I Tried To Be Her Loyal Sword

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3 Chapter

Surely, today I said a bit too much. Deceit, mocking. It was already a surprising situation that the Vice Minister, El, did not strike back at my rudeness.

“I-I’m sorry. I will definitely call you El from now on.”

Flustered and not knowing what to do with the tears welling up in his eyes, I hurriedly pulled out tissues from the box beside me and handed them to him. I must have taken out dozens. I worried that the gentle El might have gotten hurt.

‘Come to think of it, I’ve become quite comfortable with El.’

As I anxiously watched El, I realized that revealing my beliefs to him without hesitation and worrying about his wounds was proof that I regarded him fondly.

‘What… are you doing right now?’

‘Yes? You told me to sit, so I did.’

‘I meant for you to sit on the chair. Why… are you kneeling on the floor?’

Suddenly, the memory of my first meeting with El surfaced. That day, which had been so confusing.

When I received a message through the Mercenary Guild that El wanted to make a deal with me, I had first visited Helene, feeling quite intimidated by the magnificent buildings.

‘Nobles and commoners must not sit together.’

At that time, I, as a commoner mercenary, had grown accustomed to the tyranny of the nobles. No matter how much I was hailed as a hero, and one of the three Sword Masters in the Empire, to the nobles, I was just a common mercenary.

Most nobles felt an exhilarating satisfaction seeing me grovel before them. I had to fulfill their wretched desires for money, and I thought El might have called me for that kind of satisfaction too.

‘Oh, please… don’t do this, please.’

I still remember the embarrassment from that time. El looked at me kneeling before him with eyes full of despair, crying like a child.

Caught in a state of utter panic at the sight of a man I had just met bursting into tears, I had awkwardly hugged him to comfort him. Now that I think back on it, El and I had a strange relationship right from our first meeting, having hugged each other.

‘I-I wanted you to be happy… why are you showing me this? You should show your dignified self; you are that kind of person!’

El, who was mumbling unfathomable words, did not object to my rudeness at all. In fact, given his build, it felt like I was the one embracing him.

I still remember that day when El looked at me with tear-filled eyes. The dense scent of lilies hanging in the air as we grew closer. The silver eyes shimmering with a light that was almost obsessive despite being filled with tears.

Even though his gaze was a bit strange, El, despite crying, was endlessly beautiful.

A pure embodiment of divine and innocent goodness. An infinitely delicate and weak being. Like the wings of a butterfly that looked beautiful in the sky but shattered with a mere touch.

Yes. When I first saw El, I thought he looked like an angel.

‘Never kneel before me. Don’t bend or lower yourself. I am neither a noble nor, above all, your slave. I’m just like you, so please just be yourself in front of me.’

At that moment, I felt it. This client was an endlessly kind and gentle person. Although there was a sense of déjà vu, as if I had known him for a long time, I could not suspect him. He was just too good of a person.

‘I need to keep my distance from the client… but I’ve already made him a unique exception.’

I sighed heavily in my heart. I had grown far too close to El. He was a precious friend to me.

‘I wonder if he got hurt…’

El, occupying such a high position as Vice Minister, seemed too kind-hearted to believe. I worried that my words might have hurt him substantially.

As I sat stiffly while keeping a watchful eye, El, wiping his eyes with the tissues I had given him, smiled faintly. The redness around his eyes was so alluring that I slightly averted my gaze.

“Even though we are client and contractor… I still want to get a little closer to you, Shushu.”

As El, still gazing at me with slightly watery eyes, slowly covered my hand with his, I felt the warmth of his large hand. His gaze, assessing my expression, seemed to check if I was uncomfortable.

‘I guess I’m used to this level of intimacy now.’

Even though I wasn’t someone used to a lot of physical contact, holding hands with El felt surprisingly pleasant. Nodding slightly in agreement, he held my hand to his cheek. Although the palm touching me was not a warm cheek but a cold mask, it felt strange.

“You must call me El. I want to be called that by Mir.”

El’s eyes sparkled brightly. I always thought so, but he truly had a face of pure innocence that did not know evil at all.

Perhaps the warmth that transmitted from his warm hand reached my ears, as I felt my cheeks slightly flush and nodded.

“Why not eat some more?”

“I’m fine.”

After a brief commotion, we moved on to the meal. Similar to every time at Helene, the food laid out felt too precious for me to think I could eat it.

“Don’t forget to grab some food at the counter on the way out.”

El kindly reminded me. Concerned about my skinny figure, he regularly packed extra food to give me whenever we met.

At first, I had refused out of embarrassment, but I reluctantly accepted when he said he’d send the head chef to me every day if I didn’t.

‘I’m fine, but I hope Aria got some too.’

The food from Helene was all delicacies. Even Aria, who usually didn’t eat much, nibbled at Helene’s food, and now she was at a point where she had to beg for it if I said I wouldn’t give her any. After all, I had no pride left.

“Thank you… always.”

