I Will Confess to Her When I Go Home…!

Oriana knows what it feels like to have her blood run cold.

She’d felt it before, and frequently so recently.

The problem was that she had to feel it at this very moment, a moment of such joy…

“Tell me, Oriana. How long have you known?”

Alice asked with a smile.

What was the usual relationship between Alice and Oriana?

Boss and subordinate.

Senior and junior.

An exemplary senior, an outstanding newcomer becoming a rising star.

It could be defined so coldly and rigidly, but from Alice’s perspective, Oriana was someone who felt different.

The benefactor who picked Alice up from the scrap heap.

The person who showered a returnee with meaningless favors.

Although more exceptional than the average person, Alice, at the time she was picked up from the scrap heap, was a nobody.

In name, she was a special being called a returnee, but compared to Oriana, a First-Class Overseer of the Ark, she was no better than a beggar.

Oriana had called such a being special, said she had expectations, and directly extended a hand to Alice. Alice, taking that hand, received the Ultima returnee rank and, without stopping, achieved results and quickly rose to the position of Overseer.

Here lies the problem.

What exactly did Oriana see that made her consider Alice special, extend a hand to her, and open the path to success and Overseerdom?

“Actually, I thought it was strange from the beginning. I didn’t think Oriana was the type to give favors to just anyone. She’s kind, but she’s never been kind to anyone but me. She was so nice to me at the beginning, but it didn’t seem like she genuinely cared about me.”

“…That’s…”

Oriana had many excuses.

I’m also a First-Class Overseer, so I’m very busy.

I’ve never not worried about you.

However, Alice realized the former while working as an Overseer.

Overseers had a certain amount of veto power and discretion unless it was a calamity leading to the destruction of humanity.

All the missions Alice had taken on could have been avoided simply by stating that Alice didn’t want to do them, and Oriana, as a First-Class Overseer, could have made time much more easily and comfortably than Alice.

Look at her now.

The moment she heard that Alice was in danger, that an execution order had been issued, Oriana’s eyes went wild, and she immediately chased after her to the Enchantment of the Fallen layer, slaughtering all the executioners in the vicinity.

And how could she prove that she had never not worried?

Oriana is a separate individual from Rilstia Frostia, yet the same person.

She herself was confused about which came first, the chick or the egg, but at least when Oriana wasn’t looking at Alice, she was watching Alice through Rilstia’s eyes.

But how could she tell Alice this?

Either way, it was an own goal for Oriana, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to hide her secret from Alice.

“…”

“Ah, right. It’s hard to say.”

“Alice, this is…”

“It’s okay. Don’t say it.”

Alice waved her hand dismissively, as if she had no regrets, and then rummaged through the office cabinet with the mechanical tendril she pulled from her body.

“Still, you came a long way because you were worried about me, so would you like something to drink? Oriana, do you like instant coffee?”

“Alice, I…”

“It’s okay. It’s difficult to say, right? Then don’t say it.”

Oriana was taken aback by Alice’s unexpectedly cool attitude.

“Alice, aren’t you… aren’t you angry?”

“About what?”

“No, I’m currently…”

She thought Alice would ask more persistently.

She thought Alice would be angry and ask why she had hidden the truth.

People inherently harbor questions, doubts, and anger towards the act of hiding something from them.

Even if it’s in the best interest of the person involved, suspicion usually arises.

But Oriana felt suffocated by Alice giving up so easily.

“Well, if you just look at the facts, Oriana saved me, a stranger who fell into the Ark’s scrap heap. She opened the path to becoming an Overseer, and now she’s even come all the way here, choosing to oppose the central administration to protect me from an execution order, right?”

Alice, calmly listing the facts, thought.

What, there’s no real reason for me to suspect Oriana, is there?

Even if she’s hiding something from me, her goodwill is clear.

Besides, Oriana had already killed the eight administrators involved in the fix this ‘Roundtable’ from the central administration without a sound, so there’s no real reason for her to be at odds with the central administration.

“So, well… tell me if you want to tell me.”

“…Are you not bothered at all? I’m currently hiding the purpose of your existence…”

“Gasp, you were even hiding the purpose of my existence? Are you actually my creator or something?”

“…”

“I’m just kidding, lighten up. Actually, there’s still a child in my head saying, ‘Not yet,’ so I’m used to putting off the truth.”

【….】

Alice felt like not only Oriana but even Theresa’s expression was hardening.

Strange.

She hadn’t even seen Theresa’s face, but she could imagine Theresa’s stiff face, unable to speak and tightly pursing her lips.

According to Theresa herself, she was just a super-perfect AI auxiliary personality.

“Alice.”

“Yeah.”

“I have something to confess.”

“Gasp. Oriana, you had that kind of taste!?”

However, even at Alice’s joking words, Oriana’s face already showed a firm determination.

Noticing this, Alice let go of her playful expression and sighed.

While the tendril from Alice’s body rattled in the cabinet, making instant coffee, an awkward yet strange atmosphere flowed between Oriana and Alice.

