Episode 115
"Frey, do you remember?"
"What."
"The entrance to this forest. I'm asking if you remember it."
Following behind Klana, the entrance to a forest filled with dense trees greets me.
As I stared blankly at that entrance and quietly nodded, Klana formed a bright smile.
"Really? It's me."
"You visited the forest in the first place, so it's only natural that I remember."
When I answered Klana in a curt voice, she replied in a quiet tone.
"Still, it's a memory we share, you and I."
At those words, I was momentarily stunned, and Klana spread her arms wide as she spoke.
"This entire forest is filled with memories of you and me. Isn't it?"
"...I suppose."
"Please say it is."
I tried to maintain my curt demeanor, but Klana looked at me with pleading eyes, begging me.
"Fine, I'll say it is."
So I answered dismissively, and Klana began to smile.
"But where should we look for the sun-greeting flower? As you know, the sun-greeting flower is quite difficult to find."
"...If we search well enough, won't we find it?"
I asked Klana that question, and at the response I received, I made an exasperated expression.
"Is that even..."
"We've both grown up, so there's no worry about getting lost like back then. So... let's search until the sun rises."
"I'll say it again, there's no guarantee we'll find it."
"No, we will find it."
Klana said that and ended her words while looking at me with eyes full of conviction.
"Because somehow, I think I know. The location of the sun-greeting flower."
And then she turned her body and began walking forward.
"Huu."
Seeing that figure, a sigh escaped me without my realizing it.
Though she's pretending to be composed, now not just her hands but her entire body is trembling violently.
The strong alcohol she drank must have been useless to her, sensing the moment soon to come.
Then again, she's about to do something no different from suicide... Just because she drank some alcohol doesn't mean she can do it composedly.
From the previous iteration, I know this very well because I experienced it myself.
"Klana."
"...Yes?"
I called out to Klana with those thoughts, and after checking her appearance, I muttered inwardly.
'What a sight.'
Her eyes are shaking, her lips are cracked, and her whole body is still trembling violently.
And more than anything else, despite having drunk alcohol, her face isn't red but only growing paler.
"Klana, what's wrong?"
"W-what do you mean?"
When I asked her a question as if nothing was wrong, she asked back in startled surprise.
"Are you feeling unwell?"
"Ah, that... that's..."
Soon I asked Klana another question, and approaching her who was stammering.
"...Heup!"
I quietly took her hand.
"L-let go. I said let go."
"...Anyone watching would think I'm attacking you."
"Let go quickly!!"
Klana shouted like that and tried to shake off my hand, but I looked into her eyes and gripped her hand even tighter.
"Ah, ah-u..."
Then, she gave up trying to shake off my hand and began tearing at her own hair with her remaining hand.
'...Is she desperately holding on?'
I tried to trigger the system and bring up the penalty before Klana transforms anew, but it seems her mental strength is resisting with all its might.
'No... please... no...'
Seeing her endure even with bloodshot eyes when it clearly looks difficult, Klana is truly remarkable.
"What are you doing, Klana. We need to find the flower."
"W-why did you hold my hand?"
When I spoke to her, she asked a question while clearly flustered.
"Because your hand was shaking."
".....Ah."
When I answered simply, Klana began looking at me with a dazed expression.
"Aah, ah. No."
"Klana?"
"J-just a little more. Just a little more... until I receive the flower. Please."
"Klana!"
"...Not yet, I don't want to change yet."
Soon I heard the words she muttered while in panic by focusing the mana of stars into my ears, and I sighed while thinking inwardly.
'...Like this, even forcing her to remember me won't work.'
If it's come to this, it seems I have no choice but to use the last resort...
"Eek!"
I was lost in thought while holding Klana's hand, when suddenly she started running and I was dragged along, inadvertently beginning to run with her.
"K-Klana! What are you..."
"Hurry, we have to go quickly. Quickly..."
Though branches scratched and wounded her, and her feet stumbled over stones, Klana just held my hand and kept running and running.
"Aheup!"
"...Uheok."
But an ugly stone that had viewed her with suspicion finally made her trip and fall.
"S-sorry... huh?"
"Auugh..."
Thankfully I was holding her hand, otherwise I might not have been able to catch her in my arms.
What would you have done if your precious body got scars.
"Ah....."
Thinking that, I smiled softly at Klana who was nestled against me with a dazed expression.
"So, where is it?"
"W-what?"
"You would have found it beforehand. The sun-greeting flower."
Hearing those words, Klana quietly buried her face in my chest and raised her hand to point ahead of me.
"...Th-that way."
"Alright, let's go."
I began heading in the direction she was pointing.
"W-wait."
"Stay still."
Carrying Klana who had sprained her ankle from tripping over the stone in my arms.
Slowly, that is.
"Fre...y."
Klana, nestled in my arms, called my name in a trembling voice, but I didn't look down at her.
In this situation where I'm carrying her to our destination, what would be the point of that.
I just walked forward silently.
"...Found it."
After walking and walking for quite a while. I was able to find the sun-greeting flower blooming in a crack between split rocks.
'...Growing through rock. It's a flower that suits Klana in many ways.'
Thinking that, I approached the rock and began carefully plucking the flower so it wouldn't be damaged.
After a few seconds of silence passed.
"Done."
The sun-greeting flower held in my grip began emitting golden light in all directions.
"Aah..."
