Ch.103Two Faces (3)

Ms. Sylvia stared at me with wide eyes, then slowly brought her hand to her mouth.

“What… is that?”

“S-Sylvia, I mean, noona.”

I hurriedly pushed Pia behind my back.

Pia, confused by the situation, resisted being pushed away with a puzzled expression. After forcibly moving her aside, I stammered out words in a desperate voice.

“Well, I don’t know how this happened either.”

“…Since when?”

“Ah, this morning… when I woke up, that…”

For some reason I couldn’t quite understand, the words wouldn’t come out properly.

Why?

No matter how much she liked me, Sylvia wasn’t a crazed murderer. She wouldn’t harm a six-year-old child.

She was someone who had saved my life when I was dying, even though she had no need to—in fact, she had plenty of reasons not to.

It was clear that such a person would never harm my spirit who appeared as a young girl.

That should be obvious.

So why was I so afraid?

Was it because of her heavy affection that had seemed somewhat broken since our reunion?

Was it because of her clingy gaze that seemed increasingly childish?

Or was it because of that sad face she was showing right now?

I mumbled like an idiot, frozen stiff.

“Th-that’s not it.”

Not even knowing what I was denying, I just mumbled those words.

Sylvia slowly walked toward me, one step at a time.

I could see her legs trembling slightly.

Not just her legs—her entire body seemed to be shaking.

“I smell blood.”

Pia’s tactless comment only added to the ominous atmosphere.

I was sitting down, gradually backing away.

“Stay still.”

“…Ah.”

Sylvia quickly lowered her body and grabbed my leg.

She spoke softly in a deeply subdued voice.

I could clearly feel the sadness in her voice, matching her expression.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“W-well…”

“You should have said something… No, no. I should have noticed.”

I realized I needed to explain to Sylvia that this girl was Pia.

She had seen the large fox figure that appeared with my magic several times before, so if I explained properly, she would surely understand this bizarre situation.

“I really didn’t expect this to happen…”

“Next time, please tell me when you’re hurt.”

“…Pardon?”

Along with my foolish response, she slowly covered my scraped knee with her palm, infusing it with holy power.

A slightly warm sensation spread through my knee.

When she removed her palm, my knee, which had been rough with scabs, was now healed with only a slight scar remaining.

I slowly rolled my eyes to look at her, trying to understand the situation.

She spoke with a troubled expression.

“We were naked together all day and I didn’t notice… I’m sorry. I guess I was… too focused on mixing bodies with Ash.”

“…Ah.”

“Judging by the scabs, it must have been two days already. How did I miss this…”

Sylvia hugged me tightly, blaming herself.

I blinked blankly, bewildered as she embraced me.

Pia kept poking my back, demanding to be hugged too.

What in the world is going on?

*

After checking in various ways, I realized that Sylvia couldn’t see Pia at all.

Of course, she had seen the fox figure surrounded by my magical flames several times before, but that was merely seeing the flames flowing around Pia’s body.

I was reminded once again of how rare the talent of a spirit mage truly is.

Indeed, if more people could see spirits, their existence wouldn’t be dismissed as mere fairy tales but would be more widely known.

Even I, born with the talent of a spirit mage, couldn’t see Pia’s true form without her flames until I encountered the Green Lady.

I sighed deeply and looked at Sylvia again.

I had been too flustered earlier to notice, but there was a significant change in her compared to last night.

“Sylvia noona.”

“Yes?”

“Those clothes…”

“Oh, these?”

She was wearing clothes.

Not the thin tunic I had been wearing, but a large white cloth dress and a properly made leather breastplate that was a bit worn but still intact. She even had on leather boots that were somewhat dirty but looked sturdy.

She gestured for me to wait a moment, then went out the door of the hut and came back carrying a large sack that had been left outside.

The sack contained spare clothes, leather, and various odds and ends.

I looked at the sack and asked.

“My goodness, where did all this come from?”

“Hehe, I worked hard to get it.”

“Got it from where?”

“You know.”

Sylvia said as she emptied the contents of the sack onto the floor.

“Corpse picking.”

“…Ah.”

The blood smell Pia mentioned must have been because of that.

I nodded slowly, thinking to myself.

“The forest suddenly filled with magical energy, right? Magical beasts became more active, so I thought there might be some victims who wandered into the forest unknowingly. Sure enough, there were quite a few new corpses.”

“…I see.”

Corpse picking.

It meant taking the belongings or luggage of people who had fallen victim to the forest.

