200 - Liel and raieru
We had taken on the task of escorting a large-scale transport convoy.
Apparently, they were to deliver goods to Galleria and then to Lusworth, passing through Rolfis. However, both nations were in a state of tension.
It was a hassle, but once we entered Galleria, we had to return to Rolfis before entering Lusworth.
While confirming these plans, I decided to send a letter from my side to notify Rolfis that the convoy would be passing through.
And the person I entrusted the letter to was—.
"...I just got back, you know?"
In the drawing room of the mansion, Alette-san was sitting on the sofa with a tired expression. She had been out on a labyrinth subjugation request from the East Branch and seemed to have returned yesterday.
It wasn't a very large labyrinth, and the subjugation itself apparently finished quickly. However, upon investigating the surroundings, it seemed a new village could be developed, so she had also taken on some minor requests related to that.
I spoke with a serious expression.
"I'm asking this quite seriously. It's an opportunity to enter both Galleria and Lusworth, and it's a Beim transport convoy—well, escorting merchants. I want to see the situation in both countries for myself."
Alette-san let out a sigh.
"Was it an alliance or a confederation? If the four nations cooperated, this area would certainly stabilize. Even if there were other small countries, they could be brought in depending on the conditions. But, I think those two nations are a lost cause."
In Alette-san's impression, the bond between those two nations seemed very strong.
Galleria is a country represented by the most powerful lord in the surrounding area. It seems the surrounding lords are not sparing any cooperation for Galleria in order to resist Lusworth.
In contrast, Lusworth manages its territory as a single nation. There are no lords; instead, they dispatch deputies, meaning lords do not exist there.
Apparently, it is well-controlled.
"—Those two nations have constant skirmishes. Moreover, every time, the two Great Valkyries appear, and it becomes a duel. They possess an overwhelming strength that prevents others from interfering. Until I saw it, I thought there might be a way to fight them, but even I would probably be cut down in a few seconds."
Alette-san is not weak. Rather, she is among the strong. For Alette-san to say she cannot compete means they are indeed extraordinary opponents.
"Are their skills powerful?"
Alette-san drank her tea, placed the cup on the table, and leaned forward.
"No, they're just simply strong. If there are people born strong, it's people like them. Normally, such people exist. However, both their direct combat and magic are extraordinary. Furthermore, their skills are rear-guard types. In other words, they specialize in magic."
A characteristic of rear-guard type skills is the ability to sublimate certain magic into their own unique magic. Once it becomes unique magic, it's difficult to deal with, making it troublesome.
I put my hand to my chin.
"Any countermeasures?"
"Impossible. I saw it with my own eyes, and it's just impossible. Do you know... people, they dance in the sky. Magic is unleashed, and people are thrown into the air. Dust clouds rose high. I felt as if the difference in our abilities was being flaunted."
Seeing how depressed Alette-san was, a cold sensation ran down my spine.
The carefree voice of the Fourth Head came from the orb.
"Are they monster-class? I wonder who's more troublesome, them or Celes."
It would be problematic if monsters on Celes's level were rolling around everywhere. However, I began to feel a strong interest in those two. If I could bring them over, they would become powerful cards in my hand.
It would be a waste if they just destroyed each other. I wanted to secure their cooperation somehow.
"...I'll try to make contact somehow."
Alette-san looked at me.
"Are you increasing your numbers again? You should just take our Princess-denka too..."
She muttered the last part, but I pretended not to hear.
While preparations progressed.
I was summoned and made my way into the orb.
For some reason, everyone was gathered in front of the door to my memory room.
Mireia-san looked more troubled than usual, and at the same time, the Seventh Head was holding their head in their hands.
The Third Head was deep in thought, and the Fifth Head was looking at me with a somewhat suspicious gaze. Then, the Fourth Head looked at me.
"Liel, you'd better prepare yourself today."
"What's this all of a sudden?"
I was bewildered by the atmosphere, which was different from usual, but Mireia-san approached me.
"Liel... have you ever thought about wanting to flip up a woman's skirt?"
...Being asked such a thing so suddenly, I didn't know how to answer. I felt that saying "Yes, of course~" while laughing wouldn't go over well. But if I seriously denied it, I'd probably be suspected.
"No, I don't understand what you're trying to say."
Mireia-san put her hand to her cheek and tilted her head. She looked like she wanted to say something while looking at me, but after a while, she took her hand away from her cheek and nodded several times.
"Well, you'll understand when you meet. Shall we go?"
Being told this, I remembered that Septem-san had disappeared last time. I had been told that the orb would prepare another person.
"Has the next person to explain appeared? Who is it?"
I shifted my gaze to Mireia-san and the successive heads, but everyone had a subtle expression.
"...Isn't the atmosphere today a bit strange?"
Then, the Fifth Head pointed to my memory room.
"You'll understand once you enter."
Thinking that was true, I put my hand on the doorknob. For a moment, I wondered if Celes would appear next, but based on the reactions of the successive heads, I felt it was different.
