There are so many things I want to ask you.
So many things I want to hear.
So many things I want to receive.
So many things I want to give.
I want to be with you for a long time.
But… I think loving someone doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be loved in return.
Did I realize that too late?
Or did I simply not want to know?
…Deculein is still committing suicide.
Because I was too greedy, he is suffering the pain and agony of giving himself up every single day.
Watching him die, and die again, thousands of times, Sylvia feels as if her heart is collapsing.
Because of me.
All of it, because of me…
“No, dear.”
Suddenly, a voice embraced her as though to comfort her.
Cielia’s words.
Sylvia looked back at her.
“Deculein said so, didn’t he? That none of this is your fault.”
She smiled softly and wiped away the tears running down Sylvia’s cheeks. But even in this moment, Sylvia could not help but doubt.
“Ciel.”
“Yes?”
“…Are you really real, Ciel?”
Ciel had once said that she was “real.”
Not a fake I made, but real.
“Yes. Of course. I’m real.”
Ciel smiled brightly. Sylvia narrowed her eyes.
“Liar.”
“I told you, I’m real~ You won’t even believe your mom anymore?”
“…It’s okay. I won’t run away.”
“Sylvie. Mom won’t run away either.”
“…”
Then, a small ripple rose within her heart. It spread like a ripple across a calm lakeshore.
—Sylvia.
The voice of the demon trapped inside her body. Its tone somehow resembled Deculein’s.
But Sylvia pressed it down firmly.
She ignored it.
—Sylvia.
You’re too late.
Stupid demon.
—…
At that, the voice fell silent. Sylvia looked at Ciel again.
Ciel opened her arms to her. Sylvia stepped into her embrace.
And then, for the first time that year, she looked out the window.
“…It’s clear.”
The scenery of the island, where only snow had fallen for a year, had changed quite a bit. To be precise, spring had arrived. Flowers bloomed, and honeybees were born. New plants appeared, and migratory birds sometimes crossed the sky.
Sylvia had never created such lives.
In other words, the “Voice” had opened.
“He’ll be coming soon now.”
Ciel said. Sylvia gave a faint smile.
“Then it’ll be goodbye.”
At that, Ciel’s eyes rounded in surprise, but soon her face became one of utter pride, and she hugged Sylvia even tighter.
“Yes. A good goodbye…”
* * *
Swaaaah…
The island’s beach. A warm stretch of sand where peaceful waves rolled in and vanished.
“…Hey, Idnik. When’s he comin’?”
Al Roth, Jukaken, and Idnik. The three were waiting there for someone.
Because from beyond that sea, the “real” Deculein was on his way.
“He’ll be here soon. It hasn’t been long since the Voice opened completely.”
Idnik muttered curtly. Al Roth glanced at her and asked,
“But Idnik. Why did Deculein hide from us that he was killing himself?”
“Because it’s more dramatic that way.”
“…Dramatic?”
Jukaken tilted his head at Idnik’s words. Idnik shrugged.
“Yeah. He planned to be found out anyway. Being found out itself was part of the plan. His goal, in the end, was to persuade Sylvia.”
“…Well, true.”
Al Roth nodded as well.
Deculein was the one who drew the magic circle, but from the start, without Sylvia’s cooperation, its implementation would be extremely difficult, if not impossible.
“Being found out after dying a few dozen times, and being found out after dying about a thousand times. The latter is far more persuasive. With that, he forced Sylvia’s hand.”
“…”
“Forced.”
Al Roth and Jukaken knew what that meant.
They had heard it from Idnik.
“It’s a problem, a real problem.”
In order to kill the Voice, Sylvia’s sacrifice was indispensable.
Because Sylvia had already become one with the Voice.
Moreover, even if they successfully killed the Voice, Sylvia could not leave this island. She must not leave. At the very least, she must not set foot on the continent.
For quite a long time.
Perhaps, for her entire life.
“So Sylvia has to manage this island, right? Like some… lighthouse keeper.”
Jukaken muttered that as he looked up at the long lighthouse in the center of the island, Sylvia’s residence.
