The Red Garnet Adventurer Party was touring the Hadekain Mansion together.
From the main gate to the entrance hall, from the entrance hall to the corridor inside the house, exiting the corridor to the central garden spreading out extravagantly, passing through another door in that garden to yet another corridor…….
“……Wow, Hadekain seems to have gotten even bigger~ It flourishes more every time I come.”
At a scale comparable to a university campus, even Ganesha exclaimed in admiration. Lia, Leo, and Carlos felt the same.
“It’s Hadekain, after all.”
—Hey. Leo. I told you to stop touching me.
Squeak— squeak— A small complaint rose alongside the sound of a mouse. Lia, stealing a glance in that direction, forcibly stifled a laugh.
“Huh? Why, Ros?”
—You too, Lia. Stop secretly touching me. I said don’t touch.
For reference, Carlos was currently in hamster form. Having transformed into a tiny little hamster sitting on Leo’s palm, this was the innate stealth and disguise technique Carlos had developed himself.
“Ah, sorry. You’re so chubby and squishy, Ros, I couldn’t help myself.”
—Touch me again and I’ll bite.
“Yeah. Sorry, sorry.”
Anyway, the Red Garnet Adventurer Party was walking through Hadekain’s lord’s castle to participate in the test.
“Argh— Damn it!”
At that moment, a crisp curse rang out. There was no need to turn around to know who it was.
“Just how far are we supposed to go? Did that Dekyullein even bother coming?!”
Jakal. To him, who was voicing complaints while tapping the hallway floor with a long sword, the old butler silently pointed to their surroundings.
“……What?”
Jakal twisted his face into a grimace. The old butler calmly met his ferocious expression and spoke.
“Look at the numbers.”
“……Numbers?”
At that, Jakal, as well as Lia and Ganesha, surveyed their surroundings.
Indeed, the number of adventurers had decreased. When they arrived, there had surely been around a thousand.
“……337.”
Jakal immediately seized the exact number.
“The test was already in progress. Adventurers lacking in ability are probably wandering lost in this mansion even now.”
“……Is Dekyullein here? Is that bastard the one running it?”
At Jakal’s words, the old butler shook his head.
“The Family Head is watching.”
“Where—”
—Here.
Dekyullein’s voice rang out. Every adventurer flinched. Then they turned to look.
The corridor’s windows.
Dekyullein was sitting beyond all of those windows.
—To me, mirrors are utilized like this. Without needing to go somewhere far, I can observe all of you.
Leo hurriedly hid the hamster. Lia and Ganesha blocked Dekyullein’s line of sight.
Dekyullein swept his gaze over them— and nodded.
—The test should be more or less ready by now. Let us begin.
“Yes, Family Head.”
Then the old butler pressed a switch on the wall.
Grooooom……. A staircase appeared right in the middle of the corridor.
“Please head down.”
The adventurers silently descended the stairs.
The basement was, first and foremost, a long corridor. A structure with private rooms lined up on both sides of that corridor.
“The rule is one person per room. Inside this room, there is a helmet, a chair, and a vital signal transmitter. Put them on, and you may begin the test.”
Leo whispered quietly into Lia’s ear.
—Then the hamster can’t participate.
Lia suddenly raised her hand.
“Me! What about pets?”
In an instant, everyone’s focus converged on her. Many people sneered. Only the old butler seriously pondered before shaking his head.
“I do not know what a pet is, but the helmet will not fit.”
“Yes. It’s fine. It can’t be helped.”
Lia gave up easily. Leo blinked and whispered again.
—Is it really okay like this?
—Mmhmm. Ros already left.
—……Huh?
Leo looked at his own palm. The hamster Carlos had already vanished.
Ganesha smiled widely.
—He went into that room just now. He won’t get caught, you know? Jakal helped.
—……Jakal?
Leo asked back. Ganesha answered in a small voice.
—Yeah. Though the person himself probably doesn’t know. That Jakal distinguished not by the number of people, but by the characteristics of their mana. He unconsciously did a ‘counting’ of Carlos too. Since Carlos heard that, he must have gone into room 337.
—……Ah.
Then the old butler spoke.
“Now then. We shall begin. Please enter your respective rooms.”
“Yes~”
Lia answered energetically and chose room 1. Beside her, in order, were Ganesha, Leo, and Jakal.
