“Enfi!”
Enri hugged Nfirea tightly.
“Ah, it’s Enri.”
His dreamlike reply told Enri that he was at his limit. Although he was out of danger, he was still in shock.
“I’m glad you’re alright.”
“―Y-you too.”
Enri felt something warm inside her heart. It was a warmth that replaced the cold that ran through her when she thought Nfirea had died.
“Really, I’m happy you’re fine!”
Enri hugged Nfirea tightly, with all her strength.
“So am I.”
Nfirea reached out his arms to hug Enri in return. Although the hug was very tight, they both felt safe within each other's arms.
Enri’s tears welled up and spilled out, streaming down her face.
“What’s wrong?”
“…Idiot.”
“Ahhhh~ Sorry to interrupt you two while you’re making out.”
“Lupusregina-san!
Enri let the strength flow from her arms, and at the same time Nfirea loosened his grip. Feeling slightly disappointed, they both turned to Lupusregina.
“The troll―”
Shifting her line of sight, Enri saw something which was hard to describe.
“Ah, this? Kinda looks like a hamburger patty, doesn’t it? All it needs is a good charbroiling.”
A mass of blood-spattered meat shifted and twitched under the bloodied head of Lupus’ crozier. There was nothing about the pile of broken flesh that suggested that it had once been a troll. However, what made it disgusting was the fact that it was still regenerating, and still breathing.
“Ahhh well~ it’s good you two are fine. Then I guess I can clean things up here too.”
Enri heard the voices of the goblins approaching. It seemed like the battle for the main gate had been won.
“There you go~”
Fire descended from the heavens, and a pillar of red light engulfed the troll, producing the stench of cooked meat.
“Now then, the matter of the troll’s settled, so I’ll be taking off. Ah, Enfi-chan, Ainz-sama wants to reward you for developing the purple potion, so he invited you to his house. Hope you’ve prepared yourself~ Or should I say, any last words?”
After saying that, Lupusregina left through the back door.
“Thank you very much!”
Lupusregina didn’t stop or turn back in response to Enri’s shouted thanks, only waved her hand.
“…Ane-san, Ani-san, we’ll take over the task of guiding the others. You two should go have some rest over there.”
Without waiting for a reply, the goblins started moving. Shouldn’t they leave someone with us, Enri thought, but she was more worried for Nfirea than that, and put a hand on his shoulder.
After leaving the corpse of the troll behind, the two of them sat down.
“Haaaa.”
Their sighs of relief overlapped each other. Then, the two of them raised their eyes to look at the night sky.
“She saved you.”
“Mmm.”
“It was just good luck.”
“Mmm.”
“Don’t do that again.”
“Mmm.”
Silence flowed between the two of them. Enri suddenly spoke the words in her heart.
“I don’t know whether or not this is love, but I don’t want Enfi to go anywhere.”
“…Mmm. …Mmm.”
“Is this love?”
“…I don’t know. But if it is, I’d be very happy.”
Enri and Nfirea sat silently like this, leaning shoulder to shoulder and watching the stars until the goblins arrived—
EPILOGUE
“Ane-san, looks like you’re ready.”
Jugem commented on Enri’s appearance as he entered her home.
“Yes, that’s right… is it odd?”
Enri asked Jugem while looking down at the dress she was wearing ― one of the best she had, which she usually reserved for the harvest festival.
“Not at all, don’t you think, Ani-san?”
“Mm. You’re very pretty, Enri.”
“Ahhh, really now!”
With a red face, Enri stared at Jugem and a smiling Nemu. Or rather, at Nemu's mischievous grin.
Ever since Enri and Nfirea’s relationship had taken a step forward, she wanted to call out Nemu’s transient facial expressions as they came, but Enri knew that would just embarrass herself more and wisely kept her mouth shut.
However, leaving it alone was dangerous too. Especially for Nemu.
Sometimes, her little sister would ask questions that she couldn’t answer.
I keep thinking that over the past few days, I’ve matured mentally… maybe I should ask Enfi for help for this…
Seeing the plea in Enri’s eyes, her lover spoke.
“Umm, ahem! Speaking of which, Jugem-san, can you use that magic sword well? I heard it’s not like normal swords, and using it is tiring.”
The greatsword Jugem was holding had been obtained in the raid several days ago.
“I’ve gotten used to the sword’s weight and center of gravity, so I can use it as well as my old sword. As expected of a magic weapon, its sharpness and so on are much better than the other one. However… the poison in here, it weakens its opponent’s strength, but it’s a bit strange…”
“It is? Is it a powerful effect?”
“Well, it’s not a particularly strong poison. Someone like me can resist it easily. However, against weaker opponents…”
Jugem’s face took on a dark expression.
“What’s wrong?”
“Ah―” Jugem said as he looked to the ceiling, speaking in an irritated voice. “I was thinking about the troll I got this sword from, he seemed like an odd fellow.”
“The corpse doesn’t seem any different from a normal troll. Maybe it was a subrace?”
“No, no, I didn’t mean that, Ani-san. From its movements, its lack of regeneration, the way it felt when I cut into it… it felt weird… that’s right, like a body that was already dead. Something bizarre and foreboding like that.”