Chapter 195
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 195
Chapter Title: Glass Flower
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Ignoring all the context, I'd arrived straight at the goal.
Just like with Rike, I'd skipped every intermediate step to find this dungeon.
But I didn't even need to track down his unopened will.
Before he vanished at the end, the words he left while clapping my shoulder had left a deep impression.
"Unknown friend. Live happily."
During his lifetime.
When Morpheus returned after supporting the front lines and completing his mission,
the fief where his fiancée resided had been raided by the enemy kingdom, and no trace of Sophia could be found anywhere.
The flower he'd meant to show Sophia had completely withered and dried up.
Morpheus sank into a sorrow and melancholy unlike anything he'd ever known in his life.
The emotions strangling his neck, trying to drown him—they needed an outlet for his rage.
He simply slashed through enemies, again and again.
The members of the Maxima Knights followed him as if it were their own revenge, and with every front line they crossed, their numbers began to dwindle.
In the end, when he was left alone, the war had ended in a dramatic victory.
But with the front lines gone—no more outlet for his fury—Morpheus, holed up at home, came to a realization.
In his emotional rampage, he'd killed all the knights he cherished.
What of the families of those knights who had trusted and followed him? They would suffer the same vicious cycle because of him.
He donned his armor and took up his sword once more.
Clutching the withered flower to his chest, he set out on a path of atonement.
Even eating food felt like a luxury.
Without a single drop of water, he walked.
After meeting each of the knights' families one by one and begging forgiveness, Morpheus asked a back-alley mage to bury him alive in a deep pit.
"In a forest no one will ever find. In darkness where not a speck of light enters, rotting away... that is my fate."
A dungeon born from regrets and obsessions that had gathered and festered over endless time.
What he'd handed to Roman was the flower originally meant for Sophia's embrace.
The flower crafted from Morpheus's long-accumulated mental strength and mana had passed through Roman's hands to reach Chloe.
When she received it, it was a single bloom, hollow inside like glass.
Fill the stem with mana—the foundation of the world itself.
Fill the bud with blood symbolizing life, and it would be complete.
The mana and blood within maintain separate layers, never mixing.
The blood sloshes without coagulating, exuding an extraordinary aura.
Until it receives its own name, this child underwent special packaging.
Then, alongside Chloe's black brooch, it was set to guard her bosom.
And so.
On the way back, feeling empty, I bought a bouquet and gifted it to the three of them.
They were genuinely surprised and delighted.
Chloe, especially, shed tears.
There's no need for a special occasion to gift flowers.
Especially from the perspective of Empire men—flowers?
Something with no clear use, annoying to tend... it can feel like baggage rather than a gift.
But women's views differ.
Seeing them all smile from one bouquet, there was no reason not to buy more.
'Pretty.'
Their smiling faces were so beautiful, the flowers themselves faded from view.
Now, I could fully empathize with and understand the words and feelings he'd left at the end.
Life had pulled my mindset far from notions of good deeds.
But encountering someone with Morpheus's refreshingly straightforward nature made me think that acts of liberation weren't so bad after all.
Morpheus, freed from his shackles—his whereabouts can't be seen with the naked eye in reality.
In the game, the dungeon ends with an image of him reuniting with his knights and Sophia, tears streaming as he apologizes.
"...Hoo."
I'd savored those chest-stirring emotions for all they were worth.
Now it was time to lop off Leo Floyd's head and seriously ponder what to do with the remaining artificial demon flesh.
...
...
Three girls still lingering at the table long after lunch had ended.
Today, Rike and Chloe had rented a private room to treat Seria to a lavish feast.
Each had her own striking traits.
But the most attention-grabbing thing right now was how their expressions didn't match at all—each utterly unique.
The gray-haired girl kept her flushed face bowed low.
The black-haired girl dropped her bombshells with utter nonchalance.
And the moment her words ended,
the red-haired girl shook her head furiously in denial of reality, not even bothering to wipe the sauce from her mouth.
"L-Liar!!"
"...We told you because we didn't want to keep it hidden anymore. So why deny it so hard? It's not a bad thing."
Rike asked with a look of genuine bafflement, and Seria's mouth snapped shut.
"Still...!"
These two, who seemed to have zero interest in men.
Both of them, lovers of the same man?
Even plied with the most delicious food, it was far too massive a revelation for Seria to swallow on the spot.
If they thought she was that simple-minded, they'd be sorely mistaken!
'Skipping the academy back then... and buying that alcohol too?!'
Diligent Chloe, ditching academy without permission to travel alone with a man.
When Rike had mentioned it, Seria had naturally assumed it was with her sister, one of the Empire's Five Knights.
