Chapter 77
Chapter 77
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 77
Chapter Title: Evil Annihilation (??), Advent (6)
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"May I come in for a bit?"
The nights in this other world were always boring. No smartphone, no computer, and I hadn't brought any DIY kits for my hobbies.
So despite the sudden visit, I gladly let Liv inside. It was hard to tear my eyes away from her in just a thin camisole.
"Come on in."
It was called a tent, but it was really just two sticks with a cloth smaller than a blanket draped over them. For someone my height, my toes stuck out when I lay down, and dew gathered on my head in the morning.
When the two of us crouched inside, our shoulders naturally touched. Laughter from people drinking outside drifted in.
"What brings you here?"
"I had a strange encounter today."
"A strange encounter?"
"Yes."
Liv told me about a girl with green hair. Naturally, I had no idea what she was talking about.
In a typical fantasy world, one might think of elves living in the forest or dwarves digging underground, but there were no such fantastical races here. Fairies maybe, but even they were familiars summoned by magic.
"That's unusual. There aren't any villages around here. Did she say her name?"
"I didn't hear. She vanished from sight in an instant."
"Hmm..."
Who could it be? It wasn't for nothing that I used Lehel as my personal shuttle. There were few mages who could freely wield high-level spatial magic like that.
I reached out and wrapped my arm around Liv's shoulder.
"Don't worry. It's probably nothing. You might have seen things because you were tired."
"You think so?"
"Probably... Anyway, it's a relief you weren't hurt."
"Yeah..."
Was that all? I was tired and wanted to sleep.
But she showed no sign of leaving. Instead, she clung to me even more and said,
"Um, I don't have anywhere to sleep tonight."
"Weren't you in the tent next door just now?"
"Some strangers took it."
"..."
"For real."
"Should I go get you another one?"
"It's too late tonight. Ask tomorrow."
Paris wouldn't get mad if I woke her up while she was sleeping. I wondered if this was right even in my heart, but seeing Liv's eyes full of anxiety in the darkness, something clicked.
"Are you scared of ghosts, by any chance?"
"Pardon?"
"The ghost you saw during the day."
At my question, her eyes wavered for a moment before she nodded vigorously.
"Yes. I'm scared."
"You don't seem that scared though..."
"I can't even go outside. If I sleep alone, I'll scream at the sound of the wind."
"Well... no choice then. Lie down here."
One night should be fine. I squeezed Liv to the inner side of the tent and lay down beside her.
Curled up like two well-folded shrimp. Pulling the blanket over us made it quite warm with our body heat overlapping. A sweet fragrance from the back of her head tickled my nose.
At that moment, Liv's hand grabbed my arm and pulled it toward her body.
"If it's uncomfortable..."
To wrap around her waist.
"You can hold me here."
In a position hugging her from behind.
Liv was hesitating. More precisely, she was wavering.
Because the Louis she had admired all this time was different from the current Louis.
In fact, aside from the war, life in Greenwood Forest hadn't been so bad for Liv. The reason was the late father she already missed, Paris, not being with another woman—that irritating half-wit from Roshiar—and Louis not being entangled with them.
But at the same time, this thought crossed her mind.
If I come to like Louis here, would that really be liking the old him?
It was a complicated issue. No matter how identical he seemed, the one she met in this forest wasn't the canteen owner.
He wasn't the man who had called her precious.
"Eut...?"
Then, as she pondered with her back turned, Liv sensed a strange feeling in her body.
Squeeze.
In truth, Liv had only permitted Louis to touch her body three times so far. Even the last one was just a brief contact to calm her when she was utterly bewildered by her first experience of war.
Thinking about it differently, the Louis here didn't have that obsessive memory of pressing her stomach. Yet his hand on her lower abdomen was positioned in a terribly familiar spot.
'An illusion? No, then maybe...'
It was an absurd hypothesis. Louis should definitely be at Pharenchia Academy's canteen with Adella right now. Her rational mind drew the logical conclusion, but her treacherous body was foolishly delighted.
After hesitating for a long while, Liv finally opened her mouth quietly.
"...Louis."
"Yes? You still awake?"
"Um."
If he was the real one, his reaction would be the same.
"I'm going into skirmishes."
"What?"
"Kundra said it when he brought me here. Come anytime if you want."
"..."
Of course, it was a lie. He had never said anything like that...
