“Hey! What do you mean she’s missing?! What are you doing here in the first place?!”
“Who are you, bastard?”
“I am Ashfon Astlan Lionheart! Now answer me!”
“I see. Her big brother… I am here because… I just thought that… maybe you guys came back to get her.”
“…What did she tell you when we left?”
“She told me that you guys left her behind to go on an adventure with us, isn’t?”
“…No….She… didn’t tell you what really happened?!”
Why would she lie about that? What’s gotten into her?
I told this guy what happened in the demon capital in details.
“So… because of it… you disowned her. After that, she lied to us about what really happened. What a shallow guy.”
“Why…”
“I wonder too… but ought to know from the person herself.”
“…”
“Violetta.”
“Yes, Mrothgir? Do you already have a plan?”
“Let’s go to the demon capital. Let’s hope to find a clue there.”
“I see, if we don’t, we can put on a commission too.”
Upon the brief discussion, they already decided to move out. Since Violetta-san can use her warp, going to the demon capital is instant.
“Fon! You are coming right?”
“Violetta…”
“You already made up your mind earlier right?! You’re getting cold feet now? Do you think Asagao will hate you? We still don’t know yet. We don’t know, maybe she needs us now.”
No, that’s not it. Why am I hesitating? I don’t know what to do now. I’m at lost.
“Very well, let’s go.”
“…”
Violetta’s lover looks at me with disgruntled a face.
Is it because I’m close to Violetta? Or did I say something wrong?
Violetta summons her warp and we promptly enter it. In a flash, we are at the front of demon capital Reiysm, this familiar place where I first met Violetta-san together with Lily and Edelweiss.
I can still remember the day I met them. Violetta was still the same up to this day. Never aging and never changing, a girl locked in eternity in looks because of her powers.
And then Edelweiss and Lily, who are both ten years old at that time, but because of malnutrition, Edelweiss wasn’t able to grow properly like Lily because her Nobility at that time was abolished when she was much younger compared to Lily whose nobility was just stripped off a year before we met.
Edelweiss was one head shorter compared to Lily but visibly paler and beaten up. They were both being sold in this place as a slave.
Both of them were taken care of by Violetta and together, with me and Ishtal, taught them the ways of life and how to fight.
The idea of slavery enrages me to the point that I charge straight on to the previous demon lord Baal.
At that time, I don’t have any of killing him or eradicating him from the face of this world. So, together with Violetta-san and the assistance of Lily and Edelweiss, we were able to seal Baal in the cave of vortex.
…
Wait… there’s something’s wrong…
“Did you two felt it too?”
“Mrothgir…this is…”
“Yes… Baal’s presence is gone. It’s not even wrong to assume that he is dead at this point.”
“What happened?!”
“I don’t know yet. We better head inside the capital to gather some information…”
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I see… I hope Asagao… isn’t related to this incident…
We enter the city and head straight to the city’s famous place for gathering information… The guild’s pub.
We stride down the streets. Tension is coming from the people. Of course, an existence that was able to slay Baal appeared. We don’t have any clue if it is an ally or a foe.
Baal the Immortal, he who feeds on people’s fear and hatred, the embodiment of a True Demon Lord, was slain.
We shouldn’t let our guard down too.
“Violetta, isn’t there any way to search for Asagao with magic?”
“There it is Fon. But as of now, we cannot cause mayhem in this place. Even you should notice the state of this city. If you were to use any large scale power right now, we may cause an uproar. Besides, us being here, already bring tension to Cattleya. You know how that child gets easily nervous when she feels a strong presence in the parameter of her detection. If we use magic, she may get too tense and do something on a whim.”
“Ah… yes, there’s still that girl…”
We have caused her too much problem before. She is the current demon lord and the ruler of this land. Like me, she can lead the people with confidence but she gets scared when there’s someone with an extremely strong presence or powers. She herself is not weak, but she gets intimidated too easily.
We arrive at the guild and immediately head for the guild reception. The adventurers around bats an eye to us, but we didn’t mind. I mean, they are not even a threat to any of us. They were just mainly feasting their eyes to Violetta-san.
Her lover beside her gave them a leer. I don’t know what kind of leer is that but it made the surrounding adventurers back down or walk away in fright.
We were about to the receptionist when…
BAM!
“IS THERE ANY HEALER HERE?! PLEASE HELP US?!”
A man suddenly enters the guild along with several more people who are clearly wounded. The people in the guild immediately took action to assist the remaining people outside of the guild hall. Even the guild staffs rush outside to help too.
Violetta calls out to one of the adventurers.
“Hey there… what’s happening?”
“Ah! Oh… it’s the party of professional adventurers! They were sent for a raid mission to subjugate an SS class target.”
“How is it?”
“We don’t know.”
“Let me take a look. I’m a medical researcher.”
“Please! Go ahead!”
