Ch.170Demon God – 1

“I told you I’d definitely tell you next time when I sent you away back then. About what I promised to tell you.”

“Ah… right. Actually, I didn’t think much of it. Mira, you always seemed like you were hiding something. Not just from me, but from others too. I just figured this was another one of those times and let it go.”

“That’s right.”

I nodded without denying it.

“There was, there has been, and there still is. And there probably will be in the future. Are you resentful?”

Leona, who had been wearing a bitter smile, shook her head.

“No. Not at all. If you don’t want to talk about it, then you don’t. That’s the end of it. I have no intention of resenting you for not telling me things or for having secrets, Mira. Doesn’t everyone have a secret or two they want to keep? Including me.”

“Really? You have secrets too?”

“Of course I do. I’ll tell you when we become closer. Well… if you’re really curious, you could try to make our relationship deeper? I don’t think it would take you long.”

Leona twisted her body awkwardly, seemingly embarrassed by her own words. After a while, once her flushed cheeks returned to their normal color, she met my gaze again.

A bright smile appeared on her face instead of the bitter one from before.

“So, how much are you going to tell me?”

“That depends on how much you can trust me.”

“Everything.”

Her answer came immediately. There was no hesitation in her gaze directed at me or in the words she spoke.

“You trusted me first. You helped me get my head straight, you helped me adopt the proper mindset as a hero, and you helped me awaken the true power of the holy sword. After all you’ve done for me, Mira, how could I not trust you? If you told me to make a cake out of dirt, I could do it. So you can tell me anything.”

“Even if what I say is the complete opposite of what Aria says? Would you still believe me instead of her?”

“…”

Leona put on a surprised expression. Her lips moved several times, and unlike before, her voice sounded hesitant, having lost all confidence.

“Why are you suddenly saying that? You’re making me anxious.”

“I heard something from the Goddess. She told me not to trust a certain woman. In the end, I couldn’t hear who it was.”

“…You’re not suspecting that woman is Aria, are you?”

She seemed to have grasped the intention behind my words at once. Her voice sounded not just hesitant but downright gloomy.

It couldn’t be helped. After all, I was implying that I suspected her childhood friend, whom she had been closer to than anyone else since they were young. Being caught in the middle, she naturally felt conflicted.

“No. I wouldn’t go as far as suspicion. I don’t want to do that to either of you. There could be some other woman we don’t know about. But the reason the Goddess said such a thing is because ‘that woman’ is near me, and if I had to prioritize, Aria would be at the top of the list.”

“Why? You wouldn’t think that without a reason. Why is Aria first? In what way?”

Images of Aria acting differently than usual flashed through my mind. Like how she approached me close enough to deceive even my senses and spoke to me first, or how she momentarily showed me a grotesque smile that seemed about to tear.

And even how she confidently claimed our relationship was fate with a voice that bordered on madness.

None of these behaviors suited the Aria I knew in this world, nor Aria April, the character in the romance fantasy novel Laura wrote.

“I told you before that I don’t believe in fate. Remember?”

“Of course I remember. Aria was on the believing side, and I was similar to her. Is that why? Because your perspective on fate is different from hers? If that’s the only reason, maybe you should reconsider—”

“It’s not because of something that simple.”

Leona, who had been pleading almost desperately, stopped speaking. Her expression remained tense.

“…Then what is it?”

I leaned back against the sofa. Silence followed. This was the first time I was revealing secrets to someone from this world who wasn’t one of the four who shared my original world, so I needed to prepare myself mentally.

Going further from here would truly be irreversible. It meant Leona would become someone I not only could trust but someone I had to trust. This was a realm that even my parents in this world and Beatrice hadn’t reached yet.

“I… come from a very distant place.”

And the choice I made was to follow my intuition.

“How distant?”

“So far that neither you nor anyone else could even imagine. Perhaps so far that you might think I live in a completely different world from all of you.”

“But you’re from the Crate family—”

“This is related to my past. Not the Crate family, but my past as a person.”

Perhaps because this was the first time she’d heard about my past, Leona was focusing with all her senses, her gloomy expression from earlier completely gone.

“That’s also why I think it’s strange that Aria considers me her fate. I believe that’s absolutely impossible. Even if it’s a vague and dreamy concept like fate, it shouldn’t be possible. Such words shouldn’t even come up.”

“But… couldn’t she think it’s fate because you ended up meeting like this? Because you met despite it being impossible and something that shouldn’t happen?”

“How would she know if I never told her?”

I am a person who possessed this body, and regardless of how I view the people of this world, Aria is clearly a character from Laura’s novel.

A character in a novel feeling fate toward someone who possessed a body? It’s not an entirely absurd claim, but it’s also difficult to accept at face value.

There’s a big difference between me treating the people of this world as real and accepting such claims at face value.

“…”

Leona sat for a long time with a thoughtful expression before carefully opening her mouth to ask a question.

“I feel a bit awkward saying this, but why are you telling me all this? We’ve only known each other for half a year. O-of course, I’ve become really close to you in that half year too! But still… don’t you have that maid and others to confide in about such things?”

“Because someday, Leona, you’ll have to make a choice.”

Beatrice, Nika, and the Chairman are all people who are one step removed from Aria. Especially Beatrice, who doesn’t even appear in the original story, would have no connection with Aria if not for me.