"No, you won't."
"Kyaaah?!"
His knuckles precisely crushed diagonally below her navel. A light pain exploded along her spine, accompanied by a lewd sensation.
Then, spreading two fingers and gently stroking both sides, as if soothing a child, making it desperately hazy.
No doubt about it.
Liv, who had unwittingly let out a moan, clapped her hand over her mouth in surprise. Even as she did, unable to hide her bewilderment, she turned her head to glare at Louis.
"Boss!? Th-that hurt...! Why, no, how are you in Bartudis...!"
"Obviously because I was worried about you, Baroness. Why did you come into this nightmare alone?"
"I didn't do anything! I suddenly got sucked into a gate and ended up here... Hngh!"
Her head was confused. Dizzy. Conversely, her stomach, crushed by his hand laced with subtle anger, began to exude a ticklish pleasure.
"Ahk, why didn't you tell me sooner...!"
"Because your stupid name and actions were funny?"
"I-it's not a stupid name!"
"What the hell is Lev Lavre? You could have put some effort into it. More importantly, no apology for smashing up the canteen?"
"I-I already said that before..."
Squiiiish!
"S-sorry...! I was wrong, so hand, hiiik, stop...!"
No matter how she twisted her waist in resistance, there was no escape. She was scared someone outside might hear.
But at the same time, an indescribable relief slowly drained the strength from her body. In this illusion, she wasn't alone.
"Haa, haa..."
As the air inside the heated blanket cooled with her ragged breaths, Liv looked up at Louis again.
His hair was shorter than before. But the worry mixed in his curt gaze remained the same.
"We have a lot to talk about."
"Yes... But, Boss."
"Yes."
"Are you really dating that girl?"
This, she had to hear now. He hesitated for a moment before nodding heavily.
"Yes."
The cold reality she finally faced. Her chest sank heavily. With a voice squeezed out, she asked,
"Why...!?"
"Adella accepted me."
Accepted? It didn't make sense.
Did it mean seduced with her body? At that thought, her lower abdomen ached again.
"What if I could accept you too, Boss? What then?"
Liv didn't think she couldn't understand Louis better than Adella. She had confidence she could win with her body too.
For some reason, Louis kept obsessing over her stomach, so if she permitted it a little despite the embarrassment, that woman would surely fall out of favor.
But the response was shocking.
"It'd be hard for you, Baroness."
"Pardon?"
"You might even resent me."
"What... do you mean?"
The hand on her stomach slipped away. It traveled up her waist and shoulder to gently caress her pitiful cheek.
"Baroness Liv's father, Paris Greenwood."
At the same time.
"Died because of me."
Liv glimpsed the immeasurable sorrow in Louis's eyes.
A quiet dawn mist hung low. The shepherd boy, standing with a spear instead of his crumpled brass bell staff, couldn't fight off sleep and slid down against a tree.
A few pairs of shoes toppled without their owner, field mice eating food scraps in tin cans. Those left in the mountains were gradually wearing out.
Paris, patrolling with his comrades, glared sharply today too at the distant demon realm sky visible from the forest's edge.
"Paris, let's head back already. Not a single monster, let alone a rat."
"Yeah. It's been ages since we could stretch out and sleep like the past few days. Hope the demon bastards vanish for good."
"Come to think of it, nothing's happened lately... Is the war really over?"
Ignoring the idle chatter, as he scanned beyond the horizon, he spotted something floating in the sky.
"Paris?"
"Hold on."
He immediately drew an arrow and aimed upward. Moments later, releasing the string with a twang! a small flying object plummeted down.
"What's that?"
"I'll check. You all stay here."
It came from enemy territory, so it could be dangerous. Leaving his comrades behind, Paris hurried through the underbrush and found the object he shot down caught in a tree.
Climbing carefully, he confirmed its identity and was startled.
"This is... a message balloon?"
A small hot air balloon made for communication where magic couldn't reach. Success rate varied by distance, but it was never high.
Inside was a note scrawled in blood. As he unfolded it, his bow clattered to the ground.
[Heading to Demon King's Castle via canal to break the encirclement.]
[Magic cancellation mid-way risks life and death.]
[Request to buy as much time as possible.]
Paris let a strand of long hair flutter in the wind to confirm direction again.
The message balloon had come from the deepest part of Helzev, where he had been gazing just moments before.