Evading the Hero’s Party with Full Effort

Chapter 23

Ch.23 It’s all Because the Teacher isn’t Good Enough

A letter flew to Mia.

Seeing the familiar Sage’s seal engraved on the envelope, Mia opened it with a faint smile.

-Sssss.

Greetings. I am Zailo, a knight serving the Sage.

“Huh?”

Puzzled by the unfamiliar handwriting, she rechecked the red wax seal stamped on the letter envelope.

‘This is definitely the Sage’s seal…’

Her expression changed ominously upon realizing the letter had been sent by someone else borrowing the Sage’s seal.

Regrettably, I must inform you… the Sage passed away not long ago.

Mia’s brow furrowed involuntarily as she read the words.

Due to a chronic illness he had suffered from for a long time…

‘Who on earth would write such bad luck?’

After all, who was the Sage? A mysterious being capable of wielding both divine power and magic simultaneously.

Though human, or rather… someone so extraordinary he seemed impossible to believe as human—how could he die from illness?

The man who once foresaw the future—how could he not have foreseen his own death?

If anything, it would have been more believable if he had cured his own illness long ago and attained an immortal body.

Therefore, Mia concluded the letter was forged.

Humans, after all, were inherently cunning, specializing in deceit and lies.

The Sage would surely rejoice in heaven upon learning that you, Mia, have defeated the Demon King. As his funeral has concluded, he has been laid to rest at Grave 7-67 in the Imperial Capital’s cemetery; I hereby inform you.

Mia began seriously pondering whether the Sage was trying to prank her.

After all, no being existed who could overpower the Sage and steal his seal—not even the Demon King could possibly achieve such a feat.

Though unfamiliar with human nature, Mia assumed the Sage was playing a trick on her and left the Imperial Palace to head toward the cemetery.

By elven standards, such a prank was extremely vulgar, but Mia preemptively assumed that, being human, he could devise no better prank—and inwardly chuckled.

“Hehe… let’s see what prank you’ve pulled?”

Arriving at the cemetery via the carriage provided by the Imperial Palace, Mia walked confidently down the corridor.

What to say of her demeanor?

Her face, filled with joy and anticipation, clashed starkly with the cemetery’s somber atmosphere of grief and mourning.

An elf lightly treading between graves was undoubtedly a rare and precious sight.

‘Hehe, Sage. I don’t know what prank you’re planning, but I’ll play along for now.’

Meanwhile, Giovanni, watching from afar, had sent the letter to Mia under the alias ‘Zailo’ and was waiting for the Heroes to arrive to observe the situation.

But upon seeing Mia step down from the carriage, he couldn’t help but visibly panic.

Her expression looked far too cheerful to be that of someone receiving news of a loved one’s death. Giovanni was utterly shocked by Mia’s face.

‘Weren’t they… close?’

She looked as if she’d happily rushed over upon hearing an enemy had died.

Her bright smile and cheerful gait left him feeling as if he’d been struck on the head with a hammer.

Of course, Mia was simply in good spirits, thinking she would see the Sage after so long.

‘W… well, let’s just observe for now.’

Giovanni naturally followed Mia and stopped near Hans’s gravestone, pretending as if he had come to pay respects near Hans’s grave.

Her waltz-like, cheerful steps grated on Giovanni’s nerves.

‘Could she have figured it out?’

Mia, who never easily trusted humans, did not believe for a moment that the Sage had died.

The reason, if stated, was highly subjective…

But Giovanni, unaware of this, feared Mia.

‘Weren’t they romantically involved?’

As Giovanni struggled to suppress his fear, Mia stood before Hans’s grave.

She carefully read the inscription on the gravestone.

‘Huh? The name… Hans?’

Her head tilted in confusion.

‘I’m pretty sure… Leah and Cecilia’s lover was also named Hans, wasn’t he?’

Thus, Mia crossed her arms and tapped her chin, lost in thought.

‘Well, I’ll find out once I meet the Sage.’

“Hehe…”

At Mia’s unrestrained bright smile and soft laughter, sweat trickled down Giovanni’s back.

