Understanding. (2)
"...What's the reason?"
"To be precise, I don't have time to help you. What you want is to understand me. But no matter how I think about it, that's impossible. Even if it were possible, it would take a tremendous amount of time. So, rejected."
Rebekah's face hardened.
"Still..."
"But."
Esti wasn't finished yet.
"I owe you a debt, so present me a reward within the bounds I can accept. I'll grant it."
"..."
Rebekah's eyes deepened. The more she talked with Esti, the harder it was to shake the feeling that something was missing.
How to put it—it didn't feel like talking to a person.
'Just what...'
She had met many people.
The sick, the possessed... Saving those who couldn't be cured by ordinary means was also the Saintess's duty.
But she could say with certainty that there had never been a case like Esti.
- There is no problem with fully opening the port itself. However, doing so would interfere with the defense of Ikail.
A human who lived for a purpose.
A madman does not realize his own mind is broken. That is why he is a madman.
But Esti was different. She clearly recognized that her own mind was broken.
"I have no time, Saintess. Quickly, propose the reward."
Her tone held not a trace of emotion.
"..."
Her lips went dry.
Had she been too reckless?
She was afraid.
Even Esti was like this, so what in the world would Olivia be...
A clumsy understanding is worse than pity. That is nothing but deception.
To fully understand someone, you have to wade in even deeper than the person themselves.
Rebekah shook her head.
'...I'll do it. I have to.'
Hadn't she sworn it? If she gave up here, how would that be any different from selling Olivia to that demon?
She hadn't even begun yet. She couldn't give up.
She had to do it. She had to.
"Accompany me!"
Rebekah shouted.
"When you go out to sea, please let me accompany you."
"...That is also impossible. If you were to die or be injured while traveling with me, the Holy Kingdom would not stand idly by."
"Then at least give me your time."
Esti shook her head.
"How many times must I say it? I have no such time. Especially now in April, even less so."
"No. You do."
"...What do you mean?"
"I heard that you sometimes come up to the lighthouse to rest. Even if it's just those times, please talk with me."
Esti did the calculation in her head.
She weighed the debt she owed Rebekah against the current proposal.
It was sufficiently rational.
"Possible. However, I cannot set a specific time."
Because ruffians do not distinguish day from night.
Rebekah nodded.
"Then could you at least give me a heads-up before coming to the lighthouse?"
"That much I can do. Here, take it."
Esti took something from her bosom and tossed it to Rebekah. It was a rolled-up conch shell.
"This is...?"
"A communication conch used by the merfolk. Blue is for sending, red is for receiving."
Rebekah's was red.
"...Couldn't you just use a crystal orb?"
Esti shook her head.
"My waves have the property of absorbing ambient mana. Therefore, I cannot use a crystal orb. But this conch is different. It does not use mana at all."
"...Ah."
Rebekah examined the conch with a fascinated expression. From the outside it looked utterly ordinary, yet it concealed such a function.
"When the work is finished, I will contact you through the conch."
"W-wait! At about what time does that 'work' usually end?"
"It does not end."
"Even just a temporary pause."
Esti answered flatly.
"I do not know either. Sometimes it takes as long as three days, and sometimes I come several times a day when it is short."
"...You must come at dawn often, then?"
"It is around that time when I finish off the pirate crew, yes."
"Then... when do you sleep?"
Esti answered immediately.
"I usually do not sleep."
"...What? No, then how do you..."
Rebekah's mouth hung open.
She was so flustered that the words would not form sentences.
Esti's pale face tilted sideways.
"Is that so very surprising?"
Rebekah was at a loss for words. Esti genuinely regarded 'not sleeping' as a matter of course.
Of course, for a human who had reached their level, going without sleep for long stretches was possible, but that did not mean they did not grow weary.
The reason dawn services were not held during the fasting period was the same.
Because even a human who had reached that level was ultimately human.
'What in the...'
Rebekah could not collect herself.
She had thought she had seen the bottom of a person, but it felt as if she had just encountered another bottom beneath it.
"Anyway, I will contact you through the conch when the work is finished. Then."
"..."
Without waiting for Rebekah's reply, Esti threw herself straight down from the tall lighthouse. Only then did Rebekah understand why the high lighthouse had no separate windows.
The sound of a splash came from below the cliff.
"Oh Aether..."
Rebekah could only call upon her god.
*****
When I met Rebekah again, she was half out of her mind.
"..."
Her eyes were vacant; she seemed to have been properly shocked.
