Ep.8 - Back to the Future // End of Part 2
Ep.8 - Back to the Future // End of Part 2
***
While the two of them lost themselves in their blossoming intimacy, one little witch spent the night alone inside the cave.
A faint rustle of movement, and the presence beside her that vanished soon after, caused her eyes to open. Though she tried to dismiss it as nothing and go back to sleep...
"..."
With some effort, Eva tore her gaze away from the now-empty spot beside her and looked toward the cave's entrance, where the moonlight seeped in.
The voices drifting in from outside kept her awake, leaving her with nothing to do but fidget with her fingers as time passed.
That night was truly strange.
It was strange—too ambiguous to put into words—yet something that permeated the air stirred her heart.
Eva briefly pondered that 'something' she couldn't quite grasp, then soon lay her body down again.
But the blessing of sleep rarely visits a troubled mind.
Inside that cramped cave, Eva had to endure the night, listening to the whispers of the two who only grew quieter as they made love.
It was a truly incomprehensible phenomenon. She agonized over why her heart churned with such discomfort, and why she couldn't bring herself to leave the cave, as if she had become a sinner.
Of course, the agony remained unresolved despite this,
And so, beneath a lone ray of moonlight, the little witch simply tossed and turned, her mind wandering aimlessly,
But for her, as she clenched her eyes shut through that inexplicably long night, a small truth was absolutely necessary to hold onto.
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"I don't want to do it today."
"Huh...? Why?"
The morning after they had both stayed awake all night, their lovemaking—which had become physically quite taxing—did not happen.
"I just don't want to."
"Well, okay..."
Delin couldn't help but be flustered. How could he not be, when the status window before his eyes showed Eva's affection had risen even higher than before.
Yet, the expression Eva showed Delin couldn't be described as mere prickliness; it felt more like outright rejection. Unable to hide his bewilderment, Delin had no choice but to leave the cave after giving a vague nod.
Eva stole a glance at his retreating figure and pouted. Though not intentional, one emotion from the tangle of her complicated feelings had seemingly burst out, venting her discontent.
"I really hate this..."
Struggling to accept the situation unfolding around her, Eva muttered the words out of habit, without thinking. Whether the word 'hate' was directed at Delin, at the unnie who had yielded and sent him to embrace her, or at herself, she couldn't tell. She just whined, "I hate it," because it made her feel a little better.
From outside, the sound of Delin and Neva talking drifted in faintly. They were being careful enough that Eva couldn't hear, but precisely because she couldn't make out the details, her mind interpreted their conversation however it pleased.
"I didn't actually tell him to go..."
Thump.
With a small sound, Eva turned her head toward the cave wall. Her shoulders slumped, and she gave up on holding herself upright, leaning back against the cave wall to sit.
Outside, unnie and oppa were probably talking about her.
About how her affection had reached whatever number now or whatever...
"..."
She didn't particularly want to complain, but Eva's heart was so deeply uncomfortable that it festered inside her.
Given the circumstances, both of them had made the best choice possible, and she herself had consented in order to follow them. But even so, Eva didn't like this situation, where she felt like some kind of task or a burdensome piece of luggage.
Of course, despite that, the affection between Eva and Delin had steadily increased.
Although she had thought of him as a small, stupid, dirty man.
"Why?"
"Wha-what!?"
"You were staring at me."
"I was not!"
"Well, okay..."
His rather endearing looks, combined with the subtle allure he unknowingly exuded, were noticeable even to Eva, who didn't know men well. He was a decent man. He had plenty of shortcomings, and sometimes he was so clueless about the ways of the world that she wondered how he had ever survived, but...
"Whoa... so that—that's magic, right? Let me see too! So you really are a witch... awesome."
"...This is basic. All witches can use at least this much. You traveled with Professor Chichi and you didn't even know this?"
"Huh... Chichi noona didn't use stuff like this, did she?"
"No, Chichi-ssi used magic too. She used it in a way that erased the very fact you ate something, so you yourself couldn't see it. Eva is directly washing you with water magic right now, so you can see it firsthand."
Still, there was something in his lively eyes and smile that made it hard to look away. As Eva gazed at that something, her face flushed slightly.
Having never formed any connections with men, she felt the gulf between the men she had imagined and Delin, who was smiling brightly right before her eyes. The values she had held shattered along with those illusions, breaking into pieces, but the image of Delin that formed on every shard was rather beautiful.
"...I can do stuff like this too!"
"Whoa..."
Bathed in her unnie's warm gaze, Eva showed Delin various bits of her magic—from making grass grow, to spells that condensed fire into a sphere...
Delin watched each one with curious eyes, and Eva, secretly pleased by those gazes, softened her heart a little.
The cute flame flickering from the tips of her fingernails;
The shadows of the three of them cast by that flame;
Delin's face, which had drawn remarkably closer;
That face, so different from when they had sex—so innocent and ordinary that his behavior then seemed almost like a lie.
At all of this, Eva's face flushed again, and she channeled her fire magic a little stronger, as if the flames might hide her burning face.
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"Hh-eut...! Hup..."
The love that had bloomed like fire among the three bore its fruit a full week after that moonlit night when Neva swore her knightly oath.
They had hidden cautiously for a full two weeks, and no one found them. The two mountain ranges surrounding the dwarves' mountains were treacherous places that did not allow unnatural beings to enter easily.
"Haa..."
Delin could now confirm Eva's name on the status window floating before his eyes. Next to her name, the exclamation mark that Riko, Kaede, Chichi, and Neva all possessed was now displayed, and the Affinity stat beside it had already...
