Chapter 29: My Lovely Baby

Demon Lord.

The child, reborn with the new name Jahy, looks at me.

“Hehehe.”

As Jahy laughed, laughter burst out from me too. Just looking at a child usually softened my heart and made me feel tender.

Now, I felt a fluffy, warm feeling too.

Lying on the ground with Jahy like that for a few seconds, someone hugged me from behind.

Jahy, who was attached to me, was also drawn towards Lilac who hugged me.

“You bled so much.”

Indeed.

Looking around, everything was red. It meant all of that was my blood. The campsite was a mess, but Butler and Diana were unharmed.

Maybe Lilac protected them with a barrier?

She tried to sit me up, but now I didn’t even have the strength to lift a finger.

The arm holding Jahy had also fallen limply to the ground.

“—…”

Even my voice wouldn’t come out.

‘Looks like I’ll be completely stuck like this for a while…’

[You reap what you sow.]

Letting the Goddess’s words go in one ear and out the other, I smiled towards Jahy.

But Jahy wasn’t smiling anymore.

She looked at me with a somewhat serious face, then looked at Lilac.

Lilac, holding me, also looked at Jahy, then hugged me tighter.

But Jahy’s reaction was a bit strange.

Grind.

A sound like something breaking came from Jahy’s mouth, and she was glaring fiercely at Lilac.

Questioning it, I hastily looked back at Lilac, and she was smiling sweetly.

“?”

“Don’t worry. It’s nothing.”

“…Damn it. Next time, I’ll take her.”

“You’ll have to beat me first. You thief.”

Incomprehensible words were exchanged, but I just let it be.

Well, the fact that the Hero and the Demon Lord cannot coexist was even in the fairy tales I saw in my past life.

But now Jahy isn’t the Demon Lord, so if we change slowly, maybe we can become close?

Harboring such expectations, Diana approached from the side and performed the strongest healing a Saintess could offer.

“How does a person seem to get hurt all the time?”

‘Did I ever show you this side of me? After being chosen as a Saintess… I don’t remember. Hmm.’

Shwaaaaaaaa.

The healing light of divine power engulfed me, but.

“Uh… uh? Why is this happening…?”

After the light faded, Diana’s eyes trembled as she looked at me.

My appearance became normal.

My burst left arm returned, and the blood flowing from my face stopped.

However, what startled her was related to the Body Assessment ability inherent to a Saintess.

With Body Assessment, one could examine the entirety of another person’s body, and currently, my body was, well…

“Are you even alive…?”

As seen from Diana’s reaction, it was a complete mess.

Not just messy, but severely so.

For example, like tightly wound wires tangled violently, unable to function properly.

“N-no. We can’t stay like this, we need to go back quickly! Right now!”

“What’s her condition?”

Lilac’s questioning voice was endlessly cold.

Her face hardened, Lilac lifted me, and Jahy clung to Lilac’s shoulder.

Finding that sight quite cute, I grinned foolishly. But Jahy looked at me, bit her lip, and made a sad face. Seeing Jahy’s face, my good mood vanished instantly.

I knew my condition wasn’t good, and I understood how Lilac and Jahy felt watching it.

Unable to quell the heavy feeling, I quietly leaned into Lilac’s embrace and closed my eyes.

Then I listened to their conversation and smiled. Even in my past life, receiving such worry and concern was rare.

Coming here, it felt like I received only worry every day. Not that I disliked it.

“It’s completely twisted… This requires the Temple’s Holy Law.”

“Can’t you perform that Sacrifice Sia did right now?”

“…Unfortunately, that’s beyond my level. If I could, I would have done it immediately.”

“Damn it… If recovery is delayed.”

“……”

“Understood.”

Lilac started running after those words.

She knew I wouldn’t die.

However, it wasn’t about health and recovery.

Though I wouldn’t die, I could spend my life bedridden, half-crippled.

That must be why Lilac was rushing.

Lilac wouldn’t be able to bear seeing me in such a situation, even in death.

Opening my closed eyes, I saw a funny scene.

Jahy was wrapping both arms around Lilac’s neck and flying(?). Perhaps due to the wind pressure, she couldn’t seem to open her eyes. Her squished face was funny, making laughter keep bubbling up.

“What are you so happy about? You know what condition your body is in.”

Lilac frowned and spoke upon seeing me laugh while she was running.

At the words filled solely with worry, I just smiled.

Jahy also narrowed her scrunched eyes and looked at me.

“You look like you’re in so much pain…”

Jahy muttered quietly. At those words, Lilac nodded and increased her speed further.

“Need to get that Holy Law quickly.”

