CH140: [Side Logan] A touch of madness
Master Theon, do we know each other?
A woman who looks like a lady’s maid asks a silver-haired woman called Theon.
“Well, I guess you could say we know each other. Wait a minute. If these girls are here, then maybe…”
“Woah!”
As I’m stopped in my thoughts by the sudden succession of developments, Carol suddenly screams and slashes at the silver-haired woman.
The silver-haired woman catches it effortlessly with her wand.
“Out of the blue… What? Are you Inglot?
A silver-haired woman mutters as she sees Carol’s face at close range.
“Lord Theon!”
The people around the silver-haired woman turn to kill Carol when they see her slashing at them.
(Carol…! )
I’m scared, but this isn’t the time.
We have to help Carol!
I’ve just put life into my cowering legs and grabbed my spear..,
Everybody just stay out of it. I’ll take care of him.
The silver-haired woman tells her companions as she repeatedly shakes two daggers at Carol.
I was about to head behind the silver-haired woman to pin her down when a myriad of ice thorns-like things came flying out of the ground.
The suddenness of the attack startled him, but he was slow enough to react ・・・・・・ and avoid it.
Sophie and I were intercepted by a similar attack.
I’m sorry I attacked you out of the blue. I don’t want you to hurt us either. Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you.
The silver-haired woman who told us that smiles at us as she deals with Carol’s attack.
His smile seemed to resemble the kind of smile that our master used to smile when he wanted to reassure us.
(Why the hell…! You’re the guy who was organizing the people who tried to kill us six months ago…?)
I was momentarily relieved when he smiled at me.
Sophie seems to agree with me and looks puzzled.
“How dare you two! I can’t let you do this! If I don’t listen to you two, Log and Sophie will die!
Carol’s loud screams bring me back to myself.
There’s a lot more to it than that, and Carol’s voicing it, but what she’s saying is incoherent.
“… Calm down. We’re both incapacitated. If you don’t listen to me, your friends won’t die.
“Shut up! Just get them out of the ice! I’ll get hit by you two again if I do this! I don’t want to be in pain anymore!
Carol…
It’s painful to watch Carol now.
Her mentor had told her that Carol had been abused in the past.
Maybe the twins were involved in the abuse.
That’s why Carol was so scared when she saw them.
… I didn’t think I’d ever nested in her before.
She’s a mood-maker and can seem silly at times, but she’s never done anything to make me feel uncomfortable.
It was nice to be with her.
But now I understand a little better.
In a way, that whole moodiness was to protect himself.
I only saw the surface of her.
The silver-haired woman takes a moment to get her distance from Carol.
You’re not using magic?
Don’t run away! If you save them, they might praise you! Maybe they’ll smile! So save them!”
Carol’s voice is hoarse as she flings herself at the silver-haired woman faster than I’ve ever known her to do without my support magic.
The silver-haired woman, on the other hand, looks as if she has made up her mind and lets go of the staff in her hand.
And the wand vanished into thin air.
Why did you put it in the storage grids?
Carol thrusts her dagger into the chest of a silver-haired woman.
The silver-haired woman takes it… Without a fight.
The silver haired woman puts her arms around Carol’s body as she stabs herself.
It was not something that restrained Carol, but something that could rightly be called an embrace.
“… It’s okay. No one’s here to hurt you. No wonder you can’t trust me after what I did six months ago. You can stab me with it if it makes you feel better. Just please, for once, calm down.”
The silver-haired woman Carol can’t see has greasy sweat pouring down her forehead and a scowl of pain on her face.
But even so, he still speaks to Carol in a gentle tone and pats her gently on the head.
She wasn’t there six months ago when she looked so callous.
I wonder which one of them is the real her…
“… Lord Theon… What?
The man who appeared with the silver-haired woman shouted, and the next moment the tips of ice thorns growing out of the ground were right up to the man’s neck.
What did I tell you about keeping your hands to yourself?
Then a silver-haired woman speaks out.
It was a far cry from the thorns of ice that had been pointed at us earlier.
If she had really attacked us, we would have been skewered with ice spikes by the time we realized it.
That fact sends shivers down my spine.
“… Oh, oh… I’m… I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”
Carol had regained her composure, perhaps because she had been touched by the silver-haired woman’s kindness.
He pulls away from the silver-haired woman, his body shaking as well as his voice at what he’s done.
A silver-haired woman’s white-colored clothes are dyed bright red near her chest.
It’s a mortal wound.
“Yeah, I’m not mad at you. After what I did to you guys six months ago, this isn’t enough to make up for it. I’m just glad you’ve calmed down.”
The silver-haired woman was smiling at Carol, even though she was in extreme pain and should have been out of it.
“Uh… Recovery magic…!
Carol tries to cast a restoration spell on the silver-haired woman, but the woman stops her.
“Thanks. But it’s okay. I’m just like you… with my powers.
She stood up, and the next moment her wounds were gone.
Not only is she back to normal, but so are her clothes.
All traces of Carol’s dagger thrust seem to have vanished, as if she had been mistaken.
“Well, now we can finally talk.”
The silver-haired woman turns to face us and opens her mouth.
“… Talk to me, sir?”
I ask the silver-haired woman warily.
“Yeah. First of all, I’m sorry for the horrible things I did to you guys six months ago. I know it’s not an apology that’s gonna get you forgiven, but I’d like to apologize.”
The silver-haired woman bows her head deeply as she says so.
She really is so different from the girl I met before.
“… Is that all you have to say?”
“No, here’s the thing. I just need you to answer one question for me. If you’re here, then Orn… Orn…!
