Chapter 265 – Side Story 14 – The Boy, The Girl. To Earth (2)

While Egger was watching the hero’s death, his daughter and the boys were at a large lake, Daecheong Lake, in the northeast of Daejeon city.

The lake, surrounded by blue mountains with reduced water levels, was incredibly beautiful even to Selena and Vlad.

As they gazed at the lake where sunlight was scattering across the surface, the young lady asked the woman who had come with them.

She was Park Seung-ah, a telekinetic awakened one whom the young lady had heard much about but was meeting for the first time.

A powerful awakened one who had greatly helped her parents deal with the Demon King.

Now, 20 years later, she too had become a middle-aged woman in her mid-40s.

However, despite her aging face, the woman standing next to Selena radiated vibrant energy.

“You really didn’t have to guide us personally…”

“That’s impossible. You’re the daughter of Hero Egger and Yelena. Even without Yerim’s request, I couldn’t leave you to someone else.”

She firmly shook her head at Selena’s apologetic words.

Selena understood Seung-ah’s words, having heard stories about her from her parents while growing up, but she still couldn’t help feeling sorry.

This was because Seung-ah’s position as their guide was far from ordinary.

Still single in her middle age, she had been serving as the minister of a newly established department since Korea’s reconstruction.

For nearly 20 years.

Remarkably, no one opposed her long tenure as minister.

This was because the newly created department was the Ministry of Awakened Ones, and she was the strongest telekinetic, the most powerful awakened one on Earth.

For someone like her to personally guide Selena…

It was something Selena had felt since arriving in Daejeon, but the hospitality she’d been receiving on Earth was becoming almost embarrassing.

Even now, the minister beside her was naturally referring to her father as “the hero.”

She wasn’t the only one who called Selena’s father, Lord Egger, a hero.

Everyone Selena had met since coming to Earth called her father a hero.

Although he had been a hero for only a brief period, and it had been 20 years since he had thrown away the position, the people of Earth seemed not to have forgotten.

In any case, Selena couldn’t refuse the kindness of her parents’ old comrade.

Instead, she asked something else.

“Is this the place where Father mentioned undead appear?”

Of course, Seung-ah’s previous words had been in Korean, and Selena’s question was in the Imperial language, but communication wasn’t an issue since Selena was a skilled mage.

“Actually, there are more in the Han River area, but that place is still a zombie den, so it’s too dangerous.

Besides, undead occasionally come here to this lake from the Geum River.”

The undead Selena had asked about were “corpse mermaids,” aquatic undead.

Of course, they weren’t mermaid monsters that had become undead, but humans who had drowned and become undead, earning that name.

Due to their appearance and habits, different from zombies and skeletons, they were called “corpse mermaids.”

Selena had come to Daecheong Lake to see these “corpse mermaids.”

Corpse mermaids were one of the causes of her transformed mana.

Selena recalled her father’s words before departing.

“As you probably know, the transformed mana you possess was certainly inherited from me.

It was the evil energy I gained while killing undead during my battle with the Demon King, and I can’t deny that it helped me become stronger.

Of course, I was able to eliminate the dormant evil energy thanks to becoming a hero and obtaining divine power. So I thought there was nothing more to worry about… but I was wrong.”

Saying this, her father had apologized to her with a regretful expression.

“So you’re suffering because of me. And instead of helping, I’ve just been wasting time trying to protect you…”

But Selena knew.

She knew that the lord had stayed within the castle to protect her.

Instead, her mothers had traveled through different dimensions searching for the cause of her illness.

And now, knowing that she could protect herself, the lord had decided to move directly.

Sending Selena and the boys to the relatively safe Earth and the land of the Divine Tree, while he himself headed to the demon realm, the home of monsters.

Understanding all this, Selena had never resented her parents.

As she was momentarily lost in these recent memories, the young knight Seowoo, who was also looking at the lake, asked Seung-ah:

“Aunt, how do we lure them out?”

Unlike Selena and Vlad, who were surprised by the unexpected form of address, the minister answered with a smiling face.

“If Hero Egger still had his divine power, he could have attracted them without doing anything, but…”

With those words, the minister stretched her arm toward the lake.

“Without him, we’ll just have to force them out.”

As she finished speaking, powerful mana erupted from her hand.

Unlike a mage’s mana, this was pure, unrefined mana.

That mana spread across the lake and began to work a miracle.

Swoosh!

The lake water began to part left and right.

It looked as if a giant blade was cutting through the water.

And the parted water continued to be pushed further to the sides.

Though it wasn’t the parting of a sea, Seung-ah’s telekinesis created an astonishingly spectacular sight.

“It’s not easy doing this after so long…”

As she spread her raised hands wider and wider, Seung-ah gave a wry smile at the children who were looking at her with surprised faces.

