Chapter 134: Dealing With Chaos (1/2)

The horse did run, but not that fast.

Even though the way it ran was unsure somehow, they should be thankful that it did run at all, Lapis thought.

She didn’t know if Loren, who she was holding on the back of the horse, was aware or not. Sometimes he clenched his teeth or knocked at his own head in an attempt to clear up his mind, but it didn’t seem to work.

“It’s useless. You should sleep, if you like to.”

“Lapis…”

Loren muttered and looked at her over his shoulder. For a brief moment, Lapis was thoroughly surprised at the gaze he directed towards her. The molten eyes on his flushed face carried such interest for the opposite sex that she had to wonder if it was too blatant. Needing to confirm it, Lapis cautiously spoke to him even as she blushed involuntarily:

“Loren, could it be that you’re thinking about…”

“Quiet… ‘s nothing…”

Loren replied in a somewhat ashamed voice. He let himself fall face down on the horse’s neck and made a ragged sound while thrusting a fist into his own head. Lapis knew she should make him stop, but she could somehow guess what kind of state Loren was in right now from his gaze and expression earlier; if she stopped him, things would become impossible to stop.

Klaus’ shriek-like voice came from behind her then, making the horse stop.

“Wait! Now is… tch, uwah?!”

Lapis turned the horse around to look. The girls had reached out and grasped Klau’s hand, who was pulling the reins of the horse carrying them. He was right in the middle of shaking them loose.

Ange slipped down from the horse with intoxicated eyes and a smile on her face, and clung to Klaus’ neck. Before one realized, Layla had also dismounted and was hugging him from behind, while Roll clung tightly to his leg with both arms.

Normally, Lapis would have yelled at them, but she couldn’t after seeing the state Loren was in. It was clear that something was causing these usually-cannot-happen things to happen.

“Well, what should I do?”

Strangely, the idea of helping Klaus didn’t cross Lapis’ mind at all. The problem was Loren.

She could somehow guess what was happening to him. If this continued, Loren would probably endure it with his will, but it wouldn’t be good for his body, not to mention especially hard on his mind.

For a moment, Lapis considered just coming at him, but she immediately shook her head to chase that thought away. She didn’t want to be rejected, and if it turned out that Loren didn’t desire her, there would be problems with their relationship from now on. And above all, doing it on horseback in a forest was no way to her taste.

“I don’t mean that the first time must be on a canopy bed, but well.”

She joked while patting Loren, who was lying on the horse’s neck.

“Shayna, can you hear me? If yes, take control of Loren’s body for a while. As you are the No Life King, you can do that much, right? I will apologize later if there’s any problems.”

As Lapis made her appeal, Loren’s body, which had been lying face down, twitched. A short while later, it rose up and turned around with an emotionless face. Even though she felt slightly uncomfortable as the empty eyes turned towards her, Lapis still spoke to Loren’s body, which was staring at her without moving.

“Did you succeed?”

“…Yes, onee-san…”

The words came from Loren’s mouth, in Loren’s voice, but didn’t belong to him. The flatness of the tone, as well as the words that he normally wouldn’t use caused something like a chill running down her spine. Still, Lapis spoke.

“So you succeeded.”

“Because onii-san voluntarily gave me the control.”

Loren replied, but Lapis could sense that regardless of the appearance, the person inside was different. Of course, it went without saying that this other person was No Life King Shayna, who normally reside quietly inside Loren.

By all rights, it was not an easy thing to take control of someone else’s body while dwelling inside it, even to a No Life King. For it to go smoothly, Loren must have been giving the control of his body to Shayna by his own will after noticing his own unusual condition.

“Do you have any difficulty moving the body?”

Even though both Loren and Shayna were from the same race, there was a clear difference in their physiques. Movements were basically the same, but if the different sensation coming from the difference in physiques became a hindrance, it would need some getting used to.

“I don’t. But I think fighting is impossible, onee-san.”

Shayna answered. She had looked at her arms and body as if they were something strange, and began to raise the arms and turned the neck and such. Even though Loren’s physical strength could be used as is and she could easily lift the greatsword, Shayna herself didn’t have the knowledge or skills to fight with it. It would be just like swinging a big sword around, and even though that was kind of a threat of its own, it would be impossible for Shayna to fight like Loren.

“And, I don’t recommend maintaining this state for a long time.”

By nature, being forcibly moved by someone else that wasn’t its owner like this wasn’t a good thing for Loren’s body, Shayna said. Moreover, some adverse effects might happen to his mind due to the separation from his body, no matter how temporary it was. Such an unnatural state should be corrected as soon as possible.

“It’s either one of these two: Just abandon everything and run away if the worst happens, or give the control back to Loren, assuming that he’ll accept me.”

“Onee-san, you are such an adult…”