LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 22 - Sephir.
The day my memories returned.
I thought I had a really deep dream.
Because the contents of that dream were so far from reality.
A man who said he waited for me in an alley.
He staked his life on a proposal to me.
“Sephir, let’s just do one job together. If it’s boring, you can kill me.”
At that time, why did I do that?
The proposal of a beggar who had nothing.
Why did I listen to the words of trash that wouldn’t even amount to a little money?
Hearing his suggestion, I always pointed a dagger behind his back while being with him.
And a month later.
I really came to enjoy the moment of being with him.
A really ordinary daily life.
Seeking the next trading partner, having trivial conversations, and laughing.
When there were no trading partners, I went to various places with him and laughed.
Why was it?
I never thought I was lonely, and I never thought conversations were fun.
So why was I unknowingly smiling whenever I talked about even the smallest things with him?
I was always with him in that long dream, laughing so much that it felt foolish.
He was strange.
He didn’t hide everything about himself to a degree that felt odd.
Even when trading, he would reveal his weaknesses to the other party to the point that even I, who watched, couldn’t understand, but the trades were always successful.
On top of that, he was trash.
He seduced other women in front of me without care and confidently revealed it to an irritating degree when I asked.
I don’t know if there were women I didn’t know about, but he sent mysterious gifts to the Magic Tower, ducal houses, and Alfheim.
When I got angry, he hugged me tightly.
Until I couldn’t think of anything in his embrace.
Until I foolishly shed the tears I had held back in his arms.
He just held me.
Why did I stay by his side like that?
Why was he with me when he had so many women?
To find that answer, the me in the dream ran.
By his side.
Because I wanted to know with him.
“Just wait a little. I have something to take care of.”
It was a really rare day with no work.
No trading partners, no leftover tasks to handle.
But he said he had to go somewhere.
“It’s because it’s really important.”
He was definitely smiling.
It was that smile I always saw. It was his voice I always heard.
Nevertheless, I grabbed him.
“Don’t go.”
I don’t know why.
I was just anxious.
I just… didn’t want to be apart from him.
I grabbed his collar and lowered my head, avoiding his gaze and stalling for time.
For him to change his mind.
However,
“Still, I’ll definitely come back. Because I don’t want you forgetting me.”
Was it because I vaguely knew that the distant goal he had been aiming for all along was now before his eyes?
I couldn’t even say goodbye to his receding figure.
If I had known those words were a lie, I should have at least said goodbye.
“Aaron.”
Absentmindedly calling his name.
No matter how much I called in the dream, it was only an echo that didn’t return.
“What?”
A nonchalant answer returned.
I really wanted to hear this seemingly indifferent answer from him.
“Nothing.”
“…?”
Thank you.
“Aaron.”
“What?”
“It’s really nothing.”
For believing in me like this.
—–
“…Aaron.”
“Ah what!”
How many times has it been?
Calling my name for no reason, and when I answer, she just smiles like that.
“Please say something if you’re going to call my name! Why are you doing this to me!”
I think it’s been about 10 times now.
“…This time, I called because I had a reason.”
Sephir pursed her lips and turned her head away.
“Then only call my name now!”
I grabbed her cheeks again and slowly stretched them to the sides.
“Owieee~”
“If you don’t want it to hurt, then don’t do that.”
The more I hold her cheeks, the more suspicion rises.
‘Is this really Sephir?’
I grabbed Sephir’s cheeks and stretched them out again.
“Whyyy dis tyme?! I didn do anythyng~!”
It’s definitely Sephir.
The twitching ears and the oddly flinching, stiff tail.
She’s the villainess Sephir I know.
It’s just…
“Whyy??”
Her personality is too different from the Sephir I know.
“Do you normally stay still when someone touches your cheeks?”
For now, I asked a question just in case, and Sephir completely erased the smile remaining on her face and answered seriously.
“Should we check the number of my daggers first?”
Sheesh.
That’s definitely an answer befitting the underworld Sephir.
“But didn’t you say you called my name earlier because you had something to say?”
While continuing the comfortable atmosphere with her and laughing, I remembered she had something to tell me.
“Ah.”
Seems like she forgot too.
“So?”
Let’s hear it now, even if it’s a bit late.
“It’s nothing much. I was just curious about what you will do from now on.”
“… Is that all?”
Certainly, we’re in a relationship where we must run around together in this mess from now on. It’s right to share plans.
“Then, I’ll explain my plan from now on.”
I crossed my arms confidently in front of her and continued speaking.
