“Hey, no biting.”
She began to bare her fangs, but Zagan quickly stuck his finger into her mouth.
“Hak..? Mmm...”
No longer able to close her mouth, blood began smoothly pouring in, and Alshiera’s body began twitching with energy. Even with her eyes on the verge of tears, she was surely no longer able to suppress her urge for blood. She desperately stuck out her tongue to satiate her thirst with Zagan’s blood. Her red tongue traced along Zagan’s wound, making his face feel hot from the pain and ticklish sensation mixing together.
It somehow feels like I’m doing something lewd here...
Nephy was also embarrassed from watching this happen and was covering her face with both hands... Although, she was watching quite intently through the gap in her fingers. Before long, Zagan saw that the strength in Alshiera’s arms which were clinging to him had returned, and he pushed her face back down forcefully.
“That’s enough, right? Let go already.”
“Ah... Hah... Ack, hrk...”
Alshiera broke into a coughing fit and collapsed onto her back. She was choking, but it looked like the treatment had worked. She would surely be back on her feet in no time. For the time being, her life — though that term might not actually be correct — was preserved.
“Master Zagan.”
He wanted to begin interrogating her right away, but it didn’t look like Alshiera would be able to speak for a while longer. Nephy completely ignored her own hands getting stained, pinned down the wound on Zagan’s wrist, and began casting her mysticism to heal him immediately.
Well, Zagan was capable of regenerating from this level of wound instantly himself, but here his bride was doing her best to heal him, so he simply kept quiet and let her do it.
“My apologies. All because I spoke out of turn...”
“It’s not something for you to apologize for, Nephy. I don’t have a reason to save her, but she also isn’t so harmful a being that I need to kill her.”
Nephy smiled in a somewhat troubled manner.
“I should have known that you would say that, Master Zagan.”
“Erk...”
He didn’t want to think of it too much, but it was true that Zagan’s behavior strongly trended towards saving those that he didn’t have a need to kill.
I think it’s laughable for a sorcerer to be out saving people though...
And even if he saved them, it wasn’t like they always thanked... no, lately he even felt like the people he saved had all been thanking him too.
Things have really changed too much in the last few months somehow...
It was perhaps perfectly obvious after meeting the love of his life. And as those thoughts ran through Zagan’s mind, Nephy was staring intently at Zagan’s hand. Her treatment should have been long over by now already.
“Nephy. I’m fine now?”
It didn’t seem like Nephy heard his voice, as she continued to stare at his hand without moving. His hand was still stained in blood, so he didn’t think it was something very pleasant to look at. Nevertheless, after staring fixedly at his hand for a while longer...
“Nom!”
Nephy inexplicably bit down on Zagan’s finger. Having said that, she was being careful not to stick her teeth out, so it was more like she was sucking on his finger than biting it.
“N-N-N-N-N-N-Nephy? What are you doing?”
As one would expect, after Zagan let out a completely bewildered voice, Nephy was brought back to her senses, and she separated her now dark red lips from his hand.
“M-My apologies. I wasn’t thinking...”
How do you suck someone’s finger without thinking?
Zagan had yet to wash his hand so it was still dirty too. After calming down his thumping heart, Zagan timidly pressed her for further answers.
“Wh-What’s wrong with you? Did something happen? Are you sick?”
At the very least, Nephy would normally never do this. Nephy was only capable of covering her face with both hands in embarrassment, implying that he had no idea herself. But even so, she timidly opened her mouth to speak.
“I-I’m not. I didn’t mean to...”
“Mmm. I-I get it. I get it, okay?”
Zagan didn’t understand any of it at all, but he nodded his head up and down repeatedly anyways. Nephy then replied in a voice that sounded like she would die from shame.
“Um, when I saw Miss Alshiera licking you hand Master Zagan, I felt some sort of difficult to explain sense of extreme vexation... even though I was the one who asked you to save her...”
Zagan took a deep breath and tried to put his thoughts in order.
Ummm, in other words... she’s jealous? Wow, that’s so cute.
Well, it was true that Zagan also felt somewhat weird while Alshiera was licking his hand. That just meant that Nephy felt the same way as he did.
“A-Anyways, let me clean off the blood, Nephy.”
Blood had even gotten on Nephy’s face when she sucked his finger. Zagan tried to hide his embarrassment by washing it off with water, and cleanly removed all traces of blood. Nephy’s face turned so red as she hung her head down that it felt like she would burst into flames.
“I’m really, really sorry. I wasn’t thinking straight.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
With that, Zagan stuck his hand out in front of Nephy’s face.
“Huh? Um, Master Zagan...?”
“It’s also my fault for hindering you. You may continue.”
It actually felt kind of good too...
Zagan never though that Nephy would get jealous like that, and he wanted to see more of it.
“B-But... but...”
“It’s alright. All the blood’s been washed away, so do as you like, Nephy.”
She was likely having difficulty in refusing him having just sucked on his finger moments ago. Not that Nephy had ever turned down Zagan’s ridiculous requests before. Zagan stared into her azure eyes which were shaking about in confusion, as a small laugh rang in the air.
