Chapter 258: Waking Up in the Middle of the Night

* * *

Lairine Rune is currently the Supreme Commander of the Adventurer's Guild, the strongest top-class adventurer with the alias "Immutable."

Supreme Commander, Immutable, strongest, top-class.

...In short, she is incredibly distinguished.

A person of high standing.

Even if her usual attitude doesn't match that standing, a distinguished person is distinguished.

And she's a celebrity.

That's why Lairine sometimes receives interview requests.

She usually declines because it's troublesome, but it's not absolute.

Sometimes she gets whimsical and invites reporters to her room.

Then, the question that's always asked is, "Why don't you age?"

She has lived for over 300 years while maintaining a youthful appearance.

Everyone doesn't want to age and doesn't want to die either.

That's why, without fail, this kind of question comes up.

Lairine's answer to that is simple.

"I don't know."

Just this one line.

She doesn't know what she doesn't know, and she's not interested, so she hasn't looked into it.

However, the questioner naturally can't be satisfied with just this answer.

They keep asking questions, trying to explore the reason for her agelessness.

They ask things like, "Did your family members have a similar constitution?"

"Who knows?"

In response, Lairine always tilts her head and answers like that.

Is she evading the answer?

Or is she making fun of the questioner?

For a short-tempered and foolish questioner, it wouldn't be strange to get angry at that answer, but Lairine isn't actually teasing the questioner.

She doesn't remember her own family.

Why?

Because it's a memory from long ago?

No.

So, she was an abandoned child?

That's not it either.

From a young age, she couldn't feel any interest in other people, including her own family.

* * *

In fact, although only a little, there are records of her early childhood remaining as documents.

When Lairine was 10 years old, she registered as an adventurer in the country of Kerenkan on the Fantasy Continent.

The records from that registration still exist.

According to those records, which have almost turned into ancient documents, she seems to have been the daughter of a farming family in some rural village.

During the interview at the time of registration, when asked about her family, she only answered, "4 or 5 people?"

There were no other answers besides that vague number.

What kind of person her father was.

What kind of person her mother was.

What kind of people her siblings were.

Even back then, Lairine didn't remember any of that.

* * *

If she's not even interested in her family, naturally, she's even less interested in complete strangers.

When she first started working as an adventurer, there was a boy adventurer who ended up traveling with her.

The name of that boy is not clear due to the loss of documents, but anyway, he was supposed to have an aptitude for scouting.

Lairine and that boy traveled together for a year.

Lairine, who was extraordinarily strong even back then, though not as much as now.

The boy, who wasn't as strong but was cautious and smart.

The townspeople recognized this smiling boy and girl adventurer duo as a good combination and watched over them warmly.

However, one evening.

Lairine came alone to the counter of the Adventurer's Guild branch to report the completion of a request.

...Usually, that boy should have been standing next to her.

The boy who smoothly handled negotiations and reports.

Lairine, who was always smiling next to him.

This was the usual scene.

However, on this day, only Lairine came to the counter alone.

Dragging the corpse of a giant bear, probably today's prey, and carrying a basket of medicinal herbs on her back, Lairine opened the door of the branch office all by herself.

What happened?

The receptionist, who was suspicious, asked about the situation, "What happened to the boy?" and Lairine smiled and said,

"He died."

At that remark, the branch office was in an uproar.

Basically, even if an adventurer loses their life during an activity, it's handled as their own responsibility.

In most branch offices, the receptionist would offer a word of condolence, and that would be the end of the incident.

However, this branch office originally had an extremely low adventurer mortality rate.

It was a branch office with a pastoral environment suitable for beginners, with few dangerous monsters nearby.

In such a situation, a fatal accident, and the victim being a young boy at that, it was inevitable that it would cause a commotion.

An investigation was immediately conducted, and Lairine was also questioned about the situation.

According to Lairine's testimony while smiling, a ferocious bear monster called a Earth Bear appeared in a nearby forest, and he was unexpectedly killed brutally.

She immediately counterattacked the Earth Bear and hunted it down, but by that time, the boy had already passed away.

When veteran adventurers immediately rushed out to the scene, they indeed found the boy's corpse lying there.

A deep cut on the back of his head.

And a bite wound that looked like it had gouged out his neck.

Certainly, as Lairine testified, the boy was dead.

The testimony was correct.

The cut matched the shape of the claws of the Earth Bear Lairine had dragged, and the distinctive bite wound was often seen on Earth Bear victims.

Indeed, the boy had been killed by the Earth Bear.

And Lairine had hunted down that Earth Bear.

That fact was also accepted by those around her without much suspicion.

