Liberation of The Slaves

Chapter 135 – Leisure Journey

– Freed’s POV –

The wind carried us gently across the endless canopy of trees.

A translucent platform of compressed air floated beneath our feet, gliding forward with quiet grace as I maintained its shape and direction. Below us, the forest stretched like a dark green ocean, its leaves rippling beneath the morning light.

“Mmm…”

A soft murmur stirred beside me.

Len shifted slightly, her silver hair sliding across my shoulder as her golden eyes fluttered open. She blinked a few times, still caught between dream and waking.

“Awake already, sweetheart?” I asked, smiling down at her.

“Mm… yeah…” she murmured, rubbing her eyes like a sleepy child. “It’s always nice when the first thing I see after waking up is your cute face.”

“If you’re joking like that, you must be feeling better. Perfect timing too. I just finished preparing breakfast. Let’s eat together.”

“Un…”

She straightened her back and stretched lightly. The faint stiffness in her movement reminded me that she had only just recovered.

I had kept a small flame of fire mana burning at the center of the platform, carefully regulated so it would not disturb the wind’s balance. A pot rested over it, filled with a simple stew made from dried meat and forest herbs.

We ate together in the open sky, the breeze brushing gently against our faces.

“How long was I asleep?” Len asked between bites.

“It’s been three days since the battle.”

Her spoon paused midair.

“Three days? I was out that long?”

“Yes. You were completely drained, your both mana and aura. You pushed yourself beyond your limits.” I gave her a soft smile. “Thank you for your hard work, sweetheart.”

She stared into the stew for a moment, as if replaying fragments of the battle in her mind.

“Speaking of which, about the loot we got from that battle—”

“And what about you?” She cut off my words.

“Huh?”

I blinked in confusion as her gaze sharpened.

“What have you been doing these past three days? Have you even slept? There are dark circles under your eyes.”

“Uh…”

Before I could craft an excuse, a familiar voice echoed in my mind.

【He hasn’t slept at all since the battle. He was too worried about you and afraid monsters would attack if both of you were asleep.】

Azadia’s tone carried open irritation.

【Even though my soul already rested, I still feel tired because his body is exhausted.】

【Tell him to sleep, Len!】

Len slowly turned back to me.

“Is that true, darling?”

“…Y-Yeah.” I avoided her gaze.

She sighed, though her eyes softened rather than hardened.

“You need to rest after this. Even if you weren’t fighting directly, you were still tense the entire time. Your body needs recovery too. You can’t neglect yourself just because your soul doesn’t feel tired.”

“Y-Yes, ma’am.”

“Good.”

I barely had time to register the shift in her expression before she suddenly leaned forward.

Her tongue brushed across my lips.

“Huh!?” I stay still in place.

She pulled back casually and returned to her meal.

“There was a bit of food left there. I thought I’d clean it for you.”

“U-Uh… thanks…”

My face felt warm. I tried to focus on eating, but the faint sweetness lingering on my lips refused to fade.

After we finished, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and leaned back comfortably.

“So, what was it you wanted to talk about earlier?”

“In my magic bag, I stored twelve Moonhowlers, twelve Bloodmoon Beasts, three Alpha Packmasters, and roughly two thousand Red Wolves.”

She nodded thoughtfully.

“If I remember correctly, I stored around one thousand Red Wolves myself. So in total, we have roughly a third of them.”

“A third?”

“Yes. There were around nine to ten thousand wolves altogether.”

“I see. The rest scattered after their leader fell.”

“That’s fine. We wouldn’t be able to sell them all at once anyway. Flooding the market would crash the prices.”

“Mm.”

I handed her a glass of water.

“Here.”

She took it.

But instead of drinking, she suddenly shifted closer.

In one smooth motion, she knelt before me.

“H-Hey!?”

【Ahnn!?】

Azadia and I reacted at the same time.

“I will twell ywou lwater. Lwet mwe drwink thwis fwirst.”