“You shouldn’t tease a maiden too much, Silver-Eyed King.”
It was Alshiera. She finally woke up, and was sitting up against the wall of the cave with a smile plastered on her face.
Tch, I forgot she was here...
She really was a hindrance.
Alshiera still looked considerably exhausted, but brought her hand to her mouth and laughed regardless.
“Perhaps I need to offer you my thanks, Silver-Eyed King.”
“I don’t need it. You damned undead don’t even possess the concept of death to begin with, there’s no such thing as saving you lot.”
Alshiera opened her eyes wide with a vexed look upon being pushed back like that.
“Oh my, ‘death’ exists even for we members of the Night Clan. If not for that, this world would be overflowing with us, and we wouldn’t have been exterminated by the church,” Alshiera said, then pointed at her chest and continued. “All members of the Night Clan were originally living beings. Even if our vessels are immortal, the soul has a lifespan. Once our souls stop flowing, it’s nothing more than a still body of water.”
“Hmph. You’re awfully talkative today.”
“That’s just how dangerous a situation it was. I completely planned to just quietly vanish, but to think I would meet the Silver-Eyed King once more...”
“I’m totally suspicious that this is all an elaborate setup of yours.”
“Heeheehee, yes, that may in fact be the case, Silver-Eyed King.”
Her figure had none of the eeriness it had before, and looked thoroughly frail.
It may be true that she didn’t have much hope.
Zagan then pointed to Nephy.
“If you’re going to give your thanks, then give it to Nephy. I had no intentions of saving your damn life myself.”
“Yes, I’m very well aware. And yet, you saved me anyway. That part of you really hasn’t changed... and, neither have you.”
This girl seemed to impose the ‘Silver-Eyed King’ or whoever on top of Zagan whenever she spoke to him. However this time, she was talking to Nephy in the same manner. He truly didn’t believe that they were previously acquainted, but even so, he was just a little interested in what this girl saw, and what exactly she was imposing on top of them.
Zagan looked down at Alshiera as he addressed her.
“Now then, there’s a mountain of questions I have for you. I did save you here. I’ll have you answer me now.”
“Heehee, oh my, how troublesome. A lady’s secrets are her most charming ornaments, and here you want to unveil them.”
“I don’t have time to keep you and your damned jokes company here.”
He was so close to building a terrific atmosphere with Nephy just moments ago.
At this rate, I feel like we’ll be able to even properly kiss soon!
All these matters with Alshiera and that Decarabia that Michael talked about were simple trifles compared to that. That’s why Zagan pressured her for answers.
“What the hell is your goal? What did you do to Foll back then? And who the hell did this to you? Answer me.”
“Heehee, even if you ask all that at once, I can’t answer you. Having said that, I can’t exactly refuse my Silver-Eyed King after being put in debt to you now can I? What to do?”
Alshiera laughed in an aloof manner, however, her hands that were wrapped around her teddy bear tightly looked to be trembling.
What’s with her? Is she scared? Despite being of the Night Clan?
Nephy also seemed to have realized this, and tugged on Zagan’s sleeve.
“Master Zagan, Miss Alshiera is injured. I’ll feel sorry for her if you pressure her so strongly like that.”
“Erk...”
After being told that, Zagan did feel like he was pushing things too far and groaned. And for some reason Alshiera looked up at the two of them nostalgically.
“You two truly are as intimate as always. I’m just a little jealous.”
Despite being jealous, her gaze was strangely calm.
I’ve seen these eyes before... Oh yeah, this is how Orias looks at Nephy.
Would that make this the gaze of a mother looking over her children? This was completely unfamiliar to Zagan, but it definitely didn’t have a hint of malice within it.
Alshiera then stuck up a single finger.
“Then, how about this? Just one. I will honestly answer just one question of yours, Silver-Eyed King.”
“Do you think you’re in a position to negotiate?”
“This is not a negotiation, it’s a request. The Silver-Eyed King that I know is one who cannot deny the requests of the weak, a man with boundless compassion.”
“You really are impudent...”
Just how could a vampire-like her even claim to be weak after surviving a strike from Foll who had transformed into an adult? She was so impudent it made him suspicious whether her trembling moments ago was just an act.
Well, I guess being this aloof is what I should expect from the Night Clan, huh...?
Even though she was so weak that it took some time for her to even begin talking, she was bold enough to negotiate with him to this extent, and that he could respect.
“Well, fine. However, now that you’ve committed to that, I will not permit any lies or deceit. Surely you aren’t foolish enough that you don’t know the meaning of this, right?”
Just because death didn’t exist to the Night Clan, it didn’t mean that there was no means of inflicting pain on them. It seemed that this was the specialty of the previous owner of Zagan’s castle. Having stolen all of that sorcerer’s knowledge, he at least knew of the means to do the same. He simply didn’t want to rush into such means in front of Nephy, it didn’t mean that he couldn’t. If she were to betray him here, it was more than enough reason for him to take action.
Alshiera simply returned a defiant laugh.
“I am fully aware. I am also aware that the Silver-Eyed King is one who would ask a question that cuts straight to the core of all matters.”
She was being provocative to the very end.