‘Could elves have some bizarre custom of rejoicing when someone they care about dies?’

The previous Hero had self-harmed before Hans’s grave.

But Mia, the elf…

crouched down and gently caressed the barren soil of the grave.

“Hmm… should I dig it up after all?”

Hearing her say something grotesque in such a peaceful tone, as if out for a stroll, Giovanni’s mouth fell wide open.

After all, who could have imagined that an elf, a race famed for loving peace, would suggest digging up the grave of a romantic partner? It was shocking—no, horrifying.

‘She’s… insane. No wonder Brother ran away.’

Giovanni had initially cursed Hans.

He inevitably seemed like a legendary womanizer flirting with every member of the Hero party, all supreme beauties.

On the other hand, when Hans said he’d abandoned those four and fled to the New Continent, Giovanni had thought he was being greedy.

Marrying any one of them would have made him a ‘winner in life’.

The fact that he maintained close relationships with all four was already suspicious.

So Giovanni had asked Hans why he was so greedy.

At that time, Hans had replied with a blank, soulless expression.

-Haha… all of this is for the sake of world peace.

It had seemed strange that someone involved so deeply with every female member of the Hero party could say such things with that face.

But after seeing Scarlet recently, something felt off.

Hero Scarlet.

Her reaction upon hearing Hans had died—

Giovanni had felt chills seeing her self-harming with her fingernails.

‘Even if your lover or husband dies, you wouldn’t go that far…’

Her hollow eyes, the blood flowing from her scratched wounds—it was incomprehensible. No, impossible to understand.

Yet this elf princess casually suggested something even more incomprehensible, as if proposing a casual outing.

“Gnome.”

She summoned an earth spirit and commanded,

“Could you dig up the earth over there at that grave?”

At her words, the small earth spirit nodded.

-Sssss!

The coffin buried beneath the barren soil gently rose.

A high elf naturally extracting a coffin from underground—

How dreadful and bleak a sight was this?

Perhaps the children here, witnessing her, would have their innocence shattered.

After all, elves were famously known as a race devoted to peace.

-Huh?!

-An… an elf desecrating the dead?!

-The end times, truly the end times. To think I’d live to see an elf dishonor the deceased.

-Sh… shouldn’t we call the guards?

The people around stared at Mia in shock and murmured, but she paid no attention to their gazes…

“Now… let’s see what prank you’ve pulled.”

She grabbed the coffin lid with her hand.

-Kiiik!

And opened it!

‘Sc… scary. Are all Hero party members consistently insane like this?’

Seeing this, Giovanni tiptoed away.

‘She’s insane. No, this woman is definitely a mad elf.’

Giovanni cursed Hans inwardly.

‘Why did you have to charm such a crazy high elf when you had no one else to bother with?’

A grotesque, mentally unhinged high elf digging up her lover’s grave and opening the coffin lid—Giovanni began to understand why Hans had fled.

As Giovanni cautiously backed away to escape,

Mia smiled upon seeing the empty coffin.

“Well, since I’m not falling for your prank, come out already.”

But no answer came.

Not seeing the Sage who should have been teasing her, Mia looked around, searching.

“Huh? Sage?”

Though Mia desperately searched for the Sage, he never appeared.

***

“Achoo! Who’s talking bad about me?”

Leah ladled stew from the boiling pot into a bowl and handed it to me.

“Master, it gets cold at night, so please dress a bit warmer.”

The Red Desert has a large diurnal temperature variation—extremely hot during the day and quite cold at night.

“Mm, thanks.”

“Ah, don’t mention it.”

Then Leah ladled a small portion suitable for Pipi.

Pipi, apparently hungry, began eating by plunging its beak into the bowl.

Isn’t it too hot? Well, it’s a baby Phoenix, after all. It probably won’t be unable to eat just because the stew is hot.

I also took a spoonful of stew and ate.

The seasoning is a bit weak.

“Master, how does it taste?”

I honestly shared my impression with Leah, whose face was slightly flushed.

“A bit bland?”

