NOVEL NEXT Chapter 131
“Krurururu!”
The elf holding Rain started to growl softly, glancing at Chris who was beginning to side step in a funny way, as if she were enjoying a show.
Chuckling, the elf gestured for Chris to come closer.
“Are you Chris? Come here and take a look at this.”
“…….”
How does that naughty elf know my name?
Still on high alert, Chris cautiously approached the unfamiliar woman who had taken Rain from her.
“Heh.”
A foolish laugh escaped Chris’s lips as she gazed at Rain’s sleeping face, her expression softening.
Soon, the two women sat down together, gazing lovingly at Rain’s face as if she were the most adorable thing in the world.
“Isn’t she just too cute?”
“Sigh… Right? Right? She’s basically a little angel! …Oh!”
Realizing what she had just said, Chris snapped back into a wary gaze towards the elf.
With her white hair, the elf gave a light bow and introduced herself.
“Sorry for the late introduction. My name is Igrim.”
“Igrim?”
“Yes. I was the priestess of the World Tree in the past.”
Chris’s mind flickered to a phrase that Rain had drunkenly uttered a while ago when all the members of the Hong Baek Guild were gathered.
The priestess of the World Tree, Igrim.
The person Rain had mentioned had now appeared before her.
Is this just a coincidence?
A character from the game’s lore. An AI. An NPC.
If she just considered it a game, she’d never be able to understand Rain for the rest of her life.
Whether Igrim understood Chris’s complicated feelings or not, she simply smiled and continued to stroke Rain’s hair.
“I understand. From the perspective of higher beings, this world may just be a fleeting amusement.”
Igrim glanced down at Rain’s face, her expression turning slightly sad.
“I hope Rain thinks so too.”
At this point, Chris had no choice but to accept it.
Even if understanding could come later, she had to start by accepting it.
Igrim.
She had to see her not as a game NPC, but as someone connected to Rain’s past.
Gathering her thoughts, Chris asked what had been on her mind.
“…What is your relationship with Rain?”
“Hmm… We’re companions?”
“Companions?”
“Yes. A thousand years ago, we gathered as companions of the hero to defeat the Demon Lord.”
“Companions of the hero.”
The Demon Lord. The mission.
Rain’s past.
The past of Rain, which she couldn’t find in reality, was now revealing itself here.
Chris and Igrim exchanged many words.
Elf Igrim. Priestess of the World Tree.
She met Rain, traveled with her and her companions, fought the Demon Race, and finally defeated the Demon Lord.
And in that process…
“…….”
The stories she had heard from Team Leader Han Yeoreum.
The hero’s past.
Today, it became even more real to Chris.
Should she marvel at the advancement of AI technology?
But why does this game’s lore connect to Rain?
Chris shook her head vigorously.
She had decided not to think about such things!
Right now, she needed to learn more about this continent and Rain.
“…But, it’s been a thousand years since the hero party fought the Demon Lord, right? And during that time, your companions… wait, then what I’m seeing in front of me is a ghost…!”
Chris gasped, and Igrim chuckled.
“As I heard, you’re quite the amusing person, Chris. I don’t really know as much as you think I do. Most of what I know came from being the spirit of the World Tree.”
Igrim wore a look of regret.
“This world lost its god back then. It started to drift away, merely a shell, disassociated from the flow of absolute time. It’s the fate of a lower dimension that relies on many things, including the existence of the goddess, for its existence. I’ve heard that from a higher dimension’s perspective, about two years have passed.”
“Two years….”
“Is Rain’s body okay over there?”
“…Her legs.”
“…….”
Igrim’s expression darkened with deep sorrow. A green light flickered in the corners of the spirit’s eyes. She wrapped Rain in her arms and repeatedly called her name.
“Rain, Rain.”
Two years ago.
That was when Lee Seulbi’s presence began to reveal itself on Earth.
Rain’s past.
A real, existing other world.
The world that serves as the background of the game.
If she embraced this, many questions would be answered, and all the pieces would fit together.
But.
Chris squeezed her eyes shut.
“This isn’t right.”
This was something she wanted to cover with the name of her shattered common sense.
If only it had been a lie, how nice it would have been.
A mentally unstable young girl, bearing the hero’s mission, had fought while getting hurt and wounded.
