Chapter 176: Chapter 174: May The Friga Be With You

I want you to hug me…

When I first heard that, I thought she meant she wanted to have a relationship, but you have to listen to someone’s words all the way through to understand their true meaning.

“Do you just want me to hug you?”

“Yes, just… before you sleep, just lie down and hug me.”

Fortunately, what Flang meant wasn’t “that kind of meaning.”

She simply wanted to be held… Indeed, it would be unreasonable to ask for such a thing in such a serious situation.

I knew better than anyone that she wasn’t that oblivious, having fought alongside her for six months.

“…I think if you just do that, I can calm my mind.”

“…You’re asking purely for comfort, right?”

“Yes, purely for comfort.”

Flang answered me immediately, ensuring there was no misunderstanding.

Feeling relieved, I calmed my tense chest and prepared to grant Flang’s request.

Just the simple act of hugging her small, delicate body with my arms.

-Rustle.

…Wait a moment.

Why is she suddenly taking off her clothes?

“Wait, stop!”

I came to my senses when Flang was down to her underwear.

Seeing her about to take those off too, I quickly stopped her and turned my gaze away, asking in a strained voice.

“Why are you taking off your clothes all of a sudden?”

“I think I can feel it better this way.”

Feel what, exactly?

-Thud.

Before I could fully understand her meaning, Flang had taken off her underwear too.

Realizing she was naked, I quickly looked away, but Flang, as if expecting this reaction, quietly moved to the laid-out bedding.

“…It’s okay if you refuse. It’s just to calm my troubled mind.”

As she slid into it, she said to me.

“If you think my request is unreasonable… you can just go to another room.”

“No, it’s not unreasonable, but…”

I could easily hold her, but the fact that she was naked inevitably made me uncomfortable.

Especially given her petite build, the risks were even greater, and moreover, I already had someone in my heart… No, come to think of it, Airi had allowed my relationship with Flang. �

It shouldn’t cross any lines, but if it was just before that stage, she might overlook it.

“Just so you know… I’m doing this because you asked me to.”

Right, as long as I was clear about it.

Purely for comfort, just fulfilling her request while she was naked.

“Yes, please.”

“Just hugging. Nothing more…”

“Yes, just hug me.”

Flang responded nonchalantly to my overly cautious questions.

Then she pulled back the blanket she was in and gestured for me to join her.

“Just until you fall asleep, like a doll…”

-Gulp.

As I swallowed with my dry throat.

I tried to calm my nerves and reached out to hug Flang’s body under the blanket.

“Then, shall I hold you…?”

A cautious question.

With that, my arms slowly began to wrap around her delicate body.

Her pale skin, thin arms and legs, and slightly protruding…

“…Ugh!”

My hand froze in guilt as I felt my body touch hers.

I quickly pulled back, but Flang just stared at me without any expression.

“…Hehe.”

A faint laughter followed.

There was a hint of playfulness in her expression that I hadn’t noticed before.

“Always treating me like a child, but now you’re nervous when it comes to touching me in this form?”

No matter how outwardly fragile the girl seemed, she reminded me that she was a being that had lived for over a thousand years.

“You’re cute, Master.”

“…Don’t tease me.”

Cute, indeed, although it was usually me teasing her like that.

But this wasn’t the right situation to make a joke and tease her.

She was my companion, my teacher, and someone who had proven her loyalty to me over the past six months.

For her, all the events happening on this earth were unbearably hard to witness just by watching.

-Rustle.

Yes, this provocation might be her way of coping with such a harsh reality.

Accepting her actions as they were, I steadied myself and went under the blanket to hug her.

“Is this okay?”

“…Yes, it’s fine.”

Her head rested on my chest, and my hands began to embrace her back.

That was the best position I could manage.

If I moved unnecessarily, I might touch somewhere inappropriate or stimulate her too much, leading to an irreversible situation.

“How does my body feel?”

To the extent that such thoughts crossed my mind, I was feeling drawn to her.

It wasn’t just because she took off her clothes.

If it was just that, I wouldn’t have accepted her, and I would have left the room the moment she undressed.

“Isn’t it too stiff? Or perhaps too hard to touch. Or maybe you don’t find it attractive…”

“…No.”

On the contrary, showing me her naked body meant that the distance between us had decreased.

That meant she trusted me, and the closeness we had built so far became more pronounced.

“It’s not bad. Actually, it’s soft…”

“Is it?”

“…Yes, soft.”

We trusted each other.

And we both believed that this relationship would continue.

“You’re warm.”

As I was feeling those thoughts, she whispered.

“…Yes, really warm. Your embrace is.”

She buried her face in my chest and began to exert pressure on one of the arms that embraced her.

“I want to feel you more.”

“…Is that okay?”

“No.”

Flang closed her eyes, savoring the feel of my touch.

