Chapter 75 - A Room in the Church, and a World of Six
"Actually, I think I'll go help Aira."
Cecily gave me a knowing glance, patting my shoulder as she walked past. The only ones left in the guest room were me, Fam, and Mizuki.
"Mizuki, we're all alone now. Let me feel your boobs."
I sat down on the edge of the bed and patted the space next to me, beckoning her over.
"Huh? I thought you just wanted a hug?"
Despite her words, she sat down beside me. Fam took a seat on my other side. I reached my arms around both of them from behind, pulling them close, and began to compare the feel of their breasts. It was a moment of pure bliss. As I did, I tried to figure out how to bring up the subject with Mizuki. I wanted to talk about Task, but I needed an opening. As I mulled it over, the soft sensation of their chests seemed to drain all thought from my head. I was lost in the moment, groping them intently, when Mizuki let out a soft sigh. I glanced at her, surprised she could get turned on in a situation like this, only to be met with a sharp glare. I instinctively pulled my hands away.
"...Mash, I want you to make it so I can't think of anything but you."
Mizuki's voice was a low whisper.
"Hey, we're in a church, you know. Technically..."
As I answered, she pushed me down, covering my body with her own.
"After fondling my breasts like that, don't you think that's a cruel thing to say?"
She kissed me, her tongue slipping into my mouth. Her tears traced a path down her cheeks, falling onto mine.
"Mizuki, calm down."
"I'm going crazy. With these hands, I've killed a person, and with this body, I'm trying to create one."
"Mizuki, just calm down."
I held her tight. Mizuki struggled against my embrace, so I hugged her even more fiercely.
"I was the one who gave the order. I was the one who struck the final blow from behind. You didn't kill anyone, Mizuki. It's not your fault."
"Mizuki, he brought disaster to this city. The townspeople were harmed as well," Fam added, trying to console her.
"Just because he was a bad person, does that make it okay for me to do the same thing? Is that really right?"
"Mizuki, I was the one who killed him. You did nothing wrong."
"Master. You are not at fault. The one at fault is Mizuki, for being so fixated on this," Fam interjected.
"You were trying to comfort her too, weren't you? How about you stay quiet for a moment?"
Fam looked like she was about to retort but bit her tongue. Maybe I was too harsh.
"Mash, my special skill, Super Kill, only activates randomly, but I know when it's about to happen. I could stop it if I wanted to."
"Are you saying you chose not to stop it? Back there, you were outnumbered two to one. It's my fault you were in that situation. Don't blame yourself. Blame me."
"I... I want to go home. But I don't deserve to go back to my own world anymore..."
Mizuki's shoulders were trembling.
"What do you mean, 'deserve'? If you want to go back, then you should! I'll help you."
"Mash... but... I can't... go back..."
Suddenly, Mizuki's body went heavy against mine. All the strength had drained from her.
"Mizuki?"
I shook her, but she didn't stir. She seemed to have fallen asleep. I held her close for another moment, kissed her on the cheek, and slipped out from under her. I looked up to see that Cecily was back in the room.
"She was being loud, so I put her to sleep."
"...Cecily, you can use mental magic?"
"I noticed a little while ago that I'd hit level thirty. I'd learned mental magic, so I thought I'd try it out."
She casually tests it on an ally? What a dangerous person.
"Can you really put someone to sleep that easily...?"
"I don't know, I imagine it's harder if they resist. Mizuki wasn't on guard at all. Just like you and Fam weren't during the battle earlier."
"I managed to hold on, but Fam fell asleep, didn't she?"
"Warrior-type classes are probably more vulnerable to it."
An Adventurer gets a positive correction to all stats, which should have boosted my resistance. But for Fam's and Mizuki's classes, maybe it's a negative correction. I'd never given it a thought before, but from now on, I'd need to consider countermeasures against mental magic.
"I want to keep talking with Mizuki. I need you to wake her up."
The conversation wasn't over. But in her current state, even if she woke up, she'd probably just repeat the same words over and over.
"Mash, you can't help her."
Cecily stated it so matter-of-factly.
"Why not?"
"You and Mizuki share the same values. You both believe murder is a grave sin. Since you can't deny that fundamental belief, no amount of comforting from you will mean anything."
"...You're right. But I can't just leave her like this."
Was she telling me to give up just because it was impossible? For a comrade, that sounded far too cold.
"That's the problem. You're pretending to be the villain to make Mizuki's crime seem lesser, trying to reason with her. That's just adding fuel to the fire. You're pretending to comfort her while actually invalidating her actions. There's no way that's getting through to her."
"..."
I couldn't say a word in response. I looked at Fam. She was watching me with a worried expression. She was concerned about Mizuki, too. When she had tried to cut in earlier, she must have realized the same thing as Cecily and was trying to correct my course. The notion that I, being from the same world, was the only one who could understand and comfort Mizuki was the height of arrogance.
"Fam, I'm sorry about before."
I apologized to her. She just shook her head.
"Mizuki just wants someone to empathize with her. Mash, more than anyone, she just wants you to be by her side right now."
"Is that really it?"
I felt her words were correct. But was that truly what Mizuki was thinking?
