Nothing came to mind.
Only a vague fear wrapped around my entire body.
What is this? No, seriously….what is this?
I have no idea…
“Um, what brings you here today…?”
“You’re so awkward.”
Well, it’s not like we’re close or anything, right?
To be honest, even that day was uncomfortable… We haven’t even seen each other that often.
“Today’s the requiem, isn’t it? You can’t skip out on a festival like this!”
“It’s not a festival. It’s more like a funeral… but, whatever.”
Anyway, I guess she didn’t come looking for me. What a relief.
“More importantly, how was it? My impersonation of Lobelia. Pretty close, right? Just covering my eyes makes us look similar, doesn’t it?”
“…I suppose so. But, um, where is the real Princess Lobelia?”
“She’s probably in the imperial capital around now.”
“Oh.”
So she didn’t actually do anything to Lobelia.
If she just came to enjoy the festival pretending to be her younger sister, that’s exactly the kind of thing Lapis would normally do.
Well, I guess she wouldn’t reveal her identity right off the bat.
Though the parts related to Ex Machina are unavoidable.
“By the way, honoring the souls of the dead… does something like that really hold any meaning?”
“…I’m not sure.”
What did she mean by that?
It’s hard to take her words at face value.
In the past, I would’ve just thought, “She’s got her head in the clouds and spouting nonsense again.”
But now that I’ve recently heard she might be something unidentifiable, every word she says feels heavy.
Possibly someone tied to dark magic.
And it’s someone like that asking about the meaning of “death”.
How am I supposed to answer that?
I didn’t know.
And I didn’t want to stir up trouble again with a careless response.
This wasn’t like the incident with Tillis or with Kult—
The situation was fundamentally different.
I knew nothing about First Princess Lapis.
Her goals, her beliefs….none of that has ever been revealed.
In this kind of situation, I can’t afford to run my mouth carelessly.
So I have to trust my instincts.
And right now, my instincts were telling me: “Don’t get involved with her.”
For someone like me, an ordinary guy just trying to survive, that’s the best option.
“People are afraid of death, aren’t they? Why do you think that is?”
“……”
“When you die, you just return to the cycle of reincarnation and start life over from the beginning.
And if you don’t like that, you can always come back to life using dark magic.”
A question filled with pure innocence.
Which was exactly why the thought was so chilling.
“Then why do people shun dark magic as something wicked?
Is it really so wrong to fear death and try to escape it?”
“……”
“Even if the body dies, the memories and soul remain the same. When someone on the brink of death comes back to life, people draw the line between ‘miracle’ and ‘abomination’ based on how fresh the body looks.”
At that moment, I understood.
Lapis.
Or rather, the monster once known as Naraka…
“Humans really are strange creatures.”
She had no intention of hiding her identity from me. Not even the slightest bit.
Lapis already knew.
She knew that I’d realized she wasn’t human.
Had she been eavesdropping?
Had she somehow picked up on a change that occurred overnight?
I felt like insects were crawling all over my skin.
“They fear mortality, yet deem immortality a curse. Is there any being more contradictory than that?”
None of her words registered in my ears anymore.
“Hmm?”
“Ah.”
And then our eyes met.
Even her mask couldn’t hide the depth in her gaze.
The moment I faced those eyes, eyes filled with an unfathomable abyss as if they could swallow me whole….
My mind went blank.
“Did I talk too much? It’s been so long since I opened up. I might’ve gotten a little carried away.”
“It’s… fine.”
A lie, through and through.
I couldn’t sense even the slightest emotion in her eyes.
Despite everything she had just said, despite all the pretense….there wasn’t a trace of feeling.
“Come to think of it, you said you had something to tell Lobelia, right?”
“……”
“What was it?”
…Is it okay to tell her?
Wait, doesn’t she already know?
If she’s aware that I’ve figured out her true identity, then she must also know about what happened with the Great Warrior, right?
Is this… some kind of test?
What does she plan to do with what I say?
“Hmm, is it difficult to answer?”
“Ah, no, it’s just that…”
“Well, I suppose it can’t be helped. Trying to eavesdrop on a romantic whisper between you and Lobelia would be terribly immature, after all.”