Violetta’s questioning ends up being her helping them. We don’t really have the leisure to do this but my curiosity is piqued too.
She started examining the adventurers that were taken in with her lover. All of them are bleeding in the limbs and screaming with pain and anguish.
I take a closer look and scoot behind Violetta.
“…My goodness…”
“What is it, miss?!”
“The wounds… are decaying…no… not just decaying… naturally… it should be emitting a foul stench but… this is more like… disintegration…”
“W-what does that mean? Are my friends going to die?”
“No… but this is the first time I’ve seen something like this.”
“What are we suppose to do?”
“I already healed it but the wound kept coming back… unless we can get rid of the decay, we cannot close the wound and stop the bleeding.”
“Please… help them…”
“…I understand…”
Violetta summons her dimensional storage which surprises the onlookers and takes out something from it. A bottle with clear fluid inside it that glitters with brilliant colors.
“This… is a Yggdrasil sap. Listen closely. Dilute this in a large barrel and pour a small amount of it over to the wound while heal is being cast. “
“I understand!”
The man immediately requested for a barrel of water to be delivered. Not so long, a barrel is brought in here. As for Violetta-san’s instructions, they diluted the fluid she gave and starts pouring a small quantity of it to the wounds while a healer cast recovery magic to it.
Miraculously, the wound starts to close and eventually, the bleeding stops. Albeit the healing process was so slow. The people who saw this cheer happily as they found the solution for their problem and keep doing the same for the other wounded adventurers.
A man who looks like their leader approaches us.
“Miss! You are the one who provided that expensive Yggdrasil sap to us right? How can we ever repay your kindness?”
“I don’t need anything in return. I am just glad that you people are okay. If I can help in any way, please don’t hesitate to ask me.”
“What kindness! Such a beautiful lady! My, I know your --!”
“Ehem.”
There’s clearly someone being stared down right now.
“Anyway. We are so thankful for what you have done.”
“Please don’t mind it. By the way, what happened to you people resulting in this situation?”
“…”
“?”
“You people may have already heard, but, the previous Demon Lord Baal… was killed.”
“Yes, we are aware.”
“A sentry that monitors the cave of vortex saw the one who killed Baal. And shortly after that, we are sent to subjugate the target as its threat should be visible as to how Baal was killed.”
“How?”
“Baal’s body… was… powdered… pulverized… I don’t know what to say… he doesn’t even regenerate back to the way he was.”
“… You are saying that a monster like that is walking in the land of the Demon Continent?!”
“Yes… but… it was not a monster…”
“…”
“It’s… a little girl…”
“L-little girl?”
Tension started racking up in my heart and sweat immediately fills my back.
“Yes… a little girl… around the age of nine… with hair as white as snow and eyes as clear as the skies. It is indeed a little gir--!”
“WHERE IS THIS LITTLE GIRL YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT?!”
I rush at the man and grab him by the collar upon hearing the details.
“S-she’s… in the snowy plains of the demon continent… really close to the border of the Fairy continent… if you want to find her… please be aware that she is completely invincible and powerful!”
…
“That doesn’t matter! Violetta and the dragon guy… let’s go.”
“You can’t possibly forget my name do you?”
.
.
.
Violetta's portal has taken us to a snowy part of the demon continent. Trees and the land are covered in white. The cold doesn’t really bother my body.
Snow falls down the ground gently. Sometimes, a gust of wind will pass by.
We start searching for any sign of Asagao.
“Asagao! Are you here?!”
“Asagao!! Please answer if you can hear us!”
“Idiot disciple! Respond!”
We called out several times while walking and keeping our heads looking at left and right.
After all, what happened between us, I do still wish for her wellness.
"If it has come to this, I'll use magic to scan the whole place for a sign of life. Mrothgir, help me out too."
"We should have done that as soon as we arrived here..."
But still… I want to know her reasoning for everything she has done…
…
As I walk into the snowy plains while Violetta and the dragon guy started their magic in search for Asagao, I saw something…
A hand…
A thin, fragile looking hand reaching out for the sky…
I walk towards the hand…
Walk…
I saw the figure of that girl… messed up with blood…
I run towards her…
Run…
Sadness, guilt, anguish, regret…
Feelings that I tried to cast aside, haunts me all at once as I saw her tattered figure from afar…
I dash towards her…
Dash…
Her hand that’s trying to reach for something slowly limp and falls down…
I caught her hands…
Caught…
I was able to grab her cold, thin hands and hold it up into my chest.
Tears start spilling into my eyes.
Why do I feel uncomfortable?
Because of the fear that she would hate me…
Why did I cast her away?! It was a stupid decision.
It’s my regret.
Her bloodied figure scares me so much… at the same time… fills me with hate… to myself… as I saw that her face shows a faint smile. One would not think a dying person would do…
…
“You wanted someone to reach out to you right? I got your hand here. I won’t let go of it whatever happens!”