Chapter 70: Let’s Run Away

Seeing Viktor sink completely into despair, Qiu Nuoya decided it would be better to change the subject. "By the way, what was that thing you went to examine? The magic circle?"

"Hm? Ah, that." Viktor nodded. "It was a broken teleportation circle. It had clearly been destroyed deliberately, so there was no way to determine where it had originally connected. However, there were traces left behind by the orc. So the most reasonable conclusion is that the orc that attacked you was transported there through that teleportation circle."

"But why would someone do that?"

"If the answer were obvious," Viktor replied with a wry smile, "we would not be having this conversation."

That was true. Whoever had sent the orc there had clearly done so intentionally. At the very least, it certainly had not been sent with friendly intentions.

"Then why was Lady Sherria there?" Qiu Nuoya asked.

"Oh, that." Viktor nodded. "As the Saintess, she is especially sensitive to the presence of darkness. She sensed traces of dark magic coming from the eastern grasslands and followed them until she reached that location. It seems she was trying to purify the land with holy power."

Viktor gave Qiu Nuoya a helpless smile. "And then you purified the entire area before she could finish."

What terrible timing...

Everything had happened at the worst possible moment. Lady Sherria being there, Mochi accidentally going out of control, and

Qiu Nuoya using holy magic to save Viktor. Every single event had lined up in the worst possible way.

"Do you think Lady Sherria would back down if I told her no?" Qiu Nuoya asked.

Viktor gave a helpless smile. "I’m afraid that’s unlikely."

"I figured as much..." Qiu Nuoya let out another long sigh.

"What do you want to do?" Viktor asked.

"To be honest... I want to run away. Becoming a Saint or a Divine Child... I really don’t think I’m suited for anything like that."

"Then perhaps we should simply leave."

"...Huh?" Qiu Nuoya looked up in surprise.

Viktor was looking directly at him with unwavering eyes. "If you are not particularly attached to this city, we can go anywhere. Wherever you wish to go, I will take you there."

"Are you serious, Viktor?" It was true that he was not especially attached to this city. But Viktor was different. He was someone the city needed.

The younger adventurers respected him, relied on him, and looked up to him.

Qiu Nuoya could not bring himself to believe it was right to uproot someone like Viktor simply because of his own selfish wishes.

"I am completely serious." Viktor smiled gently. "You saved my life after all."

Thinking about everything that had happened only made his exhaustion even worse.

Just then, his stomach let out a loud growl.

"Ah..." Qiu Nuoya gave an embarrassed smile. "I guess I’m hungry."

Viktor chuckled softly. "So am I. Before you get some rest, let’s have something to eat. Don’t worry about earning extra spending money today. We’ll eat here instead. I’ll go buy something."

With that, Viktor left the room.

Qiu Nuoya quietly lay back on the bed. He really was exhausted. All he had ever wanted was to live a peaceful, quiet life in this world. His life up until that point had not been particularly enjoyable.

It had certainly not been entirely miserable, and it was not a life filled with regrets either. Still, in recent years, there was apparently a term for people like him: "young carers."

Never heard of it?

Well, neither had Qiu Nuoya until recently. In fact, he suspected it might have been a relatively new term.

A young carer was someone who took care of a family member from a young age. Some might argue that calling someone who was approaching forty "young" was presumptuous, but strictly speaking, Qiu Nuoya was a former young carer who had only just been freed from his caregiving responsibilities at this age.

It had all started when his grandfather, who lived with the family and suffered a stroke. Qiu Nuoya had still been in middle school at the time.

His grandfather survived, but the stroke left him with some paralysis, meaning that he needed to be cared for at home. Although his body had become less capable, his mind remained perfectly clear, and he was strongly opposed to moving into a care facility.

Qiu Nuoya’s parents both worked full time, while the only other person at home was his elderly grandmother. His grandmother could manage things like helping with meals, but his grandfather needed assistance with moving around and bathing.

Qiu Nuoya loved his grandparents dearly. They had taken care of him and looked after him throughout his childhood. So he willingly took on the responsibility of caring for his grandfather.

Of course, his parents helped on their days off as well. His grandfather also continued with rehabilitation and was still capable of handling the bare minimum of his daily needs by himself. So at that time, Qiu Nuoya did not think things were all that difficult.

Several years passed under those circumstances. By the time Qiu Nuoya graduated from high school, his grandmother developed dementia.

At first, it was what people sometimes called intermittent or mild dementia. There were times when she understood everything perfectly and behaved just as she always had. But when her memory became muddled, she might not even remember whether she had eaten a meal.

It was simply too much to expect his grandmother, who was suffering from dementia, to care for his grandfather, whose mobility was severely limited. Around that time, Qiu Nuoya’s mother quit her job to take care of both of them.

Qiu Nuoya enrolled in a university in his hometown and commuted to school from his family’s home. He had watched his mother taking care of his grandparents every day, so he naturally helped her whenever he could.

Unfortunately, misfortune seemed to come one after another. This time, signs of dementia began appearing in Qiu Nuoya’s maternal grandfather.