I Don't Want To Work! - Chapter 160

CHAPTER 160

“You, are you an idiot?” 

My voice flowed sharply. 

“Even if I die, you have to live properly! There must have been more than one person willing to take you away, considering you’re good-looking and talented.” 

Lionel lightly smiled and nodded his head. 

“Why didn’t you go with them!”

“Well, if I left that house empty, it seemed like there would be nowhere for my master to return to.”

Even now, if one house becomes empty, someone will take it over or it will collapse. 

“If it becomes someone else’s house or if there’s no house at all, I thought my master would be sad when she returned.” 

“…” 

I exhaled softly. 

I managed to suppress the voice that seemed like it would become sharp. 

“I thought you would live well.” 

I continued without looking at Lionel. 

“I honestly thought you didn’t like me very much.” 

“That’s not true.”

“Listen.” 

I pressed Lionel’s pouting lips with my finger. 

“And you’re talented, and you said you would come after me.” 

So I thought he would live well. 

I thought he would quickly accept my death and find his way out of that house. 

But. 

“What if you just waited alone in an empty house…” 

The thought of a child alone in an empty house, waiting for only me, was heartbreaking. 

I wiped away tears with the back of my hand. 

“Please don’t cry, master.” 

Lionel wiped away my other tears and smiled. 

“In the end, we met again, right? That’s all that matters.” 

“Huh?” 

“That house, it’s still there.” 

“What??” 

The tears that were about to come out retreated at the astonishing fact. 

“Our old house is still there?” 

“Yes.” 

Lionel nodded with a smile. 

It was like the face of a dog expecting praise. 

“I bought all the land around there and preserved it well. Let’s go together later, master.” 

“It must have been difficult.” 

“I’ve never been more grateful to be a skilled mage than at that time.”

Trying to preserve an entire house required immense mana. 

Lionel laughed. 

“Let’s go together after everything is done, master.” 

Lionel quietly took my hand. 

“There was a sea nearby, did you know?” 

“There was a sea?” 

I lived for over 20 years and didn’t know that. 

“You probably didn’t know because you had to cross a forest.” 

“Well, back then, walking was the only option.” 

Carriages were out of the question, mules were expensive, and horses were even more so. 

Cows weren’t suitable for riding. 

And I was a real human back then, so crossing the forest was a big adventure. 

So I couldn’t have known. 

“I built a wonderful villa there. Let’s go together, master.” 

“Okay.” 

I nodded firmly. 

“When summer comes, let’s go see the sea together.” 

My response made Lionel close his eyes and smile brightly. 

“But you know, Lionel.”

Since the story had come up, it was time to relieve the question that had been on my mind for the past five years.

“I have one question I’m curious about.”

“Please, go ahead.”

“How did you know I would come back to life?”

Certainly, when I saved Lionel and died in my first life, Lionel didn’t give me any assurance that he would follow.

“I didn’t tell anyone about that.”

Although the Higher Power didn’t explicitly instruct secrecy, I instinctively knew it wouldn’t be beneficial to spread it around.

So even after experiencing hundreds of lives, it was extremely rare for someone like me, who know I was the Wanderer.

Although it seems like I’ve met a lot of them lately, but well.

“So how did you know?”

“Hmm.”

Lionel looked at me with a slightly embarrassed expression.

“Well, because I could feel the powerful aura of the divine…?”

“Huh?”

“I couldn’t put my guard up against you at first because of that. I was taken to a strange temple, and I could feel the divine power from the one who rescued me.”

“…You thought we worshipped the same god?”

“Yes.”

Lionel nodded.

“I feel like it’s somewhat different now, but when I was younger, I just felt the power of the divine.”

“…Wow.”

I admired Lionel.

“Ordinary people can’t feel that…”

To worship a deity, one needed the ability to sense divine power. 

But ordinary people couldn’t feel that power, so temples would continuously train children who showed potential from a young age to become priests.

It took about ten years of rigorous training to sense the divine power without any training. 

Having magical powers made one an Archmage, and becoming a priest meant becoming a high priest. 

This guy was a genius.

It was a sudden realization.

Lionel shrugged with a smile.

Feeling a bit irritated, I lifted my heel and gave him a light tap on the back of his head.

“Ouch.” 

