I Can’t Run Away From the Girl Who Saved Me

211 – The Last Farewell (1)

＊

Time began to slow down again, just like the days Sylvia and I had spent together in Millwood Village.

The day begins with waking up to the beautiful songs of birds and the morning sunlight streaming through the gaps in the wooden walls, rubbing my eyes, and turning my head to find Sylvia lying quietly next to me, giving me a light kiss on the lips.

Sylvia spent the day hunting with her sister Maria.

Obviously, hunting is just an excuse to talk about this and that.

Parting with Sister Maria would have been even harder for Sylvia than for me, who had been away from her for so long.

Meanwhile, Pia and I prepared to leave the forest by cleaning up around the cabin.

The creaking and twisted wheel of fate finally began to turn quietly without any noise.

Although the passion and determination I had put into correcting that fate were all ruined, and my life was consumed as lubricant, I still felt no resentment or bitterness.

I’m so happy with the ending we’ve reached now.

As I listened to the birds chirping again as they began to return to the grove of trees, I thought to myself,

It was the third day since the Demon King was killed.

I carefully sank the blue-glowing necklace of Malice into the lake.

It was to respect the opinion of Sister Maria, who decided to become the spirit in charge of this forest instead of the Green Lady.

Of course, I had tried very hard to convince her over the past few days, but Sister Maria was adamant.

Sylvia, who had gone hunting with her for a few days, also shook her head, saying that she could not break Sister Maria’s stubbornness.

The necklace slowly sank toward the lake bottom.

The necklace slowly sank to the bottom of the lake, which was so transparent that the bottom could be seen through. Before it even reached the bottom, the blue gem melted and mixed into the lake.

According to Pia, Maria’s soul was trapped in Malice’s necklace.

At this moment, Sister Maria was completely freed from this necklace and settled into this forest.

I lowered my head silently, looking at the necklace that had lost its jewels and was now just a lump of metal.

As if to compliment my choice, the large tree that had once been a green lady swayed in the wind.

A large leaf swayed in the wind and fell, hitting my head and landing lightly on the surface of the lake.

“Please take good care of my older sister.”

Pia quietly wiped away the tears from my eyes and hugged my shoulders as they swayed gently up and down.

I didn’t say anything, but a great comfort that was hard to describe in words seeped into my body.

Pia, unlike her sister Maria, decided to follow me.

Even though I know I don’t have much longer to live, and even though I don’t know what will happen to me when I die.

I asked Pia why.

But Pia didn’t say anything and just quietly rested her head on my shoulder.

Pia, who looked like a healthy and beautiful teenage girl, was definitely a thin and cool-looking girl, but the warmth of her leaning on my shoulder was as warm and cozy as the tail that used to wrap around me when I was a fox.

＊

One morning, a week after returning to the cabin.

I rubbed my sleepy eyes and headed to the lakeside to wash my face.

The moment when I wiped my face, which had been covered in oil and Sylvia’s saliva from the night before, with cold water that made me conscious, and slowly lowered my head, waiting for the ripples on the water to lessen.

“… ah!”

I could see my own green eyes reflected in the water.

Eyes that no longer have any red flags left.

It was a small change, no more than a dot compared to my entire face, but even that small change made my face feel very unfamiliar.

At the same time, I felt like I missed it terribly.

I stared at my face for a long time, so much so that anyone who saw me would mistake me for a very narcissistic person.

Then, all of a sudden, he screamed and got up.

“…Sylvia!”

I kicked the ground and ran towards the cabin, calling out to Sylvia.

The curse that Sylvia placed on me has disappeared.

It was clear that the curse placed on Sylvia would have also completely disappeared.

But, perhaps it is because we have been exposed to so much misfortune.

I couldn’t feel safe until I saw it with my own eyes.

I felt like I would feel relieved if I just looked at Sylvia’s face, her eyes.

At the same time, the excitement to quickly tell this good news to her, who did not even remember the original eye color, spread like wildfire in my heart.

Just twenty seconds.

My heart was pounding so hard that even the twenty seconds it took to run from the lake to the cabin felt so long.

“Sylvia! Sylvia!”

I shouted her name and roughly pushed open the creaking door.

Sylvia, who had clearly been sleeping in until I came out, was standing in front of the door with her sword drawn.

“Ash, what’s going on!”

“…!”

“Ash?”

I stared at Sylvia’s face.

Perhaps because of the sudden situation, Sylvia didn’t seem to notice the change in my face.

I opened my mouth slowly with a trembling voice.

“…it’s blue.”

“what?”

“Sylvia has beautiful blue eyes.”

I heard Sylvia swallow a small breath.

