Turning to Stone (4)
"Anyway, I've got a ton of things I want to say... but it'd probably be faster for this body of mine to turn completely to rock than to list them all out. So, I'll keep it brief."
I let out a small sigh and looked at Asterios.
"When did it start?"
"Pardon?"
"When did you start liking me?"
I hadn't picked up on any signs that Asterios was romantically interested in me at all... So when the heck did this begin? What was so appealing about a mysterious entity whose body looked like rocks haphazardly stacked together...?
"If you're asking when... well... I'm not entirely sure."
Asterios continued, his face troubled as if he truly didn't know.
"At first, you seemed like a moving boulder, which was a bit scary... But as time passed, I gradually came to know your kind side, Master. Your teachings were harsh, but the way you cared for a weary Vivi and me was so gentle. I think it started around then."
A somewhat vague answer. But even so... no matter how well I treated him, could someone really fall for a non-human like this? Why are humans so incomprehensible?
I can't understand it. I just can't.
I was originally human myself, yet I can't grasp human hearts. I have no idea. Really, no clue.
"I just can't wrap my head around it. Why on earth would you like me?... I'm not even human, I might not be able to fulfill any lover's duties properly, and having kids is out of the question. You must know I have no choice but to refuse."
Maybe if it were my true form, but with this rocky lump of a body? Absolutely impossible.
"Of course, I never thought you'd accept my feelings, Master. I just wanted to tell you. I didn't want to regret keeping them to myself."
Asterios gazed at me with earnest eyes. He was emperor now—he could have all the beauties he wanted—yet here he was, looking at me like that. Was there something wrong with his upbringing...?
I didn't remember teaching him to develop tastes like this.
Questions kept bubbling up, but time was short. On to the next.
"This ring... when did you prepare it?"
"Right after I ascended to the throne as emperor."
"Right after?"
Instead of stabilizing the country first, his priority was preparing a ring like this?
"I wanted to give it to you immediately... but I couldn't find one that fit your finger, so I went to Sirius and commissioned a dwarf master jeweler to make it custom. That's why it took a little time."
The ring, woven from intertwined gold and silver, held an emerald meticulously cut into an oval shape. To think he'd been preparing something like this... I thought he'd been swamped with work.
Hmm. Not doing his ruling duties!
Well, he had ruled competently after becoming emperor! He had stabilized the nation properly! If he'd put this much effort into governing instead, things might've stabilized even faster!
The ring on my finger was an open band, unconnected at the hoop, and larger than my rocky digit. Well, that made sense. For such a crude, thick finger, it'd have to be oversized.
Asterios touched the broken part of the ring and applied a gentle force. The separated hoop began to shrink, molding perfectly to my finger.
"Master, you don't have to accept my confession. Just knowing that I liked you—that I loved you—is enough."
Asterios's confession, laden with deep emotion, tugged at the heartstrings.
Hmm. If I were an ordinary human woman, I'd have fallen for it. But I'm not!!
"No, even so, liking a rock pile like this? That's not right. You need to find a good person and be happy, Asterios. Marry a fine woman as empress, have kids, and carry on the Romania Empire! That's your duty as emperor! Your happiness as emperor is an obligation, not a right!"
"Be happy? How can I, when you're not by my side?"
"No, seriously. Ugh..."
How on earth? This... shape like rocks clumsily piled up—how could anyone like it? If he'd seen my true form, maybe, since even I'd admit it's a beauty!
Sigh... How did he end up with such peculiar tastes...?
I sighed again. What a troublesome disciple.
Though I couldn't return his feelings.
"Sorry, but I really can't accept them."
"Master..."
"No, I'm not human, just a rock lump on its last legs—terminally timed out? Accepting your heart would only hurt you in the end?"
"It already hurts that you're refusing."
"No, that's not what I—!"
Asterios spoke playfully, as if deliberately lightening the mood. But the emotions hidden behind were profoundly complex.
"Seriously... I wanted our last moments to be a calm talk before parting. What is this, thanks to you?"
"I'm sorry, Master."
Asterios bowed his head deeply, unable to lift it at my words. He couldn't bear to look, it seemed.
But that wouldn't do.
A one-sided farewell would leave only pain. The proper goodbye was facing each other, leaving no regrets.
So.
"Asterios. Lift your head."
I looked at him and said,
"You're my proud disciple. Raise your head. Proudly. Confidently. Among all humans on this land, you're the finest."
Because he was emperor. Emperor above all under heaven. No one surpassed him.
"Master..."
"I'm leaving like this, but you must keep living on. So, forget about me."
"How could I? You're my benefactor, my master, the one I love—how could I forget?"
"Partings hurt. The pain lingers. But wounds from farewell heal bit by bit with time. Time is the ultimate remedy for such scars."
Tears had welled in Asterios's eyes. He couldn't hold back the overflowing sorrow.
"So even after I'm gone, live on. Be happy. Seize what you desire, revive this nation. And forget most memories of me. Knowing I lingered briefly in a corner of your heart is enough for me."
"......"
"Asterios. You can do it, right?"
"I don't know. How could I ever forget you?"
"Time will know the answer."
Asterios shook his head faintly at my words.
"I have no confidence. Imagining a world without you is torment enough—how can I endure it becoming reality? How long can I bear this pain? Breathing feels impossible without you. How could I live on, forgetting you?"
His voice, soaked in tears. Silently, I raised my hand and stroked his head.
"It's okay. You'll manage, Asterios... But if you lack faith in yourself."
I lowered my stroking hand slightly to pat his shoulder.
"Believe in me, not yourself."
"In you, Master?"
A line from some anime, spoken by a big bro figure comforting an insecure protagonist.
"Believe in the me who believes in you. Because I believe you can do it."
Asterios could... because he could.
With his long training transcending human limits... he could.
"It's fine. This body stops here, but I'll always be watching over you and Vivi. So keep moving forward. Be happy. Asterios."
Slowly, the rock stalled at my solar plexus began rising. It was truly... time.
"Master..."
"Don't cry, Asterios. Or you, Vivi."
Vivi, watching us from a short distance, was already sobbing.
I beckoned her lightly, and she hurried to my side.
"Where there's meeting, there's parting. Don't grieve too much, both of you."
"Thank you, Master. Everything... I'm just grateful..."
"M-Master... No, Mom..."
I embraced Asterios and Vivi briefly. Now, truly time to part.
"I'll give Asterios one last gift."
"Pardon?"
"The whole Romania Empire's facing famine headaches. As a final act... I'll solve that. This is my last gift to you."
Asterios couldn't fully raise his head at my words. Joy? Sorrow? Regret? Unclear. Emotions too tangled.
Vivi beside him pouted slightly... but eh. Trivial. Trivial.
Then, final farewells to both.
"I was happy to be your master."
With that, the sage quietly closed his eyes.
I felt the rock from my solar plexus spreading past my chest to throat and shoulders. Asterios and Vivi's sobs reached me. But it was fine. These two would manage. They'd find happiness without me.
And so I—no, the sage's body—fully turned to stone, immobile.
The Deep Forest Sage, now fully stone, moved no more.
At the same moment, the crude, rocky body began crumbling bit by bit. As if it could no longer maintain form.
The stone body started disintegrating. Asterios and Vivi rushed to do something, but the body's collapse outpaced them.
Amid faint dust, the rock pile shed its shell like bark.
Inside lay a stunning statue of a beautiful woman carved from pure white marble. As if that were the sage's true form.
On the statue's left ring finger gleamed only the emerald-adorned ring.
