Primodial Translation
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TFHITS Chapter 247
🕑 Added 2025-12-27 20:05:45 +0000 UTCOffense was more surprised than Serein’s parents were.
“Eh? What are you talking about?”
“You said your real parents never once called you their son. Not even in the end.”
“And?”
“What do you mean, ‘and’? If you die like that, you might carry regrets with you. So at least here, I want you to be called someone’s son.”
“N-no. These people aren’t my parents, though?”
At that, Serein lowered her head deeply.
Her ears had turned bright red as she muttered,
“They may not be your real parents, but they can at least become your father- and mother-in-law.”
“…….”
“Ugh, seriously. You don’t get it? I’m saying let’s get married!”
Offense was so shocked that he couldn’t reply at all for quite some time.
Only after a long while did he manage to say something back.
Even then, he didn’t quite remember what he had said himself.
But he could guess from Serein’s reaction.
“Jackpot!!”
“…….”
“Ahem. I mean, it’s not like I’m that happy or anything.”
“…….”
“Wait, now’s not the time. I’m going to go brag to Xenia for a bit. You just lie around somewhere appropriately!”
Serein vanished like a shooting arrow.
Offense stared blankly at her retreating figure and murmured,
“So happiness hadn’t abandoned me after all.”
A gentle smile formed at the corner of his lips.
***
Lisel was, as usual, preparing a meal for the people at the laboratory.
She was tasting a spoonful of well-seasoned soup when Bion came in.
With a face that looked oddly strained, she spoke.
“Lisel, I have one piece of good news and one piece of bad news.”
“Yes?”
“……Which would you like to hear first?”
“Uh, um.”
Having lived together with Bion for roughly ten years, Lisel had grown very close to her.
Close enough to joke around and tease each other like real sisters.
That was why seeing Bion set such a serious tone felt strangely rare.
Lisel answered carefully.
“The good news first.”
“We have found a way to make you human.”
“Wh-what? R-really? I don’t even know how to thank you……”
“Don’t. If you hear the bad news too, you might not feel like thanking me anymore.”
“……? What’s the bad news?”
Bion placed a hand over her chest and took a deep breath.
“You will have to be reborn into the world.”
Clatter.
Without realizing it, Lisel dropped her spoon.
“Could you explain that in more detail?”
“The current laws of the world recognize you as a half-spirit. In other words, half of you is nature itself.”
Bion continued her explanation calmly.
“To deceive the system, it seems the only option is for you to abandon this half-spirit body and be born into the world as a complete human soul.”
“…….”
“If we could just boldly add a new law the way Mide once did, this kind of hassle wouldn’t be necessary, but……”
“That’s impossible. Adding laws requires killing the Demon King, and there are no Demon Kings left.”
Bion nodded.
Lisel opened her mouth with a somewhat wistful expression.
“If I’m reborn as a human in the world, I will lose all my memories, won’t I?”
“……The memories you lose can be taught to you again by Mr. Mide or others. Of course, I could teach you too.”
“But those would just be memories I heard about. Not ones I know through experience.”
“…….”
“The memories I made together with everyone as a member of the hero’s party would probably feel like listening to an old folktale.”
Bion lowered her head deeply.
Lisel thought for a moment, then continued.
“Bion. Do you know why I wanted to become human again?”
“…….”
“So I wouldn’t be left alone.”
“Pardon?”
“I think I can somehow endure even losing my memories. But if I’m reborn as a baby, the age gap between me and the other party members would be huge. Far bigger than it was with Adwin back then.”
Bion inhaled sharply.
She had worried only about the memories, never really considering that aspect.
Lisel went on.
“Everyone’s already well into their mid-to-late thirties now. If I were born as a baby at this point, they would all have lived thirty to forty years longer than me. We don’t know exactly how long each of us will live as humans, but realistically, they would all die thirty or forty years before me. Adwin might go about twenty years earlier.”
“…….”
“I don’t want that.”
