Vol 2 Chapter 25 – Let’s Purify While She’s Sleeping!【Exile to the Empire Arc】

Jolt!

Roy bolted upright. He quickly assessed his current situation. He was on the bed, and the burns from the black flames… already healed. He pulled back the blanket to find Yukino there, as expected. Her outfit had gone from a pink sleeveless top to an even more revealing black tank top. At least she was wearing brown shorts on the bottom.

(Does this girl not see me as a man?)

Drool trickled from her mouth as she wore a blissful “ehehe~” expression. Roy shifted her arm so she was lying on her back.

(Come to think of it, she was pretty vocal during the last purification… Honestly, with Manabu and Sarina around now, I should probably do this while I have the chance.)

Roy gently placed his hand on her left breast, careful not to wake Yukino. The Purification Ring began to resonate, and the surface of his hand started to glow faintly. In the next moment, a voice called out from behind him.

“Roy, you’ve become quite the scumbag in the five years we’ve been apart, haven’t you?”

“Wha—! You!?”

Startled, Roy’s hand sank deeper. Soft flesh spilled through the gaps between his fingers, and beneath the black tank top, a glimpse of pink bra peeked through.

“Mmm… ah, hah… a-ah… mm, nnn…”

“My my, those are moans leaking out, you know? To continue even after I’ve caught you—mentally, you’ve surpassed the Black Knight Kairo.”

“You… could it be, Sophia?”

“…I thought you’d forgotten about me.”

“No, there’s no way I could ever forget you.”

Sophia, who had been sitting in a chair in the room, slowly stood and walked toward Roy. With each step, Roy’s instincts screamed danger.

(This is bad. Is she angry? I’m—I’m gonna get slapped!!)

Sophia climbed onto the bed, grabbed Roy’s right arm, and said:

“You should let go now. She looks rather confused, don’t you think?”

“Huh?”

When Roy looked to the right, he saw Yukino’s face flushed red, teary-eyed, her mouth opening and closing wordlessly. “S-sorry,” Roy said as he pulled his hand away. Yukino sat up, crossed her arms over her chest, and replied, “…N-no, it’s fine.”

“Well, I suppose it’s better that you at least recognized my face and said my name. I’ll be waiting downstairs. Let’s have breakfast and I’ll explain everything.”

Click. Silence…

“Roy-san, what is your relationship with that woman?”

“She’s a former imperial noble I took in at my village five years ago. Silver hair is rare in my village, right? She was being bullied because of it. Honestly, it made me sick to watch… After I helped her that time, she started calling me her ‘husband.'”

Yukino suddenly leaned in close.

“So, are you going to marry her?”

“N-no… I can’t really think about that right now.”

“O-oh good… Wait! I-I don’t have any ulterior motives, okay!? None at all!”

Yukino covered her face with her hands and shook her head vigorously. Watching her, Roy chuckled softly and placed his hand on her head.

“I’m not gonna leave you alone. You and I are in this together, right? Once everything’s over, I’ll find a way for you to get back home, so let’s keep working together, partner!”

“Yes… I may be inexperienced, but please continue to rely on me!”

Status
Roy & Yukino (Shadow Mage, Healer)
Gram +60
Total Power: 5690
Holy Sword Enhancement
Thyrsus +60
Total Power: 5130
Skill Improvement
Sarina (Spear Master)
Meteor Spear – An A-rank spear imbued with electricity. Originally the Demon Spear Keraunos, most of its special effects were lost when purified. Currently reduced to a high-grade spear that’s simply mithril enchanted with lightning.
Manabu (Earth Mage)
Meteor Grimoire – An A-rank spellbook that boosts earth magic. Originally the Forbidden Grimoire, most of its special effects were lost when purified. Currently reduced to a high-grade spellbook with an added earth magic enhancement effect.
Sophia (Holy Knight)
Holy Spear Longinus +90
Total Power: 8710
Magical Amplification: Overload
This time Roy and Yukino performed a purification act, but since they didn’t possess enough corruption for their enhancement values to increase, there was no gain.
Thyrsus matched with Gram early on through the Purification Ring, so while sacrificing its weapon properties, it retained its potential as a dark weapon and was exempted from transforming into the Meteor Staff. The deleted weapon property was Sensitivity Increase in both good and bad ways.
As for experience points, dark weapons are directly converted into the weapon without purification. Holy weapons without the Purification Ring slowly filter (purify) experience before conversion, so reflection takes time.
Holy weapons with the Purification Ring filter the corruption of those they touch in seconds, converting it to both the matched partner and themselves, essentially granting Experience Gained +X%.
The village chief made a statement about only being able to purify the surface, but in reality, he’s purifying far beyond the surface—even blasting away weapon properties and names. This will be revealed later, so it’s not a plot inconsistency.
Sophia’s high enhancement value is because she obtained her holy weapon much earlier than Roy.
Sophia’s Magical Amplification: Overload is highly versatile. Early on, she vaporized the temple where the artifact was housed—which had the mass of a pyramid despite having collapsed—with an extreme beam to destroy evidence.
Additionally, she can consume magic power to explosively accelerate the filtering speed, so she won’t fall behind Roy—rest assured. (Weakness: fuel efficiency)