The Sage that the Sword Saint is Obsessed With

2 – 1. Farewell (2)

1.

Late at night.

Llewelyn sneaked out of bed.

“…”

Llewelyn stood by the window.

She took out a letter from her pocket.

Opening the neatly folded letter, she read it in the moonlight streaming through the window.

[The list of casualties from the devil beast attack.]

Although she had told Evan that it was a letter asking about her hometown, the letter detailed an attack on the village by devil beasts.

The recent surge in devil beast attacks had now reached her hometown.

Even the peaceful place at the southernmost end was swept away by the devil beasts.

The village had turned into a wasteland.

Half of the villagers had died.

And Llewelyn’s parents were on the list of the deceased.

“Ah…”

Llewelyn bit her lower lip.

Her hands trembled.

Her face twisted as if she had taken off a mask.

It was a relief that her younger siblings had survived.

She had to go back to her hometown.

She needed to protect her frightened siblings.

As the eldest daughter, Llewelyn was now the only one left to take care of them.

Now she’s the eldest.

She received the letter.

Strength drained from her legs.

The emotions she had been suppressing welled up, threatening to flow backward.

It’s hard to believe.

I can’t believe it.

That her parents have passed away.

She never imagined it and didn’t want to.

As soon as the sun rises tomorrow, she’ll ride a wagon and set off.

If she could, she would run there right now. The moment she unfolded the letter, all she could think of was that she needed to return to her hometown as soon as possible.

But she couldn’t.

It’s because of Evan.

She loves Evan as much as she loves her family.

The one who always makes her laugh.

The one who always cherishes her.

She sincerely loves him- the one who first reached out to her when she was a loner.

Though she is clumsy at expressing her feelings, she can confidently say that her affection for Evan is greater than his for her.

…She doesn’t want to part.

If she tells Evan about this situation, he will undoubtedly follow her.

Will he only follow?

Kind Evan would think of her family as his own and help care for her siblings in her hometown.

“…I can’t.”

Rouen closed her eyes tightly.

If he follows her, it would be genuinely comforting and heartening. She already relies on him mentally so much.

However, it would be too cruel to him.

She doesn’t know how many years she’ll have to spend in the countryside.

She will have to be there at least ten years, until her siblings can stand on their own.

‘I want to go to the Academy.’

Evan has a dream.

“I’m going to enter the Magic Tower and study magic. My dream is to create a healing magic that can cure all diseases in the world.”

In his childhood, Evan lost his entire family to an epidemic.

He had to helplessly let them go.

Doctors couldn’t do anything.

Nor could priests.

They had to bow their heads and prepare to accept death.

At that time, there was no way to cure that disease.

All the infected could do was wait for their bodies to completely rot away.

Evan had to watch his family rot away before his eyes. Their arms and legs falling off, and in the end, their necks decaying and falling apart.

That’s when it started.

Evan became a magician and began to study healing magic.

So that no one would have to face the same despair as him.

“I’m not good at using magic, but I’m confident in magic theory.”

In fact, his theoretical knowledge was outstanding.

Evan’s magic circle analysis ability is high-level.

When he broke the dungeon’s barrier, what would take another magician a week, Evan finished in just one day.

Based on knowledge alone, he could enter the academy.

It could be talent, but also the result of hard work.

Evan studied every single day without fail.

Whenever he had time, he opened magic books, and even when he was tired from taking care of requests, he sat at his desk all night drawing magic circles. Just yesterday, he was reading a magic book on the carriage back from exterminating a magical beast.

Evan was sincere.

“Is it still too much to cure all diseases in the world?”

Looking up at the night sky, Evan held Rowen’s hand as they spoke.

“If I can’t do everything in the world…”

Evan smiled faintly.

“Rowen, I want to make a magic spell just for you.”

It was a conversation they had on a summer night when the shooting stars fell, the first night they shared a kiss.

Rowen didn’t want to be an obstacle to Evan’s sincerity.

She was already causing enough trouble.

If it wasn’t for her following him around, Evan would have already entered the academy or joined the Magic Tower much earlier.

It was time to let him go.

Until now, she had held onto him out of her own selfish desires.

Evan might try to follow her and study magic in the countryside, but there was a world of difference between studying in the countryside and studying in the magical tower. There was no comparison.

Truly wanting to love him, she decided to part ways for his sake.

She didn’t want to be a hindrance any more than she was now.

