Raising Yanderes to save the world

Chapter 108: Ch 107: A taste of betrayal

The cannons made a loud noise, and the blast sent Kael flying. The pain from his wounds hurt much more than he expected, and he hardly had any access to magic left.

But Kael was a Grand Master, and magic was in his instincts. His magic reacted to him being in danger and slowed his fall. At the same time, it exploded over the war he had just tried to stop, and the armies that were celebrating suddenly looked up at the magic cloud.

"What’s that-?"

Someone questioned, only to instantly die. And he was not the only one.

People began to drop one by one without any cause, and that resulted in people beginning to panic and run away.

But it was too late.

Kael took out both armies, leaving only a few witnesses behind to act as messengers.

Unfortunately, because of this, his own whereabouts were unknown as well, and the council as well as the temple decided to declare him as ’missing in action.’ It was their fancy way of telling the world that Kael was dead.

...

"Hey, is this a human? He feels...weird. Elena, do you want to take a look? Hurry, help me bring him back to the village."

Elena looked at the almost dead body in front of her with a complicated expression on her face. She knew that she needed to help the stranger, but her limbs would not move.

In fact, she seemed to have no will to live.

So her friend sighed and decided to hit her on the back.

"You are useless. Just go and get someone else to help us out. Since we found this body, we might as well save him. And even if we are not able to save him...we can still make use of him."

Elena’s friend spoke softly, and she nodded before she got someone to follow behind her. This man was a bulky person, and he easily picked Kael up and took him back to their village for treatment.

Kael was deathly pale, but his complexion still looked better than that of the people in the village, who were unnaturally pale.

The only exception to this rule was Elena, who had a healthy glow on her face. But that made her stand out and be bullied by the people of the village even more.

She had become their personal stress-relief toy.

So it was only natural for her to be bullied into looking after Kael as well.

Elena did not even get to protest when she was handed all the tasks related to Kael, and the others left her alone. It made her look at the door with longing in her eyes, but she quickly turned back toward Kael soon enough.

After all, she needed to make sure Kael was safe and alive.

Outside the door, the sounds of laughter and cheer echoed. It made Elena feel alone, making her want to join the celebration.

She wanted to join as well, but she had no courage to do so. And the reason behind it was the voice in her head.

’You do not belong on that side. Do not open the door and immerse yourself in the false mirage. Everyone is already gone...’

The voice whispered, and Elena felt her heart skip a beat. Memories threatened to flash before her wide-open eyes, and Elena immediately shook her head to try and get rid of them.

"That is not true! These memories...they are not true! I refuse to believe such a thing! I-"

’Whether you want to believe it or not is up to you. But even your subconscious knows that you are trying to cling to false hope. It’s better to give up than to keep living in an illusion.’

The voice warned once more, and Elena felt trapped.

She felt her breath hitch, and her panic began to spread. She would be in trouble at this rate, and she-

...she heard Kael take a deep breath, and she forced herself to focus on him.

This time, the voice in her head did not say anything, and she curled up beside Kael. Finally, she felt like she had true silence.

"I am not going to fall for the voice that wants to drag me down. These people outside...they love me. They respect me as well. They are just distant because they...have other priorities, and I am not a good person. But I am working on it. My doctor is telling me what I should do..."

Elena tried to justify what was happening. She was desperate to be acknowledged, even if she knew that it was not the right thing for her to do.

The voice remained silent, causing her to let out a sigh of relief.

She had a feeling that the voice was being cautious of the stranger in her bed. He had an air of familiarity around him that made Elena feel safe.

"It’s alright. Everything is alright. This is all just a dream. No one hated me. Things have always been this way for me."

Elena tried to justify things until she felt her eyelids growing heavy, and she fell asleep as well.

As soon as Elena fell asleep, the noise outside fell silent as well. But she was not able to notice such a thing and slept uneasily.

But she was not the only one who was uneasy at the moment.

The news of Grand Master Kael’s disappearance and the end of the first demon-vs-human war was declared at the same time. People were suspicious of the claim, unwilling to believe it. But they were forced to after it was officially announced.

This news reached Seraphina, Leon, and Iris just as quickly, and their moods changed.

"We need to head back right now. That idiot might even get himself killed because of his carelessness."

Leon gritted his teeth, and the other two looked conflicted.

"B-But we are so close to the destination Kael told us about. Should we not help Lyra first before heading back?"

Seraphina asked, but her voice contained a longing to head back as well.

Even Iris looked conflicted.

"We should finish what Kael asked us to...but he’s missing...and another war might break out at any second, which means we need to be more careful, and searching for Kael will become harder-"

There was a conflict of interest within the group, but the one who forced them to continue was Lyra. She grabbed Leon’s pants and tugged on them in an obvious sign.

It made Leon take a deep breath and gather himself.

’That’s right! It’s the demon queen. We will need her help to stop the war and find Kael. I guess...we have no choice but to do as Kael asked us to.’

Now, he needed to explain this to his group in a way that would not make them question him.

And that...was the easy part.