“Please!” Elina pleaded, her voice desperate. “I’ll do anything… anything at all, if I can just stay by your side!”
“…………”
“Washing dishes, cleaning… I’ve never done those before, but from now on… from now on, I’ll work hard to learn how!”
“…………”
‘Anything at all?’
To be frank, for a fleeting moment, Leya’s heart wavered.
It was understandable. Elina was the type to be lively and adorable, exuding a heroic spirit. She was always so confident and vibrant; faced with such a girl, Leya believed no normal man could resist a desire to conquer.
Though, perhaps ‘a certain someone’ was no longer qualified to speak like that…
Yet, putting aside such thoughts, Leya honestly did not wish to keep Elina by her side for now. Erica alone was already quite a handful; adding another follower, now stripped of her combat abilities, felt like too much.
“I’m sorry…”
“…………”
She had anticipated such an answer, but still… only when the reality stood before her could she truly grasp the profound sense of loss, as if plummeting into an abyss.
Biting her lip, Elina forced herself not to show her vulnerability. Her voice trembled as she asked, “C-can you give me a reason…?”
“…………”
‘A reason?’ Perhaps Elina’s current weakness was one factor in Leya’s decision, but more importantly…
“What I must do, you cannot do. Furthermore, you would not do it.”
“L-like what?”
“Believe me, you wouldn’t want to know these things. So… I’m still sorry.”
Drip.
A glistening tear rolled down Elina’s pale cheek.
“That’s devious… Miss Leya, that answer is truly too devious…”
Drip. Drip.
“Why… why did you save me once, only to refuse to save me a second time!?”
‘A second time?’
This time, before a stunned Leya could even react, Elina wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with her arm. She turned and swiftly ran out of the room.
****
“Tsk, tsk… Host, this probably isn’t good, is it?”
“…………”
“It was the same with Erica back then. Sometimes, I truly don’t understand what you’re thinking, Host.”
“…………”
‘Yes… what exactly am I thinking, and what am I doing?’
‘They were all just spur-of-the-moment actions, so why have they caused so much trouble?’
‘Is it my fault? What a joke. Whether it’s Erica… or Elina!’
‘What do they understand about me?’
‘They see the most perfect version of me, the embodiment of all good virtues, kindness, and justice in this world! The one who selflessly helps others in need, always appearing gently before everyone…’
‘But that ‘me’… is ultimately only a part of me, merely the most superficial aspect! Which of them has ever understood the other me, the other…’
‘The real me?’
****
“Hey, Erica, these past two days I was out, did you actually eat properly? Why do I see the same lunch box in the trash can as when I left?”
“…………”
“Tsk, pretending to be asleep won’t work, you know. Get up, get up now!—”
“Ugh!—”
Unexpectedly, Leya had braced herself for Erica’s stubborn resistance, pulling with all her might on the blanket. Yet, she hadn’t anticipated that Erica seemed to be exerting no force at all.
Leya yanked the blanket right off.
No, no, that wasn’t the important part. The important part was…
“So… so cold, Sister Leya…” Erica huddled her small body, seemingly not joking at all, her entire form trembling.
However…
“When… when did you take off your clothes?”
“Clothes? Just now, when Sister Leya was chatting with that person…”
“…………”
‘Ah… golden…’
‘Who would have thought this girl’s underwear was the same color as her hair.’
Oh, no, no, Leya would never admit that she was actually attracted by Erica’s appearance!
‘Right, it’s just a child’s body; she’s not even naked. I’m not interested at all, hmph!—’
“Ugh—it’s really cold, Sister Leya… Can you stop staring at Erica and put the blanket back? At worst… at worst, Erica will share half with Sister Leya!”
“Ah… no need… I’ll just cover you right now…”
“…………”
‘Ugh—’
‘Ever since then, I’ve felt an unbearable heat all over! The moment I close my eyes, that image just now fills my mind!’
‘Indeed… is such stimulation too much for a youth who has been a virgin for almost twenty years?’
“Hey… Sister Leya…”
Suddenly, Leya seemed to hear Erica, nestled in the blanket, calling out to her with narrowed eyes.
‘Ah… could this be another hallucination?’
“That person just now… they were so pitiful.”
“…………”
“Erica knows, you know. Even though I haven’t seen her… I can still tell. She’s been lingering around this house… for an hour… three hours… a day, two days…”
“Even if Erica didn’t let her in, she still persistently waited outside the house, waiting for Sister Leya to return… day… and night, always like this… always quietly waiting outside the house, wanting to see Sister Leya…”
“………………”
“Really, can’t you really agree to her?”
“………………”
‘No, it’s not that I can’t agree to her…’
‘It’s that you don’t understand. There are always many things you don’t know… and for you, they are very dangerous, very evil things…’
“Let’s not talk about this, Erica… I’m going out now. I’ll ask the staff to prepare some food for you when I go downstairs. Remember to eat, okay? I estimate… I won’t be back until very late.”
“Mm… alright. Then, when you come back, can you come back looking like you did when we first met? If so… Erica would probably be very happy!”
Pfft—
“Alright, alright, I promise. I will definitely come back looking like Sister Artoria. Well then, that’s that… See you tonight, Erica!”
“Mm, bye-bye—”
Erica, lying on the bed, extended a pristine white arm, waving it happily as she smiled.
****
“Ah… Little Erica’s personality really changed so quickly. She was still so glum when I came back earlier!”
Walking towards the western part of the outer city, on the road to the [underground s*ave prison] Leya had secretly investigated a few days prior, she couldn’t help but remark with a hint of surprise.
“Well… it might be because of Elina, you know.”
“Huh? Elina? System, what are you talking about? What does that have to do with Elina?”
“Hehe, it’s something to be understood implicitly, not stated explicitly.”
“Tsk, tsk, you’re smiling so perversely, truly… Ugh, never mind, I’m too lazy to ask.”
“Alright, if you’re too lazy to ask, then I’m too lazy to tell!” The system, unwilling to be outdone, retorted with a tsundere tone.
Just then…
“Stop! Halt! Who are you? This is the [underground s*ave prison] under the Guild of Roseland. No one without a pass is allowed entry!”