The Demon Prince goes to the Academy - Chapter 493

Chapter 493

In the mountain village where the night comes early, even the seasons come quickly.

When the crude and messy but delicate and violent work of pulling out all the roots of trees in the forest after logging was finished.

Early winter has arrived in the mountain village.

Time passed.

too much has passed

With that thought in mind, all Reinhardt could do was just do what he had to do.

I was already accustomed to spending the day maintaining my magic power. A stage in which magical power is maintained more naturally than breathing.

Reinhardt, who had already entered that stage, was able to maintain his magic power even while sleeping.

A state in which magical power is always maintained without being conscious of it.

Now that the work of pulling out the tree roots is over, if you turn the ground upside down and filter out the small roots and small stones, Luna’s work in the summer is over.

Unsatisfied even at that stage, Reinhardt put his first shovel into the forest.

-Kang!

But the iron shovel blade hit the ground and made an unpleasant grinding sound.

“… … .”

Winter came early and froze the ground.

-visor!

After throwing away the shovel, Reinhardt picked up the pickaxe this time.

-Pak!

The pickaxe that was swung down did not burrow into the ground, but collided with it.

yet again.

-Pak!

The hit pickaxe strikes the exact same spot and hits the ground.

How many times have you hit it like that?

-puck!

When he lifted the pickaxe that had been dug into the ground, the ground exposed his inner flesh.

“… … .”

As if possessed, Reinhardt overturns the ground and picks out a stone and throws it.

As if there was nothing he had to do other than this.

As if I had forgotten everything but this one.

-puck! puck! Fuck!

Reinhardt struck down the pickaxe as if possessed, and faint but blue magical smoke was rising from the pickaxe he was swinging.

day like that.

Two days.

one week.

fortnight.

one month.

Of course, the work of breaking, crushing, and digging into the frozen ground became more and more difficult as the winter deepened.

The work of digging and leveling the ground has become the work of breaking and breaking the frozen ground.

Even when it snowed in the mountain village, Reinhardt was in the forest.

Without using the sacred relics or the fire of Hwayo.

As if facing fate, Reinhardt broke the ice and broke the ground even when the snow turned to ice in the snowy forest.

“It snows too much. At least do it after the snow stops.”

Watching Reinhardt sticking a shovel and a pickaxe into the ground even in winter, the weaker Luna grabbed Reinhardt by the shoulders and said that.

“uh… … . When did you come?”

As if he didn’t even know that Luna was here, Reinhardt replied with a bewildered expression.

It was snowing so much that Luna was covered in snow as she walked through the knee-deep snow field.

However, Luna lost her words when she saw Reinhardt.

Reinhardt did not have snow on his head or shoulders even in the heavy snow.

All the snow that touched his head, face and shoulders was melting because of his overheated body.

“No matter how much I called, they didn’t answer.”

“ah… … . really?”

“okay. Do you know how funny you are right now?”

Luna covered her mouth and laughed while looking at Reinhardt.

“How do you feel?”

“It’s like an angry kettle.”

The white length of hair soaring from her head was like a boiling kettle.

“Get some rest today. This is an order from the village chief of Lizaira.”

“… … yes.”

At Luna’s words, Reinhardt carried a pickaxe and a shovel on his shoulder as he walked along the slippery mountain path.

“It’s not something to do in the winter. Haven’t you ever thought of that?”

Luna, who was quietly walking ahead, said.

Of course, Reinhardt knew what he was talking about.

Clearing the land, of course, was not something to be done in the winter.

It was a work that had to be done at a time when the land was thawing and sowing was to be done.

However, as if arranged, Reinhardt had to do the hardest thing to do in the hardest time.

“That’s why it’s better.”

Reinhardt followed Luna while wearing a shovel and pickaxe.

If it was easy, the price would follow easily, but it meant that there was a lot to gain by doing difficult things at the most difficult time.

“I’m glad you think so. I was worried that you would think that I entrusted you with hard work just to annoy you.”

“… … Wasn’t it like that?”

At Reinhardt’s words, Luna walked ahead and sighed.

