The Sleeping Flame (9)
I only woke Veronica after we reached the surface. If I had roused her midway and made her walk with me, the climb would have been even more exhausting than the descent. Because I had been continuously pouring mana into my body to carry her the whole way, I was completely drained by the time we arrived.
“……Veronica. Wake up.”
After some hesitation, I shook her gently. Since I had already withdrawn the rune mana that induced sleep, Veronica opened her eyes almost immediately.
“……Mmm.”
She stared blankly at the blue sky and my face for a moment, then seemed to realize that the denial of her prophecy hadn’t been a dream. Her lips tightened.
She sat up and murmured, “So you put me to sleep with magic. Well done. Thanks to you, my mind feels considerably calmer.”
“……Can I ask if you’re okay?”
It was such an awkward question that even Veronica laughed.
“There is no need to worry. I am merely a little tired. You will not discover the cold corpse of a Bicorn in some alley near the house.”
“Hey. That joke isn’t funny at all.”
“Hohoho. Is that so? Human humor is truly difficult.”
When I put on a straight face, Veronica shook her head, horns and all. “In any case, get on. Let us leave this crater first.”
Veronica chanted a new rune and transformed once more. I grabbed our belongings and climbed onto her back.
—Flap.
With a single powerful beat of her wings, Veronica soared out of the crater and landed atop the mountain peak. If we descended from here, we would reach the entrance where the rest of the party was waiting.
Hoooooo…….
Even so, we didn’t set off right away. We stood there, letting the high-altitude wind wash over us. Since the mountain rose from the middle of the island, we had a clear view of the entire landscape. Seen from above, it was an incredibly beautiful island. The lush green jungle blending into the sandy coastline, the natural gradient fading toward the horizon—it was more beautiful than any artwork humans could create. Still, it couldn’t compare to the divine beauty of the godkin.
Veronica let the wind toss her hair as a self-mocking smile curved her lovely lips.
“My dear. In truth, I believed that meeting you like this was fate.”
“Fate?”
I echoed the word without thinking. Veronica brushed her side hair behind her ear.
“Is it not? Even if you had failed to find me while I was trapped in the circus, you would have come to see me while disposing of their assets. You would have heard them say, ‘There is a rare beast—would you like to see it?’”
“That…… yeah, that’s true.”
The circus animals had been categorized as part of the ‘assets’ I could claim. Even if we hadn’t met before destroying the troupe, the Heisvent guards would have discovered Veronica and brought her in. They would have told me about the rampaging rare beast called a Bicorn and urged me to take a look. I probably would have gone to where she was being held. I was confident I could communicate with a Bicorn. After that, I would have spoken with her in the language of Bicorns as she raged, following a process very similar to our actual first meeting.
“The same holds for other possibilities. Whether I escaped midway or we never met until the very end, you and I were destined to become entangled.”
Veronica gazed at the coastline as she continued. “Even if you had not met me, you would have gone to the Sacred Beast Forest with Tirsi. Naturally, if an ogre stole your rune there, you would have chased after it. Without me, the ogre would most likely have activated the sanctuary’s magic circle. Then, even after defeating the ogre, you would have been surrounded by my kin. Would you not have cleared up the misunderstanding through conversation using your translation ability?”
That scenario was also plausible. Suppose I never went looking for Veronica even after receiving the circus bounty. I would still have encountered that ogre professor bastard during the promotion exam and fought him. ‘That bastard was absorbing the mana of ancient gods, so of course he would have targeted me.’ Without Veronica, I wouldn’t have even known about the teleportation circle. If I had delayed even an hour or two to prepare, I would have been caught in the ogre’s spatial movement. I would have fought the ogre in the sanctuary, somehow won, and then been surrounded by the sanctuary’s residents—the classic fantasy trope. An encounter with a mysterious race living in seclusion! Using my translation ability to talk with the Bicorns, clearing up the misunderstanding, and remembering the Bicorn that had been captured by the circus? It would naturally lead to a connection with Veronica.
“There is more. You said the ones who took Rozanna and the animals were officials from Romania, yes? Naturally, I—who had been sold along with them—would have ended up on the auction block as they searched for a buyer.”
