Chapter 217 - <24>
A young man, clearer than a miniature painting and almost indistinguishable from the real thing, looked straight at them and began to speak. For a moment, Ritz felt as if he was being stared at and his body recoiled, but then he remembered that they had been dead for thousands of years and stared straight back at the image.
He was an ordinary-looking young man with brown hair and freckles.
'First to arrive on the promised day! Today, I'm taking footage of everyone, no questions asked! It's a total secret from Eneonea and the others, too. You got that, Ark!'
'Yes.'
'Alright, then report to me before you open the door!'
'Understood.'
The cheerful young man's words and movements stopped, and text appeared on the screen. It read:
'Dennis Clifford - Fire Spirit King'
"The Fire Spirit King…"
The Fire Spirit King was the guardian of Fornu. He was depicted as a brave and valiant man with bright red hair. But it was hard to believe that such a cheerful young man was the Spirit King.
Once it stopped, the footage started moving again, showing a close-up of a person who had entered through the door. There was a woman who looked surprised, her eyes wide, but she immediately smiled gently. She was wearing ethnic clothing similar to that of the women of Tashkur. She had black hair, but her skin tone was also the same brown as the people of Tashkur.
'Morning, Doctor!'
Dennis greeted her cheerfully, and the woman smiled and replied calmly.
'Good morning, Dennis. How are you doing?'
'Fantastic.'
'So it seems. The data showed no abnormalities either.'
Text appeared on the screen again.
'Masalati Daman - Wind Spirit King'
"Wait, these are the Spirit Kings?"
At the very ordinary footage of very ordinary people, he looked back at Orphe, and Orphe nodded.
"At that time, we had no idea we would become figures of myth."
Orphe fell silent, his eyes narrowed nostalgically as he stared at the screen. Understanding that he wouldn't get another answer, he turned his eyes back to the footage, where a new person had appeared.
It was a tall woman with long silver hair and a beautiful but severe atmosphere. With her was a petite woman with black hair and sharp, single-lidded eyes.
Perhaps noticing something, the black-haired woman frowned and strode over with great speed, shouting.
'Whose permission did you get to film this?!'
At her furious demeanor, the voice of the man named Dennis was heard, teasingly.
'What's the big deal? It's for a souvenir, a souvenir.'
'What do you mean, souvenir?! You're always coming up with stupid things!'
'Li Keifa - Water Spirit King'
It seemed this black-haired woman was the one who led the people of Tarnien down to the surface.
'Now, now, it's alright. A memorial day is just one day, isn't it? The day will come when we'll think back on this fondly.'
The one who mediated between the two was the silver-haired woman who had come in with her. She had a very low, husky voice. Text appeared in front of her as well.
'Svetlana Lyubov - Earth Spirit King'
As he watched wordlessly, a familiar young man appeared. Franz let out a small cry at the sight of his face, which broke into a wide, happy smile, though his eyes were wide with surprise. Ritz, too, couldn't help but groan. The person there was undoubtedly the Artis he had met in the 'Infinite Nightmare'. Text was displayed there just as before.
'Artis Ozmand - Light Spirit King'
He turned his gaze to Orphe, and Orphe smiled at both Ritz and Franz.
"Yes, that's me. It's strange how I looked smarter back then."
Feeling a complex mix of emotions toward the Orphe who said that with a shrug, he returned his gaze to the footage, where it seemed someone was arguing with someone else. From the voices, it was probably the two named Dennis and Keifa. Their argument was suddenly cut off. In the dead silence, what appeared in a close-up was a closed door.
That door opened without a sound. At that moment, a woman's face was shown in a large close-up.
She was a beautiful woman with large, jet-black eyes and flowing black hair that hung down without being tied up. Different from any of the women so far, she had a mysterious atmosphere.
That objective thought lasted only for a moment.
At the moment he realized something, he felt as if time had stopped.
Clear, large eyes, hair flowing like a straight stream…
"…You've got to be kidding me…"
He had murmured it without realizing.
"Eh? What's wrong?"
