Journey to the East (2)
The vast lands of the East had been trampled by monsters, leaving only savage footprints behind as civilization crumbled to dust. The mighty Long River ran red, soaked in the blood spilled by those beasts.
Not even the renowned supreme experts, nor the demons of the Ten Thousand Great Mountains who had achieved transcendence, nor the unparalleled martial artists known as the Tai Shan Bei Dou could halt the advance of that monstrous horde.
Even the powerhouses from the great sects of the East—those who had ascended to the Fire Realm—were reduced to helpless fodder before the apocalyptic beasts, falling one after another without a chance to fight back.
And the one who had unleashed all this calamity upon the world gazed down at the continent from on high, treating those monsters—little more than her kin—with utter disdain.
[How repulsive they are, praising and worshiping those who sacrificed this lady, frolicking blissfully on the lands I protected, utterly clueless.]
Compared to the house-sized monsters, the girl was tiny—smaller than an average adult woman. Aside from the perky ears sprouting from her head and her swishing tail, she looked like any ordinary little girl.
Yet it was precisely this girl who lay at the root of the entire catastrophe. Just as in ancient times when she had scorched the continent, the Monstrous Strength Chaos God had once again brought apocalypse to the world.
[Truly a shameless, utterly depraved race.]
The girl wiped her tear-streaked cheeks with her wide sleeve, her two golden eyes filling with enmity toward every soul alive on the continent.
She knew full well how absurd it was... yet she showed no intention of stopping.
One of the two great powers that divided the Eastern continent, the Martial Alliance, had sent its absolute strongest expert—one who had reached the utmost pinnacle—to ask her why she was doing this.
Didn't she pity the innocent lives dying pointlessly?
The girl hesitated for a brief moment.
But that inexplicable emotion didn't last. The Monstrous Strength Chaos God, steeped in madness, had long since cast aside the righteous convictions of the girl who once dreamed of heroism. She was nothing but a disaster now.
With a cold smile, she replied:
[What is wrong with this lady destroying with her own hands the world she protected, and the lives dwelling upon it? You descendants of the distant future.]
She had never been someone who could be reasoned with in the first place. Her words were intelligible, but true dialogue was impossible.
Even five years—no, three years prior, an appeal to her sympathy might have worked. But that was no longer possible.
The girl, who had slumbered in solitude deep within the mountains for nearly a millennium, had lost her roots.
Lost her goodness.
Been consumed by evil.
And so, with tears whose meaning she herself no longer understood, she brought hell upon the present world.
The Monstrous Strength Chaos God, who had made her lair on the distant Western continent, first set her sights on her homeland: the 'East.'
Among them, she tore apart the descendants who carried the blood and legacy of her former comrades first and foremost.
The despair of the girl, bereft of a place to belong...
Would likely have been the very form she least desired, had she been in her right mind.
......
I gazed steadily at Sina, recalling the moment from the game's script when she began her rampage as the second calamity.
The girl from the screen, lost in despair and plotting a mutual destruction with the world, was nowhere to be seen now—at least not today.
Who knew how her thoughts might shift in the future...
But for the moment, Sina seemed stable. She wouldn't end the world during the five years we'd agreed on—now down to four.
That's why I could stay calm even upon hearing her sudden plan to head East.
That horrific abyss I'd glimpsed once, the resentment toward the world, wasn't in her expression.
—This lady plans to visit the East.
I figured it was just that: a simple trip to the East.
She wouldn't break our promise and bring the end four years early, surely.
Keeping my face impassive, I sorted my thoughts for a moment.
Sina stared right back at me, her inscrutable eyes gleaming faintly.
Meanwhile, the white tiger cub paused its digging to sneak glances at us both.
After a silence that felt both short and endless, I spoke in a rather flat tone.
"Well, it'll be a long trip, that's for sure. A month at least to go to the East and back."
I agreed first. Without showing any other reaction, I naturally followed her lead on the extended timeline.
"Mind if I ask the purpose? Is there some reason you've suddenly taken a liking to the Eastern continent?"
Sina replied with a faint, meaningful smile tugging at her lips.
"Nothing much. If I'd stayed holed up in Handel's snowcapped peaks like always, maybe not... but now that I've come down to the mortal world, it feels necessary to stop by once. 'There.'"
"There?"
I narrowed my eyes slightly and echoed her.
Just the East in general? Or... something more specific?
"A gravesite."
......
"Just one person among the dead I actually want to pay respects to."
Sina added that note in a voice that sounded faintly wistful.
Along with a glance that warned against prying further.
I closed my mouth briefly, then nodded casually, just as before.
"Well, fair enough. Do as you wish. It's not like I can meddle in that."
If Sina wanted something, I'd grant it as long as it didn't clash with my greater goals.
Our relationship was one of equals bound by contract, after all.
I could make her till the fields as mild penance for wrongdoing, but outright interfering with her will? Impossible.
It was an unspoken rule between us, impossible to ignore even without words.
