Ch.3636. Rabies (1)

The third day dawned.

While escorting Sione through the mountains would normally have been a chore, today was particularly taxing from the morning.

Siabel had been hovering around me since morning because of yesterday’s incident, giving me meaningful glances.

Whenever I exchanged a few words with Bronte, she would approach, saying she wanted to speak with her attendant, and casually strike up a conversation with me too.

And unlike before, she did all this with a friendly smile, which made me shake my head involuntarily.

Why doesn’t she just come directly and talk to me?

Why go through all this trouble?

That wasn’t the only difficulty.

“Aren’t you standing too close?”

“Close? Not at all, don’t worry about it.”

“But if you’re this close, climbing the mountain becomes…”

“I said don’t worry about it.”

The mountain was already rough and difficult to traverse.

Sione was sticking unusually close to me, refusing to keep any distance.

If either of us were to misstep, we’d obviously end up embracing and rolling down again.

Despite giving her several hints to back off, Sione kept clutching my sleeve and cutting me off.

What made matters worse was that while Sione and I were bickering about this issue,

Siabel was conspicuously conscious of us, turning her head to look our way.

Why on earth are these people so interested in me today?

“Sister Siabel seems to be checking on us quite often today.”

Even Sione noticed that Siabel was watching us more than usual.

Come to think of it, I should tell her that Siabel discovered my magic.

But with so many ears around, I’ll have to tell her later.

I came up with an appropriate response.

“I think she’s frequently checking to see if Lady Sione is alright after yesterday’s incident.”

“Hmm. For that, she seems to be as conscious of you as she is of me.”

“Didn’t I throw myself to save Lady Sione yesterday? Perhaps she’s concerned because I held Lady Sione while rolling several times.”

“I suppose…”

Sione narrowed her eyes as she looked at Siabel’s back.

Just then, Siabel, who was about to check on us again, met Sione’s gaze.

Siabel waved with a small smile.

Sione awkwardly returned the gesture.

Seeing Sione, the corners of Siabel’s mouth lifted even more.

Then her gaze shifted to me.

Why is she so desperate to look at me?

I mouthed the words:

Please stop looking this way. Lady Sione is feeling uncomfortable.

I meant it sincerely when I asked her to stop looking.

But for some reason, Siabel found it amusing and nodded while chuckling.

Finally, one annoying gaze is gone.

Whenever Siabel turned to look at us, some soldiers would also glance our way, which was bothersome.

Now we can proceed a bit more comfortably.

While thinking this, I noticed Sione still had an awkward expression even after Siabel had looked away, so I spoke to her.

“Lady Siabel seems to care a lot about you.”

“Yes, it seems so… but it’s quite awkward when a sister who barely exchanged words with me suddenly becomes so kind.”

“Haven’t you always exchanged greetings with Lady Siabel without much awkwardness?”

“Mere greetings, yes. But I’ve never received this kind of attention before, so I don’t know how to react. Maybe it’s just me, but I feel—”

Sione continued calmly.

“—a distance that isn’t easily bridged.”

I quietly nodded.

As I listened to Sione with a composed expression, she poked my cheek.

Wondering what she was doing, I looked at her.

“What are you doing?”

“Fuhuhu.”

Seeing her burst into laughter, I thought she might not be in her right mind, superior or not.

Here I was, seriously listening to her, and she pokes my cheek and laughs.

It wasn’t harmful, but it was certainly deflating and not particularly pleasant.

“No need for such a stiff expression. Were you worried about me?”

“…?”

“There’s no need to worry. I’ll manage just fine.”

“Pardon?”

“I’ll make an effort to become close with Sister Siabel again. I was being pathetically awkward on my own.”

“Ah.”

Sione’s expression brightened.

The corners of her mouth lifted slightly, and her eyes curved gently.

A small but deep smile, like soft moonlight, overlaid her features.

“Besides… I have you, not just Sister Siabel… right?”

“Yes, I’ll do my best to help Lady Sione become friends with Lady Siabel quickly.”

I saw a slight crack in Sione’s smile at my response.

I thought it was an objectively perfect answer.

But it clearly wasn’t to Sione’s liking.

I have no idea what response she was expecting.

“Perhaps I’ve said something to displease you—”

“No, no. It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.”

Sione waved her hands dismissively, her face slightly flushed.

Well, if she says it’s nothing.

I don’t need to rack my brains over it.

That’s when it happened.

“Ah!”

Distracted by waving her hands at me, Sione didn’t watch where she was stepping and stumbled over a tree root.

Since she was walking unusually close to me today, if she grabbed my arm while falling, we’d likely roll down the mountain together.

I quickly caught her with my right arm before she fell.

“Please be careful, the ground is rough.”

Showing some sense of shame, Sione hung her head at my words.

Her face turned bright red, embarrassed about almost tripping over a tree root.

“I… I’m sorry…”

“Please be more careful next time.”

As I said this, I felt someone’s gaze from ahead again.

“Sigh…”

Of course, someone else is staring at me.

While I was holding the clumsy Sione who almost fell, Siabel was staring at me again.

This time she didn’t even glance at her sister, just fixated on me.

And for some reason, she wore a crooked smile.

Why are these sisters so determined to torment me?

After seeing Siabel turn her head away again, I released my arm from around Sione.

“Th-thank you for catching me…”

How nice it would be if she didn’t create situations requiring thanks in the first place.

Despite my inner thoughts, I responded as politely as possible.

“I only did what was natural.”

After hearing that, Sione began walking with her eyes fixed on the ground, apparently trying to avoid tripping over tree roots again.

Whatever.

I continued walking with my tired body and mind, despite having done nothing much.

I occasionally responded to Sione’s comments and ignored Siabel’s glances. After some time had passed:

“We’ve confirmed a pack of gray wolves ahead.”

“How many?”

“Just over 10 individuals. However, they all appear to be in an unusual state compared to normal specimens.”

“Unusual state?”

“Ominous and violent… you should see for yourself.”

We finally found monsters.

Siabel frowned at the mention of their unusual state.

However, it didn’t take her long to make a decision.

“Even if they’re more violent, they’re still gray wolves. If we take down the leader, they’ll easily disperse. Let’s eliminate them and move on.”

Once it was decided to clear out this pack of gray wolves and then search for others,

we began to move quickly.

Even Sione, who had been walking with her eyes on the ground, prepared for battle by nocking an arrow.

With appropriate tension, we advanced toward the location the soldier had reported.

After walking for some time,

we finally saw the gray wolves that were supposedly in an unusual state.

“This is…”

The gray wolves known for their glossy ash-colored fur and cold, intelligent eyes were nowhere to be seen.

Instead, these had bloodshot eyes, dripping saliva,

and fur that was blackened at the tips, dry and cracked.

And on top of that, that accursed energy I’d felt so much in the past.

My expression soured involuntarily.

How could it not?

The energy emanating from these gray wolves was:

‘Demonic Magia.’

It was identical to the energy of demons who had reduced countless worlds to mere dungeons on Earth.

Too violent in nature to be called Mana,

and fundamentally different from Divine Power.

Seeing that loathsome Magia unique to demons reminded me of an important fact.

I’d temporarily forgotten while being so busy attending to Sione,

but this place was a world inside a dungeon, a world that had already been destroyed.

And it was destroyed by the Demonkin.

I thought about Sione with mixed feelings.

My superior who tries hard but always seems to have a screw loose somewhere.

Who froze completely when a single Orc charged at her.

I have no idea how I’m supposed to fight demons with Sione in tow.

I inwardly sighed.

Would praying to the gods help?

Maybe ask them to reassign the main quest to the more capable Siabel instead of Sione.