Chapter 107
Chapter 107
Episode 107
In a collectible RPG game, the protagonist character usually becomes useless after the early to mid-game.
That was only natural.
As new characters are continuously added, it was in a way inevitable that the stage where the protagonist character, who was created based on the initial episodes, could be active would shrink.
The game continued to grow.
As the strength of the appearing enemies increased, the basic growth potential of the characters that could be obtained through gacha was bound to increase exponentially.
As SR and SSR grade characters increased, the protagonist character lost her place to stand.
Even though she was the protagonist of the game, the only stage where she could be active was as the narrator of the story.
In the actual game progression, she couldn't even be included in the party composition.
But a protagonist is a protagonist.
Since they were the main characters of the game, they would be rebalanced once for the sake of balance. Or they would become stronger through acts like awakening or grade ascension.
And Eleanor was like that.
Originally, her awakening was supposed to happen in the main story's Chapter 5. At the point when I would be rolling on the ground…….
But it would be fine.
“Noah.”
Because she was not just a game character. The event that occurred in the game as an awakening was ultimately just an indicator of her growth.
She had already steeled her resolve long ago. The rest was just a matter of providing what she needed.
“Eleanor von Chrysos”
I called her name.
Not her alias and nickname, Noah, but her real name.
“I am near you.”
It would be enough to push her back. No, just the fact that I was watching from behind her was enough.
A few words would do. Just informing her of the situation objectively was enough. I spoke to her.
And most importantly.
What she needed most at this moment was.
“Lift your head. I will keep watching over you.”
A gaze. Expectation, and trust.
That was the source of her power.
Eleanor began to lift her head. She, who had been cowering and acting as if frightened, was straightening her back and looking at me.
Her eyes were full of countless questions. But there was no time to answer them now. So…….
“Eleanor. Are you the princess of the ruined kingdom of Chrysos?”
[KP Princess of the Ruined Kingdom]
Eleanor von Chrysos
A title that represented her. It was truly shabby for a protagonist.
It was just objectively stating her situation.
And it was just reminding her of the fact that she was alone, filled with a great deal of despair.
“Were you the tragic heroine who just sat down in a world that had become a vacant lot?”
But she would be different.
In the first place, if she were to end with just that, there would have been no reason to have focused on her as the protagonist through the game [Broken Sky].
“No.”
Yes, she was.
“No!!”
The one with an indomitable will, who did not yield even in the face of countless despairs.
“I am……!”
“Yes, Eleanor. Who are you?”
A challenger.
Pzzzt—
Noise. And the title that had been representing her began to collapse.
Yes, now her essence was not the tragic heroine who had lost her country overnight and despaired.
“The one who swore to thank, understand, and save the many people who have cared for me……!”
The Key Person who would lead this story.
Protagonist. Challenger.
And…….
“The rightful heir to the Kingdom of Chrysos, Eleanor von Chrysos! That is who I am!”
[KP Comprehender of Souls]
Eleanor von Chrysos
Her greatsword spewed out a golden light like a wave, as if reminiscent of a giant key.
At this very moment, she was reborn as the true master of the key.
“Open!”
With her activation word, I prepared.
So that she could give rest to all that she had decided to save.
“Warmth of Kindness───!!”
It was time to lend a hand.
What I felt was someone's palm engraved on the back of the [Starry Sky Robe].
I lit the guide's fire on the fuse that had absorbed all the mana.
“Burn.”
Transcendental Magic
[Prometheus]
If she took the lead to save people, I would become the lamp that illuminates the path she would take.
The flame of this guide was helping me for that purpose.
Whoosh──!
The flame finally began to purify the monsters. Their regeneration ability was already gone.
At this moment, where the firepower would have normally been insufficient, I borrowed the power of the [Key of Understanding] to grant them rest.
“Your cautious and careful nature has held you back, Delayed.”
I lifted my head and looked beyond the monsters.
I could see the figure of Delayed, watching the situation here from afar.
His expression was so contorted that I could feel his thoughts without having to face them directly.
With this, he could no longer pull his feet out.
The number one target for him would now include me, along with Eleanor.
“Well, he’s not likely to lay a hand on us directly right now.”
He was wary of us.
He must have thought that Eleanor's and Lustitia's powers were specialized for 1v1 combat, but now Eleanor's new power had appeared.
It was only natural for him to be wary that I and Lustitia might also have such a power hidden.
As I said before, he was a cautious and careful person.
I wouldn't have to worry about him attacking right away.
“So for now……”
Yes, the most threatening enemy right now was not Delayed, but.
“Hahat! What incredible firepower!”
