Chapter 114 – Traces

Squelch.

A thick, sticky sound of liquid soaking the bathroom floor. The grinding noise that slipped through clenched teeth and a rough gag failed to become even a proper scream. A body writhing in pain on a floor drenched in blood.

Always annoying, unpleasant, irritable, and sensitive.

But also confident, dignified, cool, and despite being another woman, someone who made her heart race strangely.

Eliaernes.

She was bleeding all over.

“Ah, ugh…”

Stella.

She couldn’t understand the situation.

Having returned to the academy, she recalled what she had done before leaving.

The scheduled message. It was no different from a will.

It was something that must never be delivered.

So, dragging her tired body, she searched the bushes.

And she found Eliaernes’s [Terminal], intending to cancel the message.

But… was it okay to touch it so freely?

It might contain personal matters.

Of course, she was… curious.

Who Eliaernes was messaging, who she called, she wanted to know.

But she couldn’t just open it as she pleased.

If she thought about someone else looking through her own [Terminal], it was absolutely unacceptable.

Surely, Eliaernes would feel the same.

She mustn’t touch it recklessly.

Having reached that conclusion, Stella decided to cancel the message in front of Eliaernes.

When she arrived at Eliaernes’s room, the door was slightly ajar.

There was clearly movement inside.

Rustling and clattering sounds could be heard.

But no matter how much she knocked or called out, Eliaernes didn’t respond.

A thief…?

With a growing sense of urgency, Stella opened the door and stepped inside.

And then she found her in the bathtub.

Wrapped in a towel, naked.

With a gag in her mouth.

Not a thief? Then what? What was she doing? Could it be that kind of fetish? As soon as the thought crossed her mind, 

Blood burst from Eliaernes’s face.

Bright red, dark crimson, black blood splattered in every direction.

It continued, again and again and again.

From her eyes, nose, mouth, ears, every opening in her body poured blood.

At that moment, her thoughts stopped.

The heart that had been racing upon seeing Eliaernes seemed to halt, and even breathing became difficult.

The scene unfolding before her eyes was too horrific to believe it was real.

“E-Eli…aernes…?”

She called her name. There was no snappy reply. Only a moan that could hardly be called a sound.

“Wh-what… What do I… do…? This, this is…”

Sounds. Wet squelching sounds, bones splitting, flesh tearing, veins bursting, a voice that couldn’t even form due to crushed vocal cords.

They kept ringing in her ears.

It wouldn’t stop. It got worse. Louder.

Now, she couldn’t hear anything else. Only sounds a human body should never make.

The blood that kept pouring reached Stella’s feet, now collapsed to the floor. The horrific stench pierced her nose. Her whole body trembled, and even though she wanted to move, her body wouldn’t respond.

She forced herself to move. She lashed her powerless body into action. Bit down on her tongue to jolt herself. Crawled forward and reached for Eliaernes’s hand.

A blood-soaked hand. A hand that seemed to have lost its form.

She couldn’t grab it.

Afraid it would break if she touched it wrong. Afraid it would hurt her. She couldn’t dare to touch it.

“Ugh… huff… Wh-what do I do… what do I do…”

She had no idea why, why this was happening.

Was it from fighting?

She remembered how Eliaernes had suddenly seemed different while fighting, unlike her usual self.

She had grown overwhelmingly strong. Strong enough to crush an 8th-circle mage in an instant.

She seemed like a different person.

There must be a price for that kind of power.

Then this, this now.

Could this be the cost?

She fought to save her.

Because of me.

Eliaernes ended up like this because of me.

That thought, this carnage, her own powerlessness, the guilt, turned into sharp blades that stabbed at her heart.

“Hhh… sob… ugh… N-no…”

With trembling hands, she pulled out every potion she had.

She opened the lids and carefully poured them on Eliaernes. It didn’t work.

“Pl-please… please… p-please…”

Instead, her bloodied body rejected the potion. Each time, her convulsions worsened.

From that moment on, she couldn’t think straight. The body she had been too afraid to touch, she now unknowingly pulled into her arms.

She held the thrashing Eliaernes to her chest.

The body struggling in her arms was small. Light and far too thin.

The pulse she felt from that body was faint. Her breathing seemed about to stop at any moment, and the eyes soaked in blood had no focus.

What could she do? There was nothing.

All she could do was pray, earnestly, that Eliaernes’s pain would end soon.

How long, how terribly long had it been?

One hour, two hours. Maybe forever.

She didn’t know.

“…Hey.”

From within her arms came a cracked voice, hard to make out.

“…Stop… sniveling… and put me… back in the tub…”

Ssshh, ssshh.

Eliaernes said in a breath that sounded like it could stop at any second.

“E-Eliaernes! You, you… suddenly, huff… are you okay? Huh? You’re alive? Wh-what do I do… sniff… I-I’m sorry, I… I’m so sorryyy…”

“God, damn… stop yelling and just… get my body… back in the tub…” 

“T-the tub? O-okay… ugh, uuhgh…!”

Her body wouldn’t move. Even so, forcing herself with all her might, Stella picked Eliaernes up and slowly lifted her body.

“Ah…”

Plop! 

