Chapter 155
Chapter 155
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 155
Chapter Title: Coincidence, Perhaps Inevitability (3)
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A rundown shop tucked away in a dim back alley.
Normally, the only one minding the place would have been that ancient elf eyeing me suspiciously from in front of the door.
But not anymore.
While I was off at the battlefield for those five years, it seemed the shop had picked up some young customers... One was a student I taught, and the other was a girl about to become one. I turned my gaze to the girl.
"Ughhh..."
The girl groaned with her head buried in the table.
Her ears, peeking through her cascading white hair, were bright red. She seemed aware she'd done something embarrassing. Holding back a laugh, I tapped the table with my finger.
Tap tap.
The girl's shoulders twitched.
"I asked your name."
I answered the question she'd tossed at me.
"Lania van Trias. That's my name."
And for good measure, her subject too.
"I handle the basics of Mana Trading Studies... and there's a high chance I'll be in charge of your education."
At my words, Chloe slowly lifted her head.
Her face was beet red, like a radish. Finally, she mumbled in a voice that barely made it out.
"Y-Yes, Professor Lania..."
Her voice sounded a bit weak, but it had to be my imagination. How could she sound disappointed with her admired professor right in front of her?
'Yeah, right.'
Suppressing a grin, I whispered to Chloe.
"I'm honored you wanted to take my class that badly."
"Eek..."
Chloe bowed her head deeply.
Seeing her unable to even meet my eyes stirred some sadistic urge in me. You know, that satisfying "thwack" feeling people talk about.
'The thrill of teasing... not hitting.'
She was a fun girl in all sorts of ways.
As I teased the bowed Chloe, Belnoa, who had been standing blankly at the door, spoke up.
"Um, Professor."
"Yes?"
"Did something happen...?"
Her tone was utterly baffled.
Belnoa blinked back and forth between Chloe and me. Even someone as sharp as her seemed to be struggling to keep up with the situation.
"Nothing much."
I kept it vague.
It was a big deal, sure, but explaining it in detail to Belnoa right in front of the culprit? That'd be too cruel. The poor girl's face might just explode from embarrassment.
'Look at me, so considerate.'
Elegant or not.
I cut the conversation short and nodded toward Cardi, standing behind Belnoa.
"Hoo..."
The old-man-disguised Cardi shook his head and patted Belnoa's shoulder.
"Didn't you have a promise with Chloe? Take her out already. Stick around longer, and you'll be listening to her complaints all day."
"Complaints? I wasn't that late..."
"Not me, her. Get going."
Cardi practically shoved Belnoa and Chloe out. Even as he grabbed Chloe's hand and headed for the door, Belnoa still looked confused.
Creeeak.
The hinges squeaked loudly, and the door opened again.
Just as the two were about to leave.
"Chloe."
I called the girl's name.
Chloe glanced back at me. I met her eyes straight on and smiled.
"I don't really know how to teach with elegance..."
Chloe's pupils dilated wide. Smiling at her flushed face, I gave a gentle eye-smile.
"But I'll give it a shot. See you next time."
I gave the girl—who'd soon be my student—a bright smile. A genuine one, at that. But as always, sincerity rarely gets across.
"U-Uh..."
Her face burning crimson, Chloe bowed deeply in greeting, then covered it with both hands and bolted out of the shop. I waved her off with a "Take care."
'What a fun kid.'
I was really looking forward to our next meeting.
2.
A while after Belnoa and Chloe left, in the now-quiet shop, I sipped the tea Cardi had brought after reverting to his true form. I'd nagged him every time that it tasted awful... but this thick green sludge hadn't changed a bit since the first time.
"Who in their right mind likes this stuff?"
"Gleria did. Said it had a nice chew to it—skipped meals on travels just to drink it."
"The first saintess had exotic tastes, huh?"
"Who knows. Everything I gave her was 'delicious,' so she must've been elf-friendly. Whether that's exotic by normal human standards is another story."
I gave a wry smile at Cardi's shrugging response. Never misses a chance to quip. After a brief pause, he spoke.
"The first saintess."
"......"
"If you can connect that title to her... looks like you saw everything I left behind."
"Pretty much."
Cardi set down his teacup.
With a faint wry smile, he asked me.
"So, what's your take on facing the truth? Raniel."
My take, huh.
"Well..."
I propped my chin on my hand and stared at the teacup.
This thick green goop wouldn't go down easy. Hell, it was more like chewing than drinking—barely qualified as liquid.
Absurdly enough.
The truth I'd faced was just like it. Hard to swallow. Something you had to chew over and over. That's what I'd seen at the peak of the Kurakt Mountains.
"It was shocking, yeah."
I leaned back against the chair.
"The Four Calamities. The ones who rewrote human history time and again. The territories trampled under their feet are beyond counting... True disasters."
Their origins and backgrounds were a mystery.