* * *
Meanwhile, after finishing the ‘adventurer selection’ through the mirrors.
“‘The Voice’…… There must be a way. It can’t be impossible.”
I met Rohakan in the vineyard.
“‘God’? That guy from the cult who wants to become a god? Ah~ if only I had lived ten more years, I would have helped. However, you have nothing to fear. Because if that bastard were a real god, he would have tried to face me properly. But the moment I died, he sneakily poked his head out. Doesn’t that seem cheap? He was afraid of me, that bastard.”
Rohakan said this and that to me, but.
“Epheurin’s regression? That hasn’t ended yet. Hardly a reason to feel safe.”
None of it was actually helpful.
“That’s enough talk. Come pick grapes with me, lad.”
“…….”
“What is a young man so curious about?”
I picked fully ripe grapes with both hands. I shook off the dirt and put them in the basket.
“……If it truly is Farsight, can you not properly tell me everything?”
I asked back bluntly. My whole body was already soaked in sweat from the blazing sunlight.
Because today’s lesson from Rohakan was ‘grape picking.’
Excluding all magic, including 「Telekinesis」, with nothing but bare hands and bare body.
“Keuheuheu. That, too, is impossible due to the backlash. You know it as well. To tell the future, not only the speaker’s power, but the receiver’s mana is extremely important. You are still unqualified.”
“…….”
“Moreover, I am already dead. Merely maintaining this magical space is taxing enough. I cannot give you the answer. And above all, what fun is a life walked according to an answer key?”
I stood up. I shook off the dust covering my clothes, pat— pat.
Harvesting 30,000 snow grapes. For that task, I wasted my 「Iron Body」.
“Thanks to that, I’ve ended up in such a beggarly state.”
“That is the true taste of labor. It is not a beggarly state, but the visage of a holy laborer. Maintain that appearance until you return. Furthermore, the use of magic is forbidden in my vineyard from now on.”
“Fine.”
Was today’s harvest just 30,000 snow grapes?
I walked while shaking my head.
Behind me, Rohakan grinned.
“Keuheuheu. Ah, right, lad. Are you going to go to the Voice like that too? You look much more human now than the you I always saw.”
“…….”
However, at that very moment.
A thought flashed through my mind. A streak of ominous fire burned down my spine. Thud— my legs froze stiff.
“……A method came to mind.”
“Hm? What method?”
In the middle of the vineyard.
I muttered while standing there.
“The way to get to the Voice.”
Right now, a magical disaster was raging on the ‘Island of the Voice.’ Because of that, any vessel would only spin in circles, making entry itself impossible.
Any vessel was impossible.
In other words, a ‘vessel’ was impossible.
“What is it?”
Rohakan’s question.
I looked at my dirty hands. I felt my sweat-drenched body. Then, I turned to Rohakan.
“Swimming.”
Only then did I smell the scent of grapes vibrating in this space.
It was fragrant, harmonious. The 20,000 snow grapes I had picked myself were belatedly lovely.
“Hahaha. Swimming. That is good.”
Rohakan smiled broadly. He looked at me as if proud and spoke.
“Also, you may not know, but a very long time ago, in the desert where I lived, there was such a maxim…….”
* * *
“When the body is weak, the head suffers.”
“……Huh?”
On Rogerio’s ship. I stood on the deck, relaying Rohakan’s words as I gazed at the ‘Island of the Voice.’
──────!
Still, a dead zone where storms of mana raged. The roar of that great nature was rather twice as violent as before.
“What does that mean?”
Ipeurin asked with a scrunched expression. I silently untied my watch. I took off my coat. I threw it to Ipeurin.
“Urk!”
Ipeurin staggered from catching the heavy coat. He asked, dumbfounded.
“Surely, you’re not saying you’ll swim?”
I nodded.
“No, it’s impossible. Another island might be different, but that is the ‘Voice.’ It’s a demon that is the wave itself.”
“What does that matter.”
Ipeurin furrowed his brow.
“You heard the professor. Waves spread infinitely. Swimming inside a wave? The island will keep growing farther, and your sense of time will vanish.”
It was late at night. There were many mages on Rogerio’s ship, but all were asleep. I had deliberately aimed for this time.
