Arc 2 - Chapter 43: The End of the Rolderhelm Adventure (1/2)

Sivina and Ana came to the inn where they were staying. They had big bags on their backs.

"Are you ready?" Yu asked.

"Yes, we're ready... What's this?"

Sivina was looking at the chest on the cart. Yu put his hand on the chest and smiled.

"There are important things in it, I will entrust it to you. Take it to the ship and put it in the room where I keep it. Do not open it and do not leave the chest until we arrive."

There were exactly five thousand one hundred and twenty gold pieces in the chest. This would have been more than enough to build a small army, since salaries were low in countries other than Rolderhelm.

"Where will you go?" asked Ana.

"We are going to watch the arena game soon, the final game. After that we have an allowance to get, we will get it and come to the ship. We'll probably be there an hour before the ship leaves. And if we don't make it, make the ship wait." He wasn't sure if this was possible, so he said the last sentence with a laugh.

"Mr. Valarfin, are you gambling before going?" Lucia grabbed Yu's ear and pulled it gently.

"Of course not, we just need to pass the time somehow until it's time to pay, and I'm curious about the finale."

He wouldn't call it a gamble. Today, because he had agreed with both teams in the final, he would get his money no matter which one won.

"But I'm hoping the Sea Monsters will win, of course it was surprising that they even made it to the final, but it would be even more surprising if they win."

If the Sea Monsters won they would get two hundred gold coins and if the other team won they would only get one hundred gold coins.

"Mr. Valarfin!"

While Yu, Yurine, Sivina, Ana and Lucia were talking, a blonde elf ran through the door of the inn. She had already learned that Yu was leaving, but she was still having a hard time dealing with the truth.

"Y-you're really leaving?" Lucie's voice was trembling. She took Yu's hands in hers.

"I have to go, we have things to do in Mora."

"But..."

"I know, Lucie... I'm sorry."

Even though he had done nothing to win her love, Lucie loved him and Yu knew it. He tried not to give her hope, but he couldn't help it.

"Maybe it's better this way. I'm not as beautiful on the inside as I am on the outside, I'm not lovable," he said, wiping Lucie's tears with the thumb of his left hand.

"Still..."

Lucie held Yu's hand on her cheek. She couldn't say anything.

"Oh, but... I think you're exaggerating, we didn't spend that much time together. I can understand that you love me anyway. Anyway..."

Yu withdrew his hand and put Yurine's bag on the cart. She was still carrying her backpack.

"Take this with you, we don't need to carry it with us."

"Yes, sir!" Ana smiled and gave Yu a military salute.

Yu freed his hands from Lucie and walked out of the inn with Yurine holding the free hand.

"Goodbye, Lucia, Lucie. It was nice knowing you. Thanks for everything."

"And you too, Mr. Valarfin."

Lucia, unlike Lucie, was not sad. She was more mature than Lucie, both in her appearance and in her behavior.

"Goodbye," Yu said and left the Guild quarter with the three girls.

Even though he had no romantic feelings for Lucie, it hurt him that she cried for him. He wished she never loved him, then he wouldn't be sad.

"I'm sorry about Lucie," Sivina said.

"Mr. Valarfin is a really bad person, he breaks girls' hearts," Ana said.

Even though he agreed with Ana that he was a bad person, he didn't break girls' hearts willingly. Moreover, there was only one girl whose heart he knew he had ever broken and that was Lucie.

"What was I supposed to do? Should I have taken er to the Mora? I knew it was going to come to this. Besides..."

"And, what?" Sivina looked at Yu as she carried the wheelbarrow.

"She's an elf, I'm a human. She'll live a much longer life than me. The relationship between an elf and a human is not healthy."

Lucie would still be a young elf when Yu was an old man of sixty. Yu didn't want that kind of relationship.

"But I won't make it to sixty... I could have taken her with me just for pleasure, but..."

He didn't want to use her for his own pleasure.

"Five years... At most..."

He remembered what the head physician had told him. He would live for five years at most. Even if he turned back time in five years, he would still have five years of life ahead of him. This life was too short to fall in love with someone.

"If I had known you would be so upset, I wouldn't have brought it up, I'm sorry."

Sivina saw the grief on Yu's face and apologized, thinking it was her fault. Yu did nothing but smile slightly at her.

"Five years... In that time I have to do whatever it takes to succeed. I will keep my promise, I will achieve whatever I have to achieve. I will take back everything I have broken, the lives I have ruined. I don't have enough time in this world to ask for things for myself, so I will fix my mistakes. I will give back the lives I have taken, I will make those I have hurt laugh."

He was afraid, he didn't want to die, but his desperation forced him to accept death, even though he's ready to start a way to find a cure.

"Yu, did that elf upset you?" Yurine took Yu's hand in both of hers.

"No, Yurine," he said and put a smile on his face. He couldn't be sad around Yurine. "I'm perfectly happy, look."

He took Yurine in his arms while showing his smile. Yurine knew Yu was lying, but she kept quiet and hugged him.

"Sivina!"

Before Yu and Yurine left them to go to the arena, they heard a noise behind them. A boy with black hair and green eyes was running towards them, shouting Sivina's name.

"Raul?"

"Sivina..." Raul stopped in front of them and started to breathe. He was wearing light white armor. "I will come with you."

Raul was smiling as Sivina and Ana looked at each other.

"I thought you disbanded your group."

He had not offered Raul the job he had offered Sivina and Ana because Raul had not shown any qualities that would warrant him giving him a job. Also, Sivina and Ana had disbanded their adventuring group because they were going to be with Yu.

And most importantly, Yu thought Raul looked like person who could ruin Yu's business. He did not trust him.

"That's what happened," Ana said.

"Yes, that's what happened." Raul took a breath and then took an upright posture. "But I decided to come with you."

"Stop right there!" Yurine got off Yu's lap and stood in front of Raul, putting her hands on her waist. "What do you mean you decided to come with us? You can't impose anything on us."

He didn't expect this reaction from Yurine, but since she had thrown the first stone, Yu would follow up.

"I'm the one you need to talk to about this and I don't remember making you an offer. I would ask why I should hire you, but before I do that..." Yu looked at Sivina. "You want to come with us for Sivina, right?"

No one said a word as Ana took Sivina's arm. After a while Raul spoke.

"Yes."

"So... Does Sivina want you to follow her around? It's selfish of you to impose your desires on her. You weren't very respectful to me before this and you didn't make much of an effort to prove yourself. I would still hire you at a low salary to use you as a pawn, but like I said, would Sivina want me to hire you? If your presence annoys her, her performance will suffer and I would prefer Sivina's skills to yours."

Raul clenched his fists, Yu had managed to piss him off again, but with Yurine between them Raul could do nothing.

"Raul," Sivina said. "I don't have romantic feelings for you. If that's why you're coming after me, don't."

Yu knew the look in Sivina's eyes. He had never gotten that look before, but he had observed it when he was at school. Girls got that look when they tried to reject someone without offending them, even if they didn't like them.

"I... I..."

"You... You..." Yu approached Raul, who lowered his gaze to the ground. "It seems she doesn't want me to hire you. Then I'm sorry, I won't."

If Raul was much stronger and more reliable than Sivina, he would have hired him, but he wasn't. He preferred Sivina to Raul.

"I still want to come."

"I'm not hiring you." Yu turned to Sivina as Raul's hands shook. "You and Ana take the things to the ship and, as I said, stay with it."

Yu left Raul behind and went with Yurine to watch the finale of the arena game.