“First, I’m going to look for Aslan tomorrow.”
“That Aslan Reinhardt?”
“Yeah.”
Sephir reacted so big that her eyes narrowed.
But why are you surprised when you’re also a ducal-level figure?
“You already messed with a ducal heir?”
Ah, that’s what she meant.
She was surprised at me, not the ducal heir.
“No no. He said to call him when I need him, not vice versa.”
To prevent misunderstandings, I clarified that I’m not the inferior one but the superior.
“As expected… you’re the same.”
Hearing that, Sephir nodded as if she had guessed something.
“What is?”
“There’s that thing.”
What is she saying stayed the same in our conversation just now?
It doesn’t seem important, so let’s move on.
“Anyway, I will go to Aslan tomorrow and ask him a favor.”
“What favor?”
Her expression barely changed, but she seemed quite curious as her ears flapped and her tail swayed gently.
‘So that’s why you hid them in the underworld.’
I’m starting to understand a little why it’s hard for demi-humans to hide their emotions.
“I’m going to ask him to teach me some aura.”
Hearing my words, she asks back with a dumbfounded expression.
“…Is it okay to call a ducal heir for something like that?”
“…Probably?”
“……”
I know how crazy it is to call a ducal heir to learn aura, not even swordsmanship, but what can I do?
In this situation, there’s Aslan, who will help me without ulterior motives or pay.
“Hmm…” Sephir closes her eyes as if pondering for a bit while resting her chin on her hand.
“Since it’s a situation where you can use a ducal heir without pay…I think it would be dangerous to use this anywhere else… This seems like the best choice.”
“Right?”
Even Sephir’s head calculated the gains and losses and showed that my next action was better.
“So.”
“Hm?”
“If it’s a plan, there should be a next step, right? After learning aura from Aslan, what are you going to do?”
“…”
I do have a plan. Many organized backup plans to the point where I can confidently say it.
Even Sephir would nod her head first if she heard it.
It’s just that if there’s a problem…
‘It doesn’t make sense for me to act like I know what will happen when I don’t know the future.’
“Training?”
It is training since I’ll be going around collecting artifacts and defeating hidden bosses.
“…Right.”
She glanced at me with a gaze as if looking at a fool, then just turned her head away.
“…This is unfair.”
It’s a bit too much for me to be misunderstood as such a planless guy.
—–
“Sephir.”
“What.”
“When are you going to leave?”
“Where to?”
“Your room.”
It’s already late at night, several hours past the moonrise.
The chirping of crickets and the hooting of owls that sound like gourmet reviews can be heard outside the window.
And I’m so tired that I want to cry like those insects.
“I’m not going to?”
This damn mutt won’t budge.
“Ugh!”
She absolutely refuses to get out of the small single-person bed.
When I try to lift Sephir up using physical reinforcement
“~ㅋ~”
She makes an emoticon-like expression and equally uses physical reinforcement, not budging from her spot.
“Aren’t you going to sleep?”
Holding up my increasingly heavy eyelids with stress, I try asking her again, but.
“I’m going to sleep here?”
She buries her nose in my bed, then wraps her tail around the rope that fixed the hammock in place, showing her will to endure with all her might.
“Then where do I sleep?”
What, does she mean I should sleep on the floor or something?
“We can sleep together here.”
“Where?”
Where on earth is she saying we should sleep together?
“Here.”
…What do I get if you just express it verbally as “here” without pointing anywhere specific.
“On the floor?”
“The bed.”
“That’s a single-person bed?”
How can two people lie on a bed made for one person to lie alone?
“Well, if we sleep like this…whoop!”
-Slip
In an instant, Sephir’s tail wrapped around my waist.
At the same time, my center of gravity was pulled.
My waist was moved along with the tail, and I naturally fell next to Sephir.
“There! We can sleep like this, right?”
“……”
I felt the childhood sensation of lying on a small bed as if I would fall off with a little push.
However, what was more dangerous than that was.
“How is it? Nice, right?”
Sephir hugged me like a stuffed animal.
I was in her arms and she used her tail to fix my body in place.
“That…”
I can’t speak.
My cheeks gradually turned red.
“Do you like it too, Aaron?”
She lifts her head and looks at me with a flushed face.
“Uh…uhm…”
My heart pounded wildly.
“He…help…”
-Plop
“…Aaron?”
Was it because Sephir squeezed my waist too hard with her tail?
I gradually couldn’t breathe, and it seemed I finally fainted.