[Silver Ash] - Become The Strongest In Another World
CHAPTER 261: Guilt

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After Noelle was allowed to leave the church, Noelle immediately took a straight path to return to the apartment where she lived.

During the journey, he kept silent without responding to anything Noir said.

(One, two ... There are about fourteen of them, huh? )

It hadn't even been ten minutes since he left the church, but he could feel many presences watching him in silence.

(Yahh, I think that's natural.)

Noelle was surprised that the church did not place agents to watch her.

Noelle smiled wryly, and could only direction the situation.

He did not know until when the agents would be watching him, but it was good to be on guard. He will show very normal activities, so they will get tired of seeing him.

But, it also meant Noelle was unable to act freely for an unknown time. He also could not contact police agents, although he had already made plans to do so.

In the market area, Noelle took the time to buy some bags of warm bread, and other groceries. Even if he could not cook, at least this would reduce the suspicions of everyone watching him.

Now he was curious, how was Tania? The girl had not appeared again since Noelle last saw her in the fight against Gild.

(Do you know where he is? )

『Don't worry about it. He already left first to avoid the attention of the church.』

(Alright, that's good.)

It would be a waste if Tania spent any longer here.

Finally, after a few minutes of walking, Noelle arrived at her apartment. He then put all his groceries on the kitchen table, and returned to the room to lie down.

He actually had other plans to do today. However, the situation has changed. The supervision of the Lunatic Order made it unable to move freely.

Noelle had already closed the window, but light could still enter through the narrow gap that was there.

The rain had stopped since then, but the temperature was still cold. This may be because it is about to enter winter.

"I might have to make some preparations … "

Winter is not a problem for him, but it will be a different story if this winter has a new moon phase.

After all, he would be greatly weakened in that phase, and the cold temperature could have killed him if he had no preparations.

Noelle let out a sigh of resignation and rolled to the side.

Compared to when he was still on Olivia's side, the days he lived now really felt boring. Nothing interests him, everything is going at a constant pace.

Everything also became quieter, and Noelle still could do nothing but accept this as she should.

While many things flashed through her mind, Noelle's two eyes slowly closed, letting an overwhelming drowsiness take over her.

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When Noelle woke up, it was already morning.

Noelle confusedly sat on her own bed, and rubbed her eyes as if she still could not believe what she was seeing.

"Am I .. really asleep till morning?"

That was really terrible. If he remembered for sure, he should have fallen asleep while it was still the afternoon. But now, the position of the sun was already quite high, which eventually this would soon enter the midday hours.

"What's really going on? "

Even though Noelle was indeed being lazy today, it was still shocking to realize the fact that she had actually been asleep for that long.

『Hehe, I think I should explain it to you. You need a lot of time off because you have to recover your own strength. This is normal, you know? Instead, I was more surprised because you could finish the recovery quickly.』

"Recovery … "

Noelle closed her eyes, and began to examine all the state of her body. There was nothing wrong with his internal organs or external organs, but the magic circuits that spread throughout his body were now irregular and spread like tangled threads.

That state made the flow of mana in Noelle's body obstructed.

"But still ... My recovery shouldn't take this long."

『That's because I forced the acceleration of your body's recovery, and your body is also still not strong enough to withstand the weight of the actual power of authority.』

"So my guess is correct, yes … "

Noelle frowned as she received a confession from Noir. He had indeed been second-guessing about what had happened, but he still did not get a real answer about the incident.

He is also convinced, that the Lunatic Order has the same guess about its saturation; that Noelle's body control has been taken over by his own contract partner, the King of Tactics Minerva.

"Alright, I don't think that's too bad. Twenty-four hours will be over soon, and I can finally wander around freely."

As he said that, his eyes slightly glanced at the building that was quite far from his apartment room. Despite the obstructing window, Noelle's detection ability did not fail to recognize its target.

(They're really watching me, huh .. I think I should prepare a plan to keep interacting without getting caught by them.)

Noelle sighed and got out of her bed. After sleeping for a long time, his body started to feel stiff, so he immediately did a short stretch while—

"Hmm? "

—The emergency communication device he used during the mission is suddenly active.

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Noelle kept knocking on the door in front of her, but did not get the response she expected.

Finally, he sighed and decided to take even further action.

Moments ago, Dolf contacted her via the communications device, and Dolf gave her a report that Felice had not been out of her room since she was brought home from the mission.

Dolf was worried, but couldn't do anything because he still had a myriad of jobs to take care of. Finally, he handed the task to the unemployed Noelle.

Noelle, of course, had no intention of turning down the job. Anyway he needs something to do.

After continuously knocking on the door without getting a response, Noelle began to give up on that choice, and finally took a step back.

His feet prepared, and then gave a straight kick to the door, so that the door collapsed forward with a loud noise.

"I hope the repair fee will be covered by the Captain."

Ignoring the door debris strewn across the floor, Noelle went inside and put up a barrier so that no one could get in there.

All apartment rooms have the same room structure, which is why Noelle knows where Felice's room is. Without experiencing the slightest problem, he had reached Felice's room, and casually entered despite the voice inside asking her to stop.

"Hey, are you okay? "

She was lying on her bed, completely ignoring the whereabouts of Noelle who was standing at the entrance of her room.

After everything that happened, Noelle wouldn't be surprised if Felice decided to commit suicide.

There is a problem about Silis, and Rita also has to lose her life while trying to save her. For a girl with a mentality like Felice, it was a terrible ordeal.

