Ch.152Alice (3)

As soon as morning came, I snapped my eyes open and bolted upright.

No, it would be more accurate to say I had no choice but to get up.

Something flew toward my peacefully sleeping head, made a sharp sound as it struck, and startled me awake.

“Ugh!”

Gasping in surprise, I jerked upright and looked around with one eye barely open.

The throbbing pain penetrating my still drowsy mind made me press my palm against my crown, where I could feel a small bump protruding.

“Oww… that really hurts…”

“Disappointing,”

“Huh…?”

“Silvia said Ash was at least good at dodging, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.”

Squinting through the pain, my blurry vision gradually began to focus.

Alice was leaning one shoulder against the wall, watching me while tossing several small pebbles up and catching them again. Each time the thrown pebbles fell back into her hand, they made pleasant clicking sounds.

“Sis…?”

“Good morning, Ash.”

She greeted me with a bright smile.

From the circumstances, it was clear she had thrown stones at me while I was sleeping.

Having assessed the situation, I shot Alice a resentful glare, but she continued speaking, completely unfazed.

“Maybe it’s because you had that bout with Silvia yesterday? You were sleeping so soundly. I know well that there’s nothing sweeter than a deep sleep after successfully completing a big task.”

Alice said this with a broad smile.

Her carefree smile was so radiant it was almost bewildering.

Gently rubbing the center of my palm over the top of the bump, I asked:

“Would you mind explaining what this is all about?”

“I was testing whether you could dodge or not. The result is… well, as you can see.”

“How am I supposed to dodge an attack while I’m sleeping?”

“I can do it.”

“…?”

“Silvia probably can too.”

I gaped at Alice’s nonchalant attitude.

Silvia and Alice.

I already knew very well that both of them were strong, but hearing it like this made me realize anew just how different they were from me.

“Come to think of it, where’s Silvia?”

“She went hunting.”

“This early in the morning?”

“I told her to. She came all the way here loaded down with armor and various tools, so I said she should show some effort.”

“…I see.”

“Besides, she hasn’t eaten properly for the past few days. As I mentioned yesterday, she was in a hurry because she went past the promised month.”

“She doesn’t look like she’s been starving.”

“She was forcibly maintaining her body’s condition with holy power. I think she only ate about once every three days, just keeping the minimum energy needed to move around.”

“…At this point, I’m starting to wonder if you two are the Demon Lords.”

The fact that I could make such a lame joke meant I was probably fully awake now.

As I slowly prepared to get up, Alice pushed herself away from the wall and said:

“Well then…”

She suddenly gripped the pebbles she had been tossing and catching, and began speaking slowly.

“Fold your blanket and follow me right away.”

“…Follow you? Where are we going?”

“I’m telling you to come outside the cabin.”

“Um… why?”

As she opened her hand, small fragments of crushed stone crumbled and fell from her palm.

I stared blankly at her palm with a dumbfounded expression.

She shrugged once, dusted the remaining stone powder into the ash-filled firepit, and continued:

“I’m going to test you.”

“Test me?”

“Yes, I want to test how well Silvia has trained you.”

“But I already passed…”

“That was with Silvia. I still don’t know how well you can move.”

“…”

I sighed deeply and hung my head.

Even yesterday’s dreamlike victory was a miracle achieved only through numerous coincidences and strokes of luck piled on top of each other.

But a win was a win, so I had been relieved thinking it was over. I never expected there would be another hurdle.

I trembled slightly while touching my shoulder that had been pierced during yesterday’s test.

Seeing Alice throw stones at a sleeping person, I was certain her test wouldn’t be easy either.

Noticing my reaction, Alice giggled and said:

“Don’t worry, I won’t fight you like Silvia did yesterday.”

“That’s a relief…”

“And I won’t be judging whether you pass or fail. This isn’t an exam, just a test.”

“Huh? What does that mean?”

“Just what I said. I simply want to know in advance how well you can move, so there’s no need to be so scared.”

I nodded slowly, reassured by her words.

It wasn’t that I was particularly scared.

Despite my victory over Silvia being partly due to luck, I was still riding a wave of confidence, and having decided to join the journey toward the Demon Lord, I knew I couldn’t always avoid struggles or fights.

