Ch 16 Death of the Goddess

Asterion fell silent at those words.

To think Kurou had waited for him for this long. To the point where her mind was unable to distinguish reality from a dream.

But she must have taken Asterion’s silence the wrong way.

“I knew it!” Kurou shrieked.

She immediately threw herself backward in the air, winding up to smash her head against the tree again.

Asterion quickly threw his hand between the bark and her forehead.

“Stop! Stop it!”

“Hmph, it’s just a dream anyway! Who cares?”

Kurou indignantly folded her wings, her chest heaving.

“No, Kurou, look at me. It’s really me.”

“I’ve had this exact dream countless times over the last century. You think I wouldn’t know? This is a dream.”

Kurou’s beak clamped shut tightly, but her little body was trembling violently.

…She was scared to believe him.

This isn’t going to work, thought Asterion.

If he was going to pull her out of this century-long nightmare, he needed to see exactly what she had been through with his own eyes.

Asterion reached out a slightly shaky hand and gently cupped her cold, feathered forehead.

Then, he activated [Memory Share]—a telepathic link that a familiar and their master could trigger at any time.

Blue mana flickered from Asterion’s fingertips.

The afterimages carved deep into the raven’s soul crashed into Asterion’s consciousness. He felt her century of isolation transmit into his mind, piece by agonizing piece.

He felt the biting wind from when she was just a weak, abandoned baby raven left to die.

He felt the sudden warmth of the day Asterion picked her up.

He saw the world through her eyes—those breathtaking moments soaring across the continent alongside him.

Kurou had been so happy.

Her view, gliding through the vopen sky, was a dazzling blue.

But her best moments were the quiet ones. Looking down at the world from her perch on Asterion’s head.

’Boss, how long can we be together?’

’Well. You’re my familiar, so naturally… until the end?’

That was the truth.

A familiar stayed with their master from the moment the pact was forged until death.

Asterion had other bound creatures, but she was the only one to ever be called his “familiar.”

That was Kurou’s pride and joy.

They were comrades. They were family.

They who roamed the entire continent together. Whenever Asterion affectionately stroked the back of her neck, her stiff feathers would lay flat smooth against her back.

It was the same when the skies darkened and they fought against the Dark Lady, Nocturna’s army.

Asterion had brought Kurou along on that grueling, bloody journey.

She thought it would always be like that.

‘You saved me again, Kurou.’

Because that’s what he used to say.

Then came the day right before the final battle with Nocturna.

Asterion took Kurou to the Emerald Breath Hill. It was a sanctuary where green grass grew year-round, overflowing with mana-infused rabbits and deer. It was a land where elves had once lived.

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Asterion let Kurou hunt to her heart’s content that afternoon.

‘What’s this, a last feast? Why aren’t you eating, Boss?’

‘I’m… not that hungry.’

Even in the memory, Asterion’s expression looked strange. He just sat in the grass, quietly watched her until she finished eating every last bite. Then…

‘Boss?’

‘Kurou. This fight is too dangerous for you.’

Asterion’s soft voice tickled her ears.

‘What are you talking about! Every fight is dangerous! I can do this!’

Hadn’t he always told her?

That he survived because she was there? That she was his greatest help?

‘Am I not useful anymore?’

Asterion didn’t answer. He just looked down at Kurou, his dark eyes conflicted.

‘Boss?’

Asterion finally spoke.

‘Take a nap here for a bit. I’ll be back soon. I’m sorry, Kurou.’

Asterion cast a sleep spell on her.

The magic he wrapped around her was incredibly warm.

What? Why…