But Ariel seemed completely oblivious to the awkward atmosphere. She continued happily drinking by herself, showing no intention of helping him out.
'My stomach hurts. It suddenly hurts!', Though he didn't regret what he'd done, that didn't stop the stomachache from coming.
After a long silence, Ariel, who had just left Ash to fend for himself, suddenly seemed to remember something. Smiling, she turned to Shiro.
"By the way, Shiro, want to try my special dessert?"
"Special... Yes!"
Already completely won over by Ariel's cooking, Shiro's eyes immediately lit up. She nodded without hesitation, moved to sit beside her, and stared at her expectantly, silently urging her to bring out the dessert.
'Seriously? I rank below dessert? Ah... no, that's not quite right...'
Ash was dumbfounded for a moment, but he more or less understood.
Aside from the misunderstanding at the beginning, Shiro and Ariel had always gotten along well. Perhaps because part of their souls had fused together, they truly talked about everything.
One of the reasons Shiro wanted to save the world was also to help Ariel.
Their relationship was much more complicated, and much closer, than anyone would imagine, in every sense.
Leaving those two aside for the moment, while Shiro's attention was occupied by Ariel, Sophia's piercing gaze never left him for a second, leaving Ash unsure what to do.
The girl was far more persistent than he'd expected. She used to be nothing more than a bedwetting little girl, yet in what felt like the blink of an eye, she'd grown bigger than both Shiro and Ariel.
At least in terms of height and size.
If anything, that was the worst part. Because in so many ways, her figure resembled Frieren's, making him constantly feel a strange sense of guilt.
"Mr. Ash! I... Mmph?"
While Ash was still worrying, Sophia had already reached her limit. Like a sulking child, she was about to launch into a full complaint.
Before she could finish, however, Ash habitually cut his fingertip and quickly stuffed it into her mouth.
"Calm down first. We haven't had a proper talk in a long time. Let's sit down and discuss this calmly today."
As he spoke, before Sophia could pull away, his other hand gently rested on her head as usual, stroking it softly in a comforting gesture while preparing to seriously discuss their current situation.
Sophia hesitated for a moment before reluctantly nodding.
———
Ash led Sophia outside the kitchen and stopped by a window at a corner of the castle hallway.
Looking at the gloomy sky outside, he let out a long sigh before turning back to face Sophia.
"Listen..."
"Hm?"
Sophia tilted her head, tears welling in her eyes.
"Whether you're angry, jealous, or just greedy, could you stop biting my hand while looking like you're about to cry? And why are you hanging onto it like a fish that's been hooked, refusing to let go?"
Ash shook his hand with a helpless smile, watching the girl sway back and forth along with it.
"Are you really planning to walk around like this the whole time? It'll look like I'm dragging you around by my finger if someone sees us."
"I can't help it! It tastes really good!"
"Can't you pick one? Either stay angry or enjoy it?"
"I'll enjoy it while being angry!", Sophia answered confidently.
Her matter-of-fact expression only made Ash feel even more helpless.
"That's certainly a choice. Isn't that a little too greedy?"
"What's wrong with that? Besides, aren't you Greed? How can you call me greedy? I'm just jealous!"
"That's just a title. It doesn't really count. Besides, lately I've also gained Mercy and Salvation."
"And after Shiro left the system, you also got Pride," Sophia mumbled around his finger.
"Let's put that aside. It's my turn to lecture you, so stop talking back."
"Wuu... I don't want to talk back. I just want..."
Before she could finish, Ash interrupted her.
"Alright, enough. Stop saying weird things. Let's talk about something serious."
He hurriedly cut her off, worried she'd say something even stranger and make it impossible to continue.
Even after interrupting her, though, he didn't pull his finger back. Instead, while tempting her with food, he patiently tried to reason with her.
Sophia, despite being extremely unwilling, had always obediently listened whenever Ash lectured her.
This time was no exception.
She sucked on his finger while gazing up at him, looking just like a child waiting for candy from an adult, obedient, yet somehow pitiful.