The silver-haired woman turned abruptly as she spoke.
“… What?
“… What the hell is that?
From the foothills of the distant mountains the silver-haired woman was looking at, something black stretched in a straight line from the ground to the sky.
They must be very thick in fact, if you can see them so well even at such a distance.
“That magic, there’s no doubt about it. Orn has been here too!
A silver-haired woman mutters in an impatient tone.
“Change of plans, all three of you! I’m going to the battlefield. You three, take Inglot and the others in captivity!”
A silver-haired woman calls out to the three who appear with her.
Master Theon I’m here to help you. Such a long distance leap is too much for Master Theon.
“Thank you, Tershe. Now, if you’ll help me… As I said before, you’re in charge of the two Inglot boys. And if you touch those boys, I won’t let you get away with it.
“”Okay.””
The silver-haired woman nodded and closed her eyes in concentration.
It looks like he’s building a formula.
What kind of a formula does a person who can unleash such a high level of magic need to concentrate on building it?
You guys should get out of this territory. I don’t think I can take it easy on him, and I have no idea how this is all going to turn out.”
The silver-haired woman opens her eyes and turns to face us.
And as the maidens moved closer to the silver-haired woman..,
“Okay, I’ll go then…”
Yes. I’m always fine.
“… [Space Leap + Chain Space Leap Chain]…!”
The silver-haired woman and her maid disappeared from the scene.
I really haven’t been keeping up with things, but I guess I’ve finally calmed down, huh?
I move over to Carol, who is still slumped on the ground in a daze.
Sophie runs to Carol, too.
“… Carol, are you okay?
Sophie, who got to Carol first, calls out to her.
“… Ow! Oh, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you…! I’m sorry. I’m sorry, please don’t hit me…!”
Carol realizes we’re approaching and curls up in a frightened heap, mouthing apologies over and over again.
“… I’m not going to hit you… I’m not gonna hit you. Carol was just trying to protect us. You don’t hit someone like that. I’m not mad at you and I’m not mad at Log. Carol, thank you for trying to protect us.”
Sophie tells Carol and holds her gently as she is shaking and frightened.
Carol seemed to calm down a little at Sophie’s words and actions, “I’m sorry.” She was shedding tears as she said it over and over again.
I was… I’ve been looking for something to say to Carol.
I never imagined Carol in this state.
I don’t know what the right thing to say is.
I don’t know how to make Carol feel safe.
Carol…
I was about to say something to Carol, searching for the right words, when…
“<White Devil> ah! How dare you trap me in ice!”
There’s a cracking sound, and the boy trapped in the ice lets out a loud scream.
He’s not talking like that, he’s out of his mind.
“… What?
Then a lukewarm wind blew past me, and I felt my whole body relax, and I was on my knees and hands on the ground.
What the hell…
I look up desperately to see where the ice block was.
The girl who had escaped from the ice mass at the same time was slaying the other two who had appeared with the silver-haired woman who was slumped on the ground like us with a long sword.
“There’s no White Devil. I’ve heard stories but I can’t believe they’re so fast I can’t even perceive them! If that monster’s gone then we’ve got a chance! Let’s finish our work and retreat.
You’re muttering like it’s a matter of course when a girl just killed two people.
“It’s probably fine that you’ve relieved your stress by killing two people now, but what should I do about this mess I’m in?”
The boy’s mood has changed drastically from before and he asks the girl in a cold voice.
“I don’t know… I don’t know, there’s some good ones out there.
He answers the boy’s question in a curt manner, but then looks at Carol as if he’s remembering something and says something suspicious.
“… Yeah. Yeah. Well, you’re in the right place, brotherly sister.”
The boy, who understands the meaning of the girl’s words, approaches us slowly with a dark smile on his face.
“…. Ah,… Aah…”
Carol shivers as she watches the boy slowly approach.
Stop! What are you doing?
I raise my voice as I glare at the boy.
Shut up. This is a brother-sister skin-on-skin relationship, so shut up and watch. But if you try to interfere, you won’t be able to move because of my debuff.
The boy doesn’t seem to care about my screams, and he’s getting closer and closer to me.
Is this weakness a debuff?
Debuffing is one of the most difficult of the sorceries.
It’s not normal to pour that on everyone in the room right after they come out of the ice.
I knew this boy was a grantmaker of extraordinary skill.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t do something when you know they’re going to hurt Carol!
(If you say this is a debuff…! Master, I need your help!)
You will be able to recover from the state where your whole body is weak and your thoughts are not coherent.
“… [All ability increase status up]!”
He manages to build a formula and buffs himself to counteract the debuff.
“You buffed yourself? Ha-ha-ha! That’s a wasted effort. My debuff isn’t something that can be offset by a buff!”
The boy scoffs at my actions.
In fact, the boy was right. I could only stand up with my legs shaking even with [All Ability Increases Status Up] applied.
“Ha ha! You’re shaking your leg like a fawn… I don’t think it’s worth it, Caroline.”
The boy laughed like an idiot and then said in a cold tone that Carol wasn’t worth it.
“No, it’s not…! Carol is my mate! She’s one of my best friends!”
I try my best to construct a formula, shouting out what comes out of my mouth naturally without thinking.
It is so difficult to build that it makes me crazy, and I have never succeeded in building it before.
But if we don’t succeed here, when will we succeed?
I’ve been trying to hold back my headache, but I’ve managed to complete the technique and channel the magic power into it.
And invoke the ・・・・ magic given to me by my master.
“… [double-decker double]!”
