Chapter 60
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: The Man Who Awakens to a New World
-----------------------------------------------------------------
─ I killed that thing that strutted around without even being a hero. Kehahahahaha, wriggling like something worse than a bug!
Kang Ajin was dead.
Pierced through the chest by Demon King Baal, cold as ice.
After that, his memory cut off.
When he came to, everything had already been taken care of.
"Aaah... Aaaaaaaah!"
Ashy clutched Kang Ajin's corpse and wept.
She bawled like a child.
When she'd had no choice but to kill the heroes, it hadn't bothered her at all.
When others wailed over losing their comrades, she'd felt nothing.
Even walking a path soaked in someone else's grief, Ashy hadn't given it much thought.
She'd thought it was an emotion too distant from her.
"Please don't die... If you leave like this... What am I supposed to do...!"
Her body slipped from Ashy's control.
It wasn't something a human could contain.
Her vision blurred with the tears welling up.
She hadn't flinched before the Demon King, yet now her scarred hands trembled wildly.
Ashy kneaded Kang Ajin's body.
She wanted to somehow hold onto his fading soul.
She wanted to breathe life back into his stiffening form.
Never once in her life had she so desperately refused to accept someone's death...
But that didn't change reality.
Kang Ajin was dead, and he would never return.
She didn't want to admit it.
Giving up meant it was all over.
All through the night, she massaged his limbs.
Even when people approached, she didn't stop.
A day, two days, a week, a month...
Maggots boiled from his already-dead body, but Ashy didn't stop.
"Ah... Aaaaaaaah...!"
At some point, she lost consciousness.
It was exactly on the 100th day.
Having forsaken food and water to cling only to his death, it was the inevitable result.
When Ashy awoke, she was lying in a sickbed.
They said Kang Ajin's body had been properly taken care of.
He was a man with no ties to the continent, but solely because he was Ashy's comrade, a grand funeral had been held.
All that remained for Ashy were the things he'd used.
Hardly proper keepsakes.
The diary he'd scribbled alone in a corner was the only one somewhat fitting.
As if he'd anticipated his death, he'd left nothing behind.
"......"
Ashy flipped through Kang Ajin's diary page by page.
With each sentence she read, it felt like he was right there beside her.
Clinging to that illusion, she cried and cried.
"Ajin... Kang Ajin... I miss you..."
Couldn't black magic bring Kang Ajin back to life?
That thought took root.
And soon after, Ashy became wanted.
* * *
Alvheim lay in the northeast of the continent.
Tucked away in a remote corner geographically, it took quite a long journey to get there.
Fortunately, Yuteron Barony was the closest point.
"We catch one demon for them, and now they won't even let us use teleportation."
Ashy grumbled inside the carriage.
She wailed loudly enough for the church coachman to hear.
"Because of us, they might not be able to teleport when they need to. Pushing to use it for personal business doesn't seem right."
Whenever that happened, I'd stroke her hair to soothe her.
Ashy lay with her head in my lap, mumbling complaints.
"Guess I'll have to kill more demons. Then they'll listen to me, right?"
"Probably?"
She could now think more positively than the original Ashy.
Normally, she'd have thrown a fit demanding a teleport mage.
It was such tremendous progress, it almost brought tears to my eyes.
Various things happened along the way.
It'd be a lie to say nothing occurred over three straight days of travel.
We encountered bandits and thieves as a matter of course and dealt with them lightly.
All were equal before Ashy.
Just swinging the holy sword brought peace.
"To think the great Graef got captured by perverts like these..."
Graef shuddered.
His hair trembled ominously.
But nothing changed.
We didn't discard Graef's head.
We dragged it around, keeping him barely alive.
A black mage who could summon demons whenever needed.
The moment the sacrifice satisfied him, Ashy's demon-slaying count went up by one.
It'd be idiotic to give up the advantage of hunting demons anytime, anywhere.
In fact, we'd summoned one just yesterday morning.
'Can't compare her to the original Ashy. She's a completely different being now.'
Ashy was the strongest.
Butchering Drake, the current strongest hero? That was nothing.
She'd obliterated the 44th-rank demon Shax with a single stroke.
Descending as an angel, she'd erased its very existence.
It wouldn't be strange if she slaughtered renowned heroes.
That's how powerful those demons were.
And they'd been utterly helpless against Ashy.
She was already achieving feats even the protagonist hero Luke couldn't.
This continent would be saved by Ashy.
I was certain of that future.
So, the way I stroked Ashy felt like caressing a treasure.
'My health insurance, my pension...'
Becoming a hero meant gaining power, fame, wealth—everything.
