24 - Chapter 21: Episode 21 [Growth]
Ella succeeded in ending the oppression of witches
by allying herself with the Church and the Empire's machinations.
Female mages should not be disregarded.
They are human beings, just like us,
and deserve respect as living creatures.
Therefore, no one should discriminate against female mages.
A decree successfully enshrined in the doctrines of both the Empire and the Church.
But...
Even though laws were changed and doctrines revised, humans still ostracized witches.
Ella didn't expect everything to change overnight either.
With time,
and with each passing generation,
discrimination would gradually disappear.
She decided to think that way.
Thus, Ella elevated witches to the status of saviors,
seized complete political power within Walpurgis Night, gained immense authority,
and amassed military might that no one in the world could approach.
She rose to a position where it was no exaggeration to say she held all the power and authority in the world.
Ella, who had everything in the world.
The emotion I felt from her was
loneliness?
I didn't know why I could feel her emotions, but
I sensed a profound loneliness emanating from her.
Why...
even with everything in the world,
did she feel a loneliness stronger than anyone else?
The question was soon answered.
"Dad, why is it that even though I did everything you told me to, I don't have a single person by my side?"
Humans ostracized her for being a Witch,
and other witches shunned her, fully understanding what a monster she was.
No one tried to approach her.
Even the most benevolent people merely worshipped and followed her.
Though she had elevated witches to an equal standing with humans,
she herself was never treated as an equal.
They merely feared, worshipped, and kept their distance.
Moreover, having lived for a long time,
she naturally learned to discern pretense from hypocrisy,
so there was no one around her.
At least, not in her eyes.
Such a woman lived for hundreds of years immersed in loneliness.
Eventually, she turned her back on the world and disappeared into a deep forest.
And to her, after nearly a century of living in that forest, came
my party.
That was the beginning of the story.
The forest where Ella and I first met,
the Forest of Magic.
And the emotion she felt for me was curiosity.
Was it thanks to that curiosity?
That I ended up traveling with her.
Around the time I was thinking that,
"Ding!"
What, a notification?
A System Notification suddenly appeared before my eyes.
[Synchronization complete.]
Synchronization?
I opened the System window to see:
[Synchronization complete.]
[New Trait acquired]
[Incubus Level increased.]
[Coitus Stat increased.]
A flood of notifications.
I'll check the most recent one first.
[Synchronization complete.]
-Synchronization settings for Corridor of Souls have been completed.
Corridor of Souls. What's this?
It feels unsettling. Should I check it?
[Check Corridor of Souls]
-New trait acquired.
[Corridor of Souls]
▶User: Yuria, Ella Veronica
▶Description: Created by the First Witch ■■■■ for herself and her lover.
-No death shall separate our love-
▶Effect: If a user dies, their soul transfers to the living user.
A new trait,
and Ella's name was visible in the user list.
How could she have...?
She bound me to this, didn't she?
My thoughts were a mess, but I'll set that aside for now.
[Incubus Level increased.]
Incubus Lv. 2
-Increases the seduction level for surrounding women.
-Slightly increases Coitus Stat.
Ugh,
this is not welcome news at all.
It means the range I have to defend has expanded.
For now, I have no choice but to borrow Aria's strength again...
And my Stats increased,
which is at least some good news.
[Stats Window]
【 Name 】
Yuria: Lv 94
【 Stats 】
▷Strength: 92
▷Agility: 85
▷Stamina: 90
▷Mana: 81
▷Holy Power: 87
▷Coitus: 3 → 10
Oh,
it increased more than I expected this time.
Ten points.
At this level, I won't have to worry about Enma raping me for now.
I still need to be careful, but
if I raise it a little more, a normal life might be possible.
As I was organizing the flood of notifications and
planning for the future,
a voice echoed in my head.
"What? Were you peeking? Yuria, I didn't think you'd pry into a woman's memories."
That voice was Ella's, but how could she...?
Hadn't I been saved from her?
Anyway, it's true that I peeked into her memories, so
I had to apologize.
"I'm sorry, Ella."
"No, it's fine. Agh!"
So I woke up to her moans.
The reddish light of the sunset filtered through the curtains, hitting my eyes.
