kscans

Chapter 132 - Little One and the Banquet of the Gods

"Hero is Cesare’s sister....."

『Her soul is. The current her likely has no memory of me.』

Chihaya had deep ties to Kilfan. He knew of reincarnation and understood karma. But even so, wasn't this too cruel? Cesare had committed a great sin in the past. In the era he lived in, it was commonplace, a dog-eat-dog world where you killed or were killed. The only particularly evil deed was killing his brother. But it was a great sin nonetheless. To amplify it further, those beings called the Higher Beings had made Cesare repeat the past over and over, manipulating every event to its worst possible outcome. As a result, he suffered wounds that scarred his mind and wandered the battlefields seeking a place to die.

His life toyed with for the schemes of the Higher Beings, Cesare was then reborn as a god and created Haysleep, but that too was like an experiment for the Higher Beings.

Haysleep was born as a world completely devoid of magic so that it would have no contact with the spirits. This incurred the wrath of the spirits, who unleashed a torrent of natural disasters, and in the end, humanity, consumed by paranoia, destroyed the world themselves. A soul dyed in malice through every possible means by the schemes of the Higher Beings. That was Cesare.

As he repeated the nightmare over and over, fragments of his memories began to remain in Cesare’s soul, proportional to the wounds he received. Piecing them together, Cesare was able to grasp the general situation and was horrified. At his own life, which had been played with continuously.

So he swore. He would have his revenge on the Higher Beings. He would not let them have their way. He would absolutely make them see.

『In a way, it was a blessing..... I was on the verge of losing Lucrezia again with my own hands.』

When he was the god of Haysleep, if by some chance he had won the wager, he would have unknowingly killed his sister’s reincarnation along with all of Arcadia. A heavy silence lay in Chihaya’s mind.

"Reincarnation, huh. Hero was a person from a different world before, right? What kind of world was it?"

『Earth? I only know of the era I lived in. Well, it was no different from here. There was no such thing as magic, but it was believed that spirits and fairies existed. Though I never saw one. Gods and angels too.』

Even though he'd never seen them, it was believed they existed?

Chihaya tilted his head quizzically.

"You believe in something you’ve never seen?"

『.....? Now that you mention it. .....Yes, for some reason, I believed. There were many stories and legends. Children grew up hearing those as bedtime stories.』

The literacy rate was not as high as in Frontier, in fact, it was worse, yet it was a mysterious world with many such devout people. They believed in gods and angels, spirits and fairies, and thought that illnesses and disasters were calamities caused by evil spirits. There was no concept of sanitation either, and filth was thrown about everywhere, a den of foul odors and rampant plagues.

Ugh, Chihaya’s mouth hung open.

『Thinking back on it now, it was an incredible world. Torture was commonplace. Days were spent inflicting just enough pain on captured enemies to keep them from dying. Crushing fingers, gouging out eyes, as long as they could speak, it was enough. .....Yes. I never thought about the consequences.』

Cesare’s past, where countries not at war were in the minority. One could imagine, without even hearing it, how he had survived in such a harsh world of swords and bullets.

『But it is a good world now. Though conflicts never cease, it seems many countries have stopped warring and won a peaceful future.』

Is that Hero’s world?

Arcadia too had an era called the Age of Disappearance. A time when magic vanished from the land, and countries with declining productivity fought for sustenance. A time when many lives were lost, ruled by hunger and grief. Overcoming such numerous hardships, people now live in these peaceful times.

It must have been the same on Earth.

『I will protect her. This time, I will protect my sister. So, Haya. You should marry someone too.』

"Huh? What’s this all of a sudden?"

『You have feelings for my sister, do you not? That will not do. You must not cross the line as a human being.』

At Cesare’s utterly serious words, Chihaya turned bright red and retorted.

"I’ve never even thought of such a thing! I’m not you!!"

『Gh.....! That was not my will! I was instigated by those Higher Beings.....! Lucrezia was my life!!』

"Oh really? And that very dear, dear sister is right in front of you, isn't she, Onii-sama?"

『You.....! Do you insult me?!』

Someone grabbed Chihaya’s head as he was having a loud one-man conference in his brain. The fingers digging in were subtly painful.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about, but let’s be quiet for a bit, okay?"

