Ch.118Persuasion (2)

The more I thought about it, the distrust they showed me was actually a perfectly natural reaction.

A close childhood friend who spent a lot of time together since youth.

Or a young lover who had been like a cute little brother suddenly talking about being able to see spirits and having mysterious powers to control them—it would be common sense to worry rather than believe such claims.

Especially if they knew that the person making these claims had recently experienced hardships and adversities severe enough to potentially cause mental illness.

In fact, even I had doubted it myself.

I had wondered several times if all those experiences were merely delusions created by my fragile mind after losing my entire family.

It would be a lie to say I hadn’t harbored the chilling suspicion that Pia, who appeared before me, was just an illusion created by my imagination, and that I had simply gone insane.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, all of this was real.

It was reality and truth.

The proof was that mysterious great tree that had suddenly taken root and grown in the middle of the lake, and the world falling into chaos due to the Demon King’s resurgent energy.

Perhaps I really had gone mad, but that was a moot point.

If I were to believe I had truly gone insane, how could I believe in the existence of Sylvia or Sister Alice standing before me?

The people I love, the people I missed so much.

To protect them, I had to believe in my memories, my experiences, and myself.

I clenched my fist and spent a long time revealing everything that had happened to me and all the facts about spirits.

After hours of conversation, Sister Alice nodded.

“Alright, I get it, I get it.”

“…Do you believe me now?”

“I have to believe you after all that.”

I pressed my lips tightly together at her ambiguous response, unsure if she truly believed me or just wanted to move past this conversation by pretending to believe.

Alice scratched her head and said:

“But I still disagree with your opinion.”

“Opinion?”

Sylvia looked puzzled, not understanding what Alice meant.

Alice glanced at Sylvia from the corner of her eye and slowly began to speak.

“Ash. Even if you really can control spirits, we don’t know if you’re strong enough.”

“…That’s true.”

“I might be able to purify the demonic energy that builds up in your body, but the journey to the Demon King’s castle isn’t a picnic.”

“…I know.”

“Wait, what are you two talking about? Am I the only one who doesn’t understand?”

In response to Sylvia’s question, Sister Alice sighed and pushed herself off the wall she had been leaning against.

She slowly walked past me and said:

“There’s no need for me to oppose anything, since Sylvia will never allow it anyway.”

“…Sister.”

“But I know that bitch is essential for the journey to defeat the Demon King. I also know that I can never match the Hero’s power. So go ahead and try. If you can convince Sylvia, I’ll follow without complaint.”

“…”

Sister walked past me toward the cabin door.

“Sister, where are you going?”

“I need some fresh air. My head is a mess.”

With those words, Sister Alice left the cabin.

It seemed she was experiencing complicated feelings of her own.

We needed to hurry and defeat the Demon King before he fully revived, but Sister thought she would be insufficient on her own.

Her judgment was probably based on her battle with Sylvia.

I could easily tell that being thoroughly defeated by Sylvia had been quite a shock to her in many ways.

Of course, since the Demon King hadn’t yet regained his full power, losing to Sylvia didn’t necessarily mean she would lose to the Demon King, but at the very least, it was an undeniable fact that traveling with Sylvia—or any companion—would make the arduous journey much safer than going alone.

“…Sister,”

The problem was that she didn’t want me to accompany her, and Sylvia wouldn’t move unless I went along.

Even with the two of them together, as she said, this was no picnic.

It was a path where one could die at any moment, where countless legendary heroes had already lost their lives.

She seemed torn between not wanting to put Ash, as Maria’s friend, on that path, and knowing that risks needed to be taken for the sake of the world.

After all, before being my fiancée or Sister Maria’s childhood friend, she was an Inquisitor directly under the Pope of the Goddess Church.

She had a mission to protect and improve this world.

“Ash.”

I slowly turned my head to face Sylvia as she called my name.

Her eyes were trembling anxiously.

“I don’t understand what you two are talking about at all. The Demon King’s castle?”

“…”

“But maybe… just maybe…”

In truth, even those problems were based on optimistic thinking in a very hopeful situation.

“…It’s not what I’m thinking, is it?”

Companions and everything else would only happen if I could convince Sylvia to accept my claim about entering the Demon King’s lair.

I slowly took a breath.

I had to persuade her.

To prevent the world’s destruction.

“Sylvia, I have something to tell you.”

I began to speak with a resolute expression.

*

I explained quietly.

The cruel fact that Sylvia had failed, and the Demon King was not dead.

She wore a pained expression.

Throughout my explanation, I felt extremely uncomfortable and pained, so how much worse must it have been for her?

One of the reasons I hadn’t brought up this subject with her until now was surely because I was reluctant to bring up her failure.

However, if she already knew, there was no need to waste any more time.

After conveying everything, including my desire to join the journey to finally kill that demon king who deserved death, I slowly closed my mouth and observed her reaction.