But Leona was different. She would be by Aria’s side as well as mine. So eventually, she would have to decide her own path.

When she stands at that crossroads, choosing where to remain will be entirely her decision.

“…Ugh.”

Leona hung her head with a tearful expression. The thought of having to choose between Aria and me seemed unbearable to her.

“You don’t need to worry about it so seriously. I told you, I’m not trying to suspect Aria. I hope my thoughts are wrong too. The evidence is too flimsy. All I have is my intuition, and I couldn’t mention this to anyone but you. I can tell you this because it’s you, Leona.”

“I know. I know, but… just thinking about that possibility makes me…”

Leona, who had been muttering gloomily, suddenly raised her head as if she’d had a good idea.

“Then why don’t we just ask the Goddess who that woman is? The Goddess would know, right?”

“…Actually, I was going to tell you about that.”

I leaned back against the sofa again. This would be a story far more shocking than what I’d just shared. Seeing my attitude, Leona also tensed up.

I slowly opened my mouth.

“The Goddess is dead.”

Leona’s body froze. Her head moved stiffly like a rusty doll. Her lips trembled as she formed words.

“W-what… what are you saying…? The Goddess is dead?”

“It’s exactly as I said. Remember that incident a while back when the divine power disappeared and the holy sword went out? That happened because the Goddess died. Her last words were not to trust that woman. That’s why I couldn’t hear who that woman was.”

“That’s… impossible… it can’t be…”

Her golden eyes looked down at the holy sword, which was still emitting a clear light.

“Then what about the holy sword? Why is the holy sword fine now? Look! It’s back to normal now! And the Saint has regained her power too! Doesn’t that mean she died and came back to life?!”

I wish that were the case. But unfortunately, it wasn’t. The reason the priests can use divine power is because of my light spear. If the Goddess had truly been resurrected, she would have contacted me somehow.

What I aimed for was merely to alleviate confusion, not to restore divine power, so the recovery of the holy sword was unexpected.

“I completely understand. You must be confused. You have questions. I do too. I don’t know who killed the Goddess or what’s going on right now.”

“Then—”

“So. I plan to find out from now on.”

Leona staggered out of the Crown Prince’s room. It was a series of events too shocking to understand or accept.

‘I might have to choose between Mira and Aria?’

It was a terrifying thought. She’d rather cry.

Both were incredibly precious people to Leona. Aria went without saying, and Mira had completed Leona Brunhild as a hero in a way that even Aria couldn’t.

Especially Mira, who was precious in a different way. The thought of having to take sides between these two people made her think fighting the Demon Lord would be easier.

“What are you thinking about so seriously, Leona?”

“Hyaaaaaah?!”

Leona, who had been wiping her increasingly teary eyes with the back of her hand, jumped back at the familiar voice from beside her.

She turned to the side, clutching her pounding heart. There stood Aria, frozen with her arm outstretched. Her surprised expression was an added bonus.

“A-Aria? What brings you here? Weren’t you in the library?”

“I was, but you were taking so long that I came looking for you. When I asked where you were, they said you went to see Mira. So I came, but since it’s the Crown Prince’s room and your conversation didn’t seem to be over, I waited.”

“D-did you hear anything?”

“Hear what?”

Aria tilted her head innocently. It was a cuteness that transcended dimensions even to another woman’s eyes. Leona tried to calm her startled heart.

“…It’s nothing. Let’s go.”

“Okay.”

Aria, who was about to stand beside Leona with a bright smile, looked back.

“What about Mira? Is he staying in his room?”

“Y-yeah? Oh, yes. That’s right. He said he has some things to think about.”

“Is that so? That’s a shame. It would have been nice if he could come back with us.”

Leona watched Aria, who was clicking her tongue in disappointment, and tried to suppress her increasingly complicated thoughts.

Looking back now, it was quite strange.

Aria, who had disliked even approaching or speaking to men since childhood, not only initiated conversation with Mira but even approached him with unprecedented friendliness.

There was a justification for initiating conversation—as the second-ranked student, she wanted to know who the top-ranked student was—and her friendliness could be explained if she considered him her fate, but… Mira had said that such thinking itself was strange.

“Oh, by the way, Leona. I saw something interesting in the library.”

“Something interesting? What is it?”

While walking down the corridor, Aria turned to Leona with sparkling eyes.

“The divine power contained in the holy sword doesn’t just stay still but constantly circulates with its source. So, if you follow that circulation, you can find the source of the divine power. The imperial palace library has many rare books.”

“Circulation?”

Leona tilted her head. It was because this was the first time she’d heard of such a thing. Was there such a concept related to the holy sword?

“Aria, could you explain a bit more—”

“There you are, Hero!”

A Royal Guard running from far away interrupted her words. Leona swallowed what she was about to say due to his urgent appearance, and Aria stepped back a bit.

“What’s the matter?”

“The Succubus Queen staying in the imperial palace has brought other news.”

“Other news?”

“Yes. She says a voice echoed in the minds of all demon folk, saying that if they want to become the new owner of the demon sword, they must prove their power by killing humans.”

As Leona heard those words with her golden eyes, she saw Mira walking toward them with a hardened expression.