The Sea Moon Mother (9)
"My beloved daughter."
In the pitch-black darkness.
A voice she missed so dearly brushed past Adelia's ears.
Father...
Memories of going on a picnic to the Sky Ocean Forest together flooded back.
Her father had carried her on his shoulders as they walked along the forest path.
Was she around nine years old? No, perhaps even younger.
"The Sea Moon Mother is a sacred, spiritual creature."
Along with that warm voice, the memories of that day vividly returned.
"A divine beast that has lived for hundreds of years, preserving the memories of people. Our picnic today will also be kept forever in the Sea Moon Mother's memories."
The young Adelia, her eyes sparkling as she gazed at the lake where the Sea Moon Mother resided.
And the warm touch of her father's hand gently stroking her hair.
"...?"
At that very moment.
At the unfamiliar voice echoing in her ears, Adelia slowly opened her eyes.
Her hazy mind gradually cleared.
Barely managing to lift her heavy eyelids, she saw a faint, endless blue light stretching out before her.
"This place is..."
It was a landscape that made her feel as if she had entered the body of the Sea Moon Mother itself.
Yet, she could breathe naturally, and there was no suffocating sensation of being submerged in water.
Then, a voice echoed from all directions.
It was as if the space itself was speaking to her.
"W-who are you...?"
"...!"
Hearing the voice continue, Adelia could instinctively tell who it belonged to.
The Sea Moon Mother.
The divine beast was speaking to her directly.
"What is happening? I clearly... with my own hands, I..."
"..."
There was no anger or resentment in the Sea Moon Mother's voice.
Instead, a calm, almost benevolent, genderless voice echoed.
Adelia found herself asking back in a polite tone.
"May I ask... what the trial entails?"
Rumble!
At that moment, the space began to shake.
A blue light swirled and wrapped around her, and Adelia's body gradually began to change.
Her limbs shortened, and her hands shrank.
Her entire body transformed into that of a young child.
"..."
*Flash!*
The surrounding scenery changed completely.
The Holy City of Midtemple, a small circular arena drenched in sunlight.
Adelia looked down at her hands. She saw the small, delicate hands of a seven-year-old child.
A boy walked out from the opposite side of the arena.
A blond boy clad in silver armor.
The moment she saw his face, anger and fear bloomed simultaneously in Adelia's young chest.
That bastard...
Cedric von Heibrun.
He was the main culprit behind the most terrible bullying of her childhood.
"What are you doing, brat? I said I'd let you have the first move! Hurry up and attack!"
Cedric shouted boastfully, a sly smirk playing on his lips.
Memories of the past flashed through her mind.
A Paladin apprentice three years older than her. He had always tormented the young Adelia.
Bullying disguised as play.
Violence under the pretext of sparring.
Cedric had overwhelmed Adelia with his physical advantage, never giving her a single chance to counterattack.
*Tremble...*
Adelia's body was shaking. The fear engraved into the instincts of a seven-year-old girl had taken control of her.
But...
I know better now.
A pathetic excuse for a person.
A loser who fed his self-esteem by ruthlessly trampling a child five years younger than himself.
There was absolutely no reason to be afraid of such trash.
"Cedric."
Adelia let out a chuckle.
A young, seven-year-old voice echoed in the arena.
"You really were a coward, even when you were young."
Adelia gripped her sword tightly. She took a stance, looking ready to pounce at any second.
"Since you didn't have the courage to spar with kids your own age, you always fought someone three years younger than you."
Moving in a child's body felt awkward, but it didn't matter.
With the experience she had accumulated... she could easily overcome the physical dissonance and a size difference of this scale.
"You're pathetic, you loser."
"...!"
Cedric's face distorted hideously, and Adelia wore a mocking smirk, enjoying the sight.
"Y-you...!"
Cedric's face flushed red.
The embarrassment of having his true feelings exposed, combined with the rage of being insulted by a child three years younger than him.
Unable to contain himself, he lunged straight at Adelia.
"You little brat! How dare you!"
Adelia snorted.
A body ruled by intense emotion was all too easy to read.
"This isn't a trial, it's a joke."
*Whoosh!*
Adelia swung her arm.
For a split second, the wooden training sword flashed as sharply as a real blade.
"Ugh..."
Had it been about ten minutes since Adelia began her trial?
Doricco Shiro, who had been knocked unconscious, clutched her head and stood up. After stumbling around for a while, she barely managed to find her balance.
"Huh?"
Looking around in surprise, she turned to me and asked.
"What's going on? Why is it so quiet? Is it all over?"
"Not yet."
I replied, gesturing toward the center of the lake with my chin.
*Hummmm!*
A blue energy completely enveloped Adelia's body.
And the Sea Moon Mother... lay dead, its life force completely extinguished.
Its once-translucent body had turned an opaque grayish-white, and its gently swaying tentacles now hung limp and lifeless.
"Nooooooo!"
Witnessing this, Doricco Shiro collapsed to the ground.
"Jelly! Jelly! Waaah!"
Doricco Shiro wailed loud enough to shake the heavens, grabbing the hem of my pants as she sobbed.
"You con man! You said you'd save my Jelly! But what is this, ugh, hic..."
"Calm down."
I pushed Doricco Shiro away.
Her face was a messy mixture of tears and snot, with a sticky thread of mucus dripping from the tip of her chin.
...How filthy.
Suppressing my disgust, I continued speaking.
