Editor: Areth Kyntaul
Half of one of the wheels blew up.
The impact of this sort of explosion where no light was emitted frightened my horse to the point where it dropped to its knee, causing me to get sent flying.
I’m going to scrape a layer of skin off if I don’t end up dead upon landing on the ground at this speed. However, I didn’t end up getting intimate with the ground. Instead, I landed nice and gently on the ground, while the grenade that got thrown suddenly vanished in mid-air.
I turned around to see mom floating in the sky as she watched the carriage down below with a menacing look. The horse carriage had lost half a tyre, and after a loud crack, it tipped to the left. Just as it was about to slam into the ground, what was like a thick cushion in mid-air stopped it.
I instinctively drew my long-sword from my belt as I saw the two coachmen go to stand up. I skewered them all the way through until my sword pierced into the ground like candied-haw.
Mom gracefully landed on the ground and slapped me hard before I could react, causing me to see stars. Mom then immediately pulled me into her embrace.
In her shaky voice, she softly said, “You scared mommy to death… you scared mommy to death… you stupid child… you stupid… why did you gamble your life away like this…! Mommy… what is mommy to do if something happens to you…? Didn’t you promise mommy you wouldn’t do anything dangerous…? Son… Son… don’t lie to mommy… don’t… don’t… what is mommy to do without you? …”
Mom cried loudly on my shoulders.
I hugged mom tightly.
Her legs were shaking and giving in. It looks like mom really was scared silly just now. It makes sense. After all, there’s no mother who wouldn’t lose it if she saw a grenade thrown at her son.
I promised mom I wouldn’t do anything dangerous, too.
As she cried loudly on my shoulder, I gently patted her back and softly said, “Sorry. Sorry, mom. I was wrong. I shouldn’t have made you worry like this… I was wrong… Sorry, mom…”
“Silly child! Silly child! Don’t do anything so dangerous… Didn’t mommy tell you to consider mommy? … What is mommy to do if something happens to you…? What is mommy going to depend on to live on…? Mommy told you to run when things got dangerous… and to be more considerate of mommy… think of mommy…”
Mom tightened her arms around me while patting my back with her powerless arms. She cried loudly while letting out her anxiety and fear. I believe mom was more terrified than I was at the time.
“Sorry… sorry… mom… I won’t do it again… I’ll be good… I’ll be good…”
Our bodies – down to every hair and bit of skin – are received by us from our parents, and we must not presume to injure or wound them. This is the beginning of filial piety. No matter how badly you may want to die, your mother will still be hurt and worried if you were to so much as scrape your skin. I must be the most un-filial son for going back on my promise to mom and getting into danger.
Mom hugged me for a long time before letting go.
I reached my hands out to wipe away mom’s tears.
Mom blinked her eyes, which were still filled with tears, before reaching her hand out to gently stroke my face. In her soft voice, she asked, “Does it hurt?”
“Huh?”
I gave her a dumbfounded look since I didn’t know what she was talking about.
“Mommy shouldn’t have hit you… It was just that… mommy was truly really scared… mommy… mommy doesn’t want to see you get hurt… so mommy overreacted… sorry, son… mommy shouldn’t have hit you.
Mom rubbed my face roughly. It didn’t actually hurt when she hit me. It was more like a wake-up call type of slap.
I smiled and shook my head gently. I replied, “No. Don’t worry, mom. It was my fault, to begin with. I caused you to worry so much.”
“Yes, it was your fault, son. So I want you to kiss mommy!” Mom stared at me angrily and then smiled as she closed her eyes.
The kissing practice of elves is really strange. They don’t do forehead-kisses or cheek-kisses. I sighed. I don’t think I can make mom upset again now. And so, I clasped her face gently and gently kissed her on her lips.
Mom moaned, and then wrapped her arms around my neck gently, cancelling out my “peck-and-run” plan. Now I had to kiss mom until she was satisfied.
Mom wasn’t giving me a simple kiss. She was sucking on my lips and tongue with everything she had like she does on full-moon nights.
After a looong kiss, Mom finally let go of me, wiped her mouth, and then looked at me with her still somewhat red eyes with a smile to say, “Eung… Hnng… Mmm… I’ll… I’ll forgive you this time, son.”
I shivered from head-to-toe. Mom is little too dangerous in her current state. But I still have something very important to do. I need to carry Luna out.
I walked up to the horse-carriage that had been flipped onto its side and pulled the door open.
The elves inside had all woken up. They all cried when they saw a fire-torch.
Just as I was about to shout over their voices, I heard a shaky but strong voice inside shout, “Don’t be scared, everyone! His Highness will definitely come to our rescue! He definitely will! He is in this village! He will come to rescue us no matter what happens! I believe in him! He is…”
“Luna!”
When I shouted, her voice trembled and then she couldn’t stop herself from crying. Luna cried loudly from inside and shouted, “Your Majesty… Your Majesty!”
“It’s okay now. It’s okay now. Come on out, everyone. Be careful.”
The elves inside crawled out one by one. They looked at me, bowed, and thanked me as they continued to cry.
Mom stood elegantly to one side as she watched them and said with a smile, “It’s alright. Don’t worry. We have already punished the people responsible. Please, everyone, carefully return to the village. We will take care of the things that come after.”
“Your Highness!!!”
The elves rushed over to mom, grabbed her and cried loudly.
Mom patted them on their backs with a smile as she comforted them.
I crouched down to the side and reached my hand out to pull Luna up.
Luna wiped her tears and then looked at me. As she continued sobbing, she exclaimed, “Your Majesty… you didn’t abandon me… you didn’t abandon me… Thank you… Thank you!”
“I will never abandon you. I will never abandon you no matter what happens…” I reached my arms out and pulled Luna into my embrace.
Luna shook fiercely in my arms and cried out loud. However, her cries were more relaxed and cheerful than ever.
I know very well how blissful it is to have a chest to cry on after having a brush with death and surviving.
I felt a chill run up my spine. I turned my head around to see mom looking at Luna with a vengeful gaze and the chilling feeling spread throughout my entire body. I quickly pushed Luna away. Luna wiped her tears as she continued sobbing gently. She even tried to glue herself to me… Please, don’t come over here! If you come any closer, you’re going to die for real! You really will die!
“Brother! Brother!”
Just as I was about to head back, I heard another voice call out to me from another direction.
Freya was coming over to me at a fast speed on her horse. She stopped in front of me and then exclaimed, “You actually caught the horse-carriage!”
I looked at her and replied, “Yeah.”
She looked at me and softly said, “Don’t blame me, onii-sama. Running into danger, knowing it is dangerous is stupidity.”
“I never did. I don’t want to you be in danger either.” I stroked her head, smiled and asked, “So, is something the matter?”
“I was originally planning to return to humanity to get them to seal all routes where elves could enter and forbid horse-carriages from entering any of the towns nearby.”
I noticed that her horse was foaming at the mouth. It looks like she too has been riding for a long while. Freya still helped me once she got to safety. She just didn’t want to die for nothing.
She took in a deep breath and then handed me a letter and said, “But on the way there, I met a messenger who asked me for your whereabouts. He had this letter with him. It is a letter from the church addressed to you…”
“The church?!”
I was dumbfounded. I then took the letter…
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