Chapter 110: The Second Son of the Impoverished Viscount Household Follows the Gaze 11
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My crushed organs were pierced by my own broken ribs. Oh, what’s for dinner tonight? My organ paste?
The agony was so intense, I couldn’t even scream.
The unbearable pain stole my voice, forcing me only to clench my teeth.
As I went flying, I heard Elza yell she’d buy time, but what escaped through my clenched teeth was definitely a stream of curses.
While soaring through the air, healing my wounds with Healing Magic, I recalled my master’s words.
His advice for capturing someone using Physical Enhancement alive: just toss them into the air.
Apparently, after being thrown a few times, the time spent helpless in the air becomes boring, and they surrender.
I realized he was probably right.
With the altered perception of time during Physical Enhancement, being stuck in the air unable to do anything is certainly boring.
Though the question arises: could you repeatedly toss someone who could use Physical Enhancement intensely enough for time to dilate that much? Still, there’s no doubt it’s effective.
Erica would have used magic to control her movement in the air or something.
It would be easy for her; my ideal truly is far away.
My ideal, Erica.
The person I love, the one standing alone on a distant, high peak.
I miss her like an idiot.
I want to see her, give her the ring, and tell her that I’m serious about playing the part of her husband in this Farce.
I had too much time on my hands during the dilated time of Physical Enhancement.
Things might be different if I could use magic even slightly competently, but in my case, I really can’t do anything in mid-air.
So my mind starts thinking unnecessary things.
Oi, oi, still keeping up the lies? a part of me laughed at myself.
You again? I groaned inwardly at the appearance of my rational self.
After making all sorts of excuses just to give her a ring.
How comical it is to still be lying to myself, that part of me laughed.
The truth is, you just wanted to give her a ring, didn’t you?
Hoping that even after the one year passes, the ring you gave her might remain in a corner of her jewelry box.
My mind wandered to unnecessary thoughts, like how that was probably the shallow, pathetic reason.
I almost laughed, urged to just admit it already, because it was nothing but the truth.
The ideal is distant, but reality is right here, and as usual, I’m weak, pathetic, and half-baked.
I can’t use magic satisfactorily; I’m just a half-baked guy with a little confidence in Physical Enhancement and Healing Magic.
It would be satisfying if the feelings such a half-baked person held for his ideal were pure.
That even someone so half-baked could hold onto something beautiful (an ideal).
It would be more than enough to console my inadequate self.
But the ideal is already distant, it insisted. Reality is right in front of you, and the feelings you harbor aren’t as beautiful as you imagine.
Why don’t you just admit it already?
Aah, damn it.
Maybe I should just stop the Physical Enhancement.
Then I’d crash into the ground in an instant.
I even started thinking about things I couldn’t possibly do.
It was so pathetic I ground my back teeth.
There was no way I could throw away the miraculous one year I had obtained.
Aah, damn it.
Still piling up the lies, are we? my annoyingly rational self sneered.
What was that about joining the ranks of the fools?
Are you half-baked as an adventurer too?
You think you stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Beardy and the others, but you’re the furthest from them.
Someone who keeps lying even to himself calling himself an adventurer? Don’t make me laugh.
Ideals are things that lie beyond reality—that’s what we adventurers believe, right?
No matter how far or high it is, we believe it’s definitely connected to reality.
Just admit it already.
She’s no longer just an ideal within your petty mind, but an ideal that lies beyond reality.
Aah, damn it all! I’ll tell Master next time I see him.
This method is effective enough to make you sick of it.
If they did this to me two more times, I’m confident I wouldn’t be able to move.
Just this once was enough; the Lid I’d carelessly kept shut popped open.
Could I really be satisfied with just one year? My greedy self, thinking even this undeserved miracle wasn’t enough, reared its head.
While feeling relief at the approaching ground, I understood it was too late.
Once you acknowledge it, you can’t hold it back anymore.
It must have been suggesting we split up for a week that did it.
It was a foolish act, like taking the Lid off myself.
My unstoppable greed finally slipped out of my mouth.
My own feelings, not beautiful in the slightest, leaked out.
For now, my strongest desire.
“Aah… I want to see her.”
“See who?”
To the words asked so naturally.
To the relief as my enhanced senses felt that presence.
I answered without thinking.
“You, of course.”
“How fortunate for you, then.”
Before my back could smash into the ground.
It was enveloped by something incredibly soft and incredibly warm.