episode_0117

Starting from the entrance of the mountain, follow the river up for 20 minutes. We were able to get to the middle of the river.

Originally, he would have arrived at his destination a long time ago, but due to the steep mountain terrain and the fact that Ceria might have washed up in the river, he was walking while carefully looking around, so he could only reach the middle stream.

Is Seria really alive? Or maybe he was caught by a griffon and killed. In the long run, it would be better to do the latter, but personally, I would prefer the former.

It’s not possessiveness. To be honest, everything in this world has no meaning if it dies and returns. There’s no need to even feel possessive.

This isn’t like possessiveness, it’s greed… … It will be close to Every time I see Seria, what I feel is not ‘I want this,’ but ‘It’s a waste to give it to someone else.’

okay. It’s not Ceria that I feel possessive about, but rather… … .

“… … .”

Again. It’s starting again.

Although I vowed never to break down, and resolved to survive by becoming a thoroughly evil person, even if I relax just a little, the dam collapses little by little.

Will I collapse first or will the world collapse first? dog sound. You can destroy the world, even today.

If Hermel is brainwashed like Serah, he can enjoy it to his heart’s content without worrying about such things.

‘Charles!’

But why? You can’t do that? No, why don’t you do it?

Have you still not come to your senses? Are you still expecting more after what happened to you? Do you think it will be different this time?

Fool. fool. You bastard. Do you think that other things will change just because the variable called Seria appears? Does the world seem more beautiful now that you have someone who loves you?

“Ha… … .”

I looked at the flowing blonde hair that was walking ahead of me for a long time, then quietly lowered my eyes and walked away.

I have to make plans for the future and face what’s happening right now, but that alone is confusing. My eyes keep wandering elsewhere. My thoughts are going crazy.

Even though I know I can’t do it, I end up wanting it. This is why I hated making precious things. This is why I didn’t want to open my heart.

Isn’t it like a small hole in a dam causing the dam to collapse?

“――Woman.”

As I silently watched my mind split into two and bite each other, I sighed inwardly and pushed away all the thoughts that came to mind.

I’ve had the feeling that this would happen since I started with Hermel, but it feels like it’s gotten especially worse these days.

It’s pathetic. really. As I sighed quietly and massaged my eyebrows, I heard the voice of a woman I had never heard right next to me.

“Princess Charlotte.”

“ugh.”

Because I had lost consciousness for a moment, I started shaking and looked to the side without realizing it, and my eyes met with a knight who was walking with a halberd draped over his shoulder.

It was a woman. That person.

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to surprise you… … .”

“No. are you okay. I was just surprised because I was distracted for a moment. therefore… … .”

The knight lifted his headplate and bowed lightly.

“Lemoir. It is called Lemore Elin.”

I gave a small smile to LeMoa, who bowed his head.

“It’s not Elin’s fault.”

“You can feel free to call me LeMoa. The princess’s status is much higher than ours, and she is the princess’s confidant.”

“Hehe, then I’ll just call you Lemoir. So, what did you call me for?”

She slightly lifted and lowered the halberd draped over her raised shoulder and smiled slightly.

“Except for me, this is my first time meeting someone who uses a halberd, and someone who uses a halberd in the body of a woman. So, despite being rude, I approached him first. Hehe… … .”

She scratched her exposed cheek as she removed the mask and smiled strangely, as if she had no shame.

“Ah. I think I understand that feeling. Polearm-type weapons are a bit difficult for women to use.”

“That’s right. I think this is because it is difficult to control the center of gravity compared to other cold weapons. what… … . In fact, the biggest reason is that there are few women who try to properly handle cold weapons.”

When I nodded at Lemoir’s words with a sigh, she smiled slightly when she saw my nod and looked at the halberd I was holding.

“Princess Charlotte, how long has it been since you trained your halberd?”

“Um… … . It’s been almost a year now.”

“You didn’t train for as long as you thought… … ?”

