I Will Protect My Brother - Chapter 121

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 121
The very next day, I set out from the cottage with Urs.
Only then did the full panorama of Alfheim unfold before my eyes. This place could rightly be called nature itself, untouched by the hand of civilization.
A world draped in winding mountain ranges and vast valleys, blanketed by four lush and vibrant forests. Even though my vision had not fully returned, it was enough to sense the crystalline essence of this realm.
Beyond the valley, nestled between the forests, lay small settlements where the elves dwelt.
I grasped the arm Urs offered and climbed the mountain path, asking a question.
“Why is Urs’s cottage so far from the village? Are you a hermit?”
[A hermit… well, most high elves are reclusive by nature, so you’re not entirely wrong.]
Urs chuckled softly.
[But it’s less about that and more because I’m the guardian spirit of this Western Forest. I protect the forest from those Black Elves who threaten the good elves, and I take in outsiders like you.]
The title of forest guardian seemed to hold considerable rank in elven society. The elves we encountered on our ascent recognized Urs and greeted him respectfully.
They showed interest in me as well.
[Wanderer who travels between the Stars, may you find peace in the embrace of forest and lake. A new outsider, I see. It’s been so long since we’ve seen a human.]
[I’ve heard rumors of an outsider who hasn’t awakened in the Western Forest Guardian’s cottage. That must be you. Welcome to Alfheim.]
“Th… thank you. May the Western Forest be filled with gentle breezes and warm sunlight.”
I awkwardly returned the greeting I’d learned from Urs, and the elves burst into clear laughter, brushing their cheeks against mine.
[What a beautiful human! When will you come down to the village?]
[We’d like to invite you to our home. You’re a resident of the Western Forest now, so let’s share a meal and talk. I’m curious about your old world.]
“Well, I… I’m planning to leave soon. I don’t really have time to leisurely share meals…”
[Ahahaha, outsiders always say that. But in the end, everyone adapts to Alfheim.]
“…”
[Don’t worry too much. I assure you, this world is far more beautiful and peaceful than the one you came from. You’ll come to love this place soon enough.]
I answered with a hollow laugh.
Unless Kalian Wynack were here, I doubted I would ever come to love this place without him.
In any case, the elves—both male and female—were all kind and well-disposed toward me. Urs lowered his voice and whispered.
[They’re all good-hearted and sincere, so there’s no malice, but still be careful. It’s been such a long time since a human fell into Alfheim, especially this Western Forest, so word will spread quickly.]
“What happens if word spreads?”
[You’ll become the object of interest and attention. Besides, they’re all so innocent that they might fall in love with you if you’re just a little kind to them.]
“Fall in love…?”
I felt a bit flustered. That would be rather troublesome.
‘Next time I meet elves, I’ll have to claim I’m already in a relationship.’
I really should have gotten that ring sooner!
The thought made me melancholy again. I had nothing with me that could remind me of my beloved.
After climbing further up the mountain path, my breath soon came in gasps. Urs offered to carry me, but my pride wouldn’t allow it.
‘I, Rosien Wynyak, can climb a mountain like this dozens of times a day…!’
“Huff… huff…”
[Come on, we’re almost there. You can do this!]
Urs looked at me with pity and encouraged me. After climbing a bit further.
[We’re here! This is it—the dimensional rift where you fell through.]
Urs tapped the ground with his staff. I caught my breath with difficulty and barely managed to lift my head.
I lamented my weakened body only briefly before an exclamation burst forth.
“Wow….”
I stood upon the cliff where an enormous waterfall began its descent.
Mist rose thickly from beneath the plummeting cascade, and above it hung a beautiful rainbow.
[We call it the Waterfall of the World. The waterfall that begins here becomes streams, forms lakes, and becomes rivers that traverse all of Alfheim. It is Alfheim’s sole water source, so it carries immense life energy. The dimensional rift is over there.]
The empty space Urs pointed to was subtly distorted.
Unable to see it clearly, I reached out and felt the air with my hands. Here, my foreign mana seemed to react with the twisted section, which writhed and moved.
[The cosmos is rippling.]
Urs, who had also traced the fissure with his fingertips like me, spoke seriously to himself.
[It seems something is happening outside….]
I stopped panting and held my breath. Could it be?
“Older Brother?”
I hastily summoned the Planetarium and floated it into the air. The small model cosmos hung above my head in a hemispherical form.
I rubbed my dimly seeing eyes and tried to perceive the situation beyond this planet, but no matter how much I searched, the cosmos remained only silent.
Not a single strand of the golden hair I loved appeared.
“I’m… here….”
Not even an echo returned.
The dimensional rift undulated for a moment longer before finally ceasing its movement in peace.