I could clearly feel her lips curling into a smile against my skin as she traced my arm with her lips.

She seemed genuinely content, not pretending, just satisfied with feeling my warmth.

“…This is the first time.”

How long did that joyful silence last?

Flang, still holding my face, began to whisper to me again, absorbing the warmth.

“This is the first time I’ve ever asked someone I serve for something like this.”

Her voice was cautious and slightly trembling.

The anxiety I sensed from her was likely due to her own feelings of guilt.

Was it because she was asking something of me, or because she felt helpless to act in the face of the events unfolding on this earth?

“…You’ve never done this with anyone else?”

“Of course not. I had a fulfilling life even without asking.”

Continuing with words tinged with guilt, Flang closed her eyes and summarized her life to me.

“I would sleep until an era needed me, then wake up, complete my tasks, and wait to sleep again. That was my mission, and fulfilling it was my only reward.”

Just a useful tool, or a slave…

Someone might see her life that way, but that wouldn’t apply to her.

She genuinely found joy in serving others. The past six months were enough to make me realize that.

“But in this era, I had to hide my true self and pretend to be human instead of fighting.”

And that realization made me understand how mismatched her initial appearance was when we first met.

“For me, who is meant to serve humans, pretending to be in a position above them… It was more than just wearing ill-fitting clothes; it felt blasphemous for someone like me.”

She hated the reality of not being able to fulfill her mission.

She resented the era that forced her to do so and felt powerless for having to accept it reluctantly…

“…That’s why I’m grateful to you. If someone else had found me, I wouldn’t have had this kind of relationship.”

Having been filled with such emotions, she must have cherished our time together even more.

“Because you found me, I could genuinely enjoy the joy of serving humans, even if only in form, rather than being above them.”

She was telling me that the time we spent together had been a source of fulfillment and joy for her.

She was honestly expressing that the trust and gratitude I felt for her were not one-sided.

“I wish we could continue this way… Why doesn’t the world allow even such simple relationships to last?”

But her next words indicated that our relationship wouldn’t last forever.

Before I could understand what she meant, a crack echoed, and my body, holding her, froze on the spot.

“Gah!!”

My breathing became labored, and my body started tingling. I felt my consciousness fading.

What… What is happening?

“…I’m sorry, Master.”

Amid the incomprehensible situation, a faint voice reached me.

By the time I realized it was Flang speaking, she had already left the bed and stood up.

“If I said I would stay here, even someone as kind-hearted as you might have to stay too.”

Stay here? What was she talking about?

Even though it was hard to accept the events here, hadn’t we decided to coolly leave and plan for the future?

“That won’t do. As someone who must serve you, I can’t put you in danger because of a problem that started with me.”

I wanted to ask for an explanation, but shock had already paralyzed me, leaving only gasping breaths escaping my lips.

Even that didn’t last long as my vision darkened, and my hand intended for Flang fell helplessly to the ground.

“…So, goodbye, Master.”

And finally, my consciousness sank into darkness.

“May Friga’s blessing be with you.”

Only that unexplained farewell lingered in my ears.

“Gasp!!”

As soon as I recalled that farewell.

My stiff body jerked upright, and my gaze darted around.

I woke up in the same room in the cathedral where I had fallen asleep.

But the person who should be beside me was nowhere to be seen.

“Flang, Flang!”

Damn it, did she undress just to make me let my guard down?

How long had I been asleep? Where could Flang be now… could it be?

“Hero.”

I quickly armed myself and was about to head to where I thought she might be.

But the expedition members standing in my way were waiting with tense faces.

“This way…”

Among them, Sanson gestured to me as if to show me something.

I was worried that I couldn’t see Flang, but since they woke up before me, they might know something.

Judging that, I followed Sanson to the upper floor of the cathedral, and my breath caught in my throat as soon as I saw the view of the city outside the window.

“What… What is that…?”

Unlike yesterday, the mist had cleared, revealing the entire cityscape.

In the eerie dawn air, the grotesque creatures that had been swarming the city yesterday were now clearly visible.

None of the grotesque creatures were moving; they were all dismembered, and their severed parts were burned.

The army we thought we couldn’t defeat was annihilated overnight, greeting us in that state as we looked down on them.

“That, could it be…”

No, there was one person who could have done this.

If the girl who swore never to harm humans had broken that taboo and done this.

“This is Flang’s message.”

The girl who broke that taboo was now speaking to me through Sanson.

“I have cleared the way to the exit just in case. So, once the Hero wakes up, please leave me here and return to the Empire,” she said.

The catastrophe that unfolded while I was unconscious taught that this was not all she intended to do in the city.

-KKKKKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEKKKK!!!!!

As if to prove that it was still happening.

Screams erupted from the cathedral in the center of the city, echoing throughout the city.