Contrary to my expectation that she would show fierce opposition, she listened to my words silently.

She slowly closed her eyes and said:

“Alice… did that woman put these foolish ideas in your head?”

“No, it was the Green Lady who told me about the Demon King’s survival. She also told me about my power to control spirits.”

“…The Green Lady.”

“Do you also think my claim about seeing spirits is a lie? Just a delusion created by my fragile mind that has gone through too many hardships?”

Sylvia shook her head.

“I believe you.”

“…”

“The accident scene that was too far away, the amount of magical power that was too much for a talentless magician… No, even without such logical evidence, I could clearly feel that there was something special about you, Ash.”

Honestly, I thought that might just be love she was feeling, but I didn’t bother to argue.

Sylvia slowly opened her mouth again.

“But just because you can see spirits doesn’t mean you’d suddenly want to kill the Demon King. Are you sure this Green Lady didn’t cast some strange spell on you?”

“Sylvia.”

I closed my lips for a moment and organized my thoughts.

There was so much I wanted to ask and answer, but first I needed to confirm if she truly had no desire to go kill the Demon King, as Sister Alice had said.

“The Green Lady also told me this.”

“…”

“That I should help the Hero defeat the Demon King. That it’s my destiny.”

“Destiny…”

“That my coming to this forest, Laila losing her life in the process—it was all fate’s effort to correct this twisted future that will lead humanity to destruction.”

Sylvia’s face wrinkled.

I knew what she was thinking.

No matter how great the cause, being a pawn of destiny is never pleasant.

Even I had shouted in anger when the Green Lady told me this.

“…Hah, damn it,”

Sylvia cursed quietly.

I could fully understand her feelings.

“I don’t care if this world ends.”

“Sylvia.”

“I’ve already severed my ties with this world. I chose to sever them. As a Hero, to prevent this damn world from breaking.”

Sylvia’s lips moved quietly but forcefully.

The regret and anger packed into each syllable resonated to the bone despite her quiet voice.

“What more do I have to do? What else should I do? How long must I sacrifice, suffer, and be in pain?”

“Sylvia,”

“No.”

“…”

“I don’t want to face my failure, and I don’t want to sacrifice again for people I’ve never even seen. Above all…”

Sylvia’s eyes flashed open, and those red eyes turned directly toward me.

I felt as if the black, sticky emotion burning within them was wrapping around my entire body.

Sylvia slowly leaned forward, placing her hands on the ground as she approached me.

Like a herbivore frozen before a predator, I allowed her approach.

She slowly came before me, moving from my legs to my shoulders, and finally grasping my cheeks as she said:

“I don’t want to do anything dangerous that might make me lose you… lose Ash.”

I listened quietly to her words.

A chill ran through my entire body.

This distinctive chill that I had felt during the carriage accident, when she quietly emitted killing intent while still hiding her face and real name from me,

And when my body, contaminated with demonic energy, was cooling in the cold rain.

I knew this now-familiar sensation very well.

This chill was a signal that death was approaching me.

My sense of death’s scent had become almost prophetic.

Sylvia intends to stop me.

Even if she has to kill me.

No, she probably doesn’t intend to kill me, but due to her anxious state of mind, which contrasts with her calm exterior, my fragile body would surely meet death.

However, death wasn’t the only thing I had become accustomed to.

“Sylvia.”

“…”

I called Sylvia’s name and reached out to gently hold her cheek.

Her skin had cooled considerably.

It was as if her fear was seeping out of her.

I slowly closed my eyes and said:

“My desire to defeat the Demon King isn’t for humanity’s sake.”

“…What?”

“It’s not because I’ve gained the power to see spirits and am acting recklessly, nor because I want to prevent the world’s destruction. And at this point, it’s not even for revenge for Sister Maria’s death.”

“Then why on earth… mmph,”

I gently thrust both arms behind her neck and pulled her head toward me.

With my eyes still closed, I slowly pressed my lips against hers.

In any situation, with any emotion, she would never reject my kiss.

Sylvia, though surprised, slowly pressed her lips firmly against mine.

Our slightly parted lips found their way between each other.

While her face was cold, her lips were burning hot.

It felt as if that warmth was slowly spreading throughout her entire face.

I slowly pulled away and opened my eyes.

Sylvia was looking at me with a slightly dissatisfied expression.

“…Hmph, you’re not trying to persuade me with something like this, are you? That’s too unfair…”

“Sylvia…”

“…Yes?”

“I want to eliminate the Demon King because of Sylvia.”

“…What?”

I smiled slightly and held her cheeks.

And then, I quietly shared with Sylvia a small wish of mine that I had never told to the Green Lady or Sister Alice.

“When everything is over, when this curse that binds us to this forest is gone…”

“…”

“I want to have a wedding ceremony with Sylvia.”