Episode 98
""Ughhhhh..."
"...They're like undead."
The imperial nobles, already rotten to the core and no different from corpses, but now actually transformed into something virtually indistinguishable from the dead as they approach—it's a novel experience.
- CRACK!!
Having such thoughtless ideas while kicking apart the already broken door, I carried Clana and hurriedly escaped the room.
"...Should I just slaughter them all?"
Eventually, looking at the nobles flooding in like ants from the ballroom, I muttered while stroking my sword, but soon sighed and shook my head.
Most of the nobles were rotten, but cutting them all down would be quite troublesome.
There were a very few good nobles, and some who could be reformed and used. Moreover, if I didn't consider the social chaos that would arise from their sudden deaths, it would actually be more problematic.
"Hmm..."
Ultimately, I slowly lowered my sword and looked around at the nobles surrounding me, then began to chew over a thought that crossed my mind.
'I'm fine, aren't I?'
Thanks to my 'Stellar Mana,' 'Hero's Power,' and mental strength stat of 9.3, I'm fortunate. In situations like this where mental attack is suspected, I can move freely.
"Frey..."
"...Hah."
While I was thinking such thoughts, Clana, who was in my arms, spoke to me in a low voice.
"Is this really, really a dream?"
"Huh?"
"Look at those nobles over there... They're like undead."
"......."
"Of course, of course... You wouldn't treat me well... So this must be a dream, right?"
Clana's expression as she said that looked incredibly sorrow.
"Wait, you... that memory from earlier... the Star-catching Flower... Hah!"
"...I'm sorry, Clana."
Looking at her with an equally sorrowful expression, I knocked her out again and began hurrying toward the room where dark magic energy was rippling in the distance.
"...First, I need to put out the immediate fire."
Right now, above all else, I need to do something about Clana.
.
It was dark all around.
Clana, who opened her eyes in that darkness, looked around for a moment wondering what was happening, then recalled the situation from just before and turned pale.
"F-Frey... huh?"
But suddenly her memory cut off. As if it had never existed in the first place.
"Meow..."
"Hah!"
Thanks to that, she was wearing a bewildered expression when something bit her ankle.
Startled, she looked down to see a black cat holding her ankle in its mouth and heading somewhere.
"Ha... really. This is absurd."
Dragged along by the black cat for quite a while, Clana eventually discovered her younger self in the distance, grumbling while writing something.
"U-um..."
Looking at her younger self with an anxious expression, Clana cautiously approached and asked a question, but no answer came back.
"What is it?"
Thinking maybe she should try, she reached out her hand to touch, but as expected, she felt nothing.
"...Ah."
In that situation, Clana, who had been tilting her head, finally understood the situation after looking at the contents of the diary her younger self was writing.
'This is... that memory...'
Recalling the memory of when she first met Frey, Clana began to slowly read the diary.
------------==
○○ Month 3rd
The debutante ball I had today was the worst, just as I expected. The people approaching me were nothing but lechers and opportunists, and there were even people proposing marriage.
To propose to me, who hasn't even turned 10 yet, at the age of 50... It was truly disgusting. But the worst moment was when the tea party was held.
At that tea party, no lady, no young miss... would have tea with me. Of course, I was used to being alone so I didn't feel much.
It was just a little, just a very little sad.
Still, there was delicious cake and coffee, so I was finding comfort in eating those, and right then that boy sat in front of me.
Did he say his name was Frey? The first son of the Starlight Ducal House, really someone with a high status. Several times more than a scarecrow like me.
Anyway, the behavior he showed me was so artificial. Not only pity, but he was clearly planning to use me.
So I told him that if he wanted to become close to me, to pick the 'Star-catching Flower' that is said to be occasionally found in the rugged forest near the ballroom. I wanted him to struggle since he approached me just to use me.
Probably after searching for a few hours, he'd give up and curse me, or just say he understood verbally and then curse and give up as soon as he left, right?
I know everything.
I'm a person of only that much value.
---------------
When Clana finished reading what was written in the diary, the surroundings changed and the memory from the diary flowed into her.
"Ugh...?"
Clana was confused by the memory that suddenly became clear in her mind, when young Clana, who was sitting in the same spot, began to mutter with an anxious voice.
"It can't be... It won't be..."
Clana, who cautiously approached her again, looked at her younger self writing in the diary with trembling hands for a moment, then began to read the diary.
------------==
○○ Month 4th
That child named Frey who I played a prank on yesterday. They say he hasn't returned to the Ducal House even today.
What could it be? Is the Starlight family plotting something to recruit me? Or is it just that child's rebellion?
Yes, at best it would be one of those things. There's no way he'd be searching for flowers all night for someone like me, right?
There shouldn't be...
------------
"Ugh...!"
Clana, who had read everything written in the diary and was staring blankly for a moment, groaned while holding her head that was hurting as if it would split.
Regardless, the scene before her eyes changed again, and this time what entered Clana's vision was her younger self biting her fingernails with an anxious expression while writing in her diary.
------------==
○○ Month 6th
It's already the 4th day since the child named Frey disappeared. The Ducal House sent out a search party but they haven't found him yet.
What should I do? What should I do? What should I do? Maybe he really did want to become friends with me.
That flower is so rare that there's a legend saying it blooms once in a hundred years... There's no way a child my age could find it...
I just played a prank thinking he was approaching me artificially like other children... I thought he'd give up quickly...
To the first child who reached out to me...
What have I done?
------------
Clana, who read up to there and started stepping back, began to look around with a trembling expression.
"T-this place..."
Because her surroundings were changing into a forest that seemed like she had seen it sometime before.
"Ah..."
