The Villainous Noble Who Kept Rewinding After Death: The Story Somehow Changed When I Committed Suicide

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The Villainous Noble Who Kept Rewinding After Death: The Story Somehow Changed When I Committed Suicide

Chapter 67: Not Giving Up

After receiving help from Fiera, I finally calmed down and distanced myself from her to sit down.

“Thank you for helping me, Fiera.”

“Don’t mention it.”

She said this while continuing to gaze out over the vast grassland.

“By the way, are you here alone today?”

“Nope. I came with Eir.”

“Oh? Then where is he?”

“Over there.”

It seemed that Fiera and Eir were currently separated, and Fiera was waiting for Eir to return.

“What in the world is he thinking, leaving a girl alone out here?”

A few minutes passed as Fiera and I sat quietly on the ground, when Eir returned with a puzzled expression.

“What’s this guy doing here?”

“I picked him up over there.”

Fiera gave a brief explanation about me, but feeling a bit embarrassed to admit I was running away, I lied and ended up digging myself into a hole by being called a lonely elf.

“I have friends! Look!”

In a rush to deny it, I summoned Dōna, and Eir looked at her with a slightly surprised expression.

Dōna spun around and greeted him, and to my surprise, she let Lewis touch her head.

(No way… Dōna is letting him touch her.)

Spirits generally have high pride and value the nature they protect very much.

As a result, they tend to dislike the various races that destroy nature, especially humans, of which many harbor strong dislike.

Dōna wasn’t particularly fond of humans either, and that’s why there were times she had refused to interact with people in other towns, making it impossible to form a party.

However, now she was being petted by Eir, looking almost happy about it.

(Maybe I can form a party with Eir and the others.)

It was possible I was resigning myself to the fact they had their own goals, but it was rare for Dōna to be this close, so I decided to speak up.

However, my request was easily declined, and it turned out the group I thought was the same rank as me was actually far stronger.

Still, I didn’t want to miss this opportunity, so I tried to show my worth, but before I could, Eir told me I was in the way, and I couldn’t say a word.

Thinking that Fiera might persuade Eir, I called her name, but Fiera seemed to comply with Eir’s judgment and didn’t say anything.

Having faced rejection multiple times already, my heart weakened, and pathetically, I began to cry right there. Eir, seeing me like this, sat down nearby and started talking.

“Hey, why do you want to go with us so badly?”

Eir seemed genuinely curious, asking casually, so I talked about the loneliness I had been feeling all along.

With Eir listening to my story, I held a faint hope that perhaps it would change something, but he rejected my request again with a serious expression.

When I asked him why, Eir posed a question to me.

“Let me ask you something. Are you afraid of dying? Are you willing to put your life on the line to become stronger?”

However, I couldn’t grasp the intent behind his question. I honestly answered that I was scared of dying and wouldn’t risk my life just to get stronger.

“Yeah, that makes sense. That’s the difference between you and us. We don’t fear death. When we fight, we always fight as if we’re prepared to die, having made up our minds that it could be any moment. We’d wager our lives just to become stronger.

But you don’t have that resolve. You’re not seeing things from the same perspective as us.

That’s the difference between you and us. Got it?”

He looked at me as if it was obvious, then began to share his thoughts, but I couldn’t understand or empathize with them at all.

As he turned his gaze away from my puzzled face, he glanced back at Fiera.

“If you want a companion like that, you’ll find one eventually. See ya.”

“Bye-bye.”

With that last remark, they disappeared deeper into the dungeon without looking back even once.

After Eir and the others left, I used the nearby teleportation magic circle to return outside the dungeon, wandering back to the inn I was borrowing.

In the quiet room, I sat on the bed, reflecting on Eir’s words.

“Prepared for death…”

The reason I left my country was to make friends and have adventures like the hero from a fairy tale, driven by loneliness to find companions.

I had no resolve to face death like they did; all I wanted was to live happily.