“Right. At a Romania auction.”
The auction I planned to visit next spring. If I had left Veronica’s treatment entirely to the guards, she would have remained unsold and kept in storage until the auction opened. They wouldn’t have simply dumped a ‘rare beast’ like a Bicorn. They would have kept her locked up somewhere until the high-stakes auction began. So I would have gone to that auction to sell the Elixir I found in the Underground Tower, and there I would have seen Veronica listed as ‘one of the animals whose ownership I had entrusted to others.’ ‘If I had visited the Bicorn sanctuary, I would have tried to rescue her. Even if she were a complete stranger, I would have requested to cancel the sale.’ Although I had said the proceeds from the animals would be donated, as the person who had gifted the ‘assets,’ I had the right to revoke that donation. It would have been easy to get her back after paying a small cancellation fee and boarding costs. There was no way I would have just yawned and thought, Whatever, let her get sold or not.
‘When I think about it like that, the word “fate” really hits different.’
From beginning to end, we had stood at crossroads where we would have met again and again. Even if we had merely passed by each other once, we would have met again—and learned who the other was and what circumstances we were in.
“That is why, when you told me your secret as well—I accepted that meeting you was fate.”
Veronica looked down at her palms as she spoke. “It was a perfectly arranged encounter, a connection that was meant to be. I believed I had inherited the position of prophetess in order to serve you. I thought I simply needed to entrust myself to the great current called fate. ……Or you could say I believed that devoting myself to the heir of the god who would save my clan would make things easier for both of us. I wanted to scatter flower petals for the fated partner who had fallen right in front of me.”
“Flower petals?”
It was a very godkin metaphor. Veronica wiggled her index finger.
“Yes, flower petals. I intended to offer you the success promised by prophecy and the glory you would obtain as the god’s heir. I wanted to become the attendant who helped you and supported your success. In exchange, I hoped to receive the salvation of my clan.”
For Bicorns who had lived relying on prophecy, that way of thinking was only natural. If the prophet’s words pointed to us, then it was a future set in stone. Suppose I was indeed Odin’s heir and fated to save the remnants of the godkin, whether Veronica intervened or not. In that case, it wouldn’t have mattered if she meddled freely in my future. Since it was going to happen one hundred percent anyway, what harm was there in her tagging along? Besides, her involvement might have been the very thing that brought that future into being. Just like how Odin and the prophet, in trying to prepare for the prophecy, had instead fulfilled it.
That was what predetermined fate meant.
“Yet you said this in the face of such fate: one cannot choose their future simply because it is necessary, because it cannot be helped.”
Veronica, who had been watching the sea, turned to look at me. Feeling a bit embarrassed, I offered a rebuttal.
“You’re reading too much into it. That was just about marriage, wasn’t it?”
“Is it not the same thing? Let us be honest. In that situation, at that moment, if you had said it was something you ‘had to do’ and embraced me as your wife, no one would have objected.”
“……Well. I don’t know about that.”
I played dumb, but I couldn’t deny it. If I had declared I would take Veronica as my wife right then, Franc and Dana would have accepted it, and Veronica herself would have agreed.
“But I was rejected by you. At the time, I felt only shame. I blamed myself for being swept away by the word ‘fate’ and failing to consider your feelings.”
“At the time, you say. Then what about now?”
“Now, though I may blame myself, I have no regrets.”
Having declared that firmly, Veronica met my eyes.
“──In this era where the word ‘fate’ has lost its meaning, I am glad that you and I did not use fate as an excuse for love.”
Veronica stretched once and smiled.
“Haa. To think I waited with bated breath for a five-thousand-year-old prophecy to come true. It is a terribly bad joke, whether as a human or as a Bicorn. I wonder how I should explain this to the clan.”
“Heh. You’re recovering faster than I expected. I’m relieved.”
Come to think of it, Veronica had said something similar to me before. She narrowed her eyes mischievously, as if teasing.
“It is not relief but pride you should feel. The reason I was able to rise above my despair is because I had you as my support. You may puff out your chest and call yourself the master who is relied upon by his servant.”
