111. Traces
111. Traces
The moment I stood before the door, I let out a hollow laugh without realizing it.
Five petals carved into the door. Because of the cherry blossom shape. The carving was very, very rough.
It wasn't carved with a knife, a chisel, or a tool—it was carved with fingers, so it couldn't help but be rough.
Even so, it was fairly intricate. I could feel the care put into it.
"Carving the Eustetia crest out in the open like this... you'll attract thieves even where there were none. You really are an idiot."
Hehehe— As I muttered while looking at the door, Pina stared at me with puzzled eyes.
I looked at Pina and asked.
"Do you know what this is?"
Shake shake—
"What do you think that crest is?"
Pina, who had been looking around, squatted down on the ground and scritch-scritch— wrote something.
[Isn't that... the crest of House Eustetia?]
"Right. It's the Eustetia crest. So, who do you think carved this crest?"
[I don't know.]
"Arisa. Arisa Eustetia."
An earthquake went through Pina's brown eyes.
[When you say Arisa, do you mean the Hero Arisa?]
"Yeah. That's right."
[Then is what's inside her treasure?]
Arisa's treasure, huh...
No, not that.
"It's not Arisa's treasure."
I shook my head.
"It's all mine."
"Hik."
Pina sucked in a startled breath.
I pulled Pina to her feet.
And I looked straight into her bright, sparkling eyes.
"Pina."
Tilt?
"Do you... know much about the Heroes who were active 400 years ago?"
Nod nod.
Pina, who nodded with her eyes sparkling, sat back down and wrote.
[I know them very well. I've read the fairy tales and novels, seen the plays and musicals, and visited the museums at least five times each. I love stories about the Heroes.]
"Hmm. Is that so. Alright, then... that, what was it. Hmm... Among the Hero Party, who did you like the most?"
Pina didn't hesitate.
[I like Arisa Eustetia the most!]
...Right. That's possible. Because, well... that chimpanzee, for one... left behind the most out of all of us, and the name Eustetia still... like this.
And it remains as a ducal house, after all.
Yeah. That's... entirely possible.
"Oh... really? Who's next?"
[I like Luna Sacred Pnasensia second!]
...Luna's a Saintess. I understand. Yeah.
"...Next?"
[I like Paulo Humble Frandis third!]
"God damn it."
"Hik!"
I sat down too and grabbed Pina's shoulders tightly with both hands.
"Ronan. What about Ronan? Ronan Luzarak?"
Pina, who had been trembling, wriggled and wrote wobbly letters on the ground.
[Ronan Luzarak is scary.]
[And personally, I don't really like him.]
"What the fuck?"
"Hik... hik. Hik..."
"Why is he scary? You've never even seen him."
She shook her head. I don't know what she meant by no. And it was already too late.
I snatched Pina's wrist and pressed it to the ground.
"Answer."
Her trembling fingers, pitifully shaking, quivered as she wrote.
[Iheardalotofstoriesthathe'sscary.]
Stories that he's scary?
"The spirits said that?"
Pina's eyes went wide.
But only for a moment—she wrapped her slender arms around her head and curled up her tail.
"Lift your head. I won't eat you."
Tremble tremble—
"If you don't lift your head right now, I really will eat you?"
Startled! Pina lifted her head, eyes brimming with tears, on the verge of crying.
"Why are you so scared?"
[I heard that if people find out I can see spirits, bad things will happen to me.]
"So you thought I was going to do bad things to you? I'm disappointed. I thought Pina and I were friends, but I guess Pina didn't think so?"
[That'snotitthisisjustlikeahabit]
The last letters were too scribbled to read, but I could feel Pina's desperate heart clearly.
"Anyway, answer me. Did the spirits really talk like that?"
[How? How did you know that I can talk to spirits?]
"I met Sparkle."
Tilt?
Ah, right. Pina doesn't know who Sparkle is.
"Uh, that... what was its name. Pl... Pl, what was it? Anyway, you know the one. The sparkling flying squirrel."
At the words "flying squirrel," Pina's body shook violently. And she leaned her face in close.
Her lips moved rapidly— saying something, but it was too fast to read.
"What?"
Only then did Pina seem to realize she had gotten excited. She took several breaths and wrote on the ground.
[You met the Light One?]
"What's this 'Light One' now...? Well... yeah. If the Light One you're talking about is that flying squirrel, then yes. I met it."
[May I ask what you talked about?]
"Hmm."
Unfortunately, I can't tell her the contents.
However.
"That Sparkle... the Light One asked me to make you stronger."
This much I can tell her.
[Strong...?]
"Yeah. It asked me to work you hard. So you don't go around getting beaten up."
[That benevolent Light One said that?]
Benevolent? That greasy little Sparkle?
How am I supposed to take this?
...Should I protect Pina's innocence?
That seems... like the right thing to do.
"...No, it said it a bit more gently. It asked me to take good care of you."
A brighter smile than ever before spread across Pina's face. Protecting her innocence... seems to have been the right call.
"Anyway, answer me now. Why is Ronan scary? What exactly did the spirits say?"
[I don't remember.]
Cold sweat ran down Pina's face.