She dropped her. Eliaernes’s blood-soaked body was far too slippery, and Stella, sobbing uncontrollably, had no strength left in her hands.

“Kyaaaaaa! N-no!!”

* * *

“…Hey. If you’re going to cry, go do it in your room.”

“Hhhk… sob…”

The backlash had ended, and all the wounds had healed.

Her condition wasn’t too bad either. After a good sleep, she could probably get up and walk again.

Fighting, though, was another matter.

Still, it was a relief, the backlash was lighter than expected. Maybe her body’s performance had improved?

Compared to the recoil she experienced in her previous life, this was far less painful and ended very quickly.

For a moment, just a moment, she really thought she might drown in the tub, but Stella grabbed her by the hair and pulled her out in time.

Stella’s assassination attempt by yanking her hair was far more dangerous than Samaela’s Intent Projection. She had nearly died for real.

Anyway.

She had shown a side of herself she didn’t want anyone to see.

Why did she have to come at that exact moment?

According to Stella, she came because of the scheduled message. She didn’t want to open it alone, so she came to find her.

When she got to the door, it was open. And when she called out and got no answer, she thought a thief had broken in and just entered.

And then she saw all that.

She’d always known, but Stella was unnecessarily diligent.

In any case, it took an absurd amount of time to calm her down.

As soon as she heard her curse, Stella started gasping like she was about to die. It was almost heartbreaking.

Her face had gone pale, hands and feet trembling, barely breathing, she looked like she really might die, and even she got scared.

So she coddled her for nearly three hours.

Only then did Stella finally come to her senses and gave her a tight hug.

While she was still naked.

Well, it’s not like showing her mattered since they were both women… not that it didn’t bother her at all… Still, it was embarrassing.

“…Shit.”

Thinking about showing herself like that to a clueless young girl was mortifying.

“I’m sorryyy… sniff, huff… hic…”

“What are you always apologizing for?”

“Because of me… hic, it’s because of me that you ended up like that… uwaaaaah…!”

“How is this your fault? I told you it’s not, how many times do I have to, tsk, forget it. Fine. Think whatever you want.”

Letting out a deep sigh, she propped herself up.

The backlash was over, but her whole body still felt like it had been tanned raw.

Still, it was bearable.

“So, the scheduled message. Did you cancel it?”

“Y-yeah… sniff… I did. I cleaned the bathroom too, and… hic… the room too…”

“Good. Well done.”

“I… I even took a shower…”

“Why would you do that in my room? And why are you even telling me that?”

“Because you… sniff… because you don’t like it…”

“…Yeah. Good job. You’re the best.”

Stella, who had laid her on the bed after her recovery, had voluntarily cleaned the bathroom and tidied up the room spotless.

The same girl who barely cleaned herself had scrubbed her room until it sparkled. Ridiculous.

“Now go back to your room. I’m going to sleep.”

“G-go… back…?”

“Yeah. I’m tired.”

With swollen, puffy eyes, Stella opened and closed her mouth wordlessly before nodding and standing up.

“Are you… really okay now?”

“I told you I’m fine. And I told you it wasn’t your fault either. Stop overthinking and just go.”

“…Okay.”

With that final word, Stella staggered away. The sound of the door clicking shut was followed by silence. Slowly, she got up and stood by the window.

Her mind… was a mess.

Not because Stella had seen her like that.

The cherry blossom.

She stroked the cherry blossom sitting quietly by the window.

She recalled the vision she had when she touched it at her own grave. It wasn’t a long vision. It was very brief and quiet.

But unbearably vivid.

Clear and distinct.

The smell, the feel, the sound, everything felt exactly like reality.

Right. That wasn’t a vision.

“…Reality.”

It was reality.

In that vision, in that scene, 

Luna and Paulo were there.

Luna.

Her right arm was severed, and her body was covered in scars. Not ordinary scars.

Secrid. Holy Stigmata.

They covered her entire body.

No blood flowed. Instead, pure white divine power flowed like blood. Her skin was pale, her only remaining left hand cold, and there was no life in her face.

Paulo.

A sword was embedded in his chest.

Not an ordinary sword either. Humble. The Holy Relic.

The Holy Sword pierced through Paulo’s chest. The radiance it emitted with each swing was gone. The blade’s tip was broken, and cracks ran along its length.

And those cracks extended to Paulo’s body as well. Cracks that looked like he would shatter at a touch.

The moment she saw it, she understood why those idiots had ended up like that.

Wielders of the Holy Relics.

The Hero and the Saintess.

A sealed Demon King.

And the price paid for that.

“…Idiotic bastards.”

Luna and Paulo had offered their bodies to seal the Demon King. They weren’t dead. They were definitely breathing, still vividly alive.

Why. Why were those bastards the ones doing that?

She couldn’t dwell on the question for long.

There was no time to wallow, no time to sort through her thoughts.

Click! 

The door, which had been closed, opened.

Who now? And how did they open a locked door?

She turned her head.

“Eliaerne…s? What the hell.”

It was Stella. Holding a pillow in one arm, a lunchbox and her room key in the other.

That Stella, with a shocked look on her face, rushed toward her.

“Why are you crying…?!”