But, it certainly is difficult to ask a question that will get all the answers I want.
Zagan only had a grasp of a small fragment of information when it came to Alshiera’s goal, what she fought against, what she knew, and what was going on right now. He couldn’t see the connections between everything at all. It was far easier to just believe that she caused the previous incident out of simple whim than to see the threads binding everything together.
In that case, is it better to ask about her past?
And with that thought, a certain word suddenly came to mind.
“Hmph. Then answer me this, Alshiera.”
“Please, ask whatever you will.”
Zagan gazed directly at Alshiera, implying that he would allow no escape.
“What exactly is Azazel?”
And with that single word, Alshiera’s expression froze over entirely. Her face expressed anger, unease, grief, and despair. Or perhaps, this was her true face to begin with. That was just how shaken she was. Alshiera then tightly squeezed on her teddy bear as she cast down her gaze.
“That’s... quite troublesome. To think that you would ask this of all things. As expected of the Silver-Eyed King, you possess magnificent insight.”
It seemed that he picked the right question.
“Enough of that, answer me.”
Zagan urged her on, but Alshiera shook her head.
“...I cannot... answer you.”
“Hey. Are you screwing with me?”
Zagan got on board with Alshiera’s offer. The fact that she was reneging that offer meant that she was ignoring a contract with an Archdemon. If she truly believed that Zagan was just a big softy, then all that was left for him to do was make her curse herself for being so foolish. Be it a member of the Night Clan or the undead or whatever, an Archdemon would retaliate against them fittingly. Such was the case, but Alshiera’s eyes didn’t show a hint of ignorance, they looked like those of one who was prepared to die.
“It’s not ‘I won’t answer,’ or ‘I don’t want to answer.’ I cannot answer you.”
Alshiera gazed right into Zagan’s eyes as if saying that was the most she could possibly say.
Hmm. Which means I should think that fact over?
Alshiera would surely not mutter such nonsense if she was hoping that it would work as a way of backing out on her promise. In other words, there was a reason that she couldn’t speak of it. It could be that revealing the secret would trouble someone else, or that it posed an immediate threat to her own being, but it felt like it was a matter on an entirely different level too.
But, it really is strange that I’ve investigated it so much and still haven’t found out what Azazel refers to at all.
Zagan conjectured that it referred to the name of a thirteenth Sacred Sword based on the journal he had found in the elven hidden village. However, there was no thirteenth sword in the church, but there was an organization which used that name. And yet, Alshiera used the name as if referring to a person. Zagan then muttered out as if trying to organize his thoughts.
“Is this related to the reason why despite being used as a name for an organization within the church, it isn’t recognized as a Sacred Sword?”
“...”
Alshiera didn’t answer.
So this is another question she ‘cannot answer.’
Even Zagan would have never found out about the name if he hadn’t seen it in the journal he found in the elven hidden village. If he only knew of it as the dark side of the church, he wouldn’t have paid it any attention at all.
Wait, maybe that’s exactly why?
Just perhaps, even the church was in the same situation as Zagan in that they didn’t know what that name implied. He didn’t think it was the case, but for an organization like the church which continuously recorded all of their history in scrip
tures, what exactly would happen if something wasn’t recorded? In other words, it wasn’t that they didn’t recognize the Sacred Sword, it’s that they didn’t know about it.
Does that mean it’s just been that thoroughly erased from all record books in the world?
In that case, he could begin to understand why Alshiera ‘could not answer’ him here. In any case, it didn’t seem he would be able to get an answer out of her no matter how much he interrogated her. And after deliberating over that for a moment longer, Zagan changed his question.
“Then, what should I do to learn about it?”
“Huh...!?” Alshiera’s body shook with a start.
“Hmm. So that you can answer.”
“...Do you really have to know?”
Zagan felt like this wasn’t a problem he could avoid getting involved with just by knowing nothing about it. In that case, there was a need for him to acquire knowledge about it before he got involved. Zagan nodded, and Alshiera let out a sigh as if enduring her frustration. She then replied in a pleading manner.
“Please do not chase after it... you have no intention of heeding this request, right?”
“A foolish question.”
“...Under...stood.” Alshiera paused, then began explaining as if confessing her sins. “All you need do is follow in a certain man’s footsteps. His life could be said to be a battle centered around that, after all.”
“A certain man...? Who is it?”
“Now then, I wonder how he named himself before the Silver-Eyed King? But I do believe you should have met him already.”
“...? Is he someone I know?”
Having said that, Zagan’s range of acquaintances was quite narrow. Those that he could claim to truly know could be easily counted, but from the way Alshiera was speaking, it sounded like she was referring to a sorcerer. Alshiera shut her eyes and searched her memories, then spoke his name.
“Marc... I’m sure that he would use that name if he were before you.”
Zagan’s face stiffened upon hearing that name.
Why is his name being brought up here?
It was the name of the boy who acted like a bigger brother to Zagan back in his days as a waif. However, he was still just someone Zagan knew in passing that he remembered for the first time in a while because of the tomfoolery earlier with Gremory and Barbatos.
An Archdemon's Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride: Volume 7 (Premium) Page 10