"Pina."
"Hik... hik..."
"I may seem very docile, quiet, kind... and patient normally, but actually, I'm not."
Pina tilted her head.
And for a very brief moment—a very, very brief moment—she made a face that genuinely seemed to ask what the hell I was talking about.
...Why doesn't she get it.
I'm living my life exercising tremendous restraint right now.
Anyway.
"So, if you don't talk now, I'll make you talk by force. I know that method very well—I know a great many of them. So answer while I'm asking nicely. Why don't you like Ronan?"
Pina, who had started shedding tears, picked up a pebble and began to write.
*****
I made a resolution to rip Sparkle's neck off the next time I saw it, and stood before the door again.
Pina got up and followed me.
When I saw the words [I don't like Ronan], I almost smacked her without realizing it.
When she asked [Are we allowed to go in?], I naturally answered that of course they could.
When she asked [Are we allowed to take the things inside?], I again naturally answered that of course they could.
Even so, Pina still wore an anxious expression.
"Are there a lot of spirits around me?"
Nod nod—
"Alright. Then... let's go."
I walked, calming my inexplicably trembling heart.
Please open. Open. Open.
Don't let me be embarrassed. Don't let me get a headache.
Don't let the blood I shed fighting have been for nothing.
Like that, one step, two steps, three steps.
On the fourth step, I arrived right in front of the door.
No... reaction. Do I need to touch it?
I touched it. It was quiet. That... can't be right?
"...Did it break because it's old?"
I raised my Mana. No reaction.
I touched the cherry blossom crest. No reaction.
I punched it with all my strength. No reaction.
"O-open...!"
No reaction. My face felt hot.
Pina stared at me with puzzled eyes.
"The fuck. Why the hell won't it open?"
That moment.
THOOM—!
A massive sound, and an even more massive vibration, rang out before us.
"...What. Is it voice-activated?"
Leaving me dumbfounded behind, the door emitting a terrible vibration was slowly, steadily opening.
RRRUMBLE—!
It went on for a while.
Just when I thought, At this rate the whole world's going to notice us—
The vibration stopped, and a familiar scent wafted out.
In the past, it had been Arisa's scent.
Now, it was the scent of cherry blossoms.
A scent that couldn't help but be familiar to me, somehow, wafted out thickly.
"Hah..."
A laugh escaped on its own.
I couldn't tell whether that laugh was a bitter smile, a hollow laugh, a laugh full of rage, a happy laugh, or what.
But my body moved forward.
And the moment my feet touched the scent that was leading me—
"Whoa..."
"Hik!"
The location changed.
Pina and I were teleported to another place.
And the place we were teleported to was somewhere I knew. A place I had seen in the illusion, in the letter Arisa left behind.
Countless weapons were planted in the ground around a large boulder. Those weapons hadn't rusted. They were still in good condition. They couldn't help but be.
Heavenly Steel. Diamond Blood Ore. Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron. Darksteel Cold Iron. Etherium.
Weapons made of Divine Relics—materials that were hard to obtain even now, materials that might have vanished from this world entirely.
And with Kaloso's enchantments and Luna's blessings imbued in them, they had no choice but to be intact.
However, my eyes weren't on the weapons.
Step— step—
I walked with my gaze fixed on one place.
Leaving Pina, trembling and curling her tail, behind.
Past the weapons, past the Elixirs, the Elixirs, the ancient texts, the Artifacts that could no longer be obtained.
Past all of it, I headed toward one place.
A boulder. A stupid-looking boulder. Pointlessly large, hard, and ugly.
A gravestone.
I stopped in front of it.
Only then could I see the writing.
Crude and rough, but written by the one who wrote the best.
Neat, straight, and full of care.
Arisa Eustetia's handwriting.
[Ronan Luzarak]
[516.7.19 ~ 552.12.24]
There was nothing special written on the gravestone.
That was only natural. We had never thought about what to write on gravestones. Naturally, there were no wills either.
I slowly, quietly brushed my hand over it.
"What kind of rock is this... so damn hard."
It was cold. Naturally, no warmth remained.
It was rough. So rough you couldn't imagine carving it with bare hands.
It was heavy. I couldn't even fathom moving it.
"Really... if you're stupid, your body suffers. No wait, you... had the best body out of all of us, so I guess you didn't suffer much?"
Hehehe— laughter leaked out.
Like that, for a long while, in front of Ronan's gravestone.
In front of my gravestone, I laughed.
Pina cautiously approached me.
"How is it?"
Tilt?
"The grave... it's really pitiful and shabby. It smells, it's damp, it's dark, it's rough. There's no body under the gravestone—all that's left is just a name."
But.
"I like it. Very, very much."
Bright, round eyes. A face that didn't understand why I was muttering these things.
"A comrade of mine... no, a friend made this grave for me."
Toward that Pina, I spoke.
"This is my grave."
The one who killed the most Demons.
The one who cut off the heads of two Legion Commanders.
The one who ran ahead of everyone else.
And died like a fucking idiot.
"Ronan Luzarak."
Eliarnes Eustetia.
"I am the Reincarnation of Ronan Luzarak."