Death's Door 118 Volume 5: Chapter 21: Hope

But she knew that unlike everyone else, who wanted to hurt and kill her, his intentions were nothing but benevolent.

He truly wanted her to have a chance at a new life, that fact alone was enough to keep her going.

Of course, her luck was not exactly great per say….

She tried to do several odd jobs to support herself, resolving to not use the money Dark Lord gave her.

But many times, she ended up messing up, even with mana sealing chains; her curse seemed to affect her luck, causing misfortune at any place she tried to work in, resulting in her eventually being chased out of the city.

People thought of her as a bringer of misfortune.

Afraid that her curse might go out of control again, Sariu proceeded to move away from the Merok Territory, paying the cart with the small amount of money she made from her odd jobs, to go to Tracoa Territory.

Compared to the other territories, Tracoa had far more monsters within it, while also being the furthest from the base of the Holy Order.

Sariu half-hoped that monster would attack and eat her; at least it would put her out of her misery…

Another reason for going to Tracoa was that there were less people there, unlike Merok and Racron's urban setting; Tracoa was mostly a rural setting, with many villages occupying it.

If by any chance she was to die and her curse was to be unleashed, she wanted to minimize the possible casualties.

By chance, Sariu found a flyer requesting a servant to work for the Sevilles Mansion.

Not knowing a thing about the Sevilles family name other than that it was a n.o.bleman's family, Sariu chose to respond to the flyer.

There, she met Mira, who hired Sariu to work for her as a personal a.s.sistant.

Aside from taking away the life force and soul of living things, her curse had another aspect.

It allowed her to see the color, in a sense, the true nature of souls.

That was how, she knew, that despite looking a little scary with a blindfold on, Mira was a genuinely kind person.

Working there, she never once encountered the elusive Master of the Mansion, until one fateful day…

* * *

Young Master of the Sevilles Mansion requested her to meet him.

Once she met him, she couldn't help but notice that the color of his soul was largely dark purple, with a very small portion being bright green.

Most people inside the mansion had regular souls with singular colorations, though no matter how hard she focused she could not see the color of the soul of the page named Morph.

What she did not know was the fact that as an angel, Morphus lacked a soul altogether.

But Runfar's soul was different.

Instead of having a single color, there was a dominant color on the outside, but on the inside, there was another color, almost completely hidden away, yet that color specifically was what caught her attention.

That bright green shade of soul, she had seen it before…

…But it can't be…

"I am just glad you are safe, Sariu"

Like the hand that swept all of her doubts away, his kind voice echoed within her heart.

The only person who cherished her and to whom her life mattered…the one person who told her to live on…

….without a doubt, it was him…

…Nur Finnerman

She never thought she would see him once again…

… unable to hold back, she embraced him with all her might.

When she saw him last, he proclaimed himself as the Dark Lord and told her that it was time for them to part.

During their journey together, she grew fond of seeing color of Nur Finnerman's bright green soul, but she also saw tiny bits that were slowly dyeing his soul in darker shades, and the longer time she spent with him, the more dark spots there were on his soul.

Sariu couldn't have known that Nur's curse took a mighty toll upon him, bringing him closer and closer to darkness with each step.

But when the Dark Lord emerged, the process was complete.

Almost nothing remained of Nur's bright green soul, replaced by the fiery crimson purple color of the Dark Lord.

At that point, Sariu knew, her friend was now completely lost to her.

Yet now, seeing him again, she could not help but cling on to him tightly.

Even if she knew he was not the same Nur she knew, she didn't care…

Talking to the Dark Lord, Sariu realized that he is trying his best to act like Nur, for her sake.

Even though she could clearly tell it was him talking, not Nur, she was touched.

Among all the purple she saw a small portion of the soul that was still green in color.

Hoping her eyes did not deceive her, she had to confirm for herself.

"Unfortunately, no matter what I did, I could not erase him completely"

His answer brought even more tears to her eyes.

She was just so happy, happy to know that even if just a piece, a little bit of her dear friend remained within that sh.e.l.l.

'His soul may have turned inside out…What was inside came to the outside while his former nature was sealed deep within…But he is still in there…'

'…And as long as he is there, I wish to protect him.'

* * *

"I would like for you to remain as a servant within this mansion, there is no need for you to go away"

"Are you sure about this, Nur? Having a witch in your house is not exactly a prudent choice"

"I already have couple of demons, elves, angel, and demi-humans working for me. Trust me; you don't exactly stand out much."

"But Nur…"

"You will not cause me more bad luck than I already have, Sariu."

As he moved his face, his mask slightly slid off, apparently unintentionally, he immediately fixed the mask on his face.

"Nur, why do you wear that mask?"

To answer her question, Runfar proceeded to remove the mask along with the fake skin altogether.

Seeing the sight before her, Sariu could not avert her wide open eyes.

"It is just as bad as it looks" Runfar smiled with what remained of his lips.

He also took off the glove on his right hand, putting his skeletal right hand on full display.

"Is your entire body…?"

"No, though almost the entire right side is, unfortunately"

Seeing Sariu a little hesitant to speak, Runfar chuckled.

"You weren't expecting me to be one leg in the grave in such a sense, right?"

"That's not funny!"

"Well, all I got are bones, so what else can I do? I can probably make myself good bait for the werewolves we encountered outside the Holy City…"

It was a crude joke, but it had its intended effect, causing Sariu to involuntarily laugh a little, but then her expression turned serious.

"So many horrible things happened to you…" Sariu muttered, touching the bare bones on right side of Runfar's face.

'I thought my life was full of misfortune, but Nur, he was cursed as well, and by the looks of things, he had it much, much worse…'

"…You told me to live for my own sake, but when will you do so for yourself?! You care about everyone but yourself! You pretend you are doing it for the sake of your own goal, but it ultimately is for the sake of others! I know you left me to make sure I was not endangered by you, but had I been with you…"

"…You would have most likely suffered the same fate as me"

"Nur….For goodness sake! Your selflessness is something else! Crazy…unbearable…unreasonable!"

She was clearly sobbing.

"But that's what makes you who you are, Nur, and for that I am glad."

Old friends gazed into each other's eyes with warm familiarity.

That sweet moment seemed to last for hours.

Runfar told her tales of his adventures while Sariu could only listen in awe.

"I have my own goals I wish to accomplish within this kingdom, Sariu"

"Is there anything I can aid with?"

"Remain in my mansion as my servant. Think of this place as your new home"

What he was offering her was beyond belief…a home, a place where she belongs, somewhere where she is welcomed and not hated.

Maybe that was what she wanted deep down.

"Nur…I …I don't know what to say…I …I can't thank you enough"

"Well, for starters, within this mansion I am known as Runfar, not Nur or Dark Lord, so please address me as such. It's a long a story why I came to be called as such, but please do so."

"Yes, Master Runfar! Hik!"

She couldn't help but cry on from happiness as they talked on, with so many things to say, it didn't matter whether it was important information or not, simple act of hearing each other's voices was comforting.

For so long, his curse made his life a living h.e.l.l, with no end in sight.

But now, for the first time since arriving in this world more than nine hundred years before his own, Dark Lord was genuinely happy to be alive.