Noticing, or perhaps not, Franz tilted his head. At that moment, the woman opened her mouth.
'This is you, isn't it, Dennis?'
'Correct! How'd you figure it out so fast?'
The woman, with her arms lightly crossed, sighed and stared back at them. From her expression, he immediately knew that this was the face she made when she was quite angry. He was very used to this face.
Dennis was making a fuss in the screen where her face was reflected, but Dennis's voice didn't enter his ears at all. Just staring at the woman's face, Ritz was listening only to the woman's voice.
"Why… is she here?"
Her tone was severe and calm, but that voice, with a slight touch of youthfulness, was undoubtedly Anna's. Even if her eyes and hair color were different, her form and shape were the same as Anna's. There was no way he could mistake that face he had been longing for.
"Why…"
He groaned, and text floated up.
'Eneonea Neumann - Goddess'
"Eneonea… you say?"
But the surprises didn't end there. An arm gently touched the body of the woman called Eneonea, as if to restrain her. The owner of that arm, which was clearly a man's, firmly held Eneonea in his arms.
'You're so stubborn, Eneonea. It's fine, isn't it? Today is certainly a memorial day.'
The moment he heard that voice, Franz let out a small scream and gasped. Looking at Franz, Franz was staring at the screen with his hair standing on end. Turning his eyes back to the screen, the footage gradually rose to capture the face of this tall man, and finally, it caught the man's face.
"Wha—"
He couldn't help but groan. The person there was, without a doubt, himself. Franz's groan just now must have been because their voices were the same. He couldn't really tell his own voice, but he knew well enough that his form, shape, and the smile on his face were exactly the same as his own.
He could tell that Franz was stealing a glance at him as if seeing something terrifying, but he could do nothing but stand there, rooted to the spot.
The Ritz in the footage before him was calmly soothing the Anna with different hair and eye colors. That image froze. He understood before the text appeared.
'Tomonaga Asagi - Darkness Spirit King'
The footage suddenly cut out.
"There's nothing after this because Eneonea wouldn't allow it. Eneonea hated having her picture taken, you see."
Orphe's words brought him back to his senses. Slowly turning around, he saw Orphe standing there with the same gentle smile as before.
"You… you said you had Eneonea's hair, didn't you…?"
"I did."
Everything connected in his mind. There was a machine here that could regenerate humans. Even a dead person could be brought back to life with a single strand of hair. But the regenerated person would be born as an infant with no memories.
And he had always wished for Eneonea and Asagi to forget everything and be happy, but he couldn't create Asagi.
And then, Ritz, who was the spitting image of Asagi, appeared…
In other words… in other words, Orphe had…
"…You made Anna from Eneonea, didn't you…"
Though it was his own voice, he felt it tremble slightly, as if it weren't his own. Annoyed at his own agitation, he glared straight at Orphe.
"With this machine!"
In a fit of irritation, he slammed his hand against 'The Cradle'. But the fragile-looking cradle didn't budge an inch from Ritz's strength. Franz stood there wordlessly, and Edward froze, his brow furrowed.
Eventually, Orphe began to speak in a quiet, almost business-like tone.
"It was painful for me to look at her with the exact same appearance as Eneonea, so I changed her hair and eye color. I had acquired that much skill to create myself, so it was easy. Just that changes the impression quite a bit, you see. The problem was where to have her raised. If I raised her here, she would easily master science and learn what her past self was. Even if her appearance changed, she is the genius scientist Eneonea Neumann, after all. And she might repeat the same actions. If she knew she was a being created by human hands for someone else's wishes, she might choose death again. So I wanted her to develop a heart strong enough not to choose death even if that happened."
"Such… a selfish thing…"
He murmured in a low growl, but it seemed Orphe didn't hear him. Orphe continued to speak dispassionately.
"I considered and reconsidered, thinking that the foundation of her personality had to be built in an environment completely different from Eneonea's. I knew that if I raised her myself, she would quickly read the foolishness of my actions and I would be unable to move."
