Rain fell in a steady drizzle, and the sky had darkened like ink.
Ruuuuumble───!
Thunder and lightning roared, cutting across the darkness. In the flashing bolt, the ghosts went up in flames—but only for a moment. Soon, with faces even more grotesque and hideous than before, they came crashing in ferociously.
“Damn, they’re annoying. Hey. We’ll draw these bastards’ attention, so Sirio, you guide them to the guest room.”
Jeilan said. At the same time, dozens of the Altar’s people raced off to different parts of the corridor.
“Let’s go~”
Seizing that opening, Sirio took Epherene and Lia in his arms and flew like the wind.
Bang─!
Phew~
The sound of the guest room door closing, and Sirio’s sigh.
He set Lia and Epherene down on the bed and smiled brightly.
“Good. Both of you look all right.”
“…….”
Epherene and Lia stared at him without a word.
Patter, patter…… The sound of rain striking the old mansion seeped into the silence.
“……Why.”
At last, Epherene’s voice slipped out in a fragment.
“Why did you come? Because of that…… self-proclaimed god?”
“Hm? Hahahaha. Self-proclaimed god? That’s funny.”
Sirio chuckled and pulled over a chair. He turned it around, then sat with his chest against the backrest.
“Well. Anyway, it is because of ‘Him.’”
“How many of those temples were destroyed?”
This time, it was Lia’s question. Sirio smiled bitterly.
“All of them. Not a single one left. It was a shame. We didn’t even have time to receive a ‘prophecy.’”
“……So, this time too, you came to assassinate His Majesty?”
Epherene narrowed her face. But Sirio, eyes wide, shook his head.
“We did? What are you talking about? We’ve never killed the Emperor.”
“……Not now, maybe. Before the regression—”
“Not then, either.”
“What are you talking about? You’re lying. No, you people don’t even remember before the regression.”
For now, as she dragged out the conversation, Epherene thought. More precisely, she calculated. Whether or not she could beat Sirio with her magic.
“No? It’s true. I don’t remember everything, but I was told. By that self-proclaimed god you mentioned.”
“What? Then who assassinated His Majesty?”
“It’s simple. The Emperor committed suicide. We just made it look like an assassination.”
“…….”
For a moment, Epherene was left speechless.
Lia, who had been quietly watching, blinked. From her perspective, it was rather bewildering as well.
No wonder. Before and after regression? The Emperor’s assassination and suicide?
Both were developments far removed from the regular scenario.
Of course, this world had dozens of endings…… but this was clearly a different route.
“That’s bullshit!”
Epherene snapped. Sirio shrugged.
“It’s true. At some point, for some reason, the Emperor realized who she was. So she killed herself.”
“…….”
“But you brought her back to life. No, we made you bring her back. You could say we guided you.”
At that moment, deep creases formed on Epherene’s face. The darkness outside the window clung to it like a spiderweb.
“You probably thought you’d done it yourselves.”
Clap—! Sirio clapped his hands.
“Whoops!”
A refreshing arc spread across his face.
That smile said it.
“The scenario had been manipulated from the very beginning.”
Then Epherene’s eyes slowly widened. Was she realizing something?
As if he found her adorable, Sirio’s smile deepened.
“Epherene. You still don’t understand? We’re the ones who detonated the bomb so that you would ‘regress.’ The ones who desperately killed Deculein, the ones who ruined the continent every time you regressed—that was the coercion we imposed on you.”
Hurry, hurry and bring the Emperor back to life. Please don’t leave the Emperor dead.
The tail end of Sirio’s words spread like laughter.
“A body to descend into is needed for manifestation? We stepped forward to obtain that material? Who said that? Did God say it Himself? No~ He didn’t. That never happened, did it?”
Sirio swept back his hair. His long hair fell away, and his two eyes flashed sharply.
“You people interpreted the words and actions we showed you. You mistook that for the truth. Ah, of course, our believers were sincere. They say if you want to deceive your enemy, deceive your allies first, don’t they? And, well…… anyway.”
Sirio stopped speaking and suddenly looked up at the ceiling.
“What matters is that every footprint you left was ultimately His intention.”
His complexion became sorrowful.
“You deliberately twisted this way and that, made U-turns, turned back, sat there like fools wasting time…… Even that, in the end, was simply walking faithfully along the path He had made.”
He lowered his head again.
The smile had vanished from his face. His calmly sunken gaze fixed on Epherene.
“……The One we speak of is within the Emperor. No, He is practically the Emperor Himself. Now that the regression that obstructed His manifestation has been removed, it is time to seek His descent.”
Sirio smiled again.
Coldly, as though sneering, the corners of his mouth curved.
“Then why am I telling you this? Simple. You should cooperate too. If you cooperate with us, even if God manifests, you will survive. Otherwise—”
“Hmph. What if that self-proclaimed god can’t manifest? What if we win and make sure He can never descend?”
Epherene cut him off. Sirio raised his brows and nodded.