“But when we looked into that master-servant contract, it turned out to be a scam. Don’t you have any complaints?”
The true savior had apparently died five thousand years ago. It seemed we weren’t fated partners after all. If Veronica waved goodbye right now and flew away, I had no justification to stop her. My stomach twisted strangely at the thought, but Veronica spoke as if she hadn’t noticed.
“I have no complaints. I have already come to enjoy serving you. Even if the prophecy was false and no one can guarantee the future, there are many reasons for me to stay by your side. In fact, I am so happy that I shamefully forget the situation entirely.”
“Happy?”
“Huhu. Why? Am I the only one who is happy? You and I were not a meeting arranged by fate, after all.”
Veronica drew so close that our hands would touch with the slightest movement.
“The reason my heart races when I look at you is not because fate pulled me toward you. It is the same when you told me you enjoy being with me. This joy and happiness have belonged to us from the very beginning.”
Veronica placed her hand over her own heart. She brushed back the hair that had fallen across her face again. Her eyes, half-lidded with anticipation and anxiety, gazed at me with open, unmistakable affection.
“……My dear. Must you embarrass me again and again?”
She wore the face of a woman in love—the same expression she had shown more openly with each passing day.
‘……Even before today, Veronica had been subtly making advances.’
And every time, I had casually brushed them off. Only now did I realize exactly why I had done so.
“Hey, Veronica. To be honest…… I also felt uneasy about all that talk of being the heir or whatever. The idea that I’m fated to save the descendants of the godkin feels so random. Then some famous god’s avatar suddenly tells me I’m the successor of a god? Of course I felt more suspicious and uncomfortable than excited.”
It was a truth I had never voiced before. My goal was to return to my homeland. Yet in my dreams, Odin suddenly appeared and declared I could become a god! It only left me stunned. It wasn’t like I was some pro-demigod aspiring to be the number one chief god. Besides, that Deutsch muscle-brain goddess had appeared in the form of my own mother. There must have been restrictions on interfering with dreams, which was why she had done it that way. I understood that. But watching my family turn into a god of another world left me feeling incredibly complicated. It was as if I had been told, This is the place you belong.
“Even when I heard words like fate or prophecy, they didn’t feel real. Looking back now, it feels like I just went along with whatever I was told. That ‘fate’ was closely tied to my own situation, and I also wanted to help you.”
Since it was a fate already decided, what could I do? I had simply thought, I guess that’s how it is, and focused on my own tasks, figuring things would work out somehow. Veronica had overestimated me, but in truth, I wasn’t all that different from her.
“But now that I look at it…… it’s not like any of it had to happen. You and I weren’t bound by fate. We’re the kind of people who could part ways here, wish each other well, and never meet again without it being strange at all.”
When Veronica looked shocked, like a child abandoned by her parents, I continued without pause.
“So I thought about it. What if you said you didn’t need me specifically and went looking for another master or savior? And then──”
“……And then?”
“It made me so fucking jealous I thought I’d die.”
That was the selfish true nature of Norde, the isekai pervert. I knew it was petty. I knew it was an ugly jealousy. ‘But isn’t that what love is?’ Calling someone you’d go crazy without a friend or business partner is just denial. Love is fighting for them even while being jealous and ugly about it. I’m not some impotent idiot who can’t read the room. There’s a limit to noticing everything and pretending I don’t. Didn’t I say it before we came to the island? I pretended otherwise, but I really enjoyed spending time with her.
Until now, I had drawn a line because of Franc and Dana. But even in this situation, was I supposed to keep pretending I didn’t know? ‘Bullshit.’
I was the one who had brushed off all her subtle advances. Every time, I felt sorry and my conscience pricked me. And yet here I was—the very same harem-crazed pervert—knowing full well that our feelings were mutual, and I was supposed to just step back? Who the hell would buy that?