Sylvia dropped the sword on the floor and slowly raised her trembling hands and gently held my cheeks.

Her face is coming closer to me.

Realizing that she was using my pupils as a mirror, I stared into Sylvia’s eyes without blinking until she was fully looking into her own.

It’s blue.

Her crystal eyes, bluer and clearer than this beautiful lake and the jewel of Malice that had melted into the lake, were quivering.

“… hi.”

I greeted Sylvia, who had blue eyes that I was seeing for the first time.

“It’s so nice to see you again.”

She greeted the green-eyed Ash whom she hadn’t seen in a long time.

Tears clearer than the color of Sylvia’s eyes fell, fell, and rolled down her cheeks.

The sight was so beautiful, so beautiful that I couldn’t believe she was from this world, and I held my breath for a moment.

Could it be because of that, or was it because I ran like that with a broken body?

My heart was pounding harder than it had ever done before.

I felt a slight tightening of the grip on her fingertips that was holding my cheek.

As expected, I noticed her thoughts and closed my eyes tightly.

Her lips, moistened by tears, cover mine.

Sylvia was still sobbing and shaking her shoulders even as she kissed me.

Since she got her red eyes, the extent of the pain she has endured is something even I, who have been through everything, could not dare to imagine.

But still, I could feel what was in her mind, so I hugged Sylvia with all my might.

“What are you guys doing this morning?”

I heard Sister Maria’s voice from behind me.

When I slowly turned my head, she was looking at me and Sylvia with a bewildered expression.

“I disappear with Pia every night. Then you should be more careful during the day.”

“That’s right, that’s right.”

Pia, who peeked out her disgruntled face from behind Maria’s back, responded to Maria’s criticism.

However, the expressions of the two spirits gradually changed to faint surprise and joy as they looked back and forth between my face and Sylvia’s.

Pia cheered.

Sister Maria put her hand on her waist and smiled.

“The curse has been lifted.”

“huh.”

“Good. Thanks for your hard work, Sylvia. You too, Ash.”

“… Ugh, sob…”

Sylvia nodded, sobbing.

Seeing Sylvia crying like a little child, I hugged her tightly again.

Today, her broad shoulders and sturdy body looked so delicate and frail.

“Uh… then.”

Pia, who had been running around in front of the hut, slowly lowered her raised arms and muttered.

I nodded and said to Pia.

“huh.”

“…”

“Now, it is time to return to the goldfields.”

＊

“Are you really not going?”

“It’s too late, so stop asking.”

The next day, the Demon King’s curse completely disappeared from Sylvia and I’s bodies.

In front of the large carriage, I made a last suggestion to Sister Maria that we go back together.

Of course, the result was rejection, as I expected.

I knew it, but I couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

“Take good care of both of you.”

Sister Maria said, looking at the two coffins loaded into the back seat of the carriage.

One contained Alice’s body, the other contained Laila’s ashes.

It was decided to leave Leila’s tombstone here as is.

Although Leila’s body, or rather the remaining pieces, returned to her hometown, it was decided to leave behind a tombstone because this forest is where her spirit lingered and departed.

And it was also a consideration for Sister Maria, who would remain in this forest, to be able to remember Layla.

Since Maria had said she would never return to her hometown, Laila’s gravestone was also Maria’s only remaining trace of her family.

I said as I quietly closed the door of the carriage containing the coffin.

“Thank you for making the carriage. I didn’t know there was such a magic.”

“Because it’s magic I created.”

“It’s weird to say this as someone who received help, but why did you create this magic?”

“Do you know how many people there were in the warrior party? And how far it was from the capital where the royal palace was to this forest where the Demon King’s castle was? We made it because we needed it.”

“Ha, a genius is a genius.”

Even though it was a slightly sarcastic compliment, Sister Maria lifted her head and puffed out her chest.

“Gureum- Besides, I’ll move without saying a word for about a day. After a day, I’ll have to figure out how to get a word or push myself to go.”

“That’s why so much magic power was consumed when I added that function. How would you use magic without me?”

“Well, I guess I should slowly teach myself spiritism.”

“… okay,”

“You won’t have time to be bored. So don’t worry and go.”

Sister Maria said so and placed her hands on both of her waists.

I looked into Sister Maria’s face for a moment.

The face of my only family, whom I may never see again after today.

Sister Maria also noticed my intentions and gave me a faint smile without saying anything.

After looking at her for a while, I quietly opened my mouth.

“…Honestly, it has changed a lot. It was so different from what I remembered that I was a bit confused at first.”

“Well… a lot of time has passed.”

“still,”

“She was still a beauty, wasn’t she?”

“…She was still my older sister. Even in that part just now.”

“Huh, this guy.”