Good is good, after all.
Wanting her friends to be happy was only natural.
If Chloe and Rike were both happy, Seria would be content.
And yet.
This feeling—what was it? Like an egg adrift alone on the river?
'Hmm...'
She pictured him.
The instructor who held the bizarre dual role of Platinum adventurer and academy instructor.
Even from her sister's tales alone, he was peculiar in every way—and her own impressions matched.
Today,
Seria was feeling it firsthand: Platinum rank wasn't just about raw power, but all-around excellence.
'How?'
How had he made these two fall so utterly, helplessly in love? What on earth had he done?
She couldn't even ask her sister for answers. It was beyond imagination.
Even if Seria had some incredibly handsome guy's face and body, did she have the confidence to seduce these two? Absolutely not.
"Uh... then does Lady Eclair know?"
The sudden question made her head swivel toward Chloe,
who replied in a tiny voice, like an ant crawling.
"Y-Yes... we got her permission."
Permission from the Dreitna family head—the real power behind the house, known even to frontier nobles. Then everything was already set in motion.
'...!'
Come to think of it, would the two of them just up and leave the academy like this?
Seria's heart lurched.
"Th-then quitting the academy to get married or something?"
Even if Rike was an exception due to her complicated circumstances, common sense dictated otherwise.
The Dreitnas were hugely influential in the Empire.
For their second daughter to have a partner, wouldn't the family push for marriage right away?
The answer to that weighty question came not from Chloe, but from Rike.
"No. Marriage comes later, and even then, we'll keep attending the academy. Brother and sister both said to do whatever we want."
"Really?!"
"And even if we have a wedding together, the real important order comes first."
Rike sensually stroked her lean, flawless lower belly, and Seria blinked in bewilderment.
Reason be damned—even same-sex attraction aside.
Both Seria and Chloe gulped at the sight.
"..."
"The shop feels... a bit hotter!"
Only Chloe seemed to grasp Rike's implication.
She fanned her face furiously, trying to dispel the heat.
Sensing from the reaction that she shouldn't dig deeper, Seria slumped against her chair like a slime.
"If you're both happy, that's fine and all... but I was way too shocked. I'm drained..."
Chloe hurriedly pulled Seria upright before she could ooze right under the table.
Rike wouldn't tolerate such antics, and otherwise, the baron's daughter would end up rolling on the floor.
"S-Sorry! I thought it'd only get harder to say the longer we waited, but... yeah, too sudden, huh..."
"Chloe. Keep indulging her, and Seria just pushes further."
Rike was so utterly different with or without her brother around—Chloe still struggled to adjust.
"...On days like today, it's okay to indulge a little."
"Who says that out loud?"
As Seria, glued right to Chloe's side, protested, Rike calmly poured black tea into her cup.
"Hmph! Rike's so scary—perfect match for the practical combat instructor."
"I'll gladly take the compliment."
Rike sipped her milk tea nonchalantly, and Seria pouted harder, clinging even tighter to Chloe's arm.
"Chloe! Say something to Rike!"
"Y-Yes?! Ahaha..."
Chloe laughed awkwardly, but her mind wandered to a side of Rike that Seria didn't know.
How would Seria react to seeing Rike's coquettish, emotive side when she was with her brother?
Impossible to picture, which only made her more curious.
But it wasn't something to show Seria, so Chloe kept her mouth firmly shut.
Being snowed under with duties and events, unable to leave the capital—it had turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
"I'm so glad. You came back safe."
"Saintess niiim..."
How terrifying it must have been.
Even after thousands of bad reports, she could never get used to hearing ill tidings.
Before Atra became the Saintess,
from the same orphanage as a child, and always together in the Church afterward—when she said she wanted to be an adventurer, worry had always lingered.
In the end, the feared incident had happened, but the good news was that she'd been treated right away.
No major visible scars, and aftereffects would reveal themselves in time.
Even if any lingered, they wouldn't hinder daily life.
But her heart bore a massive wound from the fear—one that terror couldn't erase.
Seeing her bawl her eyes out, vowing to quit adventuring, brought relief... but no peace of mind.
"Still, using a high-quality potion for emergency treatment was fortunate."
Even though she could use holy magic, carrying expensive potions no less.
Atra had always seemed so childlike in her mind.
Yet she'd prepared countermeasures, approaching adventuring with true seriousness.
The little girl from the orphanage who sought only bread and snacks had grown this much—it was astonishing.
"Eek! Th-that... that potion..."
The nun, who had been sobbing endlessly, cut off abruptly. Clasping her hands and fidgeting, she seemed to have something to say.