Clang—! Claaang—!
Amid the ringing friction of spears and blades, Sophien walked down the corridor. She stared at the back of the man who was guiding her, cutting through the old mansion without hesitation.
As emperor, perhaps today was the first time she had ever spent so long looking at someone’s back.
“……You said you were the professor from the mirror.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Sophien rewound her memories.
The years in which she had been tormented by poison and died endlessly. The professor who had shared all that time with her through the 「Demon’s Mirror」, and in the end met his death.
“Are you saying the timeline has split?”
“I do not know for certain. However, I am more memory and mind than soul.”
Deculein spoke. He was still immaculate, his tone resolute yet courteous.
“My mental strength, which had deferred death, remained in the underworld and endured even Your Majesty’s regression. It was not the result I desired, but perhaps the reason I remain here like this is thanks to Your Majesty’s wish.”
“Wish……? Then where is Deculein now?”
Sophien asked. Deculein answered in a low voice.
“He is likely conversing with the ghosts of the underworld. Among the ghosts of this old mansion, there do exist souls still clear-minded and pure, worthy of respect. Like Igiris.”
“……Perhaps. Was it you, Deculein, who signed the notice of enrollment on the wall poster?”
“Yes.”
Deculein’s enrollment signature written on the wall poster.
Deculein must have seen it and realized it as well. The existence of another self.
“Your Majesty, please remain here only until the sun rises.”
He guided the emperor somewhere. It was a cramped room, the sort where only the lowest servants of the Imperial Palace, like gardeners, would stay.
“This place is the boundary between the underworld and the living world. It is a very small fissure observed, at least, by my 「Six Eyes」. When the sun rises, leave through this door. An eclipse will soon come. Before then, you must leave.”
He pointed to a small back door in one corner. Sophien looked at him and asked in return.
“And you?”
“…….”
“What do you intend to do?”
Deculein said nothing. He only faced the emperor in the form she remembered.
“There are many things I wished to discuss with you.”
Sophien said to him.
The professor in the mirror, who had shared all her deaths and departed at the moment she overcame death.
“A man who, like an imaginary friend, long accompanied my memories.”
Her voice sank softly. Deculein remained the expressionless face of a retainer.
“Do you know?”
In truth, when Sophien read the Imperial Palace records. When she learned of this old mansion’s existence.
The first thing that came to mind was this professor.
Perhaps there might be some trace of that professor in this place called the underworld. No, while ‘wishing’ that there would be.
“I have more memories with you than memories without you.”
The hundreds of years repeating assassinations by poison. The years she had met Deculein as her instructional mage.
For Deculein himself, those two sets of memories did not connect, but for Sophien, the two existed as one.
Even in her tedious daily life, even in her ever-indolent mind, they remained precious.
“The Deculein of now does not remember those days.”
Sophien had pretended not to notice and ignored it. She had driven herself into ennui, feigning indifference.
However, it had still hurt.
“It was quite wretched.”
“Your Majesty.”
Deculein called her. Sophien silently looked up at him.
“I am Deculein, and Deculein is also me. He too will remember soon. But Your Majesty, why did you prepare an event in a place like this?”
“……Tch.”
Crunch— Sophien’s brow twisted. It was because those words of Deculein’s somehow sounded distorted to her ears.
“Do not tell me that even after becoming like that, you are still worried about Yuli.”
“……No.”
Deculein calmly shook his head.
There was no smile on him now. He was exactly as he had been when he faced her dying self. His courtesy, so devoted as to be formal, and his ever-peaceful manner of speaking were the same.
“I am worried about Your Majesty.”
“…….”
Wrinkles etched themselves into Sophien’s imperial countenance.
“Just as I am the one who wholly remembers Your Majesty’s memories, the only person who wholly remembers me is Your Majesty.”
“……What?”
A strangely ticklish feeling. A soft, tender heart.
Without realizing it, Sophien scratched at her collarbone, and Deculein added one more sentence.
“Your Majesty is precious. To me, the professor in the mirror, to me, the one living in the world, and to this world as well. Perhaps that is the reason I remain here…….”
* * *
“……Very well, Professor. I will give up.”
