# 271
Helmut
Episode 271
Helmut slowly refuted.
“That’s wrong. I had a sprout of darkness, and anyone with a sprout of darkness is a threat. “They are not like that.”
Even as he said it out loud, Helmut’s heart felt cold and he squinted. Yes. There must have been unavoidable circumstances.
However, the heartlessness of making that inevitable choice was bitter.
Helmut was also heartless, but only towards his enemies. Being abandoned by those whom one could not be merciless was indescribably cruel.
If forgiveness means forgetting what happened to me, Helmut will probably never know forgiveness for the rest of his life.
[But they are weaker than you. And you might have been lucky enough to come back to Pahe Forest, but they could have been killed without even getting that chance, right? If you come out of the Forest of Pahe alive, is there any guarantee that your sins will be forgiven or that it will still be valid? If humans find something annoying, they kill it first. I can protect you in the forest of Pahe, so it is safer here.]
It was a sound that was uncharacteristic of Elaga and grounded.
[Do you think I saved you all to die in vain? Don’t say anything. Helmut, it turns out I sent that guy away.]
‘I kept him alive for a hobby.’
Everyone thought so, but for Elaga, raising humans was a hobby she was quite attached to. We naturally develop attachment to the object of our hobbies.
“Then I just have to become stronger.”
Sarah said firmly.
“Elaga is right. I am weak and my mom is even more so. But when I get stronger…!”
[Even if you become stronger, you won’t be able to follow Helmut’s feet. Because he has the sprout of darkness and you don’t have it.]
“But still. “You can live by hiding your identity.”
[Helmut, he must have hidden it well too. You probably didn’t hide it? Then, when it was revealed, this is what happened. That’s not what you want.]
It was an unexpected insight. Helmut never said anything about what happened to him.
As Elaga said, there is danger. If Sera stands out in the human world, news may somehow reach those who accused her family of treason.
Even if you lived quietly, if you were with Susan, someone would recognize her.
Somehow the risk cannot be zero. It is a clear fact that the human world is more dangerous than the Forest of Pahe, where Elaga has great control and controls almost all variables.
But still.
Just as Susan was about to open her mouth to persuade him, Elaga lost her temper and turned around.
[If you want to decide whether to leave or not, do it! But don’t ask me to help you!]
He’s uncharacteristically strong. The three remaining people just watched Elaga leave. Helmut spat out after a moment.
“It would be difficult if Elaga didn’t help.”
“Even if it’s difficult for me, can’t Sarah still go out?”
“That’s possible. But Sarah is too young to go out alone.”
Twelve years old. Even in countries where child marriage is common, one cannot deny that she is young. It’s too early to leave your mother’s arms.
Helmut also left the Forest of Pahe at the age of fourteen. And Helmut at that time was incomparably stronger than Sera.
“There is no need to rush. “Let’s wait a few more years.”
“Yeah, I guess I was too anxious. “Elaga took care of us, but we didn’t even know how to be grateful… This place is so desolate.”
Susan looked visibly somber. Helmut looked at her face a little suspiciously.
It’s because I don’t understand why she, who lost everything, takes the risk of going out.
Helmut asked.
“Is it because life is uncomfortable?”
Elaga’s territory is safe and Susan knows it. So it may not be because of a threat to life.
As the daughter of a noble family who grew up comfortably, life here must be especially difficult as she has to find or make replacements for every single thing she needs. That assumption could be made.
Susan shook her head.
“There are things like that, but I’m human. Wouldn’t it be right for humans to live among other humans? No matter what risks and hardships come with it. I’m sorry Elaga, but I feel that Pahe’s Forest is not a place for me to live. Even though I live here.”
Susan added in a dejected tone.
“Helmut grew up in the Forest of Pahe, so he might be different from me.”
Helmut, who was about to answer yes, closed his mouth.
The air of Pahe Forest was familiar. The place where he grew up for over ten years. The sprout of darkness that dwells in him will feel like the forest of Pahe, full of demonic energy, is its home.
And yet, humans stand in the gaps between humans…. Why do those words cut particularly deeply into my heart?
It was that human who left him with a fatal wound that no monster could have given him.
‘I have no reason to leave the Forest of Pahe. No, really… isn’t there?’
Maybe I was just running away out of fear, buried in despair. I suddenly felt suspicious.
A memory was immediately brought up.
Darian. His words were always deeply engraved in Helmut.
Darian always spoke negatively about humans.
However, thinking back, Darian did not tell Helmut that he should not go out of the Forest of Pahe because humans are like that. I just told you not to lose yourself.
‘But I lost myself.’
If Elaga had not stopped him, Helmut would have run away and died.
Either because he was swallowed up by the sprout of darkness, or because he was killed by the ruler of another realm.
After a while, Helmut threw it away.
“…I don’t know.”
“yes?”
Susan looked at him with wide eyes. Helmut answered her succinctly.
“Let me talk to Elaga.”
Somehow, Sarah had disappeared somewhere.
