Right now, Hilde is not playing any role. Her acting is meant to deceive someone. However, watching from outside the stage, I cannot be fooled by Hilde. Who would sit in the audience and take the actor's words on stage at face value?
Still, the person on stage isn't solely playing a role.
"You're still acting, aren't you?"
"Acting~? 'I' am not at all."
"What do you mean 'not at all'? You're calling me Father. How is that genuine? Even if you died and came back to life, it could never become the truth."
When I was born, Hilde was already wandering the world. If what I know about parents and children is correct, it is causally impossible.
Then Hilde spoke as if protesting.
"This face, this name, this status! Father gave them all to me! Since you birthed the true 'me', you are my Father!"
"You mean the father of your role? The concept is a bit much... well, let's say that's possible. But it shows."
Since she probably knows it herself, she won't deny it. When Hilde acts, she puts power into the 'me'. Not in her words, but in her heart.
Hit right on the mark, Hilde narrowed her eyes and asked back.
"Heh~. Acting really doesn't work on you, Father~. Ah. I failed~."
"Failed? At what?"
"'Me'. This time I tried to become the kind of girl Father would like~. Since Father was helping 'me', I acted to adjust 'me' to Father, while also taking the opportunity to make a request~."
Letting out a deep sigh, Hilde shook her head and continued.
"Maybe it's because there's no clear motive. It was much more difficult than acting as someone else~."
"Why do you want to be to my liking?"
"Filial piety! As a child, it's a natural desire to want to look good in the father's eyes, right? And... I must escort Father to the Military State."
"Are you talking about the King of the Military State, which you mentioned back then?"
"Yes~. The King of the Military State that Father half-heartedly created and abandoned."
Half-heartedly created? I didn't make it; they awakened on their own and took it on. Seeing my expression, Hilde shrugged.
"That's right. Father made Aby observe everything and make decisions. The administrator, Uel, resisted Father, but 'I', the practitioner, agree with Father's opinion. However... no matter what, it's too much for Aby alone."
"Captain Aby is not alone. There are hundreds of communications officers."
"It's the same even if there are thousands of them. You can't run a country with hundreds of untainted girls modeled after a convent. The Holy Court doesn't parasitize the Empire for nothing. Even with the power to manipulate fate, you cannot rule humans while remaining untainted."
A convent, huh. Still, I feel like she's viewing the communications officers as too powerless. Unlike nuns, they even managed to copy the power of Clairvoyance to some extent. Well, it seems the Saintess is just as bad at ruling a country as a nun, though.
"Anyway, Hilde achieved her goal too."
"Well, that just happened somehow because Tirkanjaka went on a rampage; I didn't achieve the goal of pleasing Father."
"That goal is already achieved, though."
"Huh?"
"If your goal was to flatter me, it's already a success. I liked Hilde. It's not just because you helped me escape."
It accounts for quite a large part... well, even if it's not just that.
Actually, it's only natural. When someone openly declares they want to look good to you, wagging their tail and clinging to you, how could I dislike it? Flattery is always a two-way street. You know it, yet you fall for it. The very attitude of trying to win my favor satisfies me.
Hilde tilted her head as if it was unexpected.
"Even though you knew it was acting?"
"Why? Everyone in the world wears multiple masks anyway. They assess who is in front of them and change their masks. Even my attitude toward Aji and Tir is as different as heaven and earth."
"Knowing it's a mask makes you feel disappointed, right? Just like Tirkanjaka did with you."
"Well. Maybe. I knew that rather than genuinely respecting me, Hilde expects my usefulness as the King of Humans, so I would mind it. But... so what?"
The only one who knows what their true self is, what their true 'me' is, other than a sage who has meditated repeatedly, is me, a telepath. And whether it's a sage or me, we would probably reach the same conclusion.
That there is no point in distinguishing.
"In the first place, would knowing what your true self is, what your true feelings are, change anything? We are mere humans. In a limited time, within limited choices, we make judgments and act at every moment. Whether the attitude taken at that time stems from sincerity or was an act adjusted to the other person... isn't that sincerity? You acted with all your heart, Hilde."
Hilde, whose ego had faded after repeated acts and was looking for an anchor for her existence, actually cherishes acting more than anyone else. Even in this state, Hilde hasn't let go of acting.
"Hilde said her previous life was all just roles... but isn't filmography really important to an actor? God didn't save Hilde, but you're still using divine power, right? You were dragged here by Uel and overworked, but you still have an attachment to the Military State, right? Whether it was acting or whatever, you held it dearly in your heart, didn't you?"
If she hated acting, she wouldn't have kept the roles from that time safely in her mind and brought them out from time to time. Hilde genuinely loves acting. So sincerely that she even loses herself.
So what. Let her live as the incarnation of acting. I think that's fine too.
"Are you okay with it even if it's acting?"
