Dersia did not open the door. To be precise, it was more like she could not.
“I am still capable of making the right judgment.”
Sitting upright in the rattling carriage, she quietly lowered her gaze.
“The right judgment, you say?”
“It means I might do the same thing again. Because I see your thinking as foolish.”
Seeing my face twist bizarrely, Dersia quickly added.
“To be precise, that is what the current me thinks.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“There was a reason Master was deliberately overworking herself.”
Ciel added with a dry cough.
“As Sir Jern has probably seen, the species known as elves are not very normal creatures.”
“…I suppose so.”
In the past, the elves were ferocious rulers who used their long lives and talents to their fullest to conquer every corner of this continent. Azrael chose to become a focal point, holding the memories of all such elves. And yet, the elves accepted it.
A life worse than death, living with their very memories held hostage. As for Dersia… there was nothing to say. The elves were simply out of their minds.
That much I could keenly agree with.
“But if you look closely at the principles behind their actions, isn't there a common word you can see?”
“Common?”
I reviewed the facts above. But other than them just being madmen, nothing particular came to mind.
“…I’m not sure. If I had to say, perhaps that it’s an efficient farm, since all the livestock willingly put on their own nose rings?”
“As expected, you are wise.”
“?”
Ciel nodded as if I had gotten the right answer.
“Elves aren't like that from birth. It’s just that as they live, they learn more things and come to know better ways." "The years that accumulate in this way make all elves into a single being.”
“A single… being?”
“Yes. All elves who have lived beyond a certain amount of time will speak with the same tone, act in the same way, and make the same choices in any situation." "Whether they learned magic or the sword. Because—” “Because… that is the most efficient way.”
“Indeed.”
As I mulled over the meaning, I asked back in disbelief.
“…No, wait a minute. Isn't that just saying that for an intelligent being, immortality is a curse?”
“That’s a new approach. However, from that perspective, isn't the only thing that distinguishes a curse from a blessing the concept of the few versus the many?" "If all intelligent beings were granted the same years as us, then having a short life would be the curse.”
I looked at Dersia, who said this, with a sense of pity, then answered Ciel.
“You’re right, I can’t send her to the capital in this state.”
“Yes. Although you gave Master a very thorough beating, Sir Jern, if she doesn't return to the capital in a somewhat muddled state, she might try something else.”
“Aha. Then the savior Azrael is waiting for is—” “An elf born with a mind that does not converge even as the years pass, that is what he’s waiting for.”
Is that shaman waiting for the sun not to rise? What a pitiful man. As I was thinking this, Brimdal, with his arms crossed, nodded in agreement.
“So that was the story behind it. But then there’s one thing I don’t understand.”
“What is it?”
Dersia replied to Brimdal in a slightly sulky tone. She couldn’t say it in this situation, but it seemed she still had some dissatisfaction about me becoming his disciple. Still, once she was out of her right mind, she probably wouldn’t think much of it.
“We dwarves live for a long time, though not as long as you. Why don’t we suffer from such madness?”
“Jern assumed a normal intelligent being. Dwarves are a bit… different in some parts.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“You people can live for a thousand years just hammering metal to make tools and still die satisfied, which is to say, there is a peculiar? An inferior? A primitive? A part like that, isn't there?”
“Unfortunately, we cannot be like that. We would go mad if we hammered iron for just ten years.”
Brimdal was about to actually draw his sword, so I desperately stopped him.
“Mmm…”
Meanwhile, Linmel, who was fast asleep, tossed and turned on the side of the carriage. I carefully laid her down on her side so she wouldn't wake up. She had been a great help in this matter.
It was a good thing I didn’t chase her away. I stroked Linmel’s hair and steered the overheated atmosphere in a different direction.
“So, is there any credibility to Azrael’s story?”
“…Hmm.”
“This is difficult.”
Brimdal, Ciel, and even Dersia all had serious, pondering expressions. Recalling the story Azrael had told me, it was truly bizarre.
“I had a maid?”
“Not just a maid, what are you—you look like some prince of a country.”
“What—prince of a country?”
“Yes. Not the Empire. What kind of pattern is this? Hmm… I’ve seen it in the eastern region… ah, the surroundings are a desert.”
“??”
“One year old, two, three, four… hmm, an uncle? is taking you away. And that’s the end.”
