episode_0215

“So…. Leon, please become strong enough to kill 『The Demonic Monster that Hides the Sun』. So that…, you can kill 『The Demonic Monster that Swallows the Sea』 that binds me. That is…, what I wish for.”

I couldn’t say anything to Leviah’s words.

Did Leviah already know what ‘that’ was, which was located under the royal capital?

And…, the fate and destiny that Leviah has….

“…Shall we go back?”

“Ah…. Yes. Let’s…, go.”

Leviah didn’t seem to want an immediate answer. She glanced at me, who couldn’t say anything in embarrassment, and then turned her body away.

Only then was I finally able to open my mouth.

Nothing happened while the two of us were returning.

Leviah didn’t say anything, and I had nothing to say here either.

That’s how we returned to the tall building in the center of Laphtia, where I first opened my eyes.

Of course, we didn’t meet anyone else until we got back here.

“Have you returned?”

“Yeah.”

As soon as we entered the building, a man with crimson purple hair came out to greet us, as if he knew we were coming.

Leviah lightly nodded, as if she didn’t care much about the man’s appearance.

Then, the man’s gaze shifted from Leviah to me.

“It’s not much to see, is it?”

“Ah…, well….”

“It’s okay. It’s been quite a while since this place became like this.”

He casually brushed off the meaningful story and looked back and forth between me and Leviah.

“Dinner is ready. You must be hungry, so let’s go have dinner. After dinner, I will guide you to the transfer gate.”

The food here wasn’t particularly special or anything.

Of course, most of them were things I had never seen before, but the taste was quite good, and after a simple meal, we headed to the transfer gate following the man’s guidance.

“This is the transfer gate?….”

“That’s right. It is one of the essences of Laphtia’s technology. By using coordinates that independently calculate the world, it calculates the coordinates of itself and the place you want to move to….”

“You don’t have to say unnecessary things.”

“Haha…. I guess being a technician is just my instinct….”

Leviah cut off the man’s long explanation of the transfer gate in advance and headed to a place full of devices I had never seen before.

“Leviah?”

“She is entering the coordinates to move to.”

“Ah…”

“It won’t take too long, but…. May I ask a favor of Leon in the meantime?”

A favor?

When I looked at the man at those words, he was looking at me with a serious expression.

Then he bowed his head slightly and said.

“Please, take good care of the princess.”

“P, princess?…. Leviah?”

“That’s right. She is the last remaining royal blood of Laphtia. At the same time…. She is also walking a dangerous path of fate.”

“A dangerous path of fate?”

Is it related to the fate and destiny that Leviah herself spoke of?

I glanced at Leviah.

It seemed that Leviah was still doing some more operations among the machinery.

“I’m sorry, but can you tell me? What is the dangerous path of fate….”

“That is….”

“All done.”

Leviah returned before the man could finish his sentence.

“Then I hope you have a good trip.”

The man took a step back, as if he couldn’t speak in front of Leviah, and said.

I had no choice but to give up on getting an answer, and stood side by side with Leviah at the transfer gate.

“I’ve set the transfer point to a location not far from the Holy Kingdom. It would be troublesome in many ways if we fell directly into the Holy Kingdom.”

“Okay. Let’s go.”

The Holy Kingdom.

It’s my first time actually going there.

Priests from the Holy Kingdom have visited our country several times, but I never thought I would go to the Holy Kingdom myself….

“I’ll activate it.”

“Okay.”

Like that, the legendary country sunk deep into the sea.

The story of Laphtia passed by like a fleeting thought….

[system : A large impact is detected from outside the mirror world.]

[system : The scenario of the character [Prince : Leon] has been abnormally interrupted.]

[system : Act 3 of the mirror world is abnormally terminated.]

Crackling

The sound of something breaking can be heard.

It was like the sound of a mirror cracking.

Crash!!

The mirror, with cracks forming at a rapid pace, was destined to shatter, as expected.

“!!”

The world is collapsing.

At the same time, extreme pain rushed into my head. It’s as if someone is forcibly stuffing information into my head.

I was a merchant.

I was a merchant who married a lovely wife and enjoyed a happy life.

But the disaster that appeared so suddenly took the lives of me and my wife in an instant.

I was an adventurer.

I was an adventurer who traveled around the world with my lover and colleague, doing mercenary work.

As an adventurer, I investigated the ‘Witch of the Snowy Mountains’ as my last request, and then I was killed by that witch who started the war.

I was….

“Kuh!….”

The pain in my head doesn’t go away.

But at the same time, the memories in my head are starting to be organized at a rapid pace.

“Damn it…. Don’t just slam the lives of four humans into my head all of a sudden….”

[Master!! Finally, my voice reaches you!!!]

