Having lost his Shinsou, Jijinbou’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head. He opened his mouth to scream, but before he could make another sound, I used my black blade to lop off his head. If he wasn’t in the mood to offer up any dying words, I had no reason to wait around for him.
I turned on my heel and walked away from the headless old man. Behind me, his corpse crumpled to the ground, blood spraying from his neck like a fountain.
✦ ✦ ✦
When Claudia saw Sora walking in her direction, the decapitated old man’s corpse spraying blood behind him, she’d have been lying if she’d said she didn’t feel fear in her heart. While she lacked the real combat experience her father and older sister had, she could still grasp how incredibly powerful Jijinbou had been. After all, he’d forced her father, lauded as the strongest in Kanaria, and her sister, endlessly praised for her skills in battle, to the ground as easily as taking candy from a baby.
But most of all, only someone that powerful could have made her suffer as much as she had. When she’d looked at him, she’d shuddered uncontrollably. And yet Sora had kicked that man to the curb with apparent ease. He’d devoured Jijinbou’s overwhelming magic and devastating curses, then beheaded the old man like it was nothing. When she looked at Sora, she felt not relief or trust in her heart, but terror. To Claudia’s eyes, he was something inhuman, covered in black scales, enveloped in a malevolent aura. Something that could swallow up her, her father, her sister, and even the entire kingdom of Kanaria if it so wished.
So when she saw Sora turn on his heel and walk toward her, she felt an involuntary urge to back away. She was still on the ground, so she dragged her body backward, as though to try and get as far away from him as she could. But at that moment, Sora collapsed.
“Huh?” she uttered in bewilderment. Sora was on his knees, looking like he was in extreme pain. His eyes were squeezed shut, and he was gritting his teeth and clutching his chest. Beads of sweat dripped from his forehead.
But he didn’t look like he was in one bit of pain during that fight! she thought. Then it hit her. She’d seen Sora look like this before, and very recently. In other words, when he’d apparently removed her curse by sharing his soul with her. After that, he’d fallen to the ground looking exactly like he was now.
She didn’t know what it meant for him to share his soul with her. In fact, at first she’d thought he’d just been lying to make her feel better. But she really had gone up two levels, and the terrible curse had left her body. There was no way such a miracle could occur without someone paying a price. Wasn’t Sora paying the price for saving her right now?
At that moment, the noise of a slap resounded through the estate. Claudia had slapped herself. Even if everyone else was afraid of Sora, she of all people shouldn’t be scared of him. She should know that better than anyone else!
As her cheek grew red and slightly swollen from the blow, she made her way toward Sora across the muddy, squelchy ground as quickly as she could. “Mr. Sora! Mr. Sora!” she screamed.
“Guh...” he attempted to reply but could only manage a moan of pain.
Claudia’s face went pale as she clung to him, shouting his name over and over...
“Clau, get a hold of yourself,” her older sister said, placing her strong hand on her shoulder. Her voice was clear and powerful.
Claudia turned around. “But Astrid, just look at him!”
“Yes, I know. I’ll send for help right away.” She turned to ask an attendant to bring some medicine, when Sora himself stopped her.
“Medicine...won’t help,” he said, grimacing. “Nor will recovery magic...” The sisters turned to look at him in unison. “This...will go away...with time... There’s nothing I can do...but wait to recover...”
“But Mr. Sora, it should help at least a little!”
“It’ll heal on its own... Keep your meds and magic...for everyone else.”
Claudia and Astrid reflexively exchanged glances. Indeed, Jijinbou might have been defeated, but the undead monsters he’d summoned hadn’t stopped rampaging. Even now they could hear cries of fear and panic coming from outside of the estate.
Sora’s head then drooped, as though he’d used the last of his energy to speak, and a beat later, he collapsed, his face landing in the rotten mud.
“Mr. Sora!” Claudia quickly crouched down and raised his head out of the mud, then brought him back to a kneeling position. She used the sleeve of her dress to wipe the mud off his face, not caring one bit about getting dirty herself.
Shortly afterward, Suzume and Seele flew out of the mansion in a panic, having learned what had happened. The two of them, as well as the maids on duty, helped to carry Sora inside and back to his bed.
Claudia’s father and sister left the estate along with their knights to slay all of the undead. Astrid had been worried about Sora up until right before she’d left, but her duty as the vice captain of the dragon knights wouldn’t let her stay cooped up in the mansion while an emergency was going on outside. The reliable Astrid Dragonaut wasn’t one to prioritize her own feelings over the people.
Therefore, she’d entrusted Claudia with Sora’s care. And ever since Sora had been carried back into the mansion, Claudia hadn’t left his side for a single second, wiping his sweat, making sure he sipped water, and holding his hand whenever he moaned in pain.
In the meantime, she heard about Sora’s condition from Suzume, Seele, and Lunamaria. Lunamaria told her that Sora had woken up the moment Jijinbou had unleashed his Shinsou. He’d been in no condition to fight but had been so determined to rescue Claudia and the others that he’d headed outside anyway.
In truth, before heading outside, Sora had feasted on Lunamaria’s soul to replenish the soul energy he’d lost by healing Claudia. And he’d done so so forcefully and violently that she’d temporarily lost consciousness, leaving Suzume and Seele to care for her. That was the real reason they’d been in the mansion during the attack. But Sora hadn’t given her permission to talk about his soul-eating ability, so she’d omitted that part in her explanation to Claudia. Therefore, Claudia wouldn’t learn the truth until a little later.
Claudia felt something was off about Lunamaria’s explanation. She wondered why Lunamaria and the others hadn’t followed Sora outside of the mansion, but she also judged that now was not the time to ask. Besides, there was a more pressing question on her mind.
“Mr. Sora said that the pain would go away on its own, but are you sure there’s nothing we can do to help? Please tell me if there is, even if it would only help him the slightest bit!”
“What you’re doing now is plenty of help already,” Lunamaria said. “Although...”
“What is it? Please, don’t hold back on my account!”
“All right... In that case, his sweat isn’t accumulating only on his face. Sleeping in sweaty clothes is surely uncomfortable, so I was thinking at some point we’ll need to change his clothes and wipe the sweat from the rest of his body as well...”
Claudia was listening and nodding intently at everything Lunamaria was saying up until she realized what doing so would mean. Then her face immediately went beet red. “W-Wait! Wouldn’t that mean...he’d be...naked?”
“W-Well, yes, that would be the case. But naturally, we wouldn’t ask such a thing of a lady like yourself, so please don’t worry. The three of us will take care of it.”
“N... No, I’ll do it! I don’t mind! Mr. Sora saved my life, so if I can do even the slightest thing to help him, I can endure a little embarrassment!”
Claudia was determined not to repeat her earlier indiscretion of a short while ago. Of course, Lunamaria and the others didn’t know that, so they were shocked by her reply. An unmarried noblewoman coming out with such a declaration was worrying. In fact, it was a serious problem. If Duke Dragonaut had been in the room, his face would no doubt have gone as white as chalk.
But for better or for worse, the duke was not currently present. Moreover, even if Claudia was being spurred on by a sense of duty and her own guilt, no one else in the room could put a stop to her enthusiasm.
The next day, when Sora learned about what Claudia had declared, his eyes had widened in surprise like someone had just shot him. He turned to Lunamaria and the others to ask what had happened afterward, but all three of them just smiled vaguely and looked away without answering him.