The Fake Saintess and the Elf Warrior

Jasmine also went to a secluded corner. She covered her face and wept quietly, so no one could hear. Six months ago, everyone had been so happy when they enrolled, full of bright hopes for the future. Jasmine still remembered clearly what Tatia had said to them when they left Isad Town. Who could have predicted then that things would turn out this way?

Why did this happen? Who did what wrong? And whose responsibility was it? No one could give Jasmine the answers. So she covered her face and wept.

The past cannot be changed. The three's campus life officially came to an end in this tragic way.

parting

For students who commit serious disciplinary violations, Sunflower Adventurers School has no choice but to expel them without hesitation. No mercy, no compromise.

Tatiana had just woken up when a school staff member, who was already waiting beside her, shoved her luggage into her hand and led her to the school exit. Her sword and necklace were among them. No one questioned her identity or about the mysterious power she possessed.

Tatsia still vividly remembers what just happened. She did indeed intend to kill Oz. The school had clearly stated this before the exams. Tatsia had nothing to say about being expelled. However, a lingering regret remained in her heart.

"In the end, they still couldn't kill that bastard Oz..."

Even now, she hasn't come to her senses. She doesn't think she did anything wrong. Her seemingly distraught state, being carried away by several employees, doesn't reflect any real remorse. Her only regret is not being able to kill Oz with her own hands. Tatia doesn't care about being expelled. Once Oz graduates, she'll have even more opportunities to kill him. And by then, there won't be any more Frost getting in her way.

So even as she stood before the school gates, Tatia felt no remorse whatsoever. Until that person appeared before her.

"etc"

A petite figure appeared before the staff member who was about to expel Tatsia from the school. When her voice reached Tatsia's ears, she excitedly looked up. It was the person she had been eagerly awaiting.

"Sister Naka!"

As long as Naka is there, that's everything to Tatsia. Everything else is just fleeting smoke. And now that Naka is here, Tatsia sees it as a sign that Naka hasn't given up on her.

But when she saw Naka's face, she realized the truth was quite different. Her expression rarely changed. But her eyes seemed to declare that Tatsia had lost all hope and chance. The love no longer shone in her eyes; instead, it held sorrow and despair.

"Who are you? Do you know him?"

The staff loudly questioned the girl who was blocking their way. In the past, when students were expelled, their friends would often plead for them. In heated conflicts, this could even escalate into physical fights between students and staff. Therefore, the staff were somewhat wary of her.

Naka, despite being the Demon King, lowered her head and pleaded with the staff.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to plead for him. I just wanted to say a few more words to him. Just a few words. After that, you can do whatever you want with him. I'll leave obediently."

Her attitude was sincere. After discussing it in hushed tones, the employees tentatively agreed to her request.

"...Okay. But we'll be keeping a close eye on things, so don't even think about taking him with you when you run away. Otherwise, you might get eliminated too."

"I won't."

"Okay, you two talk."

The two employees who had been supporting Tatsia's arms released her and slowly stepped aside. Tatsia, whose injuries hadn't been treated, no longer had the strength to stand. She crawled on all fours towards Naka's feet.

"Naka-nee... I'm pretty amazing, right... If it weren't for that Fros in my way, I could definitely have won the championship this time... It's not that I don't have the strength to be a champion, I'm the strongest in the Hero Class... So, Naka-nee, you'll still stay by my side, right...?"

If Tatsia had expressed remorse to her now, perhaps Naka might have softened her heart. But her answer only left Naka utterly disappointed.

As the person closest to her after her parents' death, and as the one entrusted with her father's dying wish, Naka's first words to Tatya were not spoken.

She grabbed Tatsia by the collar and lifted her up. Clenching her fist, she delivered a powerful, wide-ranging punch to Tatsia's face. She even threw this punch after removing her "disguise."

This punch carried so much. It contained all the emotions between the two, from their first meeting to the present. There was nostalgia for the former Tatya, and anger at the current Tatya's lack of ambition. A thousand words were condensed into this angry punch, striking Tatya's brain directly through her cheek. It sent Tatya rolling on the ground several times, nearly knocking her unconscious again.

"Even now, haven't you repented?"

Naka slowly approached Tatsia, who was lying on the ground vomiting blood. The punch had knocked out several of her teeth. The excruciating pain in her gums made her cover her face, tears streaming down her cheeks.