No one knew what lives they'd lived. They were just known as calamities born by the Demon King, sweeping the world at some point.
"Who could've imagined."
I spat out bluntly.
"That three of them were the first Hero's party."
The First Hero, Ganikalt van Galatrik.
The First Saintess, Gleria Bell Armias.
The Dragon Sorcerer, Belial van Draconic.
"And that you were one of them."
The Great Sage, Cardi van Armiel.
I looked at the elf before me and said.
"Right? Armiel."
"Don't call me by my baptismal name. It's truly discarded now."
Cardi fiddled with his teacup as he spoke.
His gaze was on the cup, but his eyes seemed to gaze into a distant past. Probably reminiscing about whoever once called him Armiel.
After a moment of silence, Cardi opened his mouth.
"...Did you see the letter?"
"Yeah."
"Then you got that too."
I nodded.
Cardi looked at me. His yellowish-golden eyes gleamed. Searching for some trace in me, but it was pointless.
"I can't take in starlight. You know that."
"...Because you burned your lifespan?"
"Yep. Etched power beyond limits into my soul so many times. Trying to hold starlight in a cracked vessel? It'll just leak out."
"...Too late, then."
I shrugged.
"No need to see it that way. If I hadn't burned my lifespan... I never would've gotten that far."
Because I burned my lifespan.
Because I gave my all every moment—that's how I reached the truth.
If I'd schemed and played it safe, I'd be just another corpse rolling in the dirt.
'I'd have died the instant I met the Demon King.'
Yeah, the Demon King.
Recalling the sludge heap I'd faced, I steadied my breath. Coming to Cardi today wasn't just for a report.
I had something to confirm with this elf.
"Hey, Cardi."
I spoke up.
Meeting his yellowish eyes, I continued.
"When I first came to you after retiring... remember what you said about the Demon King?"
"...I do."
The day I'd sought him out for a curse countermeasure, Cardi had eyed me warily and asked.
"What the hell are you trying to become?"
I'd explained I'd just faced the Demon King and gotten cursed... but even then, he didn't drop his guard.
Instead, he'd pressed.
"Not a contract or deal, but 'got cursed'?"
As if dealing or contracting with the Demon King was possible. Back then, I'd dismissed it as crazy elf talk... but now, knowing Cardi's identity, it hit different.
A firsthand witness who'd faced the Demon King.
Part of the first Hero's party that fought it for ten days and nights.
A mage called the Great Sage.
Such a figure described the Demon King as something you could communicate with. So it must be true. But the Demon King I'd faced wasn't.
"The Demon King I saw was a sludge heap."
"......"
"People compare the Four Calamities to natural disasters... but at least they have consciousness. Instinct or subconscious, they move with intent. Not the one I saw."
It was different.
Different on a fundamental level of existence.
"The Demon King is a natural disaster. That's what I saw. No consciousness. No sense of self, so no talking."
It just existed there.
Existed and corrupted everything around it, spreading curses... but no Demon King's will interfered.
"It was just a phenomenon."
A mere phenomenon.
That's why the doubt.
That sludge heap was called the Demon King. I questioned it.
"How does that become a king?"
It doesn't rule. Doesn't reign.
You don't slap "king" on a phenomenon that just sits there. Yet it was called the Demon King. From ancient times to now.
"That's not the only weird part."
I pointed at Cardi.
"If the Demon King your party faced back then was the same sludge heap I saw..."
I stated firmly.
"There's no way you couldn't have subjugated it."
Sure, the Demon King was indescribably powerful.
The moment we faced it, we felt utter helplessness. Even facing death's blade hadn't shattered our reason like that. Instinctual terror overwhelmed us.
But it wasn't an existence you couldn't resist.
That day, sacrificing half my lifespan, I'd resisted the Demon King. Bound its movements and escaped. And I'd done it alone.
'The first Hero's party couldn't?'
Doesn't add up.
Just looking at past Cardi—he was more perfect than me. And there were four of them. If it was truly impossible... they'd have fled and sought new ways.
"But you couldn't even flee. You endured something there... and chose to pass it to the next generation. Doesn't that strike you as odd?"
"Because it wasn't something you could escape."
"I did it solo."
"...If I say you're special, will you buy it?"
I shook my head.
Even if I was special, the Heroes who'd faced the past Demon King were superior or equal—never lesser. No way.
"...Yeah, it is weird."
It was weird.
Because it was so weird, I'd formed one hypothesis.
"Cardi."
I voiced that hypothesis.
One bound to be spot on.
"Didn't you already subjugate the Demon King once?"
Pulled down an unreachable existence to your level.
Stripped the Demon King of its kingly dignity.
"...Ah."
That's what I'd asked.
"Seriously."
Cardi replied with a wry smile.
"You damn brat have some filthy sharp instincts."
It was as good as affirmation.
Author's Note Thanks for the support as always :D