"Mash, don't forget that she steeled her resolve and struck down Task. Even if she regrets it now, that's something she has to resolve on her own."
"I see now that I was wrong. Thank you, Cecily."
Cecily nodded. I stroked the sleeping Mizuki's head.
"Sorry to ask, but could you wake her up?"
"Before that, are you okay, Mash? You look pretty awful yourself."
"I don't know... Strangely enough, I don't feel any guilt. But I do think that fight should have been avoided at all costs."
I didn't feel anything particular about Task's death. Was that just the kind of person I was? Or would the guilt surface over time?
"He said things he didn't need to. No matter what you had done, there's no doubt he intended to kill us."
"Yeah, you're right."
I nodded. Was she telling me to just accept it since there was no way to avoid it? This was Cecily's way of offering comfort.
"But right now, Mizuki comes first."
"So that's how you see it. Well... she is your girlfriend, so do as you please."
Cecily seemed to have keenly sensed my lingering uncertainty about how to handle Mizuki.
"So, could you wake Mizuki up?"
"Huh? Me?"
For some reason, Cecily said it as if it had nothing to do with her.
"Huh? Who else would..."
Did she put Mizuki to sleep without knowing how to wake her up? What was she planning to do if Mizuki never woke up?
"I'll, uh, go get Aira."
Cecily scurried out of the room.
Aira's healing magic woke Mizuki up. Her eyes were red. Incidentally, Aira had also reached level 30.
"Mizuki, my level went up to 24. Fam's is 22. What about you?"
"Mine... is up to 21," Mizuki answered after checking her character sheet. Our experience must have shot up thanks to the effect of my special skill, all the battles so far, and taking down that massive number of Big Hoppers today. Though it felt strange, since it was Racshell who'd defeated the Big Hoppers, meaning we hadn't gained any actual combat experience from it.
"That's great. But for you, getting stronger might be a double-edged sword, since Super Save will trigger less often."
As she grew stronger, she'd be able to protect herself without needing her special skill to activate. She was able to raise her defense by spamming Super Save, which in turn increased the probability of Super Kill.
"Mizuki, do you remember what I said earlier?"
"Yeah." Mizuki nodded.
"Can I take it all back?"
"What do you mean?"
"I forgot that you're fighting for all of us."
"It's not for everyone. In the end, it's for me."
"I know. But I want you to let me carry the burden you've taken on."
"But..."
"And in return, if I ever have to take on a burden of my own, I'll need you to carry it with me."
"...What's that supposed to be?" Mizuki murmured. But there was no edge to her voice.
"Mizuki, Master always says it. We are all together," said Fam.
"Mizuki, I'll stick with you, too. Only until Migul, though," said Cecily.
"Mizuki, I'm here too," Aira added finally.
"Maira's not here, but I'm sure she's thinking the same thing, watching over us from the great beyond."
"...Master."
Fam seemed to want to reproach me for once again using Maira as a punchline.
"We can't stop our journey. And as long as we keep traveling, what happened today will happen again. Today, it just happened to be you."
"...I understand what everyone's saying. I haven't sorted out my feelings yet, but for now, I'll let myself lean on your words."
It was clear Mizuki wasn't convinced. If I were in her shoes, I'd surely feel the same. But for now, that felt like it was enough. This was just one voice among the many emotions she was holding. I wanted to believe that Mizuki would overcome it. And while she was at it, I hoped she'd overcome the emotional scars from when I assaulted her, too.
The next morning, Hyakka came to the church while we were having breakfast and brought some unwelcome news.
"We got a summons from the Citizen's Council. The Governor himself is askin' for ya. He wants you to attend."
"No way. I'm going to see the grave of the hero from a hundred years ago. I promised you, and I promised Karpana. Besides, I plan on leaving this city as soon as possible."
Having someone with the power of a god sticking around would destabilize the city's power structure. I could easily imagine how much of a nuisance that would be for the rulers. By having me answer their summons, they probably wanted to demonstrate to the public that my existence was subordinate to the Citizen's Council.
"If you say that, they'll run us outta town."
Hyakka said with a pout.
"When is it?"
"Right now."
"..."
There was no need for all of us to go. I glanced at Maira. She nodded; it seemed she would come with me. As the two of us prepared to leave, Fam started getting ready as well. Was it really okay to bring her to a council full of humans? Wouldn't she be subjected to thoughtless remarks? I hesitated.
"I'll go too. But I won't go into the council chamber. I'll wait outside with Fam."
Mizuki must have sensed my anxiety.
Just then, Karpana came over to see us.
"Karpana, sorry, but something's come up and we have to go out."
I briefly explained the situation. Karpana nodded.
"Alright. While you wait, how about you exchange information with Chihiro?"
"Huh? What's this, ya tryin' to separate me and Chihiro?" Hyakka's sharp ears picked that up immediately.
"I think having a connection with the Wandering People would be good for you two as well."
"Suppose you're right. Alright then, I'll take Mash to the Citizen's Council. Chihiro, you wait here."
After seeing Chihiro nod in agreement, we left the church.
Thank you for reading. To everyone who has liked, bookmarked, and rated this story, thank you very much. It encourages me. I'll do my best.