After taking a deep breath, I opened the door.
—Novem was visiting Liel's room.
It was evening. Preparations for dinner were underway, and she had come to tell Liel it was time to eat.
Liel's workroom was the place where Novem had once fought the remnant of the mansion's master... a pitiful existence fused with a monster.
Whether it was the master's workroom or study, it was a grand room. Upon entering such a room, Liel was lying on the sofa.
There was no answer even after knocking several times. Since there was a presence, she entered the room and found Liel asleep, so Novem smiled and thought about covering him with something.
The season was summer. A towel might be enough.
Searching the room with that thought, as expected, the well-prepared Monica had provided a towel blanket. As Novem covered him, she looked at the faintly glowing orb.
"It's glowing again..."
Novem knew that Liel sent his consciousness into the orb like this. Considering that he had once brought all the party members into the orb during a labyrinth subjugation and made them fight there, there was no mistake.
And she had expected it to some extent. She had suspected it many times, but she became certain when Liel fought Tracy on the ship.
In the sight of Liel's back as he fought, Novem saw a glimpse of the First Generation Basil Walt.
"Liel-sama, please give my regards to the successive heads."
Saying so, Novem stroked Liel's cheek—.
The memory room.
My memory room was fulfilling its role for perhaps the first time.
It was a room where I had been under house arrest for five years. My own room and a part of the garden visible from there were the only areas I was permitted to move in.
There were an excessive number of books, and I saw a person picking up a book from a pile. The boy had the same blue hair and blue eyes as I did.
However, he was not the "me" in the memory. The boy spoke to me.
"Personally, I liked big breasts. I wonder if it was Mother's influence? Mother had large breasts too. But lately, I've started to think that small breasts have their own kind of charm."
While skimming through a book on magic, "something" in the form of my childhood self spoke to me.
"Who are you?"
I pressed my right hand against my chest and gripped my clothes. As a strange sweat broke out, the boy looked back.
He greeted me with a smile.
"Nice to meet you. Or should I say it's been a while? I am you, and you are me. Simply put, I am the memories sealed away by my cute younger sister Celes, and another personality. Memories are one of the elements that greatly influence personality—character. Memories are experience. In other words, because a certain kind of experience was lost, you were born, and I, who know that, was also born. No, since I've inherited the memories, I might be closer to the original person than you are."
In the form of me around ten years old, the boy explained in a mature tone despite his child's voice.
"Cute Celes? And a personality?"
I shifted my gaze to Mireia-san, who was in the room, and the boy burst out laughing. Mireia-san only looked at me and said, "It's okay."
"Geez, that's why you're treated like a kept man, because you rely on women so quickly. Well, since I'm a beautiful boy, it's only natural that I'm helped. But if you keep that up, they'll lose interest in you."
The giggling boy put down the book, walked through the room, and prepared a chair. The dusty room was a place that servants were reluctant to clean.
Looking back now, I think I lived an unbelievable life.
Wiping the dust from the seat with a handkerchief, the boy invited us—me and Mireia-san—to sit. He himself sat on the bed.
Having sat down, I stared seriously at the opponent and opened my mouth.
"What is it you want to tell me? What does the orb intend to teach me?"
The boy looked up slightly and sat cross-legged on the bed.
"Not much, really. On the contrary, do you have any questions? I'll answer as many as I can, provided I know the answer."
Asked for questions, I asked about the thing that bothered me. There were many things I wanted to know, but the most pressing was his recent words.
"What do you mean by 'cute Celes'? That girl hates me—"
"Yeah, I was hated. But I am Celes's older brother. So, I treated her as a brother should. Because Celes is my cute younger sister. Even if she smiled, even if she thanked me, Celes always resented me. She resented and envied me, harboring something deep in her heart."
Hearing that, I was stunned.
"...You knew?"
"Yep! Because I love my family. I thought I wanted to save her from those emotions someday, but in the end, I couldn't."
I shook my head, and I couldn't feel that the version of me with sealed memories was the same as the current me. The self before my eyes was like a completely different person.
Time had stopped for him in the form of a ten-year-old, without growing.
(Was I... like this?)
As I looked on in wonder, the boy before me averted his gaze with a slightly troubled expression.
"Ah, don't get me wrong. I am me, not the past me. My memories were sealed, and thus I was locked away and watched you. So I'm telling you, in a sense, you and I are different. For one thing, I'm not a coward like you."
I thought.
(I don't know what it is... but I hate this guy.)
Since he asked with a smile, "Is there nothing else?", I asked about the things that concerned me.
"Why did Celes hate me? And why did she do such a thing?"
The boy looked down with a slightly sad face and let out a sigh.
"I was naive. It was my mistake too. Well, rather than Celes being cunning, it's that Agrissa, sealed in the yellow orb, hid it. Behind her smile, Celes, who had obtained the orb, was probably thinking about when she could cast me down, wasn't she? I think Novem knows more about that."
