Ch.177Sister (1)

*

Following Alice’s and Silvia’s plan, Silvia disappeared into the darkness with the boy.

Silvia and the peddler boy had decided to infiltrate the castle, assess the situation inside, and then return.

The reasoning was that Silvia could handle some combat if necessary, and if the Demon Lord turned out to be weaker than expected, she might even be able to finish him off right there.

The boy was only supposed to guide her to the entrance of the passage that led into the castle.

I couldn’t hide my worry as I watched Silvia’s platinum hair dissolve into the darkness.

“…She’ll be fine.”

It was ridiculous.

Someone like me worrying about Silvia—who should be worried about whom?

Yet this unsettling feeling wandering through my mind wouldn’t easily fade away.

For the past few days, Silvia had been the first to move out each night, and now here we were, sending her ahead once again. It bothered me.

But this was her decision, and I wasn’t in a position to question her judgment.

Of course, I did voice my objection despite my lack of standing, but Silvia simply shook her head, insisting this was the best approach.

Silvia is strong.

And the person who knew that best was none other than Silvia herself.

The warmth I felt when she embraced me tightly before leaving had already been scattered by the cold winter wind.

I stood there blankly, staring in the direction she had disappeared.

Alice approached me slowly and spoke in a low voice.

“Ash, I know you’re worried about Silvia, but try to get some rest.”

“Yeah…”

“If you’re worried about Silvia, focus on recovering from your fatigue.”

“…I know.”

Ordinary humans, unlike Silvia, need to recover from fatigue.

It’s hard enough to stay up all night just for study or work, let alone having enough energy left for intense combat after walking all day.

I was obviously in no position to argue, but surprisingly, the same applied to Alice.

Holy power didn’t eliminate physical fatigue, so there was nothing to be done about it.

Of course, Alice had initially resisted Silvia’s instruction to rest, but she had to nod in agreement after Silvia’s sharp retort that facing the Demon Lord without being in peak condition would be even more foolish.

After all, Silvia was the one who had beheaded a Demon Lord before and the only person who had faced one and lived to tell the tale.

Perhaps it was only natural that her opinion carried the most weight.

Moreover, if I couldn’t move, neither could Alice, who was essentially my lifeline.

As long as I depended on her holy power, she couldn’t leave my side.

I hung my head weakly, realizing that despite struggling to come this far hoping not to be a burden, I had ultimately become nothing but baggage.

Alice placed her hand on my shoulder and said:

“Lie down now.”

“Alright… You should rest too.”

“I will.”

I slumped down weakly by the campfire and leaned against the ruins of the collapsed castle wall.

I intended to try to sleep, but not to lie down completely.

We had agreed that if Silvia didn’t return within two hours, Alice and I would go to the castle to help her.

Even a short nap of just two hours could be quite beneficial.

I needed to rest my body, but falling too deeply asleep and facing the Demon Lord in a half-awake state wouldn’t be ideal either.

“…Things aren’t going as planned.”

I sighed as I spoke.

If we had spotted the Demon Lord’s castle from a distance, we could have approached while managing our condition. But finding ourselves practically at the Demon Lord’s doorstep made everything feel off-kilter.

Alice must have heard my muttering, as she quietly responded:

“Adventures and journeys never go according to plan.”

“I suppose so…”

That’s why an adventurer’s greatest asset must be robust stamina.

I nodded, recalling Silvia’s firm physique that I had embraced many times.

Her broad shoulders and taut muscles, more noticeable when undressed than clothed, certainly lacked conventional feminine charm.

Not that this made Silvia any less attractive as a woman.

Her body, which overwhelmed me as a man, harbored an overwhelming sensuality that consumed all that sturdiness. Her uniquely sensitive nature made her reach climax easily, and yet her abundant stamina had me clinging to her again and again.

When I embraced her tightly while finishing inside her, I could feel her firm body convulsing greatly with pleasure and climax throughout my entire body.

Oh dear,

Thinking about her made me miss Silvia.

I felt an urge to run out and find her right now.

I finally understood why I was so worried about Silvia despite her being much stronger than me.

I was worried about never being able to see her again.

If something happened to Silvia, I would never see her again.

Of course, the more likely scenario was that I would be the one to die…

“Haah…”

I exhaled deeply, trying to relax my body as much as possible.

My entire body ached with fatigue and muscle pain.

I was tired enough to collapse at any moment, but somehow sleep wouldn’t come.

My mind, filled with anxiety, wouldn’t let me go easily.

Was it the Demon Lord’s presence disturbing me?

Or was it the anxiety created by my weak self who had crawled all the way here without any real skills or fear?

Probably both were true.

“You can’t sleep, it seems.”

Alice quietly addressed me again.

I nodded and asked:

“How did you know? I wasn’t saying anything.”

“I can tell if you’re sleeping just by your breathing.”