"You didn't visit the funeral?"

" … There's no way I can come, right? "

"Well, I understand that" Noelle said, shrugging casually.

(Pronouncing soothing words is not my forte.)

With a calm and silent step, Noelle immediately approached Felice, pulled the blanket that covered almost her entire body, and overpowered the girl from above.

" … What are you doing? "

Felice was surprised, but the response was completely less than Noelle expected. It was probably because he was not in a good mood.

"Captain and everyone are worried about you, and they're asking me to do something. I'm free to do anything as long as you can go out and see them."

"That's for nothing" Felice replied in a barely changed tone of voice.

"We'll see."

Noelle whispered right in Felice's ear, and her right hand slowly reached the tip of Felice's skirt, and gently pulled her.

Little by little Felice's thighs began to look, and Noelle could see how Felice's face turned red.

"You know? I haven't done it in a long time, so maybe I won't be able to hold back."

Those words were whispered right in her ear, and made Felice widen her eyes. The girl stares at Noelle in surprise, but is unable to say anything as her lips just quiver.

"Well, this one looks good."

A smile came out on Noelle's face, and it was an entirely different smile than Felice had ever seen; a smile like a jerk man.

While Felice was still looking at her, Noelle immediately brought her face closer, and looked at Felice's lips.

Felice naturally knew what Noelle was after, and she barely put up any resistance. However, she finally turned her head to the side, avoiding the kiss from Noelle.

Seeing that, Noelle's smile finally became normal. He then moved his face away, and moved away.

After Noelle got out of bed, Felice finally got up and sat down while squeezing the blanket tightly.

"I'm .. I think I can change. But ... I didn't change at all. I'm still the same whiny kid I was at that time."

As Felice began to tell the story in a trembling voice, Noelle did not interrupt at all. He just listened and let Felice go on with the story.

"Silis and I are close friends. So close that I thought of him as my own brother. But ... I guess .. everything really changed when the incident happened."

"Insidences? " asked Noelle curiously.

Felice forced her smile as she looked at Noelle.

"Noah, have you ever killed anyone? "

(Often.)

Noelle did not reveal it, but her expression that turned cold was enough for Felice to understand.

"I .. I killed Silis. That's a reality I can never deny. If only I hadn't hit him in the ravine back then, we would have … "

For a moment, a streak of hope appeared on his face, but Felice quickly shook her head and put away that hope.

"No, there's no point thinking about that. I'm still the killer. I killed someone who was like my own brother."

Felice once again raised her face and looked at Noelle. Then, Felice began to tell her everything she and Silis had ever experienced.

Again, Noelle simply listened without interrupting. She just let Felice tell her story until Felice was done.

"As soon as I realized, I intended to go look for her, but .. The village chief and the adventurers who saved me used to say that Silis must be dead. In fact, it's not surprising, considering the abyss itself we don't know it is deep. But, there was already no chance for Silis to survive, which is why I gave up and accepted the fact that I killed her."

"Everyone in the village hated me for that, and even ... My parents also had to accept all the pain of the hatred that the Silis family directed. Know it? My family and the Silis family were pretty close, but that relationship quickly broke down when they heard the news that Silis was dead."

Noelle can't deny that one. Actually, if Noelle was in the position of a member of the Silis family, she would do the same.

There is no family that does not hate the perpetrators of crimes that befall their family members.

In fact, until now, Noelle still hated everyone involved in the death of Wakana Hakui. It was a pity that he was no longer on earth to investigate the truth of the case.

"I don't know what Silis is going through down there, but .. I'm sure it's all terrible. I ... I didn't even have time to apologize to him. I was paralyzed by my fear, and ended up killing him once again."

Felice's voice became increasingly trembling. His hand that was squeezing the blanket also started to tremble as if it was not strong enough to withstand all the emotions that were swirling in his heart.

"Even ... in fact, this time .. I involved Rita. If only I hadn't interfered, Rita would still be alive. That's right, isn't it, Noah? "

"No, you're wrong."

Noelle's voice became colder than Felice had ever heard. It sounded like it had no feelings, yet it actually contained many emotions that could vaguely be felt.

"What ... do you mean? "

Felice replied to him with a puzzled look, and at the same time, also had a faint glow of hope.

"Even if you don't interfere, I'm sure that Silis will still be able to kill Rita or even Louen and Dexter. The guy named Silis is strong, that's the truth. Without your involvement, I don't know what's gonna happen to all three."

"But ... Rita … "

"Rita died protecting you, that's right. But, it was his own decision. Sacrificing one's life for another is a tough decision. Not everyone can do it."

"Only certain people, and at certain times, can perform heroic actions such as Rita. But, unlike people with heroic traits, Rita saves you because she values you more than she values herself. I understand that, because … "

—Himself is also so, is what Noelle wants to say. However, those words choked out without being able to come out of his mouth. He himself was unsure as to whether everything he did for Olivia could be called a sacrifice or not. However, such things alone were enough for her to know that she valued Olivia more than her own life.

"No, forget what I said."

Noelle immediately sighed and shook her head repeatedly. He then looked back at Felice who was still sitting moody.

"Just staying here won't make you any better. Go thank Louen, and visit Rita's grave. I'm sure it'll make you better."

Noelle asks Felice to thank Louen because she already knows what kind of relationship Louen and Rita have. If Felice wants to thank or apologize to someone, then Louen should be on the list first.

Right after Noelle said that, Felice's two eyes widened. However, Noelle did not see him at all because she had already turned around.

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