Chapter 26
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: Lion's Audience (4)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
[......]
[......]
[......]
"......"
What is this? Why isn't anyone saying anything?
Once my explanation wrapped up, instead of the questions I'd been bracing for, an inexplicable silence filled the hospital room.
Just moments ago, these three had looked like they had a ton to say, but now that I'd finished talking, they were all just sitting there in utter silence.
I wondered if they'd suddenly started screaming and triggered my hearing protection, blocking out their inner thoughts—but no, a quick check showed the notification that I was still hearing them normally, flickering in the corner of my vision.
So what the hell? Why did everyone suddenly go quiet? I hate atmospheres like this.
Three S-rank Awakeners—no, world-saving heroes—gone silent after hearing me out. For a pathetic F-rank like me, bearing this suffocating quiet was way too much.
So I was about to open my mouth first to shatter the silence somehow.
[......Well, nothing bad for me there. Fine, got it.]
Mir Ryuin was the first to break the oppressively heavy silence with her voice.
Her of all people? Could her voice really feel this welcome?
I felt my breath catch in relief at Mir Ryuin's voice, leaning in to hear what came next.
[Anyway, no specific reward you want? Unexpected. I'd never pass up a chance like this. It's a golden opportunity to rack up a huge debt with the great Mir Ryuin, you know?]
Sure, passing up a chance to owe the Mir Ryuin one was pretty hard to wrap your head around logically.
But racking up debts with her and the other heroes meant tying myself to them—and for someone like me who wanted to quit being an Awakener and live a normal life, those connections had to be severed for good.
These three were as famous and capable as they came, which meant they had hordes of fanatics and enemies alike.
If word got out to either group that I was linked to them, the peaceful, everyday life I craved would snuff out like a candle in a storm.
I absolutely refused to let that happen.
Besides, I had zero interest in maintaining eternal debtor-creditor ties with these personality wrecks.
"Oh, I only told May Luina about this earlier. Treating you all isn't for your sake—it's for mine. I can't quit this job until you can all get up from your beds on your own."
[Can't quit?]
"When I signed the contract with the Association's Central Intelligence Department guy, that's what they nailed me with. If I try to quit, they'll block my whole future—so I can't stop until you wake up. Get it now? Why freeing you from the curse is for my benefit."
So I pulled out the semi-coerced contract fiasco from this morning, spinning a plausible reason for not wanting any reward for the treatment.
If I framed it as being for my own sake, it naturally justified skipping any compensation.
[Hmmm......]
Mir Ryuin let out a little hum of interest, just like May Luina had.
[Well, thanks to that, you became my caretaker, Stay, and I get freed from this damn curse. Good for me. Fine, I buy it. It's a win for me anyway, so I'll play along.]
And with that, she wrapped it up in her usual utterly self-centered way.
Selfish as hell, not considering my side at all—but it was spot on, and since I'd never expected sappy gratitude from her anyway, I just nodded.
Good, Mir Ryuin's convinced. Same story worked on May Luina earlier, so skip. That leaves just Dain Adamas.
I turned to Dain Adamas.
Blood-dark crimson hair, sharp features that somehow looked pissed even with her eyes closed in deep sleep, and a beauty that turned even that edge into allure.
Looking at her—the king of beasts incarnate—I wondered if I even needed to bother convincing her.
Because once the treatment was done, she'd probably ignore whatever some scrub like me did or said.
Right now, she was chatting and acknowledging me because I was the one treating her—but once the curse lifted, my usefulness would vanish, and she'd lose all interest in me.
Just like four years ago, after training camp graduation.
So I skipped any more talk on it and called an end to this long-yet-short lion's audience.
"You're the only one who didn't faint from climax here, May Luina. So tomorrow starts with you, then Mir Ryuin the day after, and Dain Adamas the day after that. Sound good? That's the plan—explanation over! Time to move you all back to your rooms!"
"Phew, good work today, Dain Adamas. See you in three days."
After wheeling her back to her room, I gave a little farewell to the unusually peacefully sleeping woman.
Tomorrow was May Luina, day after Mir Ryuin—so yeah, three days till I saw Dain Adamas again.
How should I torment these three to make rumors fly about how efficiently I wrecked them? Wait, no—rumors can't spread. Right, how to wreck them so well that rumors do spread...
Lost in such constructive thoughts as I turned to leave, that's when the hitherto silent Dain Adamas called out to me.
[Hey, Stay.]
She'd been quiet all this time, so I'd hoped she'd stay that way till the end—but true to form, Dain Adamas always kicked my expectations to the curb.
Why's she calling me all of a sudden? Did something I said today piss her off? Nah, no way. If Dain Adamas was mad, she'd charge right in—no holding back till now if that were the case. So why call me? Damn, this is nerve-wracking.
Her voice calling me sounded unusually grave, so amid a swirl of worries and guesses, I turned to face her.
"Yeah? What’s up?"
I responded to her call with the most harmless, easygoing tone I could muster—one that wouldn't ruffle any feathers, no matter who heard.
She paused for a beat, then asked in a voice that hinted at a lot left unsaid.
[You're coming back...... in three days?]
"Uh? Yeah...... My yang energy's tapped out from today's treatment, so I need a break to recharge. Tomorrow's May Luina, day after Mir Ryuin. You're up in three days."
[......Tsk. Sigh. Ngh. Tch. Fine. Got it. Three days.]
"Y-yeah. Three days. Rest well."
Her tone was so inexplicably prickly and irritated that sticking around felt like tempting disaster, so I hurriedly acknowledged her and bolted.
Clunk.
"Hoo...... What the hell?"
Out of Dain Adamas's room, door shut, putting some distance between us—I replayed that distinctly frustrated voice of hers, full of words she wanted to say but couldn't quite spit out.
"Seriously, what?"
No matter how I turned it over, I couldn't guess what she wanted to tell me.
"Eh, no point brooding over it alone—no answers that way. Forget unsolvable crap, refine my plans while resting today."
So I decided to just ignore Dain Adamas.
She's a vegetable anyway. No reason for her to eagerly fetch whatever I want without me asking first.
Clunk.
Stay left, and the connection to him snapped like a cut thread. At that sensation, Dain Adamas let out the sigh she'd been holding.
'Haaaaah......'
Having words she wanted to say but couldn't—this was unbearably frustrating and irritating for a woman who'd always lived exactly as she pleased.
You might ask, why not just say it and feel better? But there was a reason.
Dain Adamas couldn't voice what she wanted to tell Stay because it was something she'd never said in her entire life.
'Why? Why did I even think that? I've never had thoughts like that before.'
Dain Adamas was confused by the unfamiliar sensation that hit when Stay said, "Our connection ends once treatment's done."
Different from the helplessness and terror she'd first felt becoming a vegetable—a chilling ache deep in her chest.
That feeling peaked when Stay said, "See you in three days," nearly pulling unheard words from her lips.
'Don't go...... Why did I want to say that?'
Dain Adamas couldn't pinpoint why.
She chalked it up to the curse ravaging her body and mind, some uncharacteristic frailty bubbling up unbidden.
'Pfft, yeah. Once the curse lifts and I'm back to full power, I won't want or need to say crap like that. It's all the curse's fault. Right—once it's gone, everything returns to normal.'
That's why Dain Adamas wished this curse making her a vegetable would lift soon.
'Ugh, three days is too damn long. When Stay comes in three days, I gotta talk to him.'
She waited for Stay to return.