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

185 – Companions (2)

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Sylvia succeeded in entering the Demon King’s castle.

As the prince of the demon tribe had said, I climbed up the stinking passage and arrived at the ruins of what had once been the castle’s kitchen.

The walls and ceilings were collapsed, and the food waste had hardened to the point where it would crumble if touched.

The room was covered in a blanket of white dust like snow, as if it had not been touched for a very long time, and Sylvia’s feet left black footprints wherever she stepped.

“under…”

Sylvia gave a small laugh.

That day, I can’t even remember exactly how many years ago it was.

Because so much had changed since I had arrived at this castle as the leader of the warrior party.

At that time, they had the support of the kingdom, but now the kingdom has fallen.

At that time, she had been with several colleagues, but now Sylvia was standing here alone.

At that time, he confidently charged into the main gate, but now he sneaked in through the garbage disposal passage.

At that time, many emotions were boiling over: hope, fear, relief that it was over, and tension in the face of a powerful enemy, but now only two very simple emotions remained.

It was the anticipation of a future with Ash and the anger towards the Demon King who had put this damn curse on him.

“… after,”

Sylvia sighed, ran her hand through her hair, and carefully brought her hand up to her eyes.

The tips of his fingers were reflected in his red glowing eyes.

“Because of this until now…”

Because of these eyes, I have suffered for so many years.

In reality, it had only lasted a few years, but to Sylvia, those days were dizzyingly long, as if she had woven the threads of despair tightly together and then woven them into a gigantic veil that would cover the entire forest.

A cruel, harsh shackle of pain that no one should experience, no one can experience, and no one can endure for any value.

Thanks to this, Sylvia came to believe in the existence of hell.

Perhaps this is what it would feel like to go to hell, a pain so vivid and transcendent that it weighed on her for a long time.

And now, Sylvia was approaching the source of her suffering.

The day has truly come when we will be freed from this curse.

“Phew…”

She closed her eyes tightly and exhaled slowly once more.

Sylvia wholeheartedly agreed that it was a pain that was never worth enduring, even if there was some kind of reward waiting for it, but in reality, it wasn’t really like that.

A miraculous boy approached her as if to compensate for the time filled with pain.

Sylvia got Ash.

In fact, she had thought about it deeply too.

There is no doubt that I love Ash, and it is the truth, but would Sylvia have been able to fall in love with Ash even then if the pain that had tormented her for so long had not existed?

After defeating the Demon King and returning safely to the kingdom while being welcomed by everyone, could Sylvia really fall in love with Ash?

Sylvia wasn’t stupid.

Surely, in a world where everything went right, Sylvia was neither stupid nor shameless enough to not know or deny that she would not have loved Ash.

That’s why Sylvia is now able to love this world where everything is ruined.

More than his dead comrades, more than his ruined kingdom, more than his friend Mary, and even more than his suffering self.

Ash was even more lovable.

“Crazy b*tch”

Perhaps it is his damaged mind that is driving him towards mad love.

Perhaps my brain broke down from the sweet honey I finally tasted after all the horrible torture I had endured without being able to resist.

But it didn’t matter.

For Sylvia, who was broken, shattered, and completely ruined, Ash’s presence, which filled the gaping gap with warmth, was essential.

No longer was Ash simply the man Sylvia loved.

Ash was more like a hand or foot that Sylvia needed to survive.

“…”

Sylvia slowly opened her eyes and looked ahead.

Her senses were as sharp and sensitive as they had been a few years ago.

There were several faint but distinct sounds outside the door.

“Were you waiting?”

Sylvia unsheathed her leather scabbard and pulled out a sharp longsword, its sharp edge exposed menacingly.

Then he threw the scabbard into the dust and dirt that had piled up everywhere.

Anyway, I won’t be putting this sword away today.

Until he dies or kills the Demon King.

Sylvia’s eyes gleamed sharply.

“Ash…”

A warm feeling spread through my stomach.

It was a small warmth that Ash felt as the seed of love he had carved into his body sprouted.

Sylvia’s heart was filled with elation.

Sylvia walked forward with strong steps.

And then he kicked the door open and went out.

“… ah,”

However, what was waiting for Sylvia outside the door was a nightmare that had been tormenting her for a long time.

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“… Yes, I knew a day like this would come someday.”

Sylvia stared blankly at the sight before her with wavering eyes and muttered.

It was a familiar sight, although disconcerting.

Because it was a scene I had already seen several times in those annoying nightmares that had been coming to me periodically before Ash showed up.

There were dozens of people standing in the hallway.

Although their faces were so familiar, the way they stood there seemed somewhat awkward to Sylvia.

That’s understandable, they were people who shouldn’t be able to stand on their own two feet.

They were people who couldn’t possibly be alive.

“ah…”

Sylvia’s lips twitched.

The soldiers of the kingdom who followed her, and the companions who went on the difficult journey with her.

I never tried to remember them, but their names, which I had never forgotten, lingered in my mouth, unable to be spoken.

The fist holding the sword trembled, and the tip of the sword shook violently in reaction.

“…”

What should I say?

Nice to meet you, I missed you.

Thank you for following me.

I’m sorry I left you to die.

It felt like so many words I wanted to say burst out all at once and clogged my throat.

In the end, it was her reddened eyes that conveyed her intentions before Sylvia’s lips.

Large tears rolled down from Sylvia’s eyes.

“…”

However, they did not.

