161 – Heart (3)

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“Sister…?”

I opened my eyes when I heard a loud noise, but it was still dark so I couldn’t see anything properly. However, I could barely make out the silhouette of my older sister Alice, who was hesitating with a look of confusion.

Still half-asleep, I was rubbing my eyes with the back of my hand to get rid of the eye boogers that had stuck to them all night. Then, I suddenly realized something and raised my head.

“Hey, did you oversleep by any chance?”

“…uh?”

“Now, wait a minute… Uwaaah!”

It was only the second morning of the journey, and I couldn’t let myself look exhausted, so I quickly got up.

However, I still hadn’t gotten used to the weight of the armor, which was heavier than I thought, so I slowly lost my center of gravity and fell forward unsteadily.

“oh,”

Sister Alice came to me like the wind, grabbed my shoulders as I was about to fall to the floor, and stopped me. Then she slowly supported the lower part of my shoulders and helped me stand up.

Because I had completely lost my center of gravity due to the great forward tilt, I was barely able to stand up by supporting myself with the help of Sister Alice’s body.

This was because the weight of the armor was still a bit burdensome for me to keep my upper body upright with just my waist.

I felt embarrassed that I had started the day in such a sullen manner, so I raised my head with an awkward smile.

“Ha, haha. Thanks, sis.”

“… You have to be careful.”

Hey,

For some reason, Sister Alice’s cheeks looked a little red.

Of course, it was hard to be sure that it was in the thick darkness of the trees, but her flushed face and other things seemed a little unnatural.

“…Sister?”

“why.”

“Where does it hurt…’

That was when.

Something large fell behind me with a thud, and I turned around, startled by the loud noise.

“Good morning, Ash.”

“Oh, it was Sylvia, you surprised me.”

It seemed that Sylvia had climbed onto a tree branch.

I looked at Sylvia and said.

“Come down slowly. Your knees will be ruined.”

Of course, I knew she wasn’t dead and that she wasn’t easily hurt, but seeing her jump down from the tree in her armor made me worry about her knees.

Looking at Sylvia’s relaxed face as she slowly brushed her disheveled hair behind her ear, it seemed like my worries were for nothing.

I yawned briefly, slowly calming my startled heart.

Sylvia spoke softly to me.

“…Ash.”

“huh?”

“Should I stop?”

“uh?”

Before I could even fathom what Sylvia meant, she had her arms between me and Alice and pushed us apart.

“Oh, I see. Sorry, Sister. I was leaning on you the whole time. It must have been heavy.”

“…”

“Sister?”

“Oh, yeah? Ahh…”

As expected, something is strange.

I asked Sister Alice again.

“Where does it hurt, sister?”

“huh?”

“No, something feels a little strange.”

My sister stared at my face for a moment and then slowly shook her head.

“No, it’s okay. I just had something to think about.”

“… okay?”

I didn’t ask any more questions.

Well, I guess my older sister has something to think about.

As we live a life with a limited time left, not knowing when we will die, we cannot help but fear the moment of death that approaches silently.

Today, too, waking up with your eyes wide open may feel very strange.

From the soft texture of the earth felt through the soles of sturdy boots, to the sound of leaves rustling against each other tickling your ears, to the spicy scent of the cold morning breeze brushing past your nose.

I may have been savoring every moment of every sensation I felt with my whole body, as if it could disappear at any moment.

I nodded softly and looked at Sylvia.

“Did Sylvia get some sleep?”

“no,”

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Well, before I met Ash, I only slept once every three or four days. I’m used to not sleeping. Even during the warrior party days, we would take turns sleeping only once every two days because of night watch…”

Once every two days,

Were all the warrior party monsters?

By the way, Sister Maria was also in the warrior party.

“Sister too…?”

“Sister? Oh, Maria?”

I nodded.

Sylvia opened her mouth with a smirk.

“Of course. They reverse engineered sleep magic to remove the aura of sleep.”

Reverse engineering?

What is that,

“… What the heck, I thought I was pretty good at magic theory, but I can’t even guess how he did it.”

“There were magicians among the mercenaries and adventurers that were with us, and they all reacted the same way as Ash did now.”

