Chapter 1 Part 6
◆
Elria sat on a chair in her room in the main building, waiting for the time to pass. She then turns around when she hears a light knock on the door.
“……Reid, is that you?”
She called out, but the response she got was from someone else.
“It’s me. May I come in to talk to you?”
“……Yes.”
Elria prompted.
Alicia quietly opened the door and entered the room.
“What happened to Reid?”
“Galleon is dealing with him now. And so, I thought I would hear from you again.”
With a smile, Alicia sat down on the sofa in the room.
Mimicking her mother, Elria also sat down on the opposite side, facing this sofa.
“I’m going to ask you again… Are you sure he’s the ‘Reid’ you’re talking about?”
“Yes, I’m sure of it. He is the ‘Reid’ I knew.”
She has never once forgotten about him.
Even after being reincarnated a thousand years later, she still thought of Reid every day.
And ―― at last, she was able to find him.
“I never thought you would actually find him.”
“…Yes, I was a little worried, too.”
There was no basis that Reid was reincarnated as Elria did. It was merely a ‘wish’ of hers. Having been reincarnated in a world a thousand years later and being alone again… she simply wished, ‘I wish he were here’, like a spoiled child.
“But… Reid is really here.”
Elria could not help but smile as she recalled their reunion. The look of surprise on Reid’s face. It was the same as when they had first met. A time when they were neither the ‘Hero’ nor the ‘Sage’.
Seeing Elria’s smile, Alicia also smiled wryly.
“You really like him, don’t you?”
“……Yes.”
In response to Alicia’s words, Elria nodded softly.
“―― I like Reid.”
She speaks her mind with confidence. But later, cast her eyes downward to hide her face, which was getting bright red for having said that.
“Maybe, I like… him… I think?”
“Why are you gradually losing confidence?”
“Because… I never felt that way… before…!”
She taps her cheeks repeatedly as if to cool them.
After all, they had fought each other as enemies in their previous lives.
A strange person who always smiles with confidence and fights dutifully.
It was when she was on the verge of death that she realized that she ‘likes’ him.
Elria had devoted herself to the study and spread of magic. For this reason, she continued to overwork her body… until her consciousness gradually grew dim, and when she came to, she was in a world a thousand years in the future.
At that time, the first thing that came to mind was the figure of the ‘Hero’.
The figure who fought against old age, which is the fate of humans, and yet he wanted to settle the battle with her.
And that was why ―― Elria wished to see him again.
She wanted to see his smile again.
She wanted to have a good time with him again.
And if she could see him again ――
“―― I thought that this time I would be able to say I like him.”
A wish that could not be fulfilled in her previous life due to their positions and race.
Wanting to fulfill her wish, Elria clung to what little hope she had and kept looking for Reid, believing that he had been reincarnated.
Hearing Elria’s answer, Alicia tilted her head dubiously.
“…How can I say this, you two think alike.”
“…Reid and I think alike?”
“It’s the way you talk about the present as if it were the past or the way you look at things in light of the past…”
“I-I guess I’m just not good at talking…”
“I know… Well, if you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine.”
When Alicia stared at her, Elria waved her hand around to deceive her.
She has not told her parents about her own reincarnation.
At one point, she thought about telling her own parents or someone else that she knew.
However… She felt that if they knew about it, it would diminish the connection between Reid and her, so she somehow could not talk about it.
“…That’s because it’s our secret.”
“Alright. Then I won’t ask.”
“…Mm, thank you.”
Seeing Alicia smiling and stroking her head, Elria also naturally smiled back.
“So, you’ve already told him how you feel, haven’t you?”
“……Eh?”
“He told me you two were getting engaged, so you told him that you like him, right?”
“…………”
Thinking back, she did not seem to have told him.
Even during their reunion and when they got here, she did not tell him.
Seeing Elria starting to tremble, Alicia sighed as if she had guessed it.
“Haa… I knew you were shy and clumsy with words, but I can’t believe you couldn’t even tell him that…”
“N-No, it’s not what you think… I thought about it a lot, and the word ‘marriage’ came up first…!!”
