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Chapter : 22
Atrisha came trudging over.
But she stopped at a distance of about two meters from us.
She dragged over a chair nearly as big as her own body, groaning as she pulled it along, and then sat down on it.
Seeing how clearly she was keeping her distance, Arwen spoke up.
“Uh, it’s fine if you sit with us. Come on over.”
“No. Don’t pretend we’re close.”
“Wow…….”
Arwen had probably never been treated like this in her life.
And this eccentric saint seemed positively delighted by that fact, her eyes shining.
Chris spoke in a placating tone.
“I’ll handle this. Saint—”
“Don’t call me a saint. And what difference does it make if you’re Chris?”
“Well, you see, I happen to be the most handsome among us.”
“…….”
“Come on, kid. No need to be scared—come over here. We’re good people.”
Atrisha’s reaction was even worse than with Arwen.
She didn’t respond at all.
She shot Renel a brief glance, then turned her gaze to me.
“So you’re the leader of this party, mister?”
“Yeah.”
“How did you get here?”
“On foot.”
“I mean how did you survive getting in?”
“That person over there is pretty exceptional. She put a blessing on us that nullifies authority.”
At that moment, a spark flashed in Atrisha’s eyes.
Because her pupils were pitch-black, that light felt all the more dazzling.
“What does that woman do?”
“I’m a saint.”
“I wasn’t asking you.”
“Woooow. Hehe.”
“Mister, isn’t that woman kind of crazy?”
I shrugged.
Before the regression or now, she only ever wanted to talk to me. Some things never change.
“As you just heard, she’s a saint. Her name is Arwen Wagner. This mage here is Renel Brighton, and the assassin—”
“I’m a knight.”
“The knight is Chris Christine. Or do you prefer Pristine?”
“Either is fine……”
“Chris Christine. And I’m Dial Magnus, the leader of this party.”
After the introductions, I folded my arms.
“So, what do you want with us?”
“Nothing in particular. I was just curious because some lively humans showed up here.”
“What are you doing in this territory?”
“Work? Nothing special. That sort of thing doesn’t matter.”
The light faded from Atrisha’s eyes.
For some reason, I found that deeply regrettable.
She pulled one foot up onto the chair and hugged her legs with both arms.
“There’s no need to eat or drink here. People swallowed by the Demon King’s authority stay healthy without consuming nutrients. Naturally, there’s no need to work either.”
“But everyone seemed to be working fine. Farmers farm, innkeepers run inns.”
“Their bodies just move on their own. The Demon King probably arranged things so the territory would keep functioning.”
“The Demon King of Immortality did that? Why would he bother?”
“If you put it that way, why did the Demon King swallow our territory in the first place? Three hundred years ago it was doing fairly well, but it was still just one human territory. Isn’t it exhausting to question each of the Demon King’s schemes one by one?”
Sway, sway.
Atrisha rocked back and forth on her chair as she continued.
“I have a question too. Mister, are you strong?”
The answer came from Renel.
“He is. Strong enough to shatter stars.”
“I wasn’t asking you.”
“Wow…… I know I’ve never been big on manners, but you’re one arrogant little brat.”
“Hey.”
“Hey? Hey? Hey?”
“How old do you think I am?”
Renel clamped his mouth shut.
Arwen asked cautiously.
“Just to be sure… since the Kamum territory was cut off from the continent—”
“Not a single child has been born. For the first few decades, everyone tried hard to reproduce, but no children came.”
“Re, reproduce—no, more importantly, why didn’t they?”
“Why don’t you ask the Demon King of Immortality? I guess he didn’t want humans to have descendants.”
This time it was Chris’s turn.
Looking oddly flustered, he spoke.
“I—I was raised in a rather strict household regarding manners, so I’ll ask carefully.”
“…….”
“May I ask how old you are?”
“Pfft.”
Atrisha laughed.
It was so brief and small it was closer to a snort than a laugh.
Yet seeing her smile made all of us smile unconsciously.
Noticing our expressions, Atrisha quickly smoothed her mouth, erased the trace of laughter, and replied in a flat tone.
“Three hundred thirteen.”
“…….”
“To be honest, I’m not sure exactly. I was thirteen when the Demon King of Immortality took this land, and I haven’t aged since. At some point I stopped counting the years.”
None of us dared to speak.
Atrisha had spent over three hundred years in this trapped land, neither aging nor dying.
Her parents, relatives, and friends had all become the Demon King’s puppets, one by one.
Their bodies still existed right beside her, yet conversation or interaction was impossible.
Alone in this land, Atrisha was the only one who retained her sanity.
How long had this 313-year-old child fought boredom and loneliness by herself?
Now I understood why, before the regression, she had made that request of me.
Then Atrisha looked at me.
With an expression that seemed almost desperate, she spoke.
“I don’t know what it means to shatter stars, but I can tell you’re strong.”
