Chapter: 322
“Gladly.”
Yoon Si-woo replied with a smile, saying he would gladly help when I asked him for assistance.
Seeing him respond so naturally stirred a myriad of emotions within me.
Guilt for imposing such a task on Yoon Si-woo, who had just awakened.
Yet, a sense of guilt over demanding sacrifice from him.
These feelings tightened around my heart, making my eyes water, but I bit down hard to suppress the tears ready to spill.
Yoon Si-woo, clearly needing to make the hardest choice, displayed such composure, rendering me unable to show him my own vulnerability.
After all, wasn’t it I who asked him for help?
Therefore, my role wasn’t to feel sorry or sad, but to respond to his resolve.
I wiped my tears and looked directly into Yoon Si-woo’s eyes.
His eyes, shining with determined resolve, seemed to hold a flame within them.
Watching this, the heart that had been broken from fighting Beatrice and overwhelmed by fear and helplessness felt as if that flame was igniting within me.
…Yeah. If you don’t give up, if you say you’ll fight.
Then I will summon my strength until the very end.
The flame that had flickered out roared back to life.
The heat spread through my body, filling the weakened form I had been sitting in with strength.
So I could stand up, overcome despair and fear, and fight once more.
With that, I stood up and met Yoon Si-woo’s gaze, nodding vigorously.
There was still hope.
And as long as that hope doesn’t lose its light.
I, too, will not give up until the very last moment.
*
After Beatrice disappeared, Yoon Si-woo and I first explained what had just happened to everyone in the city.
“…Damn it, the Witch of Sloth? What kind of chaos is this?”
Unsurprisingly, those who had been briefly informed about the situation all wore troubled expressions.
Having already been dealing with the issue of the Witch of Gluttony, the emergence of another formidable foe was certainly not welcome news.
“…But the Witch of Sloth said that if she defeats you, she’ll tell you where the Sacred Remnants are, right? I mean, thinking positively, if we can take her down, we could solve all our problems at once. Assuming, of course, that she isn’t lying.”
The only positive aspect was that a breakthrough had emerged regarding the search for the Sacred Remnants, which had been impossible to pursue.
Martina, the captain, calmed the crowd before shifting the discussion to the assembly of the hunting party.
“Well then, what we need to do now is consider how to form the hunting party for the Witch of Sloth. If anyone has suggestions, please speak up.”
Given that we had previously assembled a hunting party to defeat the Witch of Lust, it was undoubtedly the most crucial point…
But I furrowed my brows and spoke up.
“Uh, Captain Martina.”
“Hmm. Do you have something to say?”
“Well, about the hunting party… Yoon Si-woo and I will handle the Witch of Sloth ourselves, so we don’t need any help this time.”
“…This is a fight that holds humanity’s fate. No matter what, you can’t leave such an important battle to just the two of you! That doesn’t make any sense…”
“Because humanity’s fate is at stake, I’m saying this. To be frank, anyone other than Yoon Si-woo would just be a hindrance in combat.”
At my words, everyone except Yoon Si-woo froze in shock.
But what could we do? Realistically, this was the best plan.
I had learned from the battle against the Witch of Lust how much having more people could help, but against Beatrice, numbers meant nothing at all.
In fact, it would only distract Yoon Si-woo further by increasing the number of people we needed to protect.
So I was insisting that the hunting party would be limited to just Yoon Si-woo and me.
This was something Yoon Si-woo and I had agreed on beforehand, so I nodded at him before reiterating to everyone just how powerful Beatrice was.
“The only thing that can pierce through the abilities of the Witch of Sloth and inflict wounds on her is the Power of the Witch that Yoon Si-woo possesses. Others won’t even serve as meat shields. If it’s not Yoon Si-woo, it’ll be of no help in battle, which includes me.”
“…So the Witch of Sloth is that strong? You’re saying that as someone who took down the Witch of Lust?”
“Yes. Honestly, it’s infuriating, but the truth is, I’m the one who made bets against the Witch of Sloth. If it’s just Yoon Si-woo going, I doubt she’d tell him the location of the Sacred Remnants even if he managed to defeat her…”
When I stated this, the crowd seemed to finally understand how formidable Beatrice truly was.
“…So in the end, our fate hangs on Yoon Si-woo alone. Damn it, how is that okay? Yoon Si-woo, are you okay with that?”
Captain Martina muttered with a look of exasperation.
“That’s not something someone could be okay with…!”
At that moment, Sylvia, who had been listening with a pale face, suddenly exclaimed.
Sylvia couldn’t help but scream.
After all, she knew that if Yoon Si-woo used the power of the witch, his life would be in danger.
Only Yoon Si-woo, Sylvia, and I knew that fact.
To Sylvia, our words must have sounded like a death sentence for Yoon Si-woo.
“Scarlet! Yoon Si-woo! What are you two thinking saying such things! If Yoon Si-woo uses the witch’s power…”
However, at that moment, Sylvia suddenly fell silent, a look of indescribable emotion washing over her as she sighed.
Having realized that Yoon Si-woo had already made up his mind.
As the atmosphere grew quiet, Yoon Si-woo spoke up.
Looking at Sylvia, addressing everyone.
“…What’s important isn’t whether it’s okay or not, but whether it’s something that needs to be done. And this is something that must be done.”
