Repayment
It wasn't as if I had never killed anyone before.
No. If anything, I could say I had killed quite a lot.
Back when I was in Drax.
The people who approached me with lust in their eyes.
I had used my power on every last one of them without mercy.
It would be a lie to say I felt nothing while killing them.
But each time, I always told myself the same thing.
That these people were criminals.
That they had tried to rape me.
That they deserved to die.
One. Two. The more blood stained my hands, the less I hesitated to take a life.
Perhaps, without even realizing it, I had been thinking of this place as a world inside a novel, and of them as nothing more than puppets on strings.
Having grown so accustomed to killing, I thought my aversion to murder had completely vanished.
But I was wrong.
"...Ah..."
Before my eyes lay a man who could lose his life at any moment, and it would not have been strange at all.
He had accepted my unreasonable request when I suddenly asked for a spar.
From beginning to end, he had treated me with respect as an opponent.
I did not want to believe that his injuries were my fault.
But as if to prove this was no dream, the horrifying sensation of piercing through his chest still lingered vividly in my hand, leaving me no room to deny reality.
Thud—
The strength left my legs, and I collapsed face-first onto the ground.
I felt like I was going insane.
I was terrified beyond words that this man might die just like this.
"Th-There has to be a way..."
I racked my brain for anything from the original novel, desperately hoping there might be a solution somewhere in it.
But no matter how hard I searched my knowledge of the original, there was nothing that could save this man now.
How?
What was I supposed to do?
They said a healer was on the way.
But could anyone really treat a wound this severe?
What about a priest?
No. He would die before we even reached the church.
A potion?
Unless I had an elixir, it would be useless.
I looked at him with trembling eyes.
The amount of blood he had already spilled onto the ground had long since passed the point of no return.
In my head, I already knew it was too late.
But my heart refused to accept that fact.
And just as my heart was sinking deeper and deeper into darkness—
A hand of salvation reached down.
"What is all this commotion?"
A familiar voice came from behind me.
Until now, I had not wanted to run into her. But in this moment, her voice was something I needed more desperately than anything else.
Perhaps the only person here who could save this man.
I turned around, and there she was.
Approaching with radiant golden mana swirling around her.
"Hera... you..."
She stared at me with her eyes wide open.
Without a second of hesitation, I ran to her, clutched the hem of her clothes, and begged.
"A-Athena! Please... please save that man..."
But she seemed not to hear my plea at all. Instead, she wore an expression that looked almost angry.
"You... who did this."
She rested her hand against my cheek and spoke in a low, quiet voice.
"D-Did what...?"
"This handprint. Which goddamn bastard did this to you."
Without so much as a glance at the dying man, her gaze remained fixed solely on me.
"That isn't important right now...!"
"This is the most important thing. Hurry up and tell me. Who did it."
I could not understand her.
A man was dying, and she was worried about a slap to the face?
In my desperation, I grabbed her hand tightly and spoke.
"Please, Athena...! Please... there's no time..."
She looked at me in silence for a moment.
Then she let out a long sigh, turned her gaze away from me, and walked toward the man.
My heart pounded violently in my chest.
If even she could not fix this, then there would be no hope left.
Athena stepped up to the man, placed her hand on his body, closed her eyes, and began to chant something.
In an instant, the bleeding from his body stopped.
"My lord...! Can you save him?"
The knight commander approached carefully from behind Athena and asked.
"No. I can't save him."
Thud—
At her words, it felt as if my heart dropped straight to the floor.
"Th-Then..."
"I'm taking him to the temple right now. He'll need treatment there."
"...! Thank you, my lord...!"
Athena glanced at the commander offering his thanks, then wrapped the fallen man in her mana.
"Ah."
"One warning."
The moment her words ended, an indescribable pressure flooded the air around us.
"...!"
With a murderous look on her face, Athena pointed at me.
"From now on, anyone who lays a hand on that child carelessly will suffer a fate worse than death. So be careful."
As the surrounding knights groaned under the crushing weight of her aura, she lightly patted the shoulder of the knight commander, who was still kneeling on the ground, and continued.
"Well then. I'll leave the cleanup to you?"
And with that, Athena vanished along with the man.
The moment she disappeared, the oppressive, murderous aura that had been crushing everyone vanished just as quickly.
And what remained was a silence so cold it was almost chilling.
— Since it is our lord's command, we will let this matter pass. But we would prefer if you did not visit our knight order again in the future.
Crunch—
A bed far too large for one person alone.
I sat on top of it, biting my nails.
It had already been three hours since she left.
Far from calming down, the anxiety inside me only burned hotter and more desperately.
He'll be fine. There's a Saintess at the temple.
The Saintess who possessed the unique ability known as Healing Magic.
Her power was so strong that no ordinary healer could even come close.
An ability that could cure nearly every illness short of death itself.
If it was her, she could probably save him.
But even so, I was still anxious.
What if the Saintess wasn't there?
Or what if she was still too young to use her ability properly?
All kinds of negative thoughts gnawed away at my mind.
I kept biting my nails until I could taste blood in my mouth, and then someone knocked on the door.
— Hera. I'm back.
At her words, I immediately leapt off the bed and threw the door open.
When I flung it open in a fluster, I found her standing there, smiling as she looked at me.
"Being welcomed this eagerly isn't so bad."
"Th-That man... is he okay?"
But the moment she saw my face, she put on a somewhat mischievous expression.