“What do you mean, the end?”
“I don’t know. Your memory is cut off. You probably died. When you die, the memories can’t be connected anymore like this.”
“But I’m alive.”
“The next memory is of an orphanage. So, well, it’s similar. The memory of the torture you really want to know about, I cannot see.”
The conversation went something like that. Even when I asked in detail, not much else came out. Naturally, my suspicions leaned in another direction.
“I think Azrael just made something up.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Let me ask you in return. Do you really think I’m a noble?”
“First of all, that is certain.”
Dersia cleared her throat and affirmed.
“A natural body is not something that appears so easily. It is truly rare. There is no room for doubt that you inherited the blood of a noble, even if not a royal.”
“Still, it’s strange.”
This wasn’t something to just brush off as a secret of my birth. I voiced a very natural question.
“Then why didn’t they look for me?”
This was something I just couldn’t explain.
“Whether a noble or a royal—if they lost me, shouldn’t they have made contact in some way?" "It’s not like I was stuck in some remote area; I was in an orphanage attached to the capital." "If I wasn't lost but abandoned, they should have found and killed me to leave no loose ends. If not, they should have looked for me.”
“You are correct.”
Dersia nodded in agreement.
“Since he mentioned a desert, I know it must be a very distant place, but it’s impossible that a prince of a country went missing and they didn’t reach out to the Empire." "They would go around checking anyone with the same hair color. But in my memory… I’ve never heard news of a prince from any country going missing.”
“Hmm…”
The two of us put our heads together and fell into thought.
“What about the possibility that it’s not a prince of a country, but just a family of psychopaths pretending to be royalty?”
“Jern. I value your imagination that keeps all possibilities open, but it’s not a necessary ability in a situation like this.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
The contemplation continued. Still, I was at ease. Just watching a 9‑Star mage ponder over my problems felt reassuring.
Of course, Brimdal was not far behind in terms of raw power, but when it came to intellect, there were many areas where I had to rely on Dersia.
“…No, what on earth are you two agonizing over?”
As if he had learned to read minds, Brimdal asked with a frown.
“Doesn’t that already have an answer?”
“An answer?”
At my questioning expression, Brimdal held up the picture. It was the one I received from the princess, depicting what was presumed to be me as a baby and my mother.
“The princess who gave you this picture would know, wouldn’t she?”
I and Dersia’s eyes widened. I hadn't been thinking about it. To be precise, it was more that I hadn’t wanted to think about it.
“Umm. Should we just stop caring about my past?”
I cautiously made the suggestion. Rather than getting involved with the princess, it might not be a bad thing to just leave it as a loose end.
“That is fine. However, it’s not that I’m trying to dig into your past for no reason. Your past is surely connected to the Red Lotus.”
“Yes, it is.”
“However, when you met the Red Lotus, they didn’t recognize you. Not even the officers.”
“…That’s true, isn’t it?”
Mass, Suirak, and all the others. None of them realized that I was the result of their work.
“Hmm, maybe they just threw me away because I was a failure…”
“For that to be the case, your world is far too vast. It’s certain that some kind of advanced work was done.”
The more I heard, the more things didn’t add up. The completeness and size of my world. It wasn't a world that could be created by just being casually tossed into the sea.
My memory was cut off. It wasn’t certain, but there was a possibility of being something like a prince of another kingdom. But they didn’t know me.
‘…Something… is vague.’
It felt like the facts were about to click together into a big picture, yet each one was slightly off. Dersia, who had been watching, slowly opened her mouth.
“The choice is yours. However, if I were to share my thoughts, it is certain that your past holds a great secret connected to the Red Lotus.”
“It seems so.”
“What will you do?”
The short question held many meanings. The moment I get involved, do I step right into the jaws of a prophet who can read my every move? Or do I ignore it, and just worry about the future, leaving only an unsettling feeling behind?
The deliberation was long. But the answer was short. I sighed and looked up at the carriage ceiling.
“Are you watching?”
“Jern?”
I gently moved a confused Dersia aside and continued.
“Due to these circumstances, I will be visiting you soon.”
If she was watching, the message would have been delivered. If it wasn’t delivered, well… Then I could be sure of her identity.
Click, clack…
“…?”
The pre-dawn corridor leading to the storeroom. A maid walking on the marble floor suddenly noticed something strange. It wasn't an intruder, an assassin, or a suspicious person.
