Chapter 69: Identity (3)

“Sir Jonah! Did you come to save us?!”

“As expected from Jonah!”

“No, I was captured too.”

“…???”

“…???”

The confused duo.

What can I say? When they look at you with such expectant eyes, don’t you just want to betray those expectations? What I just said was prompted by that kind of instinct.

I chuckled at the two, who were gaping at me with dumb expressions, and freed them from their ropes with the Unicorn Dagger.

“It was a joke. But it’s true that I didn’t come to save you.”

“Ah, thank you. But if you didn’t come to save us….”

“Then how did you know to come here? Wasn’t it Boss Eve who asked you to come?”

“How would Miss Eve know you were captured and to ask for help…”

“Ah.”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Ah.”

Ah, these blockheads.

But still, they’re my blockheads.

Checking if Lemon and Apple had any injuries, I fiddled with their bodies here and there.

“Those guys. They’re One Who Devours the Twilight, right? While it’s also a common rule to beat them up as soon as they’re spotted…but more than that, they have their eyes on something I had my eye on. So, they need to be killed right here.”

“Eek!”

“The Ruler of the Back Alleys…!”

Why is that phrase coming up here? The One Who Devours the Twilight aren’t just some neighborhood thugs.

Anyway, it doesn’t seem like there are any injuries, so there’s no need to pour holy water.

“Now, if you understand, Lemon, step back.”

“Could it be that Sir Jonah is also going to fight?”

“It’s not that I’m saying that Sir Jonah is weak, but you’re just going to hinder them there.”

“Who said anything about going to fight? I told you to step back because you smell like pee, Lemon. Ah, Apple, you can stay as you are.”

“That, that’s too mean!”

“As expected of Sir Jonah. An excellent judgment. The smelly Lemon should quickly move away.”

Apple clings to me, making a shushing sound with her mouth. In contrast, Lemon looks as if the world has crumbled, hesitating and keeping her distance.

It seems she’s also bothered by her awkward smell.

In such a posture, hunched down, I looked over the battlefield with Apple by my side.

The miscellaneous ones were mostly dealt with by Lydia and Karen. What remained were only Ellie and the small figure.

But their fight was more intense than I imagined.

Boom!

A sound like a bomb exploding. The air pressure created by Ellie’s fist mows down the weeds and overturns the ground.

However, that overwhelming force never reaches the small figure. If it did, the air pressure wouldn’t be wrecking the innocent ground like this.

Time partially slows down, the translucent warrior burns with zeal without fatigue, lightning pouring down from the clear sky as if it is divine punishment, and even the corpses of the already dead heretics squirm and cling to Ellie.

Of course, most of them are not causing any significant harm to Ellie.

Breaking through the time barrier with force, the translucent warrior had already faced death dozens of times. The lightning is split apart by Ellie’s knife-hand strike, and the corpses clinging like meat dough burst open with a single kick from Ellie’s foot.

The small figure was mimicking the powers of all sorts of dead gods with the divine power received from the Goddess of Love.

Of course, it was a feeble level compared to real divine miracles, but still, it was a terrible power no different from natural disasters.

Then, what does that make Ellie, who nonchalantly brushes aside those natural disasters?

“Ellie is strong….”

“She’s a monster.”

“She’s not human.”

“Hey! Ellie is just an ordinary person! Even at that age, having such strength and corresponding wealth, being someone who’s forever alone, she’s just a kid struggling with her single status…no, she’s not a kid. Anyway, that’s the kind of person she is!”

“I suddenly feel a sense of camaraderie with her.”

“It seems she’s one of us…”

With Lemon and Apple’s voices suddenly becoming comfortable, I chuckled and focused on the battle before me.

Even without one arm, Ellie was strong.

Incomprehensibly strong.

But Ellie was not simply strong. While she overwhelmingly pressed with her brute physical power, she was also skillfully cutting off her opponent’s attacks, step by step.

The priest, by nature, becomes more desperate and can perform stronger miracles the more he is cornered… Yet, the reason this small figure continues to be at a disadvantage is due to Ellie’s meticulous combat strategy.

She fights more cunningly than her opponent, using pure strength as her weapon, where no trickery can intervene.

This was a hunt. Ellie was the wolf, and the small figure took on the role of the sheep… It was a play with a predetermined ending.

Knowing that it was being hunted, the small figure had no choice but to be dragged along. Any effort to create a variable was blocked by Ellie’s experience, and any outside help was killed by Lydia and Karen.

It’s not for no reason that Lydia and Karen cleaned up all the miscellaneous ones and, instead of joining Ellie, were just watching.

There’s no need to add or subtract anything. Because it’s just right as it is.

If things continue this way, the small figure, having all its moves sealed off, will inevitably allow Ellie a direct hit, and have its head fly off.

Even for One Who Devours the Twilight, there is no way to resurrect from death…no, is there?

There is a way to become undead using the power of the God of Death. However, in this case, at best, it will remain as strong as when it was alive, but most become weaker.

An undead body may have a few advantages, but it also has more weaknesses.

As expected. Whether Ellie’s attacks started to reach or not, the small figure’s heavily worn robe shook violently as if it would be stripped off at any moment. And then.

“Ugh!”

Kwoong!

