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Chapter 39 Part 1

Today Is The Day We Make Our Fresh Start

 

A little girl was lying in my arms.

No, she’s already too old to be called a little girl, and she’s my childhood friend who used to be a tomboy and a crybaby.

 

My mind goes blank, but I’m still able to mutter with a trembling voice.

 

「《Extra Heal》」

(《Extra Heal》)

 

Her appearance immediately becomes much better.

 

「《Cure》」

(《Cure》)

 

The stains on her clothes are gone.

 

However… her eyes had stayed shut.

 

This is strange.

My 【Saint】 magic should’ve contained every healing magic, right?

I even used double chanting. Isn’t it supposed to wipe all of your fatigue away and cure an incurable disease, so… it should’ve been able to… wake someone up from their slumber, right?

 

Hey, Emmy.

Why are you not opening your eyes?

 

「《Extra Heal》」

(《Extra Heal》)

 

「——Russell!」

 

Suddenly, a loud slapping sound echoes in my ears.

……No, that’s not it.

It was the sound of me getting slapped.

 

「Get a hold of yourself! There’s no point using healing magic for the second time! Have you forgotten that I’m here too!?」

 

「……Sybilla……」

 

「It’s all right, just calm down for now. This Sybilla-sama here will use her vast knowledge and do whatever she can to help you! In a place like this… I won’t let this girl die in a place like this! I definitely won’t allow such a thing to happen!」

 

Unlike me, who immediately tried to escape reality, Sybilla yelled at me with firm eyes. Those are the eyes different from mine who’s lost on what to do, but the eyes of someone who has a strong will to help.

Sybilla’s knowledge.

It’s definitely something that I can rely on more than myself who doesn’t know what I should do right now.

 

——Ah, so this is what it’s like to have a partner.

How reassuring.

 

「My bad, Sybilla. I was being dumb for a second there.」

 

「I can’t blame you for it, since you’ve known this girl for so long. And this girl is in a very dangerous state right now. I can’t detect life force in her, and…」

 

「And, what?」

 

I focused on listening to every word of what Sybilla had to say.

 

「…How should I put it… this is… it’s like she no longer has the will to live…」

 

「She no longer has the will to live, you say…!?」

 

I look at Emmy’s face who still hasn’t opened her eyes.

The tomboyish girl who couldn’t say a word right now looks like a real princess…

 

…..Ahh, damn it, I can’t believe I remembered something like that at times like this……

 

「And the life force from her blessing as the Holy Knight is so muddled…… Eh? It’s not Holy power, but… Darkness…? But how? It turned to Darkness on its own. Such a deep despair… just what could’ve made her heart torn apart and broken in such a cruel way…?」

 

「Did Emmy really go through something that horrifying!?」

 

「Considering the fact that she came all the way here to save you, rather than something happened to her… I’m guessing it was something related to you, nine times out of ten. But even so, it should be impossible to get this dark. Did someone break her spirit? No, were she forced to realize something…?」

 

She put her hand on her chin to think for a moment, but quickly shook her head and stretched both of her cheeks as hard as she could.

 

「Anyway, if we leave it as is, Emmy-chan will never wake up. And the person herself has no intention of waking up either. If that’s the case, then…」

 

Sybilla touched Emmy’s eyelids to check her eyes.

After she removed her hand, she folded her hands and declared.

 

「You’re going to have to force her to wake up, whether she likes it or not.」

 

What the hell does that mean? Is what I wanted to ask her, but before I could ask the question, Sybilla spoke up first.

 

「That skill just now, it must be the 【Holy Knight】’s skill. It’s the most powerful skill of the Holy Knight’s Job where the shield lets out a bright light and blows away everything in front of it.」

 

「…Ahh」

 

I remember that light.

That was definitely the one Emmy unintentionally used on me the day I was kicked out of the party.

 

「That skill wasn’t activated properly.」

 

「……Is that so?」

 

「Yeah. The bigger the attack the opponent has, the more powerful the force of the shield will be, blowing away all the enemy’s attacks. Seriously, the light from the shield is strong enough to blow away the whole mountain, along with the self-destruct magic.」

 

So Emmy was using that kind of skill, huh?

I used to think I was pathetic for being knocked out by Emmy with a single blow, but now I’m amazed that her skill didn’t kill me. 

