243 - What Was It That You Wanted?
The Room of Memories.
It was a place that reproduced the scenes recorded by the successive heads of the family and the jewel.
It had reproduced various things—the manor, the gardens, and battlefields—to show me the memories of the previous heads.
The jewel had recorded the surprising beginnings of the Walt family and what the successive heads had been thinking when they acted. It had continued to do so.
In that room of records, I was running around the manor's garden. Using various skills simultaneously—Speed, Map, Search, Field, Limit Burst—I scrambled to escape the magic raining down upon me.
A rain of purple lightning from the sky gouged the lawn of the manor's garden.
There was a sculpture of a woman placed in the garden, and sitting on her shoulder was the boy version of me—Liel—swinging his legs back and forth while exercising magic.
"T-this guy!"
I rolled across the ground, scrambled up, and started running. When the magic collided with the ground and caused explosions, the impact made it impossible to run properly.
The reason I was running away was that every time I launched an attack, it was completely dealt with.
『Look. We've only just started. And yet, you've already taken three fatal wounds... As I thought, I'll have to have my body returned to me.』
Even looking at it myself, the smirking face of my childhood self was infuriating. I spread my left hand, manifested flames, and used magic.
I swung my arm upward as if throwing it at Liel, and a bolt of fire flew toward him.
"Fire Bullet!"
My magic, which was merely a nuisance, was being finely adjusted by the Second Generation's skill—Select—to ensure it hit Liel directly.
Seeing this, Liel let out a sigh and swung the saber he held in his hand, slicing through the bolt of fire.
『You're too honest in aiming for the vitals. If you're going to do that, you should hit me much faster. Or—Select.』
As Liel muttered, purple lightning rained down from the sky toward me. I immediately confirmed where the magic would hit and ran a route to avoid it—
"Damn. I was lured!"
『You're slow to notice. Well, even if you had endured it there, you would have been battered. In reality, that would be fatal.』
Liel, who had moved to the place I fled to, thrust his saber at me. I parried it with my katana and immediately launched a kick.
Liel landed right on my leg, looked at me with a smirk, and kicked upward. My vision shifted to the sky as the boy's foot hit my chin, and I collapsed onto the ground.
"W-why are you using skills..."
I tried to stand up while staggering, but my legs were shaking and I couldn't stand. Liel fought differently from the previous heads, using even the applications of every skill.
『Because you and I are the same. I am you, and you are me. Even the jewel lets me use skills. I should tell you, even so, my handling of skills is worse than the previous heads. I'm just using them effectively.』
Liel looked at me, unable to stand, crouched in front of me, and laughed.
『Despite having such amazing skills, you can't master them. It's not about the proficiency of the skills. It's natural for the proficiency to be inferior to the person who manifested them. However, you have to use each of them at a better timing, and use them more skillfully.』
When I tried to force myself up, Liel swept my legs and sent me rolling.
『That's enough for today. Next... go to the Fifth Head's room.』
Looking up at the familiar sky in the memory, I felt frustrated that I couldn't even beat a child.
The Room of the Round Table.
When I showed my face there, the Third Head was smirking while looking at Mireia-san.
『Even with those boasted eyes, you mistake my illusion. Mireia-chan is quite the klutz, isn't she?』
Mireia-san looked with a displeased expression at the Third Head, who was laughing with his hand over his mouth, making "pukusukusu" sounds.
A handgun was gripped in her hand, and a faint smell of gunpowder lingered in the Room of the Round Table.
I looked at the Fifth Head, who was sitting on the round table.
"What happened?"
The Fifth Head seemed uninterested, but he appeared to have watched the flow of events closely. He explained it to me politely.
『The Third Head provoked Mireia. Well, she suddenly started giving them orders, so perhaps she got angry at that, or maybe he just wanted to tease her... She pointed her gun at the Third Head, but the one she shot through perfectly was an illusion.』
Hearing that the Third Head had provoked Mireia-san, I watched the two of them, thinking it was rare for two similar people to fight. I ignored the Seventh Generation, who sat in a chair looking disappointed.
The Third Head continued to giggle.
