episode_0221

220.

Impossible. The word overwhelmingly fills my mind. Even putting aside whether it’s possible or not, I instinctively recoil. How many humans could calmly live beside a beast even if all its teeth and claws were pulled out? Most people would be terrified and disgusted.

“Ha.”

I laugh, finding my own thoughts absurd. Coexistence, now? It’s ridiculous.

That said, I can’t bring myself to utter the drastic phrase, “extermination.” I haven’t killed the demons I’ve encountered. I’ve been getting by with a half-hearted, ambiguous attitude. Was that the right approach?

‘I know. I was just too afraid to choose, so I avoided it.’

I’ve just been swimming in the current a few times and patting myself on the back, thinking, “I did alright.”

“Goddess, please guide me.”

Even if I pray, God won’t answer. Even if I’ve been chosen as God’s messenger, it’s not easy to hear God’s voice. Furthermore, since the Goddess’s power is already at its limit, the successful completion of the holy water is the only thing that clearly proves her existence.

I slowly close my eyes in bed.

Drowsiness washes over me, and I feel like I’ll fall asleep soon, but I can’t quite manage it.

I thought about tiring myself out to fall asleep, but if I mess up, I might end up staying up all night.

‘A warm cup of tea is perfect for this.’

I gather myself, push the blankets aside, and get up. I’m incredibly drowsy, and it’s a struggle to even move, but since I can’t sleep, there’s nothing I can do. Most people are asleep now, so I walk carefully and slowly to avoid making noise. It’s not much use, though, as many elves have extremely sensitive night hearing.

I sneak into the utility room, and there’s an unexpected visitor.

“Ah. Erina-nim, no… Erina. Were you… asleep?”

“Hanna-ssi. You still don’t seem used to informal speech. Hee hee. I couldn’t sleep after lying down.”

Hanna, an otherworldly woman with a charmingly large pelvis, was making coffee. It’s a specialty, a local product she started cultivating based on her knowledge of it being a miracle cure for insomnia. She now supplies the technique on a semi-exclusive basis at reasonably low prices to several places.

Even though they’re the same age, she always tries to use honorifics with Erina. Her beautiful, black hair swaying is impressive. It seems the walls between them have broken down further now, and she’s starting to speak casually, although she still seems a little uncomfortable—it’s quite cute.

“Hanna-ssi, yourself at this late hour. And coffee, too.”

“Well… I have a lot to do. Or maybe I should say, a lot I *want* to do.”

She’s always enthusiastically creating and experimenting. Being an engineer by nature, she lets her curiosity run wild.

“Oh, and Aries asked for a cup too.”

Aries, a lively mage with a young, girlish appearance, has a great synergistic effect with her. I see her doing things—getting reports and the like—but they’re full of professional jargon, she isn’t doing anything strange like Kira, the pure thirst for academic knowledge means I just leave her be.

“You both need to prioritize your health.”

“Thanks. You know, we sleep during the day, so it’s not a big concern for us. I think? Kira…ssi seems awake too though.”

Kira is a girl from an other religion we met by chance; she worships nature more than any god. She doesn’t deny the existence of gods or proselytize, so she doesn’t have a negative impact and isn’t considered heretical. Anyway, she devised her own precautions and countermeasures against the demons, but she’s quite mischievous, so I forcibly stopped her actions using a skill. She can still move around and think freely, but I’ve stopped her from causing any major chaos.

Erina prepares the tea ingredients while waiting for Hanna to finish the coffee. “Medicinal” feels too grand, but things known to aid sleep are the main ingredients, with flavor added. It’s not medicine, so it won’t help much, but it’s enough for peace of mind.

“Erina, you shouldn’t overwork yourself. I know you always struggle because of us…”

I reply with a gentle smile.

“I’ll go ahead. Aries is waiting…”

“All right. Hanna-ssi, work hard ♡”

Erina waits until Hanna disappears down the dimly lit corridor with the coffee, and then begins to boil water.

