Ch.804Fixed Habits

“Sisssster!”

Before I could even dismiss Cascador in front of the mansion I’d finally returned to, the door burst open and a pink-haired girl wearing a fur coat over her nun’s habit came running out.

“Yes, yes. Sister’s back. Did you wait long?”

I smiled as I stroked Lena’s hair as she threw herself into my arms. She seems to have grown taller. I can hardly call her a child anymore.

“Mmm… sister’s smelllll…”

No, watching her nuzzle her cheek against me and inhale deeply like a dog greeting its owner, I could see that while her body had grown, inside she was still like a young child who hadn’t forgotten her mother’s embrace.

As an orphan who grew up lonely, she was probably seeking from me the maternal affection she’d never properly received but always craved.

Since our age difference isn’t that great, I became her sister rather than her mother.

“Goodness, I must smell of sweat, what’s so nice about that?”

I tousled Lena’s hair as she sniffed while clinging to me, and chuckled.

If a grown man had tried something like this, I would have snapped his neck, but how could I do that to a child who was overjoyed at finally having the family she’d always wanted? It’s not like I didn’t understand those feelings.

I once yearned for something similar too.

Since my homeland wasn’t particularly kind to orphans, I ended up growing without fulfilling that yearning…

But now I’m perfectly capable of indulging this child’s affection.

Having grown accustomed to the voice that calls me sister and follows me around, I’ve somehow come to regard Lena as my own family.

To the point where I want to share the Median name with her.

Really, at first I clearly called her my portable potion box half-jokingly… but at some point, I had fully accepted Lena as family.

They say humans can’t resist hormones—perhaps I’ve developed some maternal instinct due to my body change?

The thought suddenly occurred to me, and I couldn’t help but let out a faint laugh as I paused stroking Lena’s hair.

Maternal instinct in me? I can hardly think of a more ill-fitting word.

—-

Demian arrived at the mansion just as I had handed my clothes to the maid and was soaking in hot water in the bathroom.

After coming down from the mountains, I had ridden Cascador to conserve my murder karma, but since Demian couldn’t ride a unicorn, he had no choice but to fly using “Skywalk.”

Because of this, Demian had to descend to the ground to rest whenever his karma power ran out during flight.

Thanks to the holy sword’s power, he could convert his own mana into karma, allowing him to fly much longer than before, but once he depleted all his mana, he had no choice but to come down and travel on foot.

Well, thanks to that, he was able to become more familiar with power conversion and the use of heroic tales, so it wasn’t a bad thing.

Anyway, upon arriving at the mansion, Demian was immediately dragged to the first-floor bathroom to wash his sweat-soaked body. His leather clothes, like mine, were handed over to the maids.

After being washed once and then soaked in Demian’s sweat, wouldn’t the faint peach scent that remained on the clothes be completely gone?

Though I hadn’t made him suffer with that intention, it was a satisfying result nonetheless.

—-

That night, I enjoyed a comfortable and pleasant sleep lying on a soft bed wearing a thin nightgown.

When I tried to sleep with iron chains like before, Aishan-Gioro Hersella suggested that she would personally prevent any sleeptalking, so I should get a good rest just this once.

‘You’re not planning to do something strange while I’m asleep, are you? I warned you before, right? That you might suddenly die if you try.’

[W-what do you take me for! With your foster sister right next to you, how could I commit such vulgar acts!]

‘That’s true. Sorry.’

Since she was right, I immediately apologized and accepted her kindness.

Thanks to that, I was able to sleep peacefully that night. Lena also fell into a deep sleep using my arm as a pillow, so soundly that she wouldn’t have noticed if someone carried her away.

It was a warm and peaceful night. There was no sleeptalking as I had worried.

The next morning, as I yawned and pulled up my nightgown that had slipped down under the blanket, Hersella told me.

That my sleeping habit—that is, the habit of grabbing and crushing whoever was next to me—seemed to have disappeared.

‘Disappeared?’

[Yes. Just as I expected.]

‘What do you mean, as you expected?’

[It wasn’t a sleeping habit. It was my body’s defensive instinct responding to your anxiety.]

Hersella continued her explanation.