Lapis gently covered her mouth with a graceful smile, then stood up from her seat.
“Then I’ll go enjoy the rest of the festival. Looks like someone’s coming to find you soon anyway.”
“…What?”
One step, two steps.
Lapis walked a few paces and blended into the crowd.
I didn’t take my eyes off her for even a second, but when I finally snapped out of it, she was already gone.
“Huh…”
A brief sigh of relief escaped me.
“Boo!”
“Uwaaaaaah!!”
Someone suddenly shouted while tapping me lightly on the back.
Splat!
I’d completely lost strength in my body, so I collapsed right to the ground.
My heart felt like it had stopped.
God… this is just too much.
“Uh, um… Johan? Did I scare you? Was it because of me?”
“Yuna…?”
It was only then that I was able to see the person who had startled me from behind.
Yuna, dressed as a werewolf for the requiem festival, was frozen in the same pose she’d used to scare me.
She was the one who surprised me, but she ended up startled herself.
We had scared each other.
But before anything else…
“Wh-Where did you go! Damn it, I was seriously scared out of my mind! Some freakish mo-monster bastard came at me!”
It was a person.
Someone who could protect me had come.
That alone calmed me down.
Clinging half to Yuna, I cried like a mess.
“Ooh, ooh… There, there. That’s it, good. Good boy, okay? Were you scared?”
Yuna treated me like a child throwing a tantrum after seeing how pitiful I looked.
Still, I didn’t feel bad about it.
Maybe because she accepted me even in this state?
“You seem to have a thing for beastkin. All she did was put on some ears and you’re already clinging to her. No wonder that girl Ariel… Hmph. I’ll remember this.”
“…Can you just shut up and get lost?”
You damn bastard, Mephistopheles!
Can’t you read the room for once?
“Ugh.”
Still, thanks to him, I snapped out of it.
Just a moment ago, I’d been absolutely terrified.
I’ve felt fear before when I faced powerful people like Kult, Tillis, and Vidar….but today was different.
I had no idea what the other person was thinking and no way to respond.
I was just frozen, trembling in fear.
It was a level of terror that could make you lose your mind.
Yeah… That’s definitely something I should never get involved with.
“But Johan, what’s that in your hand?”
“Huh?”
Just as I finally managed to pull myself together and step away from Yuna,
She tilted her head and pointed at my right hand.
Was it because of the resonance I’d shared with Lapis?
My right hand, the one that held the Babel Gear, was clenched tightly into a fist.
“……”
And when I finally managed to open it,
I saw a crumpled piece of paper resting in my palm.
Hmm, I really don’t want to unfold this.
But regardless of my attempt to escape reality, the paper straightened itself out the moment I opened my hand.
– Then I’ll see you again next time, my lovely little brother.
I had no idea what that was supposed to mean.
Wasn’t this something Lapis gave me?
Or maybe I’d just happened to pick up someone else’s lost note by accident?
“What does it say?”
“Huh?”
“I’ve never seen writing like this before.”
“…Huh?”
Only then did I look down at the note again.
I had read it so naturally, but… this wasn’t a script from this world.
Nor was it from my previous life.
Letters I had never seen before….yet somehow, I could read them effortlessly.
“……”
I could feel my heart pounding.
A sensation like my head was being split in two.
Not pain, but mind…splitting apart.
A sign of thought splitting.
“Demon King…”
Lapis had said those words.
Not to me, but to another presence that existed inside my mind.
The reason I was able to read those letters was probably because of the influence of that someone within me.
“I really hate this.”
I stopped thinking at that point. I didn’t want to think anymore.
I was just sick of everything.
***
I spent some time enjoying a date with Yuna.
Only after I’d calmed down a bit was I able to really take in her appearance and it was nothing short of eye-catching.
She said earlier she was a werewolf, but aside from the wolf ears on her head, there wasn’t much else to it.
Well, to be precise, she was wearing a cape like a vampire, so the rest wasn’t really visible.
Now I’m curious what’s under that cape.
“You looked like you liked it.”
“Where did you hear that from?”
“Last time? Honestly, it’s no different from your subconscious telling me.”
