Ilya

“I said, no need.”

A cold voice pierced Livia’s ear.

The white-haired loli blinked, then finally saw the scene before her clearly.

So it was… back again.

Had she returned to this point in time?

She smiled bitterly in her heart and quickly recalled that it was time for them to go to bed.

The goblin invasion was probably in the later hours of the early morning. This meant they had less than a few hours to prepare.

Escape overnight with Alice and these two poor little things?

No.

Livia closed her eyes. Before her were not darkness, but scenes of brutal slaughter.

Even without these, she would never run.

Livia closed her eyes, then pulled the potion from under her skirt, crawled over slowly, and applied it to the silver-haired elder sister’s exposed shoulder.

“Hiss!?”

The potion was somewhat viscous and cool. Ilya instantly sensed this strange feeling and turned around with a fierce aura, raising her hand to grip Livia’s neck.

“Didn’t I say no need?”

Her other hand was already gripping her sword.

“Gulp, cough…”

The commotion here quickly disturbed the other two. Alice hastily got out of bed, too anxious to even put on her shoes.

“Wait, wait, what’s wrong with you two? Viya was just trying to help! Let go quickly!”

“Tsk.”

Ilya lowered her eyes and turned her head. The force on her hand lessened, but Livia didn’t mind. She just stretched her arm out as much as possible, her longest middle finger touching the dim gem.

“If you want to kill me, to torture me, you can…”

Livia said with difficulty, then tightly grasped the sword’s shoulder, “But you have to grant me one request! It’s a deal!”

—Clang!

Light instantly filled the dim room. A loud sound emanated from the gem. Livia opened her red eyes, feeling all her strength being frantically drained.

It felt like watching her life force ebb away before death. Livia had already experienced this twice.

Even so, she could forcibly hold back her uncontrollably retracting hand, which was acting on instinct.

The gem on the sword hilt greedily and furiously demanded more. Livia’s white hair was falling out at a visible rate.

“What are you doing? Let go,” the silver-haired woman frowned, frost condensing on her eyelashes, “You’ll die if you continue.”

The white-haired loli’s lips had already turned purple. Her mana was depleted, causing fine bloodstains to seep from the corners of her eyes.

“No…”

She pulled open her collar to expose her collarbone, grabbed the silver-haired woman’s sword-holding hand, and pressed it against her own heart, “Draw from here. You can still squeeze out some…”

Ilya’s palm trembled with heat.

Beneath the white-haired loli’s delicate chest, her heart was beating at a near-death frequency.

The mana that should have been maintaining her life was now flowing out of her pores like blue streams, coiling around the sword hilt like snakes.

The sword suddenly hummed. Ilya abruptly pulled her hand back, and Livia stumbled and collapsed. Her scattered white hair covered half her face, revealing only her bloodied lips as she continued to lean forward. “Please.”

Livia’s pupils began to blur.

“…Be my sword. Let me… be your sheath just once…”

Ilya felt something warm flowing down her fingertips.

It wasn’t mana, but a hotter liquid that was splashing onto the back of her hand from the white-haired loli’s eyes.

An inexplicable emotion suddenly struck Ilya’s heart.

“No!”

Ilya frowned and immediately pushed her trembling body away forcefully, throwing the sword down quickly. As her silver hair fell, it brushed against her sweaty neck, “Are you crazy? This gem absorbs mana. You’ll be drained to the bone!”

“It’s… fine…”

Livia’s red eyes had lost their luster. A vortex of leaking mana formed a pale golden halo around her.

She forced out a weak and fragmented smile, her lips so pale they were frightening.

“So that’s how it is… That thing needs to be nurtured with mana? Ha, so I’m not completely useless after all. I, I actually have mana in my body.”

Another spasm wracked her. She slumped into Ilya’s arms, her breath faint, “I just want to… heal you, fix your sword… Do me one favor, don’t let me die in vain…”

“You won’t die!”

Ilya’s arm suddenly tightened its grip.

The body in her arms was as light as a feather. The cold sweat from mana exhaustion soaked through both their clothes.

She could clearly feel Livia’s rapidly weakening heartbeat.

“Why?! We’re just strangers! I don’t need…”

Livia’s fingers suddenly grabbed her collar, “Trash… This Master isn’t doing it for you. I just need you to do me a favor.”

After the anomaly occurred, Alice also came to her senses and immediately hurried to the white-haired loli’s side in a panic.

“Hey, what are you doing? Even if you’re topping up mana, you don’t need to be so desperate! Besides, she clearly doesn’t like you!”

“Haha… Lao Ai, don’t say that. Help me find sulfur. This town… has natural hot springs.”

“You! At this hour of the night.”

Alice stared at Livia’s pale face, then gritted her teeth and punched the bed.

“I get it, it’s something that has to be done, right?”

“Mhm…”

“Hmph, if it weren’t for our friendship, I wouldn’t help you.”

Alice flicked her golden hair and ran into the night without asking another question.

Flora also got out of bed at this moment, looking at her with a complicated expression.

“Livia… right? You mentioned your name at the dinner table.”

“Yes…”

“I’ve recovered my memory. My name is Flora,” Flora said seriously, “Excuse me, why did you do that?”

“Memory…?” Livia didn’t have the luxury of dwelling on that at the moment, only saying weakly, “Goblins are going to invade. That sword… if the magic isn’t replenished, it will break…”

Hearing this, Ilya frowned.

“Goblins? Invading? How is that possible? If they were high-level monsters, perhaps. But how could goblins organize an attack on the town? That’s unrealistic.”

“Believe me!”

Livia tightly gripped the silver-haired woman’s collar, “I’ve scouted. Among them, there are commanding Shamans, and they even attack from the north and west simultaneously.”

“Then, little one.”

Flora chimed in, her round face, always adorned with a sweet smile, now etched with seriousness.

“Is there anything I can do for you?”

“Mhm, help me collect some soil from old walls… and perhaps some white substances that might form in the corners.”

“Ah, is that so?”

Flora was taken aback, “If we’re going to resist goblins, we should definitely notify the entire Elton town and conscript the militia, right? I can cast magic, you know. Collecting dirt and such, are you kidding me?”

“No.”

Livia made her voice sound as decisive and firm as possible.

“You can mobilize everyone to collect them, then send them over.”

“Okay.”

Flora smiled and hugged her shoulders, looking out at the pitch-black window, “Little Alice trusts you so much, I’ll trust you for now. How interesting~”

After she left, the air became somewhat silent.

Livia broke the silence, unable to waste a single moment.

“Help me start a fire. Then, I’ll need your help to notify everyone… and also, help deal with the goblins.”

“Even if you don’t say it, I will.”

Ilya pursed her lips and carefully placed the white-haired loli on the bed, covering her with a blanket.

Livia’s breath tickled her wrist, hot and humid with the smell of rust.

It was too similar, like those children who suffocated in the snow ten years ago.

The breath of the dying was always mixed with some sweet, fishy scent.

This shouldn’t be happening.

She was supposed to be a lone weapon forever, only needing the sword, just like in the past.

Those frozen senses were beginning to awaken in Ilya’s heart.

The accelerated heartbeat beneath her chest, the warmth that rose and fell with her breath, and the moisture spreading across her palm—unsure if it was blood or tears.

“If it’s not enough, I can still…”

Livia was using her last bit of strength to twist her mana into a fine stream, carefully pleading like a child offering candy to continue supplying it.

This unguarded sacrifice made Ilya’s stomach churn with pain, more unbearable than the sensation of a blade piercing her internal organs.

“You rest!”

Ilya stood up, holding the sword far away.

“Ilya, this is my name. Burning firewood, right.”