“Heh heh,”

Sylvia hugged me gently and spoke to my older sister Alice behind me.

“Hey, Alice.”

“… what.”

“When will you leave?”

Sister Alice let out a series of sighs at Sylvia’s question.

It was as if he was someone calming his mind by taking deep breaths before something big happened.

Alice, who had been catching her breath for a moment, soon came to her senses again.

The tension that I had felt yesterday began to slowly rise again.

Sister Alice spoke in a firm voice.

“now.”

＊

It must have been noon, as the ground was dyed yellow here and there despite the dense trees.

I had been moving forward without stopping for hours, and it was already noon. I was wondering what time I had woken up.

No, if that’s what it was going to be like, why did you wake me up in the morning by yelling?

A small feeling of discontent began to form in my heart.

‘No, no, Ash Staff, you son of a b*tch.’

I shook my head and urged myself.

I really hated the sight of myself complaining about how tired I was, when I had things to do and reasons to hurry.

To begin with, my steps were a little lighter than Alice or Sylvia’s thanks to Pia’s help using wind magic.

What if I said I would do it, and I insisted on following through, and now I’m wavering even after receiving all the help I can?

I gritted my teeth and kicked the ground harder to close the gap between me and Sylvia.

That was when.

“Wait a minute, stop.”

Sylvia, who had been leading the way, suddenly stopped, fixed her gaze ahead, and opened her palm toward me.

Sister Alice and I stopped one by one and waited for Sylvia’s signal.

Sylvia, who had been staring at something for a while, slowly lowered her palm, clenched her fist, and shook it gently.

It was one of the gestures the two had shown before they set off, but Sylvia’s gesture now was a signal to come closer slowly.

Sister Alice and I slowly approached Sylvia, our footsteps quiet.

Sylvia looked at me and my sister Alice and put her index finger to her lips.

I didn’t decide in advance, but I knew that it meant to be quiet.

As I approached Sylvia, forcibly holding back my gasping breath after running for several hours, she spoke in a very small whisper.

“One hundred and twenty meters ahead, monster.”

“How many and what kind?”

“Probably a giant half-blood, two in number, presumably a scout.”

“It means that if we don’t handle it quietly, more may come.”

“okay.”

Sister Sylvia and Sister Alice skillfully exchanged the situation, and I just blankly watched them.

The sight of the two people skillfully lowering their bodies and conversing looked somewhat cool.

I thought the two of them didn’t get along well, but seeing them getting along so well at times like this, I thought it might be because they studied at the same academy.

Was this what the warrior party that even Sister Maria was with looked like?

I closed my eyes for a moment with that thought.

Yesterday and today, I felt intimidated by the force of the experts that I had only felt through energy.

I swallowed hard and listened to their conversation, then slowly opened my eyes again.

At that moment, both of their heads turned toward me at the same time.

“…?”

“hmm…”

“Leave it to me?”

“Yeah, I guess I went ahead and came back.”

The two people stared at me, blinking their eyes, and started muttering something.

A strange feeling of anxiety crept up my whole body.

“… what’s the matter?”

I looked at Sylvia quietly and asked.

Sylvia looked at my face like that and smiled bashfully.

“Ash.”

“… Huh?’

“Fight.”

I nodded.

“Okay. Sylvia will attack from the front. Sister Alice will attack from behind…”

“No, you alone.”

“…uh?”

I must have misheard.

I must have misheard.

I must have misheard.

I looked at Sister Alice with trembling eyes.

She looked straight at me with her straight golden eyes that contrasted with mine.

“… no way,”

“Get ready, Ash.”

“No… this is not it.”

“If I can’t even beat that, I can’t go to the Demon King.”

“No… right?”

There was no answer from either of them.

I whispered, squeezing my eyes shut.

“Pia…”

Bam,

Pia appeared on my back, sitting on my lowered posture.

Pia, who had been silently tilting her head forward and placing her palm on her eyebrows, looked far ahead, then tapped me on the back and said.

“What’s wrong?”

“I guess he did it because he could.”

“It’s so big?”

“… how much?”

“Two more Ashes need to stand on top of Ash’s shoulders to be comparable?”

“oh my,”

I don’t know.

When I die, they’ll pick up my bones and take them with them.

.