─This is the final mission. Wrap everything up and prepare.
I thought I'd be purely happy to face the final mission.
But I felt empty.
Would I really be free after finishing this?
What should I do after gaining freedom?
Anyway, I was terminal.
"Teacher!"
The wooden staff moved with force and struck Jaekiel's right shoulder.
Thwack!
A dull sound.
But the one hit by the staff didn't seem to feel much. Instead, the 1st
Princess who wielded it looked surprised.
"What? You weren't concentrating just now, were you? You were thinking
of something else!"
Jaekiel slowly blinked and broke out of his thoughts.
Ether, a girl who barely reached his waist.
The 1st Princess of the empire puffed her cheeks in annoyance.
"…No."
Jaekiel shook his head and pressed his temples.
Maybe because it was the final mission and the last lesson, he kept getting
lost in his thoughts.
"It's because Your Highness has grown tremendously."
Jaekiel uttered a polite lie. Ether, with the staff slung over her shoulder,
gave him a suspicious look.
"…Is that really the reason? You weren't going easy on me?"
"I can't afford to go easy. If I don't give my all when facing Your Highness,
I'll get seriously hurt."
"Hmm."
"I'm surprised. You grow so much every time."
"Hmm! Hmph…!"
Ether blushed and cleared her throat a couple of times. Her shoulders were
about to reach the sky.
"…So I really won purely on my own skill. Maybe I should have gone
easier on you? It must have been tough."
"…"
"It was my secret move, so the injury must be severe. Should I give you
some elixir or something?"
"I'm fine."
"Teacher, your reaction is really unusual. Most people would lick my feet if
I offered them an elixir. Do you even know what an elixir is? E.L.I.X.I.R."
"I understand well."
"But?"
"It's something I dare not covet."
"Should I speak to the Emperor? There's nothing that can't be done. How
about I fetch some Sun Water? There's plenty of it, even filling the
bathtub."
At that, Jaekiel could only smile bitterly.
"…Just your words alone are enough to be grateful for."
Ether still didn't know.
Since she herself had easy access to the elixir, and because the Sun Water
was not such a rare sight to her, she assumed it would be the same for
others.
Some had applied countless times but were always rejected, never receiving
even a drop of the elixir they had longed for their whole lives.
The Emperor didn't allow Jaekiel to have Sun Water.
The mere mention of giving an elixir.
Just saying that one word, asking if he wanted the elixir… Ether didn't
know how much that could hurt Jaekiel's heart.
The girl plopped down next to Jaekiel.
"Teacher, I'll keep getting stronger, right?"
"Of course."
Ether, sitting and stretching her legs while gazing at the sky, suddenly felt a
cold sensation on her calf. Jaekiel was applying the elixir.
Soon, the small wounds on her calf were covered with the elixir.
"First aid must be done immediately."
Ether frowned.
"Do you treat every little thing like this?"
"Small things accumulate into big ones. So it's better to treat them all while
you can."
Jaekiel's large hands were surprisingly gentle in touch.
"The wounds aren't shallow, but it's fortunate that we have such precious
elixirs in the imperial family. It's a blessing."
"You don't accept what I give you, but you use it on me so freely. Teacher,
you're really strange. Why don't you take one yourself?"
"How can Your Highness and I be the same?"
Jaekiel continued slowly.
"Your Highness will become the pillar of the empire. You should consider
your health as the strength of the empire and manage it diligently."
"I don't know; I don't care. It's a hassle."
Ether stuck out her tongue.
"So, can we play together today?"
Ether pointed with her gaze at the pile of weapons in a corner. Spears, onehanded swords, two-handed swords, daggers, bows… all sorts of weapons
were gathered.
"I want to try all of those with you, Teacher."
"It seems it will be difficult today as well."
"Hmm, I guess you're busy as always."
The girl nodded nonchalantly but couldn't hide the slight disappointment on
her face.
After a moment, the 1st Princess Ether spoke.
"Teacher, I've been thinking lately."
"What kind of thoughts?"
"That I'll get stronger, endlessly stronger, and share the tasks you have to
handle. Then we'll have more time to play together."
"You shouldn't say that. The tasks I have to do and the tasks Your Highness
has to do are clearly different."
"Hmm."
Ether looked at Jaekiel with an awkward face for a moment.
The teacher was acting strange today. He seemed unusually lost in thought,
and he didn't respond to the usual jokes that he would normally entertain.
He looked quite serious.
"The weather is unusually good today."
