Editing Saijaku Muhai no Bahamut:Volume 4 Episode 5 (section)

===Part 1===

「With this we can relax somewhat. Everyone, thank you for your hard work.」

Relie said that to the members of Syvalles who returned to the boardinghouse and finished their medical treatment and dinner.

The alarm that was activated at the seventh floor’s manufacture area settled down and they were able to safely open the direct passage from the eighth floor to the deck.

They found Airi who was separated from them and there was no member who was seriously harmed.

Philuffy also fell into fever because she fought an Orthrus and collapsed, but her condition was settling down right now.

Tomorrow they would finally aim to reach the control area and the deepest floor. Tonight they would retire to bed.

After Lux talked to Airi who was separated from the group in the afternoon and everyone who fought the Orthrus, Lux visited Philuffy’s room.

「How do you feel, Phi-chan?」

「Nn……. I think, I’m hungry.」

When Lux asked, Philuffy got up and said that.

When Relie asked her about what happened right after she woke up, it seemed that Philuffy didn’t remember anything after she went out of the Ark chasing after the Orthrus.

It was fortunate that she didn’t remember about herself running wild right after that and also about the conversation with Hayes.

「Then, you’ve already woken up, so do you want to eat something? Something like fruits, I asked Krulcifer-san to cut various things──」

「Yes. Thank you.」

「Then, I’ll feed you today.」

Normally Lux couldn’t do that because he would feel embarrassed, but he was able to act naturally towards the current Philuffy.

(It feels like we returned to when we were children……)

Lux recalled the period when he spent time with Philuffy both inside and outside the palace.

Lux used a fork to carry the assortment of fruits Krulcifer had cut for him bit by bit into Philuffy’s mouth.

Philuffy was continuing to eat them silently with her mouth moving like a small animal.

「Is it delicious?」

「……Yes」

It was a short reply, but Lux could sense Philuffy’s happiness from the slight change of her expression.

「Lu-chan too, eat with me.」

Philuffy silently took the fork from Lux’s hand and stabbed at the orange on the plate.

And then she silently presented it towards Lux’s mouth.

「Eh……!? I, I’m fine. Besides──」

It was the same fork Philuffy just used, so he felt a bit embarrassed.

Lux thought like that and his heart pounded hard. Seeing such Lux, Philuffy brought her face close towards him.

「Here.」

She urged him with an attitude that didn’t bother at all about Lux’s rejection.

「…………」

As expected, he wasn’t a match against Philuffy.

The orange that was steadily fed to him felt especially sweet.

「……Then, rest at ease until your body recovers okay? If you need something, call someone right away.」

After the fruit plate was emptied, Lux turned off the lamp’s light and he was about to leave──.

「Lu-chan.」

Her single word that he suddenly heard caused Lux to twitch and stiffen.

The Ratatoskr of Yggdrasil that was planted on Philuffy’s heart.

It wouldn’t be strange even if the impulse of the command that Hayes sent to Philuffy through the Yggdrasil ran wild anytime.

When Lux turned around nervously,

「It’s no good, if you act too recklessly you know?」

He saw the usual gentle face of Philuffy there.

But, Lux’s expression froze seeing that face.

One of Philuffy’s eyes was dyed jet black, the golden pupil in it was shining.

But, Philuffy’s expression was the same as usual. It was unknown whether she noticed it herself or not. Lux stared at her in a daze.

「……Right, I, know.」

He barely nodded back and Lux left the room.

「Rest well, Phi-chan.」

And then he quietly closed the door. Lux walked in the corridor with heavy footsteps.

After walking for around a few mel, he knocked his forehead on the wall.

「Uu……, a, aa……」

The inside of his head was going around in circles, the world warped.

His limbs shook and he didn’t know what his expression looked like.

「How……! Why!? Did I not save Philuffy that time……!? Why, why, I──」

When Lux headed towards another room as though running away, there was Relie standing in the middle of the corridor.

「Thank you for looking after her, Lux-kun.」

Her face didn’t have her usual joking expression, it was a face that somewhat looked quiet.

「How about, we talk a little?」

Following Relie’s words, Lux headed towards another room away from that place.

