218 - Chapter 12 Epilogue
"It's no use talking to Liel in his current state. Sorry, but I'll have to isolate you by force."
As raiel said that, I found myself in the Seventh Generation's Room of Memories before I knew it. It seemed I had been moved in an instant; does raiel possess that much authority within the Jewel?
"Liel!"
The Seventh Generation was sitting in a chair in the room, but he stood up and looked at me with a surprised expression at my sudden appearance.
"...Come to think of it, I haven't entered the Seventh Generation's Room of Memories very often. Perhaps only when fighting?"
As I said this, I looked around the room of the Seventh Generation—my grandfather—with a feeling of nostalgia. Was it always like this?
Since I spent most of my time in the courtyard or the estate's training grounds when fighting, I tilted my head. I felt as if the Seventh Generation used to play with me here in the past.
"You, even at a time like this... no, you're in raiel-san state, aren't you? But now that you mention it, that's how it was. I wasn't one of the more prominent heads of the family among the successive generations."
As the Seventh Generation sat back down in his chair, he told me to sit as well. As we sat facing each other across a small round table, cups appeared.
The Seventh Generation spoke.
"They won't fill your stomach, but this is a matter of the heart. You should drink."
"I will. I can smell the aroma."
I recalled this nostalgic taste. Even within my vague memories, I remembered drinking this tea.
"...I never had the chance to talk with you slowly like this. It might happen more often from now on, but that's also a lonely thought. It's thanks to the fact that the successive heads of the family are gone."
The First Generation, the Second Generation, the Sixth Generation... and the Fourth Generation had entrusted me with their skills and vanished from within the Jewel. They had completed their roles.
The role of the successive heads within the Jewel was to entrust their skills to me, the possessor of the Jewel. They were existences summoned from records of the time to teach me how to use them...
"It's not that I'm neglecting you, Grandfather. It's a fact that I respect you. Besides, I have vague memories of being doted on by you."
The Seventh Generation smiled lonelily.
"I see. That's true... But, Liel. Was I really that excellent?"
"What's wrong? You're being timid."
The Seventh Generation clasped his hands and gazed out the window. Outside the window, he could see the sight of two birds flying away.
"...I tried to be strong. I worked hard so as not to be defeated by the previous heads. However, those were successful because they were built upon the foundation of the previous heads' achievements. Liel, do you know why I was so obsessed with guns?"
"Because they had potential? I think that once the monetary issues are settled, mass production will lead to victory. Though, it's also true that they lack a decisive blow."
The Seventh Generation nodded.
"...Feeling the previous heads so closely like this, I've come to think. Perhaps the real reason I chose guns was because I didn't want to be compared to them."
I laughed while drinking my tea.
"Don't be ridiculous. The Seventh Generation manifested incredible skills like Box and Warp, didn't you? You should have confidence. I've been squeezed for everything by Celes, but I'm certain I can win."
The Seventh Generation directed a gentle smile toward me, different from his usual one. It wasn't a mocking look.
"When you go that far, I start to feel some confidence. Now then, a raiel claiming to be your memory has appeared, but what do you plan to do now? It seems the door to the room has been locked."
The door to the memories seemed firmly shut. If so, there was no point in rushing.
"I'll take it easy. It seems I have things to discuss with Novem. Well, I'll ask about it later."
To that, the Seventh Generation spoke. The Seventh Generation didn't have that much attachment to Novem. After all, the Foxus Family was like a family of vassals. She was merely the daughter—the second daughter—of that house.
"Liel... aren't you trusting Novem too much?"
As I listened to the Seventh Generation's words, I drained the contents of my cup.
――It was raiel's room.
When Novem was brought into the room, she seemed to notice immediately by looking around that this was different from the past Liel's room. Although it was reproduced within the Jewel, there were subtle differences.
Novem seemed to conclude that those differences were caused by the existence called raiel.
"The bookshelf on the right. The order of the books on the third shelf from the top is different. Liel-sama didn't touch those very often. The arrangement of the books is subtly different. Also, the room was dustier. The servants were neglecting the cleaning of the room."