What Naka used to fear most was her crying. Whenever she cried, Naka couldn't help but want to cheer her up and see her smile. But this time, her appearance didn't evoke any sympathy from Naka; instead, it intensified Naka's disgust.

"You still have the nerve to cry?"

"No...no..."

"What do you mean, 'not'? Do you know why I hit you?"

"I know, I know..."

"why?"

"Because... I broke my promise and stole the necklace from you, Naka, in order to defeat Oz..."

"Completely wrong!"

Although Naka was indeed angry that she had broken into her dormitory late at night and stolen the necklace, that wasn't the point. Naka angrily rebuked this pitiful and despicable elf who still didn't understand what she had done wrong.

"As an adventurer, it's normal to have a strong will to survive and a refusal to admit defeat. I can understand your desire to defeat Oz. But do you really just want to 'defeat' him? If Fros hadn't intervened, do you know what the consequences of your attack would have been? Or did you know perfectly well, and still did it on purpose?"

"No, I..."

"During the preliminary assessment, why did I risk my life to stop your attack and save Raiti? I clearly explained my reasons to you then. I said I didn't want you to become a murderer... Didn't you listen to any of those words?"

"I'm sorry...I'm so sorry, Sister Naka..."

Tears mingled with blood on her face. Taqia crawled back to Naka's feet and grabbed her right leg. This only disgusted Naka more. She jerked her leg away, kicked Taqia hard in the face, and knocked her to the ground.

"Don't apologize to me! The person you should apologize to isn't me. It's your teacher who nurtured you, your nemesis who inspired your growth! Did any of them want you to end up like this? Wolse devoted herself to training you, only for you to kill? How could you face her? Or how could you face Oz, who was so obedient to you? He tried to spare you many times during the battle, not wanting you to get hurt, hoping you would back down. But what did you repay him with? Your 'Elf Paradise' move!"

"I'm sorry...I'm sorry...Because you said that if I lost, you wouldn't team up with me anymore, so I acted impulsively..."

Tatya, lying on the ground, was sobbing uncontrollably. She wouldn't approach Naka anymore. Now, she finally understood what she had done all this time. Wors had placed high hopes on her, Oz had only wanted to be her friend, and Naka had even used all her savings to send her, a complete stranger, to study here. Everyone wanted her to thrive. And she had let down everyone she knew.

"....."

Naka knew that Tatya just wanted to be with her. To be honest, Naka wanted that too. She hadn't said she wouldn't team up with Tatya if she didn't win. But Tatya completely misinterpreted her words, leading to her stubbornness and impulsiveness, ultimately resulting in this predicament.

Seeing her current pathetic state only made Naka both angry and sad. However, this wasn't entirely Tatya's fault; Naka herself also bore some responsibility for not speaking clearly. This incident also proved that the rift between Tatya and Naka had become irreparable.

She couldn't understand Tatia's feelings for her. Tatia, in turn, couldn't grasp the positive encouragement she was giving her, and the drive to improve herself. Their hearts remained forever separated, and the road ahead grew increasingly dark. The words Mitian had spoken to her before her death now resurfaced in her mind.

If continuing to be with her only causes her more severe harm, making Tatsia less and less like herself, and she doesn't know what to do, then the only way is to sever this ties.

Ultimately, Naka made a decision.

"Takia. Perhaps it's all my fault that you've become like this. I can't reciprocate your feelings for me, and you can't keep our promise. Didn't I say this when we formed the team? I only had one condition: you had to obey my orders... Unfortunately, you couldn't do that."

"Na... Naka-jie?"

"Your father entrusted you to me. But now I feel utterly powerless."

"Sister Naka... please stop talking..."

Although the final words remained unspoken in Naka's heart, the preceding two sentences had already instilled in Tatsia a profound sense of despair, as if the sky had fallen. Tatsia could already guess with a high degree of certainty what Naka would say next.

She had become like this precisely to avoid this outcome. But it had only backfired, pushing her further and further into the abyss. If she had created the very result she least wanted... then what had she been doing for the past six months? Tatya didn't want to think about it. She was afraid that if she did, she would lose everything she had. She simply didn't want Naka to continue.

But this was no longer Tatya's choice. The words Naka least wanted to hear, words that shattered her hope of living, were ultimately spoken by Naka with cruel cruelty.

"Takia, let's part ways here."

"No! Aaaaaaaah!"

