Chapter 46 : Sister (2)

A woman in her thirties starts her morning energetically.

Since childhood, she had dreamed of opening a bakery, and now, as a lady in her thirties, she had finally achieved that dream.

“…How nice would it have been if you were by my side?”

He smiled faintly as he looked at the signboard.

“…We promised to do this together.”

“At the very least, allow me to see your face one last time.”

A sudden loss of contact.

She reached out to the older sister of the person she cherished and managed to hear some news.

But the fact that he had cut off contact likely meant that he didn’t want to see her.

That’s what she thought.

In reality, his sister had tried several times to bring up the topic of her, but every time, he only made a pained expression and said nothing.

“He must have really not wanted to see me.”

“…I couldn’t even offer him proper words of comfort.”

“To think that the last time I saw him was in his memorial photo at the funeral.”

“In the picture, he was smiling so brightly…”

Feeling slightly melancholic, she let the cold autumn morning breeze hit her face and lightly slapped her cheeks a couple of times.

“…Alright! It’s okay! I can do this!”

Holding back the tears that threatened to fall, she stepped into the bakery, where the warm scent of freshly baked bread filled the air.

In that cozy space filled with newly baked goods, she greeted her customers with a bright smile.

Her name was Kang Gaeul.

Her high school boyfriend had been in an accident.

After he was diagnosed with a disability, he suddenly cut off contact.

She never received an official breakup, so she foolishly continued to hold onto her feelings for him, never pursuing another relationship.

…Even though he had already left this world.

“Now that I think about it, didn’t Yuri say she was getting married soon? I haven’t heard from her.”

For now, she decided to have a strategy meeting with Destiny.

‘So, Destiny, what do you want to do?”

I looked at Destiny politely.

Then Destiny spoke in a trembling voice.

“…I want to be close again.”

“She used to ignore me all the time, but now she even hits me.”

Since she had never been hit by Void before and had always gotten along well with her, it must have been quite a shock.

To think someone would ignore… no, even hit the Demon King.

Isn’t that too much?

Not that I have the right to talk.

Feeling a slight pang of guilt, I looked at Destiny.

Then she continued.

“…And I want to ask her to return to the Demon Realm.”

“The Demon Realm is busy criticizing Void right now.”

“The Demon Kings never really liked her in the first place…”

That made sense.

I nodded a couple of times.

To be honest, Void had a pretty nasty personality.

Though that was all because of one particular dragon.

‘…Grandpa Hader…’

I secretly resented the culprit.

I’m cleaning up your mess right now.

“Actually, I’m not that strong…”

“…I-I’m currently deceiving the Demon Kings in the Demon Realm?!”

What on earth?

“…What do you mean by that?”

“Th-that… Can we not talk about it here?”

Destiny seemed oddly nervous.

Then, she snapped her fingers, and a barrier surrounded us.

It felt as if we had entered another dimension.

The surroundings turned into a night sky, and soon, it felt like we were floating in the vastness of space.

I worried for a moment that I might be getting kidnapped.

[Skill: Enchantment is on standby!]

[With Golden Sister here, there’s no need to worry!]

With such a powerful backing behind me, my concerns quickly faded away.

“…This way, no sound will leak out, right…?”

“Uh, I noticed that you seem to follow the princess very well, so I’m telling you this…”

“I thought you might be able to help.”

I don’t know why Destiny isn’t answering.

Destiny crouched down, met my eyes, and spoke.

“I… might be assassinated.”

“A-a-assassinated?!”

“…Yes.”

Destiny spoke with an unexpectedly calm expression.

“Ever since my sister was revived, Fate has been whispering to me.”

“‘After Void, you’re next.'”

“I thought that was just something that would happen once I reached first place.”

“But even after I became number one, the voice never stopped.”

Destiny, who had been anxious, slowly opened her eyes.

“…Ever since a strange being appeared in the Demon Realm.”

“Fate keeps repeating that I’m next, over and over again.”

As she spoke, tears welled up and streamed down her face, clearly overwhelmed by fear.

What kind of being had appeared in the Demon Realm for even the Great Demon King to break down in tears like this?

“…The ranked Demon Kings are disappearing one by one.”

“…And what does that have to do with Void?”

“If only Void… If only Void would come back to the Demon Realm… Then maybe we could win.”

Destiny’s eyes were filled with an unexplainable determination as she spoke.

What exactly had happened in the Demon Realm?

“…A being who introduced herself as ‘Celeste’ appeared in the Demon Realm.”