"That is the only way to save the Sea Moon Mother."
"What?"
The sobbing Doricco Shiro looked up with blank eyes.
"Th-that... is the way to save the Sea Moon Mother...?"
"Yes."
I nodded.
"I will keep my promise, so do not worry. The moment Adelia passes the trial, the Sea Moon Mother will be resurrected as an even more powerful entity."
Doricco Shiro sniffled for a long moment before asking back in a trembling voice.
"R-really...?"
Although suspicion still lingered in her eyes, I could see her turbulent emotions slowly settling down.
"*Sniff*, *snort*!"
Sniffling once more, Doricco Shiro adjusted her posture. Sitting cross-legged, she stared at Adelia, who was enveloped in the blue light.
"B-but..."
Doricco Shiro asked, her voice somewhat calmer now.
"How long was I actually knocked out? For the domain to lose its power and vanish, it feels like I must have been out for quite a while..."
"You were only down for about ten minutes."
"...What?"
*Snap!*
Doricco Shiro's eyes went wide.
She looked up at me with a bewildered expression and asked again.
"Th-then what about my barrier? How did you dismantle this domain?"
I didn't answer, silently keeping my eyes on Adelia. Doricco Shiro stood there blankly for a moment before her mouth fell open in sudden realization.
"Wow... you're really strong..."
Her expression now held far more admiration than wariness.
"..."
On the other hand, Isaac Berylof still stood to the side without uttering a single word.
Tension was written all over his face. I could feel that he was completely disheartened.
Seeing that, I chuckled inwardly.
Go ahead and be terrified, Isaac Berylof.
That way, my meeting with the Blood Empress will be much easier.
"Phew."
Fighting and winning against countless enemies, Adelia overcame her traumas one by one as she battled the foes of her past.
*Whoosh!*
The surrounding environment and Adelia's body changed once again.
It was the setting of her first visit to the abandoned factory in Dawnguard. And the opponent appearing before Adelia's eyes was...
*Flutter!*
...none other than the hideous, six-armed monster, Peter Pan.
"Ha."
A grin spread across Adelia's face.
The fight with Peter Pan ended surprisingly quickly.
It had been a long time since she had already claimed victory against him in an imaginary battle.
To Adelia, Peter Pan was no longer an object of fear.
*Whoosh!*
A watery mist wrapped around her body once more.
Adelia was transported to another location, where she faced the Heavenly Dragon Bird she had encountered in the uncharted territory.
This time, she struggled against the beast for nearly thirty minutes, well past the ten-minute mark. She even managed to sever one of the Heavenly Dragon Bird's wings.
*Whoosh!*
The world flipped once again.
The training grounds of Midtemple.
There stood Jacques von Heibrun, wearing a smirk.
"Amusing."
Jacques approached Adelia, brandishing his giant executioner's sword.
It was as if the situation at the training grounds from a few days ago was being perfectly replayed.
"I hear your skills have improved greatly... How about a spar with this old man?"
Adelia's expression turned ice-cold.
Jacques's fist flew fiercely, cutting through the air.
But this time, unlike in the past, she did not fall helplessly to his attack. Adelia already 'remembered' his attack patterns.
*Whoosh!*
*Boom!*
Stepping forward heavily with his right foot, extending the hand holding the executioner's sword to draw the opponent's gaze, and then throwing a punch with his left hand.
Adelia saw through Jacques's attack with a relaxed smile. Just before Jacques threw his left hand, she twisted her body in an unexpected direction.
"What...?"
A flash of bewilderment crossed Jacques's face.
Adelia's sword flashed, and a sharp, turquoise aura flickered as it grazed Jacques's face.
*Slash!*
Thanks to his quick reflexes, he avoided a fatal wound, but a thin scratch was left on Jacques's face. She had drawn blood from a giant of Midtemple.
"Hehe."
Adelia smiled with satisfaction. Unlike her humiliating defeat a few days ago, she stood tall and confident.
"How about that, old man? Is my skill worth looking at now?"
"You dare...!"
*Whoosh!*
Before Jacques could even counterattack, the surrounding scenery shifted once more.
"...Huh?"
But what was this?
This setting was completely different from any environment Adelia had faced so far.
A vast field and meadow.
Warm sunlight tickled Adelia's cheeks.
And a short distance away, she saw the back of a very familiar figure.
"...!"
The person she had yearned to see.
The scent she had missed so much.
Those broad, reliable shoulders that remained unchanged.
Although she couldn't see his face clearly due to the dazzling sunlight shining behind him, Adelia recognized his identity instantly.
"Could it be...?"
*Step.*
Adelia took a step forward, and the figure slowly turned around.
That warm smile, those gentle eyes, and those reassuring arms began to draw closer.
"Dad..."
Adelia's voice trembled.
She had never known that taking a single step could be this difficult.
She was someone who wouldn't lose her breath even after running for hours in heavy armor, yet this short distance felt like an endless journey.
"You've grown so much, my daughter."
The wind blowing through the blades of grass carried her father's voice. His tone held the weight of time.
At that voice, which remained unchanged despite the passage of time, the emotions she had buried deep within her heart for so long began to surge.
One step, then another.
Her legs shook. It felt like her very first awkward steps as a toddler, trying to climb onto her father's lap, unable to support her own body.
Her father, whom she had missed endlessly, welcomed Adelia with a warm smile.
"Congratulations on passing the trial."