Clana, who was watching that phenomenon with blank eyes, discovered her younger self looking at someone with trembling eyes.
Her clothes were torn here and there from getting caught on branches, wounds were on her pale skin, and her whole body was dirty from wandering through the forest.
"You... that's..."
That self of hers, looking blankly at Frey who was similarly in tatters, opened her mouth.
"It's the Star-catching Flower!"
Frey, with a bright expression, held out the flower to her.
A silver Star-catching Flower that looked just like her.
"And take this too! It's the Sun-catching Flower!"
"W-why would you give that... to someone useless like me..."
When Frey took out a Sun-catching Flower from his bosom and gave it to her, Clana asked while sobbing.
"Because I want to be friends!"
Frey, who had protected the flowers perfectly even though he himself was in tatters, answered the guilt-ridden Clana like that, and she lowered her head deeply.
"...Why?"
"Because we're not friends yet!"
When Clana asked again with difficulty, Frey, still with a bright expression, gave an incomprehensible answer, and she began to speak in a low voice.
"I have nothing to give you right now. I have no power, and I'm a scarecrow hated by people."
"I don't mind?"
"Instead, I will place an oath on you."
"Hmm?"
"The oath that the princess, the hero, and the lady of the Moonlight family are said to have shared in this forest a thousand years ago... I will place that oath on you."
Saying that, Clana grabbed the hand of Frey, who had a bewildered expression, and began the oath.
"I declare the absolute oath flowing in the three houses, from this moment on."
"What are you doing?"
"I, Clana Soleil Sunrise, will serve Frey Raon Starlight forever."
Hearing those words, Frey's mouth dropped open.
"As long as you don't betray me first, I will never hate you... and will serve you until I die."
"W-wait...?"
"If I break the oath, I will tremble whenever I see your face, and whenever I think of you, my heart will burn hot... and eventually, at the end, I will go mad."
"Y-you shouldn't make that kind of promise!"
"This is the best gift I can give you right now."
When Clana, who answered like that, was about to end the oath, Frey hurriedly opened his mouth.
"I-I'll promise too! I'll promise too!!"
"W-what are you doing!"
Then the mysterious energy surrounding Clana transferred to Frey.
"Don't do it! This is a gift I'm giving you! If you promise too, it has no meaning!!"
"But where is there a friend who only receives gifts one-sidedly?"
Clana screamed and tried to let go of Frey's hand, but he rather grabbed Clana's hand tightly and answered.
"Gifts are something we give and receive together."
Saying that, Frey began the oath to Clana, who had a blank expression after hearing those words.
"I, Frey Raon Starlight, will make my friend before me into an emperor."
"You...!"
"And if I break this promise..."
"N-no! It's impossible for me to become an emperor!!"
When completely unexpected words came out of Frey's mouth, young Clana tried to dissuade him with a shocked expression.
"Since it's come to this, set the price as something trivial! That I have to give you a cookie! Or a single coin!"
"I will dedicate my everything to you."
"Ah........"
When Frey finished speaking with a smile, she started making a hollow sound.
"So that's it... Frey, that's why to me..."
And the next moment, the surrounding space began to fade.
"Right, that's how it was. That's how it had been..."
In the fading space, Clana, who had gained realization, began to mutter quietly.
"Frey... because of that promise back then..."
Alone, muttering to herself, Clana finished speaking with a puzzled expression.
"But, I feel like I've forgotten something...?"
.
"Haaah..."
"Kania! How did it go?"
When Kania, who had been continuously touching Clana, let out a deep sigh and separated from her, Frey asked her with a tense expression.
"For now, it's successful... but whether it took effect or not, I think we'll know when Clana wakes up."
"...Ugh."
While Frey made an anxious expression at those words, Kania spoke with a worried expression.
"I overlaid a powerful memory that can surpass the 'trial' memory Clana has to block it... but this too is quite a dangerous memory."
"Damn, I didn't even have the memory of making that oath with her... Where did that come from?"
"Probably... a erased memory that could only be brought out from the unconscious that we commonly shared."
Kania, who had been speaking in a low voice, frowned and continued.
"I'll say it again, dark magic isn't omnipotent. This unconscious adjustment has a high possibility of failure... and even if it succeeds, the trial memory can resurface with even the smallest trigger."
"Then, if we're just careful..."
"No, even if we leave it alone, the trial memory will naturally start to resurface before long. What I did is literally just a temporary measure."
"How long... can it hold?"
"If short, a few weeks. If long, a few months."
At those words, Frey clenched his fist, and Kania stood up and finished speaking.
"Therefore... unless you find a fundamental solution, you should consider the penalty occurrence as a confirmed matter."
"Damn."
Frey, who spat out a curse and was pacing around the room, sighed and answered.
"Kania, if I die, my will in the secret pocket... Kania?"
But in the middle of speaking, Frey started tilting his head.
"Kania, what's wrong?"
Because Kania, who had stood up abruptly at Frey's words and was about to say something, had frozen like stone.
"W-why are you like that too?"
Soon, when even Serena's owl that had flown in from the next room and was sitting on his shoulder fell powerlessly to the floor, Frey, who quickly snatched it up, looked at Clana who was lying down with a flustered expression.
"..........."
Clana, who until just moments ago had been groaning and tossing and turning, was also frozen.
"What... is this..."
Eventually, Frey, who confirmed that the crazy imperial nobles visible outside the window were all frozen too, tried to go out while breaking into a cold sweat.
"Greetings, Frey."
".......!!!"
When someone suddenly opened the door and entered, he was so startled that he fell on his rear.
"Finally, we meet."
The eyes of the girl watching such a Frey were still shining with ruby light.