He groaned, feigning pain disgustingly.

Trying to bite again.

“We’ve arrived, master.”

Lionel deftly dodged before the other side of his cheek could be bitten.

This guy?

“According to Achel’s mental information, the entrance is over there.”

There was nothing at the end of Lionel’s fingertip.

No, it’s not that there was nothing there, but rather, it was just like any other place, with dense trees, thick grass, and maybe a glint of wolves’ eyes.

“Hush!”

<Baaaa!>

Swish!

As we approached, Shu chased the wolves away with his stream of water.

“Is there nothing here?”

It was astonishing how nothing was visible. 

What’s going on here?

“Is this the right place? And Shu! Come back!! Don’t chase the wolves!!”

<Baaah…>

Perhaps playing with the wolves was fun, as Shu returned to me with both ears perked.

Shu, you’re the only one playing. 

They’re fleeing for their lives.

After patting his head once, I focused again on finding the entrance.

Anything peculiar? 

None.

Any suspicious spots? 

Still not visible.

‘Could there be an entrance underground?’

Although I did jump at the thought that the entrance to the human realm is connected to the roots of the World Tree.

“…….”

I just became a human who jumped.

“…Nope.”

By this point, I could confidently say that there was nothing here. 

No entrance existed here.

“Could the information be wrong?”

“I extracted it directly from my mind, so there shouldn’t be any mistakes. But maybe the entrance has changed in the meantime.”

“Um…”

“Did it hanged?”

“I don’t think so. High Elves are subtly stubborn and prideful. They don’t easily change what they’ve decided.”

Achel’s information would have been after the Titan tribe raided the village. 

So there would be no reason to change the location of the village.

“Hmm, wait a moment. Could it be around here?”

I meticulously examined each tree nearby, even though there were countless trees in the forest, making it difficult.

“I found it.”

As darkness descended upon the already dark forest, I could finally reap the harvest.

“So, this was the door.”

I chuckled as I touched what looked like an ordinary tree.

“This?”

“Yeah, come and touch it.”

“…It doesn’t seem strange, though.”

Lionel murmured as he touched it.

“The flow seems normal too.”

“That’s what makes it a door.”

I smirked.

“This forest disrupts the flow of mana. That’s why you couldn’t use magic.”

To be precise, in this forest, magic would either amplify or diminish as expected, or not work at all, among other side effects.

“That’s all because the forest’s energy interferes with the flow of mana. But it’s normal here.”

Which means one can properly execute magic.

“But what if it’s a trap? What if someone else set up a trap?”

“There’s no way.”

I replied confidently.

“Why? Because this magical formula follows the flow of the forest.”

It was once normal but became abnormal due to the forest’s energy. 

They researched the flow and restored it to normal.

“To do that, mere centuries of research weren’t enough. The flow of Cranis changes every time.”

Although there was a pattern, it would take at least a hundred years to figure it out.

In other words, only the long-lived races living in the forest could do it.

“So only the High Elves could.”

Thanks to Achel, the traps disguised as entrances by the High Elves would have been cleared out.

This was the entrance.

“Now, the problem is the key.”

It was unlikely that there was no lock hidden in the secret door.

“Wasn’t there anything else in Achel’s mind?”

Lionel shook his head. 

Just knowing the entrance was already a great harvest.

“Um, what could the key be? What could it be…”

I trailed off, glancing at one side.

“Or should I ask?”

I quickly turned around and looked up at the tree behind me.

“We’ve known you’ve been following us since earlier. Come down?”

Lionel didn’t react much, as if he already knew. 

But his gaze was fixed on the pursuer who had been following us since earlier.

“…”

It seemed hiding in the darkness of the tree was futile. 

Gradually, the silhouette became visible, revealing the figure of an elf wearing a black cloth that partly covered his face.

“Rude guests, we do not welcome you.”

It was the language of the ancient elves.

“Our land is only for our kin. Leave.”

Well, they know human language to some extent. 

That’s why they revealed themselves when I spoke. 

If they didn’t understand, they would shoot crossbows while saying, “We warned you.”

They’ll likely ignore my words and continue with their own.

“I’m not someone unrelated.”

But what to do about this?

“The Wanderer has come to meet your leader.”

I’m okay with speaking the language of the ancient elves, at least.