I rubbed them and got up, taking in the white guest room.
Looking around, the desk I'd broken had already been replaced with a new one,
and His Holiness the Pope and Lily Cynthia were sitting there.
"Uh...?"
"Yuria woke up!"
"Yuria, are you okay?"
"How's your body? Can you see how many fingers this is?"
"Three fingers. Come on, I'm fine."
Waking up to see my Comrades worrying about me like this warmed my heart.
Comrades?
But wait, Ella and Aria were nowhere to be seen.
Ella, yes, it's not surprising she's gone, but why Aria?
Aria's utterly broken appearance from that time came to mind.
Is something wrong with her too?
As my thoughts drifted there,
ominous thoughts filled my mind.
"Aria, where is Aria?"
"Aria? She's probably in the underground dungeon."
"What?"
Why Aria?
What did she do to be put in an underground dungeon?
I couldn't understand.
"Ah, I was too brief in my explanation."
"Then?"
"She went to ask Ella what she did to you."
Aria's condition surely isn't normal.
"No, I have to go myself."
I hurriedly made my way to the basement.
My mind was filled only with
worry for Aria.
The image of Aria, filled with despair and pain,
that I'd seen while Ella was raping me,
still hadn't faded from my mind.
Her utterly broken appearance,
her fists bruised and raw, covered in blood from pounding,
still lingered in my mind.
Still, she'd be fine now.
Yes, I'd recovered completely, hadn't I?
She must have had enough time to recover too.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have gone to such a basement, would she?
So, guided by Cynthia, I arrived at the basement.
"Over there, Yuria."
"Okay, thank you, Cynthia."
In my haste, I kicked open the door.
"CRASH!"
And the scene before my eyes was worse than I expected.
The shattered floor and walls were drenched in red blood; I didn't know what had happened.
And vaginal lubrication seemed to have spurted from her vulva.
What happened?
"Cynthia?"
Aria called Cynthia's name without even looking my way.
She seemed to think Cynthia had entered.
Aria quickly realized something was wrong and turned my way.
When I saw her face, it was far more gruesome than I expected.
Dark circles, layers deep, ringed her eyes,
her gaze darting restlessly with anxiety.
Her body hadn't recovered properly;
traces of red blood stained her mouth,
and she trembled pitifully like a newborn chick.
She looked completely broken.
How could I comfort her in this state?
How could I heal her heart?
I could barely imagine how devastated she must have felt seeing me being raped.
"Aria."
"Ugh..."
She flinched and trembled at my question,
as if she had done something wrong.
Could the disaster in this room have been Aria's doing?
I thought I understood what she was worried about.
She was probably embarrassed to show this side of herself.
She always urged her Comrades to be modest and
had always been a role model herself, but
just like the Succubus Queen incident,
she was the type to go all out if it concerned a comrade, so
how could I blame her?
I tried to speak to comfort her, but
"Aria..."
An apology was thrown out, as if to stop what I was about to say.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
"What are you sorry for?"
What on earth was she sorry for?
For using all her strength until her body broke for me?
Or, ugh...
The words that came from her mouth somewhat matched my prediction.
"For showing you this side of me... for showing you a side that isn't like a Saintess."
"No, this wasn't something Aria should apologize for, was it?"
Ella was the one who did wrong, so why was Aria apologizing?
But such words wouldn't easily reach her heart.
All I could do was thank her for her efforts, even if it meant breaking herself like this.
"Aria, you've truly suffered a lot, haven't you?"
Aria's expression finally began to soften.
Was it because the tension had eased?
Aria suddenly slumped to the ground.
How much she must have suffered to show such a broken state...?
I embraced her, filled with gratitude and apology.
And I
gently stroked her head
until she calmed down.
I felt sorry for Cynthia, who was standing outside, guarding the room, but
I continued to whisper comforting words to her for a long time,
every time I whispered
words of comfort into her ear,
she flinched and
trembled.
Each time, I waited for her to calm down and stroked her head again.
How many times did this happen?
"Then, Yuria."
"Huh?"
"Yuria, after all this effort, as you said, can I be a little greedy too?"
"Greedy?"
If she, who suffered so much for me, desired anything, I had to grant it.