Chapter 113
Chapter 113
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 113
Chapter Title: The Saint Who Forgot
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I was inside the red-haired Astal, screaming my head off. I simply couldn't calm down.
If it had been me, my original personality, I wouldn't have provoked Memoria. I would have steered things so she would devour my memories or abilities rather than Victoria's.
No matter how important it was for Idea to seal the Demon King or defeat the other Heavenly Kings, Victoria was more precious to me.
'You son of a bitch...!! You were supposed to protect Victoria!!'
A wave of self-loathing, a feeling I hadn't experienced in a long time, rose up, making me nauseous. And because these were my inner thoughts, they weren't filtered, coming out as raw curses.
- I tried to do that too! That's why I overused my mana core and used Idea!
I had used Idea defensively and then, thinking I had completely driven the opponent away, let my guard down and got caught.
The original me wouldn't have done this.
The red-haired Astal must have known that, which is why he told Victoria that kind of thinking was the most dangerous.
- See, I was right in the end! It would have been better to just burn down this entire territory from the start to draw Memoria out! Then we wouldn't have fallen into this trap!
The red-haired Astal was complaining to me as if he'd been wronged, but it was nothing but result-oriented thinking.
No matter how much we talked about what had already happened, as the Hero's party, the "what if" scenario didn't exist for us.
"Fuck, goddammit... Victoria, snap out of it...!!"
The red-haired Astal was shaking the unconscious Victoria's shoulders violently. Even though he had saved her the moment Memoria swallowed her, there could still be life-threatening consequences.
In the museum, there were humans who had lost all their memories and went mad screaming, and humans who had their memories of their most beloved family stolen and were killed without ever knowing.
Memoria's tastes were perverted enough to be called that, and since she had been devoured by such a creature, no one knew what would happen next.
"Astal, calm down first. Her breathing and pulse are fine. She'll wake up in time."
"Do I look like I can calm down right now...?! It's because of me, because of me Victoria got sacrificed...!!"
Because Victoria had been harmed, the red-haired Astal showed such impatience that he was about to chase after Memoria and kill her right away.
The one who barely restrained me and pulled us from the battlefield was the Hero, Kyle. Unlike my impulsive and extreme personality, he judged Victoria's safety to be the top priority.
"...If we had just burned down Memoria's territory like I said, this wouldn't have happened!"
"But we couldn't just abandon the people inside. We're the Hero's party."
"Ha, Victoria is more precious to me than those people...! What have they ever done for me! The only one who saved me when I was living in despair after my hometown people died was Victoria!"
"Enough. No matter how different your personality is, that's going too far."
Kyle showed slight irritation toward me for the first time. Even with a different personality, it was speech and action a Hero's party should avoid.
"That's right, the Astal I know was always the mage who saved Victoria when she was in danger like this."
"...What?"
"He's correct. Didn't you do that last time too? You were the one who healed the Saint's body, half-covered in flowers."
"......"
The red-haired Astal fell silent at his companions' words.
The Astal they were talking about wasn't him.
Although I was plagued by guilt and showed a passive side, I used that very guilt as fuel for my magic research.
"What if something goes wrong with Victoria? What if she really doesn't remember us, or becomes an idiot and tries to die!"
What the red-haired Astal was saying was actually reasonable.
The reason his companions could afford to be so relaxed like this was because, no matter what hardship or problem arose, I would find a solution.
It was like that with Bellamora, called the Endless Dream, and when we defeated Durahan, called the Undefeated Knight.
'If it really comes to it, I'll just have to research a time-reversal magic or something.'
I spoke calmly in my inner thoughts.
Even if Victoria lost her memories, she was the one who said she would still love me.
And even if she had no memories from the start, my feelings for Victoria wouldn't fade.
"Are you insane? How on earth do you plan to research time-reversal magic...!!"
The red-haired Astal then began shouting as if to inform his companions that he could hear my words.
Among the mages of the Magic Towers, it was a category called "Defying Heaven," something that should absolutely never be researched.
Magic that reverses time, magic that resurrects the dead, magic that changes the providence of the world—that's what it was.
'For Victoria, it doesn't matter. There are already those who became liches to resurrect the dead; why couldn't I do it?'
Although researching Defying Heaven would take a lot of time, and there was no guarantee I wouldn't die or fall ill during that time.
"...Astal, you lunatic! Have you forgotten what our master said about never even looking at Defying Heaven?"
My benefactor who took me in, the Blue Tower Master, Charlotte Snowrain, had once scolded me when I, as a child, tried to learn Defying Heaven to resurrect my parents and hometown people.
