Survival Instinct.
In a world governed by the law of the jungle, where being eaten at any moment is a possibility, it’s the instinct that helps the weak survive against the strong.
When the survival instinct is triggered, focus on the surroundings heightens immensely, and memory and comprehension also temporarily improve a lot.
This survival instinct exists not only in creatures active in the wild but also in humans.
It has assisted humanity in surviving through numerous life-threatening situations and continues to help us avoid various threats by invoking feelings of anxiety and fear.
Anyway, though…
Why does it feel like that instinct is surfacing right now…?
“Unnie… where have you been…?”
Lily, staring at me with deeply sunken eyes.
My intuition tells me that if I don’t answer properly now, a great threat will approach.
“Li..Lily… uh…”
I tried to explain quickly to her, who is holding me tight to the point where I can’t breathe.
But… how do I explain this..?
The truth is, Athena kidnapped me and forced mana into me, making it impossible for me to refuse her.
But I made a promise to protect you and Dania in exchange for becoming her slave, so it should be fine!
….No, that won’t do.
It’s a fact that can’t be denied, but my mind was warning me to not say it like that.
“So… um…”
As I hesitated and struggled to speak…
“Athena.”
“Dania Unnie!”
Dania’s voice calling my name felt like a hand of salvation descending from the sky.
If it’s Dania, maybe she can calm Lily down.
I looked at her with a pleading gaze –
“Where have you been?”
“Sniff.”
She looked at me with a soft smile.
Her expression was clearly smiling, yet there was an unidentifiable chill nestled within that smile.
So… scary!
Cold sweat began to roll down.
Two gazes were urging me to answer immediately.
As I stumbled over my words, feeling shaken like an earthquake,
Lily started to squeeze even tighter.
“…….Unnie?”
“Ugh..”
L-Lily is this strong?
No matter how much strength I put in, Lily wasn’t budging.
I felt like the prey caught in the coils of a snake.
“Stop.”
But something formless tugged me and Lily in opposite directions, pulling us apart.
Lily was drawn towards Dania.
And I…
Whoosh-
“I don’t like it when someone touches my belongings carelessly.”
I was sent flying into Athena’s embrace.
“Ah… Athena…”
“Are those people? The family-like people you were talking about.”
“Uh-huh…”
As I nodded, Athena turned her attention to Lily and Dania.
Looking at Lily and scoffing, she then looked at Dania with a certain disdain.
“…..”
It was as if something displeased her, raising one eyebrow and staring intently at Dania.
To be precise, staring at her chest.
“Not very pleasing…”
I chose to ignore what Athena mumbled.
What if she got injured? I looked in the direction where Lily had flown,
And her expression was anything but good.
L-Lily?
Why are your eyes like that…?
“…..Did you just call Unnie a possession?”
Lily spoke in a growling voice to Athena.
She was glaring at her as if she were about to kill someone.
If this continues, something terrible is bound to happen, so I tried to explain quickly to Lily.
“Lily! That’s not it, – Ugh!!”
Athena covered my mouth with her hand, preventing me from saying any more.
Then she looked at Lily with a somewhat smug smile.
“Yep. My possession. So don’t stick to her carelessly, okay?”
“You….”
Lily was radiating an aura that suggested she could lunge at Athena at any moment.
No, Lily. Athena shouldn’t be touched.
Athena is a character who wipes out all adversarial forces in the novel, be they monsters, demons, or humans.
She might be favorable to me, but that wouldn’t be the case for Lily.
If Lily were to charge at her, she would definitely get hurt badly.
I pushed Athena’s hand away from my mouth and shouted towards Lily,
“Lily, it’s a misunderstanding!!”
“…Misunderstanding?”
Hearing my words, Lily halted her movement.
She looked at me, as if needing further explanation.
“Uh…! Athena and I are just friends, so we were just messing around!”
“You two are friends…?”
I looked at Athena desperately, hoping she’d align her words with mine.
She chuckled, as if to say this was ridiculous.
“From now on, we can’t be separated for life.”
But Athena’s response only served to further incite Lily’s anger.
“What gives you the right to be with Unnie…? Unnie promised to stay with me!”
“Hmm… Hera, do you want to explain what kind of relationship we have?”
Athena leaned in to whisper into my ear.
“We must keep promises, okay?”
A promise?
What promise?
No way.
“Isn’t it true that it’s not just the two of us right now?”
“Y-You’re crazy! This isn’t the time for that!”
As I received protection for the safety of Lily and Dania,
What she proposed was…
If there’s even one other person around, I have to address her as ‘Master’ with honorifics.
Even so, in a situation like this, doesn’t feel right.
I was too busy trying to explain what had happened to bring up the topic of the Master-Servant Contract.
I felt like I wouldn’t be able to handle it.
