Chapter 276: Interlude – A Wish (2)
Silence settled over the room. In that deathly stillness, Berald was the first to speak. “Uh, w-well, what is this? S-sorry for interrupting!”
I immediately replied, “W-w-wait a second! It’s a misunderstanding, Berald!”
“It’s quite all right! Love comes in many forms, after all!” he said.
“It’s a misunderstanding, you idiot!” I shouted.
Iris hurled the whip she had been holding straight at Berald. He deftly caught it, cleared his throat, and glanced toward Senior Sophia.
Senior Sophia glared at him. “What are you looking at?”
“N-no, nothing at all,” Berald said.
She then said, “Hmph. Hand that over.”
“What are you going to use it for?” he asked.
“Tsk. Are you going to give it to me or not?”
With a crumpled expression, Berald handed over the whip.
“Ohh, hmm.”
Senior Sophia examined it with interest, then suddenly swung it at Berald. She hadn’t put much strength into it, so it sounded more like a light slap with a palm. The only issue was that the source of the sound happened to be Berald’s backside.
“W-what are you doing right now?” he asked.
“Oooooo, so that’s what it feels like.” She nodded with sparkling eyes, then elbowed Iris in the side with a sly grin. “Thanks. I learned something useful.”
“I-it’s not like that, Sister!” Iris replied.
“Oh? Then can I take this?” Senior Sophia asked.
“T-take it! And these handcuffs too!” Iris hurriedly unlocked the cuffs from my wrists and offered them to her.
Humming cheerfully, Senior Sophia gathered both the handcuffs and the whip. Berald’s face darkened. His resentful gaze shifted to me, and we engaged in a silent conversation.
“What? Why are you looking at me?”
“This is all your fault, Brother!”
“I was the one tied up. How is this my fault?”
“You were enjoying it on the inside, weren’t you?”
“I was not, you lunatic.”
“Even if your mouth says no, the body is honest!”
“You need to get hit more.”
Senior Sophia broke this silent conversation and said, “Berald. Let’s go.”
“B-but...”
“From the looks of it, he didn’t return because he was seriously injured, so there’s no reason for us to hang around, right?”
“Well, that’s true, but...”
“Stop sulking and come on. There’s something I want to experiment with.”
“G-gah! W-wait! Urk!”
Senior Sophia dragged Berald away. As I silently offered a moment of prayer for his retreating figure, Yurina and Laneige approached me with eyes sunken like the abyss.
“Dale...”
“You two, what were you doing?”
Perhaps sensing the impending catastrophe, Camilla coughed awkwardly and turned away. “Ahem. I think I’ll be going now as well.”
“A-ah, C-Camilla, wait!” Iris said.
“Forgive me, Saintess! Please survive!”
Ignoring Iris’s desperate call, Camilla fled without looking back. Only Iris, Yurina, Laneige, and I remained in the room. Yurina and Laneige approached Iris with bright smiles.
“Well then.”
“Care to explain what happened?”
Hearing their questions, Iris made a tearful face.
* * *
After a painstaking explanation, Yurina and Laneige finally nodded.
“Hm. So Professor Baldwin gave those to you,” Yurina said.
“I-I thought Iris had finally... o-opened her eyes,” Laneige muttered.
Yurina then turned to me. “But, Dale, do you really l-like that kind of thing?”
“No.”
“I-I could do it for you, D-Dale!” Laneige said.
“I said I don’t like it.”
“Don’t be shy!”
They weren’t listening in the first place.
“O-okay! Then next time, I-I’ll try it too,” Yurina mumbled.
“I-I’ll teach you how to do it,” Laneige exclaimed.
“Thank you, Sister.”
Elisha, is this truly the future you wished for? I thought.
Letting out a deep sigh, I tried to sit up from the bed. However, an overwhelming wave of fatigue crashed over me. Thanks to the holy water Iris had given me earlier, the pain was gone. However, the exhaustion had intensified in exchange.
Iris quickly came to my side and checked my condition. “I think the holy water’s effects are kicking in.”
“This was the effect of the holy water?” I asked.
“Yes. It reduces pain and enhances your body’s recovery, but the fatigue becomes stronger.”
Yurina and Laneige hurried over to the bed behind Iris.
“Pain? Dale, are you hurt somewhere?”
“D-Dale, you’re in pain?”
“It’s fine. I’m just tired,” I replied.
“Ah! Well, after fighting that demon, you went straight into exploring the Demonic Realm without rest.”
“Exploring the Demonic Realm, that must’ve been hard.”
That wasn’t the exact reason. But I didn’t want to bring up the Black Flame and make them worry.
I said, “You don’t need to be so concerned. Iris gave me holy water. If I rest well, I’ll recover.”
“O-okay.”
“By the way, how’s the atmosphere at the hero academy these days?” I asked.
“Everyone’s in an uproar because of the demons. Some people are even saying a war might break out soon.”
A war could indeed break out. Originally, the war with the demons wasn’t supposed to happen for another ten years. But then again, the Tri-Nation Alliance wasn’t supposed to form until ten years later either.