She said Defying Heaven was an absolute taboo that could never be achieved, and was even a cause for the world's destruction.
"Don't tell me you're talking to your original personality right now...?"
"It seems that way. Druids who have transformed often talk to themselves like that, after all."
The companions who saw the red-haired Astal talking to me wore slightly shocked expressions.
From their perspective, knowing nothing, with Victoria unconscious and collapsed, it must have looked like he had chosen to go insane instead.
"Ugh..."
At that moment, Victoria let out a short moan and opened her eyes. The red-haired Astal rushed to her before anyone else.
"Victoria...!!"
Including me, who had lost control to another personality, all our companions' gazes turned to Victoria.
"...I was hit by Memoria's attack a moment ago. I apologize. I think I acted too hastily."
Fortunately, Victoria was speaking normally as if nothing was wrong, and I sighed with relief inwardly.
"Thank goodness..."
"Kyle, but who is this person? Is he a new companion recruited from Aurelium?"
However, the words that next came from Victoria's mouth were nothing short of shocking.
Moreover, as if I were the only one among the companions she didn't remember, she was looking at me—the one clutching her hand and crying—with a strange gaze.
"Victoria, don't tell me you... only don't remember Astal?"
Anima asked Victoria, her face pale.
She was hoping against hope that Victoria hadn't only had her memories of me stolen by Memoria.
"If you mean Astal Kaisaros, isn't that the famous mage of the Blue Tower known as the Harmless Mage? But this person has red hair and is wearing crimson robes..."
"Ah, we're screwed."
Just as the Hero Kyle blurted out, it seemed Victoria had indeed lost the memories of the past year she had spent with me.
- Why is everyone acting like this...? If such a person has joined us as a companion, isn't that something to be grateful for...?
Was this what Memoria meant by being satisfied with just a little?
As someone who could hear Victoria's inner thoughts, I was the first to realize that fact.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ After that, Kyle, Anima, and even Taryon were telling Victoria that she and I had been lovers.
"So, Astal was your lover, and you lost your memories because of Memoria!"
"...That can't be. Anima, by nature, a Saint is a being who must taboo contact with men."
"No, you guys did a lot of... indecent things from the start..."
"Me? You must be mistaken. If that were true, the divine power would have left my body, and I would have become an ordinary woman."
But Victoria didn't easily believe it.
Before meeting me, she had never liked any man and hadn't fully trusted people.
"Moreover, what is this vulgar outfit with a hole in the lower chest? It would be more convincing to say I fell victim to the Succubus Queen's Illusionary Dream."
"......"
Victoria was now covering her body with her arms, acting as if embarrassed, and looking at me—who couldn't say anything—with a suspicious gaze.
Right, if you woke up from unconsciousness and were told you'd been dating a strange man for over a month, it would be hard to believe easily.
"...Thank you for lending me your robe. However, it's hard to trust the claim that you were my lover."
The red-haired Astal had covered Victoria with his robe and was keeping silent without any explanation.
'Tell Victoria we were dating.'
"I can't do that. The one who dated Victoria wasn't me, it was you."
I advised that personality to step forward and introduce himself, but he shook his head and refused.
"...Once the transformation wears off, I'll be able to use Idea twice. You'll know there's another personality inside you."
- Are you really okay with this? There must be another way....
"It's fine. In the end, I couldn't protect Victoria, so I have to take responsibility."
With those final words, the red-haired Astal created a dagger of flame and, without hesitation, drew it across his wrist, inflicting a wound.
"......!!! You, are you insane? Why are you suddenly harming yourself...?!"
"Victoria, the guy who will come out after I collapse will do whatever it takes to make you fall for him again.... Look forward to it."
Fresh crimson blood soaked the ground, and the red-haired Astal, his consciousness fading, collapsed.
"...Ha, crazy bastard. Yeah, that's how important Victoria is to us."
I regained control of my body, cursing as I returned to my original blue-haired state.
"Victoria, you might not believe it now.... But it's true that I was the person you were dating. We only confessed a few days ago."
I told Victoria the truth, letting my companions know as well that we had only recently started dating.
"See these scars on my body? They're marks from healing with only potions, without relying on your miracle."
"...They're not wounds from a single night."
I showed Victoria, who wore an unconvinced expression, the scars on my arms and abdomen.
"Oh, right. This hickey is the one you left this morning."
Then I pointed with my finger at the red mark on my neck and shoulder, smiling at Victoria, the cause.
Unlike in the past, I was now confident I could make Victoria fall in love with me all over again.