#094 Farewell
#094 Farewell
County of Odron, Regret Castle.
In the lord's office, a man and a woman stood facing each other.
"Are you going? I'll ask one last time. If you mean to change your mind, now is the time. I won't say anything like that."
The Count of Odron walked to the wall and took down a sword hanging there.
"You have already chosen your path as an adult, and you have even resolved to cast aside the very name Odron. I have no right to block your way. You raised yourself, and I did nothing to help you except bring you into this world."
At the Count of Odron's self-deprecating voice, Droniel could not say anything.
A child born out of wedlock.
No matter that she was a daughter, in any noble house, a family with a concubine's child was rarely harmonious.
"However, through what happened before, and through what has happened now, I have realized it. That you are my blood. I will not make excuses like saying it was for your sake. But know this one thing. Every time I think that you nearly died, my heart drops."
If the Holy Sword Village had not been attacked, if Droniel had not first asked him for help, then Droniel might well have met the same fate as the people of the Holy Sword Village.
"Honestly, I do not want to send you off. Now that a being called a Demon King has appeared, a Hero Party is, frankly, made up of people who go looking for places full of mortal danger. Day after day, I will worry and worry again that word of your death might reach me. So."
Shing.
The Count of Odron lifted the black sword from the wall, scabbard and all, and held it out to Droniel.
"I entrust this to you. This sword's name is 'Eiditimo.' It is an heirloom passed down through our House of Odron, and a famed blade named for the founder of our House of Odron from long ago, when it was still the House of 'Sadron.' As for this sword—"
"It's all right."
Droniel shook her head and stretched her hand out to the side.
Shring.
The brown mana surging from Droniel's hand clearly took the shape of a sword.
"......!!"
An Aura Blade.
Not simply layering Aura over a sword, but the ultimate realm of creating a sword from mana, from Aura alone, without any blade at all.
"...You have grown yet another step before I knew it."
"It's thanks to Lucius. And thanks to the Sage, and Rosemas, and... thanks to you as well, Father."
"...Father, you say. I have done nothing to play the role of a father to you, yet you keep calling me that."
"You played the role more than enough, Father. Because... you taught me the sword."
Droniel released the Aura Blade and bowed to the Count of Odron.
"Thanks to your sword, Father, I was able to earn the right to stand beside the person I love. I will definitely come back alive. On the day I return after finishing the journey... I won't come back alone, but as three."
"...Three?"
"Yes. So instead of worrying that you'll hear news of my death, you'd do better to worry about what to name your grandchild."
"...Ah."
The Count of Odron turned his body toward the wall.
His eyes were glistening with moisture.
"...Understood. May the blessings of the Azure Moon Goddess and the Red Moon Goddess be with you on your path. Hah. Truly... seeing this, you really do take after your mother."
"...Pardon?"
A story about her mother that she had never once heard before.
The Count of Odron wiped his eyes with his sleeve, then turned his head back with a serious face.
"Listen well, Droniel. Your mother was a maid of our house. She was older than me, and she was truly good at baking cream pies."
"......Why are you telling me about Mother now—"
"On the day my wife departed for the main house, I ate a cream pie your mother gave me and fell asleep. By the time I woke in the morning, everything was already over. And about three months later, she vanished."
"......."
Droniel turned pale.
"Do you understand, Droniel? Cream pie. I do not know whether it is a good idea to teach you your mother's method exactly as it was, but if you take after your mother, you will surely succeed. History has a way of repeating itself."
"No, I mean, Mother was a commoner...."
"Yes. She was a commoner."
The Count of Odron looked like he had many things to say in all sorts of ways, but he only smiled silently.
"The reason I banished you and your mother to the Holy Sword Village was to protect you both, mother and daughter."
"......."
* * *
"...What usually happens when a commoner lays hands on a noble?"
"What do you mean by lays hands on?"
"In any sense."
"Execution."
"...I see."
She had heard information that might be somewhat uncomfortable, but Droniel was parting from her father.
It was also time for me to say goodbye to the connections I had made here.
"Liliez Caesar Cross."
"Yes, Sage."
The blue-haired woman standing before me, Liliez, knelt before me.
"The one you should kneel to is the Azure Moon Goddess, not me."
"Even the Azure Moon Goddess would approve if I told her that I knelt before you, Sage, who follows her doctrine more faithfully than anyone. You made me stronger and broadened my horizons."
Liliez took my hand and kissed the back of it.
"I will not forget your grace, my lady. Though I am a Holy Knight, I am also a knight. As a knight, I will protect you."
"I already have a knight who protects me."
"That knight will not protect you all the way into the bath, will he?"
"Well, that is true."
Why was it, I wondered.
This feeling that, as someone who would come all the way into the bath to protect me, Lucius seemed safer than Liliez.
