The Forest Where Spirits Dwell - 10
The world had not been created by anyone. It had simply existed.
The Goddess and the Evil God were transcendent beings born at the same moment—lifeforms not unlike humans or monsters, possessed of extraordinary power. They had fought, and in the end had dealt each other fatal wounds and sealed one another away. Afterward, when the Evil God created the Demon King in another attempt to slaughter humanity, the Goddess created the Hero and the Saintess to stand against him.
"This is the information we've compiled so far."
"I see. You've organized it well, for having heard it only once."
"The problem, then, would be this part here."
Olivia pointed to the line about the Goddess creating the Hero and the Saintess to oppose him.
"Until now, not a single fool has tried to find what humans and monsters have in common, and even fewer have thought deeply about the roots of either. And even if they had, it would have remained nothing more than a hypothesis."
"That's true."
"Which is why no one ever considered it. That just as humanity has two hopes—the Hero and the Saintess—the monsters might also have two hopes of their own."
"It is only a possibility, of course, but that possibility has existed for a very long time. The problem is this: where is the Hero of Monsters, and what are they doing?"
"......"
That was certainly true. Throughout the long history of battles between Heroes and Demon Kings, throughout the war between humanity and monsters, there was no record of the Hero of Monsters ever appearing. One might simply say they had vanished, or that the records had been lost—but that alone was hard to accept. Not many people would be satisfied with summarizing an unknown tale from the distant past in a single word: lost.
"If they were chosen with a mark inscribed upon them the way a Hero is, they would have stood out."
"Monsters live long lives, but they aren't immortal. They die of old age like anyone else. Which means that over this long stretch of time, the Hero would have changed any number of times."
"That's right."
"And monsters brawl among themselves besides. In the midst of that, the Hero of Monsters could easily have been caught up in a fight and killed. Looking at it that way, succession of the title is entirely possible."
"Well, a Hero of Monsters wouldn't die that easily—but if they died before they could grow... Hmm. Or what if the monsters themselves are killing the Hero?"
"The monsters are killing their own Hero?"
"I don't know the reason. But if that were the case, it would at least explain why the Hero of Monsters has never appeared."
And if they killed them before they could grow, it would be entirely possible. The problem, as always, was motive. If that were true, there would have to be a reason for it—but what that reason might be, none of us could say.
"What if... just hypothetically, the first Hero of Monsters who was chosen never died, and is still alive?"
At Olivia's words, I frowned for a brief moment. Not out of anger—I was thinking.
"Until recently, I might have said that was unrealistic. Now, I'm not so sure. We have Titania, who contracted with the World Tree and has lived far beyond the average lifespan."
Agelessness had originally been a curse—suffering itself, by another name. But if it had been achieved not through a curse, but through a contract or some other condition, then survival was possible. What if, for instance, they had contracted directly with the Evil God? Even a contract with the World Tree, a creation of the Goddess, had granted Titania a span of time close to immortality. Even if that time was now drawing to a close, it had still given her a lifespan well above the average. And if that was the case, then the Evil God—who possessed power equal to the Goddess who had made the World Tree—could surely keep a single monster alive for a very long time.
"Damn it. No matter how you turn it, it's all just hypothesis."
"It is."
The monsters were killing the Hero of Monsters before they could grow. The first Hero of Monsters, for some reason, had simply never shown themselves, and had never allowed the title to be passed on. Or a monster worthy of being the Hero of Monsters had not yet been born. There were any number of hypotheses, but nothing we could hold as proof. From the looks of it, even the Shrine Spirit didn't know that far.
It had seemed as though our questions were about to be answered. Instead, even more complicated, headache-inducing questions came crashing down on Olivia and me. And somehow, I had the feeling that Alex would know the answer.
In the end, what were you trying to do?
I asked him inwardly. When I had met Alex again in the Hero party, he had pretended not to know me. It would be a lie to say I hadn't felt hurt—but he had seemed to be doing well enough, and our stations in life had already diverged so far that I had told myself it was understandable.
But to betray the Hero. To betray humanity. To lend power to the monsters. To go so far as to borrow the Evil God's power—what was it you wanted so badly? Looking at what you gained by sacrificing everything... can you truly, genuinely smile?
If. If I had stopped the people who came to take you from the slums. If. If I had dragged you out of the Royal Capital by force. Would things never have come to this?
I couldn't shake the thought that something might have been different. That I now had to fight him—that I had to kill him—made my head ache.
I let out a short breath.
"Then let's go."
"Where to?"
"You said you wanted an audience with the Goddess, did you not? Talking with you, I could tell that even knowing these facts, you remain unshaken in your desire to protect humanity. I could tell you are good people, down to the bone."
