Ch.186186. While He Sleeps (2)

As the sun slowly set, dark shadows began to creep into the room.

Stella, who had been watching over the still unconscious Deus, noticed two little ones who had sneaked into the room, hiding in the darkness.

“Professor Erika was right. He’s sleeping.”

“You’re really something, coming here despite being told not to.”

“Look who’s talking, you followed me here too.”

“I-I only came because I was worried you might do something weird to Deus.”

Aria and Elenoa.

The two female students quietly approached Deus’s bed and started chattering about various things.

“But now that we’re here, I feel a bit nervous.”

“I’d like to sketch him a little.”

Elenoa took out a pocket-sized notebook and began lightly sketching Deus’s sleeping face with her pen.

“Drawing while looking directly at the subject is definitely better than drawing from imagination.”

“Maybe it’s because he’s always surrounded by people who adore him? This kid doesn’t know what opportunity means.”

Saying this, Aria lifted Deus’s blanket and tried to lie down beside him.

“Hey! Hey! What are you doing!”

“Do you think opportunities like this come often? To see the professor sleeping up close?”

Still holding the blanket up, Aria began her confident persuasion.

“The professor I know would never sleep this defenseless. This is our chance.”

“……”

“Only when the professor is exhausted from catching four Greater Demons do we get an opportunity like this.”

It was essentially a forced argument, but Elenoa was being persuaded. No, she wanted to be persuaded.

Slowly putting away her notebook, mana extended from Elenoa’s hand, drawing a spell.

She cast the magic on both herself and Aria.

It was a secretive type of magic that blocked not only their breathing sounds but also the faint noises of their movements.

“With this, Deus won’t be able to hear us.”

“As expected of the princess. Capable in so many ways.”

Excited, Aria immediately lay down on Deus’s right side, while Elenoa, though hesitant, quickly took the left side.

[Such bold children.]

Stella showed her disbelief at their actions.

They turned their bodies to face Deus, but unfortunately, they ended up making eye contact with each other across his sleeping form.

“Ah, this ruins the mood.”

“Can’t you look somewhere else?”

Yet they both subtly snuggled closer to Deus, showing no intention of backing down.

Finally giving up, the two decided to enjoy the moment.

“The professor is warm.”

“Yeah.”

The girls were silent for a brief moment. Feeling like they might fall asleep if they stayed still like this, Aria gazed at Elenoa and asked:

“So why did you come to like the professor?”

“I don’t want to tell you.”

Elenoa pouted, not wanting to share her memories with Deus with someone else, but Aria shrugged and answered:

“The professor took the heaviest burden I was carrying.”

“……”

Surprised that Aria would say such a thing, Elenoa stared at her blankly.

“I thought my past might be unnecessary, but he denied that.”

“……”

“He helped me say goodbye to my old friends and first love, and allowed me to form new connections.”

Though taken aback, Elenoa understood the emotions underlying each of Aria’s words.

They were identical to her own feelings toward Deus.

“I would do anything for the professor.”

A calm but resolute declaration.

Hearing this, Elenoa felt something warm and heavy in her chest.

She too poured out her emotions.

“Deus saved me from a long nightmare.”

“Nightmare?”

“Yes, but actually, he showed me it wasn’t a nightmare. He helped me find myself, understood me, and didn’t deny who I am.”

“……”

“I still vividly remember the day Deus found me. Looking at the brilliantly cool moonlight, he made me feel that I was living in reality, not a dream.”

“……”

“Honestly, I’ve had everything. I am a princess of a nation, after all.”

Despite having a difficult childhood, apart from the nightmares, Elenoa had lived an abundantly privileged life.

“So I want to have Deus too. I want to make him mine.”

Her habit of drawing Deus could also be seen as an outlet for her unique possessiveness.

“But Deus is more precious to me than my own desires.”

“……”

Her clenched fist had grabbed onto Deus’s collar, as if never wanting to let go.

“So I too would do anything for Deus.”

The declarations of both girls were unwavering.

With steady gazes, they reached out toward each other across Deus’s peacefully sleeping form.

Above Deus, who was soundly asleep with gentle breathing sounds,

The two small but special girls linked their pinkies.

“We won’t let what happened this time, losing his right hand, happen again.”

“We’ll protect Deus.”

Believing that they would be both rivals and comrades to each other, the two broke into smiles simultaneously.

Whether from fatigue or from the comfort of being beside Deus,

Both girls gradually drifted off to sleep.

Looking down at the two who had fallen asleep, Stella brushed Deus’s hair with a bitter smile.

[You’re quite the sinful man.]

Stella thought she should wake the two before Deus woke up, but.

Bang!

“Master!”

A madman entered, shattering the silence.

Despite Findenai’s shout, Deus didn’t wake up, thanks to Stella quickly blocking the noise with her mana.

“Eeek?!”

“Gasp!”

But the two lying on either side weren’t so fortunate. Startled awake, they both sat up simultaneously and stared at Findenai.

Findenai, seeing the two female students lying in Deus’s bed, crossed his arms and stood with one leg forward.

“Well, well? Have you lost your minds?”

“A-ahem. The professor is sleeping, so be quiet.”

“That’s right, Deus is tired.”

