I Can’t Run Away From the Girl Who Saved Me

163 – Heart (5)

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Sister Alice grabbed my hand and said, clicking her tongue.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk… Man, this is the first time I’ve seen something like this. You weren’t even attacked, but you got hurt by your own magic?”

“Ouch, oh, it hurts, Sister.”

“Your skin is all peeled off. What would you have done without me? Your fingernails and fingerprints are all torn and gone.”

“I’m so embarrassed that I can’t think of any other way. What should I do?”

“That’s why you shouldn’t learn only in theory without actual practice. That magic you used… I don’t know if it was spirit magic or something, but if it was something like that, you could’ve just hidden yourself and shot from afar. Then you don’t have to rush to the point of burning your palm…”

“I tried to hurry because I heard there were other groups around…”

“If the goal was to deal with it quietly, the monster would have already been out by the time it started screaming so loudly.”

“…ugh,”

Sister Alice was harsh on the choices I made.

The elation that I had somehow won against the two was gradually fading away due to my older sister’s strict words.

“Well, still. I can barely give it a passing grade.”

“Oh, really?”

“It has its own power. It wasn’t a bad decision to aim for the eyes.”

I tried to ignore the pain and smiled bashfully at Alice’s smile, which only slightly raised the corners of her lips.

My sister turned her gaze and spoke in a stiff tone.

“Still, it’s about 50 points out of 100.”

“What was the passing score?”

“50 points.”

“It’s really just barely… By the way, what is the criteria for that score…?”

“There’s about a 50 percent chance that an adventurer will die in their first battle.”

“Aha… So that’s the score you definitely get if you survive.”

“I guess so. Still, thank you for your hard work.”

Even though she was verbally scolding me, my older sister carefully spread my palm and gently placed her palm on top of mine.

A warm sensation, different from the burning heat, spread throughout my entire palm for a moment.

When my sister finally took her hand away, my palm and even my fingerprints had returned to their original state.

“So, it doesn’t hurt anymore?”

“Hehe, since I have my older sister, I can do things without worrying about it.”

“Ash… I,”

At that moment, I saw a dark shadow fall over Sister Alice’s face.

At the same time, I could tell what my sister was trying to say.

He must be trying to tell us not to forget that we will die soon, or something like that.

I hurriedly cut off my sister’s words and asked harshly.

“Oh, by the way! Where is Sylvia?”

“…”

“Where did you go after putting me through all this trouble? I can’t see you.”

Alice nodded, letting out a small sigh, as if she had noticed my efforts to change the subject.

My sister said.

“I went to find that bunch of monsters and subdue them.”

“Huh? When?”

“Ash, when the guy you attacked started screaming.”

“ah…”

Well, I wondered why no other guys showed up even though that monster was screaming so loudly.

It seemed that Sylvia was already sorting out all the people who would help him.

“Shouldn’t I go help?”

“why?”

“Why? How many do you think there will be?”

Sister Alice said with a sly smile.

“I guess it wouldn’t matter if there were a hundred of them.”

“…”

“What, why are you looking at me like that?”

“No, it’s just awkward for me to hear my older sister compliment Sylvia.”

“… under,”

Sister Alice let out an annoyed sigh.

It seemed like he wasn’t even aware that he was praising Sylvia until I pointed it out.

“Well… I have to acknowledge his power. That’s why I can leave Ash to him.”

I couldn’t help but laugh out loud at Alice’s awkward answer, which made her blush a little bit as if she was embarrassed.

It seemed like the relationship between the two people who had been fighting for their lives was slowly loosening up.

Of course, in order for the relationship between the two to improve, I, the one in between, have to put in the effort.

To be honest, the encounter with the monster was scary and extremely disconcerting, and the content and outcome of the battle were truly pathetic.

Still, if it had somehow calmed down the sharp winds of conflict between Sister Alice and Sylvia, I thought that the chaotic fight from earlier had achieved a meaningful result.

I said with a satisfied smile.

“Hmm, good.”

“what?”

“When my older sister says that, I feel like I have received permission from my family to get married.”

“… what?”

“No, that’s true. Right now, the only person I can call family is my older sister.”

I hung on to Sister Alice’s arm.

Just like I did as a child.

Then and now, my older sister has been a person I can comfortably lean on because she is mature and dependable.

“… Ash,”

“huh,”

At that moment, a very cold voice came out from Sister Alice.

“Why am I your family?”

“… uh?”

I froze in an instant at that cold reaction.

I was so scared that my legs, no, the whole ground seemed to be shaking.

The ground seems to be shaking.

It felt like I could hear the ground shaking.

“Ash, sit there.”

Sister Alice suddenly pushed my chest.

It was only then that I realized that I had fallen to the floor.

A huge ground rumble.

It wasn’t just a feeling, the ground was really shaking.

“Whoa!”

A huge roar that seemed like it would rip open our eardrums caused the dirt to rise in all directions.

A giant palm rose from the pile of dirt that had risen up as if exploding.

“sighe!”

I sighed in surprise.

In contrast, Sister Alice spoke calmly, slowly bending down.

“… I should correct that, Ash. It’s 30 points.”

The hand that had risen from the floor slowly touched the ground.

And then a huge body began to slowly rise, seeming to lift up all the dirt around it.

It was the monster I had buried in the dirt during the fight earlier.

“Pia!”

I quickly called Pia.

“it’s okay.”

Sister Alice spoke briefly, then took a step forward, drawing a huge longsword from the scabbard at her waist.

