Even if I Make It Roughly, Ex-rank Items Continue to Accumulate - Chapter 42

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Even Hastily Made Ones Keep Stacking Up as EX-Rank (42)

Promise

The Snow Flame Empress regained consciousness about an hour later.

Some strange Achievement had been cleared, granting the skill called 『Subspace』.

He was roughly reading through its description when his eyes met with hers as she quietly opened them.

‘Finally awake.’

Lee Si-hyeok grinned, closed the message window, and looked down at the Snow Flame Empress.

“…?”

However, her reaction was strange.

Upon spotting Lee Si-hyeok, she began blinking her eyes frantically as if she had seen someone she shouldn’t have.

She even started rubbing them so vigorously that Lee Si-hyeok worried she might hurt herself, so he hastily stopped her.

“Stop!”

Only then did the Snow Flame Empress cease her actions.

She remained frozen with a bewildered expression for a moment, then soon let out a hollow laugh.

“…So I wasn’t having a nightmare after all.”

“….”

“Everything was real. The fire demon devouring the royal palace, and you being the culprit behind it all!”

At that resentful gaze, the smile disappeared from Lee Si-hyeok’s face.

“I am… Princess Serena del Lumiere of the Orbes Kingdom!”

The Snow Flame Empress’s teeth ground together audibly. The mana that burst forth was filled with deep anger.

“…I trusted you. Despite our brief acquaintance, I actually gave you my trust. Your passion for magical engineering back then felt more pure than anything else!”

Her pupils trembled as if in confusion.

“But, but how could this happen? That the price of that trust would return so horribly. I, I simply cannot bear it….”

“Snow, Snow Flame Empress.”

Finally, Lee Si-hyeok, unable to watch any longer, stepped forward.

Right now, this person’s vision was completely blocked, perhaps because the scene she witnessed earlier was too shocking.

If she just looked around slightly, she would immediately realize that the royal palace was perfectly fine.

“Please don’t just stare at my face. Could you look around a bit?”

“What nonsense are you spouting! When did I ever only look at a barbarian like you!”

The Snow Flame Empress’s expression crumpled.

Though it stung a little that her form of address had naturally degraded from ‘you’ to ‘barbarian like you’, Lee Si-hyeok didn’t show it and gestured with his hand.

Then the Snow Flame Empress, while pouring out harsh words, also seemed curious and glanced around.

“Even when I first saw you, that arrogant mouth of yours was the problem. Even now I should rip that snout of yours….”

Silence.

After a brief moment of silence, she blinked her large eyes just like before.

“Huh.”

“The garden is fine. The royal palace is too.”

“This, this can’t be. It was definitely engulfed in flames… Don’t tell me this is also a dream?”

At those words, Lee Si-hyeok lightly pinched her cheek.

“How, how rude! What are you doing all of a sudden!”

“Since it hurt, I guess it’s not a dream.”

“…Not, a dream?”

“No.”

“Well, well then! Then what was it that I saw? Everything was definitely burning. But if that wasn’t a dream but reality… That’s right.”

The Snow Flame Empress laughed hollowly.

“I must have finally gone mad. Gone so completely mad that I saw hallucinations. Tormented by homesickness for too long… Sigh.”

“….”

“Still, I somehow made it back to my homeland.”

The killing intent from moments ago was nowhere to be found. What replaced it was deep regret and self-blame. Lee Si-hyeok felt somewhat sorry watching the Snow Flame Empress like this.

‘Was I too hasty?’

No, he wasn’t hasty.

He had used somewhat drastic methods given the circumstances, but who could have imagined such a reaction would follow?

He had simply waited for her to quickly escape the fire and come outside.

So Lee Si-hyeok decided to quickly explain what had happened before her misunderstanding grew larger.

“What actually happened was….”

Throughout the entire story, the Snow Flame Empress showed no reaction.

Whether she was drained of energy or suppressing her anger, she silently listened to Lee Si-hyeok’s words.

What kind of events he had experienced since coming to Orbes.

And why he had no choice but to do such a thing.

He conveyed only the necessary information clearly and systematically, without mixing in any pathetic excuses.

When the story ended, the Snow Flame Empress spoke in a much calmer voice.

“You needed me.”

“That’s right. It wasn’t like that from the beginning, but once I saw the Snow Flame Empress in the plaza, I absolutely had to confirm it.”

“And that was to leave this place together. You couldn’t leave me behind and go alone.”

Lee Si-hyeok nodded.

Meeting the Snow Flame Empress was partly to join forces with her, but there was also the reason that he couldn’t escape this place alone.

If the Snow Flame Empress really had been dragged into this because of Lee Si-hyeok, then taking responsibility somehow would be right. Turning away from that wasn’t his way.

“Of course, it seems the Snow Flame Empress has no intention of leaving. From what I can see, you weren’t dragged into this because of me either.”

“…Did you notice?”

“Roughly. I’d be an idiot not to know.”

Though I’d need to hear more details to know the full story.

From the words she’d let slip and various clues, the fact that she was Princess Serena del Lumiere was as good as established.

If so, there was one concerning part.

“Don’t you resent me?”

“For what?”

“Even though it wasn’t real fire, you were tremendously shocked. You even fainted from it.”