However, Athena was resolute.
“It was you who asked first, Hera. If you keep acting like this, I have no intention of keeping my promise either.”
“Ugh… But right now…!”
“Unnie…”
Lily’s voice sounded hollow, almost empty.
“What are you two talking about…?”
“Lily…”
As I hesitated to respond, Athena gave me a shove on the back with a single word.
“If you want to protect them, keep your promise.”
As I was pushed forward, Lily approached without a hint of hesitation, clasping my hands tightly.
I stared blankly into her eyes, which were filled with an unsettling mix of emotions.
In recent months, I’ve spent a great deal of time with Lily.
Aside from sleep, half of my days were spent hunting monsters with her,
And during the rest of the time, I shared warm moments with her and Dania.
Maybe that’s why. Lily always wanted to stay close to me and relied on me quite a bit.
The fact that she was now relying on me, instead of only following Dania, meant she accepted me deeply as family.
Tears began to well up in my eyes.
A family that warmly accepts me.
A relationship I had longed for desperately.
Before becoming possessed, I was a regular office worker.
Trapped in the mundane cycle of commuting to and from work,
The only thing waiting for me when I returned home was an empty space with no one to greet me.
In a life without a single person I could call family, I felt incredibly lonely and desolate.
But now, it was different.
With Lily giving me her bright smiles and Dania welcoming me with warm smiles,
For the past six months, they had showered me with overwhelming love while I lived here.
They who filled my lonely heart, I am infinitely grateful to.
Yes.
It’s for their happiness.
If I were to go to the Empire, they could live a much more fulfilling life than now.
Lily could make many friends in the Empire, too.
Having lost her parents at a young age and lacking human affection, friends were someone she desperately needed.
While the only ones by her side were me and Dania,
If she made new friends in the Empire, it would greatly benefit her.
Even if it means I’ll be separated from them, it doesn’t matter.
As long as we’re in the same Empire, I could visit them a few times if I put my mind to it.
I tightly held onto Lily’s hand and said,
“Lily, let’s go to the Empire.”
“The… Empire..?”
Lily was taken aback by my words.
“Yeah… Athena pledged to help us.”
“….”
“If we get her help, we can move to the Empire! Then—”
“Just like that?”
“Uh..?”
Lily looked at me with sharp eyes.
“It can’t be that easy to get her help.”
Lily was right.
As the saying goes, nothing’s free in this world,
There’s no goodwill without a cost.
Lily must have understood that, which is why she brought it up.
I decided to tell her the truth.
“…..I decided to work in her mansion.”
At my words, Lily’s expression hardened in an instant.
Without any hesitation, she rejected my proposal.
“I don’t need it.”
She gripped my hand so tightly that it hurt and shook her head vigorously.
“Lily, if we go to the Empire, we’ll have new friends—”
“I told you I don’t need it!!!!”
I stepped back, startled by her scream.
It was the first time she had screamed at me like that.
As I stared blankly at Lily, she exhaled roughly and gazed at me with clouded eyes.
“You don’t need to go to the Empire. Stay here with me, Unnie.”
“But…”
“You said you wanted to see me graduate from the Academy. You promised to wait here with me.”
This was unfamiliar.
The Lily who usually only gave me warm smiles,
Now stood before me with an expression that felt empty, as if she had seen everything the world had to offer.
“Was everything a lie for you up until now?”
Seeing her come closer to me slowly, I reflexively flinched.
With every step she took, my shoulders became stiffer,
And when our eyes met, I was flooded with an unknown deep emotion.
“That can’t be true, Lily!”
“But why!!”
Before I knew it, she was right in front of me, determined not to let go.
She tightly grabbed my arms.
“You’re trying to distance yourself from me.”
Looking closely into her eyes,
Did she hold back tears all this time? Her eyes were red and swollen.
An overwhelming feeling welled up inside of me.
….I don’t want to distance myself either.
I don’t want to separate from Dania and Lily.
Mornings spent together with them give me the energy to face the day,
And the everyday moments we’ve shared have carved irreplaceable memories into my heart.
I can’t possibly want to separate from such wonderful people.
If it were up to me, I’d want to run away with them to a place where no one can find us.
But that can’t happen.
The mana of hers that is embedded within me.
It would never let me go purely.
Could it be that Lily’s tears spread to me?
Or perhaps my hidden desire not to be separated from them surfaced.
“Stay here with us.”
Tears began to fall from my own eyes.
“Ugh… Lily… I’m sorry…”
Once the tears began, they showed no sign of stopping.
“I… I want to do that too, but… actually… I…”
I knelt down and tightly embraced Lily, speaking through my choked emotions.
“I… I… became her…”
“…..Unnie?”
“I… I became a… slave…”
What?
Just like that, the last light left Lily’s eyes.
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