In the dead silence where one could hear the breathing of others, only Orphe's voice echoed quietly.
Ritz could no longer even argue and could only listen silently.
"In the end, I chose the orphanage with the best reputation in this vicinity. I actually scouted it out, and the priest was a real spirit user, and it was a place where they made a living from agriculture, which was the most different from Eneonea, so it was convenient. I thought she would grow up happily there, so I entrusted her to them. A little while after I entrusted her, I met Karl again, and I was happy to know that he was involved with that orphanage. The probability of you meeting her increased, you see. In fact, at that time you were a mercenary, so it was uncertain whether you would come back to your hometown."
Cutting off his words, Orphe stared intently at him. He unconsciously touched the jewel at his chest. If not for this jewel, he probably wouldn't have returned to his hometown.
And the original owner of this jewel was… Orphe.
"Did you guide me?"
"…I did."
"To meet Anna?"
"Half of it was for that, and half was not. Your jewel was actually with you all along. You just didn't realize it."
"Why? For surveillance?!"
"No. I wasn't spying on your private life. I can assure you of that. I was just monitoring whether you were alive or not."
"Then why did you talk to me at that time, in front of Gil's grave? Was it because you were angry that your dream wasn't coming true?"
"You might not believe me if I say it, but that's not it. It was painful for me to watch you suffer. It was like watching Asagi…"
"I'm not Asagi!"
He raised his voice, and Orphe smiled weakly.
"I know. I know. Anna, who grew up in a completely different environment from Eneonea and doesn't have all her memories, is not Eneonea either. The two of them are completely different people. She already has her own life, and no matter how similar you are, you are a completely different person from Asagi. So I didn't let you meet directly. I was afraid that if you did meet and just passed each other by, I would be terrified. So I thought that even if you didn't meet in this wide world, it would be enough if each of you could find happiness. If the two of you could live happily in this land of Eden that is so precious to me…"
Orphe, who murmured that with a groan, covered his face with both hands.
"But you did meet. When you stood before me, laughing happily together, I was actually so happy I could have cried. I wanted you to stay happy just like that. It would have been fine if you had stayed like siblings. If the two of you were laughing together… that's what I thought. But you started searching for the truth, and then you were drawn to each other. I wished you could be happy without knowing the truth, but Kuchiba found out."
Orphe slowly removed the hands that had been covering his face.
"Ritz-kun… in my homeland, there is a story like this. A husband who, even after his beloved wife died, still wanted to see her, followed her to the land of the dead. Then the wife says that if he can lead her by the hand and walk without ever looking back at her until they reach the world of the living, she will come back to life for him. But the husband becomes anxious on the way and looks back. There is his wife, who has died and is crawling with worms. The husband pushes his wife away and runs away, plunging his wife into further misfortune…"
Quietly, but with a self-deprecating smile, Orphe said.
"That husband's name is Orpheus. I let go of the two of them. And I lost them both."
Orphe, who fell silent, let out a small groan and slammed his clenched fist, which was bleeding, onto the table.
"I know. I knew that what's lost can't be brought back! But I wanted to see a happy story. I wanted the two of them to be happy. I didn't want to lose them again. And yet I hurt Eneonea again. She is now at the bottom of fear and despair. How many times must I repeat my mistakes? When will I be forgiven…?"
Murmuring so, Orphe looked up at Ritz with a weak expression.
"Can you walk a destiny that you know was created? And… can you love a wife who has returned from the land of the dead? Can you hold her hand without letting go?"
At that question, Ritz stared intently at his own hand.
It was Anna who had taken this hand, which had only ever hurt people and lived with only despair.
It was also Anna who had saved Ritz, who had been wandering in the darkness of his heart, constantly screaming for someone to help him, to save him.
Even knowing it was stained with blood, she had taken this hand gently with her slender one, wanting to live together.
She had forgiven all the sins of living, of existing, and had gently enveloped the hopelessly pathetic man named Ritz, who was far older than her, in her arms.
He closed his eyes tightly.
Am I now, knowing Anna's origins, afraid…?
