That Day, at the Imperial Palace (1)
That Day, at the Imperial Palace (1)
[Currently spectating 'Melina Diviae'.]
Melina was sobbing right before her eyes.
'...'
Olivia simply watched in silence. Until the year 998 arrived, there was nothing she could do.
'It's already 996.'
Four years passed in an instant. That was because most of Melina's memories had been compressed.
Aside from Melina reaching the ninth Fragment on her own, nothing particularly noteworthy had occurred.
Occasional differences cropped up in the finer details, but the broad strokes remained exactly as Olivia had known them.
-BOOOOM!
Lightning struck outside the window. Bolts of a scale that could never be called natural poured down like rain.
The distance was great, so all that reached this place was a fleeting flash and a faint rumble, but even without seeing, Olivia knew what was happening there.
A battle against the serpent that devoured the darkness, the Great Demon Belphegor.
*****
Melina rose from her seat. Before she realized it, her gaze was directed out the window.
In the direction of the Academy, lightning strikes that could only be the product of magic were falling.
'...'
As she watched those lightning strikes, Melina felt a sudden pang of longing. An urge surged up within her to rush to that place at once.
But as quickly as the thought arose, her mind settled into an eerie calm.
"...How strange."
Unlike in the past, Melina was clearly aware that the current situation was strange. She simply did not know the cause.
One thing was certain: this was not the first time she had experienced a situation like this.
'...Is it some form of mental magic?'
The human brain was exceedingly complex, beyond the reach of all but the most extraordinary realms. How much more so when it belonged to an Archmage.
Moreover, Melina was a person who kept her mental barrier active at every moment, except when meeting Olivia.
'No matter how I think about it, it ought to be impossible...'
That was when it happened.
-Thud!
Someone was racing toward the Gold Tower like a madman. Black hair, black eyes, and a greatsword.
It was Duke Kiel.
He shoved past the knights and advanced, shattering the ground beneath him.
'...'
A thought abruptly surfaced: she had seen a situation just like this once before.
After attaining the ninth enlightenment, Melina had recognized that her perception of the world had changed from before.
Part of that was coming to perceive the subtle flow of time, something ordinary mortals could not feel.
-Your Grace! You must not do this here!
-Olivia is in danger.
Just as she was now.
'Foresight... is it?
She felt as though she knew what would happen next.
Melina opened the door and descended to the lower floor. It was to confirm whether her premonition was correct.
Exactly four flights down, she encountered Kiel, just as expected.
-Four years ago, by threatening my disciple...
"Was threatening my disciple four years ago not enough? What shamelessness brings you all the way here."
Melina spoke according to the words that surfaced in her mind. She did not know why, but she felt compelled to do so.
"Olivia is in danger."
"..."
Instead of answering, Melina turned her head toward the window. The heart that had settled into calm began to pulse again.
Olivia was in danger, he said.
So why was she growing so agitated?
'It hasn't even been that many years since we last met.'
-WHOOOOOOOOSH.
A fearsome wave of energy surged around her. Melina glanced about, then flew toward Olivia.
"My disciple, are you hurt anywhere..."
-Thud.
It felt as though her heart had plummeted to the very bottom of the earth. Forgetting even to speak, Melina stared blankly at those blue eyes.
-Your shoulders...
Something seemed about to surface.
"Master?"
She had told her to straighten her shoulders. She had told her to lift her head. She had told her to smile brightly. She had promised to tell her when the time came.
"...Master? Are you all right?"
It was a lie. Events that had never truly happened.
Olivia had never advised her to straighten her shoulders, never told her to lift her head, never told her to smile.
Still less had she ever promised to tell her something.
Her memories were wrong. This was unmistakably a grave matter.
But why.
'...I have been waiting.'
Why had those words lingered on her lips?
After silently watching Melina, Olivia produced a single potion bottle from within her robes.
"Master. I have a request."
"...What request do you mean?"
Melina grew anxious.
-D-drink it. Hurry up and drink it, you fool.
"If I collapse before I can drink this, force it down my throat, Master—even if you have to."
"Olivia."
"This is my final request."
"...I cannot allow it."
She knew what would follow after this, so she could not grant permission.
"Master."
"..."
"I am not going to die. Nor will I go anywhere."
Melina's lips twitched. It was, in her own way, a desperate struggle.
"I want to overcome that bastard on my own. So please, just watch over me from the side."
Melina resisted. She absolutely could not permit this. To push her disciple into a preordained ruin...
