Reflections on Betrayal and Awakening Statues
Younger sister’s thoughts
“…. What’s with this vibe.”
Arian’s words made Minel’s body twitch slightly. For now, they had to focus on conquering the dungeon, so matters regarding Ceres were postponed. What mattered right now was passing the exam.
“It’s nothing.”
But contrary to such thoughts, Minel’s movements grew increasingly awkward as time passed.
“Usually, when people say that, it’s never actually nothing.”
“… Even if something happened to me, Arian Primal, it’s not a problem you could solve.”
Minel’s words were spot on. This issue was strictly between Ceres and Minel. It wasn’t something I should meddle in, and under normal circumstances, I shouldn’t even touch it….
“How do you know without asking?”
My little sister hadn’t been raised with enough tact to read the room…! It wasn’t a lack of awareness. Arian was purely curious right now. What on earth had happened to make this woman, who’d been so spirited and talking about knighthood just yesterday, change so drastically?
Yeah… that’s true.
“In that case, let me ask. What would you do if someone betrayed your trust?”
Arian, who’d been staring at Minel with eyes saying what the hell kinda random question is this, closed her eyes for a moment to think….
“Wait, do you even need to do anything?”
She gave an unexpected answer.
“What?”
“Just distance yourself, right?”
“No revenge or….”
“If someone betrays your trust, it ultimately means your own judgment was off. Blame yourself for thinking they were trustworthy.”
Arian’s words were only possible because she’d always been on the perpetrator’s side. It was an answer Minel could never conceive of.
“Revenge? Do whatever you want. But what do you even gain from it?”
“… Nothing.”
“Exactly. If you felt betrayed, it means you’d placed more trust in them than that betrayal warranted. Even if revenge brings a momentary thrill, afterward, trusting anyone normally might become impossible, don’t you think?”
That’s how it would be. Plenty of people heal from betrayal through others, but few who choose revenge forgive their betrayer. And those who pick the latter path… lose the ability to trust people ever again.
I’m a prime example. After betrayal, contemplating revenge drove me mad, forcing me to divide humanity into saints and sinners just to trust anyone. Minel might end up with a similarly warped worldview if she went down that road.
“… So revenge means you can’t trust anyone anymore?”
“Not that extreme. But if you choose revenge, trusting people will be way harder than if you didn’t.”
Minel said nothing as she absorbed Arian’s words. She just marched forward silently.
Listening to Arian’s thoughts raised a question, though. What could have driven someone with that mindset to betray others…?
It wasn’t long before they spotted a familiar hole.
“We’ve come full circle. Back at the hole after all.”
“Looks like it…. Minel, wanna head in?”
They’d circled outside a bit longer for Minel’s sake. Dropping down before she’d sorted her feelings might lead to her lashing out at Ceres on sight, so this gave her time to compose herself.
“Let’s go in…. Right now, I’m not Ceres Reinhardt’s knight—I’m a member of this party. I won’t let personal feelings interfere with the job.”
Yeah. Not a full recovery, but enough that I trusted Minel to pull her weight.
“Alright… how do we get down?”
“…? Just jump?”
“What kinda bullshit is that? Normal people die falling from here!”
… And there’s the difference between a knight and a mage.
“Minel, knights and mages are different.”
“Obviously? Even that idiot… er, Ceres was weaker than me. This height should be no big deal, right?”
Uh… about 20 meters? The sooner you awaken mana, the better you handle it, but the tradeoff is a weaker body. Equivalent exchange.
Normally, physical training fills the body with mana during recovery, giving even non-mana users superhuman physiques compared to civilians. But mages prioritize converting and storing mana in their mana force circuits over raw body mana, plus less physical training, so they’re relatively frail.
“… Come to think of it, can’t Lena the guild master jump down either?”
“I can manage with magic. Wind spells midway for control… What about you, Arian?”
“With wind magic?”
Arian thought for a moment… then cautiously nodded.
“Probably possible?”
If I hadn’t sealed her veins, she’d have nodded without hesitation.
Hearing Arian’s answer, we dropped into the hole without delay.
“Kieeeek!!”
“Nero!”
Die!!!
First, Nero cleared the monster swarm at the landing spot.
“Minel, handle the front enemies! Arian, draw a large-scale magic circle as soon as you land!”
“Got it!”
“On it!!!”
Minel dashed to Nero’s side almost in sync with me, slicing through monsters with her sword. I formed a scythe from pure mana via runes and plunged into the fray, severing necks.
Sslash—!
“This skill is the real deal!!”
Aiming precisely at necks made it easier and cleaner than usual, thanks to the skill.
Heeheeheehee!!! Die quick!!!!
“Arian Primal! How much longer for the magic?!”
Nero and Minel synced better than expected. Or rather, Minel was adapting to Nero’s attacks? They were holding, but even without curses, Minel—who’d lived mana-less—couldn’t match Nero’s pace forever.
“Done!!”
Arian’s magic targeted not me, but Nero and Minel’s side. I urgently tried calling Nero back and telling Minel to retreat, but no need. Minel, having exchanged glances with Arian, had already ducked behind her.
“Firestorm!!”
Flames were her specialty, huh. The spell incinerated the monsters thoroughly.
“Leave this to me—Minel, go help Lian with monsters outside the spell’s range!!”
“Got it!!”
Minel pivoted and charged to my side, swinging her sword down. I resummoned Nero, wrapping her curse around my mana scythe, and dove back into the slaughter.
Coins rolling in nicely. Unlike last time, layering Nero’s curse on my mana weapon made the effect last longer.
“Kieeeek!!!”
I dove into a charging kobold’s chest, shoving the scythe blade smooth through—skin, muscle, even bone parting effortlessly. Nero’s curse plus my destruction mana and Harvest’s effect? Perfect finisher.
“Ugh…!! Lian, there’s a weird monster here!!!”
“Weird monster?”
Mid-sync with Nero slicing monsters, Minel’s shout made me whip around. There stood a white statue.
“A statue?”
If it were just any statue, I’d suspect gorgon eyes, but white? Not gorgon-related. And a monster?
“The statue moved, and the monsters around it sank into the floor…!!”
“Minel!?”
The instant I saw Minel vanish into the floor like she’d fallen into water, I turned to check Arian and Lena—
Lian!
“Guhk!!”
The footing vanished. Vision blurred, no sounds reached me. What the hell happened?
“!!”
I drew runes midair, blasting wind downward.
Boom!!
“Cough!! Cough!!!”
Hacking out lungfuls of water, I scanned around. The monster-filled dungeon was gone, replaced by a small forest dotted with statues.
No… statues?
“What the hell is that.”
The statues were moving? One’s form shifted slowly. Pure white skin warmed to healthy peach, hair turned lustrous copper-gold, eyes gleamed like the world’s priciest gems.
“… What.”
“That’s too much, Lian…. To forget the me you created.”
I don’t know you from any damn statue-born chick.