Considering what these children’s parents had accomplished, this wasn’t really that impressive…

Still, in the absence of a lion, even a fox can boast.

No one would criticize her for showing off a little.

She continued to part the lake left and right with trembling hands.

As the water parted, the lake bottom began to be exposed.

Abandoned small boats, nets, and even heavy garbage.

Along with these expected items, things never seen before appeared on the exposed lake bottom.

Decaying corpses among the garbage. Zombies and skeletons still flapping about despite being half-buried in trash.

And corpse mermaids, startled by their sudden exposure to air.

The young knight was the first to spot a corpse mermaid and alerted the others.

“Oh, there, there’s a corpse mermaid there!”

At his words, Selena and Vlad looked where he was pointing.

But instead of checking for the corpse mermaid, Seung-ah said to her nephew:

“What are you waiting for? Go catch it.”

“Ah, yes.”

At her words, the young knight immediately launched himself forward.

Though the corpse mermaid was on the lake bottom between high walls of water, the young knight didn’t hesitate.

“Ah, I’ll help too!” After the young knight rushed off, Selena also launched herself forward.

Unlike the young knight, Selena floated in the air as she moved. Instead of going down into the parted gap, she flew over the lake.

As the two headed toward the lake, Minister Seung-ah glanced at the remaining boy.

Standing alone, he was watching the boy and girl heading into the lake with a calm face, as if he weren’t part of the group.

Eventually, Seung-ah couldn’t help but ask him:

“What are you doing standing there alone?”

Because she disliked the boy’s calm expression, Seung-ah’s words were a bit rough.

But the answer that came back was no different from the boy’s expression.

“I am Lady Selena’s attendant.”

Hearing his answer, Seung-ah was even more confused.

Though it was a position that didn’t exist on Earth, she knew what an attendant was.

“Attendant? You mean a servant?”

“Yes.”

If he was a servant, shouldn’t he not be standing so comfortably with such an expression?

Even if he lacked the skills to follow, the boy’s current appearance was difficult to see as that of a servant.

“What kind of servant are you? Besides, for a servant, you’re not even attending to Selena’s needs.”

As a male servant, it might be difficult to attend to Selena, a female, but then there would have been no need to bring a servant instead of a maid.

Fortunately, her question was somewhat answered by the boy’s subsequent response.

“…Actually, I’m more like a dedicated totem for the young lady.”

Of course, answering one question didn’t mean other questions wouldn’t arise.

“Totem? You mean a buffer?”

“Ah, buffer, yes. That’s roughly similar.”

“…”

Not knowing how Selena’s magic had translated “buffer,” the boy nodded at Seung-ah’s words.

But Seung-ah was left with an even bigger question.

A personal dedicated buffer.

In all her years, she had seen numerous telekinetics and awakened ones, but she had never seen an awakened one who used their abilities in such a way.

Unlike the formalized magic and mana used by Ea’s mages and knights, Earth’s awakened ones demonstrated a wide variety of abilities, but she had never seen abilities like the boy’s.

However, she dismissed such questions with a shrug.

“Well, in a world where zombies appear, nothing is strange anymore… I suppose there could be such a thing as a personal dedicated buffer.”

During her 20 years as minister, she had seen many things, but in the short time she had spent with Hero Egger, she had seen all sorts of extraordinary phenomena.

‘Since that child is the hero’s daughter, perhaps new events will unfold just like back then.’

Thinking this and nodding, Seung-ah frowned as another thought occurred to her.

“Wait, that would be troublesome.”

The numerous incidents that the hero had experienced and caused.

Though packaged as adventures and achievements for others to praise, as someone who had experienced those events firsthand, she couldn’t help but break into a cold sweat whenever she recalled them.

“No. It’ll be fine. Nothing will happen.”

Vlad tilted his head as he watched the middle-aged woman muttering to herself.

She was clearly someone with tremendous power, befitting an acquaintance of the lord, but judging by her current behavior, something seemed to be troubling her.

While the two were lost in their separate thoughts, Selena and the young knight succeeded in capturing (?) a corpse mermaid.

After binding its body with magic, the young knight dragged the corpse mermaid out of the lake.

Looking at the corpse mermaid sprawled on the lakeshore, Selena nodded.

“That’s right. The evil energy possessed by this undead is different from Ea’s undead, and has similarities to the transformed mana I possess.”

Having said that, she turned to look at Vlad.

“It’s thanks to Vlad. With Vlad beside me, I can distinguish the difference.”

It was a sudden compliment.

Apparently, she had overheard what Vlad and Minister Seung-ah had been saying earlier.

However, Vlad couldn’t pay attention to her compliment.

This was because he too recognized the evil energy of the corpse mermaid lying on the ground.

Evil energy different from Ea’s undead.

It closely resembled his own evil energy, which was half undead and half human.