Chapter 97: In the Forest (3)

The first floor of the Magic Tower was hidden by the hill, so it was no longer visible.

Having parted ways beautifully, we were exhausted from the afterglow of a night of sex, leaning on each other’s shoulders and dozing off. Lumia dozed off without a word, either patting my chest or tucking her body low, while I lay with my head on her lap, reveling in her breasts swaying like a pendulum before my eyes.

Sylvia, who had waved goodbye to us from over the hill, returned to her lodgings wiping away tears, and now all that was left was to go home and give Isabel and Elena a big hug. I said, fiddling with Lumia’s hair.

“I want to go home quickly. Don’t you?”

Lumia nodded at my question and replied.

“Me too.”

I nodded and started listing the things I wanted to do once we got home.

“First, we’ll have a meal together with Isabel and Elena. After eating, we’ll talk seriously about future matters, take a bath together, and then, we’ll all just lounge around and sleep in the same bed.”

“Aren’t you going to have sex?”

For me, sex was life itself. Just like no one includes ‘washing your face and brushing your teeth’ in their plans, I hadn’t mentioned sex because it was a given.

“Of course. It’s as natural as breathing, so I didn’t mention it. Isn’t it strange? When I’m home, I think I need to get stronger and go out, but as soon as I finish my business outside, I desperately want to go back home.”

Lumia stroked my hair and closed her eyes. When I reached out towards her lips, which held a faint smile, the moist texture felt intoxicating. Lumia lightly stuck out her tongue, licked my index finger with a ‘tok’, nodded, and said.

“I heard you were a slave, Evan-nim.”

“Was I?”

Even though I tried not to show it, my face stiffened whenever the past was mentioned. My voice cracked involuntarily, and my mood sank. Lumia caressed my cheek and said.

“In a way, Evan-nim, you’ve created a family for the first time. It’s natural to feel attached and want them to stay by your side.”

I didn’t know how to respond to that. I hadn’t brainwashed Isabel or Elena. They were women who had willingly turned their backs on the world for me, a demon, and still supported me unwavering.

“I don’t know. What is it I truly want?”

Someone who has never had a proper wish granted doesn’t even know what they want. I, too, was born in an era where wishes were a luxury, and lived a life in a class where making a wish was itself a laughing matter.

What do I want? There was a time when I wanted to kill everyone who mocked me. After realizing my demonic powers, I even thought about going around sleeping with every woman in the world.

But my wish wasn’t like that now. I felt a wish, slightly deviated from primal desires, moving willfully alongside the instinct to sleep with women.

“You don’t have to worry too much, Evan-nim…!”

Bang!

Just as Lumia was about to say a few more words to me, the carriage suddenly stopped. I almost fell to the floor, but Lumia caught me, allowing me to regain my balance. I couldn’t understand what was happening.

“What the? Bandits? An attack?”

“We should check it out first. Could you wait a moment, please?”

Lumia threw open the window. I clutched my temples, dizzy from lying down, and sat up. I could see the coachman gesturing wildly, trying to explain the situation to us. Lumia tilted her head with a puzzled expression, then looked at me and said.

“Evan-nim. It seems someone is blocking the carriage outside.”

“Who?”

As I asked that, I stuck my head out the window. A small child, who looked about 10 years old, was standing in the middle of the road with their eyes squeezed shut and arms spread wide. Seeing that, I frowned.

“What the hell?”

“I’ll go see what’s going on.”

“Wait, don’t get out yet.”

I knew a story similar to this situation. It was the kind of story where bandits block the carriage with a tree or a little brat like that, and then rush in when people get out. I whispered to Lumia.

“Is anyone around?”

“No. I don’t sense anyone else. It seems the child is alone.”

But this child didn’t seem to be blocking the carriage for that purpose. The coachman looked back and forth between us and the child with a helpless expression, while the child shouted with a tearful face.

“H-help me! P-please give me a ride! My mom is sick!”

“Huh?”

Neither I nor Lumia could help but blink at the unexpected story. The coachman, unable to understand what the child was saying, flailed his arms while pointing to his ears, and the child stamped their feet and shouted again.

“Mom has a fever and collapsed! We need to call a priest quickly!”

Seeing the tears streaming down, it didn’t seem like a lie. Just as I was doubting whether I could really trust this child, Lumia said with a pitiful expression.

“Oh dear, that’s terrible. We should give them a ride quickly.”

“Huh?”

“Why the hesitation, Evan-nim? There’s a village on the way, so giving them a ride there wouldn’t be a problem, would it?”

“…No, it’s just… you’re a priestess.”

Lumia fell silent. We didn’t need to give the girl a ride. Lumia was a high-ranking priestess, a real powerhouse among them. No matter how skilled the priest in the nearby temple was, they couldn’t beat Lumia.

“…Right. I forgot.”

