kscans

Chapter 51 - Myth and the Connected World

There was a soft sensation on my lips. I knew without opening my eyes. It was Famu's lips. A liquid flowed into my mouth, passed from hers. A mana recovery potion. As I drank it, my consciousness became clearer. I hugged her. I wanted to savor the feeling of Famu's lips more.

"Mmph, mm... Master... I love you..."

Famu hugged me back.

"Hey!"

I opened my eyes to find myself surrounded by Mizuki and Cecily. They pulled me off her.

"Where am I?"

The space, enclosed by rock, was illuminated by torches.

"The bandits' cave hideout,"

Cecily answered. I looked around. We were surrounded by rock. It seemed to be a natural cave. Desks, chairs, and other things were placed around, making it look like a living space.

"If you're awake, kneel over there."

Where she pointed, Rylie was already kneeling formally. Next to her, a woman I didn't know was also kneeling. She was covered in mud. Her hands were tied behind her back. She had short, curly chestnut hair and a sharp glint in her eyes.

"Who might you be?"

Since I didn't know her, I spoke politely.

"She's the one you fought!"

Cecily interjected. So, she was Ito. Buried up to her torso in the earth, she had looked dead, but she was actually alive.

"Myra... Aira..."

"Hmph, hurry up."

I was about to thank Myra and Aira, but Cecily urged me to sit down quickly.

"Just like yesterday, we only administered first aid. They say beastmen have high recovery abilities, but she seems to be special..."

Myra said. They had treated her without me even asking. Thank you. For some reason, I didn't want to be next to Ito, so I knelt beside Rylie. The order became me, Rylie, then Ito. Famu, Mizuki, Myra, Cecily, and Aira surrounded us.

"What about the other bandits?"

"Didn't you defeat them? There was no one here,"

Cecily answered.

"The tall one in the black robe too?"

"Yes."

Cecily nodded. Had I killed them? I thought I'd be more shocked, but I didn't feel a thing since it wasn't real to me.

"Osu is probably alive. When I was about to fight, he ran away,"

Ito chimed in.

"...Who's Osu?"

"The tall black-robed man you mentioned. He's the leader of the bandit gang. The goddess was only targeting me, and she took her time charging the spear with mana. He used that opening to let his comrades escape."

"I see, that's good."

"Hm? Good?"

Cecily pressed.

"Oh, uh, was there no one aiming for me?"

"Weren't you protected by the goddess's barrier? In that situation, they couldn't have done anything with their power. Not that I could do anything either,"

she said with a wry smile.

"I see... Wait, aren't you the leader?!"

"Unfortunately not."

Ito shrugged.

"So, where is my master?"

Rylie asked Ito.

"Ema is... in the back room."

Ito gestured with her chin. Hearing this, Rylie tried to stand up.

"Kidnapper! Don't move, unless you want to be burned to a crisp!"

Cecily aimed her staff.

"Tch..."

Rylie bit her lip.

"Cecily, please let her see Ema."

"You want me to let her see... I see. Alright."

Cecily lowered her staff. Rylie stood up and immediately ran off. A moment later, her anguished cry echoed through the cave.

"...You, don't you feel anything hearing that? Why did you kill Ema?"

I asked.

"I know how incredible your special skill is. The plan was to sic the Hekatonkheires on you, make you use your special skill, and then we would finish you off. Active special skills require time before they can be used again. But you defeated them without using it. We realized we couldn't beat you."

So, the idea that special skills couldn't be used in rapid succession was a common concept.

"Didn't you know? There were three members in our party with experience defeating a Hekatonkheires."

"I didn't think you could defeat two of them without a special skill. We knew we had no chance of winning. But since we'd already challenged you to a fight, we needed some kind of conclusion."

So she used Ema as a scapegoat. Were they more afraid of us than we were of them? At that time, three of our members were out of commission, and Mizuki had been pushed to her limit. Could we have won against Ema's group in that state? They had also used their special skills. It's true that with Mizuki's and my special skills, we probably could have won. In fact, I was planning to use Goddess Summon as soon as we found them.

"I killed Ema in the battle on the road. The original plan was to leave her body there for you to find later and bring things to a close. ...But I just couldn't bring myself to do it, so I recovered her body."

Was it because it was her own body? What kind of feeling gave rise to that emotion?

"...If you thought you couldn't win, why did you challenge me to a fight today?"

"I didn't expect to lose to just one person with over twenty of us,"

Ito said with a bitter smile.

"Ema and Ito were transported to this world two years ago. Six months later, we were attacked by a transmigrator named Yuuki and both died. The clone I had made with my skill became Ema, and the clone that Ema made became me. I took the name Ito."