“But do you know where the Holy Law is?”

“Didn’t she say it’s in the Temple?”

“I know there isn’t just one or two temples.”

Hearing Jahy’s words, Lilac looked down at me.

How would I know…

Shaking my head, I signaled that I didn’t know either.

[The Holy Law is in the Central Temple.]

The Goddess provided useful information after a long time.

[Long time…]

Anyway.

To tell them the location of the Holy Law I heard from the Goddess, I released my divine power.

Because divine power, like mana, could also convey thoughts.

However, that wish did not come true.

“Urk. Keuk.”

A handful of blood came out, covering my already red clothes with new blood.

“Hey, you really… hah.”

Lilac sighed and scolded.

My insides were already wrecked; using divine power again must have been too much.

I still don’t understand why self-healing with divine power doesn’t work.

Still, perhaps some divine power got through, as Lilac stopped running and recited the location of the Holy Law I sent.

“The Central Temple… Why is it in a place like that?”

But she started running again, moving her feet.

There’s magic, but the reason she’s running like this is because of me.

Magic is convenient, and teleportation is good, but that applies to normal people. For someone like me, whose body is twisted somewhere, magic apparently damages the body further.

It’s fine as long as I don’t use it directly.

However, teleportation was difficult because I would also be recognized as a magic manifester.

So, running like this was the only option. Though this couldn’t really be called running…

‘The only person who runs using Wind Magic, Aura, and Telekinesis Magic simultaneously is probably Lilac.’

That must be why she’s this fast.

We exited the Demon Realm at high speed.

The monster eggs, still visible, crawled on the snow, emitting Miasma.

Frowning, I looked ahead.

Being the north, a cold snowfield spread out, and a blizzard was raging.

Lilac enveloped our surroundings with magic, and the cold and swirling snow disappeared. Only around us, though.

Passing through the snowfield and leaving the County behind.

Drowsiness washed over me.

Having lost too much blood, and forcibly gathering powers that shouldn’t be combined, breaking the world’s laws with a mere human body.

‘I shoved all of that into my body.’

So, it’s natural for my body to be tired and sleepy.

“Stay asleep. You’ll be fine when you open your eyes.”

“Right. Stay asleep.”

Thanks to the two saying the same thing, I could close my eyes peacefully.

Though it was magic, being in the warm and cozy embrace felt like even the pain I endured until now was disappearing.

It was truly the pain of internal organs spilling out. I never wanted to experience it again. Closing my eyes, the events that happened so far flashed through my mind.

Though it was a short time, many things happened.

Fell into another world, into a burning village. Trying to escape, but my body wouldn’t move, so I resigned myself.

‘Met Lilac.’

Then Lilac took me to the mansion and gave me various things.

Met her family too, but they didn’t seem like very good people.

Excuse me for saying this, but it felt good seeing Lilac return the sorrow she received from her family right back at them.

And I got slapped too. Because of that, that person… who was it again. Anyway, that person also went through hardship.

Living like that, I was chosen as a Saintess, met the Goddess. Then I went to the Demon Realm to fulfill the mission.

Even met Jahy in the Demon Realm and accepted her as family.

Feels like a lot happened, yet also not much.

‘This wretched body doesn’t follow orders. Tch.’

It would have been nice if my body was healthy.

Ah. But then, maybe I wouldn’t have met Lilac?

I wouldn’t like that.

Maybe just now, this body, is good enough.

Having judged so, something I wanted to try suddenly came to mind.

As much as I like children. I also listened to and sang many lullabies.

Wouldn’t Jahy, who hadn’t received such things yet, like it if I sang one as a gift for becoming family?

So I started humming quietly. Come to think of it, the pain had disappeared sometime ago, and I felt the touch of warm blankets. Perhaps the place I was lying was a guest room in the Central Temple.

And the small presence I felt on top of me was Jahy.

Slowly raising my hand, I stroked the back of Jahy lying on top of me.

But then my other hand was taken away from the side.

Knowing it was Lilac, I just entrusted it to her and continued patting Jahy’s back.

Sounds of delighted giggling could be heard.

Lilac was kneading and playing with my hand.

My eyes remained closed.

Just being like this felt good.

I delivered the humming through my mouth.

“Sleeping in an angel’s cage~.”

Simultaneously smiling slightly, I hugged them both.

“My lovely baby.”

“In our small house within dreams,”

“A warm breeze awaits.”

I simply sang the lullaby from a manga I knew in my past life.

That manga was quite shocking too.

My life is also spectacular and fun.

And so, only my lullaby echoed in the room.

It’s a truly pleasant warmth.