She mumbled playfully, her mouth already occupied.

“D-Don’t talk like that! And this is dangerous!”

We were still suspended high above the forest. I was the one maintaining the wind platform. Even with Parallel Thinking active, my concentration wavered violently.

The platform trembled.

My heart pounded harder than during battle.

After a while, she finally pulled back and took a sip from the water glass as if nothing unusual had happened.

“Puhaa… that was delicious, darling.”

“That was dangerous! We could have fallen!”

“Consider it training,” she replied calmly. “Didn’t we agree a few days ago?”

I remembered. She had mentioned wanting our training to be more… creative.

She smiled mischievously.

“Next time, it’ll be your turn to take charge and do me however you like.”

I swallowed hard.

“I’ll train too while we’re doing it,” she continued as if discussing magic theory. “I want to master the space element like Aza. Teleportation would be incredibly useful.”

“I-I see…”

Her ability to switch between shameless teasing and serious talk never failed to confuse me.

“Now, let’s descend and rest.”

“Not yet.”

I shook my head.

“You haven’t explained why you did it. Are you hiding something again?”

“It seems with Unified Essence, it’s harder to hide things from you.”

“Hmph. Even without it, you couldn’t hide your curse before. You’re not good at lying.”

“That’s true…” She admitted softly.

“So?”

She lifted her gaze toward the endless sky. For a moment, her golden eyes reflected only the clouds.

“Sometimes I still have nightmares.”

“And I just dreamed of one of them again.”

Her voice lost its playful tone.

“Those researchers… They gave me a piece of bread every day.”

“But they rarely gave me water.”

“Instead… they forced me to drink theirs.”

The wind continued to carry us forward.

But the warmth of the morning faded.

She looked at me directly.

“I want to replace those memories. That’s why I did it with you after meals.”

“I want to overwrite those scenes.”

“Because when I’m doing it with you… I feel happy.”

My chest tightened.

I knew female slaves were treated brutally.

But hearing the details… was different.

She had never spoken about this part before. In the imaginary world she once showed me, she focused on her friendship with another slave. I never realized the deprivation went so far that even water was withheld.

“I see…”

It was all I could say.

“Hehe. Do you regret it now? Being with a tainted woman like me?”

There was laughter in her voice. But beneath it, I could hear the faint tremor.

I shook my head.

“No. I told you before. I don’t care about your past. I only care that you don’t betray me in the future.”

Her expression softened completely. “Thank you, darling. I will never betray you. Not now. Not ever. And I’ll prove it with actions, not just words.”

Her lips curved gently. “Though only time can truly testify.”

【If you’re done with your tender moment, I have a suggestion.】

Azadia’s voice intruded with suspicious brightness.

“What is it?” Len asked.

【You want to replace those memories by recreating them with him, right? Then do it after breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If you build more happy memories than painful ones, the balance will naturally tip.】

I narrowed my eyes.

“...You just want to feel good, right?”

But they both ignored me.

“You’re so smart, Aza!” Len exclaimed.

【Of course! I am an exceptionally intelligent angel!】

“Yes! A brilliant angel!”

“Haa…”

I sighed.

Whenever the two of them began these conversations, I ceased to exist entirely despite being the central subject.

Still, part of me was relieved. If Len could laugh about it, then perhaps the wound was no longer bleeding as heavily.

I gently lowered the wind platform toward the forest.

The trees rose to meet us.

When we touched the ground, Len immediately hoisted me onto her back before I could protest.

She sprinted forward with effortless speed, her silver hair streaming behind her like moonlight caught in motion.

Azadia continued chatting inside my head.

Len responded aloud.

And I shut my eyes, drifting off to sleep.

If there were onlookers, we must have looked like travelers on a leisurely journey.

But beneath the laughter, beneath the teasing, beneath the warmth of shared meals and reckless training in the sky…

We were still two broken souls trying to overwrite the past.

One memory at a time.