That was understandable. Esti was a person who would rank second to none in madness even in Lactea, where crazed bastards ran rampant.
She was a person devoid of common sense from the start.
Esti's world was Ikail, and her purpose in living was also Ikail.
If the world's common sense did not help protect Ikail, Esti was the type of person who would discard it without a second thought.
"Rebekah."
"Y-yes! Big Sis."
"Are you okay?"
"..."
The silence itself was as good as an answer.
She kept her mouth shut, but I could roughly guess what she was thinking.
'She's probably worrying about me.'
To Rebekah, Esti was a bulwark. The last bulwark for understanding 'Olivia'.
Rebekah thought that if she could understand a person who lived purely for a purpose, she might be able to understand 'Olivia' to some extent.
But now, she was stuck at the very first step.
'In the first place, you shouldn't approach Esti like that.'
The attempt itself was good. After all, she had secured the reward of 'periodic meetings' from the debt she had erased before.
But that was all.
It was woefully insufficient to open Esti's heart.
"Come here."
Olivia tapped the seat next to her.
After glancing around for a moment, Rebekah crept over and sat down beside her.
Olivia stroked Rebekah's head and spoke.
"Do you want to help that person?"
"...That person?"
"The Wave Catcher of Ikail."
"..."
Rebekah pressed her lips shut.
...The truth was, the person she wanted to help more than anyone was you.
She wanted to save you.
But after talking with Esti, Rebekah had grown afraid.
Because she had seen with her own eyes how broken a person who had lived their whole life for a purpose could become.
Then, how broken must Olivia be, who had repeated that for an eternity...?
How much must she be broken?
"...Yes. That's right."
So she said that.
It wasn't a lie. Wanting to help Esti was also true.
Rebekah murmured.
"...I want to help."
Rebekah grasped Olivia's hand tightly.
She didn't want to let go. She didn't want to lose it. Because Olivia was the last precious person left in this world.
"Want your big sis to help?"
"..."
Rebekah looked at Olivia without a word.
What was Olivia's purpose? What in the world was it, that allowed her to smile like that even in a situation like this?
One thing was certain.
"It's okay. I can do it alone."
She had to do this one on her own.
She could not keep relying on Olivia's help even here.
"I'll really work hard. So..."
Please don't give up.
"...Please cheer me on."
Before Olivia could reply, Rebekah rose from her seat.
If she stayed any longer, she felt she would show an ugly side of herself.
"I'll get up first, Big Sis."
Rebekah swallowed her tears.
*****
Left alone, Olivia stared quietly at the closed door.
[Clue #3]
[Memory of April, Imperial Year 993]
[Remaining Time: 145:00]
She was organizing the current situation.
First, it could be said that the process of overwriting Rebekah's memories was nearly complete.
There were four instances remaining. Fortunately, Rebekah's 'last memory' was not included among them.
'997... January, was it?'
As I mentioned last time, the demon-related story began in earnest from 996 Imperial Calendar.
If the one who Descended in 996 was Belphegor, the ruler of the West Demon World, then 997...
'The ruler of the East Demon World, Agares.'
Fortunately, it wasn't Asmodeus.
Asmodeus's original emergence was two years later, in 999. Therefore, the Rebekah of the Genocide Run could not possibly meet the 'real' Asmodeus.
'I've already calculated everything.'
In the first place, very few regressors survived until 999. By that time frame, the continent was practically finished.
The only places left were the southern continent, which had long been smashed by demons, the western archipelago, and the neutral state Machina.
So that meant only the regressors in the double-digit Runs survived.
'Anyway... What happens if I mess with Esti here?'
It said I couldn't meet two regressors at the same time, but it never said I couldn't meet other regressors at all.
Therefore, meeting Esti in itself wasn't a problem... but I couldn't just meet her recklessly.
The rules of the Clues, the third.
- If two Clues conflict, the one used later overwrites it.
Rebekah was Clue #3, and Esti was Clue #4.
So even if I made contact with Esti now and did some favorability grinding, it could be overwritten as many times as needed later.
'Of course, it won't be overwritten unless the timing matches exactly, but...'
Esti’s earlier words suddenly flashed through Olivia’s mind.
- Until sunrise tomorrow.
'...Wait.'
Olivia's gaze turned beyond the horizon.
'If I stay like this, will I be kicked out?'
For her own part, well, it would be fine if she stayed until the time limit and got kicked out, but...
What about Olivia?