“He’d be thrilled to know what you two were doing.”

Unable to respond to Findenai’s sarcasm, the two decided to be brazen.

“What the professor doesn’t know won’t hurt him!”

“Can’t you see Deus is sleeping better thanks to us?”

“Sigh, do you think the master won’t know what you’ve been up to?”

Shrugging his shoulders, Findenai glanced around the room.

“With the Dark Spiritmaster and former Saintess around, I’ll tell him all the naughty things you did while sleeping.”

“Ah……”

“Oh no.”

Aria and Elenoa turned pale and looked around. The Dark Spiritmaster was gone, but Stella was there, though of course, the two couldn’t see her.

[Don’t worry, I’ll keep your secret.]

Stella had no intention of spreading the word about the girls’ little promise, but they couldn’t hear her.

“S-so what are you going to do about it! You’re just a ghost! You can’t do anything!”

“Don’t interfere in the affairs of the living!”

[……]

The two shouted into the void before fleeing the scene.

Stella felt a little annoyed at the two, but still had no intention of revealing their secret.

Click.

Thanks to the two who had fled, Findenai took their place. Looking at the lying Deus, he approached with determined steps.

“Those kids, really. What good is having the Dark Spiritmaster or Saintess around?”

Unlike the two who ran away out of embarrassment, Findenai bent down toward Deus without hesitation.

Watching his action that showed not a hint of hesitation, Stella.

Whack!

She struck the back of Findenai’s head.

“Ugh!”

With his head forced downward, Findenai almost planted his face on Deus’s chest before quickly looking up.

“Dark Spiritmaster?”

[……]

“If you’re dead, don’t interfere in the affairs of the living.”

[……]

“Just watch me and the master lick and suck each……”

Whack!

After another blow to the back of his head, Findenai gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.

“Is this how you want to play? Really? You’re going to make me pounce for real?”

[……]

“If you stay still from now on, I’ll just kiss him and be done with it. I have my own noble cause for my fellow beings, you know?”

[Sigh.]

This wasn’t what she had in mind.

Crack.

Horns sprouted from Stella’s forehead.

Still providing a lap pillow for Deus, Vellica spread her arms wide.

[Stella is jealous, what a sight!]

Just as a pointless battle was about to begin.

“Mmm.”

Seeing Deus stirring and showing signs of waking, Findenai clicked his tongue and slipped out of the room.

Stella’s horns had already disappeared as she took her place.

As Deus slowly opened his eyes, Stella smiled at him—naturally, brazenly, yet somehow proudly—and asked:

[Are you awake?]

* * *

Creeeeak.

The door opened.

A woman with a haggard face cautiously entered the shop.

How long had this shop been here?

Despite having lived in Robern for years, she never knew there was a door leading to such a shop in the alley behind her house.

But why?

From the moment she stepped in, the woman somehow knew what this shop sold and what currency was required for payment.

The interior was so dark that one might doubt if the lights were on at all.

Empty display shelves with nothing on them.

At the end, a man with white gloves was waiting for the woman at what appeared to be a counter—an old table.

“Hello.”

As the woman who entered as a customer carefully bowed her head in greeting, the proprietor merely wiggled their fingers in response.

Proprietress?

Wasn’t it a man just now?

“Please sit.”

At the metallic, scraping voice of an elderly person coming from across the table, the woman sat down in the chair before the table as if entranced.

She found herself naturally accepting the strangeness of it all.

“Is there something you desire?”

This time, a little girl’s voice asked lightly. By now, the other side of the table was covered in darkness like a black curtain, making it hard to see, but.

The woman didn’t want to know what was making so many different voices over there.

It wasn’t fear.

Rather, she felt a warm familiarity, but simply had no curiosity.

Since entering this shop, countless surreal things had unfolded before her eyes.

She recognized them as surreal, but felt no particular sentiment about it.

There was no emotional response.

So the woman carefully clasped her hands and opened her mouth.

“I want to live with my true love.”

Aha.

A playful little girl’s voice came from beyond the darkness.

In contrast, a delicate hand that could be described as exquisitely beautiful extended from the darkness, wearing a white glove.

Each hand held a different object.

One was a doll in the shape of an adult man.

The other was a doll of a little girl.

“What will you pay with?”

The voice from the other side remained unchanged, still that of a little girl.

In that voice, the woman sensed something familiar, but didn’t find it strange.

After a moment’s hesitation, she tapped the little girl doll.

“With my child.”

“Aha.”

At that moment, a little girl’s face emerged from the darkness.

A girl with a red headband, short hair, freckles, and a somewhat fierce look asked the woman with teary eyes:

“Mom, are you selling me?”

Gulp.

That’s right.

Why hadn’t she recognized her daughter’s voice?

The woman briefly wondered this but nodded without concern.

“Yes.”

Whoosh!

The girl’s face retreated back into the darkness.

Afterward, a voice presumed to be that of the man she had seen when first entering echoed from the darkness.

“The transaction is complete.”

“……”

“Thank you for using Claire’s General Store.”

That was the end.

Though she hadn’t risen from her chair or gone outside,

The woman suddenly found herself standing in the alley outside the shop.

And the old door to the general store had vanished.