The empress said to me. The space that had been stained with blood had somehow returned to normal, and the empress’s murderous intent had faded as well.
She smiled bitterly and sipped her tea.
“Your respect and courtesy toward the Imperial Family are extreme. I do not wish to become an ugly imperial even after death. If you wish to serve Sophie, I have no choice but to allow it.”
A fundamental reverence for the Imperial Family. A heart that honored those who stood at the apex of the class system existed within me.
“However, remember at least what I said. Sophie will most certainly become a calamity. Someday, you may regret it.”
The empress’s words settled into my mind like pieces of a puzzle.
The reason Freyden had attempted to poison Sophien in the distant past. Their motive, which had not even been written in the scenario—I felt I now understood it.
“And there is one more person waiting for you.”
“Is it Dikailen?”
“No.”
The empress shook her head.
“Igiris. He says he has many things he wants to tell you.”
Igiris von Kreil Freyden.
The former head of Freyden, and the father of Yuli, Zeit, and Yusefin.
A tiger father who produced three unparalleled talents.
“He says there is no longer much he wishes from you. He is someone who has watched over you here for a long time.”
Creeeak──
The sound of the door opening behind me.
I turned that way.
“Then, the two of you should talk now. It is time for me to go. Farewell, Professor. Please take good care of Sophie, that monster.”
The empress scattered like mist, and ‘Igiris,’ who approached without footsteps, stared at me.
After looking at me like that for a long time without a word, he extended his hand first, without preamble.
……He was asking for a handshake.
* * *
Kwaaaaaang──!
The plaza of the old mansion. The battle that had broken out suddenly was still in full swing.
Thud──! Clang──!
The blades of the Altar clashed violently with the knights’ swords. Surging mana and sword aura sparked like flares.
Shards of broken blades clawed across the plaza, and Adrienne’s single-target destruction magic pulverized the bodies of the Altar, sending chunks of blood, flesh, and organs drifting everywhere. Yet the state of the battle itself could only be called extremely ‘bizarre.’
Screeeech──!
Even when their necks were cut by swords, even when their lower halves were severed, even when their entire bodies were ground apart by destruction magic, they did not die.
It was the same not only for the enemy but for the allies as well.
“What is this—”
A soldier of the Altar advanced while clutching his severed head in his own hand. Likewise, a hulking monster used its severed face like a blunt weapon.
Just as Yuli was aghast at that maddened sight.
─An old mansion after sunset is no different from the underworld. When the living die, until their bodies rot and become dust, they move as the dead.
A voice explaining the present phenomenon. At the low, heavy voice, Yuli’s eyes widened.
A timbre somehow familiar.
She hurriedly turned toward it.
─Hold out until the sun rises. I will help you as well.
In the empty air from which that voice came, the form of a certain ghost wavered.
Yuli knew that silhouette, seen faintly and indistinctly.
Even now, she remembered it.
“Patriarch?”
─……Yes.
Igiris.
The previous head of Freyden, and the father she had not dared to call Father even until the moment he passed away.
“Ah…….”
The hand gripping her sword trembled.
It hurt as though a blade had entered her chest, and for a moment her breath stopped.
“How are you in a place like—”
“Yuli. Step back.”
As she tried to slowly approach her father, steel that came from somewhere stopped her.
“……Do not go any closer.”
Deculein.
He glared alternately at Yuli and Igiris and controlled the Snowflake Obsidian. The frozen metal barred the space between spirit and human like a fence.
─Professor. Have you still not given up?
Igiris spoke in a voice mixed with a sigh. Deculein muttered as though chewing the words.
“Sir Igiris. The same goes for you. If you approach Yuli any further, I will kill you.”
─How? How do you intend to kill me, who am already dead?
The question was mocking.
At that very moment, mana gathered in Deculein’s hand. A brilliant cluster of light rose, illuminating the darkness.
An artificial sun.
“Igiris. You are a vengeful spirit that will burn away in sunlight. Do not overstep your place.”
─…….
As Igiris let out a silent groan, this time Yuli stopped him.
“Stop, Professor Deculein.”
She lightly swung her sword. Pssss— the cold air she emitted froze the artificial sun.