Destiny shut her eyes tightly as she continued.

“She wiped out all the minor dungeons located between the Neutral Zone and the Demon Realm.”

Destiny explained the situation with a grim expression.

To summarize:

One day, a woman calling herself ‘Celeste’ appeared in the Demon Realm.

However, her appearance was incredibly strange.

She wore black clothes that seemed to be soaked in dried blood.

A slightly charred-looking black cloak.

The inside of the cloak shimmered, as if it contained the vastness of space itself.

Her long, purple hair cascaded down to her waist, but her eyes were covered with a blindfold.

And she kept smiling—a bizarre, unsettling smile.

After letting out a burst of mad laughter, she suddenly exploded at the boundary between the Neutral Zone and the Demon Realm.

What was left behind was a massive crater, surrounded by floating clusters of magical energy shaped like constellations.

Having heard the full story, I turned to Destiny and asked a question.

“…Does that have anything to do with your death?”

“Right before the explosion, the words that woman spoke remained in the air around the crater in the form of magic.”

As she said that, Destiny pulled a crystal orb from her arms.

“It was too distorted to understand as it was, so I processed it into this.”

“…….”

I stared at the crystal orb.

Inside, an image of a woman appeared.

[…Hello?]

[…Originally, you were supposed to be next after Void…]

[But I saw in the news that you ran away with your tail between your legs?]

[Dragons are still too much trouble, you know~]

After saying that, the woman burst into maniacal laughter.

[So, I’ll just start with you, Destiny.]

After that, the crystal orb shattered.

“…It broke.”

“It’s fine. It was a one-time use.”

Destiny waved her hand, explaining that the uncontrollable magic had to be contained in disposable orbs.

“…We need to show this to Void.”

She spoke with a determined expression.

To be honest, I had no reason to help the Demon Realm.

Even if she was Void’s little sister, Void was already part of the Dragon Kingdom.

And frankly, the Demon Kings I saw in the game were garbage—garbage among garbage.

I only intended to help with some minor family issues, not get involved in a war that would decide the fate of an entire continent.

But now, I felt like I had to help.

And the reason was…

‘…She clearly said that dragons are “still” too much trouble.’

I had witnessed my father’s power firsthand.

The title of Dragon Lord.

A title that made its bearer stronger than any opponent, no exceptions.

My mother had the same title, so as long as she recovered, she could use it too.

And then there was the power of the elder dragons.

Even after seeing those overwhelming forces, she still said “still.”

That meant that, eventually, her grasp would reach the Dragon Kingdom too.

I couldn’t let that happen.

‘I refuse to see my hard-won life crumble all over again.’

This was something the adults needed to handle.

The first day of Gaeul’s bakery opening ended on a great note.

-Sizzle!

-Gulp, gulp.

“Ahhh~”

Since Gaeul had no friends, she celebrated alone by buying fried chicken and beer on her way home.

She couldn’t resist cracking open a beer and taking a sip right then and there.

“….Mmm, this is nice.”

The crisp autumn evening breeze.

“I miss you, you bastard.”

In the empty playground, Gaeul muttered to herself.

Speaking to the friend—no, the lover—who had left her behind.

“You idiot, without you…”

“Without you, how am I supposed to live?”

“You didn’t even contact me. I couldn’t even visit you in the hospital because I felt out of place!”

She opened another can of beer as she spoke.

Before she realized it, she had already finished three cans.

She glanced at the remaining beers in the bag.

Originally, she had planned to drink them slowly, but she had downed them too quickly.

“…Guess I’ll drink the rest at home.”

-Hop.

She hopped off the swing, steadying her slightly wobbly steps.

“Have I gotten weaker with age?”

She turned on her phone.

The wallpaper was a picture from a theme park date with her boyfriend right after their college entrance exams.

Thirteen years had passed, but she was still stuck in that moment.

“…Have I really not seen him since then?”

“Still as handsome as ever.”

“…You jerk… If you were going to leave, you should’ve at least told me.”

“I wish I could see you just one more time.”

At that moment, as Gaeul stepped onto the crosswalk—

[Wish accepted!!]

“Huh?”

A massive, mysterious window appeared before her eyes.

-BEEEEEP!!!

Out of nowhere, a truck materialized, speeding straight toward her.

“Huh?!?!?!”

The gods had moved to grant her wish.

Perhaps as an apology to her and her boyfriend.

…Even though no one had asked for it.

Kang Gaeul.

Celeste.