But when I thought about it normally, being an adventurer was a job that risked one’s life, always walking on the edge of death.

It wasn’t uncommon for a comrade you had laughed with yesterday to be dead by the next day, making me realize how naive my thoughts had been.

(Even if I can’t muster the resolve to face death, I need to at least acknowledge that I could die at any moment.)

Recognizing my naivety, I decided to tackle dungeon exploration from tomorrow with more awareness of the danger than ever before, and I went to sleep that night.

The next day, I began my usual dungeon exploration by teleporting to the fifth floor.

“Dōna, let’s do our best today too!”

As I summoned Dōna and spoke to her, she spun around to show her motivation.

Just when I was about to start walking with determination, the teleportation magic circle glowed, and a girl appeared.

“Hmm? Shuvi?”

“Oh? Fiera?”

It was Fiera, the one who helped me yesterday, but today she was in the dungeon all alone for some reason.

“Why are you here, Fiera? I thought you’d go to the tenth floor!”

“Hmm. I went to the tenth floor yesterday. But today I thought I’d start from the fifth floor since it’s just me.”

Sure enough, there was no sign of Eir, who should have been with her, and she had come here alone, fully equipped.

“What happened to Eir?”

“He had some things he wanted to check, so he decided to sleep in the room today.”

As Fiera said this, she shook her fluffy tail side to side with a strangely happy expression.

“I see. Aren’t you upset about being sent off on your own?”

“Not at all. Eir does what he wants when he wants and rests when he needs to. I want him to do what he wishes, so I don’t feel any resentment.”

There was a definite affection in her words for Eir, making it clear just how much she loved him.

That’s why I couldn’t help but wonder. Eir said yesterday that he didn’t fear death and was always prepared to die.

Did Fiera feel nothing about that?

“Hey, Fiera.”

“What is it?”

While we walked through the dungeon, I asked her what I was curious about.

“What did you think of Eir’s talk yesterday? I think he’s in a pretty dangerous state. He gives off this atmosphere like he wants to die. Do you feel nothing knowing your beloved might die?”

“I’ll be by Eir’s side, no matter what he wishes for or where he aims to go. Whether he’s fighting or lazing around, I’m always there. If he desires death, I’ll witness his death. Then I’ll probably die too.”

Fiera declared this without any hesitation, her eyes reflecting unwavering resolve.

“Aren’t you afraid of dying? You have family too, right? What will happen to them?”

“I feel bad for my family. But since life is only lived once, I intend to live as I wish. Moreover, I’m more afraid of losing Eir without ever knowing about it than of dying.”

“I… can’t understand.”

While I thought Eir’s way of thinking was abnormal, Fiera’s love was excessively heavy toward him, something I couldn’t grasp at all.

“I don’t want you to understand. Everyone thinks differently, and love takes many forms.

I just found someone who’s more important to me than my life. I just found someone I want to be with, even if it means wagering my everything. That’s all there is to it.”

(Someone more important to me than my own life…)

I had never liked anyone, and perhaps because my family was long-lived, my feelings of affection were weak.

So, I couldn’t comprehend Fiera’s notion of someone being more important than life itself, making me stop and ponder.

(I don’t know what it feels like to love… but being with Eir was fun.)

He might treat me roughly, but his cooking is great, and he takes care of me in his own way.

When I cried, he listened to me properly, and the time spent with him was a little enjoyable.

Also, for some reason, I felt that if I missed this encounter, I might lose something important in the future.

“Fiera. After thinking it over, I want to ask Eir again. It might be a bother to you, but I feel like I shouldn’t let this encounter slip away.”

“Hm. I don’t mind. We’ll be leaving this town the day after tomorrow, so it would be good if you could come by before then.”

“Got it!”

Later, after we defeated the monsters up to the tenth floor, Fiera and I used the teleportation magic circle to go outside and returned to our respective inns.

By the way, Fiera was overwhelmingly strong, and I could barely keep up with her movements—this was no surprise.