“……Yuli.”
Deculein furrowed his brow. He glared at her as though scornful and jerked his chin.
“Move aside. This is for your sake.”
“Ha.”
A hollow laugh escaped her before she knew it.
She lowered her head in disbelief. Then she asked again, in a trembling voice.
“By saying it was for my sake, just how many lives have you taken until now?”
“…….”
“Innocent lives…… how many?”
Anger dwelled in Yuli’s breath.
Deculein did not answer. He did not even give her a glance. He only spoke to Igiris.
“Sir Igiris. Stop this.”
─Did I not already say it? I cannot grant your request.
“……It is a foolish act.”
Deculein glared at Igiris’s soul. There was anger in that gaze, and Yuli asked in puzzlement.
“Did the two of you have some conversation?”
“…….”
Deculein said nothing, and Igiris sighed as if he had no choice.
─Very well, Professor. In that case…… Yuli.
Igiris looked at Yuli again. To Yuli’s eyes, no body was visible; he seemed only like hazy smoke. Yet she could clearly feel his gaze.
─I will give you a choice.
“……A choice?”
─Yuli. If you hate Professor Deculein enough to wish him dead. If you loathe him sincerely enough to want to kill him.
Igiris turned to look at Deculein. Step. He took one step toward this side.
─Come find me.
“This is your final warning.”
Igiris’s voice overlapped with Deculein’s words.
─If not, then go to the professor, not to me.
Whoooooosh…….
A cold wind swept in. Igiris’s soul was scattered by it and vanished somewhere, and Yuli found the trace he had left on her map.
A mark engraved at a certain location.
If she hated the professor, it must mean she should come there.
“Yuli.”
As she hesitated, Deculein’s voice suddenly seeped into her ear.
“…….”
Yuli, who had unconsciously looked up at him, slowly widened her eyes.
Deculein faced her. In his eyes now, sadness dwelled. An emotion she could not understand was wavering there.
“Do not go.”
His voice spread quietly.
At the voice that truly seemed sorrowful, Yuli shook her head.
“Do not show me such a face. You are suited to always standing like a great tree.”
“If you go to Igiris, you will die.”
“…….”
The words that she would die. Yuli looked at the map held in her hand.
Of course, Deculein was a vile villain.
At least to Yuli, he was.
However……
For some reason, his words now did not seem like a lie.
“Professor.”
Perhaps Yuli knew.
That Igiris did not love her.
That he had never once loved her.
“Allow me to ask just one thing.”
Even so.
Yuli placed the map inside her clothes.
“Do I, as I am now, truly appear alive to you?”
“…….”
A heavy silence fell. Deculein looked at her without a word.
“No.”
Yuli clenched her teeth. Through her tightly shut teeth, she exhaled a hot breath.
“When you betrayed me, no, long before even that. I was already dead.”
“…….”
A sigh flowed from Deculein. He slowly lowered his head, then raised it again and said.
“……Yuli. Even if you are dead like that.”
Yuli.
A knight who had lost her dream because of Deculein and wounded her heart. A woman, drenched in his love and obsession, dying and, at the same time, coming back to life.
“I want you to live.”
At those words, Yuli did not answer. She merely turned and thrust her sword behind her.
Crack——!
A sword imbued with mana of bitter cold. The Altar foot soldier whose heart it pierced froze solid, and she plunged back into the battlefield.
It was a refusal that was very much like Yuli.
* * *
Meanwhile, the Altar, having entered the old mansion, was first guarding the main gate while patrolling the surroundings. After sending in an advance party, they were slowly tightening the noose by detaining nobles or retainers trying to escape from inside to outside, and killing them if necessary.
“Hey, Syrio.”
“Ai! Let me go! Let me go! Let me gwo!”
“What should we do with this one?”
At that moment, a hulking knight held out a child he had seized like a roasted chicken. He was “Jaylon,” once counted among the Empire’s strongest, but now converted to the Altar.
“This little brat says she’s an adventurer.”
“Let go! Let go! Why are you doing this!”
Lia. She was dangling from Jaylon’s grip, shouting for him to let her go.