The moment the monster’s huge mouth began to reveal itself, biting into the dirt and swallowing it,

pop,

With a sound like something exploding, the monster’s body was instantly burned to a crisp.

The large hand that had been pressing down hard on the floor to raise my body also instantly turned into a lump of charcoal and crumbled.

“… what?”

I muttered with a dumb face.

My judgment couldn’t keep up with the situation, so my head was spinning meaninglessly, and just like that, my eyes and pupils were wandering around.

My gaze, which had been wandering around in all directions, finally stopped when it finally reached Alice’s sword, which was emitting a white light.

“hmm,”

My sister cleared her throat slightly and slowly lowered the arm holding the sword.

From the handle and the carvings on the bridge of the nose to the pure white energy that was constantly being emitted, there was no part of my sister’s sword that did not look divine. Warm steam was rising up from the white divine energy.

Of course, I knew that my sister had done something, but I had no idea how or what she had done.

I ended up asking like an idiot.

“… How did you do it?”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“what?”

“I guess that frail body couldn’t withstand the divine power emitted by the holy sword. If it was only this much, there was no need to stop.”

“…”

Sylvia is like that too, but on a different level.

The difference in the size of the power, the size of the experience, and the level is so different.

My sister said as she put the sword back into its scabbard.

“You failed, Ash.”

“… By my sister or Sylvia’s standards, anyone would be like that.”

“If you can’t even do this, going to the Demon King is no different from suicide.”

“no…”

I tried to refute.

There are not one, but two such strong beings, so why do we really need to be so wary of the Demon King who has lost his strength and is recovering?

But at the same time, I also wondered how fearsome the Demon King must be for both Sylvia and Alice to be so wary of him.

I should at least consider them to be of a similar or higher level, but at least with my poor imagination, I could not imagine Sylvia and Alice losing to the enemy.

But Sister Alice’s tone of voice was even more stiff than before.

I guess she’s genuinely worried that I might die.

I swallowed what I was going to say and tried to joke around to get out of the situation.

“What, what are you going to do now? Send me back?”

“It’s not too late. It’s only been a day.”

“Oh, really?”

“…”

Sister Alice nodded slowly.

“okay.”

“… uh?”

“I guess it won’t work.”

My sister grabbed the breastplate covering my chest and lifted it up.

I simply placed my fingers on the bare iron plate with absolutely no place to hold onto, but my body was pulled up helplessly as if it were attached to a magnet.

Sister Alice said with a stiff face.

“You go back.”

“…”

“Why, you don’t like it?”

“…”

“Do you want to die?”

I said, shaking my head.

“No, I will live. With Sylvia…”

“no.”

Once again, Sister Alice spoke firmly.

The way he cut off even my words was extremely brutal.

My sister closed her mouth for a moment, then slowly shook her head and began to mutter.

“No, it’s not that I don’t like it. You can’t. It’s too dangerous. If we keep going like this, Ash…”

That was when.

“What are you two talking about?”

A cheerful voice.

My sister and I both turned our heads in the direction of the sound at the same time.

Sylvia had come over and was standing right next to me.

“…Ah, Sylvia.”

Sylvia stood next to me with her head slightly bowed, her hands behind her back, a somewhat unnatural smile filling her face.

Her armor and face were covered in bright red bloodstains.

But I could tell from her brisk movements and voice that not a single drop of blood was hers.

Sylvia’s appearance, with its cute pose, contrast of bloodstains, and unnatural smile as if someone had forcibly pulled her in, seemed somewhat bizarre.

“Because they’re so close together.”

“Oh, I fell down and my sister helped me up.”

“Considering that, the conversation was strange.”

If I told Alice that she was urging me to go back, there might be another fight between Sylvia and my sister.

I explained the situation, being as careful as possible with my expressions.

“… Oh, I just found out that one of the two wasn’t dead yet… That’s why Sister Alice was pointing it out to me. By the way, what happened to Sylvia? I heard she went to catch the group alone…”

“All five, killed.”

The blood that ran down Sylvia’s cheek dripped from the tip of her chin and fell to the floor.

“Uh… I see.”

“good job?”

“… Yeah, good job.”

“Hehe, I only saw up to the middle, but Ash is good too.”

“Oh, really?”

“huh,”

Sylvia slowly walked behind me and hugged me from behind, pulling me towards her, which made Sister Alice let go of my armor.

Sylvia said, resting her bloody face on my shoulder.

“I did well, and Ash did well, but why is Alice trying to send Ash away?”

Sister Alice turned her head away as if trying to avoid Sylvia’s gaze.

“…Because it’s dangerous. More importantly, why don’t you get away from Ash? You’re covered in blood.”

“Is that really all?”

“…”

“I don’t think so?”

Sister Alice frowned and glared at Sylvia menacingly.

“Since when have you been so good at reading people’s minds?”

“Oh my, Ash. I’m scared. Seriously.”

“…”

The two of them stared at each other in silence, with me in the middle.

Alice’s face and Sylvia’s face reflected in Alice’s armor had the same expression.

It felt like a chill was seeping in, beyond just the cold.

A chill that makes goosebumps stand out all over your body.

It was a chill similar to the cold sensation I felt at the moment I was close to death in the carriage accident.

I had a feeling something big was going to happen.

I swallowed hard and said in a trembling voice.

“Shall I go after lunch?”

The two answered simultaneously without even looking at me.

“”no.””

Why are you both like this? Really.

.