Ch.71Omen (4)

*

“…ha, haa… haa…”

I was digging Laila’s grave, sweating profusely.

Was it because I was doing physical labor with my already weak body?

Or was it fear of seeing my sister’s disfigured corpse with my own eyes—her body that had been feasted upon by worms and microorganisms in the cold earth, where they had hatched their eggs?

I was slowly digging through the mound of dirt, pouring out sweat from an unknown cause.

“…huh,”

As luck would have it, unable to find anything like a shovel, I had no choice but to dig with my bare hands.

Soil wedged between my fingernails, causing increasing pain as they split wider. My hand cramped painfully from the exertion, but I couldn’t stop.

The deeper I dug into the mound of dirt, the more severely my fingertips trembled.

It would have been better if the trembling were from fatigue or pain, but that wasn’t the case…

It was fear running down my spine—not knowing when my fingertips would touch Laila’s remains.

I kept calling out to the Goddess, trying to overcome my fear.

“May the Goddess… watch over Laila.”

I’m scared, terrified.

It felt incredibly sinful to discover what had happened to Laila’s body—the sister I failed to protect—during the time I spent happily in Silvia’s care.

But it was something I had to do nonetheless.

I needed to lift her with my arms and place her in the coffin Silvia had prepared.

And finally.

“…ah,”

The moment my fingertips touched that soft, damp mass of flesh.

That moment had finally come.

I carefully cleared away the dirt and found Laila’s body.

Flesh so soft it could easily tear at the slightest touch of a fingertip, and white bones revealed within gradually emerged from the soil.

“Aah…. ugh,”

I could see her tiny head, eaten away in places, tightly closed pale eyelids, and hair thoroughly mixed with soil.

“Lail… la…”

I tried to cradle Laila’s head with trembling hands but recoiled backward, clutching my own head as if trying to tear it apart.

I couldn’t control my breathing.

I inhaled more air than my lungs could handle.

“Huk, huh… huk, huuk,”

My heart pounded.

Tears flowed as if pouring out.

Ah, Laila,

Laila, truly, truly,

“I’m so sorry…”

Guilt, humiliation, self-blame, and resentment ran wild, tearing at my heart.

All my emotions attacked me.

I hated myself.

Honestly, you’ve been trying to forget, haven’t you?

How dare you try to forget?

No,

No, that’s not true.

Liar,

You didn’t want to remember.

You survived alone while failing to protect your sister, and you were happy about it?

You’re going to give Laila a tombstone you carved while feeling like newlyweds with a beauty like Silvia?

That’s so typical of me! Right?

Self-satisfaction, self-justification.

That cowardice is my true nature.

No.

No, think about it.

You’ve always been like this.

I haven’t.

Really? You studied magic with self-satisfaction, saying “I’m good with theory” even though you knew you didn’t have as much talent as Sister Maria. Isn’t that right?

…

You showed off your cooking skills—which couldn’t even match half of your father’s—thinking, “I must be a decent housemate,” even though you knew you weren’t suitable for Silvia, didn’t you?

No… way.

After killing people, you felt better as soon as Silvia embraced you? For all your talk about guilt, weren’t you just wagging your tail trying to seduce Silvia?

Stop, that can’t be,

Who are you to say? You were happy that Silvia wanted you, yet you subtly rejected her? You enjoyed seeing Silvia frustrated, didn’t you?

Ugh,

Did you really think Silvia actually loved you? She was just lonely. Who would love someone as incompetent and naive as you? You know that.

You…? Who are you?

Oh, sorry, I got the pronouns confused. I am you, or more precisely, your true nature.

Lies,

Sounds like lies?

…

Come on, you pathetic friend. Look at the sky, look at this beautiful morning sunlight.

…

Isn’t it beautiful? Aren’t the chirping birds every morning enchanting? You’re ecstatic about surviving instead of Laila, aren’t you?

“No!”

I screamed and rose backward.

Looking down slowly, I could see Laila’s cold corpse lying there.