Because someone like Ipeurin would obviously say annoying things right now.
“It doesn’t matter.”
Just like that, I stood at the railing of the deck. Ipeurin was shocked.
“No, but Professor—”
Ipeurin rushed to grab me. I silently looked down at the water’s surface.
Roughly churning waves.
The depth would easily be thousands of meters, and no one knew what sea beasts lay below.
However, I did not care.
“Get down. Hurry.”
Ipeurin grabbed my arm and pulled.
I gazed at the distant moon in the sky. The moon resembled Ipeurin’s face.
“Ah, hurry up and come down— Uwah!”
I pushed Ipeurin below the deck. He fell on his bottom. Rubbing his back, he shrieked.
“Ah, seriously!”
“Ipeurin. Once upon a time, an ancestor of Yukeurain had such a concern.”
An autobiography written by a distant Family Head of Yukeurain. I still remember one passage from it.
Strangely, it remained in my head.
“……Humans fear demons. Humans are designed that way. However, then, what manner of being should ‘Yukeurain as reflected in a demon’s eyes’ be?”
This is a question that pierces the ‘bloodline’ called Yukeurain.
“To me, it is too simple a question. Because humans fear demons, Yukeurain must not appear as a human in the eyes of demons.”
The family’s purpose of annihilating demons drives Dekyullein as a powerful setting of the world.
Therefore, Yukeurain is never humane. It must not be humane.
The most fundamental reason for Dekyullein’s shitty personality, too, perhaps lay in that point.
“Therefore, demons fear Yukeurain. If they do not fear it, I will make them fear it.”
“Tha—”
“If not, don’t ask. Do you have another way to save Silbia?”
“……”
Ipeurin closed his mouth.
For some reason, Ipeurin seemed to consider Silbia a friend.
“Stay with Premien. She will be needed for post-processing and record-keeping.”
“……Yes.”
He didn’t try to stop me any further. He nodded resolutely, and I didn’t hesitate.
I dove into the sea.
Splash──!
A loud sound rang out. Seawater touched my eyes. My whole body was soaked in cold. The mana of the great sea seemed to pierce my heart.
Within it, I gazed at the distant ‘Island of the Voice.’
A week, or a month, or half a year, or a year…….
However long it might take, the future of the ‘Voice’ was already decided. It was all too obvious, and furthermore, natural.
The demon would certainly be annihilated.
I would make it so.
* * *
……Silbi spent time with her mother. She counted the stars while looking at the night sky, and felt the warm texture of the wind.
All of these things were blissful to the point of being surreal.
“Mom.”
Today too, Silbi called out to her mother with a bright smile. Siel also looked at her and returned the same smile.
“Why~?”
“I wish it could be like this forever.”
“……Hm. Forever?”
At that, Sielria made a slightly strange face. She was rubbing her chin as if troubled.
“Why? Can’t we?”
Silbi was suddenly frightened. But Sielria smiled brightly.
“Yeah. Forever is impossible~ We have different lifespans. I wish Silbi would live a long, long life.”
“……Not like that.”
Silbi puffed out her cheeks. Siel’s fingers poked those cheeks.
“Then?”
“……You just have to stay with me until I can endure it.”
I hate a separation that is too out of place. A normal love and parting is good.
Me getting married, having babies, living happily together, until one day when I can endure your death.
At that time, I wish for a ‘natural farewell’ that we all greet together.
“To me, that is forever. It’s fine, right.”
Even so, Sielria shook her head. She placed her hand on Silbi’s head with a slightly stern face.
“No.”
“……Why.”
Silbi found it unfair. Why did she keep saying no. Did Mom hate her. She loved Mom so much.
“Only until that person comes.”
That person. Siel always spoke of that person.
Who that person was, she herself had long since forgotten.
“Only until that person comes, Mom will protect you.”
Siel’s voice as if scolding. Silbi looked up at her with a puffed-up face on the verge of tears.
“If that person comes……”
It’s farewell.
Not wanting to hear a voice saying that, she turned her head away with a swish. She looked at the distant horizon of this port city.
The sea surface illuminated by the lighthouse. Glaring at the rippling waves, she unnecessarily gauged her mother’s mood.
She repeated her words: ‘only until that person comes.’
And…….
Silbia erased a part of the sea.