Lisel had already experienced it once.
The experience of being left behind.
She herself did not age, while Grade grew old day by day.
“Of course, unlike 1,500 years ago, if I became human, I would age alongside them. But in the end, being left alone in the world wouldn’t change.”
“Even so, it’s only thirty or forty years. In that time, you could form new bonds in the world……”
“For someone like you who has stayed in the laboratory so long, it might feel like a fleeting moment. But my sense of time is still human. Even if I’m 1,500 years old, most of that time was spent asleep.”
Bion could only nod.
“Then what do you plan to do now?”
“Please let me go straight to the underworld from here. Timed to when the other party members’ lifespans end.”
“What?”
“That was actually the real reason I wanted to become human. I don’t want a life where I’m left alone anymore.”
“B-but……”
Reluctance showed on her face.
Even so, Lisel did not waver.
She looked straight at Bion and spoke.
“Actually, Bion, weren’t you thinking the same thing?”
“……!”
Bion inhaled without realizing it.
As Mide sometimes said, Lisel could be absent-minded most of the time, yet suddenly become frighteningly sharp.
That hadn’t changed since their laboratory days.
“I have heard that you already finished handing everything over to Trail a long time ago. What were you planning to do next? Return your body and be reborn into the world?”
“…….”
“No, right? You were planning to go straight to the underworld from here too. Timed to when the others’ lives ended.”
Bion remained silent for a long time.
Then she gave a small nod.
Lisel smiled gently.
And, to lighten the mood, she said playfully,
“Looks like you will have to suffer a bit longer.”
“Hah. Does that mean the research was misguided from the very start?”
“I’m really sorry. I should have been clearer about what I wanted.”
“No, it’s not that I don’t understand. When everyone else descended into the world and I was left alone in the laboratory, I cried and felt lonely countless times a day too.”
Lisel quietly patted Bion on the back.
Soon, as if she had regained her composure, Bion spoke with a gentle expression.
“This research might take quite a long time.”
“As long as it’s finished before the other party members end their lives.”
“That’s a heavy burden……”
“Hehe. Then, as an apology for burdening you.”
Lisel pointed at the soup.
“I will treat you to a delicious meal. Just like always.”
“Well, Lisel’s cooking is more than enough compensation. Shall we call the others too?”
“Yes. The soup will get cold.”
That was how their conversation ended that day.
Bion’s research continued with a new direction.
And then, after time passed once more.
Her research succeeded.
***
Neril and I arrived at the bosom of the world.
We had already come and gone from this place hundreds of times, yet it always felt mysterious whenever we arrived.
After waiting a short while, the other party members began to appear one by one.
Their faces bore clear traces of time.
Bion and Trail, who could be called the masters of this place, greeted us.
Trail spoke first.
“Welcome.”
“Where’s Idria?”
“It seems she deliberately made herself busy. She will show her face later.”
Then Xenia spoke up.
“Every time I see you, I think this, but why does your face never change, Neril?”
“I have been the same ever since my days as the Witch of Carnage. It’s thanks to the vitality I absorbed. Jealous?”
“N-not really.”
“If you want, I can teach you my secret too. I think I have made that offer more than once, haven’t I?”
Xenia shrugged.
“Honestly, I thought about it a lot, but I have decided to just grow old with the flow of time.”
Then Adwin cut in.
“Exactly. And to begin with, something like the passage of years could never dull your beauty.”
“I told you not to talk like that in front of people, didn’t I?”
“I do try to be careful, but every time I see your face, I forget.”
“Ugh.”
When I first heard the news that Xenia and Adwin had become a couple, I was pretty surprised.
Apparently, working buried under piles of paperwork together and suffering through it all had made them grow close, or something like that.
Bion seemed to notice my thoughts and nodded as she spoke.
“Even back in our researcher days, Xenia was the one who kept Adwin under control while he roamed around so freely. After seeing the precedents with Mr. Mide and Neril, and Serein and Offense, I figured those two would turn out the same way.”
