Pygmalion's Galatea

Does Ceres Reinhardt know a man called Pygmalion? He's not a hero from myth, but he's fairly well-known as a great figure who's left his mark on history. While most recorded gods or heroes became famous for their truly grand achievements, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the reason Pygmalion gained fame wasn't some great deed... but rather his utterly absurd antics.

He married his own statue. Having lost all interest in real women, Pygmalion became captivated by the unbelievably beautiful statue he'd carved himself and prayed to the goddess of beauty, Aphrodite: 'Grant me a wife who looks exactly like the statue I made.' And so, the goddess Aphrodite brought the statue to life, and Pygmalion married it—a rather peculiar myth.

"Lian, what's wrong?"

"...Personally, I'm starting to understand Pygmalion a whole lot more."

I'd wondered just how beautiful a statue had to be to inspire that, but it wasn't something you could call pretty or ugly in conventional terms. The realization hit me anew: when a work of art manifests in reality, something utterly ridiculous pops out.

"Lian, say something."

Her voice, figure, looks, speech— the perfect ideal that replicated everything I desired. Fiery scarlet-gold hair. Long, slender legs and arms. A small face with delicately clustered eyes, nose, and mouth, and amethyst eyes that gleamed like glittering gems. A sisterly tone that made you feel cared for. If the first woman I'd ever met had been like this girl before me now, I might've confessed without a second thought, head over heels.

"Sorry, but where's the exit?"

"Huh?"

But I'm not enough of an idiot to buy that she'd just popped out of the dungeon.

Where am I right now? A dungeon. And judging by how the dungeon and situation had completely changed from what I'd seen earlier—absurd as it was—the chances were extremely high that I'd gotten trapped in an isolated-type dungeon. The usual way out of these isolated dungeons is...

"Galatea's Temptation, huh."

I could guess what it entailed just from the name.

"Hey... what does that mean? Lian... where are you going...?"

"Haa..."

With a sigh at the statue's tickling whisper in my ear, I softly uttered the name of the girl who was the true embodiment of love—something no mere statue could ever defeat.

"Nero."

"Yeah!"

Nero appeared in her familiar monster form... Monster...? Who are you?

"Who are you?"

"Huh? It's Nero! Don't you recognize me, Lian???"

"No, wait... who are you??"

The one before my eyes right now was supposed to be that lively, bright Nero? ...It didn't suit her at all.

"Ah! You just thought it doesn't suit me!"

"Yeah, honestly, that's what I thought. Sorry."

No, personally, I'd had no choice but to imagine Nero's monster form since she'd only appeared that way, but from her speech and her pleas to keep going, I'd pictured her as a bit puppy-like. But the vibe from Nero now was exactly that: the typical villainess noble lady from a novel. Sharp eyes, cat-like face, straight hair falling sleekly down. Beyond the shock of how it didn't match my expectations at all, how the hell had she come out looking normal instead of monstrous?

"How'd you end up looking like that?"

"No idea~!"

With a face straight out of a villainess role beaming innocently, it created an indescribable sensation... Was it because my mind flashed to Arian when I thought of villainess types?

"Anyway... shall we go find the other three?"

"Yeah!!"

Now we had to figure out how to escape this place...

"No intention of telling me honestly, I take it?"

"No way... Lian has to stay here and be happy with me."

Nero gazed at the statue ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠as it said that, then opened her mouth.

"Explode."

"Guh!!"

A familiar sensation enveloped my body. Right—come to think of it, Nero's omnipotence didn't even fall under the curse category. It was literally omnipotent.

"...Mana of Dominion."

The curse in Nero's words, like Skaya's word-spell magic, forced the phenomenon into reality just by being spoken. Why was it that around me, she could casually produce effects that only a dragon's dragon-word could achieve? The statue, struck by Nero's word-curse, couldn't even scream as it shattered into pieces.

"Hehe, good now?"

"Uh... yeah..."

I'd planned to ask slowly at first, but from her reaction earlier, it was pretty much impossible anyway. So, to get out of here... Ah.

"Nero, can you find where Minel and Arian are?"

"Hmm... Yeah! Probably!"

"Great! Let's go find the other two!"

"Yay!!"

I opened my eyes to a terribly familiar sight. A sight I missed so much...

"Hurry up! Minel!!"

"W-wait a sec, Ceres. Slowly... let's go slowly!!"

Aaah... the pure days of yore. Back when our relationship wasn't knight and lady, but just friends—Ceres Reinhardt and Minel Iris.

"Hehe! Minel's such a worrywart!!"

"Of course! Getting hurt hurts!!"

"It's fine, it won't hurt much!"

Even thinking back now, it was such a beautiful memory. But... that incident must've happened right after this.

"Hey, Minel. Wanna do this with me?"

"What?"

"Let's make a pact!!"

Ceres said it with the most innocent smile, and naive little me nodded without knowing better.

"Hear this, oath of the pact."

Don't do it. Don't say any more.

"Manifest it. This is a promise borne by we two alone."

Incantations flowed from Ceres's lips. Mana was steadily drawn into my past body's circuits.

"This is an eternal pact, an everlasting promise that endures until death, while souls dwell in flesh."

With Ceres's incantation finished, I uttered the pact I placed on her.

"Stay by my side forever."

And then Ceres's pact on me... no, the engraving she inflicted.

"Become my knight forever."

Aaah... only now could I see it clearly. Only Ceres's golden mana wrapped around my body. Not a trace of my own mana anywhere.

"Do you swear to exchange pacts with each other?"

"Yes."

Don't answer. Don't respond.

"Do you swear to uphold each other's pacts?"

"Yes."

Watching my past self leap into self-destruction, the present me could do nothing. Merely observe as a third party...

"With this, the pact is sealed!"

"...Is that it? 'Lady'."

...Aaah. So it started here. When I began calling Ceres 'lady'.

My vision narrowed. Breathing grew labored. Why was this happening? Betrayal? Maybe. But this felt a bit more intense than that...

"Puhah!!! Haa... haa!!"

As my vision returned, I desperately realized the events had flashed by like a panorama and looked around. Where was I? I'd clearly been fighting monsters just moments ago. What was this place?

"...Haa... cough cough..."

Struggling to calm my ragged breath, I pulled myself out of the water, caught my breath, and surveyed my surroundings. Just as I sensed something off about the completely different landscape from before...

A terribly familiar voice brushed my ear.

"You okay? Minel."

I froze. No way. She was supposed to be a 20-year-old academy student like me now. But the voice I heard sounded just like the little girl from my dreams—the innocent lady from back then...

I didn't want to believe it, but just in case, my head turned on its own.

"Does it hurt anywhere?"

"Ah... aaah..."

There stood Ceres from those pure days of yore.