"I am the audience off the stage. No matter what act Hilde puts on, no matter how realistic it feels, I won't lose sight of the fact that it's acting, right? I'll just prepare to watch and be impressed."
"An audience..."
What Hilde had been searching for was neither her true self nor a life without acting. What Hilde, an inevitable actress, wanted was an audience. An audience to watch and evaluate her acting.
First, the omnipotent Celestial God. Next, the Saintess who sees the future. Hilde acted with all her heart for them... but in truth, the Celestial God was a stage device, and the Saintess was an architect trying to build that stage. Neither could be Hilde's audience.
The next one she found was me, the King of Humans. Fortunately, I was able to give Hilde what she truly wanted.
"Heh. I see. That's something only Father could say~."
Stretching languidly, Hilde closed her eyes for a moment. In her mind, she chooses a role from behind the stage. What clothes to wear, how to speak and act. She embodies the role to fit her counterpart.
But I am sitting in the audience. An audience who watches while knowing all of her filmography. I can't be fooled. Even if I might want to be.
[…You're right. Since our first meeting happened so abruptly, I faced it without stepping out of the 'me' from back then. How could I make such a blunder... If I wanted to act out something new, I should have emptied the previous one.]
It couldn't be helped. At that time, I was accompanied by the Regressor, Tir, and Ria. For Hilde to be with me, she had to have the status of the Yukjangseong of the Military State. To cross over to the stage I was on, Hilde joined while still acting as 'Yeonggwi'.
But right now, there is nothing by my side. Neither the Military State, nor the Regressor, nor Tir. The previous stage has already brought its curtain down.
['I' am...]
Hilde murmured slightly to herself and opened her eyes again. Her appearance was the same, but I could tell that Hilde had changed her role.
"Huuuh, thank goodness. Even a vampire who has lived for a thousand years would never dream that there's a burrow like this underground. A sleepless vampire might not be able to dream, but... anyway, it'll be safe here for a while."
Amidst the constantly approaching danger, she stumbled upon a hiding place. She couldn't live here for a thousand or ten thousand years, but she would be safe for a few days at least. In this paradise that was promised to be left someday, Hilde desperately averted her eyes from despair.
"It's getting late, so let's stay here until a good plan comes to mind, Father."
The Military State disappeared from Hilde's thoughts. The divine power also disappeared. The role Hilde had put on now was that of a father and daughter fleeing from a vampire with a sliver of hope.
I wondered what she was doing, but I decided to accept it. It didn't matter as long as we escaped the Principality anyway. I readily nodded.
"Sure. It's getting dark, so let's get some shut-eye and regroup tomorrow."
"Okay! Then..."
As if she had been waiting for it, Hilde said that and snuck into my blanket. It wasn't fast, but the movement was so natural that I didn't even feel suspicious, and only belatedly lifted the blanket. Hilde, who had stuck right up against me and was fidgeting, poked her head out.
"W-what. Why are you suddenly coming in?"
Hilde tilted her head with an attitude as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Huh...? It's cold at night, so I'm sharing body heat..."
"What body heat? If you needed to, you could change it as much as you want!"
A person who has mastered Gamgigong can control their body as they wish. It varies depending on the level of mastery, but achieving Invulnerability to Cold and Heat, and Invulnerability to All Poisons all stem from Gamgigong. For Hilde, who can change her face and body, would changing her body temperature be beyond her?
However...
['Father is so silly. When I was young, sleeping together was nothing... Did I grow up too much and now it's burdensome for you? Maintaining body heat is important on a rough journey.']
To 'Hilde', it was the truth and her true feelings. Because she is acting right now.
This crazy concept freak. She completely reversed her own beliefs! Because she was so immersed in her acting, even I didn't feel any suspicion until Hilde came in. Because Hilde herself, the person involved, felt no suspicion!
Amazing, amazing. While marveling anew, when I felt the warmth inside the blanket, my thoughts changed.
I don't know about Hilde, but I do need it. I also obtained the Demon God and can use something similar to Gamgigong, but... using Hilde as a heater is easier than concentrating my mind.
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"Do you dislike sleeping... with 'me', Father?"
I shook my head and replied.
"It's not that, but you smell a bit."
"You idiot! We walked without resting for days, so of course there's a smell! I was going to wash tomorrow!"
Sulking, Hilde puffed out her cheeks and turned her head away. Even so, she was still clinging tightly to my body. As if her body was honest.
['Father's body is really big... 'I' have grown quite a bit too, but I'm still much smaller compared to Father. If only I could stay... in Father's embrace like this forever.']
A daughter with a father complex, what a completely mind-boggling setting. What got into her to make her do such a crazy act.
['W-what am I thinking! Even if he's not my biological father...! He's the one who raised 'me'! Getting out safely is the priority for now!']
What a complicated setting!