Volume 7, Chapter 64 – Showdown

Unease.

The inability to calm one’s heart.

Like an ant on a hot pan.

No matter how she tried to distract herself, her attention would always return to her chest, followed by an endless sense of guilt and culpability.

“Hmph…”

The immense mental pressure made her chest feel almost breathless. Laxy, having left the temple courtyard, couldn’t help but let out a long breath.

Did a nun just greet me?

Because she was so distraught, she hadn’t paid them any mind.

How utterly rude.

Laxy couldn’t help but look back at the path she had come from. The stone-paved path was empty, with not even the sound of birds or insects. It was like an entrance to a secret realm. The silent environment even gave Laxy a sense of being in a trance. Did what just happened really happen? Was it all just her imagination? Perhaps she was on her way to the courtyard, and the scene of arguing with Edith was just a figment of her imagination. If she continued down this path, she might see her master and her family waving, smiling and saying, “You’re late”.

“No… impossible.”

Laxy rejected the fantasy in her mind.

“More importantly, if I go back now, I might still be able to apologize to the nuns…”

Before she could finish, Laxy’s voice trailed off.

Although an apology could make up for her rudeness just now, it was only a temporary fix. The problem within her had not been resolved. If the nuns were to ask her, “Are you not feeling well?”, how should she answer?

In order not to expose the Source of Mana, should she lie and say she was fine?

But anyone who knew how to read people could see that something was wrong with her. In the past, even Mary had quietly asked her if something was on her mind. If she were to lie to the nuns and say she was fine, she would have to act in a way that made them believe her. But she does not have that ability right now.

Not to mention, one lie requires countless other lies to support it. In other words, once she lied, in order not to be found out, she would have to continue to lie for the sake of that first lie. By the time she looked back, steeled her resolve, and was ready to admit it, she would find that because of the string of lies, she had already fallen into a predicament where she could not go back and admit it. ¹ ah~ can releate

But besides doing so, what else could she do?

Not revealing the existence of the Source of Mana would lead to her master being trapped here forever, and at the same time, she would not be able to obtain the absolute support of the Pope of the Ymir Church. If it were just that, it wouldn’t be very important. Gota had a labyrinth. As long as they continued to clear it, even without going to other parts of the continent, they could still increase their strength. But the key was the Demon Lord’s letter of challenge. Although the Demon Lord had not specified what would happen if Yisi did not obtain the Source of Mana by a certain time, and it seemed there was a long grace period, that was looking at it from a positive perspective. If one were to think about it negatively, the Demon Lord could settle the score at any time. By then, staying in the unprotected city of Gota would be tantamount to waiting for death.

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If only I knew the final time…

In that case, she could tell Yisi about the Source of Mana at the last moment, allowing her to escape the Demon Lord’s punishment. Although she could do so now, a certain future and an uncertain future were two different things. If a person knew they would become rich in a year, they would unconsciously give up on working hard and wait for the moment to come. On the contrary, if they did not know this fact, they would continue to work hard for their livelihood during that year. And Laxy was in the opposite position of the example; Laxy was waiting for death.

If she knew the time of the Demon Lord’s arrival, then Laxy would have made ample preparations. Before that time came, she would have taught all her knowledge to Yisi. But because there was no time limit, Laxy had not been able to prepare herself. She wavered between wishful thinking and a sense of guilt, hoping that even without revealing the Source of Mana, she could continue to linger in this world.

“Damn it… what on earth am I hesitating about?”

Clearly, if she told Yisi about the Source of Mana, she would not be as sad as she was now. But to make the resolve and speak up was difficult. At first, Laxy had thought that the reason she was unwilling to speak up was that she was considering that if she were to leave Yisi, then in the future battle with the Demon Lord, Yisi might be defeated because she was not by her side. The Gospel’s guidance was to assist the hero; it did not specify what this assistance entailed.

But as time went on, Laxy discovered that this reason was just a facade. The deeper reason was that her own mentality had changed.

Now that the Kingdom of God had disappeared, who knew if an angel’s soul could return to the core crystal after death? Perhaps death now meant true death. If it were the initial Laxy, who had not properly appreciated this world with Yisi, she would have directly chosen to sacrifice herself and hand over the Source of Mana. “To prevent Yisi from being defeated in the future”, “not wanting to see Yisi’s grave”, these were all just excuses for her to continue to exist in this world.