“I should be the one thanking you. I’m grateful for allowing me to carry out the Lord’s great will.”

El, with a radiant smile, looked like a shining sun. I couldn’t help but feel my heart swell with warmth, as he seemed like the benevolent Sun God manifest.

Watching the waiter clean up the table, I carefully wiped my hands with the wet towel prepared at the dining table.

“Are you ready to go?”

I asked casually, and El nodded with a bright smile. I pulled a chair and sat next to him.

“Will you hold my hand?”

Extending my hands in front of El, he shyly accepted my hand.

His large hand easily covered mine. The heat from his hand filled me, warm like a flame of the Sun Temple.

The most absurd moment in our strange transaction was right now.

‘If you want to pay me back, could you hold my hand?’

During the third transaction, I had asked if there were any rewards I could give him since I felt guilty for receiving excessive compensation and received this answer.

Holding hands was nothing to me, so I silently accepted, and since then, every time we met, we added a bit of hand-holding time.

‘Could it be that life in the temple is quite lonely?’

El, asking a mere mercenary like me to hold his hand, seemed quite lonely. After all, the priests I had encountered before meeting El weren’t the best people.

‘Perhaps, like that child.’

I bit my lip, recalling past memories.

A few years ago, I rescued a boy who was being bullied in the temple. A boy with dead black eyes. Perhaps because of that incident, my perception of the temple wasn’t exactly positive.

‘…I wonder how he is doing.’

In truth, my memories of that boy weren’t the happiest. If anything, they were a bit sad and bitter. Slowly blinking my eyes, I looked up at El.

Our eyes met as he continued to gaze only at me. The only glimmering thing visible behind his mask was his shining silver eyes.

Different. The black eyes, which seemed to embrace all the misfortunes of the world, were nothing like El’s kind and innocent, sparkling silver eyes. El, endlessly kind, was worlds apart from the dirty character who had lived in the alley.

‘But why do they overlap so much?’

Perhaps the reason I had so easily opened my heart to El, who was so guarded, was that very fact.

Because the child and El looked too similar.

“El. Is there anyone in the temple bothering you?”

I posed that question impulsively.

El’s expression instantly hardened. His grip on my hand tightened.

“No one in this world can harm me anymore, Mir.”

In that moment, the shockingly cold voice that slipped between his lips took me by surprise. Realizing my expression, El quickly smiled in alarm.

“Oh, I… it’s nothing. I’m okay. No one is bothering me.”

It was evident that his decisive voice sounded quite rigid. It was a strange reaction.

‘He must dislike talking about this.’

However, I didn’t want to pry into something El wanted to keep hidden. Nodding calmly, I wiggled my captured hand. El blinked a few times and let out a deep breath.

“I always wait for this moment. Do you know?”

His low, sweet voice whispered close to my ear. I felt a bit strange.

“You’ve hurt yourself again.”

Looking down at my hand, El whispered, sounding upset.

‘Is this still not healed?’

When I had stumbled and recalled my past life, my palm had grazed the ground, leaving a small cut.

‘Normally, a Sword Master would have healed such a wound immediately.’

Though I was a Sword Master, my recovery abilities and defenses were significantly lacking. I had become a Sword Master through monster hunting without any training or strength training, so my attacking power was exceptionally high.

‘It’s like putting all my stats into attack in a game, I guess.’

With a sigh thinking about my easily fatigued body, El’s hand erupted in a silver light. Shielding my eyes from the dazzling sight, I engraved the miraculous scene of my wound healing in my mind.

‘If only I could use divine power to heal Aria too…’

I bit my lip. I had tried everything to cure Aria’s illness, including divine power.

Generally, healing at the temple was only possible for nobles. To allow a commoner to get such treatment would require an astronomical amount of money.

‘For the young lady… divine power doesn’t work on her at all.’

The priest I could barely meet with the little money I could gather had said that.

Certain races, including fairies and beastmen, were completely immune to divine power, and even some mutants among humans couldn’t accept it.

Divine power was the symbol of the temple. If it became known that it didn’t work, it could lead to them being ostracized from the group. In the end, I had to spend even more money to silence that priest, achieving nothing.

“You really don’t have to always do this.”

Feeling awkward receiving the Vice Minister’s healing for something insignificant, I scratched my head, but he drooped his gaze.

“I want to do this, so can’t I?”

‘Ugh, really.’

I couldn’t spit out any words of rejection to El, whose eyes were clear and bright. I averted my eyes and quietly endured the healing.

‘It’s always amazing to see.’

Looking down at my palm, healed without a trace by divine power, I gazed out the window for a moment. The sun was already setting in the sky.

‘If I’m late, Aria will worry.’

“Thank you again today. May I take my leave now?”

El slowly blinked and, while smiling sadly, nodded his head.

“Of course. You must be tired, so go on and rest.”

El was a truly kind person. After smiling at each other, we gave a short bow.

“I will see you again next week.”

I took careful steps and opened the door. I felt a heavy gaze following me from behind.

The break was over.