Chapter 39
Chapter 39
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: 9. Sylvia (2)
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Sylvia had overheard the story of "Beggar Girl Sylvia" on her way to meet Ian.
Thanks to that, a hazy scene from the depths of her memory had come into sharp focus.
"Aren't you hungry?"
Four years ago, Ian had approached her—a beggar girl—with a white cat in tow.
She had no idea why that Ian was being passed around under the name "Philip."
As far as she knew, Philip was one of Ian's attendants.
Maybe Ian had deliberately used a fake name.
Why had Penny been so desperate to find that "Philip"?
...She knew nothing.
Ian wasn't one to talk about his work.
And Sylvia hadn't paid much attention to what he did.
Not just Sylvia—the entire 1st Hero Party had been the same.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Who are you, anyway?"
The young Sylvia asked again, eyeing the lavish spread before her.
She'd first responded to his question about her hunger by demanding to know who he was.
Ian had said he'd think about it and suggested she eat first.
There was no hostility, so she'd followed, but suspicion lingered.
She'd grown up in an environment where distrusting people was the key to survival.
"...Good question."
Ian took quite a while to answer.
It wasn't a question that could be settled with a simple name.
The imperial family was establishing a hero system based on Ian's proposal, but it wasn't stable yet.
There wasn't even a term like "Manager" back then.
"Someone who can't leave starving kids like you alone?"
"There are plenty of other kids starving besides me."
"Then... let's say you particularly caught my eye."
What nonsense.
Maybe he planned to kidnap her and sell her off somewhere.
Plenty of street kids had vanished that way.
"Eat first."
"......"
Her stomach churned at the feast of food she'd never seen before.
Still, Sylvia couldn't just dig in.
"Picky, huh. I get it, though."
Ian took a bite of the food himself.
To show there was no poison or sleeping drugs.
"Better?"
"...Thank you."
That didn't prove everything.
Maybe Ian had some special means to endure it.
But she'd starved too long to shake off all suspicion.
Sylvia wolfed down the food.
Ian sat across from her, watching to make sure she ate well while scribbling something alone.
"...Thank you. I'm full."
Sylvia wiped her mouth with her sleeve and spoke.
Only after finishing did the embarrassment hit her for eating so greedily.
"Looks like you were really starving. Not enough?"
"...No. I'm stuffed."
"What's your name?"
Ian asked, even though he already knew.
"Sylvia."
"Got it, Sylvia. I'm Ian."
Sylvia thought the name was unusual.
Why had Ian come for her?
"I know you're a mage."
His abrupt confession froze her.
She'd never used magic in front of others.
Whenever she'd used it for survival, it was always out of sight.
Did this man know everything...?
"Let me say this upfront: I have no intention of holding you accountable for what you've done."
"......"
The capital's name rang hollow; beggars swarmed the outskirts and beyond the walls.
The alley where Sylvia had begged was much the same.
In that foul hellhole, she'd had to kill to survive.
At first, it was self-defense.
Someone tried to steal her begging scraps, so she'd killed them with magic.
It happened a few times.
Eventually, to take from others, she had to hurt them—and she got used to it.
She only hurt them enough not to kill.
Whether they actually survived, even she didn't know.
"That's just how the world is."
Ian shrugged nonchalantly, though he looked a bit bitter.
It was an era where survival meant building on others' deaths.
"Then why... me?"
"You planning to keep living like this?"
"...What?"
"You don't want to scrape by begging forever."
His tone was casual, but his words cut deep.
Sylvia felt a surge of resentment.
"What do you know about me...? I didn't choose to live like this...!"
"Me neither. I just want you to live differently."
What was this man trying to say?
"Sigh... Where to even start. Alright, first off: I'm trying to kill the Demon King."
The name was too heavy for the empire's capital.
The Demon King commanded the northern demon realm's kin and ruled the dungeons sprouting across the continent.
A real entity everyone wished wasn't.
"For that, I need someone to help me... no, someone to kill him in my place."
"Why not do it yourself?"
Back then, the wounds of his second-loop death still lingered in his memory.
Ian would often say things like that.
"I'm useless."
Quiet self-mockery.
Without knowing his story, Sylvia pitied him.
"You saying I could kill the Demon King?"
"Can't say for sure."
"...That's ridiculous."
"I get that now. But you don't want to live like this."
"I don't see what the Demon King has to do with my life."
"Why not? The empire's decay is all because of the Demon King, demons, and dungeons."
So, kill the Demon King.
A childish tale: eliminate evil, and the world finds peace.
But she couldn't dismiss it as mere childishness.
"And soon, there'll be a job called 'Hero.' If you follow me, you'll become one too."
"...A Hero?"
She couldn't hold back.
"That's so childish... "
"It's real."
"You're too serious... I don't even know what to say."
"I am serious. Anyway, I don't want to force you."
