Cartia (Finale)
A mountain of corpses blanketed the harsh wilderness.
A sea of blood soaked the hill they formed.
And overhead, a black sun—darkening by the moment—cast its light over that nightmarish mountain of corpses and sea of blood.
Leaving that impossible landscape behind, a pair of gently curved blue eyes looked at me.
“Just one left now, Noah.”
“...Yeah.”
I lowered my head and closed my eyes.
“I’ve done everything I can for now. What about you, Noah?”
“I’ve... finished as much as I could too.”
“I’m curious what you prepared... but since I won’t tell you mine, don’t tell me yours either.”
“...What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Wouldn’t it be more fun that way? Next time... next time we meet, we can talk about it as much as we want.”
“We could... talk all day even without that. What...”
A faintly trembling hand brushed the corner of my eye.
“Why are you crying like that? You’ll ruin that cute face of yours.”
Then she smiled softly and swept her hand over the greatsword lying discarded on the ground.
“When you take up Cartia’s greatsword, the feelings of this very moment will be passed on. So we have to spend happy times... we must.”
“That’s... really cruel. We don’t even know if I’ll be able to take it up or not.”
“Heh heh... It can’t be helped. You need to be feeling these emotions right now if they’re going to help even a little in the trial. And... if it’s a Noah who meets me early, you’ll be able to take it up without even needing the trial. I’m sure of it.”
In the brief silence that followed, I thought of the arrangements I had prepared.
The greatest branching points.
Among them, the trial I would face in the Sanctuary of Memory would be the most... important.
“I’ll have to believe that. This sword... is the most important key.”
I opened the eyes I had closed.
The familiar faces of those I had killed with my own hands came into view.
The ones I had killed, whose chests I had torn open, whose hearts I had pulled out.
“Just when I finally got to see, it’s such a shame.”
The hand that had always been warm cupped my chin and lifted it.
“I wanted Noah, at least, to see only good things. Hmm, as expected, the best thing to look at right now is my face. Go on, look as much as you want. I’ll even make whatever expression you like.”
A crack ran through Rubia’s ever-warm smile.
“It’s the last time, after all. Look until you’re sick of me. Ah... but if you do get sick of me I might get a little mad, so don’t get sick of me. Heh heh...”
Moisture gathered at the corners of those gently curved eyes.
“How do I look? I haven’t washed in a while... Am I still pretty?”
“Yeah... You’ve got a decadent kind of beauty now.”
“Ahaha, that’s a relief. Then, in Noah’s world... um, the game? You said it was a game, right? Between the me you saw there and the me you’re seeing now... who is prettier?”
“Both... Rubia is pretty either way.”
“Wow, you finally gave the right answer... You’ve grown a lot...”
“It’s the result of all that brainwashing. Pfft...”
The cracked smile shattered completely.
The droplets that had gathered in her eyes spilled over.
At the same time, Rubia’s arms pulled me into an embrace.
My blood-soaked clothes, my body, my hair—all of it soaked into Rubia.
“You don’t even stutter anymore, your voice is louder... and you can see. Really... really, only happy things should be left now.”
“I’m only good at talking to you, Rubia.”
“You don’t need to talk to anyone else. Don’t mix a single word with them. Only talk to me.”
“What, you want me to live as a loner?”
“You’ve lived just fine that way until now, haven’t you? Why act surprised all of a sudden.”
“That’s true... Pfft—”
“Oh my? If you laugh while crying, hair will grow on your butt.”
The vibration of Rubia’s giggling laughter transmitted straight through to me.
“Huh, you believe that nonsense?”
“What? You’re the one who said it first, Noah. Unbelievable.”
“That was just... just something I said. Um... but hey.”
“Yes?”
I gently pushed Rubia away and asked in a serious voice.
“If hair grows on my butt, will you hate me?”
“Pfft-hahaha! What are you even saying all of a sudden?”
“No, think about it. It’d look pretty ugly.”
“Not at all? Then, Noah, would you hate it if hair grew on my butt?”
Rubia, who had been laughing with her shoulders shaking, suddenly turned serious and cupped my face in her hands.
“I wouldn’t hate it. Hmm... but if that happens, I’d have to put hair-growth tonic on my butt too.”
“Whaaat?! Why would you do something so horrible?!”
“It’d be embarrassing if only you had hair on your butt, Rubia. If I’m embarrassed with you, it’ll be cut in half.”
“That... that is just... what kind of... ridiculous... nonsense... is that... You’re really... driving me crazy...”
Moisture crept into her faltering voice.
“It’s just... so completely Noah-like... an answer... It’s so lame...”
“...If you cry while laughing, you’ll grow horns.”
“That would... be a problem... Really... a problem... You can’t even shave horns... Heh heh...”
Rubia laughed as if she couldn’t believe it and pulled me into her arms once more.
At the same time, a shadow began to fall across the wilderness.
“Haa... Noah...”
“...Yeah.”
“I don’t want to hate you, Noah.”
“...You can’t.”
“I never want to forget... for the rest of my life.”
“You have to forget.”
Rubia’s trembling, the sound of her heart, her emotions—
I felt every last one of them clearly.
“Noah... if you could go back to the past... would you go?”
“Yeah. I would.”
“Even if it meant throwing away every moment we spent together?”
“...Yeah.”
“Even if we could never meet again... and couldn’t remember this time?”
“Yeah. If I could just save you, I’d do it no matter what.”
Rubia slowly pushed me away.
“Then... do you regret making this choice?”