Sitting still and waiting wasn’t my style. My wives had probably noticed ages ago and figured I would bring her in when the time was right. After all, they saw each other every day—how could they not notice? Veronica looked at me five or six times a day, and whenever our eyes met she would turn away pretending nothing was happening. There was no reason to hesitate. If someone wanted to curse me as a filthy degenerate, let them. I had already steeled myself for that when I took Dana. Wasting time agonizing over the same problem again and again was not the way of a true macho man! Second-guessing a decision you’ve already made is something you can do after you’ve screwed up. And confessing my true feelings to Veronica right here was definitely not a mistake.
“H-Hmm…… Is that so? You would feel jealous if I left your side?”
Veronica blinked in surprise, then her lips curved into a smile. Laughter she couldn’t hold back spilled out.
“Jealous doesn’t even begin to cover it. Just imagining you saying something like, ‘Oh, if it isn’t my former master. This person here is my real master now,’ makes my blood boil so much I feel like I’m going to drop dead.”
“Y-You fool! Do not even imagine such a future! Just thinking about it is horrifying!”
Veronica shrieked in far greater horror than when she had talked about being sold at auction. I shook my head.
“Right? But it wouldn’t be strange if it happened. There’s nothing guaranteeing our relationship. Both of us have things we must do and things we want to do. What connected us was something grandiose like prophecy or fate.”
But as Veronica herself had said, we could no longer use prophecy or fate as an excuse. What is an excuse in the first place? It is a reason given for the sake of having a reason. We wanted to be together, but we lacked a proper justification. So what should we do?
‘We just have to create a new reason.’
A reason why we should be together.
“──Veronica. Stay by my side.”
I spoke assertively and pressed my forehead against hers. As our faces drew close, Veronica turned bright red like the maiden she was and could only move her lips wordlessly.
“Forget about prophecies that even the people involved don’t believe in. I told you, didn’t I? If it’s a curse on your clan, I’ll break it. Look. It hasn’t even been half a year and I’ve already figured out a way to undo it that no one knew about. All that’s left is for me to find a lazy god, grab him by the collar and threaten him, or become Odin’s heir or whatever the hell it is.”
I declared it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Because a true pervert makes his vow first and acts on it later. Machoism is a belief built on the oaths and actions of a real man.
“……W-what would you have me do for you?”
Veronica glanced at me shyly. “I have almost nothing I can give you. It feels overwhelming to repay the grace I have received from you. What do you desire from me?”
“Nothing. Just keep doing what you’ve been doing. The only thing that changes is the nature of our relationship and the reason I help you.”
I was a candidate to be Odin’s heir and an archaeologist. Sooner or later, I would come face to face with the bastards lurking in society. The conscienceless criminals who ruled this other world would have a massively negative impact on my safety and my dreams. Just think about it. If I started digging into ancient magic and history to find a way to travel between dimensions, how many of those isekai suicide squad bastards would there be? It was obvious they would come after me and everyone around me. I didn’t need prophetic powers to predict that much. It was a future I would have to face anyway. Veronica, who would hold my hand and walk that path with me, would be paying with her loyalty, her body, and her future.
Just get dragged into my trouble-prone life for about ten years. She would end up regretting ever getting involved with me.
“So you don’t need to hesitate because of things like burden or guilt or any of that overly sincere stuff. I want to let my women do whatever they want and live however they want.”
Because that was the duty of a harem-crazed pervert.
“……You said whatever I want, right?”
I grabbed Veronica’s waist so she couldn’t run away, but she had never intended to run in the first place. She wrapped her arms around my waist.
“……My dear. This is a secret, but in truth, I know one way to overcome my curse.”
“……Really? How surprising. I can’t even imagine what it could be.”
“U-Um. It is so terribly embarrassing and shameful that it is a method only you in this entire world can help me with.”
We held each other by the waist and shamelessly pretended not to know what the other was talking about. It was like we were performing a rehearsed play.
It was then.
A thought suddenly occurred to me and I smiled.
“I also know one way to break a curse. Want to try it? It’s a famous spell from my homeland.”
“……H-Hoh. If it is a famous method, I cannot refuse. What kind of magic is it?”
“──It’s this kind of magic.”
I wrapped my arms around Veronica’s shoulders and kissed her. As the wise elders of old have said, from ancient times, the proper way to break a curse is with a kiss filled with love. Though, admittedly, the roles of man and woman were reversed.