I hugged Sister Maria tightly.

Sister Maria tried to push me away with an eerie sound.

“Why is it like this? It’s disgusting.”

“Sister,”

“Uh, what is it?”

“You said you weren’t Sister Maria. You were just a spirit who inherited those memories.”

“…”

“But I still think of you as my sister.”

“…”

“I really missed you. And… take care, sis.”

I left my final greetings and slowly let go of Sister Maria.

Sister Maria smiled mischievously, revealing her front teeth.

It was her signature tomboyish expression that still remains in my memory.

Sister Maria said, ruffling my hair.

“I missed you, little brother. You should be happy now.”

“… huh,”

I slowly climbed onto the horse’s lap.

Sylvia and Pia, who had come up first to allow Maria and me to say our final goodbyes, were sitting on the horse’s back.

As I sat down, Sylvia lifted Pia, who was sitting between me and her, by the nape of her neck.

“Don’t sit between me and Ash.”

“Keeeek,”

“…don’t fight.”

As I sighed and looked to the side, Sister Maria winked at me.

It was asking if I was ready to leave.

“…”

The preparations are complete.

All Sister Maria has to do is move this entire carriage out of the forest.

It’s a very exciting thing for me, but I wonder what it’s like for Sylvia.

Sylvia, however, was just silently staring straight ahead.

But she also seemed to be very nervous, as she held the reins tightly, even though they were not attached, and the tendons on the back of her hands were pulled up.

That goes without saying.

How desperately I wanted to get out of this forest.

How many times have I imagined leaving this forest and going back into the world?

A thousand times? Ten thousand times? Or was it a dream so excessive that I couldn’t even dare to imagine it?

I turned away from Sylvia and looked out at the surrounding lake for a moment.

A landscape so beautiful, yet so unforgettable, quickly passed before my eyes.

Since I entered this forest, I have had to endure several hells I have never experienced before.

In the midst of the terrible pain that never ended, with both my mind and body screaming and crying out in anguish, I lost my old self and everyone who knew me in the past.

But thanks to that, I met Sylvia.

The only woman left for me, who has fallen apart.

And yet, I found in this forest a love that was so overwhelming.

“I’m ready.”

I closed my eyes tightly.

Sister Maria looked at me and said.

“Tell Mom and Dad about it.”

“huh…”

“Alice too… bury her well.”

“okay.”

“Oh, and please take good care of Sylvia. She’s marrying my sister’s friend, so she can’t cheat.”

“That can’t be…”

“And… and…”

“…”

Sister Maria paused for a moment.

Is there still something left to say?

When I looked at Sister Maria’s face, her lips were trembling with a look of bewilderment.

“and…”

“…Sister?”

“Ha, damn it… why are you doing this?”

“…”

“Oh, I don’t want to send it. All of a sudden.”

“… Sister.”

Sister Maria’s eyes sparkled for a moment.

And then, soon, something like a sparkling jewel fell to the floor.

“…Are you crying, sister?”

“no!”

“…”

This is my first time seeing this.

Sister Maria is crying.

“Oh my… hmm, hmm…”

Sister Maria rubbed her eyes, clearing her throat, and muttered, “Ss …

Then he continued speaking, avoiding my eyes.

“I’ll quickly recite the spell since I’m already feeling better. This is my first time mixing magic and spirit drinking, but Pia explained it to me in detail, so it should work.”

Just as Pia teleported me back to Goldfield Estate before, this time Sister Maria decided to move us out of the forest.

You might think that it would be better to send them straight back to their hometown, but it would be difficult to do so with such a large load as a carriage, and if they made a mistake while pushing too hard, the results could be dire, so they decided to only help them get off the forest path that was difficult for a carriage to navigate.

Sister Maria will never make a mistake.

Well, she’s a genius.

Neither I, nor Pia, nor Sylvia, nor Sister Maria herself had any idea that anything could go wrong.

But we were still wasting time, putting off the moment of separation that was soon to come.

Besides, no one pointed that out.

“… after,”

“…”

Finally, Sister Maria let out a firm sigh as if she had made up her mind.

After dragging my feet, I finally felt that the time had come and said my final greetings to Sister Maria, who was catching her breath.

“See you again.”

At that moment,

The view changed quickly.

In the dark forest where sunlight did not reach, a brightness I had never felt before filled my field of vision.

A wide open meadow where not a single tree can be seen, densely growing and obstructing the view.

And it was an unfamiliar sight, a shabby dirt road with faint marks of old horse hoof prints stretching out to the horizon.

Looking back, I could see the beginning of a dense forest.

“… came out.”

Sylvia muttered blankly.

We finally left the whirlpool forest.

.