“The problem would be the Hero who is wandering in dreamland while fully awake.”
The existence of the [Hero] Lustitia, whose mental state had become quite unstable.
She instantly broke through the flames and approached me.
It was an absurd physical ability.
Could one think of crossing this wall of fire in their right mind?
She was only aware that a powerful enemy had appeared, without even realizing the fact that this side had intentionally avoided her and annihilated the monsters.
“Judgment is at its lowest, no geographical advantage, the distance between us is also halfway, and……. This side has no mana and no major characteristics.”
[Prometheus] was different from the magic I deployed.
This was a borrowed power.
Therefore, it was also impossible to fine-tune the magic.
Just deploying it consumed all my mana, and as much as this magic had tremendous power, it was also a magic that left even less of a backup than [Mana Dominator].
Bang—!
I created distance by explosively spewing out flames. No, I tried to.
But Lustitia's physical ability was superior to that.
The distance I had tried to create was not being created and was closing in real-time.
Could I withstand it?
[Prometheus] was also capable of changing the body itself into a flame. But it was unknown if that could withstand her [Severance].
When we fought before, she couldn't cut through magic of advanced grade or higher, but I didn't know the full extent of its reality.
What if, even if she couldn't cut the magic formula, it was still possible to cut the magic itself…….
“I'm curious, but I have no desire to see my arms and legs get cut off firsthand……”
It would take some time to use the holy relic I received from the Pope.
Could I really buy that much time in this situation while avoiding her attacks?
So this place.
“Sister, calm down!”
I would have no choice but to borrow the power of our admirable protagonist.
Eleanor's growth was not just the opening of that power.
The things she had built up had settled stably, and she had finally obtained a power corresponding to the SR grade.
Of course, if it were just a game, it would be a power that couldn't even stand up to an SSR grade.
But she was not a 'character' with simple specs represented by numbers, but a 'person' with a will.
“Well done, Eleanor.”
Eleanor's sword blocked Lustitia's sword.
It was a simple confrontation of strength versus strength. The difference in strength between the two was clearly more in Lustitia's favor, but…….
“……?!”
In a confrontation between a sword and a greatsword, she could hold on a little longer due to the weight difference.
In that gap, I took out the holy relic from my pocket and held it out toward Lustitia.
I knew roughly how to use it.
I had heard it from Arietta.
Explaining the situation to her was quite overwhelming, but…….
The Saintess was indeed benevolent.
Because she had made it so that I could use it with just a simple chant for my sake.
The chant she had set was surely.
『I add a blessing to the path you intend to take.』
A cheer for me.
I was extremely grateful.
“Hut?!”
But in an instant.
As if taking the start of the holy relic's light as a threat, Lustitia swung her sword in a strange trajectory and deflected Eleanor's sword.
It was not strength. It was the technique she had polished over time.
It was an act committed in this urgent situation, close to instinct.
It seemed that that instinct had not accurately grasped what this was. No, was this also the effect of the curse?
Perhaps the curse of sleeplessness that was encroaching on her was perceiving the divine power as a threat and trying to interfere.
Lustitia's movements now were more threatening than at any other time.
Fast, strong, and elegant.
At the same time, it also looked like a small ember trying to burn its last.
She passed by Eleanor, who was biting her lip in frustration, and approached me.
Dwelling in her sword was a golden radiance similar to Eleanor's, but different.
The power of [Severance].
“Keuk……!”
Could I do it?
If I retreated now and waited for the next time, there might not be a next time for me. Because I would die like this.
Yes, if I gave up about one arm, I would be able to resolve her curse.
It was certainly so, but…….
- Please, I don't want to see the people around me change like that anymore…….
“Haa……. Really, this one and that one, they all make people's lives difficult.”
Lucia's words weighed on my mind.
It was her request, and if I went on like this, I too might become exhausted like the Oz I saw then.
So I would change the plan.
Yes, it would be easy if I gave up one arm, but for the sake of the overly worried cat, I would have to take a slight detour here.
Instead of taking Lustitia's attack, I rolled and dodged.
Naturally, this was not enough to shake her off. I continued to roll and dodge her attacks, which came before I could even get up.
“Really……”
It couldn't be more tiring than this.
As I continued to roll on the ground, my vision shook and I even became dizzy.
“Heup……!”
I radiated the flames of [Prometheus] toward the ground.
The ground was heated even more by the scorching flames, and before long, a heat haze began to rise.
“Are you serious……”
And Lustitia, the important one, after flinching for a moment at the intense wave of fire, went against the flame and charged toward me.
She was now between the border of dream and reality. Meaning her behavior patterns were instinctive.