「Looking at your face, it looks like you have noticed it already haven’t you?」

Lux guessed the truth from Relie’s extremely calm words.

「Do you know, about Philuffy’s condition……?」

Lux asked with an empty expression.

It was a dark voice that was chilly even for him.

「I don’t know as far as the specifics, but I too only realized it recently.」

Relie opened a room’s door with a smile that was mixed with self-derision.

It was the personal room for the use of the manager. On the table inside the room, there were documents that Relie brought from the Academy piled up high there.

Most likely, she herself was also investigating the information from the Ruins even after giving Airi the work to decipher the ancient text of the Ruins.

Looking for a way to save her little sister that assimilated with an Abyss.

「……Where should I begin from, I wonder. Lux-kun, do you remember about the incident when Philuffy was kidnapped by the Old Empire’s military in the past?」

「Yes……」

There was no way he would forget.

Five years ago, he cooperated with Lisha’s father, Count Atismata, and planned the coup d’etat. He heard about the incident from his eldest brother Fugil and came to this Ries Island alone.

That disgusting incident where young girls were taken away under the guise of medical care, when it was actually in order to do medical experimentation of military weapons.

Lux located the experiment site. When he arrived at the experiment facility underground the monastery, he didn’t find Philuffy there.

「That time, I sent a letter to Lux-kun, saying that Philuffy was saved.」

「……Was that, a lie?」

「Half of it.」

「Eh……?」

Lux opened his eyes wide at Relie’s baffling answer.

「She actually should be dead. When we discovered her, it was already……too late. Even the doctor I brought with me threw up the towel and stopped his examination. But──after that, Philuffy was resurrected together with a mysterious light and pattern.」

「…………」

That must be the Ratatoskr Hayes mentioned.

A part of a Ragnarok, the offshoot seed that Yggdrasil supplied combined with Philuffy and saved her.

「Seeing her condition at that time, I wondered whether there was something dangerous planted inside Philuffy. Since then, Philuffy’s body became tougher than before. If she was serious, she can exert strength that even an adult cannot compare with. I entrusted Philuffy to a teacher from a martial art family to teach her the way to suppress her strength. I hid my little sister’s condition while investigating about the thing planted inside her.」

「…………」

「I noticed that my little sister had become something like an Abyss since I became headmaster here and Philuffy became a student. That’s why even when Philuffy became a Divine Drag-Ride user, I excluded Philuffy from getting involved with Ruins and from the Abyss extermination duty. It’s because the Abyss is a target to be disposed off in the New Kingdom’s law. If this fact became known by someone──there is a high chance that she would get killed.」

「Such thing……!」

Lux who was listening until now spontaneously yelled.

Relie who saw that made an empty smile along with a small sigh.

「For me, the insides of that Ruin is my last hope. It’s only a slight possibility, but it’s the only place with any chance where I can save my little sister. If I can grasp the information at the untrodden deepest level, then perhaps it would also be possible to save a human that has assimilated with an Abyss.」

「That’s why you used us to investigate the Ruin without taking permission from the New Kingdom……?」

「……Yes, that’s right.」

Relie nodded in resignation towards Lux’s question and confirmed it.

And then, she took a deep breath and showed a face that contained determination in it.

「Regarding what I’m doing, I’m doing it with the resolve to accept the consequences. I don’t regret it, and I don’t intend to. I’ll reach the deepest floor in this time’s Ruin investigation no matter what.」

「Relie-san……」

「I don’t mind even if you tell everyone. At that time I intend to go alone. It seems according to La Cruche, the Abyss almost surely won’t come out in the remaining distance until the deepest level anyway, if I’m lucky I can reach there.」

Relie said only that then she silently sat on a chair inside the room.

And then she looked down as though to say that she had no more words.

Lux went out of the silent room and looked up to the sky from the corridor’s window.

「…………」

Lux couldn’t say anything.

The parasite body of a Ragnarok that was administered into Philuffy was constantly receiving the command to kill Lux. Because Philuffy rejected it, her body was weakening.

The time until Philuffy’s life ran out wasn’t that long anymore.

「What should I choose……」

The answer didn’t come out even when he looked up to the sky.