“….”
The small universe projected by the Planetarium gradually faded to transparency. I hung my head in despair.
“Right… there’s no way it could appear.”
Finding the one thing I desired in the vast cosmos was nearly impossible. I held back tears that threatened to fall and wove a spell.
‘Still, I have to try something.’
[ᛚᚢᛦ(Flash)]
Light shot precisely through the misaligned rift. Space rippled, then silently absorbed the flash.
I had sent a signal that I was here.
“Please, let someone’s eyes catch it….”
If only Kalian would find me.
I longed for him as desperately as I had suffered under Seongyeol—no, perhaps even more than that day.
Here, I was alone once more. And now I lacked even the strength to protect myself.
‘I thought everything would be solved if I just avoided the prophecy, but it wasn’t.’
Even operating the most basic of basic spells drained the mana from my body completely.
Urs quickly steadied me as I swayed.
[Don’t be so impatient. You need to rest properly. Right now you’re like a walking corpse.]
A walking corpse. This was the second humiliation in Lozietti Kirges’s life.
My expression must have been truly terrible, for Urs patted me sympathetically.
[If you truly can’t think of a way, I can take you to the Forest Elders. They’re particular folk, but with the right persuasion, they might be able to find a solution.]
“…Urs, don’t you find me suspicious? You don’t know what kind of person I am at all.”
As I mumbled listlessly, Urs laughed aloud as if he’d heard every strange thing imaginable.
[This is elven territory. It’s our world, so why would we be wary of a fragile human who would topple backward with just a poke?]
* * *
Urs was right.
“More helpless and pathetic than when I was reborn as an infant! Me! How could I become like this…!”
[Don’t get so worked up, miss. You’ll faint again at this rate.]
“This is absolutely ridiculous! Huff, huff.”
My condition was rather serious.
More than a month had passed since I opened my eyes in Alfheim, yet my senses still hadn’t returned.
The most problematic were my sight, taste, and smell.
And unsettlingly, I felt neither sleep nor hunger.
‘This… isn’t a state that could be called human. Like Kalian.’
It wasn’t merely painful—I was fundamentally abnormal.
Urs offered a simple diagnosis to my anxious state.
[You’ve been relying entirely on the Power of Stars for all your biological functions.]
Urs was a kind and excellent healer.
The elves, closer to nature itself than any other race, possessed the ability to perceive the essence of existence. He analyzed my condition from a more fundamental perspective than Railo had.
[Living creatures are composed of body and soul. Right now, your body isn’t intact, and your soul itself is layered with exhaustion. Multiple lifetimes are overlapping in a way that an ordinary human soul would struggle to bear. And you haven’t even received the blessing of oblivion.]
“Ah, haha…”
[This is no way to treat a normal human. Who on earth put you in this condition?]
I laughed hollowly before sinking back into gloom.
“It just happened that I kept dying prematurely, and when they tried to resurrect me again, it turned out like this…”
[What grudge did you incur to be resurrected two or three times over?]
“It’s not a grudge—I’m calling it love instead…”
Without the Revival Crystal, the side effects were far more severe than expected. Soul fatigue—I’d never even considered such a thing.
[When a living creature dies normally, the body returns to earth and the soul flows out of the world. Spirits that wander the cosmos sometimes perish, or they receive the blessing of oblivion and are absorbed into a new world. That’s a healthy soul.]
Urs concluded coldly.
[So right now, miss, you’re in a state where you’ve forcibly extended your lifespan, resulting in an overloaded soul trapped in a body that can’t function properly—and even that soul isn’t properly bonded with the body, just loosely dangling and rattling about.]
“I see…”
[Your power is barely serving as an adhesive. Things won’t get worse from here, but they won’t improve either.]
“So I’m destined to live on in this wretched body?”
It was unbearable. The sky felt like it was collapsing.
To live in this Other World where no one could find me, with such dulled senses, only to eventually die?
Urs, who had been staring intently at my shocked expression, slowly offered an alternative.
[Well, as a temporary measure, if I cleanse your soul thoroughly and smooth it out properly, it might bond better with your body.]
“If you do that, can I recover my original power?”
[Of course it would be better than now, wouldn’t it?]
Hope suddenly bloomed at those words.
Yes, elven healing arts didn’t cure external wounds—they purified the turbid soul by infusing it with the essence of the forest.
So if Urs could alleviate my soul’s fatigue, I could regain my strength!
‘And then I’ll escape this place…!’
But Urs hesitated.
[However, there is a price to be paid.]
“What kind of price?”
[It’s…]
I fell silent for a long moment as I listened to his explanation.
The method Urs proposed had one fatal flaw.
“So you’re saying… all my memories of living until now would be erased?”

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