His calm voice made everyone listen closely, biting their lips.
“I’m going to do what I must do. So, please trust and support me to succeed. If you do, I assure you I’ll succeed and return.”
And with that, when Yoon Si-woo asked them to believe in him and smiled…
People paid their respects to the determined young hero, each saluting in their own way.
After that, the meeting about the hunting party’s composition concluded without further disagreement.
“…If the two of you defeat the Witch of Sloth, you’ll be exhausted, right? Asking you to search for the Sacred Remnants in that state would be unreasonable, so I’ll wait a bit and follow you to assist in the search. That’s okay, right?”
Despite Sylvia’s vigorous demands adding a second support team, her true intention was likely to come to our rescue if we found ourselves in a hazardous situation…
But I thought that probably wouldn’t happen.
Given Yoon Si-woo’s nature that he couldn’t use the power of the witch for an extended period of time, the outcome would clearly be decided quickly.
Nonetheless, her offer to assist in the search for the Sacred Remnants was a rational reason. So, I asked Sylvia to follow us at a reasonable distance.
I didn’t bother to add that she should abandon us if things seemed dire.
After all, I didn’t even want to entertain the idea of what would happen if Yoon Si-woo lost.
Anyway, Yoon Si-woo and I set off on our journey to save the world, just the two of us.
*
Not knowing when the Witch of Gluttony would awaken, Yoon Si-woo and I decided to set out the following day.
The reason it took two days was…
-■■■■■■!
Ari, who was to assist in our travel, needed time to recover her strength.
Ari, who had lost her wings completely due to the Demonic Beast of Sloth, quickly recovered thanks to my aid and the characteristics of the Fury Beast, allowing her to carry us.
For Yoon Si-woo, it was possible because he could withstand Ari’s flames by opening the Sacred Sword of Truth and donning it in armor form.
-■■■■■■…!
“…What did you just say to me?”
“Hahaha, um… Ari is relying on you!”
It seemed that Ari wasn’t too pleased about carrying Yoon Si-woo.
‘To have to carry this guy… what a lifetime humiliation…!’
What on earth happened for her to be so irritable towards Yoon Si-woo?
Yet, despite her reluctance, she didn’t refuse to let him ride her, which meant she at least acknowledged that he was the one who saved her.
“Let’s go, Ari.”
-■■■■!
With that, I commanded Ari to set off, and she flapped her wings, soaring into the sky with Yoon Si-woo and me.
We were headed east toward the city.
I initially thought we might have to find Beatrice, who was hiding, in a game of hide and seek, but thankfully that was not a concern.
“…That girl never had any intention of hiding from the start.”
[Exactly. She’s scattering her aura like crazy, inviting us over. What a bold girl. But I guess with that kind of strength, it’s to be expected.]
Beatrice was broadcasting her presence like an advertisement, pouring out her energy as if declaring, “I’m here!”
Thanks to that, with Lucy and me, we didn’t even need navigation.
So I left the Holy Sword of Truth in Sylvia’s care, telling it to find us later.
Anyway, while exchanging such remarks with Lucy, Yoon Si-woo, who was sitting behind me, suddenly mumbled as if recalling something.
“…By the way, it feels strange to come out of the city just the two of us. Scarlet, remember? What we said back in the sewer.”
“…Sewer? You mean when I had my limbs chopped off? What did we say back then?”
“…Seriously, you don’t remember?”
“Uhh…? Just a second… I’ll try to recall…!”
I was flustered by the fact that he couldn’t remember and tried to sift through my memories.
But even trying to remember didn’t help…!
It was quite a while ago, and I had lost my limbs, so my mind had been in a haze!
Just as I was in that flurry, Yoon Si-woo chuckled as if it was just a joke.
“I’m just kidding, no need to strain yourself to remember. It was just that we said if we got outed as witches, we’d run to a place where no one can chase us.”
“Ah… Now that you mention it, I think I recall.”
“Back then, I never imagined our first trip together would be like this. Right? Who would’ve guessed that we’d end up revealing our identities and going to hunt witches together?”
That thought made me chuckle as well, nodding back at him.
Then, suddenly I had a thought and spoke to Yoon Si-woo.
“By the way, thinking about that, it feels like a waste.”
“Hmm? What do you mean?”
“That this is how our first trip turned out. I mean, this isn’t a trip at all. We’re going to fight for our lives, not go on a vacation or anything.”
“Well… that’s true.”
“So, let’s plan a separate trip for our first one.”
“…A separate one, later?”
“Yeah, after everything is over. Once there’s no one left to fight and peace is restored. Then we can travel to the mountains or the sea. How about it?”
I asked Yoon Si-woo like that.
Yoon Si-woo was briefly silent.
The notion of “later.”
A statement that could only be considered after we fought, won, and survived.
Through those words, I was asking Yoon Si-woo.
To fight, to win.
And to survive.
To my request, Yoon Si-woo took some time to think before finally replying.
“…Yeah. Later.”
He nodded and agreed.
-■■■■■■!!!!!
“Ugh?!”
“Whoa, Aria, what’s with the sudden flip?!!”
Suddenly, Ari began to tumble in mid-air, screaming.
The reason was a mystery.
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