Ellie, stepping into her stance and throwing a punch pulled to its limit. That strike pierces through all the powers, and finally breaks the armor-like holy barrier protecting the small figure.

Chaeang!

With a sharp sound, the purple divine power shatters into fragments.

Unfortunately, Ellie’s fist lost most of its power in breaking through the barrier…but it still had enough strength to strip the robe off.

Whoosh!

Ellie’s fist comes to a halt at the tip of the small figure’s nose. And then, the delayed blast of wind pressure pushes back the guy’s robe.

“…Huh?”

And from Ellie’s mouth, a dumbfounded voice leaks out.

Her face contorts in horror, as if she had seen something that should not exist, and the fighting spirit that filled the yellow eyes of the beast transforms into guilt.

I was just as surprised.

Pink hair and pink eyes, identical to mine. But non-human, elongated ears. Among the beautiful elves, it is a striking beauty that would give even another man goosebumps.

Overall, he had a gloomy impression, but it was precisely because of this that a weary charm emanated from the beautiful boy in that spot.

No, doesn’t this seem like I was surprised by the handsomeness of a guy?

To be more precise, I was surprised that the face I had imagined and designed was perfectly realized.

Yes. The small figure that had been fighting with Ellie until now. Surprisingly, he was supposed to be my protagonist.

…I don’t know why Ellie was surprised. Is it because we’re on the same wavelength?

But something was off for him to be the protagonist of my novel.

The fun of a gender-bending novel comes from the disparity with common sense. That’s why it often involves transmigration or reincarnation.

My protagonist was no different. He was supposed to have possessed the body of an orphan with his memories from Earth.

That’s why I couldn’t understand it at all.

Why did the protagonist side with One Who Devours the Twilight?

It was not surprising for him to have simply joined an evil organization. Being born on Earth, he’s a person with faint faith. This meant he could never become a zealot.

Moreover, as befitting a protagonist, his basic nature is good.

He’s not the type to think, ‘Maybe after monsters, we should sacrifice humans?’

How did it come to this…

“You…how did you come to this…”

Ellie, with a trembling voice, asks in place of what I was about to say.

At those words, the protagonist momentarily hesitate before looking straight at Ellie.

His lips remained utterly still. However, from his half-dead eyes, an indescribable passion was surging.

“You remembered me, Big Sis.”

“Of course! But why…no, never mind. Since there’s no one watching us now, it should be fine. We don’t need to fight. Just pretend to be dead here, and follow me. This time for sure….”

“Heh. To think you’d say such a thing even after losing an arm because of me.”

What?

Aside from the fact that they seem to know each other, but Ellie lost an arm because of the protagonist?

There’s no such setting…no, could it be? While the settings I specified are well-maintained, there have been more than a few instances that went beyond my speculation.

In this case, it seems I must consider it an added backstory that Ellie, who harbors unconditional goodwill towards the protagonist and never betrays him, becomes an ally.

The original body of the protagonist and Ellie had a connection from the past, but with the protagonist transmigrated into that body, only Ellie remembers the protagonist.

If that’s the case, it’s enough reason for Ellie to assist the protagonist.

…But no matter how I look at it, the protagonist seems to remember Ellie.

In other words, the original owner is inside that body.

For some reason, a human soul from Earth has not transmigrated into the protagonist’s body.

Maybe it’s not yet time for the possession, or perhaps something went wrong, and it might never happen.

What’s certain is that this guy is not the protagonist I know. And that Ellie owes him something and feels guilty.

Ellie, having completely lowered her fist, opened her mouth with an urgent voice.

“That… I understand now. It must have been sudden news for you, and you must have felt like the world was collapsing. But not anymore. There’s a child in a similar situation as you. I’m sure this time, I can truly show you the real world!”

“…Big Sis still hasn’t changed. But neither have I.”

The protagonist mechanically lifted the corners of his mouth and pulled out a blood-stained dagger. At a glance, the unmistakable presence of divine power indicated it was definitely a divine relic.

However, the divine power felt was not that of the Goddess of Love. It was more alien…not just distorted. It probably belonged to a different god who was already dead.

Seeing the dagger, Ellie’s body began to tremble violently. Her fragile appearance is incomparable to the strong demeanor she had just moments ago.

The protagonist’s expression is as emotionless as a wax doll. Yet, his eyes alone harbored a strange fervor as he brandished the dagger towards Ellie.

“Big Sis can’t save us. If you wish to…please die by my hand.”

“……”

Ellie’s complexion turned pale.

No, this son of a bitch?

Sensing something was amiss, Lydia and Karen changed their previously indifferent stance and took up arms. But I was quicker.

Sound-Eating Footsteps, Invisible Cloak, Haste Boots.

All of these activated simultaneously, momentarily isolating my existence from the world.

With a speed that even surprised me, I ran and arrived behind the protagonist.

With the Unicorn Dagger, I stabbed him in the heart from behind.

Thud.

With wide-open eyes, I whispered into the ear of the protagonist, who barely managed to turn his trembling neck to look at me.

“You shouldn’t hit on another man’s woman.”

Then, I rotated the dagger sideways, completely crushing the heart.

“Goodbye, Cena.”

“……!”

He just opens his mouth, and then slumps down and closes his eyes.

I killed the protagonist.

No, to be precise, I killed the guy who was supposed to become the protagonist.