『Mireia-chan, Mireia-chan. You boasted about those Magic Eyes, but was it perhaps on purpose? Did you miss on purpose? You don't have to hold back just because I'm your great-grandfather. Look, I'm right here. Try shooting.』
Mireia-san pointed her left hand, which had been empty, at the Third Head, who had his arms spread wide. Then, though I didn't see when she drew it, a handgun was gripped in her hand and she fired—
『Guh!』
—The Third Head vanished from before us, a distorted smile forming from the spot where the bullet had hit.
『Ahahaha, I'm over here. Really, you don't have to be so angry.』
The Righteous General who spread the name of the Walt family to Banseime—and the surrounding nations—and the hero of Lemrant seemed to be playing Mireia-san like a toy.
Mireia-san fired repeatedly. And as she ran around the Room of the Round Table, throwing away guns one after another, the Third Head's laughter echoed through the room.
A stray bullet hit the Seventh Generation.
『Au!』
The Fifth Head saw that, let out a sigh, jumped down from the round table, and beckoned me.
『Liel, it's noisy here, so come with me for a bit.』
Invited by the Fifth Head, I headed toward the Fifth Head's Room of Memories.
Previously.
In the Fifth Head's room, I had seen the events involving Mei and the problems between family members.
The Fifth Head, who seemed detached, let out a sigh and snapped his fingers, changing the surrounding scenery. The gray landscape reflected the interior of the Walt manor and gradually began to take on color.
There was a petite woman holding a baby preciously.
The Fourth Generation—Marks, who had a significant age difference—was watching the scene with a smile.
『Husband, it's a boy! A boy!』
As expected, she was likely happy to have given birth to a boy, as the woman had a beaming smile. In the Fourth Generation's memories, the impression of her standing tall and criticizing him was strong, so this seemed surprising.
『Ah, with this, the Walt family is secure.』
Marks looked happy, but the woman—Marks's wife—changed her expression.
『What are you talking about? In this day and age, you never know what might happen. This child needs a younger brother or sister. Hey, Fredricks! When you get a younger brother or sister to support you, you must cherish them.』
Marks gave a wry smile.
『In the end, it's [Fredricks], as I proposed. I'm happy.』
The woman blushed.
『T-that's... I'll be the one to decide the name for the next child! Fredricks, what kind of name would be good for a younger brother or sister?』
The wife rubbed her cheek against the baby. Marks watched over them with a smile.
『I suppose so. My father also passed away young. Originally, I was supposed to have a younger brother or sister.』
The Third Head was the only one in the Walt family to die in battle. He overturned a desperate situation, but the price he paid was his life.
The Fifth Head watched the scene.
『I don't quite understand what Mireia wants me to show. There are many things I don't want to show, but if I keep saying that, she'll just stay here forever. I'm happy I got to see Mei's growth, but staying like this forever is also...』
Saying so, the Fifth Head explained this scene. It was recorded in the Fourth Generation's memories and stored by the jewel, but it was unmistakably the moment of the Fifth Head's birth.
And at this point, it seemed unlikely that the Fifth Head would end up as an only child. After all, both Marks and his wife were thinking about the next one.
I thought the relationship between the couple might be terrible since the Fourth Generation seemed afraid of her, but it wasn't like that.
—If that's the case, the cause is the [accident] the Fourth Generation mentioned.
The Fifth Head spoke while looking at the scene of a warm home. Around them, the maids were smiling as they looked at the happy woman. Outside the door, the knights were happily clenching their fists.
While looking at such a scene.
『Liel. How does this scene look to you? Abnormal? Or normal?』
Hearing those words, I replied.
"Um... isn't it normal? Everyone around them is happy, and the Fourth Generation and his wife look very happy too."
The Fifth Head looked a bit tired.
『I see. In your time, you have enough leeway to think so. Back then, we were a baron's house. We had just become true nobles through a promotion of rank due to the Third Head's achievements. The Walt family was an upstart house with momentum. That's probably why. A scene like this is rare.』
What he explained was the nature of creatures called nobles.
『Do you know? Noble marriages are connections between houses.』
"I know. Or rather, I intend to know."
Hearing my response, the Fifth Head laughed a bit sadly.