“Why didn’t you say anything sooner?”
“Things like this are more fun when they are revealed later.”
That was when Serein changed the subject.
“By the way, Neril. How are the kids doing?”
“The eldest is doing great in the Order of Guardian Knights. The second is learning magic from me. The third just got their first lover. The fourth and fifth are running around playing with the neighborhood kids.”
“I have said this so many times, but how did you end up with five……”
“We have got plenty of time to spare, so we paid a lot of attention to each other. Unlike you lot who are always buried in work talking about business.”
Then Offense spoke up.
“Serein. Don’t tell me you still haven’t given up.”
“No. Our kid would be lonely without siblings.”
“And on top of that, you probably want more than Xenia does. You have had this strange competitive streak for a while now.”
Serein snapped back sharply.
“That’s not it!”
“Think about our age. I told you we should have a second back then, but you said it wasn’t the time because the business was expanding.”
“What’s wrong with our age! What’s wrong with my age!”
“You sound like the old Neril.”
That was how we spent a long while reminiscing.
But as we talked, everyone kept glancing at my face for some reason.
Their expressions were cautious.
I let out a small laugh and said,
“What’s with you all. I’m fine now.”
“Mide.”
“It’s already been a month since my mother passed away.”
That’s right.
My mother passed away last month.
Not from illness or an accident, but simply because her lifespan had come to an end.
She closed her eyes as if she were sleeping.
When we checked on her condition the next morning, Neril cried so hard that I didn’t even have time to grieve myself.
“I wonder if she is solving her matter with Father in the underworld.”
“…….”
“I’m really fine, I told you. Relax your faces.”
Little by little, everyone smiled again and spoke.
“Mm. Well, I did say this at your mother’s funeral, but… familiar faces really are starting to leave the world one by one.”
“Ophelia’s father passed away a few years ago too. My father has been having trouble moving lately.”
“The Emperor left a long time ago. It feels like just yesterday that Xenia said she liked the new Emperor because he listens well.”
“Our parents haven’t been doing well physically these days either. How about your parents, Serein?”
“……I don’t think they have long. I already made them stop writing reflection letters five years ago.”
Then Lisel spoke.
“When do you think you will die?”
“…….”
“Ah! I’m not trying to curse anyone. It’s just that Bion and I need to prepare according to that too.”
“You said you and Bion would go straight to the underworld from here, right.”
Back then, we had tried to stop them countless times.
We told them to just be reborn as humans and enjoy the world, but they absolutely wouldn’t listen.
Anyway, I asked Bion,
“Is there a way to find out how much time we have left?”
“There is. If you want……”
“No, never mind. Let’s not.”
“Hehe. Yes. I thought you would say that.”
Then Neril said something unexpected.
“I can tell.”
“What? How?”
“By gauging how much vitality is left in my body. It had been decreasing at the same rate for over two hundred years, so I thought I still had plenty of time left, but starting two months ago, it suddenly began to drop rapidly.”
“Ra-rapidly? Until when?”
“That’s a secret. I don’t want to make you anxious by telling you how much time is left. When it’s time to properly put my life in order, I will tell you then.”
Her words made me restless.
Neril let out a light sigh, then took my hand and spoke.
“But it’s still a long way off, so don’t worry.”
At that moment.
My name appeared in blood script above Neril’s head.
It has to be a lie. What she just said.
‘So it’s not much time left. Less than I thought.’
My chest suddenly churned.
I want to look through the Eye of Omniscience and see Neril’s secret.
I want to find out how many days she has left.
But if I did that, Neril would be genuinely furious.
I tightened my grip on her hand and said,
“Go on ahead to the underworld and wait for me.”
“It’s not like I’m dying today or tomorrow.”
“I’m just saying. Same goes for me. If I go first, I will be waiting.”
“Hehe. Of course you will.”
She looked around at everyone and continued,
“We all have to meet again there.”
Every member of the former hero’s party nodded in unison.