Ah, Laila.

Am I really happy to have survived instead of you?

I’ve been caught in a curse and have already taken five lives.

I don’t know how many more I’ll end up killing,

Is it really okay for me to be alive?

…I’m sorry, Laila.

Actually, it’s true.

I was happy to be alive.

I was so happy to meet Silvia.

I’m sorry.

I really…

“…Laila?”

For a moment, I thought my breath had stopped.

No, it definitely stopped.

For a brief moment.

Laila was looking up at me with both eyes open.

*

Silvia hurried her steps.

The more she ran, the more certain she became.

The sudden appearance of magical energy,

This wasn’t just a problem in some parts of the forest.

The entire forest was suddenly beginning to be surrounded by magical energy.

Just like that day long ago when she first came to this forest to defeat the Demon King.

Why? What’s causing this?

No matter how much she racked her brain, she couldn’t figure it out.

Silvia frowned and bit her lip.

Her eyes stung as if dust had gotten into them.

“Ugh!”

The stinging sensation that seemed to resonate from inside her pupils gradually changed to a pricking pain, then soon became a burning, searing pain.

Silvia stopped her feet that had been pounding the ground and leaned against a tree, clutching her eyes.

“Ah, huk! It hurts… my eyes…!”

She couldn’t make sense of the situation.

Silvia simply couldn’t understand what was suddenly happening.

As magical energy filled the forest, her eyeballs became as hot as glowing red-hot metal.

Silvia tried hitting her eyes with her palms, but it was no use.

As the burning sensation intensified, Silvia slid down the tree trunk and sat on the ground.

“Could it be… that time…”

Silvia recalled the day they had been collecting corpses.

On the day she discovered Ash was Maria’s brother, there had been numerous magical beasts blocking her path as she hurried to return to Ash.

At the time, she hadn’t thought much of it, eager to see Ash.

She had simply thought, “Just my bad luck today,” but it seems that was a sign.

It’s too late now, but thinking back, those magical beasts might have been moving away from their usual territories.

Since magical beasts wouldn’t avoid magical energy, were they migrating toward areas where magical energy was increasing?

Or were they fleeing from something unstoppable, like wild animals escaping a natural disaster?

Though she couldn’t know exactly what was happening, what was certain was that this was a crisis for both Silvia and Ash, regardless.

If magical energy filled the forest, they would have to relocate immediately.

Humans cannot survive in magical energy.

It’s like having poison dust permeating the air.

“Ash…!”

While Silvia, protected by the curse, probably wouldn’t die, Ash certainly would.

And if Ash died, Silvia would die too.

Her body might not die, but all the formless parts of her—her mind, emotions, will, and soul—would perish.

Silvia called Ash’s name as she struggled to her feet.

Whether she was adapting or the pain was subsiding, she could feel the pain in her eyes gradually diminishing.

Silvia forced her eyes open, tears streaming from her bloodshot eyes.

Through her tear-blurred vision, she saw someone moving as if wavering.

“…!”

Silvia reflexively covered her face.

Who is it?

She couldn’t see clearly, but from the height and clothes, it wasn’t Ash.

Silvia hid behind a tree trunk, wiped away her flowing tears, and peeked out to look at the person.

Fortunately or unfortunately, it wasn’t a person.

A corpse walking around, reanimated.

An undead.

Well, with magical energy surging like this, the appearance of undead wasn’t particularly strange.

Silvia realized the curse wouldn’t work on her opponent and felt relieved. She slowly walked out from behind the tree and drew the bow from her back.

The rotting, decayed skin was full of worm-eaten marks, and maggots dropped from his body with each movement, suggesting eggs laid by insects inside his body had hatched.

In his broken, dangling hand at the end of his arm, he held a riding crop. He wore tattered cloth clothes, ragged leather pants, and a leather vest with a familiar emblem.

A question mark-shaped wooden staff.

The emblem of the Staff family.

“Ah… oh no.”