"You've passed 90 now. Eva, now... you can follow my Load, too."
It had surpassed 90.
Considering how easily the Affinity stat seemed to rise, Delin grew suspicious that this 'Affinity' might not actually be fondness in the relational sense, but something more akin to sexual obsession between a man and a woman.
Though the woman draped over him now—
Eva, catching her ragged breath and inhaling his scent,
Had already become a woman who found a new happiness in simply holding him close.
"What do you mean, 90... it's not like that-o..."
The words, spat out as prickly as ever alongside her pouty expression, only amplified Delin's misunderstanding. But regardless, they had all finally achieved what they had aimed for.
Now they could be free from pursuit. The moment Neva heard the news that the affection had surpassed 90, she rushed in and pulled them both into a tight embrace, squeezing her eyes shut and patting them as she murmured that everything was finally alright.
"Now let us return. Let us return..."
It was as she said. Now they had to return.
Having spent quite a long time in this future, they now had to go back.
"Truly, it's a relief... that we could end this without any mishap."
Truly.
It was such a relief, so much so that they could head back to the past without anything happening.
"First, something could go wrong when we Load, so I'll use the enhancements on Neva noona. If we're lucky, maybe two..."
"...I see. Something could indeed go wrong. Then please, go ahead."
Tapping at the small status window, Delin activated the considerable number of chances that had accumulated. It seemed that, thanks to 'Small Favor,' the sexual encounters before the formation of the soul bond were also being tallied—trading in all those countless days he had enjoyed with Neva for numbers...
-----------------------------
[Neva] +3
(Self) Ejaculation Count: 108
(Partner) Orgasm Count: 71
Remaining Enhancement Count: 0
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She too,
like Riko, had achieved three successes.
Delin stared blankly at the numbers for a moment, recalling the promise he had made to Riko—the promise to make her the best of all—and worried if these enhancement stats might cause some sort of incident. But,
'If it came to that, I would've just stabbed her in the back and run off, taking only Eva with me...'
For Neva's sake, who might suffer [Punishment] from the other women, he had to help her protect his own body.
"Anyway, it's all over now. The enhancements through the soul bond are complete, and building affection with Eva is done, so..."
"...Now let us return."
"So how exactly do we return?"
Eva asked, her final question.
To that, Delin could only smile.
All that suffering up until now, just to utter a single word...
"Load."
[Loaded to the Save Point.]
Ep.8 - Tale of the Sisters
End.
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...And somewhere within a royal palace.
There, the queen—overflowing with majesty, just as before—sat.
Before her rested a small magic tool, through which she personally observed the whereabouts of her soldiers.
On the surface of that mirror-like object, not the owner's reflection but the soldiers' images appeared. It effectively functioned as a magic tool for video calls.
"..."
The queen was still expressionless, still overflowing with majesty, but
Her hands bore countless scars invisible to others.
Her fingernails, which she picked at every night until there was nothing left and only blood oozed out, merely twitched inside her gloves, stifling the death throes of her agony.
"..."
Even so, without a single tremor, she skimmed through all manner of documents. Even as she glanced sidelong at the soldiers fighting magical beasts with torches, her eyes forced themselves back to the papers.
There were far too many matters she had to deal with personally. The vacant seat of the Knight Commander, of course, but also the threats from neighboring countries that had begun applying pressure in the midst of the national chaos, and the people's unrest...
Though some issues had been resolved, the endlessly surging tasks only kept her busy. Still, thanks to her abilities, the matters were more or less settled.
"..."
Only the matter concerning Delin remained unresolved. She desperately suppressed her impatience and maintained her dignity before the nobles.
The life she had lived up until now forbade her from abandoning her queenly majesty.
She had to maintain her dignity. And, to enjoy herself, she must not let go of this power.
Having raised the country to heights that couldn't be fully exploited even in a lifetime, she could do all sorts of things as she pleased...
"..."
She wanted to, but despite that, her gaze kept snapping toward the magic tool. The knights' movements were slowed by the unforeseen appearance and attacks of magical beasts, and everyone was complaining of fatigue. According to the intel they had obtained, all the troublesome obstacles besides Neva were now dead, and the fact that he hadn't used Load under such circumstances meant things were effectively turning to a situation considerably advantageous to herself. And yet, because the incompetent soldiers kept failing to handle even a single task properly and couldn't bring Delin in, she wanted to kill them all. Instead of aching fingernails, she should have been caressing Delin's sweet bare skin and adoring him by now. Why was she sitting at a desk, still only thinking of Delin, for the sake of this trash, these lowly humans, these rank-deficient moronic bastards...
"..."
This was...
It was truly absurd.
The hands that had been stinging grew still, and her strained eyes, her stiff shoulders, all returned to how they had been in the beginning.
Not only had the mountain of documents piled before her vanished, but the lower officials and nobles who had been presenting them had all withdrawn, and for some reason, she was lying on a bed.
It did not take long for the astute queen to understand the situation. It was only accepting it that took quite a long time.
"..."
She stared out the window with her mouth agape. There was nothing there. Neither the clouds drifting through the empty sky, nor the sun suspended there, held any meaning for her.
The only thing her hand could grasp was the high-quality blanket. Nothing existed by her side.
"Your Majesty, what..."
The sound of someone babbling reached her ears, but she registered none of it.
Nothing existed by her side.
Nothing held meaning anymore.
"Delin."
And so, she could endure it no longer.
Part 2 - An Uneasy Beginning
End.