Changes to the future weren’t always positive. Just as the formation of the Tri-Nation Alliance had been advanced by a decade, it wouldn’t be strange if the war with the demons was brought forward as well. It was just that I didn’t know when or how they’d attack. I didn’t have the luxury of lying here like this.
“Dale.” Iris’s voice sank low. “I understand how you feel, but your treatment comes first right now.”
“That’s...”
“You’re not thinking of going back to the Demonic Realm in this condition, are you?”
“Well, I mean. I did drink the holy water.”
Iris shook her head firmly. “No.”
If it were up to me, I would’ve gone out and done something, anything, but one look at her eyes told me there was no chance she would allow it.
“Iris is right, Dale. I’ll go to the Demonic Realm with Professor Baldwin in your place. For now, focus on recovering,” Yurina said.
“I-I’ll go too!” Laneige added.
“All right,” I replied.
With Yurina and Laneige both insisting like that, I couldn’t push myself recklessly. Just as Iris had said, restoring my body to peak condition had to come first.
“Iris, we’re counting on you to take care of Dale.”
“Yeah, got it.”
“T-then we’ll head out first! Get plenty of rest, Dale!”
Yurina and Laneige left the room.
Once again, only Iris and I remained. Iris sat on the edge of the bed and patted her thigh. “Dale, lie down here.”
“You know, I could just lie on the bed.”
“Tsk.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I obediently rested my head on her thigh. A soft warmth cradled the back of my head. Iris’s hand gently stroked my forehead.
Her eyes shimmered, dyed in iridescent hues. “O benevolent Seven Gods, please tend to your child’s weary body.”
Seven-colored waves flowed from her hand, and the crushing exhaustion weighing down my body melted into a pleasant drowsiness. It felt like sinking into a hot bath, then lying down on a plush bed. Sleep flooded over me as though I had taken a powerful sedative.
“Sleep well, Dale.”
Iris’s gentle voice brushed against my ears as my consciousness flickered and faded.
* * *
How many hours had I slept? I swallowed a groan and opened my eyes. At some point, night had fallen. The room was pitch-dark, devoid of even a single ray of light.
Iris’s voice came from above my head. “You’re awake?”
“Don’t tell me you stayed like this the whole time?”
“Hehe. Watching you sleep so peacefully was surprisingly entertaining.”
I hurriedly sat up. “Ugh, how long was I out?”
“About eight hours. You slept very soundly.”
“Is your leg okay?”
“Well, it’s a bit numb. Would you like to massage it for me?” Iris smiled mischievously. “Anyway, how do you feel?”
“Hmm!” I lightly stretched my body. I felt as light as a feather. “Oh, I think I’m completely fine.”
“Really?”
I did a small jump in place. “Yeah. I actually feel better than usual.”
She watched me and smiled faintly. “That’s a relief. Still, make sure you rest until tomorrow. There might be some fatigue lingering.”
“Okay.”
She patted her thigh again. “Now, lie back down.”
“No, I really don’t need to keep lying down.”
“Tsk. I told you to rest until tomorrow, didn’t I?”
“Guh!”
I sighed and rested my head on her thigh once more. Maybe the fatigue hadn’t completely disappeared after all. Even though I had slept all day, the moment my head touched Iris’s lap, drowsiness crept back in.
“See? I was right,” she said.
“You were.”
Maybe there was a reason she was called a Saintess. Just moments ago, I had felt light enough to fly, yet I hadn’t even noticed that some amount of exhaustion was still left.
“By the way, Dale, do you remember the promise you made before?” Iris asked.
“Promise?”
“You said that if we let you join the party, you’d grant me one wish.”
“Ah.” That was indeed true. “What’s the wish?”
“Well, I’ve been thinking about it ever since Sister Sophia told me she got engaged to Berald.”
Don’t tell me she wants to get married? But with everything going on, marriage would be unrealistic.
She dropped a bombshell on me. “I want to have a child.”
Wait a second, marriage suddenly sounded easier.
“What? W-what did you just say?”
“Don’t you want one too, Dale? A child.” Iris gently cupped my cheek. “I’m not asking for much. Something modest, two sons and three daughters would be perfect.”
That was by no means modest.
“N-no, I mean... that’s...”
My mind went blank. A child? She wanted a child? Right now?
“Hehe. You don’t have to be so flustered,” she said.
“Don’t have to?”
How am I supposed to not be flustered?!
“I know it’s not realistic to have a child right now. We haven’t even graduated yet, and the demons have been acting suspicious lately.”
“R-right. Exactly.”
“So.” Iris smiled sweetly. “Just for today, will you be my child instead, Dale?”
“What?” I was stunned.
“That’s my wish.”
No, wait. If you suddenly ask me to become your child, what exactly am I supposed to...
“You’ll grant it, right, Dale?”
“What does ‘be your child’ even mean?”
“I believe you can do it!”
Please don’t use a line that sounds like it belongs in some grand heroic epic in a situation like this.
* * *
The next day, fully recovered, I headed straight to Elisha’s office.
“Ah, are you feeling better now, Dale?” she asked.
“Goo goo. Goo gaa!”
Elisha just looked at me, dumbfounded.