If she just thought about it for a moment, she should have understood. If she did not hand over the Source of Mana now, Yisi would never have a chance to grow up, so there would be no so-called final battle defeat. The root of it all was just that she had become a coward. She had begun to fear death.

And it was precisely because she had discovered her own selfishness that Laxy could not lift her head in front of Yisi. Even making eye contact and talking had become a burden. Just as a person in rags would feel ashamed in front of a high-class noble, guilt and a sense of culpability made Laxy feel a deep-seated sense of indebtedness—and shame for her own cowardice.

Unconsciously, her chest once again felt a tightening pain, as if a huge rock were pressing down on it, making even breathing difficult. To make herself feel a little better, Laxy walked under the eaves of the temple to escape the sun.

Unconsciously, she took out an unsigned letter from her pocket.

This was the letter she had received from the nun this morning. According to the nun, the sender was a boy in ragged clothes. Laxy could very well guess that the boy was also just a go-between, acting on someone else’s orders. The person who wrote the letter did not want her to know his name.

Unless I go in person.

Laxy, who had already read the letter, bit her lip lightly.

The theme of this letter was a threat.

If Laxy did not go to the west district of the ninth floor of the labyrinth today, then all the people of Gota would meet with disaster because of her.

The letter neither specified what kind of disaster the people would suffer, nor did it explain the purpose of having her go to the ninth floor of the labyrinth. In the past, Laxy would have definitely ignored the contents of this letter. When she was very young, Trino Type 1 had emphasized not to investigate unnecessary things, otherwise curiosity would bring them destruction. A letter like this should undoubtedly be classified as such. But the current Laxy was not the Laxy of before. In her current state of unease, not knowing what to do, Laxy had naturally shifted her attention to a place far away from Yisi. That would make her feel a little better.

“The ninth floor of the labyrinth…” Laxy muttered in a low voice. “I’ll go and take a look tonight.”

During the day, she had to stay by Yisi’s side. This was her duty as a God-Forged Angel. A God-Forged Angel should always be in a state where they can complete their master’s orders at any time. But at night, when everyone was asleep, she, who did not need to sleep, had free time. In the past month, Laxy would read books, make clothes, recall sword techniques, or stand silently by Yisi’s side, waiting for her to wake up. But because it had been difficult to calm her mind recently, Laxy could only go to the labyrinth alone and pass the time by fighting.

“No wonder I couldn’t find you, Laxy. So you were here.”

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“Eek!”

A voice suddenly sounded in her ear, making Laxy’s shoulders jump. She was so startled that she couldn’t even hold onto the letter in her hand, and it fluttered to the ground with the wind.

The speaker was a young girl with twin-tails of silver hair, the ends of which were dyed blue. Her long dress, with a blue and white color scheme, gave her a sense of inviolable holiness.

It was Yisi.

Bending down, Yisi picked up the letter Laxy had dropped and returned it to her.

“Did I scare you? I saw that you looked very focused, so I didn’t want to disturb you. I thought you had finished thinking just now, but I didn’t expect to still scare you.”

“No… not at all…”

Laxy carefully put away the letter, not daring to look Yisi in the eye.

She had indeed been startled by Yisi, but it wasn’t because she was too focused, but because she was feeling guilty, afraid that Yisi would discover her worries.

Yisi tilted her head.

“Is that so?”

Laxy tried to change the subject.

“Weren’t you having lunch, my lord? Is the food not to your liking?”

“I’ve already finished,” Yisi shyly twirled the end of her hair. “I came to apologize to you on behalf of Camilla and Pepe. Leaving Camilla aside, Pepe only said those things to you because she cares too much about me. Please don’t take it to heart, Laxy.”

“Understood. I can understand Edith’s thoughts. It is my fault.”

If an angel were to appear in front of their master in a daze from time to time and not explain the reason, she, as an angel of guidance, would definitely step forward and question them. Not to mention, Edith was Yisi’s family. It was very normal for her to show her displeasure. Laxy could completely understand.

Laxy bowed to Yisi.

“I will apologize to Edith later. But please ask her to retract her statement about a God-Forged Angel being disloyal. That is the one thing I can never accept, no matter what.”

“Yes, I’ll tell her. You don’t have to go, Laxy. I’m really worried about what would happen if your two unyielding personalities were to clash. More importantly, is the letter in your hand the same one from before? The one that asked you to go to the east district of Gota to get a power core.”

