Chapter 187
Chapter 187
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 186
Chapter Title: While He Was Asleep (2)
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As the sun slowly set, dim shadows began to creep into the room.
Stella, who had been gazing down at Deus, still fast asleep, noticed two little ones sneaking into the room under the cover of darkness.
"Professor Erika was right. He's still sleeping."
"You're the bold one for coming even after I told you not to."
"You're the one who followed anyway."
"I-I only came because I was worried you'd do something weird to Deus."
Aria and Elenoa.
The two female students tiptoed up to Deus's bedside and started chattering away.
"But now that we're here, I'm kinda nervous."
"I want to at least sketch him."
Elenoa pulled out a small notebook that fit in one hand and began lightly sketching Deus's sleeping face with her pen.
"You really have to draw from life instead of from imagination."
"Is it because everyone's always fawning over you? You don't even know what an opportunity this is."
Meanwhile, Aria brazenly lifted Deus's blanket and tried to slip in beside him.
"Hey! Hey! What are you doing!"
"You think opportunities like this come around often? Seeing the professor sleeping right next to you?"
With the blanket still lifted, Aria began her bold persuasion.
"The professor I know would never sleep so defenselessly. This is our chance."
"......"
"It only happens because the professor is exhausted from capturing four archdemons."
It was a bit forced, but Elenoa was being persuaded. No, she wanted to be persuaded.
Elenoa slowly tucked away her notebook, and mana extended from her hand, drawing a spell.
She cast it directly on herself and Aria.
It was a stealth spell that blocked not only their breathing but even the faint sounds of their movements.
"Now Deus won't hear us."
"As expected of the princess. Talented in every way."
Aria excitedly lay down on Deus's right side, while Elenoa hesitated but quickly took the left.
[Such bold girls.]
Stella reacted with disbelief.
They turned their bodies to face Deus, but unfortunately, their eyes met over his sleeping form.
"Ah, this is awkward."
"Can't you just look away?"
Even so, they subtly pressed closer to Deus, showing they had no intention of backing down.
In the end, the two gave up and decided to savor the moment.
"The professor is so warm."
"Yeah."
For a brief time, the girls fell silent. Afraid they'd fall asleep just lying there, Aria stared at Elenoa and asked.
"But why did you fall for the professor?"
"I don't want to tell you."
Elenoa pouted, unwilling to share her memories with Deus with anyone else, but Aria just shrugged.
"The professor took on the heaviest burden I was carrying."
"......"
"I thought my past was worthless, but he denied that for me."
"......"
"He helped me say goodbye to my old friends and first love, and move on to new encounters."
It was bewildering, but Elenoa knew the emotions seeping from Aria's every word.
They were exactly the same as her own feelings for Deus.
"I'd do anything for the professor."
A calm but firm declaration.
Hearing it made something swell hot and stuffy in Elenoa's chest.
She poured out her own emotions.
"Deus saved me from long nightmares."
"Nightmares?"
"Yeah, but actually... he showed me they weren't just dreams. He helped me find myself, understand me, and didn't reject me."
"......"
"I still vividly remember the day Deus found me. Under that refreshingly brilliant moonlight, he made me feel alive in reality, not a dream."
"......"
"Honestly, I have everything. Even if it doesn't look like it, I'm a princess of a nation."
Elenoa had endured a harsh childhood, but aside from the nightmares, her life had been abundantly comfortable.
"So I want Deus too. I want to make him mine."
Her sketching of Deus could even be seen as an outlet for her unique possessiveness.
"But Deus is more precious to me than my greed."
"......"
Her clenched fist had bunched up Deus's clothing. As if she'd never let go.
"So I'd do anything for Deus too."
Their declarations were rock-solid.
The girls locked eyes with unwavering gazes and slowly reached out their hands to each other.
Over Deus, who was sleeping soundly, breathing softly.
The two small but special girls hooked their pinkies.
"We won't let something like losing your right hand happen again."
"We'll protect Deus."
Believing they could be rivals and allies to each other, they burst into laughter at the same time.
Whether from exhaustion or the comfort of being by Deus's side.
Their eyes slowly drifted shut.
Stella looked down at the now-sleeping pair with a wry smile and brushed Deus's hair aside.
[What a sinful man.]
Stella thought she should wake them before Deus stirred.
But then—
The door burst open.
"Master!"
A madwoman shattered the silence.
Even with Pindenai's shout, Deus didn't wake. Stella had quickly muffled the noise with mana.
"Uh-eek?!"
"Slurp!"
But the two on either side weren't so lucky. They jolted awake in panic and sat up, staring at Pindenai.
Pindenai crossed her arms and jutted out her hip upon seeing the two female students lying in Deus's bed.
"Well, well? Have you lost your minds?"
"A-hem. The professor's sleeping, so be quiet."
"Yeah, Deus is tired."