‘Her sparkling eyes are so pretty; she’s so passionate. I should learn from her… Hmm. Trying too hard causes worry, though.’

My heart is racing. It would be good to just relax a little, even just a tiny bit. Collapsing from overwork will only lead to unnecessary worry. I haven’t quite reached the point of exhaustion yet, but I can definitely feel my body gradually weakening.

‘It could also be because I’m having too much sex.’

The more semen I ejaculate, the more stamina and energy I lose. Even with healing, it can’t completely offset all depletion.

My body feels pleasantly warm.

“Don’t drink coffee at night.”

“Asti-ssi. This is tea.”

A familiar voice. Asti, the elf, whose formerly slender, straight body is now quite curvy. While elves are generally quiet and move subtly, she is especially quiet. Her experience as a guard has honed her skills— her race and profession have made her a truly light sleeper. She often patrols the night corridors.

Her cold expression and tone often lead others to misunderstand her as unkind, but she’s sharp, not cold.

“Was that Erina? I thought it was Aries.”

“Aries-ssi already got coffee from Hanna-ssi. Well, they don’t really cause trouble, so it’s fine to leave them be, isn’t it?”

“I suppose so, but…”

“Asti-ssi, would you like a cup? I made it slightly sweet.”

After hesitating briefly, Asti nods. Erina pours a cup and hands it to her; the tea is still warm.

“…Delicious.”

“That’s right. Enjoying your hobbies to the fullest is the best kind of good feeling.”

As I sip quietly, I start to feel sleepy.

“By the way, about that report from the other day…”

“Ah, yes? Yes.”

“…Should we talk about it later? It’s nothing overly important or urgent.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to talk about it now? I believe Asti-ssi was in charge of the east, the Sunmark region, right?”

Sunmark boasts the largest fertile plains. If it’s taken over by demons, we need to act immediately. It doesn’t matter if a single demon can be defeated—if they occupy the region, it’s hopeless. It won’t be something that can be solved with supply routes.

“That’s right.”

“The report said there was no sign of demons appearing, as I remember.”

“I don’t know much about divine power or magic, so this is from the Fried congregation. It’s about another race, not demons.”

“A conflict?”

Asti drinks the tea in one gulp.

“It seems the dwarves are rapidly increasing in number. I’m not sure if ‘rapid increase’ is the right term, though.”

“‘Rapid increase’ means… that they have appeared from somewhere. Just like the demons…”

“I don’t know the full details, but I think they’re not enemies. They probably hate demons, too. I thought I didn’t have time to spare, so I omitted it, but it’s been bothering me.”

Because I thought I couldn’t deal with that now, I focused the report on demons..

“Hmm. I’ll keep it in mind.”

“No, you can forget it. It’s not that important. Get some sleep. If it were truly important, I would have investigated it further.”

“Right. Your intuition is great, Asti-ssi.”

“Thanks. I’m going to resume my patrol.”

Erina nods in response.

‘Dwarves. There’s one around here, so I’ll pass this information on later. For now, should I leave it as Asti-ssi said?’

Since it involves fighting demons, it’s not an immediate problem. It’s a problem the people of that area need to solve.

‘But, it’s like something special keeps happening in this era.’

Hanna’s appearance was also like this. Hanna clearly came to this place by the will of the Goddess, but were the demons summoned by that demon god? If the Goddess’s statue was truly sealed, then that’s correct… if the statue really sealed that power.

“Let’s go to sleep.”

Drowsiness begins to completely overwhelm my reason. I can hardly concentrate on anything. I think I can actually sleep now. Still, I carefully clean up my teacup.

‘My heart feels at ease after just a short chat. Friends really are the best.’

It’s a little sad that I can’t see Levy, who’s out now and is a warrior with lively red hair and a charming personality.

‘Ah, no. If I get aroused now, I’ll really stay up all night.’

Erina, with a significantly more peaceful mind, drifts off to sleep under her blanket. Tomorrow has its own things to deal with, that can wait till tomorrow; for now let’s get some quiet sleep.

Soon, Erina fell fast asleep.