189. Revelation
189. Revelation
"It's been a while, Grand Duke Eustetia."
"As I said before, I am not a grand duke."
"How can the master of this beautiful land deny being a grand duke?"
"Because this beautiful duchy is an arrangement built by our great founder, who was a Hero. There is nothing in particular that my ancestors, myself included, accomplished."
"That is questionable. The Duke of Eustetia looks stronger and greater than the Grand Duke of van Chaser whom I, the Flame Emperor, once met."
"I appreciate the kind words, even if they are empty. But I believe being strong and great is separate from achieving great deeds."
"For someone of the Duke of Eustetia's caliber, a feat that would make even the Emperor shudder—"
"Enough. That story is best told where my daughter is not present."
"Hmm... Indeed, it is not a story for a child's ears. I, the Flame Emperor, misspoke."
I watched the conversation between the Flame Emperor, who had not a shred of tact, and my dad, who was completely different from when he was with me, and I read the room.
So what he'd said about having met her before, when he delivered Arisa's belongings, really had been true.
Dad, who had startled and shielded me, relaxed the moment he saw the Flame Emperor's face.
But Dad seemed not particularly pleased with the Flame Emperor. On the other hand, the Flame Emperor... maybe just because the name Eustetia was attached, she seemed to like Dad.
As expected, that Flame Emperor woman is a sucker who would've been getting scammed every other day if she weren't strong.
Good thing I'm here. Yep, absolutely.
"So, what business has brought the Flame Emperor to seek out my daughter?"
"Hmm... It seems I, the Flame Emperor, ought to speak with Eliarnes separately..."
The Flame Emperor trailed off, glancing at me.
"Haah... You came all the way here, so what's there to talk about separately? Just... just say it here."
"Hmm...? Is that all right?"
"It has to be."
"Could it be... you are still angry? I... I'm sorry. I, the Flame Emperor, was simply in a hurry..."
When the Flame Emperor lowered her head, Dad looked utterly shocked and glanced back and forth between me and her.
I let out a sigh and shook my head.
"It's fine. I'm the one who tears a wish voucher and summons you whenever I feel like it, aren't I? First, tell me what's going on. If you sent your spirit body all the way here, it must be urgent, right?"
At the words "wish voucher," Dad's mouth fell open.
And it seemed Dad was, in his own way, piecing together Fabiana's recent movements and the flow of events at the academy.
Since the Flame Emperor had already come this far, there was no hiding it anymore.
I just... only needed to somehow hide the process by which I'd gotten close to the Flame Emperor.
I'd told the Flame Emperor it was from books I'd read in the duchy... but there are no such books in the duchy.
Dad, Dad... from what Mom said, Dad also... seemed to know something.
But it still wasn't certain. And the Flame Emperor didn't know "me" at all, did she?
If the Flame Emperor were to learn that I am Ronan's Reincarnation.
-Among the Heroes, Ronan was the strongest.
-That's what it said in Arisa's memoirs, you know?
-No, it's not because I learned Ronan's techniques! Arisa said so. Don't you believe me? Are you saying you don't believe the memoirs Arisa left behind?
-Same with his face. Obviously Ronan was better-looking than Paulo that bas— that gentleman. His muscles were all chiseled too, huh? And he was this much taller.
-Portraits? Ahem... Kids these days just have weird eyes. Back then, that sort of... well, that, uh? Rough, a bit beastly? Hmm... wild! Right. Wild men like that were very popular. No, I mean, they were said to be popular.
-Anyway, Ronan was the absolute coolest. I will not accept rebuttals.
-Those fairy tales are all complete bullshit, you know? Don't you, Flame Emperor, also know they've been adapted to some degree? Would Arisa have done that because she liked Ronan? She just teased him every day... Anyway, it's not like that. It's all bullshit. Bullshit.
-Could romance possibly bloom inside that horrific Demon Realm? Kids these days turn everything into romance, romance. These brats are so well-fed and warm that they just spout nonsense. There was none of that.
-No, I'm a descendant of the Hero, so whose word are you going to trust? They call him the Calamity Star, you know? The Calamity Star. The Demons were all terrified of Ronan, I'm telling you.
-It was just like, uh? I... the moment they saw Ronan, they'd tremble and run without looking back. So obviously he was the strongest.
-It's not that his face was scary! No, what Demon in the whole world is scared of a human face? It's because he was just fucking strong!!
-Ugh, I don't know! Forget it! I'm not saying anything.
-...Arisa's belongings? Let me just take a little peek. Just looking. Really.
Really, really, truly horrible and painful things seem likely to happen.
So I need to extract only the main point as quickly as possible and send her back...
"Ah, right. Eliarnes. You said you would be going to the Holy Kingdom soon, did you not?"
"Yes. I think we'll depart in about fifteen days."
Originally, I'd planned to go to the Holy Kingdom as soon as vacation began.
But since we'd been given a whole extra month, I decided to rest well, prepare thoroughly, and then depart.
"Hmm... Fifteen days, fifteen days..."
"Why? What is it? Hurry up and get to the point."
The Flame Emperor, who had been deliberating with her arms crossed beneath her massive chest, looked straight at me.
"A revelation has descended from a great being."
"A great being? A revelation? To you, Flame Emperor?"
"Indeed. A revelation to me, the Flame Emperor... In truth, calling it a revelation is a bit ambiguous, but in any case, a revelation has descended upon me, the Flame Emperor."
