WOSE Chapter 36

"Kalix."

"……Yes."

He was one to care easily for weakness. To his eyes, she would appear only as a pitiable victim—the perfect opportunity to win sympathy.

"I don't want to stay in this place anymore."

She swayed as though deeply shocked, and he moved to support her firmly. Nervous exhaustion was the easiest performance. She leaned against that familiar embrace despite herself, her voice fading to almost nothing.

"…I want to leave."

That brief sentence, which might have even been sincere, drew the sound of teeth grinding above her head.

His solid ribs expanded deeply, then deflated slowly. She felt it all.

"Then we will."

Speaking with certainty about a destination he couldn't possibly know, he pledged to take her wherever she desired.

Iyu, without measuring the depth or weight of those words, simply stared with tired eyes at the empty space where Kelgrida had sat.

The lead actor had already exited. Her own role was sufficiently concluded. And so the curtain fell.

Kalix moved exactly as she'd intended. He sent detailed reports to Asgard of the horrific incident and the terrible threat the Savior had endured. She'd been directly threatened with death by the clan leader's son, he wrote, and now suffered greatly. If this continued, her faith in this world would collapse entirely. He added a grave warning and pressed for both protection and swift action.

Thus, an emergency council was convened in Asgard. When leaders of other races learned that the heir to the succession—one with a duty to maintain the world—had dared attempt to eliminate the Savior, their anger was immediate. Their consensus swift.

The contents communicated to Kalix and his party were these:

First, exclude Dwarven Clan Leader Kelgrida from the traveling party.

Second, the companions were to pay special attention to the Savior's safety.

And finally, Nidavellir was deemed too dangerous a world for the Savior to remain in. They were to depart as soon as possible.

So grave was the matter that Freya herself sent a highly favored Sky Tribe noble to deliver these directives personally.

With the leaders' will so firmly fixed, the day of departure was decided quickly.

Days later, the area before the temple was chaos. After the shocking confession, the Savior's residence had been moved to the temple itself.

Hired wagons lined up in rows, and coachmen and knights loaded provisions and tents. Finally, the repairs on the carriage she'd arrived in—the same one she'd depart in—were completed.

Iyu, who'd counted the days until leaving, climbed into the carriage without hesitation.

"Savior! If you leave like this……!"

Some blacksmiths lingered around the carriage, hoping to detain her after hearing the Savior would depart. But Iyu didn't spare them a glance and spoke to the coachman.

"Depart."

She'd wished that opening her eyes might reveal she'd left Nidavellir, or failing that, that she could slip away quietly. Yet to leave Smidrhame, fate demanded she pass through the town's central square.

As the carriage reached the plaza, an overwhelming roar descended upon it. Iyu drew back the curtain.

And what appeared before her eyes was…

With the End Village people gone, vanished along with the Sky Tribe priests, and Darun missing, various rumors had circulated.

The distorted and twisted stories grew more specific and clear with time, eventually sparking an uproar. Some had even stormed into Kelgrida's house.

But the chaos directly witnessed was worse than she'd imagined.

The grand square was engulfed in crowds. Beside a blazing furnace where people had hurled equipment precious as life itself, they waved cloth scraps bearing the names of victims and roared for truth.

"Did you truly not know the missing ones were dead, Clan Leader!"

"Was young Lord Darun really Ragnarok!"

"Clan Leader! Explain yourself immediately!"

Iyu watched the spectacle as though observing a play, unmoved.

'I never expected it would escalate this far.'

Well, planting seeds of rumor had borne fruit. She'd ignited suspicion among people already questioning the repeated disappearances, and truth would inevitably surface eventually.

How long until Kelgrida was torn from the clan leader's seat, she wondered, when Tamia, sitting beside her, tugged insistently at her sleeve.

The child's eyes wide, she gestured toward something beyond the carriage window. Among the frenzied crowd, Eila stood motionless, like a lost child.

That night, she hadn't sent a note calling Eila to the mine. The girl was young, yes, but more than that—grief outweighed hatred in her heart.

Yet now, having learned the truth of what had happened and who was responsible, the child seemed to have lost even that fragile spark of life.

Would it have been better to give her warning? But there was no way learning the truth could hurt less, regardless of how it came to her.

Iyu was withdrawing from the window when something terrible happened.

From the heart of the square's chaos, Kelgrida burst forth with terrifying force and blocked the carriage's path.

The carriage lurched, passengers thrown sideways before settling again.

"What?"

Glimpsed through the carriage window, Kelgrida was more disheveled than Iyu had ever seen her. Hair loosened entirely, shirt hastily buttoned, both eyes gleaming with madness.

Kelgrida had maintained her composure when her favored subordinate returned as meat. She'd kept her dignity when forced to acknowledge her only son consumed by darkness. But with the news that the Savior would leave with nothing gained—she'd finally collapsed.

"Savior!"

At Kelgrida's desperate cry, Iyu finally descended from the carriage.

The moment the Savior appeared, the figure struggling with the knights rushed forward with predatory speed. She would have, at least, before Kalix moved to intercept her.

But Kelgrida, undeterred by the wall before her, fixed her gaze solely on Iyu and poured out her words.

"So you're truly leaving Nidavellir. Leaving that darkness behind……."

"…"

"Reconsider."

The words emerged dark, almost menacing. Kelgrida seemed to recognize this herself, for she wiped her mouth roughly with the back of her hand and began appealing to emotion instead.

"I told you. The Orichalcum mine is a vital source of income for us. Don't you see all these people? For them to survive, for them to be protected, we absolutely need that mine."

"…"

"It's not only that! If you leave the darkness as it is, its scale will only grow…… Savior, do you truly wish for these wretched people to vanish into that darkness? Do you wish for me, who's traveled with you, to disappear?"

Iyu looked down at the woman abandoning dignity and pride alike, begging.

Perhaps she truly felt wronged. She might have harbored the same designs as before, but ultimately, she'd only tried to show kindness and received nothing in return.

But that was the you from my past who severed my limbs. Who deceived me thoroughly, used me, and cast me away like garbage. And that wasn't a delusion or a distant memory—it was my reality.

Iyu swallowed every word she wouldn't speak and stepped from behind Kalix.

"Just a moment."

She offered him brief acknowledgment, then approached the figure she'd once genuinely followed.

"You're right."

"……Savior."

And in a low voice meant for her ears alone, she whispered:

"Wouldn't it be better for this town if a mother who allowed her son's murders simply vanished into the darkness?"

The hand clutching at her sleeve fell away, limp.

Iyu smiled kindly at the hollow-eyed woman, then slowly straightened.

Perhaps she'd repaid everything she'd received. She couldn't weigh suffering or pain precisely, but that twisted face resembled her own from another time.

Now satisfied, Iyu returned to the carriage without hesitation.

And with that, the carriage moved forward without pause, until finally it left Nidavellir behind.