-KYAAAAAAAAAAH!
The moment the demon's shriek rang out, her foggy consciousness snapped sharp and clear. Only then did Melina realize that she had failed to refuse Olivia's request.
"M-my disciple! Where are you...!"
And then she saw it. Olivia, falling powerlessly.
After that, everything proceeded exactly according to the 'Foresight'. Even knowing it must not happen, Melina had no choice but to act as she did.
Because her disciple had asked, she granted the request. Because her disciple had lost consciousness, she treated her.
There had never been another option from the very beginning.
-FWOOOOOOOOOM!
A pillar of light illuminated the surroundings.
The Great Demon was annihilated.
That was all.
Melina's gaze was not directed at Olivia, who had annihilated the Great Demon.
Two hands, trembling, having lost their destination.
In these hands, until just moments ago, Olivia had been held.
'Then the child before my eyes—who is she?'
She did not know.
Now, she could no longer understand anything at all.
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[Currently spectating 'Melina Diviae'.]
It was already the year 998.
Before spectating the 'compressed memory', the notification window had said this.
That this memory contained the final memory of Melina Diviae.
Humans were beings who sustained their lives through memory. Though the passage of years caused some of it to be lost, even so, humans strove to remember every moment they had lived and breathed.
And so, the moment memory ceased would surely be the point where that human's life ended, it had said.
[His Grace, Duke Kiel Rothschild, enters!]
Olivia thought.
Amid splendid music, Kiel entered the banquet hall holding his younger sister's hand. Uncharacteristically, he was attired in excessively formal dress.
The banquet hall.
Meaning, the very place where Olivia had committed her first murder had also, unmistakably, been a banquet hall.
[The Gold Tower Lord, Melina Diviae, enters!]
Melina entered amid the cheers of the mages. Instead of advancing further, she stood in place and waited for someone.
[The protagonist of the day, Her Highness Princess Aria, enters...]
The herald stopped speaking. That was because the head steward of the imperial household had leaned in and whispered something into his ear.
[Add one name to the list.]
[...Do you mean this very moment?]
[Her Highness gave the order. She said to be certain to announce 'that person' together with her own name.]
[If you mean that person...]
The herald nodded, scribbling a few more characters to the side. Then he shouted at the top of his lungs.
[The protagonists of the day, Her Highness Princess Aria and her dear friend, Lady Olivia, enter!]
The doors swung wide, and the princess revealed herself with an innocent face. With that hand which had surely held nothing but a teacup and parasol her entire life, she tightly clasped Olivia's right hand.
Melina stood at Olivia's left, and Kiel stood behind. To anyone who knew nothing, one might have mistaken Olivia for the protagonist of the day.
[Currently spectating 'Melina Diviae'.]
The spectating still had not ended. Therefore, the Olivia before her eyes was not herself.
'...'
Olivia abruptly grew uneasy. The time limit for the final memory had clearly been eighty-four hours. And Olivia had intended to use every bit of it to teach Melina.
[His Majesty will now deliver a congratulatory address!]
But that plan had just crumbled.
[Having come from afar to bless the twenty-fifth birthday of my daughter...]
Olivia clenched her teeth. She already knew what scene would unfold next.
'...Goddammit.'
Eighty-four hours? No.
Not even one hour remained.
'This is... a goddamn scam.'
The spectating still had not ended. The Emperor's congratulatory address had long since concluded, and the nobles, cheeks flushed from wine, were engaged in conversation.
It was an era of peace, and moreover a celebration, so there was no reason not to be intoxicated. Kiel was drunk, Melina was drunk, and Aria was drunk as well.
The only ones not drunk were the knights standing guard.
[I have a gift I wish to present to His Majesty.]
Then one person stepped forward before the Emperor.
She was, among all the guests invited today, the sole person who was not drunk. She had quietly bided her time until everyone but herself had grown intoxicated.
Her hair was white as snow, and her eyes were piercing as frost.
[A gift? What gift do you mean?]
[This humble one has newly realized a form of magic. Might I be permitted to demonstrate it here?]
Olivia covered her face with both hands.
A truly horrific premonition settled over her.
Perhaps the time granted to her amounted to no more than a fleeting instant.
And perhaps—another truly horrific possibility—she might awaken in the middle of the Genocide.
[I shall permit it.]
The next moment, the sound of flesh crunching apart echoed.
[Currently spectating 'Melina Diviae'.]
[10 minutes remaining until spectating ends.]