“Then it would be even worse. Sophien’s endless hatred will burn this continent. Because she was ‘made’ to be that kind of existence from the very beginning.”
“……What did you say?”
“Right now, that rage is directed at the Jeokgwe, but if the Jeokgwe disappear? It’ll probably turn toward another tribe. If that tribe disappears? This time, toward a kingdom. If the kingdom disappears, toward a duchy.”
Haa…… Sirio let out a sigh.
“Honestly, well. The Emperor’s last chance to win was that suicide back then. We were honestly taken aback too. We didn’t think the Emperor would die like that. But…… thanks to that professor, the Emperor will never commit suicide now.”
“…….”
“The Emperor has gained a reason to live. Even if she is a calamity, even if she is a monster that will burn the world, even if she comes to know all those facts—she will never kill herself now.”
Sirio gave a refreshing smile. Then he spread both arms.
“What do you think? The things you did, believing them to be the best course, have blocked the only variable.”
“……No, they haven’t.”
“Don’t be stubborn.”
“They haven’t, okay?”
“They have~”
“No.”
“They have, I said~”
“Yeah, no.”
“……Hah, seriously.”
Sirio let out a hollow laugh. Then he opened his palm for some reason.
“Anyway. Now you understand, don’t you? Everything about you was in the palm of God’s hand. Everything you believed in, too, all went according to our will.”
—Is that so.
At that moment, a voice approached from outside.
Epherene and Lia flinched and turned to the door.
—Not that way.
If not the door, then the window.
The necks of all three people in the guest room whipped around.
They stared at someone—or rather, a “ghost”—clinging outside the window.
—It has been a long time, Epherene.
“…….”
Epherene swallowed in tension, while Sirio hardened his expression and drew his sword.
—If you remain there, you will be infected.
A ghost who resembled Deculein, but was older and far colder.
One still lingering in this world, wandering the afterlife with attachments left behind…….
“……Dikaillen.”
—Get up, and come here.
He extended his hand through the window.
—Or will you be toyed with by them? By pests lower than fleas, cockroaches, and maggots.
“Wow. Your way of talking hasn’t changed.”
Sirio laughed as if dumbfounded. Then he narrowed one eye and looked back and forth between Epherene and Lia.
“But even so, aren’t we better than Dikaillen?”
At that moment, Lia poked Epherene’s hip. Epherene flinched in surprise, but soon cleared her throat.
—Foolish things. There is no existence as base as you lot even in this afterlife.
A red glow flared from Dikaillen’s eyes. In that instant, Sirio’s armor transformed. The metal armor suddenly came alive as a living body, binding Sirio like tentacles.
“Huh? What is this hideous magic?!”
“Epherene! Go! Hurry!”
“Okay!”
In a flash, Epherene and Lia rushed toward the window.
Craaaash──!
Dikaillen caught the two of them as they fell through the shattered glass, and Sirio smiled.
He spoke to the two living and the one dead.
“Still, nothing changes.”
* * *
Yuli was treating her injuries in a guest room of the old mansion.
At her side were Gawain, Adrienne, and Ihelm. Sick of an enemy that would not die even when killed, they had retreated for the moment.
“Fortunately, Her Majesty is safe. Professor Deculein sent a message.”
Gawain said, fiddling with a crystal orb. Ihelm sneered mockingly.
“You’re trying to accuse Deculein, and yet you believe that?”
“……I do not deny that the professor is Her Majesty’s loyal subject. It is merely that he has committed many crimes.”
“No! More importantly, why was I called here?! I’m not someone who should be swept up in worldly affairs!”
Adrienne suddenly planted her hands on her hips. Her face was full of anger.
“I’m extremely angry right now, you know?!”
She huffed and puffed, snorting.
Because her appearance was so cute, at a glance one might think she would calm down if you simply patted her head once, but she was extremely dangerous. Ihelm knew that, and so did Yuli and the knights.
If she, who had reached the pinnacle of destructive magic and had only to leave the world behind once her inauguration as Archmage was over, became “truly” enraged…….
“Please go easy on us, Chairwoman. Whether living or dead, everyone will get caught up in it and vanish.”
Ihelm deliberately clasped his hands together. Adrienne’s brow twisted.
“Then do something about it! Do something!”
Shrieking—shrieking—so angry she seemed about to spew fire from her mouth, no.
She had actually just spewed fire.
Fwoooosh—!
Like some kind of dragon breath.
Watching, Ihelm said to Gawain,
“……Sir Gawain. Send a message to Professor Deculein. Surely he’s somewhere safe with Her Majesty the Emperor, so the Chairwoman should also go there…….”
“Oh, forget it! I’m going to sleep first! I don’t even want to see the Emperor’s face right now!”
Adrienne lay down on the bed, and Yuli looked at the map. She traced the mark Igiris had left with her finger.
Suddenly, Deculein’s voice came to mind.
‘If you go to Igiris, you will die.’