Seeing Klana looking at that sight and making a dazed sound without realizing it, I smiled and then held out the flower to her while speaking.
"Let's make up, Klana."
Then, Klana.
"Heuk."
Exploded with all the emotions she had been suppressing until then.
"Heuaaaaaah..."
While quietly stroking her back, I quietly looked up at the sky.
"...Ha."
The sky, covered by dense trees, showed neither moon nor stars.
- Shaaa...
Only the golden light seeping from the flower was wrapping around us.
"Frey, I have a request."
"...What is it."
While looking at Klana in that mystical atmosphere, she made a request to me.
"...Please kiss me, just once."
"What?"
At those words I made a slightly surprised expression, and Klana whispered in a quiet voice.
"I originally wanted a deeper communion. But there's no time."
"......"
"I know it's shameless, but please... umph."
When I kissed Klana who was speaking while turning her gaze away as if embarrassed, after a while her tongue began touching my lips.
"Eup? Um..."
Perhaps because it was the first act in both the previous and current iteration, Klana who was only licking my lips with her tongue and flailing for a while.
- Churup.
Finally succeeded in putting her tongue through the gap between my lips.
"Churup, chururup."
Her arms and my arms. Her legs and my legs. And, her tongue and my tongue intertwine.
Before I knew it, fallen completely tangled on the ground, we spent time sharing each other's warmth and fluids.
"Puha..."
After quite some time passed like that.
When I separated from her, saliva connected long between her lips and mine before falling.
"I love you, Frey."
Then Klana, who had been tightly gripping the sun-greeting flower with a happy expression, spoke and tucked that flower into her hair.
"Then now..."
After that, when Klana opened her mouth with a determined expression, I quickly cut off her words.
"Are you trying to become Canary?"
"Yes!?"
Then, Klana who was startled asked in a trembling voice.
"What do you mean..."
"That won't do."
"...Heuaaaaaak!!!"
But without giving her a chance to speak, I began flowing star magic into Canary that I had been holding in my hand until then.
- Pazuzuzuzuzu!!
"Heuaa... y-you... what are you...?"
Klana, who was caught in terrible agony and writhed because of that, squeezed out every ounce of strength she had to ask me a question.
"Did you think I'd let you live as Canary?"
"N-no."
When I answered with a scoff to her, Klana began trembling and shouting.
"Nooooo!!!"
Since I'm concentrating on Canary, I don't understand what she's shouting, but seeing her scream that loudly, it must be quite painful.
But, it can't be helped.
To stop Klana's plan to inhabit Canary the moment she regains her memories.
There's a need to destroy 'Canary', the medium.
"Stop... stop it. Don't..."
"Sorry Klana. Does it hurt?"
"T-that's not it... you..."
Klana who had been writhing beneath me for quite a while, when the Canary destroyed in my hand scattered into golden particles into the sky.
"You're in danger..."
Lost consciousness without even finishing her words.
"Huuu."
I sighed in relief while looking at her like that.
"Then now..."
I spoke while looking at the densely overgrown bushes that had been bothering me for a while.
"Time to come out, isn't it?"
.
- Rustle
When Frey spoke in a cold voice, the heavily overgrown bushes shook slightly.
"Frey."
"Irina."
Soon Irina came out from inside and called Frey with a calm expression, and the same was true for Frey.
"Why were you following me?"
"...I was worried something might happen. The Secret Lord hasn't been caught yet."
"Right, then why did you hide that Kania came?"
"......!"
At those words, a moment of bewilderment flashed across Irina's expression.
"...Hello, young master."
After a while, when Kania quietly crawled out from behind the grass, Frey scoffed and spoke.
"You two fought, didn't you?"
"N-no."
"Liar."
Kania and Irina's hair was disheveled, and small wounds were on their cheeks and bodies.
Therefore, anyone could deduce that they had fought.
"Frey, you have the magic circle I gave you last time, right? Use it now."
"...Now?"
"Yes, right now."
- Pazuzuzuzuzu!!!
"...Eek!"
As soon as those words ended, suddenly Kania began spreading black magic power in all directions.
- Hwarurururuk!
"Haah...!"
And, the same was true for Irina.
- Kwagwagwagwagwang!!
Soon when Kania's black magic power and Irina's flames clashed and caused an explosion, Frey quietly took out a scroll from his bosom while watching that sight.
'The one who will receive the young master's penalty in his stead is me. I, who have fed on his life force like a mosquito, can offer half my lifespan without any hesitation.'
'I will take Frey's penalty in his stead. As the one who developed the spell, I'm the most suitable, and since I even cast the death curse on him, naturally I can offer half my lifespan."
"You two."
Soon, Frey who was watching the two growling at each other while transmitting sound.
- Jjiik!!!
"It's useless."
Tore the scroll he had been holding, which Irina had given him a few weeks ago.
"F-Frey!!!"
"Young master!!!!"
Irina and Kania who were startled seeing that sight ran to Frey, but he was just smiling.
"Did you think I wouldn't notice?"
"H-how...!"
"...I learned magic circle analysis directly from Serena. Did you think I wouldn't notice something like this."
Frey said that and quietly closed his eyes while looking at the two women running toward him.
[Penalty Generated!]
"...Why does everyone like sacrificing themselves so much."
Today of all days, the message "Penalty Generated" was welcome to Frey.