The Last Memory (1)
The Last Memory (1)
"Summon a healer at once!"
Melina carried Olivia and ran. Olivia's limp, sagging arms swayed weakly with each stride.
"T-Tower Lord?!"
The mages' gazes stopped dead on Olivia, cradled in Melina's arms.
"What are you doing! I said summon a healer immediately!"
"R-Right away!"
The mages' figures vanished somewhere. Melina bit her lip. She could not lose the precious disciple she had gained in her later years.
She might have been panicking alone. Melina knew full well that a person did not die just from collapsing once.
But Olivia's eyes were not normal. Beyond lifeless, they were vacant.
That was what drove Melina to desperation.
Melina laid Olivia on the sofa in her office.
"You can't. You can't..."
Melina clasped Olivia's hands tightly, agonizing over whether letting go would cause her to vanish somewhere.
How long passed like that?
Warmth slowly returned to Olivia's hands. Olivia came to her senses and raised her body.
"... Master? What happened?"
Olivia's words went no further. Melina pulled her close and held her tight.
"I-I'm glad. Truly glad."
"..."
Olivia's eyes were not smiling. But the moment her gaze met Melina's, she beamed as brightly as ever, as if the earlier state had never happened.
"I'm all right. Master."
"You might be injured somewhere without knowing it. You must rest thoroughly, at least three days."
"..."
Olivia sank into thought for a moment.
"Yes. I'll do as you say, Master."
She had produced the answer her teacher wanted.
"Did I actually collapse?"
"... You don't remember?"
Olivia nodded.
"No. Do you happen to know what happened, Master?"
"... I don't know exactly either."
Melina tried to retrace the situation. But the more she did, the more the image of Olivia collapsing powerless was all that seared itself into her mind.
Melina growled.
"Kiel, that bastard, probably did you harm."
"Duke Kiel?"
"Yes."
Olivia's eyebrows twitched.
"No. There is no way he did that. The Duke is my 'friend,' after all."
Melina's face hardened.
Melina jumped to the conclusion that Kiel had sweet-talked her naive disciple. No matter how sharp the child was, in Melina's eyes she was still nothing more than a child ignorant of the world.
"Olivia. You..."
"Master. I am not a child."
Caught at her innermost thought, Melina flinched.
"If Duke Kiel intended to harm me, he would not have done it in the Magic Tower where you reside, at the very least."
Olivia smiled and whispered in a low voice.
"He would have done it somewhere no one was around, secretly."
"..."
"I also know what worries you have whenever you look at me. However, Duke Kiel is not that kind of person."
Olivia pressed her palms together and tapped her fingers against each other.
"Actually, today was not the first time I met Duke Kiel."
Melina's brow furrowed.
'The two of them had met?'
No matter how she thought about it, there could be no point of contact between them.
"I met the Duke during this assignment. In Euran, the Wood Demon Realm. It happened that I saved the Duke's life, and afterward we traveled together continuously for half a year."
"F-For half a year?"
"Yes. When else would I have the chance to match myself against the Empire's strongest knight? Naturally, we became friends over that time. If he meant to harm me, would he not have done it then?"
It was sound logic.
But Melina could not back down here. Even if Kiel was not the direct culprit, at the very least he must have made some threat.
If not, there was no reason to destroy a desk.
"Olivia. You can never truly know what is inside another person."
"No. Duke Kiel can absolutely never harm me. Never."
"There is no such thing as 'never' in this world..."
"There is."
Olivia raised the corners of her mouth.
"Master, you can never wound me."
Melina could not bring herself to say that was false.
'I...'
There could be no such thing as never. That was a word permitted only to the Truth.
But, the weight Olivia held in Melina's life had grown far too great.
Perhaps even greater than the Truth.
Olivia flashed a bright smile, as if certain she was right.
"I'm right, aren't I?"
"..."
Absolute certainty was contained in that face.
The certainty that whatever she did, Melina would not stop her.
"That is why my collapse is probably not because of Duke Kiel."
Olivia stroked her own chin.
Even though I didn't know why it had happened yet.
"You were probably planning to stop me from meeting Duke Kiel in the future, Master. But I would rather you didn't."
"Olivia. That matter is already..."
"What you're worried about will not happen. My only desire is simply to become close to him. I have no other feelings."
The situation was spiraling beyond control. But by the time that realization hit, it was far, far too late.
Melina resisted.