*
[What! Why did you come here again? I’m not helping?]
Elaga, who was lying down in the cave and picking her fur, suddenly lost her temper as soon as she saw Helmut. Helmut asked directly.
“You just don’t want to let them go? “They like them more than me.”
It was Elaga who often complained to Helmut that he was not cute or cute. I would have liked a more gentle pet.
Helmut looked at Elaga intently and then spoke patronizingly.
“I’ll comb your fur if you want.”
While attending Greta Academy, I also learned knowledge about norms between parents and children.
Elaga is like Helmut’s adoptive parent. Since it’s not a human, there’s nothing else I can do for it, but I thought I could at least comb its fur.
Elaga looked suspiciously.
[Why do you care about them? He said he didn’t want to choose one of them and mate with them.]
Helmut answered calmly.
“Because I feel I owe it to them.”
Although Elaga told her to do it, Susan has paid a lot of attention to Helmut over the past four years. Even if there was nothing to do in Pahe Forest, preparing a meal every time would not be easy.
Not only that, they helped me sleep and gave me new clothes. Susan cared for Helmut with all her heart.
‘You said that when you look at me, you remind me of your younger brother who was a knight.’
Also, seeing Helmut in despair at first seemed like a pity for him. Like Susan, Sarah was also a great help to Helmut.
Because her tinkling voice always disturbed my ears and prevented me from thinking about anything else.
Sera was a particularly lively being in this forest of digs.
Elaga blurted out.
[I don’t like your hands because they look hard and dull. I would definitely end up tearing out my precious fur while brushing.]
That was an unfair assessment. Helmut, who accepted it as a dismissal, raised his eyebrows.
“I’m a prosecutor. I’m good at everything that uses my body. “Or give it a try.”
It was a firm tone, as if he wanted to prove his abilities. Elaga immediately frowned.
[The way you brush your hair is just disgusting. Fuck it!]
This was not what Elaga, who had asked him for aegyo, should say. Helmut asked after a moment.
“I just don’t like it. “Is there any reason?”
[As I said. You ended up like that too, but they are weaker than you.]
“No matter what danger there is, they want to go out. “Just like I did in the past.”
Helmut asked a question.
“And humans must live in a human land. “Didn’t Elaga know that and sent me away?”
[So you want to go out again?]
“…I can no longer be said to have a human body. But they are different.”
Elaga stared at Helmut.
[Because you have the sprout of darkness, passing through the sacred barrier must have been extremely painful. You risked your life, but you came back after being treated like that. Do you have any regrets?]
The question was surprisingly close to the essence. It felt like something was opening inside me. Like light shining through clouds.
After some time passed, Helmut came up with an answer.
“I don’t regret it.”
A clearer answer.
Even though despair found him in the end, everything he had experienced before was still alive and breathing inside Helmut.
It still was.
Elaga, who was looking at Helmut blankly, quickly nodded. As if Helmut’s answer convinced him.
[Well, then, think about it. As I said, I’m thinking about it! It absolutely does not mean that I will help you!]
Helmut knew that Elaga’s words ultimately meant consent. Because he’s a leopard who always talks like that.
*
The four party members, including Area, were caught up in unexpected hardships.
So, it wasn’t the kind of hardship I thought it would be when I first entered the Forest of Pahe.
Didn’t you come prepared that you would have to fight against monsters and overcome the danger of life and death in a tense atmosphere?
At least for now they are not in danger. But it was dangerous in another sense. In terms of mental health and blood pressure.
[Ah, are your legs stiff? Let’s take a little rest.]
Ygrel was a bird. A colorful bird that frequently sets schedules and behaves as it pleases.
It was incomprehensible why he insisted on going on foot for a new subject, but Igrel often showed signs of being tired, using the excuse that he usually flew.
Even though his entire body was full of demonic energy, he would not be allowed to get tired.
[I need to take a nap. You guys get some rest too. You’re a weak human being, so you shouldn’t overdo it.]
It’s not enough to say it patronizingly and scratch your insides.
[That’s it for today. Come on, let me trim my feathers. I think I walked too long and the luster on my feathers has disappeared. This is why you shouldn’t sit on the ground for a long time, tsk tsk. I feel like I have become a lowly street animal.]
He was treating the humans who were with him like servants.
Asuka, the most patient, cursed all sorts of things in her mind.
‘You damn bird. Are you kidding? ‘Pluck off the head and throw it away!’
However, Ygrel’s hair was thick and surrounded by demonic energy, so it seemed unlikely that Asuka’s sword could cut it.
Area calmly assessed the current situation.
“The progress is slow, but at least it’s not dangerous. “There is almost no need to use magical power.”
Since you cannot shake off Ygrel, you will have to accept the little trials he gives you.
Even though it may not be acceptable.
Sian pointed out.
“But if things continue like this, it will take several months to reach the central region.”
“Okay, then we need to find a solution.”
A radiance passed through Area’s purple eyes.