Ash knew he should probably give her a long speech and teach her properly.
But after thinking it over carefully, he realized it would probably accomplish nothing.
Sophia wasn't the kind of person who changed because of reason.
If anything, reasoning with her would probably make things even worse.
Though Ash didn't really want to admit it, he knew he really was a greedy man.
Perhaps the title of Greed wasn't unfair.
When it came to the people around him and everything precious to him, he simply couldn't bear to let go. He wanted to keep every good thing by his side.
Still, if things kept progressing like this, it clearly wasn't a good thing. At this rate, Shiro and Ariel might end up looking down on him first.
And because Sophia resembled Frieren in so many ways, he still needed time to prepare himself mentally.
Thinking that, he quietly reached out and gently hugged the girl before him.
Taking advantage of the moment she froze, he stroked her head again and spoke earnestly.
"Think about it carefully. There's no way I could dislike you, right? After all, I watched you grow up little by little. It's just... a lot of things need time. You understand?"
"Time? Honestly, I don't really understand... I've never been very smart. But..."
Sophia, who had been angry just moments ago, immediately brightened after being hugged. She buried her face in Ash's chest and greedily took several deep breaths.
"This is nice! I think this is great!"
'What do I do? Why does it suddenly feel like I'm being harassed by a bully girl? Shiro definitely corrupted her, didn't she? She's so perverted that I'm actually having trouble getting used to it... It's even a little scary.'
Ash silently complained to himself.
Although this wasn't the first time Sophia had acted strangely, and he had more or less gotten used to it, it still felt odd.
For now, all he could do was stroke her head while saying things that even he wasn't entirely sure about.
"I mean... right. Just like things slowly turn romantic."
"Do we even something?"
Sophia looked up and blinked her watery eyes.
"I've never thought of you as my dad. Do you think of me as your daughter?"
"Don't invent weird play scenarios. I meant hypothetically."
"I thought you'd be into that kind of thing."
"Even if I were, I wouldn't admit it."
"Why not? There's no one else here. And... why is it hypothetical?"
"Stop interrupting me in weird ways. You're acting strange, and now you've confused me too. I'd really like both of us to calm down first..."
Just imagining those weird scenarios made his head buzz.
He even wanted to hold his own head and calm down.
He just hoped she'd stop dwelling on it.
"You actually called me weird... That's so mean..."
"Forget that. I believe you're the kind of child who can do it if you try... Actually, what I really wanted to say was, could you stop biting my neck? I literally just told you to calm down!"
He endured it with his eyes closed for a moment before finally giving up.
Lowering his head to look at the girl who had taken a bite out of his neck, he pinched her cheeks and gently pushed her away.
As for why he ended up getting his neck bitten during a lecture...
He decided not to think about it for now.
Wiping the saliva off his neck under Sophia's dissatisfied gaze, he shook his head and muttered, sounding half like he was lecturing her and half like he was complaining to himself.
"Your personality really is a lot like Shiro's and Ariel's... I should've paid more attention to your upbringing. Now you've turned out even stranger than they are... Has jealousy really twisted your mind and made everything worse? I hate to say it, but besides me, is there even a single normal person with common sense around here?"
He rambled on to himself, unconsciously dragging the other two people who should have shared responsibility for raising Sophia into his complaints.
But just as he finished...
"Ahaha~ Ash, so you've been talking behind our backs?"
Ariel suddenly poked her head out from the dining hall, wearing a mischievous grin as she stared straight at him.
She had obviously heard every word.
Beside her, Shiro puffed out her cheeks slightly in dissatisfaction.
"I think... Ash's the one with the least common sense. Besides, I'm humble and gentle."
"Those are my lines."
Ash's face darkened, but before he could say more, Ariel proudly placed her hands on her hips and looked down at everyone.
"What are you talking about? I'm the one who possesses the virtue of Humility, right? What makes you Lords of Sin think you can compare yourselves to me?"
"You're also Gluttony, so you don't have much room to talk," Ash couldn't help replying.