Ch.146Exam (2)

I stood in front of the cabin door, slowly exhaling a sigh.

The door seemed unfamiliar today.

Despite having carved it with my own clumsy hands and passing through it countless times—to the point where it had become even more familiar than Sylvia’s cabin—for some reason today it looked as massive and heavy as a great castle gate.

No, what was truly heavy wasn’t this wooden door, but the confrontation with Sylvia waiting for me outside.

Deep sighs kept escaping me with no sign of stopping.

“Well… what’s the worst that could happen? I mean, I won’t die… No, that’s not right. What if I do die? If I were to die here, I wouldn’t survive in front of the Demon Lord anyway.”

There was no way to avoid or retreat now.

Since the two of them had agreed to cooperate with the Demon Lord subjugation plan that I, the weakest one, had boldly proposed, I had a duty to reassure Sylvia and Sister Alice.

I needed to prove that I could keep up with them, that I could stand proudly before the Demon Lord—the embodiment of terror and humanity’s doom.

As I was muttering to myself, trying to gather my courage, Pia spoke in a low voice.

“Ash won’t die. I won’t let him.”

“…Right.”

“At least not until he lands a good hit on that woman, understand?”

“Huh…?”

“This is a good opportunity. You’ve wanted to get back at Sylvia too, right?”

“No, not particularly…”

Pia punched me in the side and said:

“Just say you do.”

“…Y-yeah.”

Pia’s eyes were blazing with intense determination.

Since Sylvia couldn’t see Pia, there couldn’t have been any incident between them, so why was Pia showing such resolve?

Though I was a bit concerned about Pia’s strong fighting spirit toward Sylvia, I didn’t press the issue.

Honestly, thinking about it rationally, no matter how hard I tried, the chances of me subduing Sylvia were practically non-existent. So having this mysterious motivation was better than having none at all.

I nodded and said:

“Alright, let’s land a hit on her. I believe in you, Pia.”

“Yeah, but Ash, don’t you have some kind of strategy?”

“Strategy…”

“I really want to get back at Sylvia somehow, but Pia’s not stupid. I know we’ll definitely lose if we just charge in recklessly.”

Pia spoke with a resolute voice.

It was a voice filled with intense desire for success—no, for victory.

Despite me being the one who had been training intensively for the past few weeks, it felt like Pia was becoming more of a warrior than I was.

Sylvia, Sister Alice, and now Pia.

Why were all the females around me like this?

Suddenly, I missed Layla.

“Don’t tell me… you haven’t thought of anything?”

Pia glared at me fiercely, growling.

With her tail standing straight up, she looked genuinely angry.

I slowly exhaled and said:

“It’s not that I haven’t thought of anything…”

I knelt down on one knee to meet Pia’s eye level.

Then I quietly explained the strategy I had in mind.

*

Sylvia stood about fifty paces away from the cabin.

A cold air swirled within her slightly cupped fingers.

Soon, a tiny ice fragment shaped like a seed appeared in the center of the swirling cold air, quickly swelling to the size of a thumb.

Sylvia watched for a moment as the ice fragment danced and floated above her palm, following the gust.

“…What’s the point of all this?”

No matter how harsh the training Ash had received, he could never surpass Sylvia in strength.

Of course, the intensity of training Ash had undergone in recent days was comparable to the noble’s military training facility where Sylvia had grown up.

The secret to this was that whenever Ash fell asleep, she would use her holy power to heal his accumulated fatigue and torn muscles.

It was almost like doping, but with humanity’s fate at stake, who would criticize such a minor transgression?

Moreover, considering that they had coupled almost every other day, the amount of physical activity Ash had endured during the training period was certainly far greater than that of the soldiers guarding the king’s castle.

But was any of it meaningful?

Sylvia slowly pondered.

Ash’s stamina and strength were still far inferior to not only Sylvia’s but also Alice’s.

No matter how hard he had worked over the past few weeks, the difference in accumulated time made this inevitable.

The current Ash had merely built a body that wouldn’t fall behind during the march to the Demon Lord’s castle.

He wasn’t yet ready for combat.

Besides…

“…Even if he were ready, he could still die at any moment… That’s how dangerous this is.”

Sylvia knew well that this was a perilous journey where one could die no matter how prepared or careful they were.

From poison infection, falling into traps, trying to hold off overwhelming numbers alone, or neglecting treatable wounds due to lack of time…

While trying to save me.

She had seen her comrades, Maria, die so helplessly.

Even if the Demon Lord was weakened, it was uncertain whether Ash could endure such a journey.