Ashy had promised to give it all to me.
Except women.
'Not a bad life.'
The only downside was the world's backward civilization and culture, but that was beyond my control.
If I wasn't returning to my original world, I had to adapt.
─ Hero, let's take a short break.
"Sure."
Neighhh-!
The coachman halted the horses.
We gave the exhausted animals a brief rest.
We got out of the carriage too.
I stretched, loosening my stiff body.
Even a good carriage only made it slightly less uncomfortable; sitting too long still left you sore like any other.
"Holding up okay?"
Ashy approached and asked.
After unloading refreshingly on the first day of travel, I'd been semi-forced into chastity.
Including today, it was day two of holding back.
"Yeah, it's only been a week."
Compared to training camp, it was a breeze.
The problem was having a gorgeous woman like Ashy right beside me, but I could endure it.
She'd promised we'd have sex until we were sick of it once we reached Alvheim.
'Wonder what it'll feel like.'
I wasn't the only one looking forward to it.
Ashy was anticipating our post-marriage relations too.
Having held back since her previous loops, she'd unleash it all spectacularly.
Just imagining it was thrilling.
"I'm holding back too, so no tempting me, okay?"
Ashy sidled up and groped my ass.
This was the compromise she'd allowed.
She said touching my dick might set me off immediately.
There was no option of not touching Ashy.
"I won't. I'm not an idiot..."
I'd gotten wrecked the first day.
Her rough hands thrusting into my ass until she was satisfied—terrifying.
'...Not terrifying, but anyway.'
One slip, and all our plans would go up in smoke.
For the plan to make a baby right after the wedding, Ashy and I practiced abstinence.
The carriage started moving again.
The coachman drove diligently, while we sat blankly, passing the time.
In this boring world, there was nothing to enjoy but sex.
We hadn't actually done it, but we knew how fun teasing and touching each other was.
"Ugh..."
Ashy groaned in frustration.
Her trembling hand stroked my thigh.
She was dying to touch my dick.
'I'm actually feeling better.'
Not only did I have a clear goal, it was coming into sharp focus.
Arrive in Alvheim, hold the wedding, then revel in sloppy sex.
That simple goal lightened my heart more than before.
My dick, stirring from Ashy's timid advances.
Calming it down was easy.
'One step back for a hundred steps forward.'
I pictured Ashy's naked body.
Her bountiful breasts, slim waist, huge ass, sturdy thighs.
And her beauty so radiant it could make you cum just looking.
Me, holding that woman.
That was enough.
My dick found peace.
Kang Ajin knew how to savor marshmallows.
He wouldn't be dumb enough to throw away something that swelled tenfold if you held out...
─ We'll stop in the city today. Demer, the only city trading with Alvheim.
No need to camp outdoors.
I hadn't realized one fact could make me this happy.
I opened the window and peered out.
I gasped at the distant walls.
Demer—a city that didn't appear in the original story.
A place even I didn't know.
Meaning Luke had never visited either.
A long line snaking across the fields—people waiting for inspection to enter Demer.
Our carriage ignored the queue and cut ahead.
Shouts erupted from behind, but it was fine.
Ashy flashing her holy sword quelled the commotion.
"Demer welcomes the hero."
We passed after direct verification from the checkpoint captain.
The hero's holy sword was that reliable a credential.
Upon entering Demer, we secured inn rooms right away.
I'd wanted to use a noble's estate, but that wasn't possible.
Demer was a free city with no lord.
'The mayor's house is like any other citizen's.'
No point imposing.
Better to spend money and stay comfortably.
"...Isn't this too expensive? Even for a northeastern outpost, this is highway robbery..."
"We've got plenty of money."
Ashy paid generously.
Two rooms: one for me and Ashy, one for the coachman.
Graef was under Ashy's supervision.
"Heh... Heheheh. Hahahahahahaha!"
Graef had finally lost it.
Maybe from all the head blows—he burst into mad laughter alone.
"Ah, shut up."
Ashy slammed Graef's head into the floor.
Crack—something shattered, and demonic energy leaked out.
She smashed his skull whenever needed, limiting his demonic energy use.
"Urk... Urgh..."
Graef writhed.
The oozing demonic energy healed his wounds.
Just barely alive at minimum.
Ashy grabbed Graef by the hair and lifted his head.
She glared at him and spat one line.
"Looks like there's a black mage hiding in Demer?"
"......!"
Ashy's guess hit the mark.
Graef drooled, pretending not to know, pretending to be unconscious.
"I'll track the flow of demonic energy... and catch the rat."
Ashy gathered her energy.
Her eyes widened as she spread her mana.