Although the aftereffects of the Overloaded Furnace were still ravaging Kaylar's body, the continuous recovery of Holy Healing was also still active, achieving a bizarre sort of equilibrium.
“...Who was that woman?” Esper asked in confusion, panting heavily.
“Oh, probably Yulia? The one Renn was looking for. No doubt she's the one who backstabbed him.”
Kaylar watched the two figures disappear into the shadows of the forest.
Then, as if suddenly remembering something, she turned back and squeezed out an incredibly smug grin at Esper.
“Was that Blood-Flame Blade move just now cool or what?”
“...It was okay, I guess.”
“Is your taste really that bad?!”
Leaning against her shoulder, Esper couldn't help but let out a small laugh at those words.
“So it was decent then.”
“That's more like it.”
After they finished talking, they slumped on the ground, not moving for a long time.
Kaylar suddenly turned her head and stared at Esper for several seconds.
Because Esper had exhausted all her strength, she could no longer maintain her disguise. Her crimson eyes sat deep in their sockets, carrying the unmistakable aura of a vampire over to Kaylar.
But Kaylar didn't seem to care. Perhaps she had known all along, or perhaps she simply didn't mind.
Her face was very close—so close that Esper could feel her breath.
“What is it?”
“Nothing. I just wanted to get a good look at what the Hero looks like.”
“You've been looking at me for so many days, and you're still not tired of it?”
“I've never looked this closely before. Besides, the red eyes are like a limited-edition skin, right? Oh, wait! Don't move!”
She suddenly reached out and pinched Esper's cheek.
Esper's expression froze, and Kaylar took the opportunity to pinch her a few more times.
“Your skin is really nice. How do you maintain it? Wait, you're a vampire. Do vampires just naturally have good skin? Then that's a racial trait, isn't it? So unfair!”
“Let go.”
“No~”
Esper closed her eyes.
A moment later, she lunged her head forward, slamming her forehead hard against Kaylar's.
“Gwah!”
Accompanied by Kaylar's shriek, the two of them tumbled backward, sprawling in the dust and gravel on the ground.
“...Haha.”
Lying in the ruins, Kaylar suddenly started laughing.
“Be honest. That move just now was super cool, wasn't it?”
Esper snorted.
“...I already said, it was just decent.”
“You're lying.”
“I'm not.”
“You definitely thought, 'Wow, how is she so cool?' but you're just too embarrassed to say it.”
“No.”
“Your expression was so satisfied when you swung!”
“...Who has time to look in a mirror and check their expression during a fight?”
“That's basically an admission! Hmph, if you say 'it was okay' or 'I'm not lying' again, I'm going to write about today in my memoirs.”
“...Are you sick in the head?”
“Yes, I am.”
Kaylar giggled, her laughter gradually fading away.
The shadows of the trees swayed. The light of the setting sun spread around them, filtering into fragments of varying warmth.
“Esper.”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you.”
“...For what?”
“Thank you for being willing to believe in me.”
Esper was silent for a moment, then turned her head to speak to the empty ground beside her.
“Don't you think you're being incredibly sappy?”
Kaylar thought about it.
“I do.”
“Then why say it?”
“Because I wanted to! If you don't say what you want to say just because it's sappy, wouldn't you end up regretting a lot of things?”
“...”
“Even if it feels sappy and embarrassing, I don't want to regret anything.”
She spoke with such self-righteous confidence that it made Esper seem like the awkward, stubborn one.
“...People like you are so troublesome.”
“Hehehe, then I'll trouble you to deal with me.”
Esper's lips parted as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, she kept quiet.
The two of them fell silent for a while.
“Hey, does your hand still hurt?” Kaylar asked, her profile turned toward her.
“Yes.”
“Sigh, it's really troublesome that demons can't receive healing spells. If Ela could cast a Holy Healing on you, it probably would have been a lot easier to fight. Although my fire also has healing effects, I can't squeeze out even a spark of it right now.”
After finishing her lament, Kaylar rolled over and reached out to poke Esper's upper arm.
“I'm telling you, it's a miracle we survived today. When we get back, I want to eat barbecue—lots and lots of it. Then I'm going to sleep and not wake up until tomorrow evening.”
“Okay.”
“The barbecue is your treat.”
“...Why should I pay?”
“Because you're the Hero.”
“...Does being the Hero mean getting ripped off?”
“Hehehe.”
Kaylar was giggling foolishly again.
How silly.
Esper turned her head away, unable to stop the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
Then, her smile vanished.
The gravel on the ground began to vibrate slightly, as if making way for some massive presence that was about to arrive.
Kaylar and Esper instantly bolted upright, staring ahead.
A rift appeared out of thin air about thirty paces away from them, tearing open from top to bottom, its edges burning with rust-colored sparks.
A door, or what could barely be called a door, pushed outward from inside the rift, whipping up the surrounding ash and gravel.
Kaylar's body froze.
“No... That's not right... Why can she appear directly here...? No... The environment of the Abyss...? Even then, she shouldn't be able to...”
Accompanying her murmurs, heavy, solemn, and mechanical footsteps rang out.
Rust-colored, full-plate armor stepped out from the door, each step accompanied by a low metallic resonance.
The greatsword in her hand was resting against the armor of her left shoulder. With a loud clang, it sent a shiver straight down the spines of the two girls, making their hair stand on end.
In less than a second, Kaylar's face turned a deathly, bloodless pale.
“Y-Your... Holiness...”
—Esper gripped the Holy Sword tightly.
The Pope stood there, her helmet obscuring all expression. Only her heavy yet crisp voice echoed from beneath it.
“Twelfth Saintess, Kaylar. Your pilgrimage has lasted long; it is time to report.”
Esper felt something crawling up the blade of her sword.
It was pressure.
The fully armored woman simply stood there, not even looking at the Holy Sword, yet the sheer difference in tier between their Authorities warned Esper on an instinctive level not to make a move.
Kaylar scrambled up from the ground.
As she stood, her knees buckled slightly, and her hand caught on a sharp piece of gravel, cutting a small gash, but she grit her teeth and forced herself to stand.
Then, she took another step forward, shielding Esper from the Pope.
“As for the report... I can just make it when I return... There is no need to trouble you to come all this way...”
There was no response from beneath the helmet.
She lowered the greatsword from her shoulder, grasping the hilt with both hands.
The tip of the sword rested on the ground, its sheer weight instantly fracturing the earth into several cracks.
“Twelfth Saintess, what is that thing behind you?”
The Pope took a step forward.
Esper could feel Kaylar's body trembling slightly.
“Ah... that... She... She is...”
“A non-human.”
The air froze.
Rate on N.U.