"What... did you convert to the Holy Kingdom while we were apart? Is that why you became a priest?"
"Hmm, I have done no such thing. The only objects of faith for me, the Flame Emperor, are the Heroes of four hundred years ago. Beyond them, I hold faith in no one."
"Then what revelation are you talking about? Did you become a Hero or something?"
"How could a wretched being such as I, the Flame Emperor, presume to take the name of Hero? It is not that. I, the Flame Emperor, have practically been living in the Catacombs as of late. In the midst of that, through my ability, I heard a strange 'past.'"
"Heard? Didn't you say you could only see the past, not hear it?"
The Flame Emperor nodded with a moved expression.
"...You remembered something I said in passing... Truly, this must be what a friend is."
"Stop saying weird things. So what is it? Did you hear something like, 'Hi, I'm God'?"
"Ahem, as I said before, I, the Flame Emperor, have not a speck of faith in the heavens. But my faith in the great Heroes of four hundred years ago overflows."
"Which means..."
Dad, who had been listening to my conversation with the Flame Emperor, cautiously spoke up.
"A revelation from the Heroes of four hundred years ago has descended?"
I stared at Dad, thinking what absurd nonsense, and the Flame Emperor, sitting across from him, said.
"Correct."
She gave an even more absurd answer.
"Eliarnes. The Hero you said you respected and liked the most."
"...Huh?"
I stared at the Flame Emperor with my mouth hanging open.
"Ronan Luzarak."
A strange name came from the Flame Emperor's lips.
"It is his revelation."
...First, people I never taught went around calling themselves my disciples.
Now they're saying I delivered a revelation I never delivered.
There is no greater insult to the dead than this.
At this point, am I not Ronan?
Is there another Ronan?
Am I a mentally ill seventeen-year-old pretty girl?
No, that can't be.
I am Ronan's Reincarnation. It's certain.
Sparkle recognized me, and my feelings prove it.
Then what the hell is this?
The Sacred that delivered a revelation to the Holy Kingdom.
No, Luna Pnasensia. Is this that fox bitch's mischief? To summon me? Maybe she's worried I won't come to the Holy Kingdom?
"E-Eli respects and likes Ronan the most...?"
As I clutched my throbbing head, this time Dad's face twisted.
"I-I cannot permit it."
"...Permit?"
"No, that kind of style is too much of a punk bastard... I mean, hmm... isn't he rough? I... this dad of yours, you see? I would like our daughter to meet someone a bit more caring and kind and... a bit more... someone who can make Eli happy. That kind of... that kind of violent, no, that kind of... rough person... Dad cannot permit it. Even in death, I cannot permit that kind of man."
"What are you... No, first of all, as I said before, I have no intention of dating. I'm going to live with Mom and Dad forever."
"Wh-what... Eli...! Ugh..."
I scowled at Dad, who suddenly clutched his chest and turned his head away, and pursed my lips.
Dating, what nonsense. No, wait, hadn't Dad already roughly figured out that I'm Ronan's Reincarnation? From what Mom said, that was the feeling I got?
...No way, could he be thinking not that I'm Ronan's Reincarnation, but... Arisa's Reincarnation or something...?
But what did I even do?
Punk bastard? Rough? Violent??
What kind of person is that? What did I even do??
No, no, no.
That's not what's important right now.
"What revelation came down? Did Ronan... did he personally deliver a revelation? Did you hear a voice?"
"It was not Ronan's voice. That I can say with certainty. Although I, the Flame Emperor, have never heard Ronan's voice, it was definitely not Ronan's voice. That voice was... woman, man, child, elder... all human voices mixed together."
"Then what makes it Ronan's revelation?"
"The voice said that Ronan's soul could not enter heaven and is wandering the world."
Heaven? I don't know whether that exists or not, but I didn't die and go to the afterlife. I was reborn as a goddamn pink-haired pretty girl.
"And then?"
"It said it was hearing that valiant soul's voice and relaying it to me."
On the Flame Emperor's face, negative emotions like anguish, anger, resentment, impatience, and confusion were mixed with.
Faintly visible positive emotions like excitement, anticipation, hope, and so on.
And among all those many emotions, the greatest was, as expected, curiosity.
"What did it say?"
"There were two things in total."
The Flame Emperor leaned her upper body forward and extended her index finger.
"The lambs who have forgotten history and could enter neither heaven nor hell shall witness the light of the Calamity Star within the flames of Purgatory."
I stared blankly, mouth agape.
"Hmm... And the next revelation—the tone was different when this one was delivered. 'The thing you never once used in your entire life has fallen and become a lovely cherry blossom. I can't even laugh.' It... said that."
"...Ha."
A hollow breath escaped my gaping mouth.
I repeated the Flame Emperor's words once more.
'The thing you never once used in your entire life has fallen and become a lovely cherry blossom. I can't even laugh.'
I can almost hear Luna's voice.
I can almost hear that mocking laugh.
The body temperature slightly lower than an ordinary person's, the fox-like eye-smile, the rosary that jingled from her shoulder, the hair and eyes as white as first snow.
It felt as though she had taken one step closer to me.
It's certain. This is a revelation Luna left behind.
Calling it a revelation is laughable. It's just nonsense dressed up in fancy packaging.
So now there's no denying it.
Luna knows about my Reincarnation.
How does she know?
Well, the reason doesn't matter.
I just need to meet her and ask directly.
The Holy Kingdom.
There, Luna is waiting for me.