Adventurer's Guild Café: I Was Wrongfully Exiled by the Saint, So I Will Enjoy My Second Life with My Fluffy Friends - V 2.1 Chapter 3.18

Lili let out a soft, pure pyururu, her voice as lovely as ever.

It was a strange sound… almost like it was clearing away the lingering fog in my mind.

So that’s it… it must’ve been Lili’s song—this mysterious voice—that helped bring me back.

“…Still, though…”

The pyururu… pyurururu… echoed from all directions.

It wasn’t just Lili’s voice. I started to wonder why—
Then I realized. The sound was coming from outside the darkness.

I was only guessing, but… I was sure of it.
Pipi and Lala must have evolved too.

The voices of Lili, Pipi, and Lala overlapped—
A gentle, harmonious trio that filled the dark with beautiful sound.

Then, Lili flapped her golden wings and soared upward, toward the glowing orb floating at the ceiling.

“Lili…?”

Pyururu… she sang again, and the orb trembled.
Its light began to flicker, blinking faster and faster.

Lili kept singing, pouring everything into her voice—
Then she darted forward and pecked at the orb with her tiny beak.

“Ah!”

She struck it over and over—until at last, a crack ran across its surface.
The glow intensified—it looked like it could burst at any moment.

“Y-You can do it… hang in there, Lili…!”

That slow, laid-back Lili… was giving everything she had to break the orb.

I watched, breath caught in my throat, hands clenched tight.

But then… as if her strength had run out, Lili suddenly dropped—
Falling toward the floor.

I dashed forward and caught her just in time.

“Pii…”

“Are you okay!?”

She was completely worn out—but she shook her head with a little shiver,
then fluttered her wings and took off again.

“No—no more, Lili! Come down! It’s enough!”

But she didn’t stop.

She kept pecking at the orb, desperate, unwavering.

The flickering grew stronger.
A blast of something—like a surge of magical wind—rushed through the room.

“Kh—!”

The force knocked Lili down once more.
I caught her again and held her tightly in my arms.

She looked so weak now… she let out a small pii.

“Yeah… I know. Thank you, Lili.”

I pressed my cheek to hers. She had done it—for me. She gave it her all.

When I looked up again, I saw that the orb was now covered in deep fractures.

And still—the birdsong from outside hadn’t stopped.

As I stared up, Lili cradled against my chest—
Suddenly, from the pitch-black ceiling, something burst forth—

A brilliant blade of light, like a sword, tearing through the dark.

“!”

The sword pierced straight through the orb.

With a sharp crack, the glowing sphere finally shattered for real.

Pariiing!

A high-pitched sound rang out through the darkness.

At that moment, a fissure of light tore through the very shadows that had been enclosing us.

“Wah—!?”

The darkness—it’s collapsing!

And now, the floor, the walls—everything around me was shaking wildly.

I clutched Lili tightly to keep her from slipping from my arms and braced myself against the tremors.
The light continued to spread, growing ever brighter.

“…–na!”

“!”

A voice—someone’s voice rang out.
The shadows quaked violently, shrinking faster and faster, collapsing inward.

Still holding Lili close, I turned in the direction of the voice, trying to find whoever called out to me.

If I stayed here, I’d be swallowed up by the collapsing darkness!

The dark space was closing in, inch by inch.
I was starting to panic—when, all at once—

“Kuna!”

Someone shouted my name.

And in that very moment, a hand reached out to me from within the darkness.

“!”

Without hesitation, I reached for it.
And in the next instant, I was pulled upward—into a blinding light.

“…?”

The hand that had reached into the void… the one calling my name… the one pulling me back into the world—

──It was Gier’s hand.

Once again, he had saved me.