3 bar menu

Chapter 135

「Corde… lia? 」

When I came to, everything was in ruins.

The dragon altar was destroyed, likely by Lilith’s magic explosion, with stones scattered everywhere, and the floor was stained with blood.

My body was burnt and battered, Cordelia was sitting, covered in blood and barely breathing, and Lilith was lying with a deathly pale face, seemingly not breathing at all.

「Lilith! Are you okay!?」

I tried to rush over, but I couldn’t. My knees were completely giving out, and my legs wouldn’t obey me.

Move, move, damn it, my legs!

Desperately, I forced my stumbling legs to move and checked Lilith’s pulse. Then I brought my hand to her nose—

「She’s not breathing!」

At that moment, memories of being brainwashed by Moses and turned into a demon flashed back like a movie reel.

—What the hell have I done!

No, regrets can come later. Right now, Lilith…!

She must have used a self-destruct type of magic. If so, the chances of revival are slimmer than a sheet of paper.

But first, she needs to breathe. I recalled the life-saving techniques I learned long ago and started performing CPR and artificial respiration on Lilith.

I pressed on her chest, pinched her nose, and pressed my lips to hers to blow air into her.

On the verge of tears, I repeated the same actions over and over again.

Oh, if only I had paid more attention during the first aid training when I got my driver’s license!

After repeating the same process for several seconds, Lilith’s mouth slightly opened.

「…Lu… Lute…」

「Lilith!?」

「Mo… mo… mo…」

「Mo? What is it? What do you want to say, Lilith?」

「Mo… mo… mo…」

「What is it!? What is it!? What is it, Lilith!? What’s wrong!? What do you want to say!?」

Then, Lilith suddenly opened her eyes wide and, with a blissful expression, said:

「…More kisses… please.」

I almost hit her on the head, but instead, I let out a weak laugh and slumped my shoulders.

「…Good morning, Lute. Waking up feels great. By the way, you can touch my chest more if you want. No, I’d rather you do.」

Normally, I would have given her a knuckle sandwich, but this time, I was grateful for Lilith’s usual attitude.

Thank you for being alive.

That’s all I could think of.

「But how did Lilith survive? It couldn’t have been my clumsy CPR.」

After thinking for a moment, Lilith placed her hand on her chest and gave a small nod.

「…The protection of the Divine Dragon… I think Father protected me.」

「Your father?」

「He’s weaker than before. But he’s still alive inside me. And I’m also close to death… but alive.」

「What do you mean?」

「The power of life. My father and I lost exactly half… I think that’s what it means. If it were just one of us, we definitely would have died.」

「If there is just one of you would have died, huh?」

「Yeah, that’s right. I would have been finished if I were alone, too.」

Just then, Cordelia staggered to her feet and walked over to us.

「I’m sorry, Cordelia. I caused you a lot of trouble.」

「In times like these, instead of saying sorry, you should say thank you.」

「Oh, thank you, Cordelia… and Lilith.」

「And you know,」 Cordelia looked up at the ceiling of the cave, 「you don’t even have to say thank you.」

「Huh? Why’s that? Even though I put your lives on the line and caused so much trouble?」

「That’s where you’re wrong. It’s okay to cause trouble. You put your life on the line to help us when we were in danger. So when you’re in trouble, we’ll put our lives on the line for you. You’ve protected us so much until now. Doing this much, we still owe you plenty.」

Cordelia said this with a loving expression but determined eyes, making me shrug and smile wryly.

「Anyway… all that’s left is for me to take down Moses, and it’s over.」

「That’s not right, is it?」

「Yeah, you’re right.」

I laughed, giving in.

From now on, Cordelia and I will have a long relationship ahead.

Whether as comrades, friends, or maybe even as lovers, I don’t know.

But at this moment, it seems certain I’ll be under Cordelia’s thumb from now on.

「We’ll all take down Moses together, and then it’s over. So Cordelia, Lilith, I need your strength.」

With probably the most pitiful expression I’ve ever made in this life, I smiled and said:

「It looks like I can’t do it without you two by my side.」

At my words, Cordelia and Lilith nodded with big smiles.