Ch.195Sylvia’s Happy World (3)

*

Of course, luck can’t always be on your side.

Well, I was never particularly lucky to begin with, so the fact that I managed to dodge Silvia’s slashes five times might almost be considered a miracle.

Thanks to Pia’s help, I blocked some of those sharp attacks, and perhaps due to my training, I narrowly avoided others.

But beginner’s luck only goes so far.

Again, luck can’t always be on your side.

Silvia’s sixth slash cut horizontally through the air in front of me.

Just when I thought I’d dodged it, the black trajectory twisted and fell from above, deeply piercing my right shoulder.

It happened at such speed that neither I nor even Pia could react to it, let alone see it coming.

It was as if her sword had teleported to the side of my collarbone.

“Kuh!”

Hot, sticky blood splattered onto my cheeks.

Her sword, which had cut through my trapezius muscle and dug into my shoulder, was gradually moving downward.

At this rate, my right arm might be completely severed.

I hurriedly grabbed her sword with my left hand.

Pia also used magic to stabilize the sword embedded in my shoulder.

Pia was probably trying to pull it out, but Silvia’s strength was so overwhelming that she could barely prevent it from sinking deeper.

The fortunate thing was that the faint holy power emanating from Alice’s heart, which I was holding, was slowly mending my shoulder that had been split by the sword.

However, the holy power was so faint that unlike Alice, my wounds weren’t healing simultaneously as they were inflicted.

It was more like prolonging the pain for an even longer time.

The blade dug into my left palm as I gripped it tightly, causing blood to pour out.

Judging by the trembling of Silvia’s fingertips, it seemed that the force with which Pia and I were desperately blocking was barely maintaining equilibrium with the strength of just one of her arms.

Silvia tilted her head briefly, then began twisting her sword-wielding wrist in various directions.

Naturally, the blade penetrating my body began to bend from side to side, crushing my insides at will.

“ARGHHHH!”

“Ash!”

“Silvia… stop, stop it.”

Having lost too much blood, my consciousness was becoming hazy, and I barely managed to squeeze out those words.

Pia, who was using magic—or rather, spirit arts—to hold Silvia’s sword, was sweating profusely from the strain as she spoke.

“Ash, don’t talk. You’ll die!”

As Pia shouted, blood welled up in my throat.

It seemed the sword had damaged something inside.

The sword, which had gradually descended almost to my armpit, caused the world to go dark momentarily whenever it moved.

I was probably briefly losing consciousness from the excruciating pain that was difficult to describe.

“…Damn it, Silvi…a, when you… wake up,”

“Ash,”

“You’ll… regret this.”

At that moment, I saw something fall limply from my chest to the floor.

Thanks to my naturally drooping head, I could recognize what it was.

It was Malice’s necklace that had been in the pouch at my waist.

Although Alice had brought me the necklace, I had taken it out and worn it around my neck to make room in my pouch for Alice’s heart.

According to Pia, it looked like a tool for capturing spirits, and apparently, some spirit was already inside it.

“Kuk,”

Silvia twisted her wrist and lifted the sword slightly.

The wound that had been healing due to the holy power tore open again, spurting blood.

My fingers gripping the sword were gradually losing strength.

It seemed I couldn’t hold on any longer.

Just then, a loud boom sounded from behind me.

“What’s… happening… Pia, tell me.”

With no strength left to turn around, I struggled to speak.

But the response wasn’t Pia’s voice.

“You have lost.”

“…!”

A horrifying, spine-chilling voice like hundreds of centipedes crawling into my ears.

“The disloyal demon has fallen.”

It seems the loud boom I heard earlier was the sound of the merchant boy being defeated.

Then, the owner of this chilling voice must be…

“It would be a fitting punishment for a thief who walked into my chambers with dirty feet to watch you suffer like this,”

“…Pia,”

Those pale, slender fingers clenched into a fist next to my head.

Those long, creepy fingers were gripping Pia’s neck, and she was choking in their grasp.

They were so long that they seemed to wrap around Pia’s neck at least twice.

“But I am of a cautious nature.”

Pia struggled to remove those thread-like fingers digging into her neck and said:

“A-Ash, g-go, qui-ckly…”

“Urghh!”

As Pia’s magic disappeared, Silvia’s sword in my hand grew heavier.

The sword gradually advanced downward, cutting through my body.

I was certain.

It was over.

We had lost, just like that.

Even without seeing, I could feel it.

The massive amount of demonic energy gathering behind me.