I hear Machina’s voice.

Perhaps thanks to Machina’s voice, the headache that was tormenting me gradually disappeared.

Shachachang!!!

This world, which was reflecting a false world through a mirror, is beautifully shattered, revealing the most truthful appearance of this world at the same time.

Countless chains are stretched out, restricting one being.

A woman with beautiful appearance and purple hair.

“Tamiel….”

“Welcome. Prince. I waited too long and thought you would never come. I was almost jealous.”

Clang

As she moves, the chains that bind her collide, making a heavy metallic sound.

It seems her seal is still in place….

“Was that ridiculous play just now your doing?”

“Hmm~?”

Tamiel chuckled at my question.

It didn’t seem like she was sneering. She was really laughing because she was purely enjoying it.

I don’t know what’s so enjoyable.

“Half of it is my fault, but…. Half of it is the fault of the goddess who created this world, right?”

“What on earth does that mean?”

“Hmm~ You might know this, but this world is a space created by the goddess to seal me. And if someone tries to approach this world…, she will immediately try to exclude that being.”

Yeah. I understand that far.

The problem is, what does that have to do with this?

“What does stopping someone from approaching my seal have to do with me becoming ‘a being in your memory’?”

“It’s related. Anyone who tries to approach my seal is trapped in their own memories and repeats the same life. But as I have been sealed here for a long time, I can say that the seal has slightly changed? Instead of repeating life in the intruder’s memory, it might have changed to becoming a being in my memory?”

Tamiel tilts her head and answers.

“You’re not sure?”

“Well, I’ve been sealed here all along. I don’t know the details.”

“….”

It doesn’t seem like a lie…,

No, does it matter if it’s a lie or not? The purpose of coming here is….

“There’s only one reason I came here. You probably know it, right?”

“That’s right. To kill me, right?”

“That’s right. I’m glad you know.”

The wall of the mirror world blocking Tamiel’s seal is completely shattered, and there is no longer anything separating her and me.

I drew the Holy Sword and approached Tamiel.

Even seeing that, Tamiel was looking at me without any sense of crisis.

“Do you remember?”

“What?”

“About what I asked you when I first met you.”

“When we first met?….”

When I first met Tamiel….

Was it when we met in the Magic Kingdom? If that’s the case, then surely….

“Are you the prince or something? Is that what you’re talking about?”

“Yeah. That’s right. Are you…, the prince I’ve been waiting for?”

“…I’m not the prince in your memory.”

As I got closer to her, the fragrant scent of lavender filled the air.

At the same time, she was still looking at me.

There was no sign of resisting that appearance at all.

“…I’m trying to kill you, you know?”

“Yeah. It looks like it.”

“…But you’re not doing anything?”

“Well?….”

It’s definitely a life-or-death crisis, but she’s smiling brightly as if she doesn’t feel that danger at all.

Is there something I don’t know about?

‘Machina.’

[The seal seems to be working normally.]

‘….’

Then is it just a bluff?

“…Goodbye.”

“….”

Slash! Thud!!

I neatly beheaded Tamiel.

And Tamiel’s neatly severed head.

Her head rolled on the floor, her body slumped helplessly, and red blood poured out from her severed neck.

“Is she dead?”

So easily…. Does it end so anticlimactically?….

“Hero!”

“Leviah?”

And at that time, Leviah ran over, as if she had come to her senses.

Then, she saw Tamiel’s severed head and trembled.

“T, this is….”

“It’s a fragment of the Demon King, 『The Witch』 Tamiel.”

“Tamiel…. I see. The Hero has finally defeated the third fragment of the Demon King!”

“Yeah. That’s right, but….”

Something…. feels uneasy.

I can’t quite put my finger on it, but….

“Then let’s go back quickly. Everyone will be waiting in the original world.”

“That’s right, but….”

Is it okay to leave like this?

I look at Tamiel’s corpse, which is getting colder and colder with lingering feelings.

“Hero?”

“….”

Thinking about it….

I was given the role of ‘Prince’.

Leviah probably….

Was given the role of Tamiel before she became a ‘fragment of the Demon King’.

I don’t know why, but the play was forcibly cut off in the middle, and what was I like when I came here?

I had such confusion about my identity that I had a severe headache and didn’t know who I was. I barely managed to organize myself thanks to Machina’s voice….

“Leviah, you….”

Stab!!!

“Kuh!….”

“Really…. You’re always quick to notice, like always.”

A dagger made of divine power, already held by Leviah.

And that dagger was stabbing my side.

“You!….”

“Did you forget? The reason why this child was kidnapped in the Magic Kingdom. Or maybe you don’t know?….”

Leviah’s pupils had already turned into Tamiel’s purple pupils, not her own golden shining pupils.