled the Holy Sword out of her subspace pouch. Raven’s crimson eyes widened.
“Is this really the Holy Sword?!”
“You’ve seen drawings of it, haven’t you?”
“I have, but… why is it so worn out?”
Raven carefully took the sword and tapped its blade lightly with his fingertips.
Vwooom!
“Whoa, it reacts too?!”
“Yeah. Seems like it’s in a bad mood.”
The Holy Sword didn’t like being in anyone else’s hands.
Because of that, Evelyn hadn’t been able to show it to any of the Grand Duke’s court mages yet.
To restore its original form, the Holy Sword needed to be examined, but it refused other hands.
“There’s a lot of corrosion, but you can still see its old form.”
Vwooooom!
“Hahaha! Guess it doesn’t like me!”
It must’ve responded to the mana Raven pushed into it, and he laughed brightly as the sword reacted strongly.
“Since you didn’t tell me about becoming a Hero or getting married, let me borrow this for a few days.”
“The Holy Sword isn’t something you can trade.”
Evelyn trusted Raven, but not mages in general. It was strange, but there wasn’t a single trustworthy mage she knew.
“You’re not planning to take it apart, are you?”
“…Haha. How could I dismantle the Holy Sword?”
Evelyn clicked her tongue at the sight of Raven brushing his hair back. He had definitely been considering it.
“You know, the original form of the Holy Sword— Urk!!”
“Raven?!”
Clang!
Raven suddenly dropped the sword and clutched his chest.
Evelyn shot up and grabbed his shoulder.
“What’s wrong? What happened?”
Is the curse starting again? Raven’s suddenly pale face made Evelyn bite her lip hard.
“I’ll call a doctor!”
It didn’t look like something that would heal easily. As she stood up, Raven grabbed her wrist.
“Ugh, what a vicious sword.”
“Raven? Are you okay?”
Huff, huff.
Raven slumped back on the sofa, breathing heavily. His face regained some color.
“What’s going on? Are you really hurt? Is it because of the sword?”
“It’s not a curse, so don’t worry. I just thought maybe the Holy Sword needed pure mana to restore its form.”
Raven laughed weakly at the sight of his trembling hand.
“You’re insane!”
Evelyn’s jaw dropped.
“Can’t you think of it as something I did for my dear Hero friend?”
“It wasn’t for me—it was for your own damn curiosity!”
Evelyn quickly picked up the sword and shoved it back into the subspace pouch. She eyed Raven warily.
“And are you really okay? You’re still sweating.”
“Haa, I’m fine. My heart just took a hit. I pumped a huge amount of mana into the sword. Hehe.”
There hadn’t even been a magic circle inside.
Despite looking exhausted, he added cheerfully.
“The sword rejected it so hard that the mana rebounded and strained my heart.”
As he said that, Raven rubbed his chest.
“The feeling of your heart being bitten—crazy, right?”
“What’s really crazy is you, pumping mana into your heart until it got bitten.”
Evelyn looked down at the moaning Raven with a mixture of pity and disbelief.
Even as she sat back down, she couldn’t take her eyes off him.
“Wow, it really hurts.”
Grinning, Raven slowly circulated his mana to stabilize his heart. So it reacts when mana exceeds a certain amount?
His curious red eyes drifted toward Evelyn’s pouch, and she glared.
“Not happening twice.”
“Got it. I can’t take another hit like that.”
As the aching in his chest finally subsided, Raven closed his eyes and checked his mana circles.
“I really almost died.”
If he hadn’t sensed something was off and pulled his mana back in time, it would’ve backfired and ruptured his heart.
For a brief moment, an unfamiliar energy swirled inside his heart before fading.
“It is the Holy Sword, after all.”
“Did you see anything?”
“No. It was empty inside.”
Raven recalled the interior of the sword, where even divine power was absent.
“Why doesn’t it have holy power?”
“Because it’s not used by saints or priests—it’s used by a swordsman?”
“But I thought Heroes used a kind of holy power too.”
Raven recalled old legends—stories of humans battling the evil god.
“Do you think maybe defeating monsters would help the sword recover?”
Evelyn voiced a theory she’d been quietly mulling over.