It seemed the Demon King had come out personally to finish off Silvia and me.

Just before my bloodshot eyes closed, I took one last look at the necklace lying on the floor, emitting a bright blue light.

In the end, I never found out what it really was.

I was about to let go of my fading consciousness with that thought.

“Neither Ash nor Silvia…”

At that moment, I heard a strange voice.

A voice both unfamiliar and incredibly familiar.

“…?”

“Can do anything without me!”

*

Silvia looked down in bewilderment, dumbfounded.

While confidently chopping firewood with an axe in Ash’s place, her axe had gotten stuck in the sixth log and wouldn’t come out.

Of course, Silvia was quite perplexed by this situation, as she could easily split such wooden blocks with her bare hands.

She had never failed at tasks requiring strength before, but this damned piece of wood—as if it had clay inside instead of wood grain—wouldn’t separate from the embedded axe.

Silvia stammered urgently:

“Wait, wait, wait, hold still.”

“I’ve been still this whole time?”

“I said be quiet.”

“What did I say?”

Ash looked at Silvia with a sly expression and snickered.

Silvia was, unusually, feeling embarrassed.

It wasn’t strange for her to feel ashamed, having made a fool of herself in front of her lover while trying to show off her strength as a hero.

The strange thing was this piece of wood.

“Hnngh! Why won’t this come out?”

Silvia twisted her wrist and wiggled the firmly embedded axe blade back and forth, but it still showed no sign of coming loose.

It was as if someone was holding it firmly in place.

Ash, who had been pretending to be nonchalant while drinking his beverage, ended up spitting it out spectacularly and started laughing at her comical struggle.

Silvia shot him a sulky look and said:

“You were struggling too, you know.”

“True, but it’s still funny.”

“No, this is really strange. Ash, you didn’t do anything weird, did you? Like using spirit arts?”

“I didn’t. Why are you suspecting me just because you’re embarrassed?”

Silvia’s flushed face was almost on the verge of tears.

Ash carefully placed his metal cup on the ground and stood up with an exaggerated “heave-ho.”

Then, with his hands behind his back, he walked slowly toward Silvia with a smug attitude and said:

“Want me to try?”

“No, stay put.”

“You’re doing so poorly.”

“You… tch,”

Despite Silvia’s warning, Ash giggled.

That playful face looked somewhat refreshing.

That face was closer to the mischievous little brother Maria had told her about long ago, before Silvia had even met Ash, rather than the Ash she knew well.

Thinking about it that way, Silvia’s pouty expression softened a bit.

Is this Ash’s true self?

He’s become comfortable enough with me to reveal his true self without hesitation.

We’ve truly become a family.

Thinking like that, even his mischievous behavior seemed incredibly endearing.

Even to myself, I seem quite infatuated.

Silvia sighed briefly with that thought.

“Ash.”

“Yes?”

“I’m thirsty. Could you get me some water in that cup you gave me earlier?”

“Ah, sure. Got it.”

Ash picked up the two cups he had placed on the ground and walked into the cabin, humming a tune.

“You must be parched—”

“Ash, you really…”

“Hehe,”

Silvia watched the direction Ash had gone for a moment, then turned her attention back to this strange piece of wood.

It was clearly unusual for an axe to be this stuck.

Although she was surprised by this rare perplexing situation, upon reflection, she felt more pleased than displeased.

Having always lived in adventures and surprising events, enduring terrible pain and desolation for a long time, Silvia had found the peaceful days somewhat boring.

Thinking about it that way, it was natural to welcome such a minor incident after so long.

It almost felt a shame to split this wood.

“Hmm? Still can’t get the axe out?”

“I was taking a break.”

“Is it that stuck?”

“I said I was taking a break… but yes, it is stuck.”

“You’ve defeated the Demon King, maybe you’re getting weaker now that you don’t have to use your strength much anymore.”

Ash handed the water cup to Silvia with a bright smile.

Silvia took the cup and smiled back at him with a wink, saying:

“Who says I don’t use my strength?”

“Huh?”

“I use plenty of strength at night.”

“But that’s me using my strength.”

“I use a lot too, you know? You like it when I’m on top, moving.”

“…That’s true.”

Ash nodded awkwardly.

He seemed to be recalling their nighttime intimacy and feeling embarrassed.

What was he thinking about?

My hips bouncing up and down?

Or my breasts swaying in the opposite rhythm?

Ash smiled awkwardly for a moment, then approached Silvia with quick steps.

