Ch.187Comrades (4)

In truth, I had so many things I wanted to say when I met Sylvia.

That Balder appeared and controlled Maria to attack us, that Alice died with Maria, and that for the first time in my life, I deliberately killed someone by my own will.

Everything happened so suddenly that I didn’t realize it then, but now that it was all over, I wanted to tell her how sad and painful it all was.

But I couldn’t.

Because Sylvia had endured a far more brutal time than what I had experienced, making my troubles seem trivial in comparison.

Seeing the blood and flesh scattered everywhere, and Sylvia’s expression that anyone could tell was on the verge of collapse, I absolutely couldn’t burden her with my childish complaints.

Instead, she collapsed into my arms and cried like a child.

As I embraced her waist with all my strength, I thought about our relationship.

Looking back carefully at the time we’d spent together since we first met, we had always been like this.

A relationship where we licked each other’s wounds with our battered bodies and minds.

I could now understand that she had relied on me just as much as I had relied on her.

That’s probably why she, superior to me in every way, came to love such an insignificant man like me.

It was amusing.

Wasn’t comfort supposed to be when the better-off person shares the burden of the struggling one?

With our bodies and minds in shambles, we shared each other’s burdens, and overwhelmed by them, we leaned on each other’s bodies.

If our love were to be molded into a form, it would resemble a statue barely standing with a strange balance.

But thanks to that exquisite equilibrium, we need each other and couldn’t live without one another.

With such thoughts, I quietly kept my mouth shut.

“…”

For quite some time, Sylvia said nothing as we walked down the corridor.

To be fair, it wasn’t exactly a situation for casual conversation.

We were essentially walking inside the gaping maw of the Demon King.

We had been embracing each other just moments ago because we desperately needed each other’s warmth for comfort, but that too was undoubtedly a reckless action inappropriate for the situation.

A pitch-black corridor where anything could jump out at any moment.

Traps filled with malice or assassins preparing for vile ambushes could be anywhere.

Of course, such shallow tricks might not be a problem for Sylvia, but they were for me.

Knowing this, Sylvia was likely staying vigilant as well.

Just as I was thinking this, Sylvia slowly opened her mouth.

“…Hey.”

Her voice was so small, almost as quiet as the sound of our footsteps echoing in the corridor, that I almost missed it.

However, it wasn’t due to embarrassment or emotional turmoil.

Noticing that Sylvia had deliberately kept her voice very low, I responded in an equally quiet voice.

“Yes. What is it?”

“Alice… is she dead?”

“…”

I pondered for a moment.

The question was very simple, but the answer wasn’t as straightforward as I expected.

While her physical body couldn’t be found anywhere, her mechanical heart in my waistband was still emitting a faint heat.

Moreover, at the moment of her death, Malice’s necklace had begun to glow and activate some effect.

In truth, I had no way of knowing what all these circumstances meant or what they foretold.

All these anomalies might not necessarily point to Alice’s resurrection.

No, it was probably closer to a hopeless optimistic observation.

But I didn’t want to flatly state that Alice was dead and could never come back.

And since it wasn’t the right time or place to ramble about my complicated feelings and the complex situation, I answered very briefly.

“For now…”

“…”

Sylvia closed her mouth.

She was probably surprised.

After all, Alice was someone even Sylvia couldn’t kill.

Perhaps even the Demon King would find it impossible to kill Alice.

“I see…”

But we all knew well the paradoxical situation where she, whom no one could kill, could also die at any moment without it being strange.

Alice had continuously impressed upon us that her heart was broken, and had repeatedly urged us to continue our journey, so her death itself didn’t seem to be completely unexpected news to Sylvia.

Sylvia asked quietly once more.

“…Did you kill her?”

“What?”

“…No?”

“Why would you think such a ridiculous thing? Why would I?”

When I questioned her, keeping my voice as low as possible despite my bewilderment, Sylvia pointed at my armor.

It was completely covered in blood.

“Your armor was like that even before you embraced me.”

“…We were attacked.”

I opened my mouth, prepared.

This blood belongs to Balder, not Alice, but if Sylvia probes any further, it will be difficult for me to hide the story about Maria.

Originally, I had planned to confess even if she didn’t ask, but in Sylvia’s current unstable state after cutting down her comrades, hearing about Maria might not be the best thing.

So, I quietly waited for her next question, hoping she wouldn’t inquire further.

“…”

“…”

“I see…”

Sylvia spoke quietly, looking ahead.

Then she asked me another strange question.

“That demon boy. Did you meet him?”

“Huh? Oh, yes. He showed me the passage.”

“Then, did he come with you?”

“No? He’s… collecting the bodies of his comrades.”

Sylvia frowned slightly, then straightened her face into a stern expression, raising her eyes sharply.

“Sylvia?”

“Then…”

“…?”

“The footsteps following us from behind are neither Alice nor the boy.”

“…What?”

Sylvia stopped, drew her sword, and turned around.

I also halted abruptly and hurriedly looked back.

But all I could see was the corridor engulfed in darkness, and I couldn’t hear anything.

“…”

In the corridor, there was only me, Sylvia, and Pia.

Pia looked at me with a puzzled expression.

I was about to ask Pia if she sensed anything.

At that moment, Sylvia slowly moved her sword arm.

“Someone is here.”

And she pointed it directly at Pia.

“…Huh?”

“Oh, wait… is that Ash’s spirit?”

“Ah, yes…”

Sylvia smirked and slowly lowered her sword arm.

Unable to hide my confusion, I asked her.

“You can see Pia?”

“It seems so… I can see her. Faintly, but,”

Of course, Sylvia cannot see Pia.

No matter how extraordinary she is, she has nothing to do with spirits.

