Chapter 243: Leo’s Decision
"So, you go around helping people with the powers of the goddess of the dead?" I asked her, still skeptical.
It was hard to believe that the goddess of the dead was actually kind and charitable, doing good deeds across the warm land of the living.
"Of course not. I can’t help everyone on the face of the earth." She gave me a faint smile. "My feet only carry me where Hel asks me to go, and I only help a few people."
"Let me guess—the people Hel asks you to help?"
"That’s right."
I sighed at her answer. Her way of thinking seemed to revolve solely around the half-corpse goddess.
I didn’t distrust Equidna. She had helped me a lot so far, and nothing she said seemed false, but something didn’t feel right. I felt as though my insides were twisting, as if they were trying to warn me.
’She said Rick is coming here, but what proof do I have of that? How do I know he’s really coming?’ That doubt lingered in my mind.
"Ooh!" Equidna exclaimed in surprise as she looked at the ground. "It seems one of my eyes has just returned."
By the time I realized what she meant, the black gecko was already climbing up her clothes until it reached her open palm.
"Perhaps you need some proof, don’t you? Anyone can make claims, but actually proving them is harder. So, I sent one of my familiars underground to look for Rick."
"Underground?"
"That’s right. A little while ago, he was declared wanted for holding the princess hostage, so all the guards are on alert in case they spot him. If there’s still a way in, it’s through the sewers."
More mud merged with the reptile, forming a bubble that floated in the air right in front of me.
Unlike the creatures created by the young woman, it wasn’t quite as dark and reflected some of the light coming through my window.
"Now let me show you your friend Rick," she said, then snapped her fingers.
At that moment, the sphere in front of me changed. Images appeared on the surface of the bubble, showing a man roughly my height accompanied by a group of women. They were fighting a myriad of Giant Rats.
"That’s Rick? He’s much taller and stronger than he was a few weeks ago."
It wasn’t just his height. Rick had no combat skills, yet there he was, cutting through a line of Rats at full speed as if they were nothing.
Aside from those changes, his eyes, hair, and some of his facial features looked genuinely familiar to me.
I didn’t recognize any of them except for one of the girls—the young woman with red hair tied in a ponytail.
"Sarah."
"That’s right. Your friend Sarah is with him and has been helping him ever since they fled their hometown. Some Silver Fang soldiers who served under those two witnessed what happened." Equidna pointed at two young women appearing in the bubble. "Erina Ashburn and Justine Blackwood. They’re currently wanted as well after abandoning their mission to accompany him."
"I can’t believe it..." I stared at the images in astonishment.
"That white-haired woman is the princess’s former bodyguard." To show me how serious the situation was, she pulled some papers from inside her clothes. "These were distributed to every soldier in Backwater."
I took the yellowed papers. They contained composite sketches of almost everyone appearing in Equidna’s bubble.
It was true. My friends were officially fugitives, with bounties on their heads for kidnapping a high-ranking noblewoman—the daughter of the most important man in the Kingdom of Ashia.
Reality hit me like a hard punch to the stomach. I looked at the papers and then back at the bubble, searching for a reason not to believe the words of Hel’s follower.
"And what about that blonde girl? She isn’t in any of the composite sketches. And the pink-haired one?" I pointed at a short woman with green eyes and a well-endowed young woman who seemed to be her complete opposite.
"We have no information about where that young woman came from. Unfortunately, my power couldn’t capture any sound, but that blonde girl..."
"What about her?"
Equidna sighed, as though she regretted what she was about to tell me.
"I shouldn’t share this kind of thing with you, so this information doesn’t leave this room, understood?" she told me in a serious tone I had never heard her use before. "Otherwise, I can’t guarantee your safety."
My eyes widened, and then something clicked. I couldn’t believe the realization that had just hit me.
"Don’t tell me that’s the princess," I said, afraid that the walls might hear me.
Equidna nodded. "Apparently, he’s been using the princess as the party’s healer."
I was completely stunned. The evidence before my eyes didn’t seem fabricated. Rick and Sarah had become criminals, and now they were coming after me. If necessary, they would kill me.
"Leo, what do you think now?"
I couldn’t help but let out a dry laugh. "That’s a cruel question to ask. I’m just surprised, but it doesn’t seem like you’re lying."
It hurt to think that way about my former friends. I truly didn’t want to believe it. But what else could I think, given everything that had been laid out before me?
Nothing came to mind, so I accepted Equidna’s claims about them.
"Leo, I know they’re your friends, and I know that’s a hard pill to swallow, but you have to make a decision."
"My decision?"
The woman with two-toned hair nodded, staring at me with a serious expression.
"I’ve already explained their goals to you, and now that you’ve seen him, you know he’ll be a formidable opponent for Laios. But there’s still a chance to defeat him."
"If I receive this blessing, would I really be able to defeat him?" I asked, pointing at Rick as he swung his sword.
"I don’t know for certain, but I believe so. I believe you can defeat him. All I ask is that you trust me and accept Hel’s blessing."
Equidna spoke with her hands clasped against her chest as though she were praying.
Equidna’s irises were a shade of brown that leaned towards red, and now more than ever, her eyes looked pleading and ready to shed tears.
"You’ve always wanted to become stronger, haven’t you? Well, this is your chance, but it may also be your last if we don’t act quickly."
I took a deep breath, calming my mind. She was right. I had always wanted to become stronger and protect others as I had once been protected. And now, that opportunity stood before me in the form of Equidna.
There was also the fact that I had to stop Rick. I couldn’t deny that I had wronged him, but that didn’t justify what he had done. It didn’t justify kidnapping a princess and forcing her to work for him.
’I hope I don’t regret this,’ I thought before finally saying, "All right."
"All right, you say..."
"I’ll receive Hel’s blessing."
"Aaaah!" Equidna let out a delighted squeal, looking more cheerful than ever. "Excellent, Leo! I promise you won’t regret it."
"All right, all right." I tried to hold her back as she practically threw herself at me. "Now, how do I receive this blessing? Do I have to pray to her or something?"
"Aah!" She seemed to have only just remembered that detail. "Well, normally, shaking my hand after you’ve openly accepted it would work..."
"Then let’s do it." I held out my hand to her.
"But unfortunately, in your case, that won’t be enough, Leo. Your body is kind of different and all that. In order to seal your blessing with Hel, we need to be together." Her voice grew quieter as she moved closer until, by the end of the sentence, it was barely above a whisper.
I thought I must have misunderstood her. Maybe she hadn’t meant what I thought she had, but Equidna’s flushed face didn’t lie.
She really had said we would have to have sex.
"Is this okay with you?" she asked me. "I mean, you like another woman, right?"
I felt conflicted because I did indeed love another woman, even though all I had left of her were memories from when I was younger.
I had saved myself for her and avoided other women because of that. But refusing now could, in the worst-case scenario, mean never seeing her again.
I shook off my remaining doubts. If I backed down now, it could be the end.
"Equidna, what about you? Do you like me?"
Her eyes seemed to shine when she heard my question.
"Yes," she replied without hesitation. "Ever since I first saw you, I’ve felt something for you."
I moved closer to her.
"Then that’s enough."
I leaned in and claimed Equidna’s lips in a kiss, moving quickly enough that my doubts had no time to return and plague my conscience.
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