Though she had never seen his face before, Silvia instantly recognized who he was.

‘Uncle Hardy.’

*

“…Wait,”

Silvia’s expression changed as if she had realized something shocking.

In one swift motion, she drew an arrow and shot it through Hardy’s head.

The impact was so powerful that Hardy’s body collapsed with a thud, despite undead typically continuing to move despite wounds that would kill a normal person.

A hole the size of a fist was blown through his head.

Silvia shot another arrow into the fallen undead’s head and immediately turned to run toward the cabin.

There was no time to think or hesitate.

The fact that he was someone Ash was looking for didn’t matter at all right now.

Silvia tightly closed her eyes, which kept throbbing, covered her head with her arms, and ran forward, stomping her feet hard.

She rushed forward, smashing through trees and rocks that blocked her path.

There was no time.

Her heart raced with urgency.

Silvia clenched her teeth.

“Please, please…”

Originally, two conditions were needed for an undead to be created:

An environment overflowing with magical energy, and a corpse that hadn’t received a proper funeral with a priest.

While magical energy had now explosively increased, this forest had always contained trace amounts of it.

Considering it remained even years after Silvia had killed the Demon King, he was truly a calamity for humanity.

The distance from here to the carriage accident site would take over two hours to walk at a normal pace.

Considering that Uncle Hardy, who couldn’t be found anywhere near the carriage accident site, was here, the coachman must have become an undead long ago.

He had only become more active now that magical energy was surging, meaning his transformation into an undead was an old occurrence.

But if this magical energy now enveloped the entire forest,

If this inexplicable surge of magical energy was happening throughout the forest,

There was one place in this forest full of bodies buried without a priest’s prayer.

The communal cemetery where all the villagers’ bodies were gathered.

Her and Ash’s cabin.

Milwood Village.

Come to think of it, what might Ash be doing now?

What did he say he was going to do today?

Ah…

“Ash… Ash… No… Ash!”

Ah,

Aaaah

No, no, no!

Silvia screamed his name with a sound like a shriek.

“Ash… please, be safe. Please!”

Silvia’s footsteps didn’t slow despite constantly hitting obstacles.

Gradually, Milwood Village,

That ruin which was their cozy home, grew closer.

Her eyes burned.

No, her entire body was hot.

Silvia slowly opened her eyes at the sudden heat.

“Fire?”

Flames.

Everything was engulfed in flames.

The village was burning.

“Ash!”

Everything was on fire—from the bare foundations to the collapsing log cabins, including their own cozy cabin.

Flames raged everywhere, and blackened corpses were scattered all around.

Silvia recognized them immediately.

They were the residents of Milwood Village whom she had killed long ago.

“…”

Without hesitation, Silvia threw herself into the burning cabin.

After all, the flames couldn’t even scratch her body.

She pushed aside the burning debris with her bare hands, entered her room, grabbed one of her swords, and came back out.

Cutting down the still-writhing corpses, she immediately ran toward the cemetery.

“Ash! Are you here?”

Like her parched voice, the cemetery was filled with bone-dry air without a trace of moisture.

Ash was sitting in the cemetery, surrounded by raging red flames.

A huge fox made of orange flames sat curled around Ash.

The fox blocked Silvia with its large tail.

“Ash! Are you okay?”

Silvia ignored the fox and passed through its burning tail with her bare body, approaching Ash.

Ash sat without saying a word.

In his arms was a blackened corpse, more like a human-shaped lump of charcoal than a body.

Seeing this, Silvia couldn’t say anything.

Ash looked down at the corpse in his arms with empty eyes and spoke in a parched voice.

It was a voice filled with some acrid, fishy smell, like vomit mixed with blood.

“…Miss Silvia.”

“Ash…”

“…”

Ash couldn’t part his lips anymore.

Silvia, having grasped the situation, was the same.

Crackle, crackle,

Only the sound of everything burning filled the space between them.

It felt as if the whole world was burning.

This must be what hell looks like, Silvia thought.

.