"You..."
Look at her this way, look at her that way—it was herself.
Though she looked a bit younger, Linmel, who couldn't possibly fail to recognize her own face, soon composed herself and drew her sword.
"What is this?"
Three years since the world turned upside down. Two years since dying of natural causes became known as a blessing.
Everything that wasn't ordinary took lives. And the child standing before her, who looked exactly like... herself, was undoubtedly an abnormal situation.
Regardless, the young Linmel just kept smiling at her as if she found it amusing.
"So you were before you grew up. Well, she was human too, so I suppose that’s only natural—"
"..."
Linmel—
She bit her lip without making a rash move.
She had seen confident enemies standing before her many times. She had seen their faces stained with shock or despair just as many times.
But at some point, she stopped seeing even those expressions. From the moment she reached her peak, her opponents would lose their lives while still in that state of overconfidence.
So, she just had to do the same this time. She just had to cut that throat while the opponent still didn't know her true skill.
'Absolutely not.'
Linmel decided to trust her intuition rather than her past experience and slowly stepped back.
"Hmm?"
At that movement, the girl stirred.
She tilted her head, pulled her feet out of the lake, and then chuckled, waving her hand.
"Why are you running away?"
"..."
Linmel, who had been retreating, bit her lip and muttered at those words.
"I'm not running away."
"Ah, sorry if that sounded like mockery. That wasn't my intention, it's just... to anyone else, I must look like a young girl right now."
The girl spoke as if she hadn't been anything of the sort before, and she met Linmel’s eyes with a look of curiosity.
"I just wondered how a creature with a nose sensitive enough to fear someone like me could exist in this era."
"Ugh."
Goosebumps rose on Linmel’s neck.
If that thing took even one more step closer, it would be the end.
Linmel abandoned her intuition. Her sword flew faster than thought, reaching for the throat of the girl who was laughing as she spoke.
Or, it tried to.
"Chukya."
Before an irritated voice from behind, where there had been nothing until a moment ago, could ring through the air.
It was a familiar vibration. One she had recalled many times.
"I told you that if you disappeared on your own just once more, I’d lock you away in the Deep Sea. What kind of nerve..."
"..."
Linmel turned her head.
Her gaze met his.
***
After crossing over to the Current Realm, Chukya would escape from the depths of the lake every night, using the excuse of wanting to see the moon.
Since it would be a headache for me if The Great Void caught her, I had gone up to retrieve her that day as well—but there were two Linmels there.
"Zern."
"...Linmel?"
The Linmel with the appearance I knew, smiling wickedly. Chukya.
And the Linmel who had grown up to be twice as beautiful and strong as the version I had imagined in my head.
No matter how long I had watched Linmel at the orphanage, I didn't have the five years of time needed to get used to this appearance.
Because of that, the words didn't come out easily. It was Linmel who made the first move.
*Grind.*
"Where have you been all this time without even a word?"
"...That is."
"Do you have any idea how much I searched for you? I scoured half the world. The other half is a land that has vanished, so I had no choice but to search the places I’d already checked once over again."
The approaching Linmel grabbed my shoulders.
Without any lies, I could feel the water pressure I used to feel in the Middle Layer pressing down on my shoulders.
As I struggled to come up with the best possible answer, convinced that if I answered incorrectly, I would become the second god to be killed by a human here—
"I'm so glad..."
With a thud, as if my answer wasn't needed, Linmel buried her forehead into my chest.
"I'm so glad you're alive..."
"...I'm sorry."
"...*Sniff*."
I had gone through my own share of hardships, after all.
But since I had left without a word, Linmel must have thought I had abandoned everything and run away. Or that I had died in some gutter somewhere.
But it seemed Linmel had searched for me without fail for those five years. That was—quite heartbreaking.
For a while, I patted Linmel’s trembling back and told her what I had been doing to try and calm her down.
"I was in the Deep Sea all this time. It’s a completely different world, so you wouldn't have been able to find me."
"Why were you in a place like that?"
"I had to find a way to kill The Great Void. I managed to obtain some of it, at least."
"...Really?"
"Yes. It’s hard to believe, of course, but..."
"I believe you. If you hadn't found a way, you wouldn't have come back at all."
"That’s true, I suppose."
As I nodded, Linmel lifted her head and glared at me again with reddened eyes.
"But then why didn't you come to me as soon as you arrived?"
"To you...? Ah, the capital? About that—"
"This guy is a total rookie, that’s why."
Chukya, who had suddenlyted in, dipped her feet back into the lake and interrupted our reunion.
"He doesn't even know how to hide his presence. Look at him even now, he’s leaving traces."
"...Huh?"
Linmel looked down at my feet, her eyes widening in surprise.
The ground where I was standing was sunken, and water was seeping out to form a tiny lake.
Every footprint I had taken was like that. As the water even began to overflow and create a ditch in the surroundings, Linmel tilted her head in confusion.
"What is this? Is it magic?"