She was not lying.
Being reunited with Reid made Elria’s thoughts spin more than at any other time in her life. It was probably the greatest speed of thought in the history of her life. And it was then she thought, “I can solve all of Reid’s current situation by being engaged to him and using the Caldwen’s name and status”.
As a result, her emotions could not keep up with her thoughts, and the process of telling him her feelings blew up.
“Besides… I wanted to see him smile…”
The smile he always showed her in battles.
He did not have that smile on his face when they met again.
A smile that looked somewhat incomplete, akin to resignation.
It was because she had figured that proposing the ‘engagement’ was a way to solve the problem and also used their past ‘promise’ to encourage him to go along with the idea.
That is just how much she wanted him to smile as he did then.
“Oh well… he’s such a good person to say something like that even in this kind of situation…”
“What did Reid say to you?”
When Elria tilted her head and asked, Alicia smiled with a satisfied look on her face.
“I can’t tell you that. Make sure you tell him your feelings and then ask him.”
“Eh…? What?”
Alicia giggles as she looks at the flustered Elria.
“This is getting interesting. I was going to stop the engagement if I got a disappointing result, but now it might be more interesting to approve it and let Galleon train him.”
“…What are Father and Reid doing?”
“Well. I gave him a lot of conditions to approve the engagement. But he told me he couldn’t use magic, so now I’m having Galleon check on his abilities.”
……………
…………………
“Mother.”
“If you’re asking me to cut corners, I won’t listen, okay? With his family background and the inability to use magic, the eyes of people around you will be harsher, so he needs to be somewhat competent even if he can’t use magic ――”
“No, that’s not it.”
“Then speak up.”
“Well, to be clear ――”
The moment Elria was about to say something, a thunderous roar rang out from the direction of the annex.
And then, as if delayed, the crushing sound of the building collapsing could be heard.
“Father is in danger.”
“……Huh?”
“I forgot to tell Mother, but Reid is very strong.”
“…Wait, he can’t use magic, right?”
“He certainly can’t, but Reid doesn’t need to use magic in the first place.”
In the magic system created by Elria, Reid cannot use magic with his magic power.
Therefore, it is not wrong to say that Reid cannot use magic.
However, Reid has been fighting with Elria and ending in draws.
A person who simply cannot use magic would not be able to go toe-to-toe with Elria.
As for his strength, Elria can only describe it as ‘strong’.
“―― Reid is simply a ‘strong person’.”
Immediately after she said this, an explosion rang out near the room.
When Elria approached the window, a thick cloud of dust was rising in the air.
“―― Heyyy!! Can anyone hear me!?”
Reid’s voice can be heard through the dust cloud.
“Reid, what’s the matter?”
“Elria, is that you!? Did you see Galleon-san!?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Not this way, huh!? Damn it, even though I was going easy on him!!”
“What did Reid do?”
“Ahh!! I asked Galleon-san if I could destroy the building, and he told me to give it my all so I just punched him!!”
Alicia was dumbfounded, with her mouth open as she heard Reid’s screams.
As he said, Reid must have just punched Galleon.
With just that ―― Reid had survived the battlefield.
No cheap tricks or tactics were involved.
He may be human, but his physical abilities far exceed the norm for humans.
A simple yet ridiculous strength.
With a single swing of his fist, he has the monstrous strength to knock down magic and all beings.
With such absolute ‘strength’, Reid has forced everything to yield.
And that’s why ―― he was called a ‘Hero’ who has no equal.
“So, does Mother recognize Reid’s strength?”
Elria smiled at the dumbfounded Alicia.
The existence of the ‘Hero’ who was once evenly matched with the ‘Sage’.
And that’s why she was able to say it ――
“―― The man that I like is the ‘strongest’.”
Prouder than anyone else.
She smiled brilliantly as if to flaunt the ‘Hero’ that she had fallen in love with.
To prove himself as the husband, MC just did unga bunga monke route.