"If the master knew you two were doing this, he'd love it."
Unable to retort to Pindenai's mockery, the two decided to brazen it out.
"It doesn't count if the professor doesn't know!"
"Can't you see Deus is sleeping even better because of us?"
"Sigh, you think the master won't find out about your little antics?"
Shrugging, Pindenai glanced around the room.
"With a black necromancer and a former saintess right there? You think I won't tell him everything naughty you did while he slept?"
"Ah......"
"Gasp."
Aria and Elenoa paled and looked around. The black necromancer was gone, only Stella remained, but of course, they couldn't see her.
[Don't worry, I'll keep your secret.]
Stella had no intention of blabbing about the girls' little promise, so she reassured them, though they couldn't hear.
"S-So what are you gonna do about it! You're a ghost! You can't do anything!"
"Don't butt into the business of the living!"
[.......]
The two shouted into the void and fled the scene.
Stella felt a twinge of annoyance toward them but still had no plans to spill the secret.
Clank.
With the two gone, Pindenai took their place. She approached the sleeping Deus without hesitation.
"Kids these days. As if a black necromancer or saintess being around matters."
Unlike the embarrassed pair who'd fled, Pindenai leaned down toward Deus without a second thought.
Stella watched her hesitation-free action.
Thwack!
She smacked the back of Pindenai's head.
"Eek!"
Pindenai's head jerked forward, nearly burying her face in Deus's chest, before she whipped it back up.
"Black necromancer?"
[.......]
"Dead people shouldn't meddle in the living's affairs."
[.......]
"You just watched me bite and suck on the master......"
Thwack!
Pindenai ground her teeth and clenched her fist as her head was smacked again.
"You wanna go? For real? You gonna make me pounce for real?"
[.......]
"If you stay quiet from now on, I'll just stick to kissing. I've got my own noble cause for my fellow sufferers?"
[Sigh.]
She hadn't planned on this.
Crack.
Horns sprouted from Stella's forehead.
Still giving Deus a lap pillow, Belica spread her arms wide.
[Stella's jealous? Wonders never cease!]
Their petty battle was about to begin.
But then—
"Mmm."
Deus stirred, showing signs of waking. Pindenai clicked her tongue and slipped out of the room.
Belica's horns vanished, and Stella took over again.
As Deus slowly opened his eyes, Stella smiled naturally, shamelessly, yet somehow proudly.
[You're awake?]
* * *
Creeeak.
The door opened.
A haggard-faced woman cautiously entered the shop.
How long had a place like this been here?
She'd lived in Robern for years but had never known a door leading to such a shop existed in the alley behind her house.
Yet for some reason.
From the moment she stepped inside, the woman already knew what the shop sold and what payment was required.
The interior was so dim she wondered if the lights were even on.
Empty display stands with nothing on them.
At the far end, behind a worn table that seemed to serve as a counter, a man in white gloves waited for the woman.
"Hello."
As the customer bowed her head politely in greeting, the shopkeeper merely crooked a finger in response.
Shopkeeper?
Wasn't it a man just now?
"Have a seat."
The grating voice of an old man echoed from across the table, and the woman sat in the chair before it as if entranced.
She accepted the strangeness naturally.
"What would you like?"
This time, a young girl's light voice asked. The darkness across the table had thickened like blackout curtains, obscuring the view.
But the woman had no desire to know what lay beyond, producing all these voices.
She wasn't afraid.
Instead, a cozy familiarity washed over her, yet she felt no curiosity.
She knew unreal things were unfolding before her eyes since entering the shop.
But she only recognized their unreality—no emotions stirred.
No emotional fluctuations at all.
So the woman clasped her hands and carefully spoke.
"I want to live with my true love."
Aha.
A playful young girl's voice from the darkness.
In contrast, a delicate hand, fit for the term "jade fingers," extended from the dark, clad in white gloves.
It held two different items.
One was a doll shaped like an adult man.
The other, a small girl's doll.
"What will you pay with?"
The voice from across remained a young girl's.
The woman felt familiarity in it but thought nothing odd.
After a brief hesitation, she touched the girl's doll.
"With this."
"Aha."
In that instant, a girl's face poked out from the darkness.
A bob-haired girl with freckles and a red headband, looking a bit feisty, with teary eyes, asked the woman.
"Mommy, are you selling me?"
Gulp.
Right.
Why hadn't she recognized her daughter's voice?
The thought flickered briefly, but the woman nodded without care.
"Yes."
Whoosh!
The girl's face retreated back into the darkness.
Then, a man's voice—presumed to be the one from when she entered—rang out from the dark.
"The transaction is complete."
"......"
"Thank you for shopping at Claire's General Store."
That was it.
She hadn't risen from the chair or left.
Yet somehow, the woman stood in the alley outside.
The shop's weathered door had vanished.