“Yes, I know now that you are a crooked fellow in this way. But unfortunately, I can’t say that I never had any intention to bully her. It is true that I had a little desire to play tricks.”

“I know very well that, surprisingly, my mother is a grumpy person in this way.”

Luna narrowed her brows at the words of Reinhardt, who attacked her with a remarkably similar sound.

“… … You don’t lose a word.”

“You don’t even have to lose, do you?”

“You shouldn’t have opponents.”

Luna quietly walked ahead as if she didn’t want to deal with her anymore.

It was so snowy that it was difficult to walk, and the heavy snow continued to fall, so our steps were slow.

Luna quietly says how long she must have walked through the snow.

“Aren’t you worried about things outside?”

From a certain point on, Reinhardt focused only on what he had to do as if possessed and did not mention anything about the outside world.

So it was to the point where Luna had to ask.

“You told me to believe.”

“It did. clearly.”

“If something goes wrong, I try to think it’s all my mother’s fault.”

“… … .”

At Reinhardt’s sudden bullshit, Luna stops and looks back at Reinhardt.

Luna’s eyes narrowed as she looked at Reinhardt.

“How did you get peace of mind? Was it such a reversed attitude? Are you determined that if something goes wrong, it will all be my fault?”

“Even if you go to Moro, you only have to go the way you need to go, right? Thinking like that makes me feel comfortable, so I decided to think that way.”

“ha… … .”

“If things go wrong later, I will resent my mother for the rest of my life. I want you to know.”

“Judging from how you’re acting like this, you’ve been in Lizaira for a long time.”

At Luna’s words, Reinhardt giggled.

“I’ve been there for a long time.”

Reinhardt sees the snow piled up on the branches falling in torrents.

I stayed in Lizaira until the seasons changed twice.

“I’d like something hot for dinner tonight.”

“… … Seeing as he gets more and more cocky, he must have gotten used to it.”

– Right!

“Yuk!”

Following Reinhardt’s words, Luna, who fed the honey chestnuts, clicked her tongue.

“Don’t get too used to Lizaira.”

Luna walks still and adds.

“Shouldn’t you leave someday?”

I have to leave.

Reinhardt’s expression stiffened at Luna’s words that seemed to draw a line.

We must leave Lizaira as soon as possible.

However, at some point, the feeling of not wanting to leave Lizaira was embedded in a corner of her heart.

Luna’s words just made me realize.

* * *

I don’t know much about rural life, but I learned that the winter in a mountain village freezes the life of the residents just as the ground freezes.

Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to say that in a place with four seasons, life in a mountain village is to endure winter, the season when everything freezes.

All acts of making preserved food and storing grain are close to preparing to endure the winter when food is not available.

Therefore, the amount of activity of residents during this period is extremely low.

It means that there is no such thing as a person like me who is clenched and doing something like I am obsessed with something.

Winter was a long rest period, but at the same time it was an anxious time waiting for it to end quickly.

Of course, Lizaira was not an ordinary farming village, and the residents had a very strong livelihood, so there was no food problem at all.

Firewood for the winter?

I made enough of it this summer to last until next year.

In the firewood warehouse in the village, there is a huge pile of firewood that I have chopped and dried well by the residents.

People start a fire with the firewood they have made during the previous season and grind the food they have stored, waiting for the frozen ground to melt and a new spring to come.

But now it was snowing heavily, so people were busy clearing the snow.

“After a while, go up on the roof and clear some snow.”

“You told me to rest.”

“… … .”

no.

That’s right!

You told me to take a break, but you’re trying to get me to work as soon as I get back?

Luna’s mouth starts to come out slowly.

Look at this.

this.

I honestly have nothing to say, so look at me trying to be mad.

“Okay, rest. If the roof collapses because of too much snow overnight, you who sleep on the second floor will be hurt the most.”

“Mother, you know what? Are you pretending not to be such a small person?”

“Nothing. I know.”

It’s the most petty thing to say that I know in a calm way.

“In the past, I thought my mother and Ellen had the most similar faces, but did you know that their personalities are more similar?”

“… … personality?”

At my words, Luna tilted her head as if she was hearing this for the first time.

