Chapter 17: The Prey is Swallowed by The Darkness

I felt as if I was lying in a garden covered with flowers that delighted my nose. My whole body felt soft and at peace. Reminiscing the moments with my mother and father, I wondered how they were doing in heaven.

But when this thought occurred to me I woke up.

“Hn…”

“Hara… Haruto-sama, are you awake?”

“Where…?”

“This is my room.”

I heard a sweet voice that felt like melting my ears. So I rubbed my eyes,

And saw,

There were two huge lumps in front of me. And I was being comforted from my head and the back of my neck.

I moved my eyes away from the sun rays shining through the window. Then I noticed that my head was on Agnes-san’s lap, she was dressed in soft beige fabric. And this was the room where I had saved the three of them before, and now I was lying on the bed.

“I’m sorry. I’ll get up right away…”

“Haruto-sama, it’s okay.”

“No… I”

“You don’t have to be reserved, Haruto-sama, I sincerely hope that you feel comfortable and at ease with us.”

Agnes-san’s sweet voice stimulated me again.

“Have I been asleep this whole time?”

“Yes. Haruto-sama has been sleeping in this mansion for a long time.”

“I’m so sorry to have missed your party…”

“You don’t have to worry about it. More importantly, Haruto-sama…”

“?”

“Do you remember what I told you at the meal?”

“The rights…”

“Yes. We talked about rights. And about returning our favor…”

“Y-yeah.”

Sure they wanted to return the favor. There was no malice intended by these three. It was simply a word infused with genuine meaning. And yet, I was…

As I was racking my brains, Agnes-san bent over to show me her face. Her emerald eyes gently catch mine, a wistful expression. And lips that were threadbare.

I was comfortable as if I were floating in the air, and Agnes-san said,

“My husband was very kind and devoted to me, Alice and Carol. He was very dedicated to his work, but whenever anything happened to us, he would come to us immediately…”

Talking about her husband, huh? Indeed, Agnes-san’s husband gave his precious life to protect the beautiful mother and daughters from a mysterious group that had invaded the mansion…

“He never blamed me for not having a son and accepted me as I was…”

“He was a very good husband.”

“Yes… but… My dear, he… protecting us… in order to save us… he…”

“… You don’t have to say anymore, Carol told me about it. Hearing that story hurts my heart too…”

Remembering the painful past, Agnes-san bit her lip and her whole body shivered.

“I was very sad. I felt like a hole has been gauged in my heart… but my daughters, who are very dear to my husband, his blood, were hopeful for me. So I forgot the joy of being a woman and only looked after my daughters. I believed that one day when they would find their happiness, I would be happy too… and I lived on like that, enduring the grief of losing my love…”

Perhaps my mom had similar thoughts as hers.

“You have had a very hard life, Agnes-san…”

“Yes… but that probably goes for you too, Haruto-sama.”

“!!!!”

My body shooked. But all the impact was absorbed by Agnes’s thighs.

“From the moment I first saw your true face, I was dimly aware. I was convinced that you were someone who, like me, like us, was carrying the same darkness inside, and as I held you in my arms, I knew for sure that you were the one.”

“……”

“So I want to know. Haruto-sama’s darkness of the heart… your history.”

Saying this, Agnes-san gently patted my head. I felt a soothing fragrance wafting from her slender fingers.

And something black and dusky in my heart stirred.

But Agnes-san smiled at me with a benevolent expression like a goddess. It’s strange. Why did my heart feel so light? … Like she was trying to heal me.

If that’s the case, I would…

“My father was a soldier. He was a very good man, and his men all respected him, and his superiors praised him for his courage.”

“Looking at Haruto-sama, I can kind of picture him…”

“But my father died during training…”

“……”

“I also became a soldier just like my father to protect my mother, who was very sad about my father’s death. I didn’t want my mother to be lonely… but she ended up in the afterlife… too.”

“Such…”

“Then things happened, and I came to this country.”

That said, I turned my eyes away.

I had never told this to my friends or even my relatives, so how could I tell this to Agnes, who was from another world…

I bit my lip in frustration.

But when Agnes-san saw me, she…

“I want to give you a hug now… and share my warmth with you.”

Saying that, she raised my face a little and gently wrapped me in her huge marshmallow.

Even though I was already feeling like floating in the air, she even added a marshmallow of the highest quality to the mix…

I wondered if I should be allowed such a luxury…

“It’s fine. You have the right to enjoy all of it.”

“…!”

Was she seeing right through me?

“Haruto-sama.”

“Yes…”

“How are you feeling now?”

“It feels good… like I’m floating in the air…”

“I am a class 5 wizard who can use healing magic. I brought you into this room when you were asleep and kept casting healing spells to calm you down.”

“I see… no wonder…”

“Haruto-sama, joy is doubled by sharing and sorrow is halved by sharing. So…”

“……”

“Would you like to walk with us from now on?”

“I…”

“I want to know more about you, Haruto-sama…”

“About me…”

“Like, what do you want to do in this country?”

“I want to hunt… monsters and protect this country.”

“How wonderful… Alice and Carol will be happy to follow you… and then what?”

“I want the people here in the Kingdom of Laodecia to eat my country’s cuisine.”

“I heard from Carol, Lindsey and Elyse that tako-aki is very tasty.”

“It’s Takoyaki.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes, it is. And there are many other kinds of dishes like takoyaki. Once my store is set up I will sell yakisoba, okonomiyaki, too… and people will get to eat all of it.”

“Fufu.”

Agnes-san chuckled sexily and then gently took me away from her own bombastic embrace and put me back on her thighs again.

Then she gave me that sucking look again.

“I’d like to try some… of WHAT Haruto-sama makes…!”

“!”

I reflexively backed away from Agnes-san. The reason was… I didn’t have to say it.

“Oh my, why would you run away? There’s no reason for you to.”

“That’s true, but…”

Agnes-san seemed to have an accurate grasp of my situation as she backed away, got off the bed, and gave me a sympathetic look. But she had me trapped with her emerald eyes.

“I am sure Haruto-sama’s father and mother are happy. They must be proud of their son in heaven. Of course, I am not your parent, so I have no logical basis for this… but I can assure you.”

“……”

My mother and father… were they?

“But for those of us who have lost loved ones, Haruto-sama is a fine man who saved us. There is no lie or falsehood in our heart.”

“…..”

Agnes-san said and came closer to me, catching my eyes. I wasn’t under any spell, but I couldn’t move. Eventually, coming to a point-blank range, Agnes-san took my hand and brought it to her own bombastic breast.

Then, my hand was swallowed with extreme comfort. Her soft flesh absorbed the vibrations of my slightly trembling hand, as my senses were invaded with the scent of Agnes-san’s perfume and the mysterious sweet and sour smell.

And then,

“This is how I feel. Can you feel it?”

Her lustrous voice melts my brain.

“I don’t know what to say, but I…”

Even though I was trying to dodge the words, she knew everything.

I was,

Captivated.

“Haruto-sama will remain Haruto-sama. No matter what you do to me… to us, it won’t change who you are. You, who had a sad past and protected us, will always be Haruto-sama.”

“Ah…”

Oh

Ah…

Something was breaking…

Something dusky black way pulled out from inside of my roots…

I felt as if something I had been protecting would collapse at her words as my whole body was about to be sucked out.

I tried desperately to wrack my brains to find the answer to what it was, but in the end I failed.

Because,

I was being swallowed by a strange dark sensation.

[Postscript]

Don’t worry. The sisters will appear in the next chapter…

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