I feel like I was saved by Sybilla in a way, because she told me that fact.

 

「However, this skill has an activating condition.」

 

「An activating condition?」

 

「That’s right. First of all, there must be an enemy who attacks you from the front. This much is obvious even for you, right?」

 

I nod and prompt her to continue.

But Sybilla didn’t continue right away. She just looked down with a troubled look on her face.

 

「Hey, hurry up and tell me already! Aren’t we supposed to be tight on time!?」

 

「……You’re right.」

 

Annoyed because of Sybilla’s reluctance to continue, I couldn’t help but raise my voice a little.

Then Sybilla finally lifted her face and looked at me.

 

「Actually, it’s not really alright for me to say this. But since this is an emergency, I guess it can’t be helped. Russell, please calm down and listen.」

 

The air around Sybilla suddenly changed as she looked me straight in the eyes with her piercing gaze.

When I nodded my head and held my breath at her unusual serious appearance… Sybilla pulled her face away from me and sighed.

 

「It’s love.」

 

「……Ha?」

 

Did I hear it wrong?

 

「No, you didn’t hear wrong. A technique activated by love… It’s a technique that’s typical for a cheesy first act of a Heroic Tale, something like, you’ll gain a power-up when you think about the person you love~, or something like that you know? That’s the kind of technique Emmy-chan used. That’s why I was a bit reluctant to tell you.」

 

……That’s what Emmy used?

A technique that can only be used when you think of the person you love?

 

I recalled what the receptionist guy told me the other day, that 『Emmy was always looking at me』.

Then I thought about the skill she just used. And… the same skill she used against me.

Now that I think about it, that day when I saw her face up close for the first time in a long time, I did think that Emmy’s face had changed a lot and was prettier.

 

……Ahh, I see.

How can I be so dumb?

 

I saw Emmy’s face up close, so Emmy must have seen my face up close too.

 

And as a result…… that skill was activated.

The same skill that protected me now.

 

「Russell.」

 

「Yeah.」

 

「Now you know the truth. About how this girl felt when she used the skill just now and how she felt when she left the party.」

 

「Yeah.」

 

「There’s no doubt that she didn’t leave the Hero’s Party on good terms. She must have come here of her own accord. Only to… Only to give her life for you!」

 

「……Yeah.」

 

「That’s why, only for this one time, I’ll allow you one thing.」

 

Sybilla said as she backed away from me with her arms crossed again and her gaze straight at me.

 

「I know that you love this cute and adorable Sybilla-chan the most, so I’ll allow you to change the ranking of the person you love the most to someone else for this one occasion.」

 

「You were never in that position in the first place, so don’t worry about it.」

 

「And also——」

 

Sybilla didn’t respond to my retort.

……This Sybilla is undoubtedly in serious mode.

This is the most serious I’ve ever seen her, even more serious than when she offered me a Job change.

 

「——I need you to become the Saintess.」

 

「Saintess? Not the Saint?」

 

「They’re similar, but not the same. I’ll have you follow 『The Legend of the Saintess, A Devoted Love Chapter』 as a reference.」

 

「Devoted… Love…」

 

「That’s right. It’s about the 『The Love of The Saintess』.」

 

The Legend of the Saintess, A Devoted Love Chapter.

It’s also known as The Love of The Saintess.

Among every Legend of the Saintess, this is the most famous and popular story that even becomes the object of admiration of all adventurers.

 

The Hero’s Party that departed to defeat the Demon Lord engaged in a deadly battle against the most powerful Demon Lord.

Their comrades were heavily injured to the point of being unable to recover, so both the Hero and the Saintess had no choice but to fight to their last breath alone.

At the time when both of them had reached their limits, the Hero realized that the Demon Lord was going to target the Saintess next, so he protected her by throwing himself at the Demon Lord and they stabbed each other as a result.

 

The Saintess grieved, mourned, and prayed.

I don’t care what happens to me. But at least please bring my loved one back to life.

 

The Saintess’ prayers were answered and a miracle occurred.

The miraculous magic she had received from her prayers brought the Hero back from the world of the dead.

 

That was the moment when their love brought about the victory against the Demon Lord——.

 

「——but as if something like that really happened! There’s no such thing as miracles!」