But that was just my mindset.

I hadn’t exactly grown to enjoy combat, so I breathed a small sigh of relief and muttered:

“Ah… I should say this first. I was tense because I thought you might say I could only come along to kill the Demon Lord if I met your standards.”

“I’d like to say that, but you have to participate in this journey anyway.”

“Why? Afraid Silvia won’t go if I don’t?”

Alice gave me a puzzled look at my words, then nodded slightly and said:

“Ah… I suppose you could think that. You and what Silvia said yesterday… hmm,”

“Sis?”

She suddenly stopped speaking, quietly closed her eyes, and slowly shook her head.

“No, it’s nothing. I’ll go out first, so come out when you’re ready.”

“Aren’t you going to tell me what the test involves?”

“Hmm, just think of it as reviewing what Ash has been doing until now. If you’re curious, come out quickly.”

With that, Alice quietly opened the cabin door and went outside.

*

Alice’s statement about wanting to see how well I could move was meant quite literally.

When I trudged out of the cabin, she first told me to run.

Not understanding why, I started running as she instructed.

“Disappointing,”

Thirty minutes into my sprint.

Alice murmured quietly as she watched me panting and running around the cabin.

“Your stamina seems decent, but you’re too slow.”

Alice was staring at me with her arms crossed.

Well, rather than staring, she was simply observing me and pondering.

It was true that over the past month I had become accustomed to running, dodging, and handling mana, but my abilities were clearly far inferior to Silvia, who could move so fast she seemed to disappear before one’s eyes, and presumably Alice, who likely possessed comparable physical abilities.

“Alright. You can stop running now. Come here.”

Alice silently examined me as I approached her, catching my breath and panting.

Was she dissatisfied with my physical abilities?

Silvia had always praised me, so I thought I had improved a lot, but it seemed that was just a generous assessment born from Silvia’s goodwill.

Under Alice’s sharp, observant gaze, the armor of confidence I had gained from yesterday’s victory felt like it was being stripped away layer by layer.

I waited quietly for Alice to speak while slowly regulating my labored breathing.

After staring at me for a while, Alice finally unfolded her arms and began to speak:

“Your recovery rate is decent though. Silvia trained you well.”

“…Oh, really?”

Apparently, she had been timing how long it took for my panting to subside.

I couldn’t help but break into a cold sweat at her professional assessment.

“Your endurance is good and your recovery isn’t bad, but you’re too slow. You’re running slightly slower than an average person. Your left leg moves a bit strangely, and your right ankle seems slightly twisted, making your posture awkward.”

“Ah… that’s,”

Alice’s eyes were accurate.

“When I first came to this forest… I was in a carriage accident. Laila died then too… I mentioned it before, right?”

“Ah, so at that time…”

“Yes, my legs were completely ruined then. Thanks to Silvia’s careful care, they recovered, but… at the time, I was told I might never be able to run again.”

“…”

“I accepted it calmly then, thinking what need would I have to run anyway, but who would have thought I’d end up heading toward the Demon Lord?”

“Let me see.”

Alice crouched down in front of me and began touching my legs and knees.

Though my legs had felt completely normal after so much time had passed since the accident, something strange began to stir as her hands touched them.

Alice was pinpointing with uncanny accuracy the exact places where my legs had been severely damaged.

“Here, and here too, it’s twisted. The bone healed incorrectly here.”

“Um…? Wait, sis…”

“It’s more surprising that you can run like this at all. I can tell they did their best at the time, but… it seems they relied more on natural healing than holy power… That was probably the limit of Silvia’s holy power.”

“Ah, sis, wait, I think I need to stand up…”

“Stay still for a moment.”

As apologetic as I felt toward Alice, who was speaking with such a serious expression, I couldn’t focus on what she was saying at all.

Crouched in front of me, examining my legs, her face was positioned exactly at the level of my groin.

Of course, she was keeping a sufficient distance, but from a frontal view, it was undeniably a position that could be misinterpreted.

“…”

And unfortunately, standing directly in that frontal view was Silvia, holding a bow and a large deer.

Despite being far away among the dense trees and deep shadows, her platinum hair was clearly visible.

As were those crimson eyes, widened to their limit.