TN: Please read my translations only on my website nyx-translation.com since I never give my permission to any site to host my translations. And if you like my translations, please support this site on Ko-fi and Patreon to read several chapters ahead!
Sponsored chapter by our Patreon. Enjoy~
ED: LonelyMatter
Chapter 320 – He Lost His Temper
“Master—”
The benefactor who had taken her in as a child, from a time she barely remembered, before she had become an Elder Lich. Mesmerized by the light modeled after her, Sylvia squeezed out a voice and let it slip.
The young girl raised her scythe and swung it down at the wary figures.
Then, a crimson light spread out like ripples in water, radiating from the girl at its center.
“Whoa, that’s bad…”
Fear and foreboding surged through Sylvia’s entire body. She hastily raised her staff.
“Make it in time,” she fervently wished as she created a membrane of magic around herself. The pale, yellow-green, translucent barrier enveloped her. Even now, the ripples spread relentlessly toward the robed men and the former Heim knights.
Soon, a robed man who hadn’t fled touched the ripples and collapsed to the ground. His body was swept away by the wind and scattered like desert sand.
The technique closely resembled the one Sylvia had used during the Heim War.
“Life-stealing magic… Could it be… Master is really here!”
She cried out in shock.
“H-hey! Run! Run!”
“Run? Run where? Kill it! It’s definitely a monster!”
“Kill it? What about that light?!”
The men’s voices, laced with panic and terror, conveyed their desperation. But all of that soon fell silent. In the dead silence of the forest, Sylvia’s hand, which was holding her staff on the tree branch, ached painfully.
“Just a swing, yet it pierced my defenses so easily.”
That was the kind of magic her master could wield. Sylvia’s master was that formidable.
Gently blowing on her hand, Sylvia forgot the pain and leapt down from the tree.
As she stood elegantly on the stone pavement, the surrounding trees rustled eerily and scattered leaves almost simultaneously. The trees on the edge of her vision had changed color; their dark brown forms were now discolored, as if rotting.
“Master, it’s me. Sylvia!”
It had been so long that she couldn’t find the words to speak.
Surely, upon hearing her name, she would turn around. Her prediction went unanswered; the girl remained shrouded in light.
Sylvia stared at the girl’s back for over ten seconds without a reply.
Suddenly, the same ripples erupted from the girl’s body as before, bathing the defenseless Sylvia.
“Ah… Wh-why…?”
Was it her own vitality that spared her life, or the inexhaustible magic drawn from her connection to Ain?
Regardless, Sylvia stared at the girl before her as she slipped into near-death. She watched her entire body scatter into particles of light before her eyelids lost their strength.
All that was left was to collapse forward onto the ground and await death without healing.
Perhaps the connection to Ain could keep her alive somehow, but there was no precedent. What happened next was truly only for the gods to know. Suddenly, Sylvia’s body stopped before hitting the ground.
Suddenly, amidst the silence, came the scent of spring flowers.
It wasn’t a body shrouded in light, but rather a girl faintly visible in the moonlight, her form barely discernible.
“My apologies. That magic failed to detect your presence. I never imagined you were here.”
“…”
“I only wished to punish those who interfered with me, but I’ve made a mistake here.”
Along with the scent of flowers, Sylvia felt a warm palm press against her forehead.
“Farewell, Sylvia. We shall speak again someday.”
Soon after, Sylvia was lifted into the air and placed atop a white wolf that emerged from the shadow of a dead tree. “Go,” it said, and the white wolf dashed off.
The wind blew, and the girl who had been watching vanished without a trace.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
Sylvia awoke in a room within the Demon Lord’s Castle in the former royal capital.
Glancing around, she realized that it was the bedroom she had shared with Cain. She sat up.
“Why am I…”
“Are you awake?”
“Cain? Why am I here? I’m sure I went to search for the former prince. Oh, right! I encountered a light like my master’s!”
“Ah, yes.”
Cain poured some water from the pitcher into a cup and handed it to Sylvia.
He seemed calm, but relief was evident on his face.
Seated on an antique chair beside the jet-black bed, he exhaled deeply before speaking.
“Do you feel any pain?”
“…N-no…I don’t think so. Hey, why am I here? What happened?”
“How’s the feeling in your hands? And…well, nothing else? Can you see? Any other weird symptoms?”
“Nothing’s wrong! That’s why I need an explanation!”
“Just shut up for a minute. Do you have any idea how worried you made your husband, you idiot?”
“What—! Ow, that hurts!”
Cain thought he had just taken Sylvia’s hand, but he squeezed it tightly, causing a slight sting. Sylvia was frustrated at not getting an answer, but she knew she’d caused him worry, so she fell silent.
“Ain said. When you collapsed, he felt dizzy enough to nearly lose consciousness himself.”
“Huh… Ain-kun…?! Wait, you said Ain-kun said…? Ain-kun was here!?”
Considering the distance from Strohm to the former capital and how long it would take, her guilt deepened.
“Yes, three days ago.”
Then, Sylvia whispered: “No way…”
“How many days do you think you were asleep? Today marks exactly one week. Seriously.”
“You mean I was asleep for a whole week?”
“That’s what I’m saying. You were in a near death state, and a wolf brought you back to the castle, you know? I’m the one who wants to know what happened.”
“A wolf?”
Confusion continued to overwhelm her. Sylvia clutched her head, realizing that the events that had occurred before she lost consciousness were true.
What remained unclear was how she had been brought to the castle. A wolf wouldn’t have gone out of its way to carry her all the way to the former royal capital, let alone to the Demon Lord’s castle. She sensed some kind of will at work.
It meant the being she revered as her master had saved her.
“First, I have something to tell you. While you were unconscious this past week, Tigre—that former prince—was rescued. The knights who encountered Camilla made a desperate effort to save him. Unfortunately, there were casualties among the knights too.”
That was good. Her relief was short-lived, though.
“It seems they used some kind of drug to force him to obey, and he still hasn’t regained consciousness. There’s a chance he might be impaired even if he does wake up. And it seemed he was heading west from Ishtar, led by Camilla. The roads are bad, so they’re having a hard time pursuing him.”
How tragic.
Sylvia felt she must help with the knowledge she possessed.
“Many other things happened as well, but there’s one more important thing I need to tell you.”
“There’s more?”
“Well, since Tigre was rescued, we’ve closed the distance to the enemy. The situation has changed drastically. Before anyone could warn Ain to be careful because he’s the crown prince, he devised a plan that made Warren growl. The people seem to support him, perhaps because they understand his heroic side.”
Cain gently covered Sylvia’s hands with both of his, careful not to startle her with what he was about to say. He paused for a breath, nodded slightly, paused again for another breath, gave a wry smile, and on the third breath, his lips moved.
“Let me be blunt. Because Tigre was harmed by Camilla, Ain has truly lost his temper.”
If you like my translations, please support me on Ko-Fi and subscribe my Patreon to read several chapters ahead!