“Yeah. Sylvia, at the very least, won’t die, but she’ll have to waste her years here. Until she gathers back the Voice that has already spread across the entire continent. Until she completely peels away the Voice clinging to her.”
Right now, Sylvia was a walking “Voice.” It was the karma of her having swallowed a demon because of her lonely desire.
A demon’s power was quite tenacious, so even if the magic circle operated successfully and killed the demon’s main body, it would remain for at least ten years or more, tormenting her.
“Deculein already knew all of that, and forced Sylvia to sacrifice herself. Because if Sylvia doesn’t sacrifice herself, they have no choice but to kill her.”
It was a kind of threat.
If you do not accept this, I will keep killing myself.
“…It was the best option, then.”
Jukaken nodded, and Al Roth looked out at the sea again.
“Oh, hey. Over there. Isn’t that Sylvia?”
Then Jukaken pointed toward the breakwater on the beach. Sylvia was sitting there blankly, looking this way.
“Shit. You don’t think she overheard us, do you? She’s not gonna go berserk again, is she?”
“…”
At that, as if Sylvia really had heard Jukaken’s words, she frowned at him in exasperation.
Thwack—!
Idnik smacked Jukaken on the back of the head.
“Ugh! Ah, you fucking—”
“As if. Sylvia’s ten times smarter than you. She already knows. She’s just waiting for Deculein to arrive. And keeping Gerek in check while she’s at it.”
“…Ahem.”
Jukaken cleared his throat.
Gerek was hiding somewhere around here. He was after Deculein. The original Deculein, honestly, was the kind of person who had gotten everything done without lifting a finger to an almost obnoxious degree.
After all, the one who committed suicide was the fake Deculein, wasn’t it?
“There!”
In the midst of that, Al Roth pointed into the distance. Jukaken and Idnik’s eyes widened as well.
On the far horizon, artificial splashes of water were going splash, splash… no, that wasn’t splashing, was it?
“Whoa, what the hell. Is that a whale or something?”
He was coming at an incredible speed.
Swaaaaaah—!
The waves grew a little fiercer. A mere human’s swimming was creating artificial waves.
“…”
The three of them silently watched that fish professor.
Kwaaaak—!
He approached with a wave as if overturning the sea, and soon came ashore.
His two legs stepped onto the sandy beach. There was not the slightest hint of fatigue about him, and his soaked clothes did not squelch. Rather, they were smooth and neat, like silk.
Only perfect calm and dignity.
“…”
In the settling sunlight, he adjusted his clothes. With 「Cleanse」, he dried the moisture. His blue eyes swept over those present.
Al Roth suddenly grew tense.
Because she remembered what the previous Deculein had said. That right now, he was the perfect main body, and he hadn’t made any doll to take his place…
“Are you Al Roth?”
Deculein asked, looking at her. Al Roth nodded. Her heart was pounding quite a bit, but she did not run away.
Had that been the right choice?
He quietly nodded.
“Let us begin.”
“Right away?”
Idnik raised an eyebrow.
“I need no rest. In any case, the mana of my existence seems to be scattered here.”
“No.”
Idnik pointed at the breakwater.
“You don’t need to meet her?”
Deculein looked there. Sylvia was there. As if embarrassed, as if shy, she was hiding among the tripods, only her face peeking out.
“It is fine. Is there a need to meet?”
“What? Ha.”
At Deculein’s words, Idnik let out a hollow laugh, and Sylvia hid her face with a crestfallen expression.
“I will activate the grand magic.”
Deculein placed his hand on the ground. Traces of “existence” writhed as they recognized their master’s arrival.
“The detonation will proceed in three stages. First, it will return the souls of the dead to the afterlife, and the living who have forgotten themselves will regain their memories.”
Even as she agreed with Deculein’s words, Al Roth’s mind suddenly burned with a certain thought.
She blurted out the question that surged up powerfully within her.
“…Wait. How do you know that? I haven’t even conveyed the magic theory to you yet.”
Deculein said nothing. He merely activated the first magic in silence.
“Professor.”
“…”
Al Roth called Deculein, and Jukaken and Idnik looked at him with slightly shocked faces.