The 1st Princess scratched her cheek awkwardly.
"Anyway, I will continue to grow stronger. I will grow up and become your
spear and shield."
"The shield is my job. How could it be Your Highness?"
"Never mind that, you have to keep getting stronger too. So that no matter
how strong I become, we can still be rivals, spending time together and
getting stronger."
Jaekiel nodded slowly.
Looking back on his life, there weren't many proper rewards, but the
occasional kindness shown by the Princess was a precious reward in its own
way.
'If the final mission ends safely… '
And if I am in good health.
We might be able to spend time together again.
"Your Highness."
"Hmm?"
There was such a thing as intuition.
Just by hearing her name called, she felt she already knew what the other
person was going to say. The 1st Princess Ether's intuition kicked in
immediately.
It was a very ominous feeling.
"Can you make a promise with me?"
"What kind of promise?"
"Train diligently, even when I'm not here."
"…What nonsense are you talking about?"
Ether's voice instinctively sharpened.
It was due to anxiety.
"Even now, I'm not always by your side. It's just a request to keep doing
what you've been doing."
"Why do we need to make a promise for something I've already been
doing?"
"Because making a promise isn't difficult."
"No. I won't. Something feels off."
Ether instinctively rejected the suggestion.
"Teacher, you're strange today. Really strange."
The Princess deliberately stood up suddenly. To shake off the anxiety, she
began swinging her wooden staff.
Of course, Jaekiel was still smiling.
"Are you going to make a promise?"
"No, I won't."
"The mighty 1st Princess hesitates to make a promise."
"Shut up!"
Ether pointed her staff at Jaekiel irritably.
Their gazes met, and she took a moment to steady her breathing.
"…"
Eventually, she lowered the end of her staff weakly—very weakly.
"Teacher, you're going somewhere, aren't you?"
"Yes."
"Why? Is it because you're not healthy?"
Ether's intuition was unparalleled.
The ability to absorb energy and use it as power—reading another's energy
was too easy. She had known for a long time that Jaekiel's health wasn't
good.
"It's just a mission."
"Don't go."
"I have to go. But I'll come back after it's over."
The 1st Princess instinctively knew she couldn't hold him back.
"I'll get stronger. I'll destroy everything, so you won't need any more
missions."
"Haha, if Your Highness destroys everything, there will be more work. Just
keep training."
"Shh."
Ether abruptly cut Jaekiel off.
"I'll be working hard, so you…"
The 1st Princess barely continued her words.
"Take a good rest. Make sure you take care of your health."
There was no answer.
"It's a promise. Right?"
Ether asked again.
But Jaekiel only smiled—a smile she couldn't hate.
"Who knows."
"My words are the imperial command."
"Your Highness also refused my promise."
Jaekiel extended his pinky again.
"Then, shall we each make a promise?"
"…Forget it. Teacher, you're a fool."
Maybe it was her pride; Ether turned away.
"If you don't want to, fine. Do as you please."
A promise that was never made.
And.
After that, Ether never heard from her teacher again.
Bang!
Ether's foot landed on the ground with terrifying force.
She was holding Jaekiel's body. Despite the considerable distance to the
Imperial Palace, the space compressed in an instant.
While running, she glanced at Jaekiel.
"…"
He was in a terrible state.
He was hit by arrows in a defenseless state after exhausting all his mana.
Naturally, he wasn't in good condition.
But more concerning than the external wounds was…
'Why is his energy so chaotic?'
She couldn't tell how Jaekiel had been living.
But just by holding his body, she could tell he was in very poor condition.
His energy was as precarious as a candle about to go out.
'I definitely told him to take care of his health… '
How did it come to this?
Would things have been different if she had made the promise back then?
When she received the letter, Ether was very happy. She thought he was just
living well after all his hardships.
But the reality was this devastating.
Hwoong!
Ether vaulted over the palace walls and crossed the rooftops. Her final
destination, after rushing like a beam of light, was the church.
Despite the 1st Princess's very noisy arrival, a woman was praying with her
back turned to her.
"First, I lost."
"I expected it. Your opponent is a very special person."
Ether held Jaekiel a little tighter.
"I lost terribly. The problem is that Teacher is severely injured. This is also
clearly my fault. I didn't anticipate the scouts would be agitated."
"…?"
Only then did the 3rd Princess, Solana, turn around.
"Save Teacher. Please, I beg you."
A face like a sunflower, blinking a couple of times.
"Wh-what…?!"
Then Solana was shocked.