Endless Silver Machine

Aika hugged Wei Xi and returned with Liuyin to the ancient aviation magic ship "Yuktra Hill". Ling, who stayed here to monitor Misty and Will, came over.

"...Aika, your face is so red."

"Is there..." Aika immediately became nervous, "Probably not..."

"..."

Ling got closer to him with half-closed eyes, and Aika looked away with a guilty conscience.

"Are those two guys from the Nemesis Society here?"

At this time, Liuyin interrupted and asked as if ignoring the strange atmosphere between Aika and Ling.

After bidding farewell to Lan Ming and the others, Aika told Liuyin about Will and Misty on the way back to "Yuktra Hill".

Liuyin, who is a blue knight of the Holy See, also has a deep relationship with those two people, but Aika has warned Liuyin in advance that they have no hostility now.

"Well, those two people are in the room inside now." Ling then turned his attention away from Aika's face, "After going in, they never came out again."

"This place is all under Hitomi's surveillance. If they make any small moves, they will tell me in time."

Hitomi's figure also came to his side after Aika finished speaking.

"Foolproof."

She gave a thumbs up expressionlessly, then tilted her head and looked at Aika with a meaningful look.

Hitomi had seen everything that Ling had just suspected, and Aika was very worried that she would casually say that thing on a whim.

However, Hitomi's gaze only stayed on Aika's face for a few seconds, and then she stopped looking at him.

After a while, after Aika sent Wei Xi back to her room on "Yuktra Hill", she and Ling and Liuyin who were waiting outside the room came to the room where Misty and Will were "imprisoned" .

After entering their room, Misty, who was sitting on her knees in front of the bed, just turned her head slightly to look at Aika and the three of them.

Veer's injury was wrapped in a bandage. But it was not a medical bandage, and the wound had not been disinfected. At that time, Aika just tore up the tattered windbreaker and used it as an emergency bandage.

No one here knows how to standardize treatment, and there are no corresponding drugs. All that can be done now is to temporarily stop the bleeding.

Misty did all this alone. Of course, if Misty can't do it, Aika and Ling may lend a helping hand, but they can't help Will as a matter of course.

They owed Aika's family so much. Even if no lives have been claimed so far, such anger will never be extinguished by cheap sympathy.

Liuyin's appearance didn't seem to surprise Misty. She just glanced at her without any special thoughts, turned her head again, and returned her gaze to Weir.

In response, Liuyin just twitched his brows and said nothing.

When Aika walked into this room, he also brought a suitcase, which he asked for from the kingdom's pharmacist before bidding farewell to the royal capital. Aika threw the suitcase on the bed.

"There are bandages and medicine inside. If you don't want him to die, just do it yourself."

"……Um."

Misty just responded quietly.

Aika had nothing to say to Misty, and it seemed that the same was true for Ling and Liuyin.

After doing this, the three of them left the room.

After leaving the room, Liuyin, who had been patiently silent, finally couldn't help but question Aika.

"What on earth are you doing? Do you really think they are the kind of normal people who would give up when they are about to die? You can't trust the Nemesis Society or anything like that, right?"

"That's it for now, Liuyin."

Aika murmured. He didn't want to waste any more energy thinking about what to do with Misty and Will.

He still hadn't forgotten how Misty cried hysterically when Veer collapsed.

Deep in his memory, in the same place, when he fell, he heard Lolo's hysterical crying in his hazy consciousness.

He probably projected Luo Luo's figure onto Misty, so he didn't want to do anything rough to her now.

Aika convinced herself to accept it.

Liuyin seemed dissatisfied with Aika's answer and still felt aggrieved. But now that Aika has made her decision, she can't say anything more.

"Is there any explanation from Lan Ming?"

Ling steered the conversation in another direction, temporarily taking the troublesome matters about the Nemesis Society off the table.

Aika briefly told her about the rebellion that was now happening within the Bis Empire.

"Really...it has become like that."

Listening to Aika's description was like listening to news that had nothing to do with him. It made sense that Ling didn't show too much wavering.

She covered her mouth and yawned silently.

No one had much rest during this period, and even Ling felt a little tired.

"Ling, you should go back to your room and rest first. I'll just watch over here."

"That's it. I'm going to go to the bathroom for a while. I feel all sticky."

"Yeah. Liuyin, why don't you come with us?"

"Later...I'll go see Xiao Xi first."

Liuyin found an excuse to run away, probably she wasn't used to bathing with girls other than Wei Xi.

There are only two people left here, Aika and Hitomi.

It's the same feeling every time. When the surroundings suddenly become quiet after experiencing various complicated things, there will be an illusion of eerie silence. At this time, I often feel a dull pain in my head. I wonder if it is a side effect of overthinking.

Hitomi quietly sat down on the seat next to Aika, and then opened her hands to Aika.

"Um?"

Aika didn't immediately understand Hitomi's actions.

"Xue Chao Xiji has done this before. Doing this seems to make the master feel at ease, and the master likes to do this, right?"

"ah……"

Aika felt her cheeks suddenly become hot. It turns out that Hitomi had seen all the scenes of him clinging to Wei Xi and dozing off at that time. In fact, this kind of result will be known after just thinking about it.

Aika did not refuse Hitomi's kindness. Now I really want to not have to think about anything, just close my eyes and rest for a while.

Maybe Hitomi realized that she had this need, so she did this.

"Then I'll trouble you, Hitomi."

Aika lay down with Hitomi's knees as pillow, and Hitomi just put her hand gently on Aika's lower abdomen.

She would not talk to Aika about insignificant little things like Wei Xi did, as if singing a lullaby softly.

She just lowered her eyes quietly and stared at Aika's sleeping face.

Aika didn't hate being looked at with her gentle eyes. Moreover, lying in her arms was very comfortable and reassuring.

"Master...will destroy the World Tree?"

Suddenly, Hitomi asked in a low voice.

Aika opened her eyes. Hitomi's eyes were staring at him, as if she wanted to find the answer from his pupils.

"If you will leave me if you destroy the World Tree, then I will definitely choose to keep you by my side."

Hitomi didn't ask any more questions.

Aika seemed to see an imperceptible fluctuation in her eyes at a certain moment, which might just be his illusion.

Not sure if she noticed that Aika had seen through her little thoughts, Hitomi raised the hand that was placed on Aika's lower abdomen and blocked Aika's sight of her with her palm.

"Okay, okay, I just want to sleep."

Aika did not continue to bully Hitomi and closed her eyes again as she wished.

In the darkness, warm little hands gently stroked his hair.

It turns out that being touched by someone can feel so reassuring, and being touched by someone you cherish will touch something deep in your soul.

——I will protect you no matter what.

——Not only Hitomi, but also all the people I cherish.

Aika knows that he is not a hero and cannot protect the entire world.

However, at least you can protect all the people you cherish that you can touch with your hands.

As long as people are alive, they will encounter troubles and pains one after another. Does it mean that people cannot be happy while they are still alive?

No one can give an answer to this question, and he can't answer himself.

Because the so-called "future" is as dark as the present.

Nothing can be seen, nothing can be touched.

It seems to exist eternally, but it does not exist in any corner.

——So... let's resolve it quickly.

In order to say goodbye to the eternal question mark.