『Should I think it's good that you don't know, or should I be angry... Maybe it's my fault. Fines failed in seeking a warm home. Because he crammed family love and noble duty together. Broad seemed to have done it well, but he gathered all the root causes within the Walt family.』
The Sixth Generation proposed to a woman he loved. But at the same time, it seemed he took concubines to increase the number of children like the Fifth Head did, which angered his legal wife.
The Fifth Head told me about a side of the Sixth Generation I didn't know.
『That guy didn't need to imitate me. No matter what you do, there are merits and there are drawbacks. Since I already increased the family, he didn't need to worry about it... That guy prepared concubines immediately after welcoming his legal wife. I struggled a lot. I cared deeply about what my marriage partner, whom I met through an arranged meeting, would think, but he just executed it as if it were natural.』
Looking at the Fifth Head holding his head, I thought it must have been difficult back then. In fact, the Fifth Head also seemed to harbor some dissatisfaction toward the Sixth Generation.
If I may say so, isn't this the result of seeing the Fifth Head's figure? The Third Head also said that you become similar to the things you hate.
The scene changed, and there was the figure of the young Sixth Generation—Fines—looking flustered. He was at a loss in front of a woman who looked like a young lady with blonde hair and blue eyes, and the aged Fredricks was also holding his head.
The Fifth Head looked at the woman who was disheveled, throwing and breaking things indiscriminately. Looking at this alone, the woman looked like the worst. However—
『This girl is the daughter of a court noble. She married into the Walt family, which is a territorial noble family, because the Sixth Generation made a passionate confession. So she came to the manor and worked hard in her own way. There were times she wanted to cry in an unfamiliar environment, but she endured... and then, this guy boldly...』
The surrounding images began to move. Fines, while dodging a flying vase.
『W-what's wrong with concubines! With the scale of the Walt family, that much is—』
The woman screamed.
『You said you'd love only me! I believed you! And yet... and yet!』
A decorative plate she threw hit Fines directly, but I couldn't sympathize.
The Fifth Head let out a sigh.
『...Later, to calm things down, I listened to her story together with my daughter-in-law. Then, it seemed she had been prepared since she was born into a noble house. Giving birth to the children of a partner you don't love... I don't understand it as a man, but I think it's painful. However, she thought it was like a dream to be confessed to and marry. She tried to overcome the various differences in environment for the sake of that confession and Fines's love. There are many things that are natural here but abnormal in Central. In response to that effort, what Fines did was introduce other women.』
I was conversely surprised that he was unexpectedly defending his son.
Then, the Fifth Head looked at the crying woman with blonde hair and blue eyes and said.
『Liel. As this girl says, noble marriages are connections between houses. Even without love, children are born and the house is succeeded. That's normal. Among them, it's not uncommon for couples to have lovers after having children. The Walt family, being upstarts, didn't know about those things, for better or worse. Mama... it's true that my old lady was a bit of a dreamer. That's why she might have longed for a warm home.』
The Fifth Head, who calls his mother "Mama," does not call his father, the Fourth Generation, "Papa." He was surely forced to do so by his mother.
"Does that mean the Walt family is abnormal?"
When I said that, the Fifth Head laughed.
『It's not normal. That much I can say clearly. The family precepts continuing from the First Generation are just jokes from a drinking party, you know?』
I also gave a wry smile.
"I suppose so."
And then, the Fifth Head laughed sadly.
『...I also, you know. I wanted one wife and a warm home. And yet, Fines threw that away. I told him to prepare concubines only when children weren't being born...』
The Fifth Head actually seemed to have been envious of the Sixth Generation. Then, the surrounding scenery turned gray and vanished, and a new scene appeared.
Liel(;｀・ω・´) "Fifth Head! Please teach me the tips for maintaining a harem! What should I do if factions form!"
Fifth HeadΣ(゜Д゜；) "Do not interfere carelessly! Think of it as a bomb with a lit fuse! If you touch it clumsily, it'll explode! Listen, deal with it thinking that every day is a bomb on the verge of exploding. Always be attentive. Act as if you don't know while dealing with it calmly. But..."
Fifth Head(;゜д゜) "...It'll still explode. That's why you don't try to stop it from exploding. You make it explode skillfully. A harem... think of it as a bomb that could explode at any moment. And remember that it will definitely explode. I also, on the surface, about twice..."