“No.”
Is she talking about when we ended up in that strange world?
She still remembers that? And interprets it like that?
“Curious about what’s under the cape?”
“…No?”
“That was a slow answer. I’ll show you later, okay? I mean, I can’t just flash it in front of other people, right?”
What is under that cape, anyway?
Yuna’s ridiculously bold about things like this, so who knows.
“Wanna go to the room?”
“……”
Wait a minute, saying something like that in this context….doesn’t that sound way too suggestive?
Or… is it supposed to sound that way?
“…Forget it.”
“That one line sounds like you really thought it through. What a waste, huh?”
“I did not.”
Well, I had thought about it a bit.
I was planning to relax and not think about anything for a while starting today, but still….shouldn’t I take care of business first before having fun?
First things first, I need to meet Lobelia and pass on the Great Warrior’s message.
I mean, I may be heartless, but I’m not so far gone that I’d put off something that could cost hundreds and maybe even thousands of lives.
That said, it’s not like passing along the Great Warrior’s declaration is going to change much… probably.
While I was walking with Yuna for a while like that—
“Oh? You two on a date?”
“Your Highness Lobelia?”
I finally ran into Lobelia.
But how should I put it? She looked exactly like Lapis in disguise.
A mask covering her eyes and clothes that gave off a completely different vibe than usual.
“Is it really you, Your Highness?”
“Seeing as you didn’t recognize me, I guess the disguise isn’t that bad.”
“Well, uh… yeah. Let’s go with that.”
That unmistakable presence and slight carelessness Lapis could never imitate. This was definitely Lobelia.
“Johan, you look the same as always.”
“Yeah, well. Just didn’t feel like putting in the effort.”
“Very you. But Yuna, your outfit seems a bit… distracting.”
“Curious about what’s underneath?”
“…No?”
Wait, did I do that too?
Did I dodge the question that blatantly?
My face was suddenly burning for no reason.
“Ahem! Well, anyway, it’s good to see you living life normally.”
“Your Highness, I have something to report.”
“Is that so? As it happens, I had something to talk to you about as well. This works out nicely. Yuna, I’m sorry, but would you mind if I borrowed Johan for a bit?”
“Hmm, go ahead. Judging by his reaction earlier, it seems like it might be something important. Johan, I’ll wait for you in the room.”
“Th-The room?!”
“Yuna, when you say it like that, what am I supposed to think?”
“What’s so strange about it?”
Yuna stuck out her tongue with a playful grin, then darted off between the buildings like a cat.
“So, will you speak first, or shall I?”
“I’ll leave that to Your Highness.”
“Then let’s start with you. What did you want to tell me?”
***
I told Lobelia everything about my meeting with the Great Warrior and the declaration of war.
She pressed her forehead like she had a headache.
“I don’t even know what to do with this. Not only did he avoid giving a specific time and place, but there’s a chance the whole thing is a ruse.”
“Still, I think the declaration itself was sincere.”
“Probably. Lately, I’ve been hearing rumors about the barbarians even in the capital. I’d heard about it before, but it seems that Great Warrior fellow is more cunning than I expected.”
“Exactly.”
“Well, I’ll handle this matter. Or…do you want to help?”
“Not at all.”
“Good, that’s more like you, Johan. Just do as you always do. If I leave you be, you’ll end up getting involved and stirring up trouble on your own anyway, so there’s really nothing I need to assign you.”
“…What is that supposed to mean?”
When you say it like that, it sounds like I’m about to volunteer for a special operations unit in this war.
“I’ll let you reflect on your own actions so far for the meaning behind that. Now, it’s my turn to speak.”
“Seriously.”
Why is it that everyone around me seems to love cutting people off right before they say something important?
Can’t they just spit it out clearly?! Stop talking like it’s some big mystery!
“You’d better not use your awakened ability.”
“See? There it is again. That cryptic talk.”
“…Hmm?”
“Ah, no. Never mind.”
Ugh, I really need to be careful.
Maybe I should start speaking in cryptic half-phrases too from now on.
“Your Highness, you don’t need to know.”
“…Are you crazy?”
Wait, wasn’t that how this was supposed to go?
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