Without offering a chair to his guest, raiel sat on the bed.
"...That's why normal people keep their distance from you. I think it's useless to say anything to the 'broken Novem' at this point."
raiel understood Novem accurately. And it wasn't that he particularly hated her. He was simply dissatisfied with how Liel treated her.
Among the Foxus Family—the clan that inherited the memories of Novem, who was a goddess and became an evil god—the one who inherited the most vivid and overwhelming amount of information was Novem.
raiel didn't know about those circumstances at first, but he was able to learn them after waking up with memories inside the Jewel.
raiel began to speak.
"Memories have a great influence on personality. If there are happy memories, depending on the person, they may want others to feel happiness too, or eventually, they may trample others to desire even more happiness. It depends on the individual, but it's a fact that there is an influence. So, I have a question... Novem, do you think of yourself as the goddess, the evil god Novem? Or are you Novem, the second daughter of the Foxus Family? Which is it?"
Inheriting memories. It's easy to say, but if one thinks of it as if they had actually experienced it, what would that person think? Would it not affect the establishment of the self?
"Septem-san sealed her ability to be liked by people out of her own sense of guilt and devoted herself to others. She failed because she devoted herself too much, but now that lesson is living on. Now then, how about Novem?"
Novem did not answer. She was smiling, but she made no attempt to reply. Novem was a girl who was missing something significant while having unnecessary things attached.
raiel knew that. And he also thought that Novem had intentionally overlooked Celes's actions.
"Not answering, huh. That's fine too."
As raiel looked on in exasperation, this time Novem asked a question.
"raiel-sama is Liel-sama's memory. Do you perhaps intend to restore the memories to Liel-sama? If so, the current Liel-sama would..."
raiel noticed that this was an important matter for Novem. And if he were to return the memories properly, Novem might destroy the Jewel in a fit of rage.
What was important to Novem was the current Liel.
The past raiel was of low importance.
"...It's sad, but I agree with Novem. I won't give the memories to Liel. I'll just provoke him and try fighting a bit. There are various things I have to teach him. Also, I have to convey something important. The will of the Jewel has nothing to do with it."
At that, Novem looked very happy. There was no falsehood in that expression.
raiel could only look at Novem making that expression with a sense of regret.
"A wonderful judgment. To vanish after giving knowledge and techniques rather than memories. It is a wonderful decision, typical of raiel-sama. This Novem is pleased."
Then, Novem spoke with a terribly dark smile.
"...It makes me sad to think that if people could have made that judgment tens of thousands of years ago, or even further back."
raiel spoke.
"It's not for your sake. It's for Liel's. Having his memories stolen, Liel was a child who was only large in body. What I could do was leave the memory of being loved by Liel... to leave the possibility of standing straight even after losing everything and being treated coldly. And because he's like a younger brother who has to clean up after my failures."
Novem smiled and lifted the hem of her skirt, giving a slight bow.
"This Novem shall assist in that. Please do not worry, raiel-sama."
Then raiel spoke. The biggest reason why he felt dissatisfied with Novem.
"...Novem, your love is not something to be directed toward a lover. It is the love a mother directs toward a child. It's not what Liel wants."
Because she is a mother, she loves Liel unconditionally. Because she is a mother, she can endure the presence of other women. Because she is a mother, she will not abandon Liel until the end.
"You understood accurately. Those around him didn't notice at all... that Liel, who had his memories stolen and at ten years old was truly a young child—possessing a mental age of only about three to five years—was a child younger than his appearance. I don't think you targeted that. But because of that, you—"
Novem straightened her posture and tilted her head.
"Love is love, raiel-sama."
And—.
――Miranda was on the ground, with her knees and then her hands touching it.
Pressing her right shoulder with her left hand, she looked up to see a woman who looked like a combination of herself and Shannon, folding a gun at the grip and loading a bullet.
Possessing multiple guns that could only fire one shot, Miranda had been toyed with. She had been told to come at her, and while she thought she could easily defeat her, she was completely powerless.
The Round Table Room within the Jewel.