“Hey.”
Al Roth shook the box in her arms.
Kuuuuung—!
A roar that shook the entire island. The first process of the grand magic Deculein had activated.
Afterward, the professor rose to his feet.
“All the incomplete ‘me’s died without knowing, but the memories they held are within me.”
Deculein spoke calmly.
“I went through the same things, and experienced the same things.”
Those listening, on the other hand, were aghast.
“It seems I died 1,533 times.”
The island wind pushed in. The waves of the sea splashed a little more violently. Al Roth swallowed hard and asked without thinking,
“…Why bother? Is there any need to remember?”
“Why bother?”
Deculein reached his hand toward Al Roth. Al Roth shrank back completely.
“Because it was worth doing.”
His fingers brushed a speck of dust from her hair.
“And because not forgetting is courtesy toward him.”
“Haaah~”
At that moment, Idnik let out a deep sigh, and Jukaken turned his face away for no reason.
Deculein looked somewhere and said,
“The one you met was not the complete me, but the memories of you that the incomplete me met are within me.”
The tripods where Sylvia had been. Though she was no longer there now, his words were clearly meant for her.
“I will not forget.”
This much might be enough.
Whooooosh…
In that instant, the curtain of time covering the island was completely lifted. However, the echoes and ripples of the Voice remained unchanged. After all, it was the power of a demon that had already spread across the entire continent.
Of course, there was no need to worry.
Sylvia von Yusefin Iliade.
She would remain on this island, take responsibility, and retrieve it without fail.
No matter how much time it took, no matter what sacrifice was required.
…Just as Deculein had.
* * *
Rogerio’s fleet and dozens of airships from the Adventurers’ Guild landed on the Island of the Voice. The fleet carried tens of thousands of adventurers on its main ships and lifeboats, while the airships held the rest.
Now, everyone was ready to leave.
“…Thank goodness.”
Sylvia watched the scene from the lighthouse. She kept strict watch, in case anything happened.
So that they could safely leave this island.
Crackle— crackle—
From within her arms—no, from her neck—came the crackling of the crystal orb necklace. An item made from Deculein’s crystal orb.
Sylvia blinked as she looked at it.
—Can you hear me?
His voice. Sylvia smiled brightly, but soon subdued her expression and answered.
“…Yes. Professor.”
—Is Cielia there?
“No.”
Sylvia shook her head.
“She left.”
When Deculein arrived on the island, Cielia had left.
Sylvia had no complaints.
Her mother had kept the promise she made to her.
“But I’m curious. Was Ciel real? Or was she fa—”
—She was real.
“…”
Deculein cut off her words firmly. Sylvia blinked blankly. Her mouth was half open, but she could not speak.
—Cielia was not fake. I am not saying this to comfort you.
“…”
—On this continent, phenomena even I cannot understand sometimes occur. Whether it is human obsession, a vengeful spirit, or something else, I do not know. Perhaps the only way to explain it, even roughly, would be to call it a “Trait.”
The game system known as 「Traits」.
Just as Deculein had Mental Fortitude.
Just as Sylvia had Three Primary Colors.
—Perhaps Cielia had something like that as well, and without losing her memories, she waited in the afterlife for the day she could meet you.
“…”
Tears welled in Sylvia’s eyes. Deculein continued in a low voice.
—There is no need for a detailed explanation of that mechanism.
Sylvia looked around her home.
The nine years she had spent with her mother.
Now that Ciel was gone, it seemed empty, but traces of her were everywhere.
—You truly did spend that time with your mother.
The sweater she had made for her on a winter day… was right there.
No.
She could not see it.
Because her tears blurred her vision.
—However, you did not even give me time to convey my regrets to her.
Deculein’s words somehow sounded wistful, and apologetic.
But Sylvia shook her head.
“No. It’s all right.”
Sylvia smiled. A salty taste slipped between her lips.
“Mother said it too. That it wasn’t your fault, Professor.”
—…
Deculein fell silent for a moment.
As he wondered what to say, Sylvia spoke first.
“Then I’ll be going now.”
There was still one last knot left for her to tie…