"No. Even if what you say is true, I cannot permit you to meet Kiel again."
"You truly won't permit it?"
"... Yes."
"Then I won't call you Master any longer."
It was a shabby threat. An incredibly childish threat that might only work on five-year-olds.
But...
"I will call you, Gold Tower Lord."
She could not possibly resist.
"If you prevent me from meeting Duke Kiel, I will become truly sad. I might cry every single night. And I will deeply resent whoever made me that way."
Olivia was certain of victory.
"..."
Confirming her own face reflected in those eyes, Melina realized one fact.
She could never go against this child's will.
The sunset glow was sinking faintly. The room was gradually being submerged in darkness.
Within the darkness, only Olivia's eyes shone blue.
"You will allow it, won't you?"
*****
[Clue use has been forcibly terminated.]
Olivia collapsed onto the floor. Krk! Blood spilled from her mouth. It felt as if her insides had turned over once.
"Goddamn."
Olivia spat out blood.
"If it's this critical, at least give me a warning in advance. You sons of bitches."
She had passed out partway through and couldn't see clearly, but the person who opened the door and entered was likely Melina.
No matter how she thought about it, there was no one else who would open that door.
"Hoo..."
She glanced.
Olivia checked the message windows floating before her eyes.
[Warning!]
- Within a Clue, you can only make contact with exactly one regressor.
- If contact is made with two or more, the connection will be forcibly terminated, and the involved party shall bear all ensuing aftershocks.
They sure told me fast, the bastards.
Olivia wiped the blood from around her mouth.
"Fuck. I have to do this over a hundred more times from now on?"
Overwriting just Kiel's memories alone took this long, so no matter how she thought about it, fifteen was far too many.
If there was one point of relief.
[Kiel Rothschild]
- Level: 83
- Class : Sword Saint
- Favorability: -100(+23)
The favorability, at least, was going up goddamn fantastically.
'Even after a fight like that, it's still rising.'
To be honest, it was less a fight and more Kiel being one-sidedly furious, but anyway.
Kiel definitely wasn't normal either. Just how was his mind wired that his favorability rose even as blood poured out of him?
'... Should I actually hit him?'
Then blood would certainly pour out.
*****
She began her day as always. She taught her disciples until dawn. She beat the defiant Glacia. She went to find Kiel to enter his memories.
[Would you like to view the memory of December, Imperial Calendar Year 992?]
Kiel first asked after Olivia, who had suddenly fainted 24 days ago.
"... Are you all right after what happened that last time?"
"Did something happen last time?"
"Did you not collapse?"
"Did I?"
"..."
As before, Olivia spoke as if it was nothing worth concern.
Kiel looked at her with a disapproving face but did not mention it further.
"You're not angry anymore."
"Did you not say it yourself, last time? To just... leave it be."
Kiel still could not understand Olivia's choice. But he resolved to respect it with all his might. He knew how deeply Olivia had agonized to the very, very end to make that choice.
"... Is there something you like, perhaps?"
"Something I like?"
"Food you want to eat, a place you want to visit. Do you have none?"
Instead, Kiel resolved to make Olivia's final days a little meaningful.
[Time limit has expired.]
- Accumulated Favorability: (+32)
Another day passed.
[Would you like to view the memory of January, Imperial Year 993?]
"... Now where is this?"
"A famous restaurant. I spent several months traveling the continent to find it."
[Time limit has expired.]
- Accumulated Favorability: (+43)
Yet another day went by.
[Would you like to view the memory of June, Imperial Calendar Year 993?]
"I learned swordsmanship from the age of three."
"You remember things from when you were three?"
"... Do you not?"
They also sat at the seashore for hours, exchanging pointless stories.
[Time limit has expired.]
- Accumulated Favorability: (+56)
Again.
[Would you like to view the memory of June, Imperial Calendar Year 994?]
Now, Olivia's one day was Kiel's one year.
"It has been a year."
"Only one day passed for me, though."
"Has it?"
"It's as vivid as yesterday. Back then, you bullshitted me about learning swordsmanship from three years old."
"Bullshit. You speak too harshly. Call it an embellishment."
Kiel had become a little more humorous.
[Time limit has expired.]
- Accumulated Favorability: (+68)
And then.
[Would you like to view the memory of June, Imperial Calendar Year 996?]
[Warning! The above memory is the last memory viewable.]
In the end, the final hour arrived.