"Rather than magic... I’ve become something like... a being that’s a bit different from a human? Anyway, something like that."
"Huh...?"
Linmel blinked her bright, clear eyes, which hadn't changed a bit since she was a child.
Since the distance hadn't changed much either, our noses were almost touching. Feeling a bit overwhelmed, I stepped back and shrugged.
"Just by me living and breathing, traces are left on this world. Traces that The Great Void can recognize."
"And we can't let that guy find us yet, can we?"
Chukya, who had approached at some point, curved her lips as she watched me with amusement.
"So I was teaching this rookie god how to walk without scarring the world. He would have learned it all by tomorrow—but you just had to show up today."
I glared at Chukya as if to kill her, and she hurriedly hid behind Linmel.
Fortunately, Linmel seemed to take the word "god" as some kind of metaphor, and she brought up a completely different topic while looking at the girl hiding behind her.
"I see. But who is this?"
"A, a friend I met in the Deep Sea."
"The Deep Sea? People live in the Deep Sea?"
"People-like things live there. I was lonely, so I brought one along."
"...But why does she look exactly like me?"
"That’s—"
My mouth, which was about to answer as if it were obvious, clamped shut.
Chukya is a mirror that reflects the heart, making the opponent see the person they want to see most.
Then it was only natural that Linmel appeared. In the Deep Sea, where everyone hides a blade in their tongue, the most innocent person I knew was Linmel.
But to tell her that to her face? I felt like that would be more torturous than pulling out my own fingernails.
"That is, you see, I have an ability..."
"I told her to mimic me."
Before Chukya could say anything strange, I crushed her words with water pressure and took over.
Linmel asked the obvious question.
"...Why?"
"I was lonely being by myself. So I told her to create the faces of people I know. My memory stopped five years ago, so that’s how she ended up."
"Aha, I see."
For some reason, with an expression mixed with both disappointment and satisfaction, Linmel grabbed Chukya by the back of the neck.
"What is it, let go."
"Hmm, so this is how Zern imagines me?"
"I said let go, human."
"Didn't you make me look a bit too cute? I don't think I look like this..."
"What is with this thing? Just a moment ago she was trembling in fear of me—"
"I never trembled."
Linmel hugged Chukya’s neck gently (though to me, it looked like she was strangling her) and smiled with bloodshot eyes.
"Still, I’m glad I could be of help. Tomorrow... will you be able to come out of that lake place?"
"Yeah. As soon as I get out, I’m going to see my master and discuss things with the Imperial Princess."
The empire has fallen—that statement was half-truth and half-lie.
It was just that the capital had been conquered by Jeokyeon. Although it was practically the same as falling, as long as Sharmia was alive, the spark remained.
If I use those people, even with my lacking abilities—
"...Ah."
At those words, Linmel dropped her head.
"That is, um... I see. Since Zern has been gone for five years, you wouldn't know the situation well."
"...Is something wrong?"
I felt the need to ask, sensing a wave of anxiety.
As Linmel said, I had no idea what had become of this world. Everything I knew was just a few facts I’d heard from Cheonhwa, and even that guy hadn't stepped outside the mountains.
If, by any chance, Sharmia was dead. That would be...
"The Imperial Princess is alive and well. It’s because of her that we’re barely holding on."
"...That’s a relief."
The anxiety vanished as quickly as it had come. Then it wasn't the worst-case scenario.
As I was thinking that, Linmel tapped her fingers together and continued.
"And your master—Delsia is missing."
"What??"
"Not long after you disappeared, she returned to the Elven forest and went into seclusion. No one knows what she’s doing."
This crazy elf, in a time like this?
I frowned, my mind already rewriting my plans from scratch.
'I have to drag my master back first.'
Delsia was far more versatile than I was, a half-baked god.
In the first place, my plan to turn the world into the Deep Sea could only be put into action because she existed. I absolutely needed Delsia’s help.
"But other than that, Sir Brimdal and Karos are fine, and my foster father and the orphanage are all safe."
"...Is that so?"
I could feel my expression brightening.
The situation was much, much better than I had anticipated.
The people I loved were alive and unharmed. Linmel continued to tell me that the people I was worried about were all safe and sound.
Except for one.
"But Linmel."
I scratched my head as I spoke her name.
"What about Elicia?"
"..."
For the first time, Linmel fell silent—and my heart sank.
"Don't tell me—"
"She didn't die! It’s not what you’re thinking."
Linmel waved her hands frantically to reassure me again.
"Phew, that’s a relief. Is she wounded somewhere?"
If it were just a wound, I could heal it, provided it wasn't something truly fatal—
"...I almost wish she had."
I couldn't bring myself to say a word in response to Linmel’s muttered addition, which was laced with a hint of hatred.
"She has fallen. If you were to pick the worst threat in the current world—anyone would name the Void, or the former mage Elicia."
The silver-haired girl in my memories.
...Had become a Fallen One.
The end.
ⓒ Rotten Gimbap#1i525
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