Chapter 63
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 63
Chapter Title: The Hero Who Truly Repays Favors
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I waited for the fainted Chloe to wake up.
She had witnessed a shocking scene in her pregnant body, so it was understandable that she had lost consciousness.
"Chloe…!"
Delik embraced his wife and checked her condition.
Fortunately, there was no bleeding or anything like that.
Delik was nothing more than an ordinary city guard.
He glanced nervously at Ashy.
Even though his wife had fainted, he couldn't bring himself to complain.
She was a more exalted existence than any noble, so he couldn't voice any discontent.
"Chloe sister, how long will it take for her to wake up?"
Ashy seemed completely unconcerned as well.
She was utterly calm despite being the one who had caused the mess.
Looking at Ashy staring blankly, a hollow laugh escaped me.
"It'll take a while. She fainted from the sheer shock, so no way she'll wake up right away."
A hero walking around with just a person's head?
Not everyone could stomach that. A frail pregnant woman even less so.
It might be nothing to Ashy, who had been through hell and back and even regressed, but...
For Delik the city guard and his wife Chloe, it was a scene that naturally left them rattled.
"I should've warned her before showing it. I didn't know Chloe sister was such a delicate woman."
In Ashy's memories, the Chloe she remembered was the black mage Chloe.
A woman driven mad by the loss of her husband and child, her very nature twisted.
Just like how I, Kang Ajin from the first round, had a completely different temperament.
"What... exactly do you plan to do with me, with Gain...!"
Graif let out a piercing shriek.
He was screaming so furiously his eyes looked ready to burst red.
"That black mage Gain or whatever is already dead, I told you? Because you went leaking demonic energy everywhere... You killed him yourself."
"You... you crazy bitch...!"
Graif's head trembled with rage at Ashy's brazen reply.
This was a case of him asking for unnecessary help and ruining his own plans.
Even that black mage Gain must have had his own agenda.
Knowing he had few lifelines left, Graif couldn't contain his fury.
Just imagining spending the rest of his life as a severed head...
Even a saint known for benevolence would lose it like a madman.
"Ugh, shut up."
Ashy slammed Graif's head onto the floor.
With a crunch, something shattered, and the commotion died down.
Graif had fainted, following Chloe's lead.
Delik looked at us with an even more terrified expression.
It wasn't the gaze one gave a hero.
It was like he'd encountered some deranged killer.
"Ugh…."
Chloe twitched and let out a groan.
She was slowly coming to.
Delik supported Chloe.
He managed to seat her in a chair, facing us.
"Hero…?"
"Chloe sister, you've seen it now, so you won't faint again, right?"
Ashy dove straight into the main topic.
She had placed Graif's caved-in head on the table.
"Eek…!"
Chloe recoiled in disgust, but she didn't faint this time.
Having been through it once, she seemed to have built up some resistance.
"W-what in the world is…."
The couple huddled close, trembling.
Having a human head thrust at them out of nowhere was plenty reason to be scared.
Ashy cut out the minor details.
She must have judged that lengthy explanations would be hard to grasp.
"Chloe sister, you were kidnapped by a black mage a while back, right?"
"……."
Chloe's eyes widened.
Her round gaze was filled with bewilderment.
I had given her the hint about regression.
I'd dropped it blatantly while chattering away.
Even so, no one would piece it together instantly.
Honestly, it was next to impossible.
"Your body got corrupted during the demonic energy extraction. To put it precisely... your uterus was damaged."
A uterus tainted by demonic energy can't bear a child.
Even if one was born, it wouldn't live long.
Failing to resolve this would lead to her husband and child's deaths.
Ashy had stopped by here to save Chloe from that fate.
'Though she didn't seem all that invested….'
I couldn't read Ashy's innermost thoughts either.
If she didn't tell me, I had no way of knowing.
After the wedding in Alvheim, had she come to repay the favor?
This involved lives at stake, so surely Chloe took priority?
By original story standards, she seemed more altruistic than expected; by regression standards, more selfish. Ashy's priorities didn't make sense.
Delik looked at Chloe.
He seemed to vaguely know about her past too.
Meeting Delik's eyes gave Chloe courage.
"…Hero, how do you know about my past?"
"It'd take too long to explain."
Ashy replied with a bright smile.
She spoke in a gentle tone when addressing Chloe.
There was definitely some inexplicable familiarity.
Chloe also seemed to find Ashy's reaction oddly off.
"Anyway, I want to help you, Chloe sister. I hope you can give birth and live peacefully."
The Chloe from the first round and this one from the second were different, but she hoped the Chloe before her could stay with a healthy child for a long time…
Ashy wished.
Evil intentions to deceive or steal always show on the surface.
Conversely, pure sincerity always gets through somehow.
This naive hero still didn't know how to lie.
One born so strong had no need for cumbersome masks to fool others.
Ashy spoke only the truth.
