Report
Elena
A month had passed in the rural town of Oldor.
The woman who suddenly broke down the door was clearly an outsider—her appearance was too out of place for such a countryside.
A wide-brimmed hat sat atop her head, golden hair glistened in the light, and her skin was pale and flawless. Even her dress, which looked luxurious in both fabric and cut, had not a speck of dirt, and the shoes she wore were equally pristine.
"Why are you pretending you're not here?"
The woman stared at Yuri and repeated the same question.
Yuri couldn't respond. He just stared at the woman in a daze, struggling to grasp the situation.
Even though Oldor was a backwater town where lawlessness was rampant, it was still unusual for someone to barge in and destroy a door in broad daylight.
And it wasn’t some menacing thug who broke in—it was a beautiful woman, someone Yuri had never seen before in this small town. On top of that, she was scolding him.
"Could it be...?"
The woman's eyebrow twitched. Her blue eyes sparkled beneath her long lashes as her eyelids narrowed.
"You don't recognize me?"
Her voice, like her expression, chilled. Yuri, finally closing his gaping mouth, realized something.
Honestly, he hadn't recognized her. It couldn't be helped. The face he remembered was that of a 10-year-old girl. Even if she had grown, the difference between a 10-year-old and a 20-year-old was significant.
Besides, her entire demeanor had changed. The only things that remained were her blonde hair and blue eyes.
"I can't believe you don't recognize me."
With her saying that much, Yuri finally recalled her name.
"Elena."
In the last letter he'd received, Elena mentioned she would be leaving the magic tower for half a year to complete a fourth-class mission.
—I'll be waiting for your reply.
Those were the words at the end of her letter.
Yuri never sent a reply.
Neither did Elena. Even after more than half a year passed, there was no new letter from her.
And so, the thin thread connecting them, held together only by childhood memories, was severed. At least, that’s what Yuri believed.
In a letter before that, Yuri had already told Elena that she didn’t need to write him anymore. Though Elena had responded with a refusal, Yuri had already decided to end this "relationship."
The life of "Elena Heindel," as described in her letters, was so starkly different from his own life as a nameless orphan that it served only to remind him of his inferiority and stir up jealousy.
“Why are you here?”
Yuri never wanted to see Elena again. Even if she had been his childhood friend, she no longer held any significance for him. He didn’t feel jealousy or inferiority toward her brilliant life. He simply wished that she would remain a distant figure, or, better yet, disappear from his life completely.
He never imagined she would seek him out. “Was her fourth-class mission somehow nearby? Or had she come because I hadn’t replied to her letters?”
While Yuri's mind raced, Elena stood in silence, staring at him. She clutched the hem of her pure white dress before stepping closer with determined strides.
"Wait, hold on..."
Yuri instinctively felt wary of Elena's approach. His throat tightened with anxiety. The "Veil of Deception," a gift from the Lorellian Order, concealed his true nature. As long as it was in place, Elena couldn't sense his energy.
"Stand still."
Elena's sharp voice stopped him in his tracks. Despite her command, Yuri couldn’t simply stand there. He wondered if he should jump out of the window and run. But as he stepped back, something bumped against his leg.
It was the bed. The room was so small that even after just a few steps, he had already reached it. With his retreat blocked, Elena nodded as if satisfied.
With a flick of her hand, Elena gently pushed the air. In that moment, Yuri could see the mana shift, but simply seeing it didn’t mean he could avoid it.
“Gah…”
The mana pushed Yuri down onto the bed. He blinked in surprise, a bewildered expression on his face.
“Don’t move.”
Her cold voice carried a warning. Standing right in front of him, Elena boldly reached out and flicked her fingers against Yuri's worn, threadbare shirt. With a snap, the buttons popped open.
“What the… what are you doing?!”
Yuri, flustered, demanded an explanation. But Elena didn’t answer. She simply stared intently at his upper body with her wide, blue eyes.
Old scars marred his skin—burn marks, remnants from battles with the Black Serpent faction, had long since healed into new scars. Seeing the multitude of marks, Elena's eyes trembled.
“Ugh…”
Elena bit her lip, holding back a groan. She bowed her head, gripping her skirt tightly as she tried to steady her emotions.
“I received a letter from Mr. Gordon.”
What?
“He told me about your life after leaving the orphanage. How you joined some ridiculous, trashy group called the Black Serpent.”
“Damn it.” Yuri clenched his lips. “So that's why you had come—"she had received a letter from Gordon at the general store.
“I know your group was attacked. I know you barely survived.”
Elena's voice quivered as she spoke. She steadied herself with a few breaths before lifting her gaze to Yuri's body once more.
"You nearly died."
"It wasn’t that bad."
"It wasn’t that bad? Just because you didn’t suffer a fatal wound doesn’t mean you didn’t almost die. In the end, you were the only one who survived!”
—Crackle! Sparks flew as Elena’s emotions overwhelmed her, causing electricity to surge around her.
The magic tower Elena was affiliated with, Dersia, specialized in lightning magic, just like in the game. It made sense that Elena, having trained there, could control lightning.
“...Hah.”
Elena calmed her breathing, and the crackling electricity subsided. Pressing down her hair, which had been lifted by static, she glared at Yuri.
“What is all of this?”
“...”
“I knew you were involved in some shady business, but I didn’t think it was this bad. Nobody—neither Mr. Gordon nor the head of the orphanage—told me anything about what you were doing.”
Elena let out a hollow laugh, shaking her head.
“So, in the end, I was the only one who didn’t know. I had no idea what kind of life you were living.”
“You didn’t need to know.”
Yuri’s patience ran thin, and he returned Elena’s glare with equal intensity.
Over the past month, Yuri had already gotten a sense of his own personality.
“You’re living comfortably in the magic tower, so why should I bother telling you about my life?”
“What…?”
“Like you said, I’ve lived like trash. But so, what? What does it matter to you how I live?”
Yuri’s voice was harsh as he pushed Elena’s hand away and started buttoning his shirt with a smirk.
“You’re asking why it matters…?”
Elena clenched the hand that had been pushed aside. Blinking a few times, she steadied her expression and spoke.