A small vein mark appeared on Leah’s forehead, but she forced a smile.

“Haha… is that all you have to say after eating food your disciple made for you after so long?”

Feeling I’d be reduced to bones if I said the wrong thing, I hastily added,

“You’ve improved a lot since last time!”

Indeed, last time she’d made strange brown porridge, and I’d suffered cleaning it up.

“Hehe… I’ve been traveling, so my skills improved.”

“Good to hear. Back then, the food was truly inedible.”

I still vividly remember that time.

Now she pretends to be innocent before me, but back then, during her rebellious phase, Leah had half-forced me to taste her unidentified food, threatening me. I had no choice but to lightly taste it by dipping my finger and bringing it to my mouth.

The taste was so horrific it felt like a literal depiction of hell—I could barely keep my body steady.

If I had to forcibly describe that taste, it was unpleasantly sour, overly salty, and smelled extremely strange, like washing machine detergent.

So at first, I thought Leah had developed washing machine detergent.

“Grrr… Master, you seem very different from before.”

Really? Puzzled, I asked,

“Oh?”

Leah vigorously nodded at my question and continued,

“Back then, you were incredibly kind and gentle, and unlike now, you never complained about anything.”

Back then, she was practically a ruffian.

When neighborhood kids teased her for being short, she’d beat them up badly; she’d even threaten to burn down their houses…

“Ah, that time was truly awful.”

Though even now she’s still a ruffian…

She pretends to be sweet and innocent before me now, but judging from Cecilia’s letters and Scarlet’s letters, she hasn’t changed that much.

She’s always been such a mischievous girl.

At my words, Leah’s eyebrows twitched, but she struggled to maintain composure.

“What? What was so awful?”

“You’d beat up neighborhood kids all the time. I even thought you should become a knight instead of a mage.”

Actually, she used magic to enhance her body and beat the kids up. Still, I broke a sweat cleaning up after Leah’s misdeeds.

“Tch, it was their fault anyway.”

Thus, during the meal, Leah grumbled continuously with a face full of complaints.

Soon, after finishing the dishes, we laid out blankets inside the tent and lay down.

“Good night, Master.”

“Yeah, you too.”

Lying down to sleep,

-Rustle… rustle.

I heard Leah tossing and turning.

“Master… are you asleep?”

Her voice, slightly sticky and unlike usual, gave me goosebumps.

And soon…

“Hehe… I know you’re not asleep. It’s a bit cold tonight, maybe because of the desert.”

Startled by Leah’s attempt to sneak under my blanket, I stammered,

“What… what are you doing?”

“Because I’m cold? Aren’t you cold, Master?”

Even though she’d cast a warmth spell, she claimed to be cold?

Eventually, I turned to face Leah.

“Why are you being so creepy? Can’t you just go back to your own spot?”

Leah grinned innocently.

“Oh, why? We used to sleep together sometimes, didn’t we?”

I scolded Leah for saying something others might misunderstand so casually.

“That was only because you’d come crying after having nightmares at dawn.”

Perhaps due to nearly suffering abuse from her previous master?

The memory seemed to have left a deep trauma, as she sometimes woke up crying from nightmares.

Each time, since it was hard for her to fall back asleep, I’d temporarily allow her to share the bed.

“But you were little back then! Now you’re all grown up. Haven’t you heard the saying ‘men and women shouldn’t share a space after seven’?”

Leah shook her head as if hearing it for the first time.

“Men and women after seven? What’s that?”

Ah… no wonder she became such a psychopathic arsonist in the original story, with no morals or ethics. Sitting up from the blanket, I lamented,

“How can you have no morals? This is all the master’s fault for being inadequate. Can’t you kneel down properly?”

“Master…”

As I prepared to lecture her after so long, Leah called me in a bright voice.

“Huh?”

“Can’t you just shut up and sleep?”

As Leah’s red hair began swaying gently, I quickly nodded vigorously.

“Yeah. Let’s sleep. Tomorrow will be tough.”

It’s pitiful to be threatened by my own disciple.

Tch, just wait. I swear I’ll escape somehow.

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