Death Knight Erams (3)
The Death Knight and locust commander's assault plunged the Crimson Bandits' stronghold into chaos. Most of the residents failed to stop the mutated Corpse Locusts from taking them as hosts, and the village became little more than a den of zombies.
The one mercy was that Wifilud numbered among the vampires who had not lost their freedom.
"You did well."
"It was nothing."
Wifilud was dripping sweat, finally catching his breath.
"You okay?"
"I burned through too much mana."
He had every right to be exhausted. He'd called up every last spirit he had and single-handedly put down the riots breaking out all over town.
"I've got them tied down for now. What do you think?"
"Leave them like that."
Unlike the ordinary ones, the mutants wouldn't self-destruct even if their commander Liam died. Immobilizing them was the best they could do.
"So what now? There's no way to turn them back."
"Call the Hero party. Fast. The Sage will handle it."
Breni had created a spell that could peel the mutants off their hosts. For now, they had no choice but to borrow their precious dragon's power.
"Mander, I need a favor."
"Got it."
The mole vanished into the earth at once. Fetching them wouldn't take long. The Hero party was either in Serda or already heading this way to join up with the Guardian.
"We're done with the urgent stuff, right?"
"More or less."
"Go rest. You've been through enough."
"You too, Saintess. You look exhausted."
Even after a full hour, the wounds Liam had dealt still hadn't fully closed. She was short on Holy Power besides, and her legs were still shaking.
"You okay?"
"I was planning to take it easy for a while anyway."
She intended to do absolutely nothing and just let her body rest. Going forward, she probably needed to cut down on how often she fought. If she wanted to move in peak condition when it really counted, she had to stop throwing herself into every battle that came along.
"Then stay at our place. The boss got hit by the bugs too, so it's empty anyway."
Dwain had become a host as well. Without Wifilud, the Crimson Bandits would have been wiped out today.
"You did great. Keep protecting them just like this."
Wifilud smiled faintly and went back to work.
Now go inside and lie down.
She wanted to do exactly that. She just couldn't bring herself to.
"She's probably still pissed."
Well, you might be right about that.
She wanted to stay outside longer, but the fatigue had piled up too high. In the end she made herself walk, and stepped into the most intact house in the village.
The awkward atmosphere hit her the moment she walked in. Inside, a couple sat perched on a broad rock, facing each other without a word.
Eluke, wearing a frosty expression. Other World Liam, just watching her face for cues. They hadn't even shifted their postures since she'd left. How long were they going to sit there like that?
They didn't so much as pretend to welcome her, so she sat down against the opposite wall in silence.
The quiet dragged on. She considered just heading upstairs, then finally decided to step in.
"That's enough."
She didn't want to get involved, but this looked like it would still be going at dawn if she didn't.
"Can you talk to her for me?"
Intact Liam asked her to explain on his behalf, sending her a look full of desperate pleading.
"Do it yourself. And don't act like we're close."
She shut him down cold. There was no reason she had to help him. And she was feeling a little spiteful besides.
"Speak, then. I will listen."
Eluke finally opened her heart a crack and gave him a chance.
"This isn't fair."
But the first thing out of his mouth was an excuse.
"Are you saying you did nothing wrong?"
"Think about it. Wouldn't it be weird, having the current you and the old you in the same place?"
Even to Clitia, who had zero interest in romance, it was an obviously inappropriate blunder.
Eluke immediately got up and sat down beside her. Silence fell again.
"Hey. Let me ask you one thing."
She opened her mouth just enough to keep the atmosphere from curdling any further.
"Clitia talking casual with me? I love it."
"......"
The exact same reaction as their Liam. Whether he came back as an undead or went through an awakening, the essence never changed.
"Stop being annoying and explain in detail how you crossed over."
"I don't know the details either. Erin pulled it off with magic."
Up close, a faint purple glow unique to Erin's magic shimmered around his bracelet.
"Just tell me what you know."
"This really takes me back. Before she became Pope, she always talked rough. She did get gentler with me over time, though."
Clitia remembered those days too. The way he ignored what other people said and only talked about what he wanted was a perfect match.
"Just answer the question."
"I used an ancient holy relic to force a path open."
"You already said that."
"But I squeezed in through a gap in the world, so the side effects are pretty bad."
Of course crossing between parallel worlds wasn't going to be simple.
"Basically, my body's under a restriction."
"Bad enough that daily life is hard?"
"Pretty much. I guess it's because I'm someone who was never supposed to exist here."
The next words came after an oddly sheepish laugh.
"They say using mana shaves years off my life."
That was not something you said with a smile.
"Didn't you just burn a massive amount of it?"
"He was the kind of guy you had to put down in one shot, or he'd be dangerous."
He'd gone and done something completely reckless.
"You were determined to make me angry, I see."
Her voice rose, thick with a fury that was boiling over. Eluke couldn't take it. She stood up and walked out of the house.
The more I look at him, the more he's exactly like the old Liam.
What exactly was supposed to have changed? He'd gotten stronger, sure. His personality was the same.
"Should I have kept that to myself?"
"You should've just helped out instead of going all out."
If he'd simply lent a hand from the sidelines, they could have won easily enough. Clitia aside, Eluke had still had Holy Power to spare.
"Then you two might've gotten hurt."
"We can just heal it."