She blinked and looked at me as if she was surprised.

“Is there any problem?”

“Yes? Oh no. Not at all! Rather, I was just surprised that it was so perfect.”

“You haven’t even used the halberd yet, so how do you know?”

“Hehehe, I’m not bragging, but I’ve been training my halberd for 20 years. So, if you are an opponent holding a halberd, you can roughly tell what level the opponent is at without having to see him swing it. A body that does not shift its center of gravity while walking, a spear whose tip does not shake, and――”

After talking about the halberd for a while, she closed her mouth for a moment, then slowly lowered her faceplate.

“… … sorry. If I start talking about halberds, I can’t control myself.”

“Hehe, no. are you okay. Thanks to you, I feel a bit more relaxed.”

When I said this with a grin, she looked at me for a moment and touched the back of her head.

“You saw it all through.”

“Not all. I just felt that way as we talked.”

“Hehe… … . I still have a long way to go. Still, I’m glad you’re relieved.”

She bowed her head as if satisfied and took a step back, and at the same time, Hermel, who I thought had gone a long way ahead, came running towards me.

Oh, I didn’t retreat because the story was over. Hermel came and ran away.

It’s cute, but why is it running away?

‘Here we go again.’

As soon as I saw Hermel, I reflexively pushed the random thoughts that started to come to my mind to a corner.

Hermel ran to my side, took a quick look back, and stood next to me.

“What did you two talk about?”

“Huh?”

“No, well… … . I asked because the two of us wanted to talk about something interesting.”

Hermel said it as if it was no big deal, but he pouted his lips and looked the other way.

… … I had mixed emotions.

After a brief pause, I smiled slightly and lightly stroked Hermel’s head.

“I talk to Hermel every day, so please see me today.”

“Specifically! Not really… … . I’m not jealous.”

I smiled for a moment at the sight of Hermel speaking with a blushing face, but with a somewhat harsh feeling, I stopped walking and looked up at the sky.

“What’s wrong? Did you see anything?”

“No. Because I don’t feel good.”

I don’t really trust my senses, but it felt really bad.

Feeling like something was going to jump out at any moment, I looked up at the sky and saw a black shadow spinning in the distance.

It’s the same because it’s flying so high, and since the location is the location, it would be correct to assume that the shadow is that of a griffon.

But strangely enough, despite the bad feeling, there was only one shadow visible.

“Hey, can you see the shadow?”

“Yes. I see it.”

“It’s rare for a griffon to circle around in one place like that, right?”

“That’s right. Spinning around like that is usually done when hunting prey… … .”

When watching out for intruders.

“Personally, I wish it was the former. Because there’s a guy over there who says he’s Seria or something.”

“I was just thinking the same thing.”

This is the griffon’s nest. It is a ‘mountain range’ where griffons occupy a single mountain and live in groups, not individually.

In the former case, it’s a matter of moving quickly, rescuing Seria, and then taking out the one or two griffons that are chasing you, and that’s it.

What if it’s the latter?

We knew what terrible things would happen in the latter case, so we stopped moving for a moment and looked at the griffon’s condition.

――!!

With a tearing cry, the shadow of the griffon fell vertically. Fortunately, I found out that it wasn’t the worst.

Rather, it was the best situation. Because I was able to see where Seria was.

“Seria is there.”

“Yes. Let’s go.”

Since we had figured out Seria’s location and the Gryphon had started to move, we decided that we could not delay any longer and tried to go straight up the river.

But then.

“Wait! Stop for a moment!”

Carter, who was walking in front, suddenly stopped in his tracks and shouted.

“I guess I couldn’t avoid the worst situation.”

He said that and pulled out his sword, and I raised my head and looked up at the sky.

And there, there was the shadow of a griffon circling around us, flapping its large wings.

“One, two, three… … . shit. How many… … !”

That number is enough to fill the sky.

“Okay… … . There’s no way that one or the other will happen… … .”

Because this is not a game world.