No, the rational and obvious prediction was that he wouldn’t endure—that he would be easily torn apart by the evil and cruel Demon Lord’s grasp.

“Marriage… ha…”

Sylvia mocked herself for being so susceptible to temptation despite being a hero.

She had once thought herself quite disciplined, but that was arrogance.

Before tasting the sweet fruit that was Ash, her presumed knowledge of sweetness was merely the pretension of a know-it-all who knew nothing.

To Sylvia, Ash was a temptation, a weakness, and a treasure.

“How ironic, Maria…”

What would Maria say if she saw her now?

Would she rebuke her for daring to covet her brother?

No, she would definitely have teased her, saying something about how she had noticed the way Sylvia looked at him.

That was Maria’s personality.

A carefree girl who would crack jokes in any situation.

Only after all her companions had died did Sylvia finally realize how much comfort Maria’s presence had provided to their party as they marched steadily toward the great terror that was the Demon Lord.

Maria, and Ash.

The siblings were unparalleled sources of comfort, solace, and precious connections in Sylvia’s life.

Sylvia slowly murmured:

“…This won’t do.”

Now,

At this point,

Sylvia retracted her hasty decision.

It felt as if the fog of temptation that had filled her mind had suddenly cleared away.

She couldn’t bring Ash along.

She and Alice alone were sufficient to face the Demon Lord.

Of course, being separated from Ash would be unbearably painful for the current Sylvia, but it was nothing compared to losing him forever like Maria.

If she shared this thought with Ash, he would surely strongly oppose it.

He might curse her, resent her.

No, he would definitely try to follow them secretly somehow.

Then…

“I’ll have to make him understand.”

Sylvia spread her fingers a little more.

As the space between her fingers widened, the ice fragment grew larger.

As Sylvia spread her fingers, the ice trembling between them gradually increased in size until it became a sphere as big as a fist.

Sylvia firmly grasped the ice mass, which looked like a severely distorted diamond, reflecting her twisted emotions.

“Should I break his legs? If he can never walk again, he’ll have no choice but to accept it.”

Sylvia shook her head.

“No, no. Ash is tougher than I thought… I need to break his spirit, not his body. I need to instill thorough fear in him.”

Sylvia grabbed the ice and crushed it.

She could do it.

Though it would pain her heart, for someone like her, pushing Ash to his limits would be as simple as wringing the neck of a newborn chick.

She could engrave into his entire body just how weak a being he was.

Of course, the filthy thought briefly crossed her mind that if she left Ash alone, that spirit Pia might try to seduce him, but Sylvia no longer doubted that Ash loved her.

She was confident that Ash would never betray her.

Even if Sylvia completely destroyed his body.

Besides, if everything ended well, she could ask Alice to heal Ash, so there was nothing to worry about.

“He’s coming.”

She sensed his presence.

In a few seconds, Ash would surely open the cabin door and come out.

Sylvia instantly produced an ice mass the same size as before in her palm.

If she threw it the moment he opened the door, everything would end simply.

A direct hit might kill him, but even a glancing blow would cause enough pain to make breathing difficult.

If it ended as soon as it began, she could also demonstrate the overwhelming difference in power.

Like a straw shield shattered by a swung mace, she could crush even his will to fight.

Fortunately, thanks to her prior statement that “the test begins the moment you exit the door,” it wasn’t particularly underhanded.

After all, complaints about unfairness mean nothing after being defeated by the Demon Lord or monsters.

“…Hup,”

The door opened.

Sylvia gripped the ice mass tightly.

Slowly twisting her waist, she held the ice-gripping arm behind her while raising the opposite arm.

The moment Ash’s blue-tinged ash-gray hair came into view,

“Sorry, Ash. Bear with the pain just a little.”

Sylvia threw the ice with all her might.

The ice fragment flew like a bullet spell, accompanied by a terrifying sound like the wingbeat of a giant insect.

At the same time, Sylvia, who had lurched forward slightly from the force of her throw, sensed something was off.

With her strength, the impact sound should have been heard almost simultaneously with the throw.

Whether it was the sound of Ash’s flesh tearing or his screams.

However, she heard nothing.

Instead, what she felt was intense heat.

Sylvia slowly raised her head.

“See, Pia? I told you so. I said she’d throw something right at the start.”

A fireball in the shape of a fox had risen large enough to obscure the cabin.

Ash walked slowly through the center of those flames.

“Sylvia. Just so you know,”

“…”

“If you’ve done something wrong to Pia, you’d better apologize quickly.”

.