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

72 – Sign (5)

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I was squatting in front of the flowing river and washing my face.

As I wiped away the sweat from the heat of the fire I had lit and the soot from burying the charred corpses, even my complicated mind felt refreshed.

However, no matter how much I washed my hands, the ash stuck to my fingers showed no sign of coming off.

After washing my hands in the river several times, I finally gave up and got up.

Laila says she wants to stay with me, but I don’t think it’s my duty as an older brother to just throw her away.

As I slowly turned around, Ms. Sylvia approached me, holding a sword sheath in one hand.

“…Ash.”

“I’m sorry.”

I bowed my head and immediately apologized without making any excuses.

Even though I made such a big mistake, I was so grateful for her consideration, which helped me silently without scolding or asking anything until the miserable funeral process, which had to be covered with ashes instead of dirt, was completed.

Thanks to this, when the fire that filled these ruins died down, we were able to bury the bodies of the Millwood villagers, the bodies of the five people I killed, and Lila’s body.

Well, I don’t know if I can call it a corpse now.

“Ash, what do you have to be sorry about?”

“I… Burned down the cabin.”

“…Did the magic run away?”

“No… The undead are walking around on fire…”

“Then it’s not your fault.”

“…Not so,”

“Stop, I said it wasn’t your fault.”

Sylvia firmly interrupted me.

Then she slowly came to me and hugged me tightly.

“Thank goodness… No, I got hurt somewhere… Um,”

She kept stuttering to see if she wanted to say something, but her lips couldn’t get more than one or two words out.

It seemed like he was choosing his words carefully.

After hesitating for a while, she finally uttered one word.

“…Are you okay?”

“…”

This is a very comprehensive question.

Are you okay?

Are you asking if there were any injuries from the sudden attack of the undead?

Then my answer is ‘yes’.

Perhaps my special training with her paid off, and I was able to calmly use her magic even in unexpected situations.

My flames burned the resurrected undead to pitch black.

Lila too…

Perhaps her question was in consideration of my mental trauma of having to kill her sister, who had reanimated as an undead, with my own hands.

Then my answer is,

“… It’s okay… It’s okay…”

“Ah… Ash…”

“…”

It was okay.

Because I learned theology, which is one of the essential liberal arts learned from childhood.

Even if a person is resurrected as an undead, the corpse is not the person he or she was when alive.

It is simply the movement of demon energy attached to a human corpse.

So, I didn’t kill Lila again.

No.

Lila will now be staying with her parents in the arms of her goddess.

What I killed was,

What I burned to death was…

Lyla’s corpse, which reached out to me with her maggot-infested intestines intact in her torn flesh full of wolf’s teeth marks, was nothing more than an undead.

“Mr. Sylvia.”

“…”

As if anticipating my next words, Sylvia was already shaking her head.

However, without paying attention to her delicate flapping movements, I finally put into her mouth the strong wish that was in her heart.

“Can you please kill me?”

“No.”

Sylvia shook her head while hugging me tightly.

I pleaded again with a dry voice.

“Well… It’s not easy. Yes? “I want to stop now.”

“Don’t do that… Please, okay?”

“You know. Mr. Sylvia. I’ve heard that the reason life is difficult is because of human relationships, but Sylvia, my only relationship, actually makes me happy. But, it’s so hard for her to just live. “Just being alive is too much.”

“… I know, so do I…”

Sylvia’s watery voice seemed to be loudly knocking on my heart.

That’s right,

She would know very well.

My heart now,

This heart, this feeling, that seems to have been crushed, broken, ruined, devastated, torn, peeled, cold, torn, burned, melted.

This pain that I sincerely wish would make me go crazy,

She is probably the person who knows best in this world.

Without realizing it, a question mixed with faint admiration and fear flowed from my lips.

“How on earth… Are you holding on? How many years… without anyone by your side?”

“…”

Ms. Sylvia did not answer my question.

She obviously couldn’t answer.

Because she didn’t hold out.

She couldn’t hold on, she couldn’t stand it, but she couldn’t die due to the curse, so she just stayed alive, because she didn’t hold on by her own will.

I said, making her nod as if she understood without me having to listen.

“So… Please.”

“I hate it, I hate it, I hate it!”

“Please,”

“Absolutely not.”

“…Why?”

Sylvia hugged me tightly and whispered.

“I can’t… I can’t stand it, I can’t stand it, I can’t stand it.”

“…”

“I can’t kill you… How can I kill you, Ash…”

“…Silvia.”

She wrapped her arms around me tightly, almost as if she was trying to crush them.

The trembling of Sylvia’s body was transmitted directly to my body.

She whispered to me with her unstable, shaking voice, like a child trembling with fear.

“I… Need you.”

“…”

“Ash… I love you.”

A voice trembling with extreme fear.

Suddenly, the image of Sylvia imitating Lila’s fear of lightning came to mind.

At that time, Sylvia didn’t really look like she was afraid at all, but now she was shaking like a frightened child, reminding me of the old Lila.