"...My head is spinning. So there was another Ito, a different person.

"Yuuki..."

Mizuki muttered the name.

"Do you know them?"

"Huh? Oh, no, it was just the same as an acquaintance's name..."

"Well, there are probably a lot of people named Yuuki."

"You're right."

Mizuki nodded.

"Was Yuuki alone?"

"He was alone. But he was strong. We had the same body enhancement skill, but we were no match for him,"

Ito replied. Was there a body enhancement skill stronger than a dragon's?

"Can't you make an infinite number of clones?"

Tens of thousands of Emas summoning tens of thousands of Hekatonkheires. It would be the end of the world.

"I can only have one clone in existence at a time."

"I see."

I had thought as much.

"My wish is to bring Ito back to life. I absolutely need to use the Ark to grant my wish."

"That's quite a wish. You can kill people for it, and you don't feel anything about people like Rylie, huh?"

How ridiculous.

"I think you're pretty bad yourself. What were you doing getting kidnapped? Do you have any idea how worried I was?!"

Cecily said.

"...I just didn't want to be alone. So I tried to go to Famu's room. Then Mizuki glared at me."

"Huh?"

Mizuki, suddenly brought into it, was surprised.

"You can't have two people in a single room! Besides, you were definitely planning to do something lewd!"

"Are you some kind of goody-two-shoes?!"

"Hmph, what was that?"

Mizuki glared at me.

"...No, it's nothing."

I backed down. I even straightened my posture.

"Mizuki, because of that, Master ended up doing lewd things with Rylie. He got carried away and was abducted. It would have been better if you hadn't stopped him,"

Famu said, as if she'd seen it all.

"Wait, Famu, don't say that here!"

"W-What, why wasn't it me?!"

For some reason, Myra started getting angry too.

"Please, can we talk about this later? Ito is here too."

"..."

Everyone fell silent.

"What is this Ark that Ito speaks of?"

Myra asked, trying to smooth things over.

"Apparently, it's in a dungeon in the Imperial Capital. If you defeat all the transmigrators summoned by the Five Goddesses, the Ark will somehow grant your wish, though I don't know the principle behind it."

"This is the first I'm hearing about wishes being granted, but I know of the Ark. It's a holy relic brought here during the war of the gods. Inside it was something called the Jar of Holy Oil. When Rishal-sama destroyed the jar, mana filled this world, and we became able to use magic,"

Myra explained. Rishal was one of the Five Goddesses who sided with Laciel during the war.

"Was it Laciel who brought it?"

"No, it was not brought by the Five Goddesses."

Myra shook her head. So the god of the apocalypse brought it?

"Was there anything else in the Ark? Like a staff or stone tablets?"

I had heard of the Jar of Holy Oil. From what I knew in my original world, it was a jar where God had told a prophet to store food. Could it be the same thing?

"A staff and a mirror. The legends only say that both the staff and the mirror were lost. However, it is said that the scepter held by the Emperor is the lost staff. Since it was passed down from the old empire, there's a certain degree of credibility to it."

"Myra, the Ark might have been brought from our world. In our original world, it's called the Ark of the Covenant. I don't know the exact era, but long ago, a prophet who received a revelation from God created it, and it was later enshrined and kept in a kingdom founded by those led by the prophet. However, its whereabouts became unknown with the division and collapse of that kingdom."

"Is that so?"

Myra looked surprised.

"That's how it is. If the Ark was brought from our world, then the wish-granting part sounds suspicious,"

I said to Ito.

"...It seems so,"

she nodded. What was she thinking? I couldn't tell at all.

"Myra, there's someone I want to bring back to life. Is it possible?"

I asked just in case, though I thought it was impossible.

"No matter who it is, you cannot bring the dead back to life."

Myra shook her head.

"Do you know how many years ago the war of the gods was?"

"I don't think it's possible to align the timelines of our original world and this one."

Mizuki, sensing my train of thought, took out a phone from her storage and handed it to me.

"This is Ema's phone. I charged it. Try looking at the dates of the pictures she took in her original world."

The lock was already undone. I opened the album. The top photo was what looked like a selfie of Ema and Rylie. It hurt to look at. I was supposed to have turned it off to save the battery. She must have deliberately turned it on to take the picture. Even though Rylie was a slave, Ema must have been happy to have her around. I swiped through the photos and came across one that looked like it was taken on a university campus. Was she a university student? But the Ema in this picture wasn't, strictly speaking, the Ema I knew. It was a strange feeling. I checked the date. June 13th. And it was the same year as on my phone. We had been transported last month, but they had been transported two years ago. Just in case, I randomly selected a few other photos and checked their dates. They were all from the same year. It was to be expected since they were arranged in chronological order.