She genuinely wanted to help Chloe—that much was sincere.
Chloe couldn't find words to counter that.
She just stared, as if unable to comprehend Ashy.
"I... don't really understand what you mean…."
Chloe's reaction softened a bit.
She slightly dropped her wary, suspicious gaze.
"You can't give birth like this. A child born from a demon-tainted uterus won't live long. It'll die soon after."
"…My child?"
"Yeah, that's why I want to help. If I extract the remaining demonic energy from your uterus and purify it with my power…."
Ashy had come up with her own solution.
A way to finish the extraction and save the child.
"I wonder if the baby can survive…?"
She wasn't entirely sure.
"I'd love to do the extraction myself, but as the hero right now, it's tricky. My holy energy might get corrupted by the demonic energy."
"Is that so?"
Chloe showed signs of half-believing Ashy.
The hero knowing her past left her no choice but to trust somewhat.
'The holy sword is such a scam.'
The rule that only the hero could wield it was even more crucial than its demon-slaying power.
"…You're right, Hero. I was kidnapped by a black mage when I was young. It was a horrific experience."
Chloe caught her breath briefly and continued.
"Back then, you saved me, Hero. Your name was Willard."
Considering Chloe's age, it was highly likely a hero from the previous generation.
"My health took a hit, but I thought it was fortunate there were no major aftereffects... To think my body can't bear children…."
"You can bear them. The child just won't live long."
Chloe, on the verge of tears, was pitiful.
If not for Ashy's tactless follow-up.
"…Isn't that the same thing?"
"Is it?"
Chloe grumbled curtly.
She didn't forget to glare at Ashy either.
Ashy brushed off her own words as no big deal.
She seemed oblivious to how rude she'd been.
The child lost was the first-round Chloe's; this second-round Chloe wouldn't lose hers.
Because Hero Ashy had come.
"That's what I meant?"
"Yeah?"
"'Yeah,' she says."
I roughly interpreted Ashy's reply for her.
Arguing further wouldn't do anyone good.
"Anyway, I'll extract the remaining demonic energy from your uterus. For the baby already tainted... I'll try purification, but I'm not sure how it'll go."
The outcome would depend on how the holy energy interpreted the demonic energy.
In the end, it all hinged on Ashy.
After much deliberation, Chloe made her decision.
"Please, Hero."
She chose to trust Hero Ashy and entrust her belly to her.
All Delik could do was grip his wife's hand.
"Good."
Ashy grabbed Graif by the hair and lifted his head.
Then she started slapping his cheeks a dozen times.
Slap-! Slap-!
"Gah, guh…!"
Graif regained consciousness from the pain.
His caved-in head had mostly recovered too.
"U, ugh…! Hero, you herooo…!"
"I'm planning to do the demonic energy extraction now, got it?"
Demonic energy extraction required a black mage's power.
It had to be done by one personally, so she'd dragged Graif all the way here.
"Try any funny business and get caught, and I'll make you wish you were dead."
Ashy warned, glaring into Graif's eyes.
Would a verbal warning even work?
'It seems to have worked.'
The original Graif who toyed with Hero Luke was long dead.
Only the Graif broken and humiliated by Ashy remained.
Graif rolled his eyes up and down.
It was his way of nodding in assent.
"How do I extract the demonic energy?"
"Cl-close... Bring me near the target…."
Guide the black mage near the pregnant woman's belly.
Anyone could see it was insanely dangerous.
I couldn't believe Chloe had permitted it.
She was bearing the risk on the sole trust of the hero.
Trusting Ashy, who knew her past, enough to accept a black mage's severed head.
"It'd be easier with hands…."
"Want me to send you to Gain?"
"…Need direct contact. For quickest results, even lips touching…."
Ashy looked at Chloe upon Graif's demand.
Chloe met Delik's gaze.
A black mage's head near a pregnant woman's swollen belly.
Kissing right over the uterus?
It was visibly repulsive.
It was something the couple had to endure.
Anything was better than being unable to have children.
Chloe nodded firmly.
She pulled up her top as if ready.
For the first time, I beheld the body of a woman carrying life.
An indescribable beauty washed over me.
'If I impregnate Ashy... will she carry a child like that too?'
I glanced sideways at Ashy's flank.
I recalled the soft lower belly I'd seen when we bathed together.
Oblivious, Ashy gripped Graif's hair and pressed his head to Chloe's belly.
"Mmph…!"
Graif puckered his lips.
In that instant, black energy was sucked out in a stream.
"Guh…!"
Chloe swallowed a groan.
Delik watched Ashy with a tense face.
"Good, good. I told you I'd make you wish for death if you pull any tricks and get caught?"
He was already in a state worse than death.
She meant it could get even worse?
Chills ran down my spine.
Graif twitched too, sharing my sentiment.
Thanks to the extracted demonic energy, his battered cheeks were healing rapidly.