CH 103

Kuruwasebana, now charred to a crisp. The boars that Kuruwasebana had been controlling regained their normal eyesight and became mild-mannered. We sat down in the flower garden and placed Iris on my lap.

───Piku…

「「Ah!」」

「… Here we go… !」

Iris, who had been laying on my lap, woke up.

「Iris, are you okay… ?」

「Un! Sorry for rushing in earlier. There’s a reason why I did that…」

「Is that so?」

「Un. I was out of the doll when it happened」

「「Eh?」」

Does that mean you can come and go as you please? I thought, but I was ready to listen to what Iris had to say.

─────

──

The two of us listened to Iris in silence.

According to Iris, it was the spirits around her that moved the swords. The reason why the spirits listened to Iris was because of Iris’ past.

Iris has been wandering around as a floating spirit ever since she died, but in the middle of her wanderings, she happened to hear about a lot of spirits who were depressed because of their deaths and she asked, 「Why don’t you come with me?」. And so, she started to travel with a group of spirits. The number of spirits was increasing, and finally, when there were more than 100, they were sucked into the cursed doll. After that, the 100 spirits apparently stayed in a daze around Alice, who was possessed by Iris.

Perhaps because of this, Iris is treated as a princess among the spirits… When she said that they called her princess, Iris looked very embarrassed and turned her face down. Cute───

「Ayane-chan… ??」

「Hii… !?」

… I’m sorry. Eh. Back to the story, perhaps because they had been together for hundreds of years, the spirits knew exactly what Iris was thinking, and they were able to work together when the spirits were moving the possessed swords. I can only say that this is amazing. 10 spirits are working together for the first time(?) with each weapon. How did they manage to work together with the other spirits for the first time? I couldn’t do it. The bond formed over hundreds of years is amazing. The spirits are strong… Me too, with Suzu───

「It’s okay」

「!」

「We’re connected, you and I」

「………. Un」

Somehow Suzu was thinking the same thing… It certainly looks like our minds are connected.

But, even they have their natural enemies. People from the church. When they see these people, they try to stay away from them. They have a sacred atmosphere, and if they get too close, they will become enlightened on their own. Is that all to the story? Ah! Also, the reason Iris can come and go from the doll freely is because she’s a good spirit. The doll was originally made to control evil spirits, so to good spirits it’s just an ordinary object. It’s the same as the spirits possessing the swords.

But it’s also Iris’s home, so I’m not going to destroy it! I was determined.

─────

──

After Iris finished telling us about her past, we slowly stood up, looked around, and said a few words.

「「Where’s the original path… ?」」

I say this as I make eye contact with Suzu. We were in the middle of a fight and had lost track of the direction we had come from. What should we do… ?

「…… Well, it’s always the same…」

「…… I guess so… As for me, I’d like to make it better」

We both looked up at the sky with a distant look in our eyes. Ah… The sky is so beautiful…

「O───i! … O───i!!」

「「?」」

「Ah, this is going to be bad if I stay」

While I was escaping from reality, I heard a man’s voice from some distance away. Iris saw the man and urged me to put her in my inventory, so I did.

「I wonder who… ?」

The man who I believe made the voice comes running towards us. Hmm… I think I’ve seen him somewhere before… I don’t know…

「Ayane-san! Please marry me!」

「… I remember now…」

Before we left the Royal Capital, he asked me to be in a relationship with him and marry him!! He’s the same man who said that to me…

「… Do you want to be struck by thunder again… ? 」

「Ha! I- I didn’t mean to… !」

「S- Suzu, calm down, okay?」

When I hugged her and asked her not to approach the man any further, Suzu’s face broke into a smile… I’ll use this method next time whenever there’s trouble.

Ayane thought so easily, but Ryouka didn’t take it so lightly…

「(Wha- Whawhawha- what’s with the upturned eyes!!! You’re too cuteee!!?!?!??!?!)」

「… Suzu?」

「Ha!」

Suzu’s face is bright red. Is it because she is tired from the battle?

「I’m fine」

「Really?」

「Un」

「U- Um… Is everything okay now?」

「Ah, sorry? No worries」

「First of all, let me tell you why I’m here…」

The man… Chikama-kun really just happened to be here. He came to this forest on a quest and happened to find us.

───Something’s fishy…

That’s what I thought, but without any proof or anything, it would make sense… I think, so I won’t say anything.

But there’s something fishy…

Author-san

The title sounds like the name of a character from Monster ○ter…