I heard Novem's name, but I was no longer surprised. I knew that Novem had inherited the memories of a goddess or an evil god.
Therefore, I knew she knew something, and I knew she was hiding it.
"I'll confirm it with Novem eventually. I'm planning to have a proper talk. Even after I know everything—"
Then, the boy before me gave a chilling smile. Despite the smile, a cold sweat ran down my spine. It was the same presence as Celes.
Standing up from the chair, I had instinctively taken a weapon in my hand and pointed it at the boy.
"After you know everything? Honestly, how naive. You should have pried it out of her immediately. And, you might not be able to know everything."
Mireia-san stood up and stepped in front of me.
"raieru-kun."
When she called the boy before me by the same name as mine, the boy—raieru—shrugged and suppressed his unique atmosphere.
"Geez, Mireia-san is scary when she's angry. However, it seems your ability to attract women is superior to mine."
Being told something that didn't make me happy, I confirmed.
"Have Septem-san's... Septem's abilities been passed down to me as well?"
However, raieru looked exasperated.
"Huh? It's because I'm a beautiful boy. It's not the power of a goddess. Women flock to me because I'm handsome. Don't mistake that. Otherwise, women wouldn't gather around a coward like you. Or rather, the current you is just the dregs with none of the goddess's knowledge or power remaining."
"...I hate you."
When I let my true feelings slip, raieru also nodded with a smile.
"I hate you too. We're the same!"
Even though I glared at him, raieru did not flinch. Far from flinching, he began to explain the things I wanted to know.
"I don't know everything either. All I know is the past of you and me. I hate to say it, but I'm more capable than you. After all, I've inherited a small part of the memories of Septem, the goddess. Though I say memories, maybe it's knowledge? The manipulation of magic power, and an understanding of what magic power is."
"Magic power? Magic power is just magic power, right?"
raieru shook his head.
"Magic power was poison to humans. No, it was poison to all living things. You can ask Novem about that. I'm not an expert. But I knew about magic power. That's why I was knowledgeable about body reinforcement and magic. Because I knew, I could handle it well. Plus, I had the talent."
I turned my face to Mireia-san and pointed at raieru.
"Mireia-san, I'm different from this guy. I shouldn't be such an arrogant brat."
Mireia-san gave a wry smile.
"Hmm, I think so too, but..."
Then, raieru protested. He wasn't opposing my opinion, but was angry while agreeing with it.
"Of course! I am me. I've been 【Lyell Wolt】 since I was born. But you are the 【Lyell Wolt】 born after everything was stripped away. Don't lump us together."
My eyes widened.
"You, does that mean I'm..."
"That's right. A fake. And the one closest to the real thing is me. So, I want you to give it back, my body."
The boy moved in front of me in an instant. That movement was even faster than Celes's.
As I instinctively tried to step back, Mireia-san stepped between us. Mireia-san's eyes glowed gold, and though her posture was ordinary, there was an imposing pressure.
raieru put both hands behind his head.
"Oh boy, even Mireia-san is on that side. Honestly, it's no wonder he made Novem fall for him. Even I couldn't do it."
From behind Mireia-san, I asked raieru.
"Huh? Novem has always been to me—"
"That's also wrong. Or rather, you really trust Novem, don't you? Is it imprinting? Let me tell you, Novem kept a certain distance from me and Celes while associating with us. Her reaction was thin even when I spoke to her. She wasn't easy, so I even called her 【Iron-Wall Novem】 in my head."
Novem kept her distance from the old me? Why would that happen? Then, did I just think Novem had always been kind? No, in the first place... am I a fake?
As I fell into thought, Mireia-san hugged me.
"Eh, ah..."
"Calm down. If you don't keep your heart strong, you'll really be taken over."
raieru was giggling. He laughed and sat back on the bed.
"Oops, it's almost time. Now, is there anything you want to ask? I can answer about one more thing."
Looking at the existence before me, I tried to ask something. But I was too confused to think of anything. And I began to hate the existence before me.
And that existence overlapped with a certain version of myself.
"You... when I 'grew up,' you didn't happen to take over my body!"
Then, raieru had a subtle expression. He glanced at me repeatedly. And yet, it was a feeling of pity... a nasty feeling.
"I understand the feeling, but I have nothing to do with it. Well, maybe I do, but that was unmistakably you. Even for me, the Riel-san state is a bit... sorry, I can't defend that. I'm really sorry."
"N-no, but I'm different, or rather you..."
"Listen. I am a memory, and I am sealed. I can vaguely tell what's happening outside, but getting out is impossible. I can't even interfere from within the orb. So, though you may not want to admit it... that was you yourself. Well, I understand you want to blame someone else... ah, shall we just say it's my fault? You'll feel more at ease just thinking that."
Looking at the existence before me, raieru, who was apologizing sincerely, I thought.
"Stop it, don't apologize sincerely. Don't comfort me sincerely! In the first place, I hate you!"
On the bed, raieru tilted his head with a smile.
"Me too."
That's what he said. He said it looking truly happy.