"......"
"......"
"Come. I hope an audience will be possible."
I wasn't entirely sure what to make of it, but Olivia and I looked at each other and nodded. For now, we would follow.
"The Goddess regretted it every single day. She said that if she had stabbed the Evil God to death without hesitation in that moment, things would never have come to this."
"......As a Hero, I believe she shouldn't have hesitated then."
"......"
Olivia murmured it with a sorrowful look on her face.
"But I can understand that anguish."
The Goddess had had a chance to kill the Evil God. Had she attacked without hesitation, the Evil God would have died by her hand. But in the moment she tried to kill her twin—someone who had been, in other words, like family—a hesitation had arisen, however brief. In that brief instant the Evil God had counterattacked, and they had inflicted fatal wounds on each other and ended up sealed. And that seal had led to the fateful enmity between Hero and Demon King, to the unending war between humanity and monsters.
If the Goddess truly possessed a virtuous nature, that hesitation had been only natural. At the same time, the aftermath of that hesitation would have filled her head and her heart with a regret so genuine it was agony. She would have tasted a sensation like being carved apart, for a stretch of time so long it made the mind go blank.
"I thank you for those words, Hero."
"Lois, are you nervous at all?"
"Why would I be?"
"Well, we might be about to meet the Goddess."
"You and I haven't lived lives we'd be ashamed to present before the Goddess."
"Fair enough."
"And if She intends to punish us for having lived lives we cannot be proud of—"
"Then?"
"Would we have any reason to believe in such a Goddess as a god?"
"......"
Olivia looked at me with a slightly startled expression, then laughed.
"Haha, that's rich. If you said that to those stiff-headed types in the Royal Capital, they'd turn red with rage and stammer without being able to get a word out."
"Well, my head might come off afterward."
"It definitely would. They're more serious about that than you'd think."
"Are you nervous, Olivia?"
"Me?"
She thought for a moment at my sudden question, then spoke.
"I don't know. Am I nervous right now? Originally I wanted to ask why She chose me as the Hero, but after hearing the story, I understood."
"Because you were a talent suited to wielding the Holy Sword. That was the reason."
"She didn't need any particular mindset as a Hero, or anything like that. She just needed someone with the aptitude to hold the Holy Sword. In other words, she just needed someone strong. ......That's probably how you ended up with things like the Rogue Hero."
"......"
"Is the Goddess watching us right now?"
"Who knows. She's not truly omniscient, so there are things She can see and things She cannot."
Compared to the standing she had once been given—a creator god, the beginning of all things—her stature seemed to have diminished. But from the position of the one who had created humanity, she was still a being that humans could call a god without exaggeration.
"Hey, Lois."
"Yes?"
"How would my life have looked to the Goddess?"
"......"
"Would She praise me, at least, for having saved people? Or would She condemn me—for being so self-righteous I never looked at those around me, for failing to save even myself?"
"Olivia."
The fact that she was even saying this might have been proof that she had changed. Olivia, who had never once doubted her own righteousness, now knew that righteousness took different shapes depending on the person—and that everyone carried a righteousness of their own that did not change.
What should I say to her? I knew, at least, that remaining silent here was not a good choice.
"If the Goddess condemns you—"
"Yeah?"
"I'll condemn the Goddess for you."
"......Hehe. That's a bit too reckless. Sounds like blasphemy."
"So what?"
"Thank you, Lois."
Olivia looked down at her own hands as she spoke.
"Yeah. I think the tension's gone."
"This should be the place."
The place we arrived at overflowed with the power of nature. The lake before our eyes was so clear it seemed you could see all the way to the bottom. The Shrine Spirit stopped, then slowly rose above the water.
"I will now prepare the audience with the Goddess. Time is short, and I do not know if it will succeed—but we can at least try."
"If we do have an audience with the Goddess, is there anything we should be careful of?"
If the Goddess was not truly an omnipotent being, but merely a transcendent lifeform who had created humanity, we needed to know where She might react emotionally. Everyone had parts that should not be touched. If the same was true of the Goddess, there was no guarantee I wouldn't unwittingly brush against such a thing in the course of conversation.
But the Shrine Spirit let out a small sigh.
"You needn't worry about that. The Goddess will not grow angry with you. She is one who, amid a guilt that never ends, never seeks that responsibility in others—only in herself. She is foolish. Far too foolish."
"......"
Standing above the lake, the Shrine Spirit slowly looked at Olivia and me.
That face. It was like a daughter looking upon her wounded mother.
Olivia and I could say nothing at all.