Part 28 (1/2)

Chapter 11 The Secret of The Chamber of Elders.

But what have they done for you? What exactly have they done for you in return for your love?

Right... he couldn't think of any.

Before his eyes, Administrator's smile readily bent once again and a scene from his past came back to him.

It was the year he turned ten, in the spring... the day he was bestowed his ”sacred task” along with a crowd of children by the village chief in the plaza. The sacred task, ”Gigas Cedar's Woodcutter”, spoken out by Gasupht, the village chief, as he looked down upon the nervous him from the platform, went contrary to his expectations.

But stil , there were cries of envy here and there among some of the children. The woodcutter was an honorable sacred task pa.s.sed down since the Rulid Village was founded and though it wasn't a sword, he would still be presented with a real axe.

Even Eugeo himself hadn't felt dissatisfaction over it back then.

Grasping the parchment wrapped with a red ribbon, the proof of his appointment, tightly, Eugeo had ran back to his home on the outskirts of town and announced his sacred task to his family somewhat proudly.

Following a short silence, the first reaction came from the younger one among his brothers. He curtly clicked his tongue and cursed, saying that he thought it would be his last day 209.

Chapter 11 The Secret of The Chamber of Elders.

handling the cleanup for the cows' s.h.i.+t. The older one told his father that it would throw the planting plans for the year into disarray and his father, too, asked Eugeo when his job would end and whether he could help out in the fields then, in a groan.

As though afraid of the men's sullenness, his mother disappeared into the kitchen without saying a word.

Eugeo felt constantly ashamed in his home for the next eight years. And despite that, Eugeo's wages as a woodcutter were controlled by his father and before he noticed, the number of goats had multiplied and the farm tools were swapped with new ones. Despite how, Jink, appointed as a guard apprentice, spent all of his wages on himself and ate white bread stuffed full of meat for lunch, and showed off his studded boots and a sword kept in a l.u.s.trous sheath. Despite how, Eugeo had to walk on in his worn out shoes and a jute sack filled with nothing more than the left over hard bread on his back before Jink's presence.

”You see? Have any of those you loved done anything for you, even once? On the contrary, they took pleasure in your wretchedness and even sneered at you, haven't they?”

Yes... that was exactly it.

Jink had said this to Eugeo after around two years after that summer of his eleventh year, when Alice was taken away by the 210.

Chapter 11 The Secret of The Chamber of Elders.

integrity knight. There aren't any women left to care for you any longer, with that girl of the village chief gone now, he said.

Jink's eyes back then told him that he deserved it. The fact that Eugeo lost the privilege of being the one closest to the cutest girl in the village and a genius at sacred arts, Alice, brought joy to him.

In the end, not a single person in Rulid returned Eugeo's feelings. Although he had earned the right to gain something equivalent to what he had given, it had been robbed from him without rhyme or reason.

”Then, couldn't you simply return that despair and frustration to them? You wish to, don't you? It would feel so good... imagine becoming an integrity knight and making a triumphant return to your home vil age atop a silver flying dragon. Imagine having all who have made a fool out of you crawl on the ground and pressing down on their heads with your s.h.i.+ny boots. With that, you could final y take back everything they have stolen from you thus far. And that's not all...”

The beautiful, silver-haired girl slowly, gently let the two arms supporting her b.r.e.a.s.t.s fal , as though drawing him in. Those two mounds bounced like ripened fruits upon losing their support.

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Chapter 11 The Secret of The Chamber of Elders.

The highest minister reached her two arms straight towards Eugeo and whispered with while showing an enthralling smile.

”You can enjoy being loved for the first time as much as you want. A real, numbing sense of satisfaction from head to toe. I am different from those who have taken away from you without giving anything in return. If you could give me your love, you will have just as much in return. I will let you experience incomparable pleasure, beyond what you could possibly imagine now, if only you could grant me your deepest love.”

Even the final trickle of Eugeo's ability to think was about to be drawn into that devilish flower. But stil , a fragment of reason left in the depths of his heart put up a quiet resistance.

-What exactly... is love?

-Is it nothing more than something that could be a.s.signed a value... like money...?

It's not, Eugeo-senpai!

His sight turned towards the voice he heard and saw a red- haired girl clad in a grey uniform, desperately reaching out with her hand in the darkness on the other side.

But before Eugeo's hand could stretch out, the thick, pitch black curtains descended upon the red-haired girl and she vanished, leaving behind only the shade of grief in her eyes.

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Chapter 11 The Secret of The Chamber of Elders.

And this time, a voice from someone else came from the opposite direction.

It's not, Eugeo. Love is definitely not just something to be repaid.

Turning around, he found a smal gra.s.sy s.p.a.ce parting the darkness and a golden-haired girl wearing a blue dress standing in it. The girl's blue eyes dazzlingly glittered as though they were the one and only exit to this bottomless swap and Eugeo roused his weary legs in an attempt to crawl towards her.