Rwuen held back her tears and made her resolution.

2.

The next day.

The spring breeze woke Evan by brushing against his cheeks.

“Ugh…”

He exhaled a dry breath.

A sweet scent of alcohol enveloped the air.

“Ah… my head…”

He had drunk too much last night.

Though he wasn’t good at drinking, he had downed five glasses of ale.

For some reason, his mood had been great yesterday.

On the other hand, Rwuen seemed to be in a poor condition.

She usually drank six glasses as a standard but couldn’t even finish one.

“Rwuen…”

Evan tossed around in the bed and wrapped his arm around Rwuen, who was supposed to be lying next to him.

-Click

However, Evan’s arm went through thin air, landing on an empty bed instead of Rwuen’s body.

“Huh?”

Lifting his heavy eyelids, he looked to the side.

No one was there.

Every morning when he woke up, Rwuen would always be curled up in his arms, fast asleep.

“Did she go to the bathroom?”

Evan got up from the bed.

His throat was dry.

He walked unsteadily to the table to drink some water.

He picked up the water bottle on the table.

-Thud

The paper under the water bottle fell to the floor.

“…What is this?”

Is it the letter that came from Ruwen yesterday?

That’s what he thought.

But the letter clearly stated, [To Evan].

It was Ruwen’s handwriting.

Evan shuddered.

Anxiety loomed.

Yet even without checking the contents, he somehow felt he knew what it was about.

His instinct told him not to read it.

“……”

But he checked it anyway.

[We’ve reached our limit.]

There weren’t many sentences written in the letter.

[Let’s end this.]

He couldn’t understand the meaning. He could decipher triple-layered complex magic circles, but these two lines were impossible to decipher no matter how much he racked his brains.

“…That’s quite a joke.”

He thought Ruwen was playing a joke.

Looking around with anxiety.

Nothing.

All of Ruwen’s belongings were gone.

“No… What… No… Huh?”

He rubbed his eyes and checked again.

A few more lines were written below the letter.

[I will forget you.]

It was a cruel statement.

[You should forget me too.]

Would that be possible?

Impossible.

It has been too long since I’ve been with Ruwen to forget him.

Ruwen, who has been with Evan for five years, occupies a large part of his life.

It’s safe to say he’s everything.

“What, what is this…?”

There isn’t a single reason written down.

It was a one-sided notice.

How can he accept this?

Evan put on his robe and fled the inn.

He runs through the village.

He ran to find his girlfriend.

The village, which is welcoming the morning, is still quiet.

He headed straight for the entrance of the village.

A guard yawns, guarding the entrance.

“Excuse me…!”

Breathing heavily, he asked the guard.

“Did you happen to see a woman with short black hair and golden eyes pass by?”

“She didn’t pass by.”

“Really? Are you sure she didn’t go through?”

“I’ve been watching all night, and that woman didn’t pass by.”

She’s still in the village.

“Thank you…!”

He ran around the village once more.

Where did she go…!

To accept such a letter?

He prayed it was a cruel joke.

‘Do you want to hunt alone?’

‘…Get lost.’

‘I’m alone too, do you want to hunt together?’

‘I said, get lost.’

“Alright. I’ll support you, so let’s catch that guy first.”

“…Sigh.”

The first time I reached out to her.

“Don’t you have any friends?”

“…Are you dying?”

“I don’t have any, so if you don’t have friends, do you want to be friends with me?”

“…Go away.”

“Are you shy?”

“Wh, who…!”

“I want to get close to you. Please be my friend.”

The first time our hands met.

“I like you!”

“…What?”

“Please be my lover.”

“Su, suddenly… Wh, wh, wh-what…?”

“I’ve analyzed this feeling so many times. Wanting to hold you, wanting to touch you, wanting to be with you until death, isn’t that love? What do you think?”

“…………Just touch me.”

The first time we became lovers.

All those moments are still vivid in my memory.

How did we break up?

How did it end?

I can’t. I can’t let it happen like this.

“Rouen…!”

I found her.

Rouwen was riding in a carriage.

Evan grabbed Rouwen’s wrist.

“Where are you going…! What does this mean…?!”

Evan shook the farewell notice in front of Rouwen’s face.

“Is this for real? Did you really write this?”

Rouwen rolled her eyes to the right and nodded her head.

“……Ugh.”

Leowen pushed Evan’s hand away.

“It’s over, Evan.”