I let out a sighing laugh.

“… Ha,”

I love you.

Oh my god.

The reason I have to live even though I am cursed, have no place to go, and my entire family is dead is because Sylvia loves me.

Her lover.

I guess that’s my role.

I nodded with an empty smile.

＊

Millwood Village, which was already a dilapidated ruin, has now become a completely barren wasteland.

Even before I showed up, the herb garden that Sylvia had been growing, the small but cozy cabin, and the furniture inside were all destroyed by fire.

We walked around the cabins and other ruins looking for any unburned items, but apart from a few miscellaneous items, we couldn’t find much of anything meaningful.

Most of the kitchen utensils that were made of iron from the beginning were in good enough condition to be reused as long as they were washed cleanly, but the wooden furniture, fabric blankets, and clothes could not be saved.

I wanted to do something, but these items were completely impossible to obtain in this remote area, so I had no choice but to bow my head and apologize to Sylvia several times.

But surprisingly, Sylvia shook her head and instead comforted me.

“The cabin was too small for the two of us to live in anyway.”

“I thought I would throw away those clothes from the beginning because they didn’t seem to suit me.”

“That bed was so cheap that it hurt my back.”

Ms. Sylvia was telling me all her nonsense and she was trying her best to comfort me.

I knew very well how valuable the items were in this untouched place, but the more she made excuses for me, the more I could not calm her face, which was heating up with shame and guilt.

It was me who was at fault, but it even felt like Sylvia was watching me.

Probably because I said I wanted to die.

For some reason, I felt even more sorry because I felt like I had threatened her.

We searched through the burning village for a while to find the remaining items and piled them up.

A cabin… No, an entire village was reduced to ashes, and the items salvaged from it were barely enough to be wrapped in a bear skin.

As the shock of killing Lila, who had become undead and revived, gradually subsided, I began to realize the magnitude of the accident I had committed.

As if Sylvia could read my thoughts, she encouraged me in a loud voice.

“I also had a lot of bad memories in this town.”

“…Silvia.”

“It can be said that it is too ugly to continue living with Ash from now on. “It worked out better.”

“But,”

“Ash.”

Sylvia suddenly grabbed my shoulder and spoke with a serious expression.

“You seem to be mistaken, but I’m not trying to force you to comfort you.”

“…Yes?”

“Now this forest is starting to overflow with demonic energy. That’s why the undead appeared. In other words, even if this village didn’t burn down, we still had to move to avoid the demonic energy.”

“…Ah.”

“Even if it’s me, it’s not like I can lift and move the entire cabin, right? Do you think I’m a monster? Since most of them would have been left behind anyway, it’s as if Ash didn’t do anything wrong. I understand?”

For some reason, it seems like Sylvia could pull out the entire cabin and take it with her.

“What were you thinking just now?”

“Oh, no.”

As I quickly averted my gaze, Sylvia smiled slightly and patted my head.

She then stroked my cheek once, moved a little lower and moved her hand to my chin, then slowly lifted my head and made eye contact with her.

The flame-like red eyes that had been burning all day looked at each other.

Ms. Sylvia said, erasing the smile from her face.

“I’m so sorry about Laila. Ash…”

“…Ugh,”

“If it has been carbonized to that extent, it will never be resurrected as an undead in the future. So there’s nothing to worry about now.”

“Lila… Will blame me.”

“That’s not Lila. “You know.”

“…But,”

“Then think of it this way. “Now I can finally let her sister go.”

“…”

“Because they buried her grave goods together. Lila would have gone with her parents to her Goddess. She will be waiting for you there. Stupid Ash. There’s no way Lila would blame you. Such a good kid. Yes?”

“…”

I nodded silently.

Sylvia looked at me quietly, then gently closed her eyes, and then she slowly approached me.

“Ah, town,”

Before I could react, she kissed me with her mouth.

Her lips slowly touched mine, which were all dry from being in the fire and ashes all day.

As if trying to moisten the dry, sharp skin, her soft tongue dug between the two people’s lips, moistening them.

As her lips softened and moistened, Sylvia’s lips parted slightly and began to gently bite my lower lip.

At that point, I dropped the luggage in her hands to the floor and wrapped my arms around her neck, clinging to her.

We sucked each other’s lips and tongues as if we were longing for the moisture we were lacking.

Her saliva was so sweet to me.

It seemed like it was intoxicating, like alcohol.

I sincerely hoped that would happen.

I wanted to get drunk.

I wanted to forget everything that happened today.

However, just as some nightmares remain in your memory long after you wake up, I was increasingly convinced that I would never be able to forget this incident.

The feel of Lila’s wet skin touched in the dirt.

Those goosebumps-inducing eyes that looked at me, rotten and crumbling, spilling their contents.

And even the screams that were made as the fire burned.

I will never, ever forget it.

The scent of Lila’s burning flesh remained on the tip of her nose and could not be erased.

In an attempt to erase it, I clung to Sylvia in a desperate gesture and repeatedly placed my lips on hers.

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