“……Father.”
The father she had never been able to call Father.
The man who had never once smiled at her, and instead resented her for taking away his wife.
If this time, he intended to end even her life…….
“Are you all right?”
Gawain asked her. Yuli nodded without saying a word.
She placed the map in her breast pocket. She checked her wounds one last time, then rose.
“I will be going. Everyone, please rest.”
“Where?”
Not only Gawain and Ihelm, but Adrienne, buried in the bed, also turned to look at her.
“There is somewhere I must go.”
Yuli said only that and grasped the doorknob. Gawain, who sprang to his feet, followed behind her.
“I will come with—”
“This is something I must resolve alone.”
“…….”
Gawain quietly looked at Yuli.
Her eyes were transparent, and serious.
A pure white retina, prepared even for death.
“……Yes. Please, go…… and return safely.”
There was no way he could approach any further. There was no way he could disregard the resolve of a knight so determined.
Gawain merely lowered his head calmly.
“Thank you.”
Yuli bowed her head and opened the door. The moment she took one step forward, some sort of stone caught beneath her foot.
“……?”
It was a mana stone.
—To Lady Knight Yuli, from your guardian angel.
A mana stone with a label like that attached.
For now, she placed it in her inner pocket. She walked while looking at the map. She might have lost her way, but a certain ghost guided her.
……And so.
[Dining Room]
The edge of a wall that did not exist on the map.
Perhaps, a passage connected to the afterlife.
She arrived there.
“Thank you for guiding me.”
Shiiiiii…….
The ghost that had guided her disappeared, and Yuli opened the door.
A door that opened quietly, without a sound.
“…….”
At the scenery beyond, Yuli was briefly at a loss for words.
This place, where candlelight flickered over a long wooden table, was the dining room of the main castle of Phaeirden. The place where she had eaten with her father, with Zeit and Yusepin.
Exactly as it had been.
—You have come.
Igiris sat in a chair there, looking at her.
At their first meeting, his form had been nothing more than “airflow,” but now he could be seen clearly.
“Patriarch. Where is this place?”
“Can you not tell by looking? It is where I reside.”
His voice, too, was even clearer. In contrast, Yuli could feel her consciousness slowly growing distant.
“Sit.”
“……Yes, Patriarch.”
Yuli sat facing Igiris.
Darkness, where only the candlelight flickered. Within it, Igiris let out a small sigh.
“Yuli. You must have come to me because you resented Deculein.”
“Yes.”
Yuli nodded resolutely.
Igiris asked again.
“Did you hate him enough to want to kill him?”
“Yes.”
“And why is that?”
“There are many reasons. But I have no intention of borrowing your power, Patriarch. I…….”
“Who said I would lend you my power? You still misunderstand many things.”
His words were reproachful. Yuli quietly swallowed her breath.
His rebukes and scoldings were unchanged, and familiar.
“Take out that mana stone.”
Igiris pointed to the inside of Yuli’s robe. Even the scars on his fingers were exactly as they had been when he was alive.
“……Is this something you gave me, Patriarch?”
“No. I asked an old scoundrel of a friend for it.”
An old scoundrel of a friend. Saying so, Igiris peered into the mana stone.
Then he spoke to Yuli again.
“Yuli.”
“Yes.”
“Do you believe it is Deculein’s fault that your dantian was ruined, and that you were left with a body bound for death?”
Her father’s question shook her heart. That day she did not even want to recall, nor speak of aloud.
Yuli agonized for a long moment, but shook her head.
“I believe it was my fault.”
“Truly? Deculein bears no fault? None at all?”
“…….”
“Can you truly say that with certainty?”
She could not bring herself to answer. Her lips would not part.
No matter that it was Yuli…… no, even if it were some great knight. Even if it were a saint to be recorded in scripture.
One could not help but blame the one who had damaged one’s dream. One could not forgive him as if it were nothing. One could not lay all the blame upon oneself.
No matter how endlessly one denied it, it would surely remain in some corner of the unconscious, burning.
Beyond the dark reaches of the mind…… in the very center of the heart, a knot of rage.
“……Perhaps I do think that.”
Grind— She clenched her teeth. Trembling, she lowered her head.
“Was the source of all the resentment I carry now actually because of that incident?”
Yuli confessed with a face holding back tears. She desperately groped through the inside of her own heart.
“No, I think…… it must have been because of that.”
Yuli raised her head. Her mana bloomed like an aura.
“That’s right. All this time, perhaps I was only searching for reasons to resent him. Even now, what happened that day…….”
Streams flowed from her eyes, slowly freezing over.
Facing those transparent crystals, however, Igiris firmly shook his head.
“No.”
“…….”
Yuli still did not know what he meant by “no.”
To ask what he meant was not so, Yuli looked up at him.
……And then.
“It was me.”
Igiris said.
“No one else. Me.”
What he had done to his own daughter……
“I did that to you.”
That worst of sins.