My Childhood Friend the Demon Knight Hates Me - Episode 26: Clarification Section

26 Clarification Section

Translator: Lioness

Editor: Arya

The apostles were trying to hold her back, however she didn’t want to listen and ran towards the black swamp, it was — Marina-san.
　
Marina-san was a former spirit princess, she might have been less skilled than the other kidnapped spirit messengers. Seemingly, the brainwashing from the black butterfly quickly melted which resulted in her waking up.
　
She shook her long strawberry blonde hair and walked over to the man without a second thought.
　
Then without a slight hesitation, she jumped into the black swamp.

“Marina-san!”

I called out for her with a hint of a frustrated voice.
　
Reiss, Roa-kun, the apostles, myself, even Uur, the spirit was taken aback by her unexpected actions.
　
She didn’t care if the black sludge was tangled with her long, frilly skirt, she just walked over to the centre of the black swamp and took the hand of the man who was already submerged up to his waist.

“Marina, no! That man has been deceiving you! You have to get out of there! If you don’t, you’ll end up at …!”

“Yes. I heard you, Miss Suria. I couldn’t move my body because I was starting to lose my consciousness, but I could hear everything he was saying.”

“Then why …!”

The runaway demon would not let go of the new prey that specially came for him.
　
Marina’s body was being dragged to the bottom of the black swamp just like what was happening to the man.

“… I’m the one who revealed to him the true role of the Spirit Princess and the secret of the Holy Bell Festival. It’s not because I didn’t know what he was planning to do after, but I am responsible for causing this kind of situation. So to put in simpler words, I’m an accomplice, too.”

“No, …, but that doesn’t mean you have to be eaten by the devil too, Marina! You are not responsible for bearing that much guilt … with him!”
　
If you chose death together just because of guilt, you would be wrong.
　
In response to my almost screaming words, Marina’s golden eyes narrowed and she shook her head in frustration.

“I don’t think it’s such a big deal to bear the sins together. I just found out and realized that I was running and taking this person’s hand, thinking that someone should’ve grabbed it. I’ve known you for a long time. … Suria.”

“Yes, …”

“He didn’t give any details, just that he had a sister who was very important to him had died. That was all he told me. His face was the kindest … face I’ve ever seen, but his expression seemed gloomy. I knew right then and realized that I wanted to be by his side. I know I am stupid. I fell in love with this gloomy yet loving man who kept thinking about his long lost dead sister.”

“If he’s stupid, that’s the exact reason why I can’t cut him off for the devil’s ritual for Li,” Marina wrapped the man’s hand with both of her hands and smiled sadly. The clouds silently uncovered the moonlight and quietly illuminated these two sad persons.

“Of course, the act of sacrificing innocent people is unacceptable and unforgivable, therefore what this man has done is a great crime that should be punished. However I can’t curse or blame him. Even if he was just using me, I want to hold his hand until the end.”

“Marina, …”

“It’s what you call an unavoidable person, Mr. Bell. Really, an unavoidable person.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Just get your hands off of me, please!”

“If I let you go, you’ll be alone until the very end. That’s just too sad. So, because I have no choice, I’ll stay by your side until the last moment. I’m here because I want to be. … I’m sorry, Suria. You were trying to save me, but this is my decision.”

Marina looked at me and jokingly laughed, “Unlike me, please have a happy love life,” as she had said sometime before. The matching citrine rings on both of their sinking fingers caught the moonlight and cast a wistful glow.
　
Perhaps because the demon had left the man’s body and begun to run uncontrollably, the man called … Bell, who was regaining his sanity, then desperately tried to shake Marina off as far as he could move, but Marina refused to do so, and as a result both of their bodies fell into the demon’s darkness.

Oh, no.
　
I don’t want to do this.

“It’s too bad. …!”

“Suu?”

I didn’t hear Uur’s confused voice now, I put on the cloak Reiss gave me earlier and started running, kicking the ground with my bare feet.
　
I could see at the corner of my eyes that Reiss was startled and tried to raise his body to stop me, but it is alright, Reiss. I’ll just try what I can think of in this spur of a moment, so I won’t do anything rash. I’m more worried about your (Reiss) condition, which is getting worse and worse by the looks of it.

Talking to Reiss in my brain, I picked up the queen’s jewelled sword that was randomly lying around. Holding it with my hand which felt good as a result of my training, then I approached the black swamp.
　
Standing just in front of the liquid, I raised the sword and thrust the tip of it into the swamp.

“Su, Suria-san, what are you …?”

Marina’s eyes widen at my unexpected behaviour.　

―――― This treasure sword that the spirit queen had bestowed upon on the spirit messenger who served beside the first king.

If I let my spiritual power flow into this, which seemed to possess the qualities of purification in the midst of being blessed by the Queen, I think I could destroy the devil’s plan.

That was what I thought, and that was what I did.

It was just a baseless idea that came to my mind when I saw the discarded treasure sword along with Marina’s ring glowing in the moonlight. There was no guarantee that it would work. It was really just an idea.

There existed a saying that went by; ‘It’s better to try than not and regret.’
　
Marina-san taught me how to handle the treasure sword. I focused myself and began to imagine my spiritual power flowing from the edge of the sword down to the blade. I hoped that it would counteract the black swamp.

I honestly didn’t care about the man who did this, I only want to help Marina.
　
I want to save Marina, because she has yet to see my completed sword dance.

What?

I could feel the spiritual power being drained from my body. I felt a sudden surge of fatigue wash over me. Somewhere in the distance, there was a wraith calling out to me, “Suria!” I thought I heard Reiss’s voice in the distance, calling me with concern.

My vision went white.

“Aah!”

It was a scream that resembled the roar of a beast and the scream of a demon who was probably inside that man.
　
The apostles, starting from Roa, murmured in amazement.
　
The tip of the sword, which had been sinking into the swamp, fell to the hard floor with a bang sound.

The black swamp had disappeared without a single trace before I knew it, and the ground had returned to it’s normal sight as if nothing had happened. The man and Marina were both safe. Both of them collapsed and fainted.　

Confirming that they were still alive, I was relieved that I had taken the right action and slumped to the floor with a thud.

I didn’t know that …
　
I’ve never heard of this. I guess the loss of spiritual power makes you dizzy if you used it too much.　

In addition to the general lassitude, a sudden sleepiness consumed me. My nerves were broken, then I slowly closed my eyelids and surrendered to sleep. I’ll let someone else do the rest.

Just before I completely lost my consciousness…
　
I could see Uur and Roa-kun rushing towards me, but Reiss just stared at me from a distance and didn’t even make a move.
　
He bit his lip and made a very pained face.
　
It was as if he really wanted to be close to me, but something invisible was holding him back. I think it was just my desire to see Reiss face close to mine before he collapsed.

Hey, Reiss…
　
The next time I woke up, I’m going to give you a —-, and that’s when my thoughts stopped.