Ch.175Chapter 175

“Hmm, this seems to be an accident…?”

The Princess seemed just as surprised as I was, speaking with an anxious voice.

Until now, I had thought this enormous thing was The Princess’s true form.

But an ice statue?

This means I’ve come all this way for nothing.

“Agharta. If you knew, why didn’t you tell me?”

Agharta had spoken so calmly, as if she already knew.

If that was the case, shouldn’t she have told me not to fly here in the first place?

In response to my words, Agharta rolled her eyes diagonally as if thinking about something, then returned them to normal before speaking.

“You had to come here anyway.”

“Anyway?”

“She’s inside this.”

Agharta exclaimed, pointing at the statue.

At those words, The Princess and I momentarily lost our balance and staggered.

Wait, then why did she make it sound like we weren’t supposed to be here?

I was terrified thinking we’d have to go around in circles again.

So, The Princess is inside this statue that looks completely impenetrable.

Oh.

Suddenly, the difficulty of our mission skyrocketed.

“Is there really no way to get through this?”

The Princess asked Agharta, who closed her eyes briefly before approaching me.

Her hand touched my chest and stopped there.

“Now it’s time for you to come out.”

“…”

After Agharta’s murmur, the energy inside my body suddenly began to surge violently.

I felt like needles were pricking my skin all over.

My strength seemed to be gradually draining.

The flow of blood circulating through my body seemed to slow down.

“L-light is coming from your body…”

As The Princess said, my body was emitting light so bright it hurt my own eyes.

A white light with a slight blue tint.

And gradually, my vision seemed to be transforming as well.

The beautiful cat-like Agharta was slowly changing into something grotesque with tentacles intertwined—

Thump.

Just before an indescribable emotion reached its peak, I felt someone touch my back, and the distorted view in front of me instantly returned to normal.

At the same time, the air that had felt cold despite my protective gear now felt warm, as if a barrier had been placed around me.

“Hmm, no. Raedan should only see good things, that’s not enough.”

Ah.

A familiar tone and voice reached my ears.

I slowly turned my head to the side.

White hair.

Blue eyes.

And features subtly resembling Agharta’s.

The person I had wanted to see most since regaining my memories was standing there.

“Our Raedan is so easily frightened.”

Oko smiled brightly at me.

As if the decade she had waited for me was nothing.

Despite not seeing each other for so long, it didn’t feel awkward at all.

“So? Was traveling to another universe an amazing experience?”

At Oko’s question, I forced a smile while letting my tears fall.

“No, it was the worst.”

I answered honestly.

At that, she just chuckled lightly.

#

“…Why did I completely forget until now?”

“Because Oko wanted it that way. She used a loophole. Erasing her own existence to temporarily remove evidence of interfering with humans. To prevent the anomalies that would occur because of it.”

The Princess tilted her head with a subtle expression of embarrassment.

Since it was Oko who had somewhat alleviated the empire’s near-collapse caused by Gaia’s schemes, she seemed to feel guilty about having forgotten her.

Regardless, Oko was staring at me uncomfortably.

While part of it seemed to be joy at seeing me after so long, it felt more like she was carefully examining me.

Frowning as she looked at me, Oko twisted her lips and slightly turned her head toward Agharta.

“So, who was it that replaced Raedan’s life force?”

“I҈̡͙͍͙͔̟̭̤͎̭͔͙̞̯͍z҉҇̾̂̿͑͒̓́͆̿͊͋̎̈̎͊͛b҉r҉̛̣̜͔͑͒̒͢ͅa S҉h҈̡͕͕̔͆͛͝e҈͖͍̬͙̣̣͎̓́̾̌͊̄̔̒̋nchits.”

“Ah, the one who turns suffering into power?”

“Yes.”

“So that’s why your hair is still white.”

Oko said that, looked me up and down once, and then stared directly into my eyes.

The closeness was uncomfortable, so I awkwardly averted my gaze.

“But why are your eyes orange?”

“Huh?”

“If you consumed that one, shouldn’t your eyes be red?”

“Ah, because Izmiya gave Raedan power. Maybe it’s mixed with yellow…”

“Izmiya? What are you talking about?”