"What do you think?"
"I'm not in the mood for jokes!!"
When I shouted at her, she let out a soft laugh—
then pushed me back into the room, followed me inside, and locked the door behind her.
"He's fine. He's resting at the temple after receiving treatment."
"Ahh..."
Thank goodness.
Truly, thank goodness.
All the impatience and anxiety that had been building up transformed completely into relief.
At the sudden shift in emotion, the strength drained from my body and I swayed on my feet.
Athena wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me toward her.
And before I could even say a word, she pressed her lips against mine.
"Mmph?!"
She kissed me as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Smooch— suck—
The sound of our lips colliding fiercely filled the room.
"Nngh... hah...?!"
I was startled by her sudden kiss.
But with all the strength gone from my body, I couldn't push her away, and in the end I simply accepted it.
Athena then gripped my waist firmly with both hands and pulled me even tighter against her body.
Our chests pressed together so hard they were crushed out of shape, hers and mine.
I thought I could feel the beating of her heart through the place where our chests met.
Normally I would have pushed her away.
But perhaps because I felt so grateful to Athena for saving him...
I wanted to repay her somehow. So I opened my mouth wider, making it easier for her to move however she pleased.
Athena's eyes widened for a moment—then she immediately slipped her tongue into my mouth.
"Hah... mmph..."
Slurp— suck—
Her tongue began to lick every corner of my mouth.
My teeth, my gums, my lips—everything was growing wet with her saliva.
Her dizzying technique made my mind go hazy, and it felt as if I were walking through a dream.
How long did she devour me like that?
At last, she slowly pulled her lips away from mine.
A sticky thread of saliva stretched between us, as if neither of us wanted to let the other go.
"Haa... hah... Athena..."
"Hah... seriously, you're going to drive me crazy."
The way she looked at me, it was as if she were holding something back with everything she had.
Having finally come back to my senses, I took a step away from her and carefully spoke.
"...Thank you."
"Hm?"
"For saving that man... thank you."
If he had died, I would have been tormented by an enormous sense of guilt.
But thanks to Athena, he had been saved.
When I expressed my gratitude, she looked at me with a devilish little smile.
"Just with words?"
"Ugh... I already... kissed you..."
"Don't we kiss every day anyway?"
The way she talked as if a kiss between women was nothing special made her feel irritatingly sly all over again.
"...Is there something you want?"
As if she had been waiting for me to ask, she immediately nodded.
Then she pointed a finger at me and said,
"Take it off."
One hour earlier.
The Grand Temple of the Empire.
A girl with pure white hair, as white as fresh snow, approached her.
"Lady Athena! The treatment was completed safely."
Athena gently stroked the head of the girl, who was speaking with a bright smile.
"Thank you. Would it be all right if I went to see him?"
"Hmm... it would be better for him to rest for a while, but if it's you, Lady Athena, it should be fine. This way."
Well then, I'll be going now!
After finishing her guidance, the girl disappeared with light, quick steps.
When Athena opened the door and stepped inside, she found him lying on the bed.
He tried to force his body upright, but unfortunately his body would not allow it, and all he could do was thrash weakly.
"It's fine. You can stay comfortable."
"...Thank you, my lord."
Dillon looked at Athena with an expression that was somehow less than pleased.
"It'll take at least three weeks until you're fully healed. You can rest here until then."
"....."
"I came to make sure you were all right. You seem fine enough."
Athena turned her gaze away from him and headed back toward the door.
"My lord. There is something I wish to ask."
Dillon stopped her as she was about to leave, as if he had something he needed to say.
"What is it?"
That expressionless smile of hers made Dillon uneasy.
It was clearly a face he had seen countless times before. He couldn't understand why it felt so unsettling now.
"....Before the hole was punched through my chest, I saw it."
But even accounting for the anxiety rising in his heart, he felt he absolutely had to know.
"This incident... was it something you arranged, my lord?"
A brief silence.
Before he knew it, the smile had vanished from Athena's face, leaving only a cold expression behind.
As Dillon swallowed hard under a tension he could not name, Athena quietly approached him and spoke.
"It seems returning to the knight order will be difficult for you."
"...Why...!"
Before the man could even finish speaking, a sharp form of golden mana surged up right before his eyes in an instant.
"I'll spare your life. After all, I did benefit quite a bit thanks to you."
"...."
"But in exchange. From now on, I don't want you coming anywhere near Hera."
Athena threatened him with eyes devoid of all emotion.
"For the sake of your own safety, and your wife's as well."
".....It seems I have been serving the wrong master all this time."
"Pfft. When did I ever ask you to serve me?"
As if Dillon's words meant nothing to her at all, Athena simply shrugged her shoulders.
"You people always get your hopes up on your own, then get disappointed on your own. Always so self-centered."
"...What do you intend to do with that woman."
As if she had no desire to hear any more, Athena seized Dillon's throat in a tight grip.
"Ghk!"
"If you cross the line any further, I won't hold back anymore. Understood?"
If it had only been his own life on the line, it would not have mattered. But now even his wife's safety had been threatened.
When Dillon nodded in resignation, Athena released her hand from his throat.
"You've worked hard until now. In return, I'll send you a retirement fund large enough that you'll never want for anything for the rest of your life."
Leaving those final words behind, Athena departed.
Dillon clenched the blanket tightly in his fists.
And so, only a quiet silence remained in the room.