“…I see.”

“Why can’t you sleep?”

“…Just anxious, I guess.”

After a moment of silence, Alice suddenly rose slowly.

Then she approached me with unhurried steps, sat down beside me, and said:

“I… can’t sleep either.”

“You need to rest. I might not be much help, but you…”

“It’s fine. Closing my eyes and staying still helps a little.”

“…Really?”

“Yes.”

Alice hugged her knees to her chest and rested her cheek lightly on them.

Then she closed her eyes gently.

Despite the campfire nearby, the chilly night air suddenly felt scorching hot.

I could indirectly feel how fiercely her heart was burning.

“…Why can’t you sleep?”

“…”

Alice smiled slightly.

Despite the heated air, it was a cold and lonely smile, as frigid as the winter wind brushing across the lake.

From her lips, which parted with a smile so fragile it seemed it would shatter at the slightest touch, came a brief statement:

“I’m… anxious too.”

“…”

I didn’t ask the foolish question of what she was anxious about.

She was living on borrowed time.

Or more accurately, she was closer to a ticking bomb.

It wouldn’t be surprising if her body crumbled at this very moment.

In fact, compared to the warnings she had repeatedly given, it seemed almost miraculous that the end hadn’t come yet.

As if the goddess had granted her a grace period until the Demon Lord was defeated, she was enduring day by day.

But no matter how much she struggled, Alice Goldfield would die.

My sister would die.

The last person who remembered my childhood would certainly die.

“…”

Nostalgia for the Goldfield domain, which I hadn’t thought about for a while, suddenly surged from deep in my throat, making my nose sting.

I silently rested my head on her shoulder.

As a child, I used to nap like this in the shade of a large tree.

Back then, Alice would push me away, complaining it was bothersome, but now she silently rested her cheek on my head.

“…A week ago, my heart started to heat up abnormally. Hot enough to slightly melt the inside of my armor.”

Alice spoke in a voice so small it was almost a whisper.

I couldn’t tell if she was speaking softly because we were sitting so close together or if she was trying to hide her rising tears, but her voice, with more air than vocal cord friction, clearly carried moisture.

“I thought… this is it, I’m dying now. But I didn’t.”

“…”

“Five days ago, my heart started beating irregularly. I thought surely this time… today must be the day, so I prepared myself mentally. But it wasn’t. It’s still beating irregularly now.”

“…”

“Yesterday, my heart started stopping for one or two minutes intermittently. I thought, ah, this is really it now, but I’m still alive.”

I silently gripped her hand tightly.

Her fingers were hot and mushy, like heated clay.

“Ah, I’m dying today. No, not today but tomorrow. Ah, this time for sure I’m dying…”

“…”

“How do you think it feels to prepare yourself like that every day?”

“I don’t know… I can’t even imagine.”

“Hehe, I told you. It’s anxiety.”

Her hot fingers slipped between mine.

It was so hot I felt I might get burned, but I gritted my teeth and squeezed her hand even tighter.

For some reason, I had a feeling that the moment I let go of this hand, her body would never be warm again.

I couldn’t tell if I was truly sensing her end or if her anxiety and fear had transferred to me.

That’s why I could only hold her hand tightly.

“…Ash.”

She opened her mouth with a trembling voice.

It was a fragile voice, like a violin with broken strings struggling to make sound, so weak it gave me goosebumps.

“I have something I want to say…”

“…Yeah.”

“I’ve been thinking about whether I should say it or not. If I do, you’ll have a hard time. And I’ll regret it even after I die…”

“…”

“But if I don’t say it…”

“Sis…”

“If I don’t say it… what’s the point of this heart burning so hot…”

“…Sis?”

“You know… Ash…”

“Sis, wait…”

I interrupted Alice.

I really didn’t want to, but I had no choice.

“…Who’s that standing over there?”

Someone was watching us from the darkness.

“…What?”

I raised my finger slowly to point at whoever I was looking at.

It obviously wasn’t Silvia.

It wasn’t time for her to return yet, and no matter how obscured by darkness, I wouldn’t mistake someone else for Silvia.

Moreover, those eerie eyes glowing in the darkness weren’t red.

They were closer to a disturbingly murky blue.

Alice slowly opened her eyes and looked in the direction I was pointing.

“…Gasp!”

She inhaled sharply.

Her golden eyes, wide with surprise, revealed confusion and shock.

I too trembled, unable to suppress the chill created by this unidentified presence staring at us without a word.

Alice spoke with a trembling voice:

“…Ma,”

Her lips quivered several times, unable to form the next syllable.

Her fingers, which had been burning hot, gradually grew cold, and I hurriedly looked at Alice.

Fortunately, she wasn’t dead.

She was just so shocked that even her racing heart had calmed down.

Alice very slowly, as if squeezing the words from her lungs, began to utter the remaining syllables:

“ri… a?”

.