At Oko’s question, Agharta opened her mouth as if she had said something wrong, then looked away.

No, that crazy deity.

How could she bring that up now!

“Agharta.”

“…”

“Stop pretending you don’t know and look at me.”

“Uwiu.”

Oko grabbed Agharta’s cheek and pulled it, forcing her to make eye contact.

“Thank you for doing something amazing, yes. Without you, we couldn’t have come this far.”

“…”

“But weren’t there a few things I specifically asked you to keep?”

Agharta held up three fingers.

“No matter what happens, don’t talk about Oko until Raedan regains his memories.”

“And?”

“If you can’t find a life force to replace Oko’s, urgently insert anyone nearby as a temporary measure.”

“…And?”

At Oko’s gaze, Agharta suddenly folded her last remaining finger and shifted her gaze elsewhere.

“Agharta!!”

“…”

“I told you the third thing was to make sure I didn’t get involved with other women!!!”

Now Oko was grabbing both of Agharta’s cheeks with both hands and stretching them like rubber.

“Ubwiu, it hurts.”

“How could you not keep the most important of the three things, you little brat!!!”

Seeing Oko now shaking Agharta’s cheeks back and forth, The Princess and I could only blink in surprise.

Then Oko’s gaze sharpened and turned to The Princess.

“Don’t tell me you too?”

“…”

“No, this isn’t right! You’re royalty!!”

…Oko’s wailing continued for a while.

#

“Give me a reason for saying ‘there was a purpose to all this.'”

“…You need to become close to form bonds.”

“Then why did you leave it alone until it got to that point?”

“That’s because the vice-captain there sent them separately…”

“Huh? That’s different from how you met Izmiya earlier. Did you meet someone else too?”

“O-Oko. Calm down for a moment.”

At my words, Oko’s eyes changed to a blue flame-like glow.

Though I felt intimidated by her tiger-like growling appearance, I had to say what needed to be said.

“J-just calm down… Let’s put out the urgent fire first before we move on, shall we?”

“Now the person who cheated on me is saying such things…!”

Thinking that Oko would continue whining if I left her alone, I quickly threw myself toward her.

Grab.

I embraced her, preventing her from saying anything more.

I felt her soft touch on every part of my skin that was in contact with her, but I tried hard to ignore that comforting sensation.

“R-Raedan?!”

“…I can’t do this for too long right now.”

And I quickly removed my arms.

Shocked by the sudden situation, Oko’s face turned completely red as she flailed her arms around.

“When this is all over, I’ll do it longer.”

Since I was targeting the fact that Oko cares for me too much, I honestly wasn’t sure if it would work or not…

“Hmm, right, we need to hurry. What are you all doing? We need to move quickly.”

Oh, well.

It worked.

Too effectively.

At Oko’s sudden change of attitude, both Agharta and The Princess looked at her with cold eyes.

While I understood her position, it was still absurd to see her so openly pleased.

Ah.

Those three just made eye contact with each other.

“Now we just need to get through here, right? Let’s go!”

Yes, they’re ignoring it.

As always, Oko was the best at being thick-skinned.

“Everyone, let’s go.”

Just as I said that and was about to move forward.

“Raedan, watch out…!”

With Agharta’s urgent voice, my body was pushed forward hard.

As I was being pushed, I turned my face back and saw a massive chunk of ice falling toward Agharta.

Ah.

“Agharta!!!”

#

“…”

Gaia was watching the actions of the Tanthyn family with cold eyes.

“You say you understand without me telling you? So that’s why you attacked?”

Gaia spoke to the woman behind her.

After hearing the woman’s words, Gaia clicked her tongue and shook her head.

“You should have just crushed them completely with a more severe attack. Instead of just tackling them like that.”

Despite being the one who froze the world, she’s hesitant about this?

Gaia sighed at the woman’s contradiction.

“They’ll be coming up soon. Get ready now.”

At Gaia’s words, the woman carefully nodded.

And slowly rose from her seat.

A pitch-black dress, skin so pale as if covered in ice.

And gray eyes that felt empty.

The culprit who froze this world, The Princess, rose from her seat.