“yes. It’s also the case that when you run out of things to say, you pout out and say whatever you do quietly.”

“I don’t want to admit it, but according to your usual words and actions, you are swearing at your mother-in-law and your wife at the same time. What a great son-in-law.”

“Something like this. You’re going to be pissed off like this.”

“Yeah, you have a great knack for making someone hot. It’s wrong, so let’s not talk about it.”

It’s clear to me that I’ve been in Lizaira for a long time in that I’m having a conversation like this calmly.

We walked along the road where people had cleared the snow. It was snowing continuously, so the accumulated snow would have to be cleared again.

When will this snowfall stop?

“Are they really alike?”

That was what Luna suddenly said.

“It looks like you.”

People wouldn’t know that we look alike.

Maybe he was thinking about what he said about his personality.

Looking at Luna’s expression, it was nice to hear that she looked like Ellen, so she was smiling.

“Isn’t it strange that parents and children look alike?”

“Hmm. I guess so.”

Luna continues to laugh.

“But wouldn’t that make it even more mysterious?”

“An existence that resembles me and resembles me. But the fact that a being that is absolutely not me can originate from me.”

“That a being that originated from me, but cannot be me, is born and lives.”

“How beautiful it is.”

“I find it so strange and lovely sometimes.”

I didn’t quite understand what Luna was saying.

Maybe it’s because I don’t have children, or Luna might be thinking of a completely different dimension.

“Why do you like Ellen?”

It was a sudden question.

I don’t know what the snow has to do with it, but Luna and I had more conversations than usual today.

Why do you like Ellen?

It had been in Lizaira for quite some time, but it was a story she had never mentioned before.

I’ve been avoiding this topic because I know I’ll have to confront Ellen someday, and Ellen’s father, Ronan, too.

Why do you like Ellen?

I’ve been thinking about it for a long time, and sometimes I do it alone, but I can only say one thing.

“… … I do not know.”

I can’t honestly say that from a certain moment, a certain incident became the decisive moment.

I don’t know either.

There was nothing I could say other than that it just happened at some point.

“That is a satisfactory answer.”

“I’m not sure if that was a good answer, but I’m glad if it is.”

“Are you saying that we spend so much time together that we can’t really explain it properly?”

“that is… … . Will that happen?”

“Nothing.”

Luna walks quietly with a smile on her face.

What is going to happen in the future and how is it going?

Just having a good past without a good future wouldn’t be okay.

– Wow! wow!

-help me!

People are in the middle of clearing snow, but children who don’t know anything about it were just having fun making snowmen and throwing snowballs.

Staring contest.

and snowman.

Then, something naturally came to mind.

“I once made a snowman with Ellen.”

“… … okay?”

“It’s not a snowman, but a human-shaped snow sculpture that looks very much like a human… … . To put it bluntly, I made something that looked like human eyes, and when I asked what it was, my brother and I said we always made it that way.”

“Haha yes. I used to do that because both of them were unusually dexterous with their hands.”

Luna laughed, as if recalling memories from long ago.

It wasn’t until after I said it in words that I suddenly felt regret, wondering if it was okay for me to talk about Lagann Artorius.

“Arta and Lena also followed suit. Lena said she couldn’t do it at all and gave up, and Arta tried to make a better snowman than Ellen, but stayed up all night and caught a bad cold… … . That’s why Lagann helped Arta build a snowman… … . okay… … . such a thing… … .”

Luna quietly smiled and said.

“A time like that… … . there was… … .”

It was a vague voice that seemed to feel sadness and joy at the same time as it recalled memories of a long time ago.

“sorry.”

At my words, Luna looks back at me.

“It reminded me of good memories, so why should I be sorry for that?”

Luna walks quietly.

“Thank you, Reinhardt.”

I felt like I was recognized as a family from Luna at some point.

I don’t know when or when this happened.

But at some point, it became that way.

As if I didn’t know that moment of clarity.

Luna wouldn’t have known that either.

What if Ellen was here?

I wish I had.

One winter day with heavy snowfall.

I couldn’t help but smile bitterly when I imagined a picture that couldn’t exist.