“Before, I could only sense her presence, but now I can see her form, albeit faintly. It’s like the space around her is distorted…”

No, even sensing her presence is insane enough.

I know well that spirits are not beings affected by physical laws.

Without being a spirit mage, one cannot sense a spirit’s presence at all.

Even I was unaware of Pia’s existence, who had been by my side my entire life, until I became conscious of spirits.

“How…?”

“…”

Sylvia hesitated for a moment, then shook her head and said.

“Well, I have my suspicions, but… I won’t say now.”

“…Why?”

“I’ll tell you later… it’s not a bad story.”

“Sylvia?”

“It’s just… not something to discuss in a place like this… It’s also something I can only talk about comfortably after killing the Demon King.”

Sylvia walked forward with a slight smile.

I looked back and forth between her and Pia for a moment.

Pia was sweating nervously.

“Oh, by the way, Ash.”

“…Yes?”

Sylvia said with a smile.

“She seems much more attractive than how you described her.”

I started to break out in a cold sweat too.

*

“Sylvia.”

“Yes.”

“Do you know where we’re going right now?”

The corridor was longer and more complex than I expected.

Sylvia silently opened doors and chose directions at forks without hesitation, walking steadily forward.

Until now, I had followed her without question, but I was beginning to wonder if she was taking the right path.

“The path we’ve taken so far is quite complicated. Do you know the structure of this castle?”

“I do.”

“…How?”

“Because I’ve been here before.”

Sylvia spoke in a calm tone.

But the firmness and indescribable deep emotion filled in that calm tone made me unable to say anything more.

At that moment, I suddenly felt suffocated.

Or more precisely, it was closer to the sensation of being immersed in a dense mass of demonic energy that made it difficult to breathe.

“Cough, cough,”

The demonic energy was so thick in the air that even Pia, a spirit, was coughing.

Sylvia said.

“We’ve arrived.”

Sylvia pointed ahead.

I followed her hand with my gaze.

Squinting my stinging eyes, I peered ahead and could faintly make out a massive door buried in the pitch-black darkness in the distance.

“Ash,”

Sylvia grabbed my shoulder and spoke.

Her voice was incredibly resolute.

In a tone reminiscent of “Mr. Millwood” from months ago, who had warned me never to look at his face, Sylvia slowly opened her mouth.

“Stay behind me no matter what. You’re not a warrior who fights up close.”

“Yes… I know…”

“No, listen carefully, stay behind me no matter what. You must never be between me and the Demon King.”

“I understand.”

“No matter what flies at us, even if I’m about to die from the Demon King’s magic, you must never come in front of me, and don’t have any stupid ideas about taking hits for me. Got it?”

“…I got it,”

“It’s not enough to just understand. So promise me.”

“…”

“Promise that you will never step forward and never try to save me.”

“Me, save Sylvia? I’m much weaker than you, what are you talking about?”

“Shut up and promise me!”

Sylvia shouted angrily, and I froze in shock.

I could sense great despair and sadness hidden behind Sylvia’s resolute face.

There was an unmistakable subtle trembling in her firm grip on my shoulder and in her low, steady voice.

Sylvia was genuinely afraid.

She looked like someone who was forcibly holding herself together when she wanted to run away in fear.

I’ve seen many sides of her.

I’ve even seen her afraid before.

But the current Sylvia was a bit unfamiliar.

The fear I had seen in her until now was the fear of losing me.

It might seem similar now.

After all, she’s afraid of me dying.

But the way Sylvia was showing herself to me now was a bit different.

“Syl…via?”

“You’re… Maria’s brother…”

“…”

It felt like a heavy blow to the back of my head.

I realized then that even her legs were trembling.

Until now, whenever she faced a situation where she might lose me, she tried to avoid that situation.

If there was a threat, she tried to eliminate it; if she thought I might run away, she tried to keep me tied down; if I was thinking something she didn’t like, she used her body to divert my attention to her.

“I can’t lose you like I lost Maria. No. Absolutely not… so promise me.”

But now it’s different.

For the first time, she had to walk into a situation where she might lose me.

That’s why Sylvia was so afraid.

The appearance she showed now was closer to that of a soldier who wanted to flee from battle immediately.

“…”

I silently took hold of Sylvia’s trembling arms gently.

Then, slowly stroking her arms upward, I gradually moved my fingertips to her shoulders.

Eventually, my hands on her shoulders moved down her back, slowly reaching her waist.

I firmly embraced Sylvia’s waist.

“I promise.”

“…”

“I’ll tell Pia to take me to a safe place immediately if I seem to be in danger.”

I looked at Pia standing beside me and said.

“You’ll do that, right?”

Pia nodded.

“Sylvia. Are you reassured now?”

“Yes…”

“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of myself.”

“You must… Ash, I’d rather die than have you die. Understand?”

“I don’t want you to die either…”

“No objections. It’s non-negotiable. Ash must live no matter what.”

“I said I understand… geez,”

I patted Sylvia’s head and said.

“I’ll hide behind Sylvia’s back and just think about what we’ll do for a living when this is all over.”

“Ha, you and your jokes again…”

“It’s not a joke. The outside world is in chaos, remember? This is a serious concern.”

“…Idiot.”

Sylvia briefly kissed my lips and said.

“As if I would ever let Ash go hungry.”

“Yes, I believe you.”

Sylvia slowly moved away from me.

Then, turning toward the Demon King’s chamber, she said.

“Three steps. Walk three steps behind me.”

“Got it.”

Sylvia began to walk.

I quietly opened my mouth.

“Pia… I’m counting on you.”

“Yes…”

Pia said with a stern expression.

“I know… what Ash is thinking…”

“…I trust you.”

I followed Sylvia.

Having reached the door, Sylvia took a small deep breath, exhaled the acrid demonic energy, and slowly began to push open the large door.