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Find Happiness – Aquido
After regrouping with everyone in front of a colossal black metal door, we opened it up with the four keys we had gathered and stepped inside.
There were long spiraled stone paths, and for some reason, we didn’t see a single demon inside. Anybody would have thought that it was a trap.
That’s why-
“Sylphy-san, why aren’t any demons coming to attack us?” Aquido asked Sylphy who kept walking silently.
“

”
She didn’t answer and kept walking down the stairs with a strange frown on her face.
“Sylphy-san?”
“Oh, yeah! What’s up?”
Looks like she really hadn’t heard him. This wasn’t like her usual calm and collected self. What happened?
“Like I was saying, why aren’t any demons coming to attack us?”
“Who knows?”
What a half-hearted answer. Usually, she would have given a concise reply or say that she couldn’t if she actually had no answer. A vague answer like this just didn’t suit her style.
Her change had become noticeable after entering this spiral staircase.
Maybe—
“Did something happen to Grey?”
She was able to send images to everyone. It wouldn’t be strange if she could contact Grey as well.
“

. Sorry, I’m going on ahead!”  Without waiting for a response, she rushed forward.
However, Aquido grabbed her shoulder. “Going off on your own will just be playing into the hands of the enemy. We might find ourselves with another disaster if that happens. Weren’t you the one who said this before we came here? So, let’s avoid doing so and go together.”
“That’s

true.” She drooped down her shoulders and nodded as if to reprimand herself.
“Then let’s hurry forward,” Judo said. “Hachi, carry Roze.”
“I don’t like the idea of someone that’s not my master riding me, but it’s an emergency, so I’ll let it slide.”
“Sylphy-san, I’ll leave Nils to you while I carry Kai.”
“Got it,” Sylphy replied and charged down the spiral staircase.
After walking for a long time, they finally arrived in front of a giant crimson stone door. Kai wondered if there was a key somewhere, but it simply opened up with a push.
The room had tatami mat floors, and there was a white-hair girl crouched inside and crying, while their master was lying face up in a pool of blood.
“Grey!” Sylphy cried and rushed towards him but her face wrinkled.
She opened his shirt, placed her palm on his chest and began to cast a spell.
A high-level rune, incomprehensible to Aquido appeared, and after a moment, Grey’s wounds began to heal.
“The enemy’s deeper inside! Be careful!!” Lucia shouted in anger. Immediately, countless green thorns poured down atop Sylphy and Grey. Aquido detected them right away and burned them up with his flames.
Officer Riemann Chardonnay stood inside, wearing an ominous look.
“Riemann!”
Sylphy stood up like a puppet.
“This isn’t good,” Little Dora said, popping out of Roze’s chest. “Mama has completely lost it!”
“You bastard—” Riemann said.
But, before he could finish, Sylphy threw her sword which pierced into his right shoulder and sent him flying, burying him in the wall. “Stop chirping about. I was wrong. I should kill you now.”
“Don’t look down on me!”
Riemann swayed and released countless tentacles at her.
However, not a single one reached her as they all went up into a blue flame.
“Impossible!”
Sylphy gave him an icy glare. “I won’t hesitate any longer. I’ll end this here.”
Then she raised her left hand.
A thick blue mist began gathering around her into a ball.
Some of the ball’s power snapped off, melting the ground, ceiling, and walls.
“Hiieee!!” Riemann cried out like a pig.
“Wait a moment!” Nils shouted, putting her arms out to cover him.
“Step back! You know I don’t care about your life right now?”
“I won’t move! Sylphy, you’re a kind person. You wouldn’t do this!”
“You idiot!!”
The tentacles that Riemann shot out pierced through Nils and went straight towards Sylphy but were once again incinerated by a blue flame.
“Look, the owner of that body’s been killed by that fool Blue-Beard long ago. He’s no longer in this world.”
“That can’t

.be true.” Nils painfully staggered over to Riemann.
“Nils! Stop now!” someone said.
“Stop! Nils!” someone else added.
“Sylphy’s right, you will die if we don’t get you patched up!?”
“Just get back!”
One by one, everyone tried to make her come back, but Nils shook them all off and kept approaching Riemann.
“Don’t come any closer!” Riemann shouted as he desperately tried to escape.
Then, Nils pulled him into an embrace. “It’s all right now, it must have been painful. I’m sorry I didn’t notice.”
She gently stroked the back of his head.
“Stop! Get away!!”
As Riemann struggled, large teardrops pooled out of Riemann’s eyes and streamed down his face.
“Don’t worry. I’ll come with you.”
“Guwaaaaaaah!!” He kicked Nils away and howled up at the sky. Then he used every last bit of his strength to pull out the sword stuck in his shoulder.
“R-Riemann?”
“Nils, find happiness” Riemann approached Nils with a gentle smile and, with a trembling hand, stroked her head.
He pushed the sword into his throat and collapsed.
Blood gushed out of his throat and rippled like powdered snow.
“Noooooooooooooooooooooo!!”