"...What changes if I become a Hero?"
"Who knows... A lot. Got any wishes?"
Sylvia thought for a moment.
"I don't want to be hungry."
"And?"
"I want people to respect me, not look down on me..."
"That's it?"
"For now, yeah. Wait, no. I want to eat my fill without hurting others. That's really it."
Ian grinned and extended his hand.
"I'll make it happen. Wanna come?"
This time, Sylvia hesitated longer.
She couldn't gauge how grasping that hand would change her life.
But it wouldn't be worse than now, at least.
And above all, the food had been delicious.
Her belly was full.
"...Okay."
Sylvia took Ian's hand.
"Why the casual speech from the start?"
"How old are you?"
"16... I think."
"I'm 20. Good?"
"Old man."
"...What?"
Early in the third loop, Ian had been anxious and impatient yet somewhat glib.
Sylvia had been a cheeky beggar girl.
Time flew by.
True to his word, Ian ensured Sylvia never went hungry.
He fed her three lavish, high-quality meals a day—excessively so.
He had her bathe clean and took her to Ruby Taylor, then an unknown seamstress, for proper clothes.
And Sylvia repeated incomprehensible physical labor.
She didn't want to at first, but the food he provided made her follow along.
The results came quickly.
Her magic advanced beyond compare to what she'd used in the alleys.
"See? Told you it'd work out."
That's what Ian said after raising her magic level in just a month.
Genuine praise, the first she'd ever heard.
Soon, the imperial hero project took off, and the title "Hero" was born.
While others challenged it recklessly, Ian quietly trained Sylvia.
When she finally took her Temporary Hero promotion exam,
the first "Big Slime" appeared, and she burst it with a single Ice Spear.
Clutching her first magic stone, Sylvia sobbed uncontrollably.
She didn't know why she cried.
Tears just welled up.
Afterward, Ian took her through various dungeons, building their fame.
Not everything was smooth.
"Ian..."
Sylvia sometimes had to sleep beside him.
She hadn't at first, but being with him made her fear the murders she'd committed.
After that, nightmares plagued her, and she'd seek Ian when they were bad.
He'd hold her hand or embrace her until she fell asleep.
When she learned the cat he carried was a demonkin, she flew into a rage.
"You've been deceiving me and living with a demonkin this whole time?!"
"Sylvia, wait. It wasn't to trick you..."
"You called me a Hero! Told me to kill the Demon King! But a demonkin, how...?"
She could've been killed by Kati the demonkin at any time.
Trembling in fear at the thought, Sylvia only accepted after Kati proved her infiltration and espionage skills.
For Ian's sake, she endured it.
Gradually, companions joined.
Aria, Beatrice, Kaily.
Clashes arose with those prickly personalities, but Ian mediated, and they became comrades somehow.
One day, Sylvia asked,
"What's your dream, Ian?"
"Dream? Out of the blue?"
"Just wondering. Kill the Demon King and bring world peace?"
"Well, if that's a dream, sure."
"...Really?"
Sylvia smiled after a brief silence.
"I'll make it happen for you."
And two years passed with Ian.
Sylvia could never go hungry again.
She'd risen to a status where respect was unavoidable, even if unwanted.
The empire's first SS-rank party was born.
On the day their city tour was scheduled,
Ian checked Sylvia's outfit as usual.
Heroes seen by the public needed such care.
"...Ian."
Sylvia called to him looking down at her, her voice trembling.
"Yeah, Sylvi?"
At some point, she'd become "Sylvi."
The others—Aria, Beatrice, Kaily—were the same.
"After the tour ends... I have something to say. You'll listen, right?"
Sylvi tried to hide her moistening voice.
"If it's you asking, of course."
Ian replied as if it were natural, and Sylvi smiled brightly.
The tour celebrated the birth of the SS-rank Hero Party that destroyed the first S-rank dungeon plaguing multiple cities,
boosting humanity's momentum.
After it ended,
Sylvi visited Ian's room late at night.
"Ian..."
Days, weeks, no—months.
She'd waited only for today.
Fear mingled with overwhelming excitement.
"I like you."
The thrill of first love was so embarrassing she'd barely slept.
Just rolling the words on her tongue made it sweetly paralyzing.
Her pounding heart raced wildly.
The happiness from that alone was immense—what if he accepted it?
She might die from sheer joy.
"No."
It had been a full two years.
Even a normal bond would've deepened by then.
The man who'd changed her life.
"I love you."
Time enough to love—excessive, intense, and ample.
Would her precious, ticklish true feelings be rejected?
The worry lingered, but tainting that happiness with dark imaginings felt wasteful.
She didn't want to picture a future where her heart froze and shattered on mere thought.
"Sylvi... that..."
Sylvi awaited his response with dread and anticipation.
Imagining how their relationship might change made her heart feel like bursting.
Ian hesitated, then carefully spoke.