He put his lips close to her ear and whispered softly:

“Then, if Silvia splits that firewood,”

“…Y-yes?”

“I’ll use a lot of strength tonight.”

“…”

Silvia pushed Ash away with her shoulder.

“Step back.”

“Silvia?”

“Keep your promise.”

That settles it.

No matter how interesting this rare occurrence might be, it’s not more important than sex with Ash.

Silvia gripped the axe handle firmly.

No matter how firmly something inside was holding it, if she lifted the whole log with all her might and slammed it down, it would eventually split.

Should I use both hands?

Yes, that would split it more surely.

Silvia had a water cup in her other hand.

She quickly drank the water and was about to lift the axe.

At that moment,

A voice spoke in Silvia’s mind.

“What color are Silvia’s eyes?”

“…?”

What?

Who said that?

It wasn’t Ash’s voice.

Silvia was confused by the sudden voice in her head.

So many strange things are happening today.

Silvia thought as she looked into the water cup.

Come to think of it, Ash had asked her once before.

What her original eye color was.

She couldn’t answer Ash then.

She had lived alone in that forest for so long that she couldn’t even remember her original eye color, so even though she wanted to answer, she couldn’t.

But now it’s different.

Now she could answer.

Of course, my eye color is, as reflected in this cup of water…

“…Huh?”

Silvia couldn’t recognize the color of her eyes reflected in the water cup.

She could clearly tell it wasn’t the red eyes created by the Demon King’s curse, but she couldn’t identify what color it was.

It was a strange feeling.

She could see it clearly with her own eyes, clear enough that she could draw the shape of her pupils if asked, but she just couldn’t tell what color they were.

“Of course, because you don’t remember.”

“…Who are you?”

“Wake up, Silvia. Look carefully.”

“I said who are you!”

“First… why don’t you open your eyes?”

“What?”

At that moment, the sky above Silvia began to collapse.

That clear blue sky started breaking apart like puzzle pieces.

Not just the ground, but everything—the trees, the cabin, the flowerpots, the sunlight—all the background was shattering like broken glass into pieces and disappearing.

No,

No!

“Ash!”

Silvia quickly turned her head to where Ash had been standing.

But Ash crumbled away with the surrounding background, like a picture drawn on a wall.

As if everything until now had been merely a paper puppet show,

Silvia’s world collapsed flatly.

And behind it appeared gloomy, dark pillars and walls covered in demonic energy and dust.

“…!”

The cup in her hand, the scattered firewood around her, the warmth of Ash’s ticklish breath in her ear.

While everything was disappearing, there was just one thing that remained.

The axe she was holding.

Silvia slowly looked at the axe handle in her hand.

It wasn’t an axe, but the handle of a sword she knew all too well.

Silvia’s gaze naturally followed the sharp blade slowly forward.

To the position where the solid log that wouldn’t release the embedded axe blade had been.

And there,

A horrific scene that Silvia never wanted to see was displayed all too vividly, as if to torment her.

Silvia instantly dropped the sword handle.

“A…!”

“Calm down, he’s not dead yet. The fact that I’m alive is proof of that.”

The voice she had heard just before.

Amidst her confusion at having harmed Ash, Silvia realized this voice was incredibly familiar.

So familiar that it gave her goosebumps.

The voice looked alternately at the frozen Silvia and the slumped Ash, and began to speak with a sigh:

“Neither Ash nor Silvia…”

“Ah…”

“Can do anything without me!”

A playful, confident voice.

This voice, with its proud tone mixed with a touch of lovable aegyo that showed she had grown up being loved—Silvia knew it.

She knew it all too well.

But it wasn’t Silvia who reacted first.

“…You are,”

The Demon King began to contort his long, creepy face.

And the demonic energy he had been gathering behind Ash started to fluctuate unstably, as if about to explode.

Having faced the Demon King once before, Silvia knew.

That was the Demon King’s unique magic that would literally grind everything around it to dust.

It couldn’t be avoided or blocked.

Only Maria’s magic could block it.

That’s when it happened.

Holy Polymorphic Shield.

Miracle Curtain.

Fairy’s Nimble Wings.

Descending Jade Light.

Superior Blue Wind Barrier.

The voice instantly recited the spells.

Several top-tier defensive spells, which would take an ordinary magician over an hour just to calculate, instantly began to surround Silvia, Ash, and Pia.

Silvia could finally speak.

Only now, with certainty, could she dare to utter that name again.

“Maria…?”

“Yes, it’s Maria, the most beautiful girl at the Academy.”

It really was her.