“An adventurer? Why would an adventurer be here…… Huh? Wait.”
Syrio, seeing her, widened his eyes.
“Aren’t you Lia?”
“……Eh? You know me?”
Lia, who had been struggling, asked back in surprise.
“Of course~ We met before. Hey, hey. Let her go. She’s one of the kids who helped our people with all sorts of things.”
The many side quests she had cleared to obtain rewards. Of course, it was not that she had directly assisted the Altar, but Lia did have a record of helping a few impoverished villages where people were living pitifully.
“……Was that so? Fine. I’ll let you go. Guess you were a good little brat.”
Thanks to that, Lia survived, and the moment her feet touched the ground, she let out a relieved sigh.
In the first place, the Altar’s objective was not something like massacring the Empire. They belonged to the camp that cared only for the manifestation of their so-called “God”; as for the rest, it did not matter what happened.
……Of course, the god’s will would likely be a little different.
“But why did you come here? If you suddenly attack the Imperial Palace…… that doesn’t make sense. It’s insanely dangerous. Wait, did you break through that entire army?”
Lia, who knew well the setting that the Altar was surprisingly lenient, had honestly gotten herself caught on purpose. She wanted to ask directly about the intent behind this sudden situation.
“Hmph. Those bastards who deserve to be torn apart destroyed our temples first.”
Jaylon spoke through gritted teeth.
The destruction of temples. Lia thought for a few moments, then nodded.
She felt like she had seen this kind of event before.
In the first place, there was a trigger that went, “If more than a certain number of temples are destroyed, the Altar will invade directly—”
But still, even so, suddenly barging into the Imperial Palace was…… a bit much, wasn’t it?
“We were the ones who were attacked! This is nothing but retaliation. So…….”
It was then.
Aaaaaaaagh——!
From somewhere came a scream, along with the sound of running footsteps.
Aaaaaaaagh——!
The corridor at the very center of the old mansion. There, some madwoman was running back and forth from side to side.
Aaaaaaaagh——!
“…….”
“…….”
Aaaaaaaagh——!
The eyes of the Altar members busily chased after the woman fleeing while screaming.
Aaaaaaaagh——!
While Lia and, of course, everyone in the Altar were simply watching out of sheer fascination—
“Wait. That’s Epherene.”
Syrio said with a start. Jaylon beside him twitched his eyebrows.
“Epherene? Ah~ You mean that time mage. What do we do? Looks like she’s just about to get caught and killed by ghosts.”
There were well over thirty ghosts chasing after Epherene.
The outcome would be one of two things: either her body would be stolen, or her limbs would be torn off.
“Hey. Don’t you know? What happens if she dies.”
But Syrio tapped Jaylon with a rather serious expression.
“What happens if she dies…… Ah.”
“…….”
Jaylon also seemed to realize it belatedly and let out a dismayed groan. The other Altar soldiers were the same.
Syrio said as he warmed up his mana.
“What are you doing? Hurry up and save her.”
Right now, Sophien’s authority had—however incompletely—transferred to Epherene.
If Epherene died in that situation?
Given the nature of the authority, it would seek out its master again and return to Sophien.
They had barely managed to draw Sophien’s authority out, and all that effort would end up being for nothing.
Jaylon drew his sword and shouted.
“Damn it all. What’re you lot doing! Help her at once! If that one dies, you’ll die by my hand too!”
The Altar soldiers hurriedly ran toward Epherene.
Aaaaaaaagh——! Aaaaaaaagh——!
Thanks to her loud, ringing screams, finding her was easy.
“Save me……?”
Thud—!
The group from the Altar arrived as though escorting a VVIP.
“……Huh?”
Surrounded by them, Epherene blinked blankly, and Jaylon and Syrio spoke with smiles.
“Hey. Stay still. We’ll save you.”
“Yeah. Long time no see~ Deculein’s disciple. If you die, it’ll be a real disaster, you know? So just stay behind us~”
“……Miss Epherene! Where have you been all this time!”
Lia, among them, flew in and hugged Epherene.
“Huh, Lia? Lia, what are you? No, what is all this right now?”
Still looking bewildered, Epherene watched the Altar protecting her against the ghosts.