“…Ahem, ah. Oriana, I’ve become incredibly strong, you know? I actually had an old body. It happened to be on the Enchantment of the Fallen layer where I came to do an Overseer mission… No, to be exact, my old body wasn’t on the Enchantment of the Fallen layer, but a part of the territory I used to rule before I became this body was here.”

“I know that the Demon King’s domain is here.”

“Oh, you knew?”

“…I didn’t know that your fusion ability would also apply to the Demon King’s domain, which is land and chaotic energy. Such chaotic energy is usually toxic even if absorbed by ordinary humans.”

“…”

Did I tell Oriana about fusion?

No, I said that Rilstia and Oriana were one and the same, right?

Then she might have seen it in the report I submitted to Rilstia or in my ability assessment documents… No, Oriana’s tone is as if she’s sure that my fusion ability can only absorb ‘normal life energy’?

“I know. I know almost everything about you.”

“…”

Oriana’s eyes, as she continued to speak, seemed somehow sinister.

No, not that they were actually sinister, but the shadows on her face gave off the atmosphere of someone who had spent a very dark and long time.

Those were the eyes of someone who would spend decades on a meaningless task, gnawing away at their life.

Meanwhile, Alice’s tendril brought the finished instant coffee.

Slightly sweet and moderately cheap taste.

Oriana could have used much more expensive, naturally produced coffee beans produced in the noble layer, but strangely, Oriana still preferred instant coffee.

Of course, Alice also preferred instant coffee.

Strangely, this kind of thing is much more delicious and sweet than fancy beans.

Why eat something that’s only bitter? It has to be moderately bitter and moderately sweet. It would be nice to add milk or cream too.

“I’ll enjoy it.”

“Yeah.”

-Slurp.

The two, who had been silent for a moment, slurped and drank the instant coffee from paper cups.

The sound of something being drunk filled the Enchantment of the Fallen Overseer’s office.

Because there was nothing else that could be called a sound.

“My name is Oriana Heilson.”

“Yeah.”

“And Rilstia Frostia is another me… or perhaps my split self.”

“Oriana said she doesn’t know which one is the main body, right?”

“…That’s right. Originally, we were one being, but the ability that Overseer Oriana has is artificial spirit creation. With the ability of artificial spirits, we create each other, and after a long time, when one dies, we create a new body with the artificial spirit creation ability that has been restored.”

“…Wow.”

In effect, it meant immortality.

Of course, it’s not true immortality.

When one body dies or reaches the end of its lifespan, she embarks on securing a new body through the artificial spirit creation ability.

“So, anyway, Oriana and Rilstia are the same person… Should I call you Riri?”

“…No. I’m Oriana, not Rilstia. I’m too old to be called by a cute nickname…”

“But you’re the same person, right? And Riri is also old, isn’t she? I heard that Riri was practically a founder of the Ark from the beginning?”

“No, that’s. It’s a bit complicated, but we’re the same yet different. The basic purpose is the same, but the personality, overall life, and existence are completely different.”

“Complicated.”

“It’s complicated and gives me a headache even when I think about it, so please understand. It’s okay to treat Oriana and Rilstia separately as you do now.”

“…Then where is Riri now?”

“Her head was cut off.”

“What.”

Alice’s face hardened at those words.

Only then was Alice able to hear from Oriana what had happened in the Ark Central Administration.

The eight administrators had heard the True Ancestor’s demand to offer Alice to her, and so those eight administrators, who were in charge of negotiating with calamities, decided to issue an execution order instead of handing Alice over.

They didn’t want to hand over a promising Overseer as a toy for the True Ancestor, so they issued an execution order.

Well, on the surface, they’re protecting human dignity or something, but from the moment they succumbed to the True Ancestor and gave what they shouldn’t have given, their cause was as good as nonexistent.

“Perhaps they didn’t want to handle you becoming a True Ancestor. The Primordial Calamity is showing genuine favor to you, so they probably intended to make you one of their own.”

“…Oh my god. Then Rilstia is…!”

“Ah, I’m here.”

[Hello! Alice!]

At that, Oriana gestured, and an artificial spirit appeared from the empty air.

It was a slightly unusual artificial spirit.

Overall, it looked like Rilstia’s blonde hair had grown, but it looked like a fetus that hadn’t even taken human form in its mother’s womb.

A blonde fetus floating in the air, it looked a bit like a horror movie.

Oriana made the fetus disappear again and sipped her coffee mix nonchalantly.

“As you can see, I’m fine.”

“…Oh my god.”

“I’m still regenerating, so I can’t say much. But don’t worry. It’s not the first or second time I’ve been assassinated or killed since the founding of the Ark.”

“…”

Alice felt like she knew a little bit about how Oriana and Rilstia had lived in this harsh and calamitous world.

“Then let’s see… Where should I start?”

“No, you really don’t have to tell me? I’m not ready to accept the truth yet…”

“I’m a hero.”

“?”

What the hell is a hero, you weeb.

Alice’s face contorted against her will.