It was herself.
“Why am I here…?”
The maid, as if possessed, muttered blankly to herself before shaking her head to come to her senses. This—was not right. The path to the storeroom was guarded by the guards.
If she were caught here, she could be arrested as a thief, or even be summarily executed without any chance to protest. She had no idea why she was here.
“Q-Quickly…”
I have to go back. Thinking this, she tried to step back. But her feet were stuck fast to the floor, refusing to move.
Not as a matter of will, but in a physical way.
“…!”
Looking down, she saw that her feet were frozen solid up to her ankles.
“Nngh, nngh…!”
She struggled with all her might, but the iron-hard block of ice did not budge. After repeating the impossible struggle for a while, a voice colder than the ice that had frozen her feet reached her ears.
“What a foul hobby.”
“Ah.”
This time, a definite intruder.
An assassin.
A suspicious person. A man was sitting on the windowsill, glaring this way with a displeased expression. She had to scream.
She opened her mouth to do so. From her wide-open mouth, a sound was made.
“No, this is safer, you know…”
The maid sighed with a cynical tone and scratched her head in an exaggerated manner.
“You think I’d know the rules that maids have to follow around here? It’s much more comfortable for me to leave it to this one and move unconsciously." "If I try to learn anything else, with my memory, I’ll just forget it all anyway.”
“Is that so.”
“Of course, since things have turned out this way, I’ll have to throw ‘this one’ away, but it’s a shame since I quite liked it." "There had better be a good enough reason for you to call me, a reason that made me waste it.”
“There is. More than enough.”
Suirak glared at the maid with a chillingly sharp tone. He glared at the maid who was, his comrade.
“You acted alone.”
“You even disobeyed Taeheo’s command.”
“…Heh.”
The maid laughed lightly.
“Sorry, I thought I could do it… and it went better than I thought. So I got carried away—” “No more words. Offer it up.”
“Even with your bad memory, you must remember the rules. Or—I can make you remember.”
The maid’s hands, with all trace of laughter gone, wriggled in a way that should not be possible for a human body. Suirak didn't even breathe, just looked down. After a standoff of several minutes, it was the maid who finally sighed.
“…Alright. I’ll give it to you, I will. Aren’t you being too harsh over a little prank?”
“Remember that there is a great difference between what is important and what is necessary. There will be no next time.”
When he blinked, Suirak was no longer there. The ice was gone too. The mass, who had been a maid, sighed and went up to the rooftop.
The magic of this world was needed to dispose of this now useless body.
“Can’t be helped, I guess…”
The mass laughed lightly and brushed it off. It was within expectations. Before it even started, it had prepared for this much of a price.
The reason it had done it despite being prepared for the cost was— Because it was fun. It was well worth it. The mass felt its heart pound for the first time in a long while.
That young fallen one that Suirak had his eyes on. His eyes, deep as a cold sea, as he boldly declared he would kill him, and his unfathomable confidence. That appearance, impossible to believe for a ten-year-old, was truly fascinating.
It had met something so interesting that this level of expense was well worth it.
“Heh, heheh…”
It knew it was a time to wait, but it was hard to endure. Forcibly suppressing the smile forming on its lips, it went up, only to meet an unexpected person.
“Ah.”
“Hmm?”
A small, slender boy. The prince of this kingdom, accompanied by two guards behind him, was coming down from the tower.
“Ah, hello. Hehe…”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Even if the mass didn't know the laws of the kingdom, it knew to bow its head in a situation like this. The prince, who looked to be at most ten years old, gave an awkward smile. He was a young child who was simple, foolish, and above all, possessed an untainted purity.
The mass, glancing at the face that looked like it would die within five minutes if left in the wild, felt a small question arise in its mind.
‘That face…’
It was sure it had seen it somewhere before. In the first place, it was a face it knew inside and out, as it had helped create that prince.
‘Hmm, but…’
Neat hair.
Eyes always full of anxiety, shoulders hunched, a trembling face. The mass looked at the white hair and shrugged.
“I don’t know.”
It had no memory of seeing such a weak child. The next day, a small incident occurred in the kingdom. A maid who had always been kind to everyone suddenly committed suicide.
For three days, the other maids of the kingdom expressed many questions. After that, she was forgotten.