Episode 23

I must’ve lost my mind. What did I just say?

This time, my heart started racing for a completely different reason.

Heat rushed to my face. A cold sweat trickled down my back, pure embarrassment.

‘Out of nowhere, I ask him to hug me? What kind of nonsense is that?!’

I scrambled to my feet.

It was a mistake. I’d been half-asleep. I opened my mouth in a hurry, ready to take it back—

“…!”

In the blink of an eye, two arms reach out and my upper body was tugged forward, pulled tight into an embrace.

A clean, fresh scent of soap washed over me. The same scent as mine.

Thump-thump—

Eyes wide, body rigid, I could hear my own heartbeat pounding out of control.

For a fleeting second, I worried he might hear it too. But that thought vanished as the arms around me tightened.

I sucked in a sharp breath, flinching slightly.

Not out of fear. Not from surprise.

My body trembled for some other reason I couldn’t name.

“It’s all right, Muriel.”

Lycian’s voice was low as he gently stroked my back.

“As long as I’m here, no one will ever harm you.”

“…….”

Something about those words stirred me. The sensation of someone at my side. The simple fact that I wasn’t alone.

Even if this relationship would one day scatter like foam on water… the warmth filling this space right now was real.

“Li—”

I had just opened my mouth to call his name when—

“Waaah~! Maaaster~!!”

…I’d forgotten. This one was here too.

A damp, watery little rice cake came hurtling straight at my face. I wriggled free from Lycian’s arms and swatted the air like I was chasing off an annoying fly.

“Calm down….”

“Waaah, Master~! I was so worried! You wouldn’t wake up no matter how much Nini called you…! Even when I shook you, you didn’t react at all…!!”

I’d been lying on the bed while the ‘memory synchronization’ took place, so I’d assumed it would just look like I’d naturally fallen asleep… but apparently Ninabel had sensed something was off.

“You were sleeping like you were dead…! It was so scary! Waaah~!!”

From the sound of it, things had been more serious than I realized. Lycian and Ninabel must have been worried I’d fallen unconscious for good.

Only then did guilt sink in. I gave them an awkward smile.

“Sorry…. It wasn’t anything serious. I just… received a revelation for a moment.”

“A revelation…?!”

Ninabel stared at me, startled, and I smiled back.

“Yeah. It happens sometimes, so don’t worry.”

I brushed it off like that, but for some reason, the only one who seemed convinced was Ninabel.

While the foolish spirit nodded with a “I see,” Lycian watched me in silence, his gaze unreadable.

After a moment, he spoke.

“When you receive these revelations… are you always that defenseless?”

“Uh…. I guess so? I lose consciousness, so….”

“I understand.”

As if reaching a decision, Lycian nodded gravely and continued.

“From now on, I won’t leave your side for even a minute. Not a second.”

“…?”

Wasn’t that… realistically impossible? What was he planning to do when I bathed?

The absurdity made a small laugh slip out of me.

“You don’t have to go that far. It’s not like something’s going to happen while I’m receiving a revelation. God will be watching over me.”

Right, System?

The quest only pops up when it’s ‘safe’ for me to synchronize, doesn’t it?

Why does this thing always try to communicate with emoticons? It does look like a sign of affirmation, at least.

A quiet sigh followed, then Lycian’s voice.

“I would never dare doubt the will of God… but I can’t help being worried. I shouldn’t leave your side for even a moment, Muriel.”

“…No, really, you don’t have to.”

Now that I thought about it, he did have a tendency to overprotect. He wasn’t actually going to follow me into the bath, was he…?

“But… if something were to happen to you….”

A shadow fell over Lycian’s face. His shoulders drooped. Then he suddenly grabbed my hand and pulled me toward him.

Caught off guard, I stumbled forward, blinking rapidly as I stared at him.

“I would never be able to forgive myself.”

The expression in his eyes, the weight in his voice—it was so earnest that I couldn’t think of a response. My lips just parted uselessly.

While I hesitated, Lycian lifted my hand and pressed a careful kiss to it.

Like an act of reverence. Solemn.

“I told you before, didn’t I? You can trust me.”

“…….”

I said nothing, looking away instead. Lycian didn’t seem to expect an answer. He released my hand and stepped back slightly.

From the corner of my eye, I saw him smiling—gentle as ever.

About thirty minutes later, we turned out the lights and lay down in our respective beds. But sleep didn’t come.

At least, not for me.

Every nerve in my body was tuned to the sound of the person breathing in the bed beside mine. No matter how I tried not to, I kept being aware of Lycian.

‘This is driving me insane….’

After what happened today, I could vaguely sense that something in our relationship had shifted.

I didn’t know where this change would lead me.

And that scared me a little.

---

The next morning.

When I opened my eyes, Lycian was sitting on the bed opposite mine, quietly watching me.

“…….”

Why is he just sitting there like that? That’s creepy.

When our eyes met, he smiled softly. I avoided his gaze and pushed myself upright.

“When did you wake up? And why are you… doing that?”

“An hour ago. Did you sleep well?”

“You weren’t sitting there like that for a whole hour… right?”

“More precisely, about fifty minutes. I spent ten washing and getting dressed.”

“…….”

Fifty minutes. Sitting there like a stone statue.

In its own way, that was terrifying.

Ignoring his lingering gaze, I fled to the bathroom.

He’s not planning to keep this up, is he…?

“Thank goodness. It’s perfectly fine.”

After breakfast at the inn and settling the bill, we returned to the alley where we’d parked the cart yesterday.

It was intact. No cracks, no damage.

And it hadn’t been stolen.

They’d said the town had good security. Apparently, it was true.

Once the luggage was neatly loaded, Lycian finished preparing to pull the cart and turned to me with a smile.

For some reason, that smile made something in my chest flutter. I returned an awkward smile of my own.

“Then… shall we?”

It was time to head home.

---

About an hour after we left town and set out along the road—

“Master, the flow of mana feels strange.”

At Ninabel’s uneasy voice, Lycian came to an abrupt stop.

Ever since we’d entered the quiet forest path, Ninabel had slipped out of my pocket and was helping pull the cart.

As for me… I was, as always, riding on Lycian’s back.

‘I couldn’t help it…. My legs and back hurt too much….’

The guilt of using another person like a mount was significant, but if we wanted to get back to the farm quickly, this was the best option.

And the “mount” in question… didn’t look the slightest bit tired.

‘That’s not human stamina….’

I tapped Lycian’s shoulder, signaling that I wanted down, and asked Ninabel,

“What do you mean, the flow of mana is strange?”

“Exactly what it sounds like! Mana in the natural world flows in a consistent pattern, but right now… it’s tangled and chaotic.”

“Hmm….”

With a mana stat of zero, I couldn’t feel anything at all. Of course not…. It seemed Muriel had absolutely no talent for magic.

But Lycian’s mana was a staggering 891. Considering the stat cap was 999, that was an extraordinary number.

Surely he felt something too?

I turned toward him and was just about to speak.

“Li—”

“Just a moment, my master. Quiet….”

“…?”

He abruptly pulled me against his chest, shielding me, and fixed his gaze straight ahead down the path.

Not just him—even Ninabel’s mood had turned tense. My own body stiffened as I swallowed hard.

What is it? What’s going on?

‘Now that I think about it… this forest nearby was a monster habitat, wasn’t it?’

Don’t tell me—

A chill of foreboding crept up my spine.

“…!”

Then suddenly, something alien entered my field of vision. A grotesque group, rushing toward us from afar.

They resembled beasts—but no one could mistake them for natural creatures.

“Gasp….”

Lifeforms mutated by the influence of mana.

Monsters.