“...Yeah. I regret it. If only you had never met me. Rubia, you at least would have been happy.”
Her once-radiant silver-white hair had, at some point, been dyed black.
“I don’t regret it.”
“...Rubia.”
“I was truly happy. The year we spent together... was the most precious time of my entire life. From the beginning until now... I’ve been happy without change.”
Rubia’s hand closed over mine.
“Noah.”
Her clear blue eyes gradually clouded, taking on a scarlet hue.
“I love you.”
The warm hand that had always stroked my hair.
The reliable hand that had held mine and led me forward.
The hand that had been my eyes.
The hand of the person I had loved.
“Forever.”
She drove my hand into her own heart.
Brilliant divine power erupted.
Dark-crimson godhood erupted.
I heard Lilith’s scream.
The despair of every person I had killed.
The results of every hypocrisy I had committed.
They became a wail of the dead and tore open the sky.
The laws that enforced order.
The principles that restrained balance.
The concepts that repeated the cycle of reincarnation.
The very foundation that sustained the world.
“I love you too, Rubia.”
The sensation of crushing Rubia’s heart.
The dense emotions that burst forth with it.
Sank deep into the greatsword.
[What the fuck.]
In the pitch-black darkness as usual, Rubia’s figure took shape.
My right hand gripped Cartia’s greatsword.
My left hand gripped my own greatsword.
Not hot and soft.
But cold and hard.
A familiar sensation.
[No, what the fuck... is this?]
I felt something sliding down my cheek.
I let go of Cartia’s greatsword and wiped it away.
Tears.
No, blood?
Why blood...?
[Hey... Priestess. Why’s this kid suddenly bawling? Huh? I’m the one who wants to cry right now!]
I couldn’t breathe.
Indescribable emotions.
Things I couldn’t understand.
Kept surging and blooming inside my chest.
Tap- tap-
“Noah.”
A soft warmth wrapped around my back.
“Ru... bia...”
[What the hell... Did it break from not being used for so long?]
Thud- thud- thud-
[Haa... No. It’s fine.]
Thud- thud- thwaaang-
“Are you okay?”
[Ah, yeah. The sword seems fine—]
“Lady Cartia, please be quiet for a moment.”
[...Fine.]
“Noah, are you okay?”
“...Y-yes.”
“Then turn around and hug me too.”
The arms that had been holding me tightly loosened a little.
“Hurry.”
Slowly, I turned my body toward Rubia.
“Why are you crying like that? You’ll ruin that cute face of yours.”
A warm hand brushed the corner of my eye.
Then she pulled me into a tight embrace once more.
I responded in kind, burying my face in Rubia’s chest.
Feeling the gentle strokes of Rubia’s hand, I slowly steadied my breathing.
[Still... there’s a proper adult right here. Aren’t you two being a bit much? I’m at least a thousand years older than you brats.]
“Pfft— heh heh... Ha, you’re a grandma...”
“Oh my? Didn’t they say if you laugh while crying, hair grows on your butt?”
“...N-no. I... I checked last time and it didn’t grow.”
[Well I’ll be damned.]
Thanks to Cartia chattering noisily beside us, the emotions that had been welling up settled down in no time.
What even was that...?
The moment I grabbed the sword, it felt like... like I had dreamed something.
I don’t know.
The more I thought about it, the more that horrible feeling rose up again...
I just wanted to stop thinking about it.
After my hiccuping body had completely calmed down, I slowly pulled away from Rubia.
“Are you okay now?”
“...Yes.”
[Yeah? Then try grabbing it again. Looks like it glitched out just now.]
“I-I don’t want to.”
[...Why?]
Cartia, who had been walking over with her own sword, made a flustered face.
Why...?
Hmm... I don’t know.
I just... just don’t want to grab it...
But...
Still, thanks to Cartia I calmed down quickly, so...
“Never mind... I-I’ll try grabbing it just once.”
“Will you be okay, Noah? It seems like... something’s not right.”
“Mm... I’m fine.”
[Good thinking. I fixed it for sure this time. You won’t be able to grab it now.]
Rubia snorted a laugh at Cartia, who was swaggering with pride.
“Rather than fixing it... you just beat it with your fists, didn’t you?”
[Yeah. That’s how we did it in my day.]
As if it were the most natural thing in the world, Cartia pounded her greatsword a few more times with a thud-thud, then planted it upright in the ground again.
[Alright, go for it.]
I nodded and walked toward the sword.
[Haa... Even I’m getting nervous.]
Cartia placed a hand on her flat chest and let out a deep breath.
“C-Cartia, why are you nervous...?”
[There’s a reason for that, brat. Come on, hurry up.]
“...Yes, Grandma.”
[Ha, Grandma?! I’m still thirty-five, you little shit!]
“Heehee...”
For some reason Cartia had become easier to deal with. I gave her a mischievous smile and reached for the hilt of the greatsword.
And then, just before my hand touched it.
Suddenly... a ridiculous question popped into my head.
“Um... Rubia.”
“Yes, Noah.”
“Hey... even if hair grows on my butt, you won’t hate me, right?”
“...What? Why all of a sudden... No, wait, um... if I have to answer.”
A bright, pure smile.
A dazzlingly radiant and piercingly painful emotion.
Turned toward me.
“Not at all. Then, Noah, would you hate it if hair grew on my butt?”
“Aha... No. If... if that happens.”
With footsteps that had grown light as air.
With a heart that had cleared completely.
I took hold of Cartia’s greatsword.
“I’ll put hair-growth tonic on my butt too.”
And drew it free.