They each held their own weapons that were familiar to Sylvia, and looked at her with expressionless faces.

With Sylvia’s sigh, tears began to flow uncontrollably.

Sylvia already knew what would happen next.

Because I’ve seen it in nightmares so many times.

Sylvia took a step back and pleaded in a crawling voice.

“No… Don’t come near me… Please…”

“…”

“Let me go… please.”

“…Sylvia.”

“…!”

Sylvia was startled by the voice calling her name and looked straight ahead.

A large man wielding a huge war hammer was approaching her.

“Heine…”

Sylvia called his name.

It was Heine, one of his former comrades who always rushed towards his enemies first, swinging his huge hammer with even greater strength than Sylvia and crushing the heads of demons.

We became close after coming to the academy, but before that, he was my oldest acquaintance who had known me since my days as a private soldier in a noble family and we had been in the same facility together. Maybe that was why we became close friends and often had drinks together during our trips.

In fact, he secretly admired Maria and wanted help from her friend Sylvia, but he was basically a cool-headed guy who knew how to lighten the mood, and he was also talented in music, to the point where he could play the small ukulele that didn’t match his size beautifully even with his thick fingers.

After all the journeys were over, I even promised to learn the lute from him.

“… No, that can’t be true.”

Sylvia slowly looked at her old friend with fearful eyes.

Again, she wasn’t stupid.

There was no way Sylvia didn’t know that her former colleagues were no longer normal beings.

Sylvia knew full well that they were either illusions, undead, or nothing more than the Demon King’s puppets.

But still, Sylvia was afraid of what her old friend might say to her.

Heine looked down at Sylvia, revealing his huge body.

And then he slowly began to open his mouth.

“…Why.”

“…”

“Why did you leave us to die?”

“… aaah,”

“Why are you the only one alive?”

“… aaahhh,”

“It hurt so much, it was miserable, Sylvia.”

“Stop… stop it…”

“Why… did you abandon us and survive alone!”

Heine quickly raised the large hammer above his head.

At that moment,

A flash of black light swept through the room.

“… also.”

“… uh?”

Heine made a stupid sound.

A thin red line was slowly drawn on both of his arms, and soon his arms, unable to support the weight of the giant hammer, were cut off along the line and fell to the ground.

Heine looked at his cleanly severed arms.

“As expected, you are not Heine.”

“…Sylviaak,”

Sylvia quickly grabbed her sword and slashed Heine’s body vertically.

Just as he was calling her name, Heine’s body slowly split into two and fell to the floor.

Sylvia said in a cold, calm voice.

“Heine wouldn’t say such things. He would be a self-deprecating fool who would hold grudges. Heine wouldn’t stay still if both his arms were cut off. He was a very mischievous guy for his size.”

“…”

Sylvia walked slowly down the hallway outside the kitchen.

Her former colleagues all started rushing towards her at once.

Sylvia laughed bitterly.

“… It was such a scary nightmare… but when I actually faced it like this, it wasn’t anything special.”

Sylvia swung her sword.

The bodies of the soldiers who followed her here and died were torn into two or three pieces and scattered on the ground.

“It’s a bad play.”

“Sylvia! Because of you, I!”

“My colleagues aren’t the type of people to say things like that.”

The tip of Sylvia’s sword waved.

A shield warrior who used her shield to block her sword.

He was always a strong man who protected Sylvia.

He lowered his shield with his hand, thrust his sword into its face, and pulled it out with a twist.

A female servant who was one of the soldiers.

You said you were the attendant of a noble prosecutor who was one of your colleagues.

She was a cute girl who kept chasing after Sylvia and asking her to teach her how to use the sword.

After lightly blocking her sword as she lunged at him with swordsmanship that was very similar to Sylvia’s, he pierced her chest with his fist.

An arrow flew from somewhere with a loud noise.

An archer of monstrous strength who wields a longbow much taller than a person and fires arrows at high speed.

Although it lacked agility, the arrows it fired while standing still had the power of a cannon, effectively reducing the number of monsters approaching from afar, and it was a smart guy who could destroy terrain features to create terrain that was advantageous to us.

On that subject, his academy grades were low, so Maria would always tutor him.

He dodged the arrows flying at him with a loud noise and flew in in an instant, cutting off his waist along with his longbow.

Everyone runs towards Sylvia, calling her name, but no one screams.

Tuktuk

As each unpleasant drop of blood splashed down her face, memories of her colleagues and their presence swirled through her mind.

Back-to-back battles, crises that made you want to die, camping trips that were uncomfortable but still full of laughter…

All those memories began to fade away, one by one.

Sylvia spoke in a voice filled with cold murderous intent.

“It doesn’t matter. You are already dead.”

I look at my old colleagues who are still standing.

It felt like I could just kill them all without hesitation.

But at the same time as she thought that, Sylvia’s eyes were looking for someone.

“… after,”

There is no Maria.

Only Maria is missing.

What does that mean?

Couldn’t they even find a corpse to revive?

Or is it that I am not worthy to even see the dead Mary?

Will he never see Maria again, who pours out cold words of resentment towards him?

Sylvia sighed as she thought about that.

No, it’s a good thing.

If it was Maria, not Heine, who was venting his resentment on him,

If she were Ash’s sister, Sylvia wouldn’t have been able to endure it.

Sylvia thought about that and tightened her grip on the sword grip that kept slipping because of the blood on her hands.

“Even nightmares are being cut down.”

Sylvia spoke briefly and ran forward.

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