I resumed planting grass with a relaxed wave of my hand, and this time Sina arched her eyes into crescents and asked me:
"You're really not going to pry, then? That's a different attitude from how you were with Beatrice."
"Because you're not the same as that child."
I replied indifferently.
Was that even worth mentioning?
"Rea is a 'child' I need to look after, but you're an adult on equal footing with me, no matter how you slice it. Overmeddling only invites trouble."
"Hmm...? So this lady is less precious than Beatrice—like, not as valued a daughter?"
This time, Sina feigned offense with a playful lilt.
Without changing expression, I tossed a grass seedling in front of her.
"Don't twist my words. To me, you're just as 'precious a daughter' as Rea. I simply don't treat you like a kid."
......
"What? Get to planting."
Her hands were empty now. I'd only meant to help a little, but somehow I was shouldering more of the work.
As I shot her a narrow glare and prodded, Sina wore an odd expression for a beat before belatedly picking up the seedlings.
"......Of course I was going to. Don't make me out to be some lazy, good-for-nothing daughter."
......?
But her tone, demeanor, and that glance were all so ambiguously off.
I raised one eyebrow and turned to her.
"Something up?"
"......What?"
"Your face looks a bit red. Even the mighty Monstrous Strength Chaos God catches colds sometimes, huh?"
......
Sina didn't answer.
She just shot me a sulky side-eye.
As I blinked in confusion, she abruptly turned away and focused on her work with feigned nonchalance.
"What was that?"
I tilted my head but didn't press further, deeming her reaction trivial. I moved my hands mechanically.
But the silence I thought would drag on didn't last long.
"You."
"Hm?"
Sina, who had started staring at me intently again, called out. As I looked her way, she fidgeted with her lips before speaking.
"......If it's alright with you, would you come with me?"
"?"
"To the East."
It was the last thing I'd expected—an invitation to join her.
......The East. I've heard of it. Farther east than Edenberg, a world with a different culture from the Dersia Empire, right?
At the dinner table that evening, with everyone gathered cozily, Beatrice spoke up the moment I shared the news of Sina's trip East. Her eyes sparkled as she turned to me.
I bit into a slice of simply topped pizza and replied.
"Once you actually go there, it's not all that different from here. Just people living their lives. Sure, the cultural differences mean lifestyles vary a bit."
"Daddy's been there?! To the East!"
Beatrice whipped around to face me, her crimson eyes shining twice as bright.
I flinched involuntarily at how excited the impromptu family trip talk had made her, then answered in a somewhat awkward tone.
"......Yeah, I passed through briefly once. But it was just the outskirts of a city not too far from Edenberg."
"So, so? What was it like?"
"I told you—nothing special. If I had to say, the clothing styles were a bit unique. Like what Sina's wearing right now, next to you."
Beatrice turned to look at Sina.
Sina grimaced under the weight of those intense crimson eyes.
"......What? Why are you staring at this lady like that?"
"Hm......"
Beatrice hummed thoughtfully, her gaze quickly scanning Sina's outfit.
And soon enough, she reached a conclusion, averting her eyes with an awkward glance downward.
"Guess everyone's a pervert in the East. How can they walk around in clothes like that?"
"......Firstie? Don't tell me—that was aimed at this lady's outfit?"
"No...... well, not exactly."
Beatrice scratched her cheek and trailed off.
I followed her gaze without thinking and had to clear my throat.
"Ahem."
I got exactly what she meant intuitively.
Sina's outfit was on the revealing side, after all.
I was used to it from my past life's media, so it didn't faze me much. But even the locals in Handel jumped in surprise whenever they spotted Sina strutting around in her white cheongsam.
It clung tightly, outlining every curve, and left her slender waist and alluring hips brazenly exposed.
Even I had my hands full fending off lecherous stares from guys on the street when we walked together.
And where those stares lingered... well, no need to spell it out.
I busied myself with my utensils to stay out of it, while Sina, a bit heated, twitched her eyes and murmured coldly.
"Criticizing this lady's attire... Hmph. Maybe first take a look at your own usual behavior, Firstie."
"......Huh? What're you on about all of a sudden?"
Beatrice flinched and shot back warily, but Sina smirked slyly and turned to me.
"Hey, Kyle. You might not know this, but what Beatrice does in her room every night with your clothes..."
"......Hold on! Timeout, timeout! Sina!"
"Eek, let go, Firstie. When did this lady ever say you could touch her body like that?"
Clatter—Beatrice shot up from her seat and forcibly clamped Sina's mouth from the side.
I blinked in genuine confusion, while my two daughters kept bickering.
"You seriously gonna do this? You promised not to tell about that......!"
"When did this lady promise? I said I'd show leniency after seeing what you do."
"Why, you—!"
Now they were grabbing each other's hair, growling at one another.
They'd gained some self-control since the last incident—no mana being flung around, at least.
I hesitated briefly, chopsticks in hand, wondering whether to intervene... then decided they weren't seriously fighting and let them be.
So I just kept eating my pizza.
My own cooking, but damn, it was delicious.