Considering that dead people no longer needed these items, it made more sense for the living to use them—so despite its ominous name, it wasn’t such a bad act.

But recalling what happened during the last corpse picking expedition, I still felt somewhat queasy about it.

However, looking at the state of my hut, it was clearly necessary.

I muttered as I looked at the items spilled from the sack.

“You must have… had a hard time alone.”

“Hmm…”

She smiled awkwardly, twirling her hair that reached down to her chest around her finger.

“…”

“Hehe.”

“Yes, I guess it was better that I wasn’t there.”

Thinking back to what I saw during the last corpse picking, it made sense.

Her feet were incomparably faster than mine, and her strength was far beyond comparison to mine.

Just like last time, if I had gone with her, she would have had to match her pace to mine and wouldn’t have been able to properly search the forest.

Of course, I was asleep, and being in the magical energy would have continuously damaged my body, so I couldn’t have gone with her anyway.

“Are you upset?”

“No. It’s just the truth.”

“The hut was so empty… I thought we needed a lot of things. Of course, I couldn’t find furniture anywhere, but still…”

She rummaged through the pile of belongings and pulled out two small brass cups.

The cups had loops for attaching straps so they could be hung from the waist—they looked like personal cups used by travelers.

Judging by the blackened bottoms, they could probably be placed directly over a fire to brew simple tea.

“Now we don’t have to scoop water with our palms… huh?”

“I’m not upset, so don’t talk to me like you’re consoling a child.”

“Hehe.”

Sylvia chuckled softly and began sorting the items on the floor by type.

Pia, who had been constantly poking me and demanding to be hugged, went to the corner of the room after I kept ignoring her and flopped down, rolling from side to side.

Pretending not to see Pia, I started helping Sylvia sort through the pile, beginning with the clothes.

As expected from items taken from corpses and left in magical energy for a long time, not just the clothes but everything in the pile reeked terribly.

But in our current situation, even this was something to be grateful for, so there were no complaints.

Of course, wearing pants soaked with bodily fluids and excrement would require thorough washing and more determination than expected, but it wasn’t something we could refuse to wear.

I had become familiar enough with forest life to deeply appreciate the value of manufactured items.

Among the clothes, many were too damaged by magical beast claws and teeth to be usable, but these were clearly brought to recycle the cloth or leather.

I suddenly looked at the deer hide I had been using as a blanket.

“…”

“Ash, what’s wrong?”

“Just… thinking about something.”

“Hmm… what is it?”

I quietly closed my mouth.

Two pieces of leather being dried.

One was essentially being used as a blanket, so it would have many defects for proper use, but there was also plenty of spare leather to recycle.

This might be enough for Sylvia to have a full set of leather armor.

Of course, being leather and quite worn, it wouldn’t be as sturdy or protective as steel armor, but with this much, maybe…

We could go to defeat the Demon King who hadn’t fully recovered yet…

“Ash?”

“Ah… it’s nothing. The smell is just too strong…”

I shook my head as I spoke.

I decided there was no need to bring up the Demon King right now.

It felt awkward to suggest fighting the Demon King with armor patched together from leather scraps.

Even with the materials, making armor would take a few weeks, and I didn’t want to burden her by mentioning it prematurely.

Above all, we had only reunited a few days ago, and I wanted to enjoy this life with her a little longer.

Apparently, I had fallen for her more than I thought.

Sylvia didn’t press further and nodded in agreement with my words.

“I understand, it is quite strong. They say corpse smell takes a long time to remove.”

“I know a spell that might help remove the smell. I remember learning it. Once we finish organizing, I’ll start with the clothes.”

“…Your theoretical studies shine at times like these.”

“Haha, I can’t guarantee success, though.”

I laughed awkwardly as I spoke.

I did indeed know a spell used to remove foul odors and toxic substances.

Of course, like many spells I knew, I had never actually used it.

“Ash is surprisingly strong in practical situations, so it’ll work out somehow.”

Sylvia smiled and patted my shoulder.

I gave a wry smile at the strong trust evident in her attitude.

“I think you’re the only one who’s ever called me strong in practical situations.”

“Those people just haven’t had sex with you.”

“…Noona.”

“…It’s true though.”

…The fact that the source of her deep trust in me was my sexual prowess… well, I wasn’t sure whether to be happy or dumbfounded.

I blushed and silently began sorting the items.

“I’m boooored.”

Tired of rolling around, Pia lay on the floor, kicking the wall as she spoke.