Fearing fire is a natural habit of living things, not just humans.
And yet, this action. It meant that she had moved to the extent that such an action was ingrained in her instincts.
It was not simply talent.
Being a [Hero] was the culmination of talent, countless experiences, and the buildup of disposition and effort.
Whoosh──!
Once again, I radiated fire toward the ground, spreading the flames wide to block her pursuit for a brief moment.
The preparation was done. To be precise, it had been done since a while ago.
It was just that the opportunity hadn't come.
Her technique was temporary. Her judgment was still impaired.
“……?!”
And that opportunity came only after repeating the process about four times.
Lustitia's sword, which had been relentlessly swung at me, lost its direction for the first time.
The sword was swung into the empty air, about a few dozen cm away.
“Thankfully, it's a hastily made mirage, but it's enough to deceive with that.”
A mirage is a phenomenon that appears through the refraction of light in an unstable atmosphere.
Of course, to call what was created by radiating flames a mirage was an overstatement. Wasn't it just that what was seen was shimmering?
But the current Lustitia could not feel the difference.
In the first place, if there was an organ that would feel the most fatigue among the senses of her, who was under the curse of sleeplessness, it was the eyes.
Humans are fundamentally animals that rely on sight.
It is the animal called human that opens its eyes wider if they are dim.
That was why her nerves would have been concentrated on her eyes. Yes, there was no way she could distinguish.
Heat haze and mirage.
Something in between had deceived her senses.
“It’s time to wake up from your dream. Hero Lustitia.”
That fleeting moment, the opportunity.
I used the cross-shaped holy relic, which was ready, on her.
It was a purification from a holy relic, superior to the divine arts of a high priest. No matter if it was a curse cast by a dragon, it could be washed away.
“Ah……”
The flame that had remained in her hazy eyes finally died down.
“Are you alright?”
The string of tension she could not break was finally broken.
As I carefully caught the stumbling Lustitia, she looked up at me and muttered.
“Oh? Is the curse gone? Why am I suddenly so sleepy.”
“Yes. The curse has been resolved.”
“Oh? Hmm? Mmm?”
Lustitia looked up at me and tilted her head.
What was it? Don't tell me she remembered that I was the person she had fought at the inn?
Please, not that!
“To think that the one who saved me is so handsome. Mmm, it really pays to live a good life.”
“……Pardon?”
Wasn't this the first time I had been complimented on my looks since being possessed?
I was a little moved.
In the midst of that satisfaction.
“Uh……?”
I felt Lustitia's face getting much closer.
Uh, wait a minute. Is this, by any chance?
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Eleanor had a lot of precious things.
They ranged from abstract things like past memories and places to concrete things like friends, masters, and the people she had met and parted with.
That was her pride.
But even for her, who had so many precious things, there were things she was wary of.
That was love.
Friendship was good. Because the person drawn in by that connection could one day become a pillar to support her.
But love was not allowed.
Even if she fell in love, she must not acknowledge it.
She had a mission. The mission to rebuild Chrysos.
It was not about drawing in, but being drawn in, not about being supported, but wanting to cling. She was a person to be loved, not a person to be desperate for love.
‘Ah…….’
That was why she had pretended not to know even as such feelings encroached on her.
She had maintained a playful attitude.
'Now, really…….'
But not anymore.
She could not stop the person who had come straight into her world.
She could not help but acknowledge it.
‘I don't think I could ever say no, even if I died…….’
To the point where it was impossible to even gloss over it.
The one who had appeared at the perfect moment, the one who had strode into her ruined world, illuminating it with a single ray of light.
How could she not love him?
A new category had been added to her precious things.
And that category would probably be located quite high up in her heart.
‘The Master……. no, I am in love with the person named Oz.’
Eleanor felt a thrilling sensation. Every time she heard his voice, every time she saw his face.
When she saw the delicate touch of his hands drawing a magic formula, when he sent a cold gaze to his enemies, from his dignified footsteps to the dazed look he sometimes showed, she felt that everything was unbearably lovely.
Eleanor had a lot of precious things.
They ranged from nerve-wracking things like a loved one to comfortable things like family.
Precious things and precious things.
They were in different directions, but for Eleanor, they were surely all things she could not abandon.
“Uh……”
Yes, but what if.
What if her precious things were to be altered? What if they became intertwined and changed?
Eleanor could not help but doubt her own eyes.
“It's strange……?”
Why was she seeing a scene where Lustitia, whom she thought of as a sister, was kissing Oz, the man she loved?
Yes, something was strange.
This was wrong.
“Who should I stab?”
For now, it seemed she had to decide on that first.