And in the end, she lost everything.
She lost her companions.
She lost her legs.
Her mind shattered.
She turned away from the world she lived in and escaped into her own.
It was a miracle she hadn’t completely broken down before meeting herself.
Chris and Igrim’s conversation came to a halt.
They silently stared at the sleeping Rain for a while.
Chris gently brushed Rain’s hair, and Rain whimpered, nestling deeper into Igrim’s embrace. Chris’s face contorted. Igrim wore an awkward but contented smile.
They began to share memories of Rain little by little.
“…Rain was such a wonderful child. Even at an age where she could barely hold a sword, she was always lost in thought.”
“…….”
“Sometimes she acted surprisingly mature, sometimes she acted like a quiet kid. Always looking off somewhere far away. When she snuggled into my arms, she looked confused but wore a kitten-like expression.”
“A kitten…! Haha, I think I understand.”
“Right? She truly was just like a baby cat! …But it was sad; it seemed like she grew up without receiving any love. She didn’t seem to know how to accept the kindness directed at her.”
“…….”
Chris could relate to that.
Thinking of how much effort she had put into easing Rain’s wariness.
Igrim suddenly wore a perplexed expression.
“I still remember one behavior I couldn’t comprehend; it was when I was bathing Rain. She would hide her eyes while making the cutest little cries, trying to avoid looking at my body.”
“Bathing Rain…!?”
Chris’s alertness flared up again. She bit down on her clothes with an innocent expression.
“I-I also bathed Rain, you know!?”
Don’t think you won!
Igrim tilted her head at Chris’s reaction.
“Oh!”
Then she gasped.
A playful glimmer began to dance in Igrim’s eyes.
“Is that so…! Well, whenever Rain would talk about you… Hm, hm. Though her body is still small, she’s already at an age where she’d know such things…!”
Chris shot Igrim a sharp glare.
What’s with that expression?
Igrim smiled softly and continued.
“Isn’t Rain really beautiful?”
“Uh, umm. Right?”
“From the elven standard of beauty, she’s a rare beauty too. Hehe, I bet she charmed quite a few people.”
What’s with this sudden praise of looks?
Sure, Rain is pretty, but?
“The reason I opened up to my companions was also to protect Rain from Melissa and Elena’s claws. Even though I said she was still young, hehe, she truly was a handful!”
“Melissa? Elena?”
Chris’s alert senses blared with danger.
Who are those girls?
“Don’t worry. I actually… I’m not sure if it’s okay to say this, but I’m kind of like Rain’s mom?”
“Mother!”
Thud!
Chris buried her head into the floor of the World Tree.
As the three women shared memories of Rain, their warm moments slowly unfolded.
The regretful look on Igrim’s face began to deepen.
“I am a figure of the past; I shouldn’t influence Rain’s present. Just being able to see her again is something I am grateful for.”
“What?”
Chris looked at Igrim with a dazed expression, struggling to understand her incomprehensible words.
“Rain’s doing well there, right? Hehe, just from the fact that Rain can smile so beautifully, I can tell how much you cherish her, Chris.”
“Yes. I-I want to make Rain happy!”
“I am someone who must leave. For Rain to live happily in another world, I must not be by her side.”
Chris panicked.
Rain was sleeping in Igrim’s arms, wearing an expression of happiness she had never seen before.
Is it bad to come and visit her sometimes, even if not every day, for Rain’s sake?
“Why? Why must you leave?”
Igrim didn’t answer that question; she just looked Chris straight in the eye.
“Chris. In the world where you’re living a new life, what is Rain’s name?”
“…Lee Seulbi.”
“Lee Seulbi.”
After rolling that name around in her mouth once, Igrim gently stroked Rain’s hair.
“Mm.”
At that moment, Rain’s eyes slowly opened.
Her lovely obsidian eyes, filled with confusion, darted between the faces of the two women.
Then, she smiled brightly.
“Wow, it’s my sisters!”
However, even with Rain’s beaming smile, the sadness in Igrim’s eyes did not fade.
“Rain. I’m sorry.”
“…Why? Igrim unnie, why are you apologizing?”
An emotion of anxiety began to swirl in Rain’s eyes.
Igrim, patting the girl’s head, struggled to voice her thoughts.
“I… I must leave.”