Lumia nodded and opened the carriage door. I looked at the still crying child and let out a deep sigh. Lumia sat facing the crying child, stroking their head, and said.

“Little one. Can I take you to your mother? Your sister here is a priestess.”

Even as a minion of a demon, she could still use holy power. Hearing the reliable and kind voice, the child burst into more tears and shouted.

“R-really? M-my mom is running a fever and sweating, she can barely keep her senses…! S-she’s all alone right now! We have to go quickly!”

The child stammered as they explained the situation. Overwhelmed by the arrival of a priestess, they didn’t know what to do first, moving their body busily. Lumia gestured something to the coachman, then stroked the child’s head and said.

“Yes, lead the way. It seems like an urgent situation.”

“Yes…! Yes!”

*****

Facing holy power was more unpleasant than inhaling the stench of a sewer. It caused an instinctive nausea and discomfort that made it impossible to stay there. So I sat slumped on the floor, facing the dirty wall of the dilapidated hut. Outside, the coachman was smoking a cigarette, enjoying the forest ambiance, while I scratched my head, focusing my attention on the sounds coming from inside.

“A-are you all better now, Mom?”

“Yes. We’ve passed the critical point, but it seems you’ll need someone to take good care of you for a while. I can’t restore lost stamina with holy power.”

“I’ll take care of her! I’ll nurse and look after her diligently!”

Such confident words. When I was young, I used to declare anything with such confidence. I must have had times like that in the past, too.

“By the way, do you live here alone with your mother?”

“I have an older brother, but he’s in the army right now.”

“It doesn’t seem like you can manage alone….”

Lumia stroked her chin, frowning. I peered into the interior of the house through the crack in the door. The room was a complete mess. It hadn’t been cleaned properly and was covered in dust. As for meals, perhaps they were just surviving on dry bread, because a large loaf had holes riddled through it as if gnawed by rats. Dishes were piled up in the kitchen, and the floor was littered with all sorts of junk, making it look like a dump.

However, the child didn’t seem to realize what the problem was, even in this unpleasant and dirty space.

There was a rustling sound, and a rat poked its head out from the corner of the room. Lumia frowned for a moment, then shook her head and got up. The mother was sleeping soundly, breathing softly.

“Th-thank you! I-I don’t know how to repay this kindness…!”

The girl’s words made me chuckle. Where on earth did she learn to talk like that? Lumia chuckled too, then stroked the child’s head and said.

“Little one, do you happen to know where your brother works?”

“Yes! Some kind of fortress? I heard he works at a place like a fortress!”

“A fortress?”

“It’s a fortress past the forest over there!”

“Is that so?”

Lumia took her hand off the child and said quietly to me.

“Evan-nim. We can’t just leave this child and her mother alone, can we?”

“No, we can’t. Soon the rats will be eating the mother too.”

The child was still clumsy with housework. In the first place, she seemed to know nothing about cleaning or nursing. It was fortunate, at least, that she knew to seek out a priest when sick? If we just left the child and mother like this, the mother might fall ill again before recovering her strength.

“It doesn’t make sense for me to keep nursing her, but couldn’t we at least deliver a message to this brother of hers, telling him his mother is gravely ill?”

“Right. Isn’t it on the way anyway? The direction seems similar.”

“It’s called Fort Amaranth, and it’s just a slight detour from our route back.”

“Then let’s stop by. It’s not like it’s a big deal. It would be a shame to leave the child struggling with nursing duty.”

Lumia grinned at my words and said.

“You’re not very demonic, Evan-nim.”

“What, are demons supposed to be heartless? I’ve killed a few, and they cried like babies.”

“Thank you, Evan-nim.”

“Then let’s go quickly.”

Lumia explained the fortress’s location to the coachman again using sign language. Meanwhile, I gathered necessary information from the child, like her brother’s name.

The coachman took the reins, and Lumia instructed the child not to disturb her mother who needed rest, and to soak the bread in water if she got hungry.

“I wanted to cook something before leaving, but there were no ingredients at home. It seems she’s been down for quite a while.”

“Let’s just quickly deliver the message to that brother of hers. I want to go home.”

Lumia said.

“What if this works out well, and they come back later to repay the favor?”

I shook my head at her words.

“Damn it. We’ll be lucky if they don’t start bitching at us for compensation money, claiming the mother got sick because of us.”

“Of course, there have been cases like that, but there are many good people in the world.”

“If the world were truly full of only good people, I wouldn’t have lived as a slave, would I? And Isabel and Elena wouldn’t have been beaten up by Carson.”

“Well. Although I came to follow you, Evan-nim, I still believe in old-fashioned things. Like the cliché that people are inherently good. I wish you would believe in people too, Evan-nim.”

“I don’t believe in people. It’s just… this time, I helped because the kid seemed pitiful.”

I don’t believe in human goodwill. I believe that doing good deeds truly brings nothing in return.

I just didn’t want to see an innocent child become an orphan at such a young age.