"So the timelines of our original world and this world aren't synchronized."

"It seems so."

Mizuki nodded.

"What should we do with Ito?"

Mizuki asked.

"Have her remove Rylie's Slave Mark. After that, we release her..."

I stopped myself mid-sentence.

"We'll hand her over to the garrison. She'll tell them everything about her banditry. Her connection to the nobles, too. We'll leave her punishment to the garrison."

"Same as always. Though I was saved by that myself,"

Aira said.

"Honestly, as long as Rylie finds peace with it, I don't care what happens."

"Aren't you getting too involved? At the very least, she showed hostility towards you, Mash,"

Myra said.

"She's a slave, she couldn't help it. It was all Ema's fault, but she's dead. I want you to judge her by her actions after she's freed."

"I understand. But it doesn't sit right..."

Mizuki said.

"Is that okay with you too, Ito?"

"...I have no choice in the matter."

"Then, we'll have Ito make a clone. One will be turned over to the garrison. The other will free Rylie from slavery."

"And after she frees the slave?"

"She can do as she pleases. She might get killed by Rylie. Just one thing, I want you to stop attacking us. It's depressing."

"You're helping me... I understand. I will never attack you again. I promise,"

Ito replied. Was that true? How many people were there who would target the lives of the Five Goddesses' transmigrators to fulfill their dreams? Many must have given up. If so, we should be able to hear stories from the descendants of those who were transported a hundred years ago or even earlier. Was Ito hiding the real reason? Or was it us who had a reason we had to fight?

"Well then."

I had been worried about Rylie the whole time. I started to stand up.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?"

Mizuki stopped me.

"Where do you think you're going? You haven't been forgiven."

Mizuki stopped me. Beside me, Ito was already standing up. It was so unfair.

"I'm sorry. Please forgive me."

I bowed my head.

"I forgive you,"

Famu replied.

""""Huh?!""""

The other women all looked at Famu in surprise.

"Famu, we're together tonight."

"Yes."

Famu nodded.

"Wait. That's not fair!"

"Traitor!"

"You were the angriest one!"

"..."

Amidst the protests from the other three—or rather, four—my legs were numb and I couldn't move properly, but Famu helped me up. With Mizuki and the others glaring at me, I headed towards Rylie. I thought Famu would follow, but she didn't. I went deeper into the cave. I didn't know what to say, so my heart was heavy. On the way, there was a place where what looked like spoils of war were piled up. I thought about pocketing them, but decided against doing anything unnecessary. I was already disliked enough; I didn't want to add to it. I returned the sword Rylie had taken to the pile. Ahead, a wooden door sectioned off the passage. I went inside and saw a woman lying on a wooden platform. It was Ema. It was natural since she was a clone, but she really looked exactly like Ito. Beside her, Rylie was quietly gazing at Ema.

"I got your hopes up. I couldn't keep my promise. I'm sorry."

What kind of expression was Rylie making? I couldn't look her directly in the face.

"...It's fine. It was already like this when we went to save her. The outcome was already decided. I actually knew. But I was still alive. So I thought there might be a slim chance."

"Try putting yourself in my shoes, being dragged here for such a gamble."

"Hee hee, you're right. I'll have to make you work for sleeping with me."

She laughed. But she sounded lonely.

"I'll have Ito free you from slavery. I want you to live freely."

"I know. You saved me. I won't follow her in death."

"...Then that's good. Let's bury her."

"Yeah, it's a shame it has to be in such a lonely place."

She seemed like she would be okay on her own. I started to leave the room.

"I'm sorry for giving you such a hard time. Please forgive me,"

she apologized.

"Yeah, I want you to apologize to the others. Especially Cecily and Aira. And Famu, too, please."

Rylie nodded.

"Sorry to intrude. You can cry now."

As I was about to leave the room, I was hugged from behind.

"Just for a little while, stay like this."

Rylie was crying.

We buried Ema. Myra presided over it.

"We are born from people, and to the earth we return. Some may deviate from this principle, but the dead will live on in our hearts."

She explained for my and Mizuki's sake.

"I see."

I nodded. We decided to return to the settlement. Ito had just used her special skill, so she couldn't make another clone until tomorrow. She said she would turn herself in, so we decided to leave her at the hideout. We parted with Rylie at the hideout as well. The rain had stopped. At this rate, the caravan would be able to depart tomorrow.