When he asked carefully, the Snow Flame Empress smiled bitterly.

“How could I not? Of course I’m angry. Earlier, I really wanted to kill you right here and now.”

“Mm.”

“But after hearing the reason, it makes sense. In the end, it was an action you took for my sake, wasn’t it?”

“That’s right.”

“Then that’s enough. I’m not such a narrow-minded person.”

Indeed, the Snow Flame Empress had appeared considerably more relaxed since finishing the story.

Feeling relieved by that fact, Lee Si-hyeok was about to speak his next words.

“Since you shared your story with me, I can’t just keep my mouth shut either.”

The reason Lee Si-hyeok had called out the Snow Flame Empress, and the key to returning to Earth.

That story began to flow from the Snow Flame Empress’s lips.

* * *

The Snow Flame Empress’s story flowed without hesitation.

Revealing one’s past to someone else.

It should have been something worth hesitating over, yet she showed not an ounce of reluctance.

“What do you think after hearing it? Isn’t it quite ridiculous?”

Rather, the Snow Flame Empress who had finished her story asked in a playful tone.

Lee Si-hyeok guessed that she might be feeling a kind of catharsis from finally telling someone a story she had kept locked away inside.

“…Not really.”

A story deeper than expected.

When Lee Si-hyeok answered with a hardened expression, the Snow Flame Empress giggled and added.

“Then you must find it pitiful.”

“No.”

“No?”

“Yes. It’s neither funny nor pitiful.”

Then what? The Snow Flame Empress tilted her head.

Funny, pitiful. The Snow Flame Empress had been evaluating her own life that way for her entire lifetime. Wasn’t that natural?

As royalty, she had abandoned the kingdom and fled. Even if it was an unavoidable situation, that was just an excuse. It would have been right for her to sacrifice herself instead of the Alchemy Association.

She felt so cowardly for not being able to make that choice.

So as she told her story to Lee Si-hyeok, part of her heart hoped he would mock her to his heart’s content.

How dare someone like you still call yourself royalty?

Do you still have the right to long for the kingdom after that?

If she could at least be pointed at like that, it would be some small comfort. Even this was just cowardly thinking, but she wanted to put down this heavy burden somehow.

‘But…’

The Snow Flame Empress looked at the man before her.

An indifferent face, unwavering pupils.

Before that appearance, asking whether his previous words were sincere seemed pointless.

She knew without asking. That man truly wasn’t looking down on her.

As she watched with confused eyes, Lee Si-hyeok’s lips slowly parted.

“I just think it feels a bit foolish.”

“Foolish?”

It was completely unexpected. Foolish?

“Yes. No matter how I think about it, it seems foolish. Why on earth have you been hiding all this time?”

“That’s…”

The Snow Flame Empress bit her lips tightly.

If Lee Si-hyeok found a way to escape from this place and really broke out.

Then this fake world, having fulfilled its role, would perish along with him.

In other words, the Snow Flame Empress wanted to protect this world, so she was essentially trying to prevent Lee Si-hyeok’s escape somehow.

Again, again being selfish.

Because she felt sorry about that, the Snow Flame Empress couldn’t continue speaking, but Lee Si-hyeok sighed as if he knew everything.

“Have you forgotten all the promises we made before?”

“Promise?”

“At the GateTech Expo. You were the one who spoke first then.”

The Snow Flame Empress traced back her memory.

‘Right, definitely…’

It would have been just before leaving Lee Si-hyeok’s booth at the Expo.

―This is my business card.

―Didn’t you clearly say earlier? That this dagger is merely mediocre work.

―You also said you would show me anytime if I wanted.

―So keep your promise.

She had completely forgotten due to the series of hectic events.

“But why are you suddenly bringing up that story?”

“Why indeed.”

The corner of Lee Si-hyeok’s mouth curved up.

“I came to keep that promise now.”

“…?!”

Of course, that wasn’t his purpose from the beginning.

Originally, Lee Si-hyeok reaching this place was just because he got accidentally involved while investigating the Obsidian Mining Site.

But after hearing the Snow Flame Empress’s story, it seemed like they could solve things together somehow.

“If you had just come out quickly and explained, things would have been much easier, but you unnecessarily hid and wasted time. That’s what seems foolish.”

“No, no. What exactly are you planning to do…”

“I’m going to fix the world.”

To be precise, fix this mimicry world, that is, the artifact.

‘Not the current unstable state, but modify it to be like a real world.’

Though it seemed questionable whether this was even possible, Lee Si-hyeok thought it was worth trying. Wasn’t it magical engineering after all? Then it was worth attempting.

Moreover, this wasn’t just for the Snow Flame Empress, but also because Lee Si-hyeok’s research passion was ignited. He wanted to approach things more fundamentally rather than simply escaping.

“Huh, huhhh…”

The Snow Flame Empress looked at him as if she couldn’t believe it, but there wasn’t time for detailed explanations.

Just listening to her story had already taken quite a lot of time.

Lee Si-hyeok stood up and said.

“I heard there’s a treasury in the Royal Palace underground.”

“Wh-who did you hear that from…?”

“I have my ways. Anyway, please guide me there.”

Sorry to her, but.

While he was at it, he was planning to loot some treasures too.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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