Tatya frantically crawled to Naka's side and clung tightly to her leg. Even when Naka kicked her, she wouldn't let go. This was the only outcome she was determined to prevent, even at the cost of her life.

"Sister Naka! Don't abandon me! I'll be your servant, I'll be your most powerful tool... I won't make the same mistake again... Let me stay by your side!... Without you, I..."

"..."

After failing to kick Tatya away, Naka stopped trying to break free. The excruciating pain in her heart made her close her eyes, unable to bear looking at Tatya's face. If she could, she would never want to make such a heartless decision. Mitian was dead; the person who would adopt her no longer existed. If she were to break off their partnership, Tatya would be left alone in this cruel world. Before meeting Naka, perhaps the desire to cure her father's illness and find her mother were the reasons that kept her going. Now that she had no reason to fight anymore, what fate awaited her?

At the very least, Naka hoped that she could live on in this world alone. She didn't want her to die in the wilderness. This wasn't as a demon lord, but as a former teammate—Naka's final wish.

Naka bent down and gently stroked Tatsia's back one last time.

"Takia, I'm not as important or as good as you think. I'm just an incompetent saint who couldn't help you when you needed help and guidance the most. Like you, I'm also troubled by various things. You won't learn anything good from me, and I can't offer you guidance when you encounter difficulties. Even now, I don't know why you developed those feelings for me... Perhaps I'm the culprit who made you this way. We've only known each other for less than a year. You have a long road ahead of you, and I'm just a passerby in it. In the future, you will definitely find people much more important than me and experience many wonderful things. I... I'm not someone you value so much."

In Naka's heart, the word "perhaps" could be removed. If she hadn't given the order to destroy the Elf Kingdom back then, Tatsia wouldn't have come to the Human Kingdom, wouldn't have met her, and wouldn't be in her current state. Although she had blamed her a lot, Naka knew best that the person who had harmed her the most was herself. And because of her, she had become less like a Demon King. For a few months, Naka felt that this relationship was actually quite good. But now, some undetected hidden dangers had caused such serious consequences for both of them.

Fundamentally, the relationship between a Demon King and a Hero shouldn't be like this at all. Tatya gave Naka a wonderful dream, temporarily making her set aside her identity as the Demon King and seemingly believe she was an ordinary adventurer, embarking on an interesting adventure with her. But beautiful dreams must eventually end, and Naka felt it was time to put an end to it.

Goodbye, Tatia. The time we spent traveling together is an irreplaceable and happy memory for me. I will always cherish it in my heart.

Tatya just shook her head. She refused to let go of Naka, no matter what. She couldn't agree with or understand what Naka was saying. She didn't believe she would ever meet someone more important than Naka. Even though they had only known each other for less than a year, she had already decided that Naka was the person she would follow for life after her parents' death.

Naka had said everything she needed to say. She didn't expect Tatsia to obediently leave. She then spoke to the employees who had been watching them.

"Sir, I have said all I need to say. You can kick him out now."

Hearing Naka say that, the employees naturally didn't care about anything else and swarmed forward to pull at Tatia.

"No! Sister Naka! I'll listen to you and be a good girl! I don't want to be separated from you!"

"Walk!"

"Sister Naka! Don't...don't leave me!"

The staff members were no ordinary people either; a few of them easily pulled the seriously injured Tatya away from Naka's feet. After Tatya was away, Naka resolutely turned and left, ignoring Tatya's crying and fussing.

Several employees dragged her along, while others opened the school gates. The two grew further and further apart.

Naka is the reason for Tatia's survival.

The meaning of Tatia going down

It is the light of hope for Tasia.

But now, that glimmer of hope was fading, receding from her sight. She wanted to reach it, to return to that embrace of light. If she had known her actions would lead to this, she would never have acted so impulsively and foolishly. Tatiana longed to go back in time and slap herself hard.

But that was nothing more than empty words, useless in the face of harsh reality when everything was beyond repair. The staff wouldn't listen to her feeble confessions. They simply threw her out of the campus and then slowly closed the gates.

As Naka's figure loomed larger through the narrowing crack in the door, Tatsia struggled to reach out her hand, which was no longer within reach.

"Click"

The glimmer of hope was thus extinguished completely in her eyes.

"Hmm..."