Little One was scattering odoro lines with a plastered-on smile, having heard her beloved big brother being called out.

"No, this is!"

『See, it is because you say such foolish things.』

"You’re the one who started saying foolish things!"

Tarō-kun lifted the thrashing Chihaya and made a quick getaway.

"Hey, wait!"

Chihaya looked at the shouting Chihiro with soft eyes and gave a shy, wry smile.

She’s cute, isn’t she?

『Yes, she is cute.』

The two niiniis couldn’t help but find their sister, who puffed out her cheeks and stomped her feet in embarrassment, to be incredibly cute.

『Well, you see. Though her soul is Lucrezia’s, she is a different person now, so it would not be a problem for her to be a romantic interest for me.』

"No, it would be a problem, okay? In that case, you’d be using my body, right? That’s a full-fledged crime!!"

『Ngh..... Unreasonable.』

"You’re the one who’s unreasonable! You really are a dangerous person!"

『It was a joke, you fool. Even if the vessel is different, you think I could make a move on someone with Lucrezia’s soul?』

Age before beauty. Chihaya flailed about, being played by Cesare. The two niiniis shot sparks at each other over their doted-upon sister. Utterly unaware of this, Little One was letting her thoughts wander to her new pilgrimage.

"The last country, huh. There’s a Lord’s Forest right between it and the Claudia Kingdom."

Little One muttered, staring at the map.

Drago looked at her with a fond but complicated expression and lifted his beloved daughter into his arms.

"It’s finally over. We can finally live in peace now. It’s been a long time."

It had been six years since he received the oracle from the gods. It had indeed been a long time. Stroking Drago’s beard, sasu sasu, Little One also smiled brightly.

"That’s right. It’s the beginning of a world of magic, though. The current superiority of the central region will be overturned, so there might still be some confusion. But the pilgrimage will be over. After that, what will be will be, nyo."

Yes. The revival of the lost magical civilization. The world would change drastically. All the forests existed only in the borderlands. The countries of the central region had no Lords’ Forests, and the circulation of magic was proportional to the power of the monsters. The more powerful the monsters, the higher the magic circulating through the land, and the stronger the magic people possessed. The central region, which had until now boasted superiority due to its many civilizations and knowledge, would become inferior to the borderlands in terms of magical civilization. Little One, who had been staring at the map, pointed at something that had been on her mind for a while and looked at Drago.

"Once the Golden Ring is complete, I want to try going here too."

There sat a large mountain.

A mountain larger than the Frontier Kingdom was in the very center of the continent, and the countries of the central region were scattered around it. Most of the great rivers flowing through the continent originated from that mountain, and though it wasn’t marked on the map, Little One thought there might be a Lord’s Forest there as well.

"The spiritual peak, the Table of the Gods, huh. I’ve never seen it myself, but I hear it’s a big mountain."

"If there’s a Lord’s Forest in this location, I feel like the magic would spread out evenly."

Frontier and Flowers, which had Lords’ Forests nearby, were exceptions, but if this mountain, larger than a country, was a Lord’s Forest, it should bring some benefit to the central region as well. But if that was the case, why didn’t the first king mark this forest on the map? A few questions arose, but it wouldn't start until she went and confirmed it for herself.

Drago watched Little One head toward the royal palace with a complicated expression.

Chihiro’s predictions had never been wrong before. There was surely a Lord’s Forest on the spiritual peak called the Table of the Gods. And that would create a new problem. Because it would mean that Frontier would effectively possess a vast land in the center of the Arcadia continent. Even Drago, who was not politically savvy, could understand that this would lead to bad results. Watching his beloved daughter become a small, distant shadow, Drago let out a small sigh.

Well, no use thinking about it. His Highness the Prince Regent will handle it well.

His Highness the Prince Regent, in times of trouble. Drago was unaware of the greatness of the existence he unconsciously relied on. For over ten years, including his past life, Romel had been forced to handle Little One-related matters, and he had permeated the Jorje family more deeply than he himself realized.

It was a charming sight to see Romel hold his head in his hands when the matter of the spiritual peak, the Table of the Gods, was brought to him.

And so, the curtain was about to rise on a beginning of the end that Little One had never anticipated.