Combat Maid Harem

"All the things I said to you? I already know that this is an illusion. You can stop acting now."

Lawrend crossed his arms and stared at her coldly.

"Hm? You can remember everything clearly?"

A young female voice suddenly asked him in confusion.

"Who?! You're that Flora Heaven Mage, aren't you?"

Lawrend looked around warily. He found her voice similar to the one he heard in the dream.

Suddenly, his surroundings scattered away like dust, revealing the same scene from earlier. He was back at the flower field.

"How did you remember?"

The young woman from earlier asked. She was sitting on the ground in a seiza position.

She wore the same white dress and her chestnut-colored hair freely flowed with the breeze.

"Can I..?"

Lawrend asked her with a polite smile.

"Huh? What do you mean—"

She was confused when Lawrend suddenly laid his head on her lap.

"W-What are you doing!?"

"Mm. This is it. The same feeling as before."

Lawrend nudged his head on her thighs as he tried to refamiliarize himself with the feeling of her lap.

"Hey! Listen to me! You can't just rest your head on my lap!"

The woman pulled on Lawrend's hair in frustration.

"Owww!! Stop! Stop!"

Lawrend shouted in pain and tried to stop her hand from continuing.

"Hmph. Weirdo."

The woman harrumphed in anger.

Lawrend stood up from her lap and rubbed the spot she pulled his hair.

"That hurts…"

Lawrend said to her in a scowl.

"Anyways, are you the same woman I've seen from before?"

Lawrend asked her.

"I think so."

She replied to him.

"You think so?"

Lawrend asked her in confusion.

"Mm. I don't remember anymore."

The young woman replied to Lawrend.

"Where is this place anyway?"

Lawrend asked her as he looked around.

"My Soul Realm."

She replied.

"Soul Realm?"

Lawrend repeated the term in puzzlement.

"I don't remember anymore. I only know that I was betrayed by the man you possessed in the dream."

She replied to him.

"Why did you take me here?"

Lawrend furrowed his eyebrows.

"You approached me yourself."

The young woman shrugged her shoulders.

"How do I get out?"

Lawrend asked her.

"...Since you passed my trial. I'll let you go…"

Sorrow filled her eyes after she said that.

"What exactly happened?"

Lawrend couldn't help but ask her. He wanted to know what happened in that dream. How it started and how it ended.

"We have been in love with each other since we were little."

"He became my role model before. I admired him alot back then. But I was more talented than him. After countless trials and failures, I became a Heaven Mage. The problem was, he couldn't. So I had to gather the essence of the earthly flames and give it to him."

"Guess what happened next."

The young woman then asked Lawrend.

"He became a Heaven Mage?"

Lawrend guessed. He sat on the ground in front of her to listen better.

"That's what you'd expect. Instead, he failed."

She shook her head bitterly.

"Why..?"

Lawrend was speechless. Even when the resources were spoon fed to him, he still didn't advance.

"He accidentally burnt his body using the essence of the earthly flames. He blamed me for it, and it took us a thousand years to rebuild our relationship. Sigh. I feel stupid just thinking about it now."

The young woman sighed tiredly.

"...Wow."

Lawrend was speechless at her backstory. Her love for him must be so immense for her to endure that long.

"Mm. I helped him once more, and he became a Heaven Mage at last."

She nodded her head at him. She could understand what he was thinking after hearing her words.

"I heard his words, or rather, I kind of spoke it. He must be a scum to trick a woman as beautiful as you."

Lawrend said to her with a frown.

"That's right. He's a scum."

The young woman nodded her head in agreement.

"What's a Heaven Mage anyway?"

Lawrend asked her in curiosity.

"It's… uhhh… I forgot."

She scratched her head awkwardly.

"... Just how forgetful are you?"

Lawrend stared at her with a deadpan expression on his face.

"No, no, no! I'm pretty smart. I just don't have my other soul shards."

She shook her head repeatedly in denial.

"Other soul shards? Do you mean that your soul has been split into different parts?"

Lawrend asked her in surprise. This was the first time he's hearing something about souls.

"Oh! You're pretty smart. That's right. I have another one, I think. Or was it two..?"

She held her chin in thought.

"Whatever. So how do I leave this place again?"

Lawrend asked her.

"I'll let you leave in one condition."

She said with her fingers pointed at him.

"What?"

He asked her.

"Take me with you."

She said to him with a smile.

"... How can I bring a ghost with me?"

Lawrend said to her with a wry smile on his face.

"Don't worry. After you wake up, I'll be in your hand."

The young woman reassured him.

"What's your name?"

Lawrend stood up and asked her.

"My name… Give me one. I don't want to use my current one."

She said to him after much thought.

"Give you one? Let's see…"

Lawrend stared at her face in thought. He then looked around at the flowers around them.

"How about Daisy, from the Daisy Flower."

Lawrend said to her.

"Daisy… Daisy… Thank you for the beautiful name. I like it."

Daisy smiled at him sweetly.

"No problem."

Lawrend nodded his head at her.

"Now then…"

Daisy said to him, and suddenly, his vision started to blacken until he couldn't see anything.

…

"Hahh!"

Lawrend suddenly sat up. He looked around him, and he couldn't see but darkness.

"I'm back."

Lawrend smiled after realizing that fact.

He slowly stood up, but before that, he realized that something hard was in his hand.

"It looks like a beautiful rough diamond."

Lawrend held Daisy's soul shard against the moon and admired its beauty.