"Don't say stupid things."
Intact Liam's easygoing look vanished.
"You want me to stand there and watch someone fall into danger right in front of me? You might as well tell me to die."
A grave look. Pure, unadulterated sincerity, without a trace of pretense.
"I would've done the same thing even if it wasn't you two. Even if it was a complete stranger."
"......"
A hollow laugh slipped out of her on its own.
"What's wrong?"
"I'm just... deflated."
The hero's heart she'd so desperately wanted from Liam. It hadn't been impossible after all.
Her head drooped weakly. Facing the living proof of her own miserable failure, every kind of emotion crashed through her at once.
"How was I supposed to know you'd turn out noble?"
She should have beaten some sense into him. She'd felt this before, but today the regret welled up from somewhere especially deep.
"There's something I need to tell you."
When she lifted her head, she saw blue eyes that looked clearer than before.
"While I was traveling through a lot of worlds looking for our Clitia, I talked with other versions of myself more than a few times."
She focused quietly. She never expected to see Liam speaking carefully, considering the other person's feelings.
Her heart lurched like a ship hitting a storm.
"And in every world that won, one of our party members was cursed to become the Demon King."
A massive truth, crashing in all at once. She hadn't seen it coming, and she couldn't settle the turmoil in her chest.
"I think of the worlds connected by this ancient holy relic as a single tree."
That unfamiliar, warm way of speaking kept going.
"The branches split off in all kinds of directions, right? But the center is still the trunk."
"You're saying our world is the important one?"
"That's what I think. A trunk is nothing like a twig that snaps if you tap it."
He was clearly trying to comfort her. The far more likely explanation was that they were simply an outlier. Even if their world really was the center, her failure remained. Her companions still weren't coming back alive.
But the future was no longer dark. It had meaning now. It shone clearly.
If Selen and the rest of the Hero party kept building their strength and prepared a countermeasure for the curse, they could eliminate the Demon King completely — unlike every other world.
Hope had been born. Brighter than it had ever been.
"Feeling a bit better?"
"Thank you."
It had been surprisingly comforting. She felt a little bad comparing him to the half-and-half undead.
"Shouldn't you go outside?"
"Why?"
"You need to go talk her down."
As a way of paying him back, she decided to give him one piece of advice.
"She's probably waiting for you."
"You really do know her. I guess that's what being the same person gets you."
"Shut up and go already."
Intact Liam thanked her and went out to find Eluke.
The room was finally quiet. Without hesitation, she lay down on the floor.
Maybe she should just sleep like this. She closed her eyes, but her mind was too restless, so she opened them again.
Are you unwell?
"I just miss the kids."
The days ahead had brightened, but the past was still dark. What if even one of them had survived? They could have comforted each other. Shared the grief.
But the reality was just Liam, in that horrific state. The guilt of being the only one who lived. Years had passed, and it was still just as heavy.
"When your mind's a mess, sleep is the best medicine."
A deep voice rang out of nowhere. Sand leaked from the wall, swirled, and became a mole.
"Is eavesdropping a hobby of yours?"
"It's a habit."
He said it so shamelessly she couldn't even think of a comeback.
"What about the Hero party? Why are you still here?"
"I figured I didn't actually need to go myself. I sent another spirit."
So spirits had a class system too? Being high-rank meant you wouldn't get disrespected wherever you went, she supposed.
"So what do you want?"
"I made up my mind after hearing what you just said. I'm going to give you some important information."
The mole pressed his head against her as she lay there.
"There's an open secret that circulates among us spirits."
Words that sounded like sand sliding loose. She'd been listening halfheartedly — then bolted upright in shock.
"Is that true?"
"I figure it's okay to tell you. Think of it as a reward for putting your body on the line to protect Wifilud."
A huge grin spread across her face before she even knew it. For the first time in a long while, she felt happy even though she wasn't about to lose.
"You lost again."
The moment Liam opened his eyes, he was already in a foul mood.
"When can I start operating in my real body?"
"Control hasn't transferred yet. You're still bound."
A force that pinned his body rose from the magic circle on the floor. He knew it was necessary, but it was excessively uncomfortable.
"You're slow as hell. Strongest Lich, my ass."
"Just wait patiently. Kbalt is no slouch of a dark mage either."
A skull that didn't lose its composure even when being mocked. The Lich Remiraen sat in a wooden chair, leisurely reading a book.
"You were sharing my vision, right?"
"Of course."
"How was our Clitia?"
"Here we go again."
A thin voice muttered wearily from between the bones of the skull.
"She really did live up to being called a True Saintess."
"Right? And there were two of them."
He had no idea what had happened, but one thing was certain. Both of them had been breathtakingly beautiful.
"I just had a great idea. Hear me out."
His face, split down the middle, trembled with excitement.
"Once I can move in my real body, I'm going to kidnap the newly chosen Saintess and the regular nuns."
"And then?"
"I'll copy Clitia's looks and personality into every last one of them."
The real Clitia, captured, surrounded by countless fake Clitias. How wonderful would that be?
Liam was in the brightest mood he'd been in since coming back to life.
"That is a truly pathetic idea."
Remiraen closed his book and stood up.
"I'll start researching it at once."
The former Hero, Liam Erams. The Public Enemy Lich, Remiraen. The moment their true collaboration began.