In that room where the round table spread out, becoming like an arena, Miranda glared at Mireia and stood up regretfully.
As she moved her left hand away from her right shoulder, she made multiple nets—a large spider web—created with a skill appear before her. The mesh was narrow, and the gaps were small. They were sticky, and bullets should have stopped upon hitting them.
However, the bullet fired by Mireia passed accurately through the gaps of those multiple nets and hit Miranda's left thigh.
"Kuh!"
Shannon watched trembling as Miranda fell to her knees once again. To such a Shannon, Mireia spoke.
"Don't tremble so much over there. In this space, it only ends with pain. Also, did you understand, Shannon? Your eyes can do this much. If you put your mind to it."
Mireia, who began to walk, easily cut through the sticky web-like threads created by Miranda with the knife attached to her gun.
Miranda watched this in surprise. In actual combat, those threads, created with her proud skill, had entangled and immobilized a Land Dragon, a dragon that was relatively easy to defeat among dragons.
And they were easily sliced through.
"...Did you intend to beat Novem-chan with this level of skill? You're far too naive, Miranda."
As Mireia shrugged her shoulders saying that, Miranda pulled out three daggers from her lower back. She threw one at Mireia and leaped, slashing with a dual-wielding style.
"In close combat!"
Mireia smiled and shot through the dagger with her gun. The dagger Miranda was holding. Then, as Miranda, whose posture had collapsed, put her foot on the floor, she grabbed the thrown dagger and launched a close-combat attack with the same dual-wielding style.
Muscular strength, explosive power, those too were superior to Miranda's. Miranda, who had undergone rapid growth, was carved up, with cuts on her knees, hands, flank, and shoulder in several places.
Yet, Miranda's attacks didn't even graze her.
"You think you can win in close combat? No, Miranda... I personally support you, but please accurately gauge your opponent's strength."
Kicked away by Mireia, Miranda rolled across the floor.
Since her older sister was being unilaterally beaten, Shannon tried to use her Magic Eye toward Mireia to touch her psyche—.
"Kya!"
――She failed.
"Touching the opponent's heart, huh. Shannon, I heard you played pranks with this? Children who play pranks must be punished."
As Mireia took a step toward Shannon, she immediately leaped back from that spot.
Miranda, whose injuries had healed, had thrown several knives.
Miranda thought of a way to win against this unreasonable opponent. Skills were easily neutralized. However, she had no intention of admitting defeat.
Looking into Miranda's eyes, Mireia smiled.
"Come. You need to fight someone stronger than yourself for a bit."
Miranda stepped forward deeply, used a feint to get close to Mireia, and was then accurately shot through with the gun—.
"Is the conversation finished?"
While I was drinking tea, I was suddenly summoned to raiel's room again.
I had been chatting with the Seventh Generation, and as expected, Grandma Zenoa's failure stories had many funny ones. I ended up laughing out loud.
Especially toward His Majesty... While I was thinking that, raiel, lying on the bed and facing sideways, spoke.
"What is it?"
"Hmph, Novem says she likes the current you, so I'm no good. It's irritating, so that's it for today. I'm absolutely not returning the memories."
Looking at raiel, who was sulking like a child, I spoke triumphantly.
"Serves you right! Now then, as I return... I'd like you to return the memories by the next time I come? Please, no takeovers."
raiel laughed through his nose while looking at me.
"I won't listen to such a convenient story. I'll absolutely not hand them over. If you want them, why not try to steal them by force? With the current you... even I might struggle."
I laughed.
"Then I'll prepare the conditions to win. I'll mobilize all my future brides to surround you and beat you to a pulp! As a mercy, I can have them all wear short skirts."
Then, raiel looked thoughtful with a startled expression. Then, he looked down and crossed his arms...
"...W-would garters be okay?"
"You greedy fellow. But garters... that's a possibility."
"It is, right! Yahoooo!! I'll be looking forward to that time."
"Look forward to it! Well, I have some persuading to do, so I'll take my leave."
"...Well, I think it'll be impossible, though."
raiel laughed happily as he saw me off.