Because her high abilities, unsuitable for her young appearance, were already well known to those around her.

With this, the outline of the incident was clarified.

However, there was one mystery that made the investigators tilt their heads.

That was Lairine's actions immediately after the incident.

The boy was attacked by the Earth Bear and died around noon.

But Lairine reported it that evening.

The forest where the boy died was not far from the town, and for Lairine, it was a distance she could travel in a few dozen minutes.

Despite that, from noon until evening, what in the world was Lairine doing during that time?

To that question as well, Lairine answered while smiling, without particularly trying to hide anything.

After hunting down the Earth Bear, she apparently performed treatments such as bleeding the Earth Bear.

Furthermore, she gathered medicinal herbs.

She was gathering medicinal herbs, the request she had accepted that day.

...Leaving the corpse of the boy she had been working with as a partner for a year lying in the forest.

Regarding this abnormal behavior of Lairine, the Adventurer's Guild branch office in that town at that time interpreted it as "her mind was in a state of confusion and she couldn't make normal judgments."

The townspeople also trusted the always smiling and cheerful Lairine, so they supported that interpretation.

And they all sympathized with Lairine.

"It must be sad to lose your partner. It must be painful. You don't have to force yourself to smile. Don't push yourself," they said.

When told that, Lairine's smile suddenly disappeared from her face, and she became expressionless.

And then.

"I see."

She muttered.

* * *

(This is quite a nostalgic dream)

In the middle of the night, Lairine woke up with a blink.

In front of her, sinking completely into the same soft bed, was the black-haired, black-eyed girl Emi, sleeping.

Lairine's current "beloved," the "person she can be interested in" that she finally found after 300 years.

The fact that she dreamed of that boy's death now was undoubtedly Emi's influence.

Because that incident was the first moment she clearly realized that she might be "lacking something."

That boy, what was his name again, anyway, what did Lairine feel when he died?

Sadness?

Pain?

...The answer is "inconvenience."

Even though she lost a partner who was an excellent scout and negotiator, she had the feeling of lamenting that inconvenience, but the idea of mourning his death itself didn't exist for Lairine.

That's why when the townspeople comforted her, she received a kind of shock.

What are these people saying?

I see, so normally you're supposed to feel that way?

And at that time, she finally realized.

That she might be fatally lacking the experience of feeling "that."

Well then, what exactly is "that"?

As a result of many years of research, Lairine concluded that "that" is namely "a person you can be interested in," or in other words, "love."

From a young age, Lairine was overwhelmingly stronger and more excellent than others, and she couldn't understand the fact that she didn't have the feelings that those around her naturally had.

Therefore, from then on, finding "a person she can be interested in," in other words, "a person she can love," or more simply put, "love" itself, became Lairine's purpose in life.

She traveled to various places.

She met various people.

She saved various things and destroyed various things.

However, the "love" she sought was never found.

There were many people she could feel a little attachment to in the sense of being useful, but there wasn't a single person she could truly be moved by and feel affection for.

Moreover, before she knew it, she had completely transcended the category of human beings.

Her strength was immeasurable by human knowledge.

Her beauty, due to her agelessness, never faded.

Around the time she passed the age of 200, she could no longer even recognize humans as beings of the same species as herself.

Beings with a similar appearance to herself, spewing the same words, but so weak they die just from being poked.

That's what humans were to her.

As a result, her interest in humans faded even more.

Through her research, she had determined that the "love" she sought was roughly the affection exchanged between family members and such.

However, it seemed impossible for Lairine to love beings that were so weak compared to herself that she couldn't even consider them the same species, and on top of that, quickly aged and died.

Lairine was arrogant.

This arrogance of hers was probably something she had unconsciously possessed since she was young, and it was the fundamental reason she couldn't love people.

At this point, she understood that fact well.

And by this point, she had already transcended humanity too much to improve this arrogance.

What is "love"?

What does it matter if she can't love people?

Gradually, everything started to become irrelevant to her, and at one point, she finally gave up on "love."

At that moment, for her, the world and humans truly became things that didn't matter at all.

That's why she tried to carry out a whimsical idea that had no meaning.

"That's right! Let's try destroying humans!"

The annihilation of all humanity!!

When that idea crossed her mind, Lairine felt her heart race for the first time in a long while!

After all, even though she had lived a long life, she had never experienced something like that before!

However, that evil idea of hers was not put into action.

The moment she tried to kill all the humans she saw around her, thinking she would act immediately upon having the idea, she was suddenly abducted to a mysterious space by some mystical means and was restrained by a man with a well-groomed face and a mustache.