“No, the first one has already been burned by me. This is a new letter.”

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Laxy handed the letter to Yisi. Yisi was stunned for a moment.

“Can I read it?”

“Of course. You are my master and have the right to read everything of mine.”

Unlike the Source of Mana, the letter was not something that needed to be hidden. Although she was indeed going to the appointment tonight, telling Yisi would not affect anything.

“To the angel. You must go to the west district of the ninth floor of the labyrinth to await our arrival before the end of today. Otherwise, the residents of Gota will suffer a catastrophic disaster because of your negligence… You must come alone. Is that all? It looks like a trap no matter how you look at it.”

“Yes. I have decided to investigate this matter. If someone were to meet with disaster due to my negligence, it would lower the status of angels in people’s minds.”

She had lied again.

Laxy unconsciously lowered her head.

Just as she had thought, one lie forces you to tell countless others to cover it up. She had already been cursed with this.

Yisi frowned slightly, putting on a thoughtful expression.

“Hmm, alright. If you want to go, then go.”

She agreed?

A look of disbelief flashed in her purple eyes. Laxy forgot what she was going to say for a moment. In her eyes, the meddlesome Yisi would at least say, “But you have to let me come with you”. For her to just let her go alone now was simply unbelievable.

Being able to go alone to vent her emotions, Laxy couldn’t help but feel a small thrill of excitement. But she quickly became dejected again.

On second thought, why didn’t Yisi say she would come with her?

Wasn’t it because her recent performance had been disappointing, and even Yisi had started to not care? Or perhaps, because she had lost her value, she had become dispensable?

Because of the matter of the Source of Mana, she had indeed not been urging Yisi to train recently.

This thought of both wanting Yisi to follow her and not wanting her to follow, made Laxy’s head feel dizzy. She subconsciously asked a question she would regret.

“My lord, what do you think of Pope Evelyn?”

“What do I think?” Surprised by Laxy’s sudden question, Yisi’s blue eyes widened slightly. “In what way do you mean, Laxy?”

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Although she really wanted to take back her question, the words were already out. Laxy could only brace herself and continue.

“I mean your feelings for Pope Evelyn. From my observation of you and her, it seems that the relationship between you is not just a simple one of interest…”

Why did she ask such a question?

The answer was, of course, for herself. More than the punishment for failing the challenge, Yisi seemed to care more about the reward for success, that is, restoring Evelyn’s freedom. What Yisi had always emphasized was exchanging the Source of Mana for Evelyn’s freedom. So, as long as she could clarify Yisi’s thoughts on Evelyn, her own choice might have a turning point—for example, if Yisi’s and Evelyn’s relationship was actually very bad, then she would have the idea that even if she didn’t hand over the Source of Mana, nothing bad would happen. Without the Pope’s support, she could just help her master gain the support of another party.

Of course, Laxy knew that this was just a form of self-comfort. No matter what Yisi’s and Evelyn’s relationship was, the threat of the Demon Lord was always the most important thing to pay attention to. But Laxy just couldn’t help but want to find some justification to ease her own guilt.

With a finger to her chin, Yisi tilted her head.

“Friends? Sisters? Hmm, although I don’t know what Evelyn thinks, objectively speaking, our relationship is something between friends and sisters. Of course, from my personal point of view, I think Evelyn and I are best friends.”

Laxy’s heart sank.

Since they were best friends, Yisi couldn’t possibly give up on finding the Source of Mana for Evelyn, right? Just as she had said in the courtyard just now, if there was something wrong with her body, Yisi would go with her to find the Kingdom of God after finding the Source of Mana. In other words, she came after Evelyn.

Although Laxy knew that such a thought was very selfish, and that Yisi was just acting in chronological order and had not ranked her companions in order of importance, Laxy still felt an indescribable sense of loneliness.

So that’s how it is…

How foolish of me to have asked such a question.

An uncontrollable, impulsive emotion stirred restlessly in her body.

Instead of torturing herself in a roundabout way, it was better to just end this purgatory with one blow.

Like an overheated machine, Laxy, her mind in a mess, gritted her teeth and laid her cards on the table.

“My lord, the Source of Mana is actually—”

“Onee-sama, Dominic is here to see you.”

Just as Laxy had resolved to end it, Camilla, who was slowly walking from the courtyard, interrupted their conversation.

Translator Note

lalalalala~ i dont see anything~