Oz slowly opened his eyes. He had lost consciousness during Tatsia's final attack and had no idea what had happened afterward. He had assumed he was dead at Tatsia's hands and in the afterlife. But the strong smell of alcohol, something that shouldn't be in hell, suggested that things weren't as he imagined. He saw a ceiling and wondered where he was lying. He tried to sit up, but the intense pain made him give up and lie back down. Only then did he realize that his body was covered in bandages. An IV was inserted into the back of his hand.

"Hey, don't push yourself, you brat."

Just then, a middle-aged man's voice sounded beside Oz. He turned his head, enduring the pain. The hero Fros, who had recommended him to this place, was now sitting beside his bed.

"M-Uncle?"

"The medical staff said you'd be unconscious until tomorrow, but I didn't expect you to wake up so quickly. You're something else, kid."

"Really? I'm... at the infirmary right now."

The events of today's exam resurfaced in Oz's mind. The image of Tatia, wielding a strange greatsword and displaying immense power far beyond his own, her sinister smile vividly clear in his mind. Even now, recalling that battle, Oz still felt a lingering fear. If things had continued as they were, he would have certainly died. But he survived. He didn't know what happened after he fainted. Therefore, he asked...

"Uncle, what happened next? Wasn't Tatya trying to kill me? Why am I here?"

So Frost recounted everything that followed to him. From how he blocked Tatia's attack to save Oz, to Tatia's expulsion from the school, he explained it all clearly. After listening, Oz remained silent for a long time.

"In short, this is the result. I've disqualified Tatsia. So, you've won this competition. But in your current state, you probably won't be able to take tomorrow's exam. I asked the teachers at the infirmary if I could use healing magic to quickly heal you. But they said you suffered damage that wasn't magical or physical, so ordinary healing magic wouldn't work. I had to use this traditional, slower method to heal you. It's regrettable, but I think you'll probably have to be considered to have forfeited tomorrow's exam. Sigh, it seems my special admissions program will have to be canceled..."

"I see..."

Fros ruthlessly declared that Oz could no longer be the champion. But Oz didn't resent this. Although still afraid, he kept recalling the final stages of his battle with Tatia. He had no room for explanation, utterly defeated by her. Even though Fros disqualified Tatia, Oz understood that in terms of pure ability, he was far inferior to Tatia when she unleashed her full power. He couldn't help but sigh...

"What kind of power is that? Why does he possess such a mysterious ability? It's not a physical attack, nor a magical attack... then what could it be? Just how strong is Tatia...?"

Are you still thinking about him?

"Yes, sir, don't you mind?"

"Of course I can't say I don't care... The power he used isn't something a human could possess. Even after searching through all the books on human history, I've never heard of anything like it. But it's also different from the power of monsters. I can't really say what it is. Anyway, I've already expelled her. She's probably left the school by now... I don't want to pry too much into other people's privacy. I didn't ask him anything."

"What a pity..."

Hearing that Tatia had abruptly left, Oz felt genuinely sorry for her. Even though she had almost killed him, he now only cared about what was more important and worthy of his attention.

"If possible, I'd like to spar with him again."

"Hey, seriously? Aren't you going to learn your lesson?"

Fros knew Oz was a stubborn man obsessed with fighting the strong. But he never expected him to die like this. Anyone should keep their distance from someone with immense power who wanted to kill them. Yet, Oz still dared to venture into the lion's den. Out of curiosity, Fros asked directly...

"Oz, don't you hate him? That wasn't an accident; he genuinely wanted to kill you. Do you still consider him your nemesis?"

"hatred?"

Oz shook his head

"I don't hate him at all, uncle."

"why?"

Oz remembered what Tatia had said to him last: "I've staked everything on this exam." Oz didn't understand, but he believed it was true. Her eyes, her unwavering will to fight even when severely wounded—there must have been something Oz didn't know supporting her. She was simply fighting for her beliefs, her dreams, her goals.

"What was said in jest was taken seriously. I don't know why Tatia wanted to kill me, but perhaps, without my knowledge, I did something very wrong to her, or perhaps I became an obstacle for her. I don't want to hastily blame or hold a grudge against her. The world is vast, and if we are destined to meet again in the future, I want to have a good talk with her and clear up this misunderstanding. Then, when that time comes, we can have a proper spar. By then, I will definitely be stronger, strong enough to defeat her who uses that strange power, completely surpass her, and become the strongest adventurer...!"

"..."