"You, seriously don't screw around! Seriously stop it! If you, an adventurer, do something like that, it will seriously be my responsibility! I don't want to end up like God of Magic Senpai!!"

The one who admonished Lairine in an undignified tone with a pale face, without any authority, was none other than Dorantos, the first Supreme Commander of the Adventurer's Guild and currently an entity living in the divine realm as the Adventure God.

This was Lairine's first contact with a god.

* * *

No matter how extraordinary Lairine's abilities were, as expected, she couldn't resist the power of a god, so she gave up on the annihilation of all humanity (in the first place, it was just a whimsical idea).

After that, there were twists and turns.

Given a few shackles and troublesome missions, Lairine ended up quietly continuing to live on earth.

She was also encouraged to ascend to godhood, but she refused.

She vaguely felt that her way of being was closer to that side, if anything.

She also thought that if she went to that world, she might find beings she could love.

However, becoming a god means, in some form, becoming an existence that eternally supports this world.

She, who had already lost interest not only in humans but also in the world, didn't want such eternity.

For that reason, Lairine somehow continued to live in this mansion on the island that the gods had forced upon her.

Days of occasionally going out and whimsically working as an adventurer.

Flat days with no stimulation or anything.

Saving a boy in the slums from a murderer.

Helping a merchant caught in a stampede.

Many incidents occurred, but for her, they weren't stimulating or anything.

After all, with a single swing of her arm, the enemy dies.

Moreover, she had no interest in the people she met.

It was boring.

Before she knew it, the accumulated achievements couldn't be ignored, and because she knew the Adventure God's circumstances to some extent, Lairine had become the Supreme Commander of the Adventurer's Guild.

Her free time decreased, and her freedom decreased.

It became even more boring.

The Adventure God had given her the valuable oracle, "Someday, surely, a being you can love will appear as well. Live without rotting."

It was obviously a casual statement with no basis, but an oracle is an oracle.

One way or another, those words became a support for Lairine's heart.

They had become, that is.

Another 100 years passed since her encounter with the Adventure God.

As expected, her limit was approaching.

She was about to give up on "love" again.

That's when it happened.

Lairine learned about Emi's existence in a report!

* * *

While stroking Emi's black hair as she breathed steadily in her sleep, Lairine recalled the excitement of that time.

It was a new sensation.

The name "Emi" recorded in the report.

That, which should have been just a string of characters, greatly stimulated her sixth sense that had heightened beyond ordinary people!

It was exactly what people often describe as "a shock ran through me"!

Emi!

Emi!!

Emi!!!

Thinking about that girl whose face and voice she didn't even know yet, Lairine's heart raced so much it hurt!

And she was struck with anxiety!

I must go to this girl!

Her intuition was screaming that!

What is this feeling!?

In her 300 years up to that point, Lairine had never experienced such anxiety!

Why was she anxious!?

Is this the emotion of "yearning"!?

She didn't know the reason!

But from the moment Lairine learned of her existence, Emi was undoubtedly a being that strongly captivated her interest!

In other words, this emotion!

Surely, this is!!

Without a doubt, it's "love"!!!

* * *

"Ufufu..."

Unable to resist, Lairine kissed Emi's forehead once and then intently gazed at her beautiful sleeping face illuminated by starlight.

Even now, with her as her daughter by her side, Lairine's heart still hasn't stopped racing.

Her breathing, the way her long eyelashes tremble, her every move, everything makes her heart pound.

She gently hugs her.

Her instincts scream.

Hug her tighter.

So tight she'll be crushed.

However, her reason doesn't allow it.

She has failed twice.

She doesn't want to be hated by her beloved Emi any more than this.

Gently, gently, gently.

The closer she holds her body, the stronger her heart races.

Is this fear?

The fear of not wanting to be separated from Emi, is it that kind of fear?

Being apart makes her anxious.

Even being close makes her anxious.

Come to think of it, until she met Emi, Lairine had hardly ever felt "anxiety."

And yet.

And yet!

Now her chest always feels like it's going to tear apart!

Ah, "love" is!

An incredibly difficult thing!!

[Adventure God Dorantos]

The god of adventurers who first appeared in Arc 6.

As a god, he's still a newcomer, and in Arc 6, he was punched away by a little girl, and in Arc 12, he was even looked down upon by a cube.

He seems to be struggling with various things.

[God of Magic]

A different entity from the Magic God mentioned by Extra-sama in Arc 5.

[The boy saved from the murderer]

It's Geistpfenanjeshiriard.

Refer to Chapter 237.

[The merchant caught in a stampede]

It's Kamasse's grandfather.

Refer to Chapter 95.