The answer is NO.
After all, he was a child of the Clan of Light and Darkness. In other words, he was a descendant of a creature that had been generated from Eneonea's liquid and created in that place. The only difference was whether it was early or late.
Then, does he feel disgust at a created destiny…?
That answer is also NO.
If she hadn't existed in this world, he would surely be dead in a ditch somewhere. If dying alone is freedom, then even if he is bound by a created destiny, he wants to be with her.
No matter what happens, no matter what comes, no matter how she was born—
As long as Anna is Anna, none of that matters. He wants to live with Anna.
"Unfortunately, I'm an idiot, so I don't care about difficult things. I don't care about logic or things like that."
He looked at Orphe, and Orphe looked back with serious eyes.
"Then let me ask you one last time. Can you swear to yourself that no matter how heavy the created destiny is, you will not run away, blaming it on others who created it?"
"I can. No matter what happens, I can carry the destiny of me and her."
He declared it firmly and looked straight at Orphe.
Orphe's eyes seemed to waver with a faint hesitation. He understood Orphe's feelings, who had been tormented by his sin while drowning in his own dream. Surely, within him was the same loneliness as Ritz.
Surely, he needed a happy dream story to fill that loneliness. There was no way Ritz could blame him for that.
But thanks to his dream story, Ritz was able to find a precious person. Even if he was following a paved destiny, even if he was bound by a destiny created by others, if he could have her, he didn't care.
"Can I… leave it to you?"
At Orphe's serious eyes, he nodded slightly.
"If you'll let me."
"…I will."
Orphe nodded, as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Had he perhaps thought that Ritz would cast aside his destiny and cast aside Anna?
That was a huge mistake. After all, he was the Ritz whose top priority was to protect Anna, even if it meant making an enemy of the whole world.
"…How much did you tell her?"
"Everything. You know her personality, don't you?"
"I know. She's surprisingly stubborn."
The moment he said that, for some reason, laughter welled up. He remembered the mutually painful commotion in Suien.
Anna had been convinced that Ritz had someone he loved. So she had declared that she didn't want to be a bother and that he should go to the person he loved. Even though he had never once thought that her existence was a bother.
Ritz wasn't a child either, so he had realized at that time when he had half-forcefully stolen a kiss. Anna surely loved him at least as much as she loved Anton.
That's why Anna, who had learned her origins, would surely reject Ritz so as not to cause him any more trouble.
In fact, Anna, whom he had embraced when they reunited, had run away crying, even though her face clearly said she wanted to see him.
It's so obvious, he murmured only in his heart.
It's okay now. Let's both be honest with each other.
"She is stubborn. It'll be a pain to convince her."
Suppressing his laughter and taking a deep breath, he noticed that Orphe was looking at him with a face that seemed to say he had gone mad.
"Are you alright, Ritz-kun?"
"Yeah. I have no problem at all."
That was Ritz's answer to everything.
Orphe seemed to have noticed Ritz's feelings too, and nodded in relief.
"…I see."
"But I'm returning this. From here on, it's really our problem."
Taking out the jewel that had guided their journey so far, Ritz tossed it to Orphe. Surprisingly, Orphe caught it with one hand.
"I wasn't going to eavesdrop, you know."
At the sight of him hiding the jewel somewhere in his robe with a smile, he still had no idea where the real Orphe began and ended, even at this point.
"It's a matter of principle. Like hell I'm letting you see me in a pathetic state, begging Anna to go out with me."
"Begging, you say…"
Orphe murmured cheerfully and laughed, then his eyes suddenly looked down sadly.
"You really are you, aren't you?"
It seemed the person named Asagi had never done such a thing. But more important than the man who existed in the past was finding the currently missing Anna and talking to her.
He silently raised one hand and started walking toward the exit.
"Aren't you going to ask where Anna is?"
Orphe asked, but he answered without turning back.
"I won't."
"The garden is large, you know?"
"I don't care. She searched for me all over the Ciedena Forest, all by herself."
Now it was Ritz's turn to find Anna and take her hand.