"Do not worry about the Church. If His Holiness the Pope and the old men of the Church say that the Sage must be taken into custody, I will bring out my Spirit Machine, wash their brains clean, and rush straight to where you are."
"Your position is...."
"Please accept this."
Liliez took something from her bosom and handed it to me.
"This is...?"
"It is a 'Mystic Droplet.' After awakening my Spirit Machine, I crystallized my mana into this, filled with the will to contain Celsius's power."
"...Thank you so much, Liliez."
I had been aiming for this anyway, so this worked out perfectly.
When I parted from Bareness, I had received a Mana Stone containing some of the Holy Sword's power, and now Liliez had gone and made one herself and handed it to me, so I could only be pleased.
"Since it contains my mana, it is blue, so it may not suit you very well, Sage, but...."
"No, Liliez."
Whoosh.
I grabbed Liliez's shoulders and drew in her mana.
"Now it suits me, doesn't it?"
The hair swaying before me began to take on blue rather than red, and Liliez looked up at me with a bright, smiling gaze.
"...Yes. It truly seems to suit you."
"Then put it on me yourself."
"...Pardon?"
"It's a necklace, isn't it? Since you went to the trouble of giving it to me, Liliez, you put it around my neck."
I handed the Mystic Droplet to Liliez, and Liliez nodded heavily and placed the Mystic Droplet around my neck.
"Sage."
Suddenly.
Liliez abruptly pulled me into her arms.
Because of the height difference, my face was buried in her chest, and Liliez held me fiercely against her, staying still.
"......If, by some chance, the Church turns you into an enemy—"
"Liliez, Commander of the Holy Knight Order of the Azure Moon Church."
I reminded her once again of her 'position.'
"Even if the Church becomes my enemy, do not forget that you are a Holy Sword Hero and the commander of the Holy Knight Order."
"Sage."
"It's all right. I am not putting distance between us, and please know that I have no intention of becoming hostile to the Church of the Azure Moon Goddess, nor do they have any reason to be hostile to me."
Now that I thought about it, even if she brought out her Spirit Machine, even if she knew the truth of five hundred years ago, they probably would not try to eliminate me.
"But if the Church does try to eliminate me. Then."
I pulled away from Liliez's embrace, took her hand, and placed it over my solar plexus.
"You kill me yourself. Liliez."
Toward the place where the necklace, the Mystic Droplet, hung down.
* * *
After everyone had finished their own farewells.
I gathered everyone for the sake of our coming journey.
"Arthur Lucius. Rosemas Tervation. Droniel Odron. And... Yan Diere."
Including myself, five people in all.
"From now on, we are going beyond the Great Ice Wall, to the northern snowfields."
To recall the reason we were going, Lucius had first suggested it.
"Lucius, explain."
"Yes. ...While I lent my body to you, Master, I was able to meet and speak with the one inside the Wind Holy Sword Ascalon. You said he is the personality of Ascalon, Master, and he said this to me."
Go to the Sky Island.
"The Sky Island... what is that?"
"It would be a name you're hearing for the first time in this era. Because it refers to a kingdom that existed five hundred years ago."
Beyond the edge of the northern continent.
A gigantic island floating in the sky.
"It's an island floating higher than even the clouds. They tore up an entire island with large-scale floatstone, raised it into the sky, and live there cut off from the surface."
"Um, does the Church perhaps...."
"We do know of it."
Saintess Yan nodded with a heavy face.
"But whether officially or unofficially, not once has anyone ever come down from the Sky Island."
"Truly not even once?"
"Yes. And no wonder. If people knew an island was floating in the sky, anyone would want to go see it at least once, and wouldn't the reverse be the same? But I have never heard of anyone coming or going from there."
"That's only natural. Because the Sky Island isn't just something that happens to be above the clouds."
And besides, it is not a place where people live.
"Pardon? But you said it was an island...."
"It's not an island. It's as broad and enormous as an island, but rather than an island, it's simply a massive facility."
This is why I dislike the personalities of the Holy Swords.
It would be nice if they would state things clearly, but they insist on talking in circles or using pedantic expressions to make people's heads spin.
"If you think about the present era, the expression 'Sky Island' sounds impressive, but to me, the word 'hangar' suits it better."
"A hangar...? What is that?"
"It's like a stable."
"......Um, I think we're going to need another long explanation. Sage, is this knowledge we're allowed to know?"
"Hmm... you might not know it?"
It is a word that only I, who know everything about the Holy Swords, can know.
"All of you only need to think about two things. One. The Portal that leads up to the Sky Island is at the northern end of the continent."
So the direction we need to go is north.
And.
"...In that hangar, it is sleeping."
I pointed alternately at Lucius and at the sky.
"The Spirit Machine that pairs with the Holy Sword, Ascalon."