Chapter 93

“Haa… I wasn’t sure what was going to happen there . ”

The boy said with a sigh . The girl picked up the stones .

“Maki . ”

“Ah, Edwy . ”

When Edwy called, they both casually turned around . Then they saw how worried Edwy and Aaron looked, and they looked just a little guilty .

“Maki . Didn’t you say that you were 25 and that we didn’t have to worry about you?”

“Yes, and you don’t . But we didn’t say anything about sitting quietly . ”

“You always have an answer for everything . ”

Aaron scratched his head with annoyance . Maki watched him with amusement, then she looked behind him .

“Ah, it’s Zynis’s sons . ”

After all, they had the same face . As they had talked before, Maki stepped forward in order to greet them, but the distance remained the same .

“Uh . ”

“AH . ”

It was no surprise . After all, Dilon and Corete had taken a step back without thinking . Maki wondered what was going on when she suddenly felt a chill in her chest . Ah, yes . They had been watching what they did to the gazers . So they were scared . I see . Once Dilon and Corete realized this, they looked away with awkward expressions .

No one had ever been afraid of Maki and Chiharu before . If anything, people had been desperate in their attempt to protect Maki and Chiharu from the monsters . Either that or they would just watch as the monsters were turned into stone . But that was because they were close .

This couldn’t be helped . And she would remember it . This was the reaction of a normal person . If anything, it was good that they got it out of the way now . Maki would not have to be surprised the next time that this happened .

And so she did not go any closer to Dilon and Corete . Instead, she turned around to face Chiharu . It’s fine . She smiled . Chiharu had a hand to her chest as she looked at Maki worriedly . Chiharu was sad too . They were both sad .

Chiharu had touched her chest like that at the Midland castle as well . Sorry for laughing at you at that time . It hadn’t even stung this much when the inland strangers had talked to them . Maki maintained her smile as she looked down .

“Back then, everyone here was a stranger, Maki-chan . So we didn’t care what people said . They had nothing to do with us . ”

“Chiharu…”

She didn’t need to say anything . Chiharu understood .

Yes . This was their world now . And so it hurts to see someone they thought was a friend shrink back .

Maki looked like she was going to cry, and so Chiharu slowly approached her and threw her arm around her .

“To think that there are some who can’t even see the truth . Dogmen and youth are not what they used to be . ”

The voice of a birdman echoed in the silence . And they heard someone move behind them .

“Woah! Huh? Oh . ”

“You don’t need to act so surprised . ”

Said the big dog that pushed its head between them .

“Of course, I’m surprised! A 2-meter dog just appeared between us!”

The morose atmosphere was gone, as Maki joked and Chiharu threw her arms around Zynis’s neck .

“Dilon . Corete . ”

Zynis’s soft voice echoed . Maki shuddered when she heard the names . She sensed someone coming towards them from behind . They continued to hold onto Zynis .

“Huh? Ahhh!”

“Ahh!”

Something passed both Maki and Chiharu . Before they knew it, there were two very large dogs in front of them . Their ears were drooping a little sadly . One was ash-colored and looked like a smaller version of Zynis . The other was a light yellow and was very large .

“These two learned your great secret as Saintesses before they learned about how cute you can be . And so they were surprised . They are still young . ”

Zynis said .

“I’m sorry . ”

“I was shocked . ”

Their voices rang . Maki hesitated for a moment . But Chiharu stretched out her hand immediately .

Dilon was next to Maki and Corete was next to Chiharu . Maki looked at Corete and raised an eyebrow .

“Lass-”

“Stop it . Well, they do look a little similar in color . ”

Chiharu interrupted her .

“You could have at least let me say it . ”

“I thought we agreed to stop doing that . ”

As they stretched their arms out, the large dogs moved under them . And like that, their hands hesitantly started to pat the dogs, which were nervous and stiff . After a while, their tense bodies started to relax .

“See? The Saintesses are not scary, are they?”

Zynis said teasingly .

“That’s horrible!”

“We’re so quiet and calm!”

Chiharu and Maki said angrily . And then Dilon and Corete said,

“You’re not quiet at all . ”

“But, you aren’t scary . You’re warm . Just like us . ”

The words echoed in Maki and Chiharu’s ears, and then they turned to each other and nodded .

“Hmm . One of them is unfortunate . ”

“One of them does not pass!”

And then,

“Wh-what do you mean, I don’t pass!”

Dilon shouted .

“I didn’t say it was you…”

“Self-destruct . ”

“Y-you…”

Dilon shook angrily . However…

“You still have a long way to go . ”

Zynis said, immediately silencing him . It was rather sad to have to be told such a thing from a father who didn’t know how to read the room . However, they did learn something . These two humans were no different from the others . Just like we can transform, they were humans with a unique power . That’s all .

Well, they were still very strange .

“Aaah, the miasma is getting thinner . ”

Corete muttered . The air around them started to feel clearer .

“Oh, no . We have to hurry back before they close the back door . ”

Maki said frantically as she looked at the sky .

“You . Is that how you two slipped out?”

“We’ll talk about it later!”

Maki ignored Aaron’s exasperated voice as she started to run . But Edwy came in to stop her .

“What’s wrong with it being closed?”

“Edwy?”

“After all, I’m sure you told them that you wanted to go somewhere while keeping it a secret from your older brother?”

Maki’s shoulders slumped . How did he know? Edwy was surprisingly formidable .

“Uhh . ”

“We’ll just tell them that we caught you anyway . And then we can all return through the front . ”

I see . That seemed like a good idea . However…

“But being caught by my older brother will make me look stupid . I don’t think my pride will allow me to…”

“Pride? You do realize that we already found you?”

“Gg…”

Indeed, they did look quite stupid . And Edwy was angry . Maki’s instinct was ringing a warning bell . It was best to obey them in this instance .

“Alright, we’ll go back together . ”

“Good . ”

And then Edwy turned to face Zynis and the others .

“Well then . See you tomorrow morning . We’ll move at the same time as today . ”

Maki and Chiharu looked up at Edwy in surprise . Edwy nodded and said,

“We are going to rescue the captive merman . ”

Captive! What an idiot . Chiharu recalled Saia’s face . I don’t want you to help him . I just want information . That’s what he had said . He was so wrong! Damn it .

Chiharu grumbled like this in her heart . Edwy urged her on, and without looking back, he said,

“It’s thoughtless friends that hurt people . I told you that . ”

She felt a chill in spite of it being summertime . Perhaps it was because it was night .