According to her, my sleeping habit of embracing and crushing people nearby wasn’t simply sleeptalking.

If it had been ordinary sleeptalking, I might have embraced someone, but I wouldn’t have squeezed them to death until their body burst.

[It only appears to be sleeptalking because you’re asleep, but in reality, it’s an attack meant to kill enemies who come within reach.]

And the reason for this was that I subconsciously felt anxious about being defenseless when falling into deep sleep.

Now that she mentioned it, there was something that made sense.

Was it just a few days after I possessed this body?

Just because I showed a moment of weakness, five warriors tried to ambush and kill me in my sleep that night.

If I hadn’t reflexively woken up and resisted, wouldn’t I have been hacked to pieces and killed?

Looking back now, their excuse that they betrayed me because I seemed weakened was just that—an excuse. In reality, they were probably spies planted by Hersella’s half-siblings.

Anyway, after that day, I had avoided falling into deep sleep for a while.

On top of that, the memory of the original story, where falling asleep defenseless often led straight to a bad ending, heightened my anxiety.

Therefore, for me, sleep was both a rest to end the day and a dangerous act of leaving myself defenseless in the face of danger.

[Yes. That anxiety caused the sleeping habit of grabbing and trying to kill anyone nearby while you were asleep.]

‘That makes sense. Then, the fact that such a sleeping habit has disappeared now…’

[Your power has reached a level that can hardly be called human, so your anxiety has naturally disappeared. Why would you fear ambushes anymore? Even if you were stabbed with a knife while sleeping, you wouldn’t even get a scratch.]

It was truly a clear answer. So clear that it was hard to believe it came from Hersella’s brain.

[I’ll need to stay up for a few nights to confirm… but probably, you won’t need to worry about that sleeping habit anymore.]

She’ll stay up all night to confirm?

Since I never expected Hersella to show such consideration, I naturally had to ask why she was being so cooperative.

[…Though we are step-sisters, I simply found the close bond between sisters not unpleasant to see.]

After hesitating for a while, Hersella reluctantly explained. As if too embarrassed to continue, she spoke in a quiet tone.

[Cherish the sister you’ve taken in. I was unable to do so.]

Perhaps seeing the relationship between Lena and me reminded her of her half-sister. I believe her name was Aishan-Gioro Imara.

They were close as children, but their sisterly relationship was ruined when Hersella tore apart and killed Imara’s maid who had insulted Imelia, right in front of Imara.

‘…Isn’t that entirely your fault?’

No matter how I looked at it, she had brought it upon herself.

[Then, are you suggesting I should have spared the wench who insulted my mother? Even if it’s you, I cannot tolerate such nonsense being offered as advice—]

‘What are you talking about? Who said to spare her? Even if you were going to kill her, you should have torn her apart somewhere else, not in front of your sister.’

I’d heard that Hersella’s sister was quite the troublemaker herself, but she would have been only about twelve years old at the time.

Tearing apart and killing the maid who had been taking care of her right in front of the child—how could she not be traumatized? Of course her personality would become twisted.

[Ah. I see… Yes. That was clearly my mistake.]

Since even Hersella couldn’t refute this logic, she calmed down quickly from her impending outburst and lamented in a subdued voice.

—-

After filling my stomach with sausages and stew prepared by the maids, I gathered my original equipment that I had left at the mansion and headed to Faelrun Castle. I had something to tell the Duke before returning to the island.

First, I needed to report that I had found the holy sword and that Demian had become its master.

Duke Valdemar would probably guess that I had found the holy sword just by seeing me return to the island. So there would be no point in lying about not finding it.

In addition, there were several other things I needed to convey.

Advice that the border near where part of the Sky Mountains’ gorge had become a wide road should be strengthened, and warnings that monsters would start appearing from the Sky Mountains, so preparations should be made.

Most monsters would either wander inside the mountains and freeze to death, or come down the gentler northern slopes to attack the lands of the werebeasts… but that didn’t mean none would come down to the south.

…Somehow I feel like I’ve become a troublemaker who’s left a new mess for the north to deal with.

Well, the Duke will have to understand. This is all for the sake of humanity, right?