“…….”
“I have a request.”
I answered firmly.
“No.”
“I haven’t even said it yet.”
“I know what you’re going to say.”
“Heh… that’s funny. What do you think I’m going to ask?”
After a brief silence, I said,
“You’re going to ask me to kill you.”
Atrisha’s gaze wavered.
After remaining silent for a while, Atrisha spoke.
“I don’t know how you knew… but the reason doesn’t matter. Hurry up and kill me.”
“Why not join our party?”
“What kind of nonsense is that? Are you listening to me?”
“If you come with us, we’ll eventually kill the Demon King of Immortality.”
“So what? You think I want revenge?”
“You don’t?”
“I’m too old and tired to care about things like that.”
The corners of the party members’ mouths twitched.
Seeing them barely holding back laughter, Atrisha said,
“You can laugh if you want.”
“Hahaha!”
“S-Saint Arwen! You really shouldn’t laugh—she’s far older than us!”
“It’s a relief you laughed first. Now it won’t show when I laugh too, right?”
“You guys are seriously annoying……”
Atrisha looked irritated, and I found that oddly fascinating.
Before the regression, she rarely showed any change in expression.
At least, that’s what the party members had told me countless times.
Then Atrisha continued.
“That woman calling herself a saint probably thinks I’m just a kid acting like I’ve lived through everything, but I’m serious.”
“Kuh—cough. I’m sorry.”
“Too late, you damn woman.”
“Hehe. ‘Damn woman,’ she says.”
“Crazy.”
Atrisha turned her gaze to me.
“Even today, my mom is probably doing laundry somewhere, my dad is farming, and my little sibling is reading a picture book. They’ve been repeating the same things for three hundred years.”
“…….”
“No matter how much I talk to them or get in their way, there’s no response. Their eyes don’t reflect me at all.”
“…….”
“My family is already dead. Th-th-they’re n-not my family anymore.”
For the first time in a while, I heard Quadwrangle’s voice.
‘Did she say… “They’re not my family anymore”…?’
The fact that it came through in Quadwrangle’s voice meant she still considered them precious family.
Bitterness filled my mouth.
Then Atrisha continued.
“If they’re not my family, there’s no reason to seek revenge, right? I just…”
She let out a deep sigh, far too heavy for her appearance.
“I just want to die.”
Damn it. Why wasn’t that in Quadwrangle’s voice too?
So that part really was her true feelings.
Lost in thought, I didn’t respond for a moment.
Perhaps she took my silence as rejection.
After waiting a bit, Atrisha shook her head.
“If you can’t kill me, fine. I’ll go.”
“Go where?”
“What do you care. You should leave this territory quickly. As you know, the Demon King of Immortality doesn’t welcome outsiders.”
She sprang up from the chair as if jumping off it.
Then she turned away and walked off without hesitation.
I called out to her back.
“We came here from the start to recruit you.”
“……!”
“We didn’t think it would be easy. If you change your mind, come back. We’ll be staying here until then.”
Atrisha flinched, then asked without turning around.
“You came to recruit me? You knew I was here?”
“Yeah.”
“You knew me. You knew… me.”
Surprisingly, her voice trembled with strong emotion.
“How did you know?”
“That’s a secret. If you join the party, I’ll tell you someday.”
“……Ha.”
Creak. Slam.
Atrisha shut the door and left.
Renel then asked,
“That kid asked what I’ve been wanting to ask.”
“Hm?”
“You said from the start there was someone here we needed to find. That was her, right?”
“Yeah.”
“How did you know about someone in a place cut off for three hundred years?”
Everyone’s eyes turned to me.
I answered calmly.
“You know I’m special. Smelling Demon Kings, discerning lies, that sort of thing.”
“This goes way beyond that.”
“Everyone has a trump card. Just leave it at that.”
“Ugh.”
“I’m not hiding it out of malice. Like I told Atrisha earlier, once everything’s over, I’ll tell you all my secrets. Until then, bear with me.”
Once we kill the Demon King of Erosion, I plan to reveal Quadwrangle—and the fact that I regressed.
By then, I won’t need to keep my mother’s dying wish anymore.
Leaning back in his chair, Renel said,
“Well, honestly, I’ve got secrets too… fine. I’ll wait.”
“Renel, it seems you’ve accepted killing the Demon King of Erosion together at some point?”
“Don’t say it out loud. I’m one thing, but are you really okay with this, Saint— I mean, Arwen? This is a party trying to kill a demon god.”
“Arwen, please. And I’m actually happy our goal is that grand. Hehe.”
She really is a strange saint.
That strange saint looked at me and said,
“I think Dial’s trump card might be that he’s a Hero.”
“A Hero?”
“That thing the Demon King of Sloth mentioned… it sounds like an existence opposed to the Demon Kings. Maybe it’s a miracle bestowed by the gods upon humans.”
“Isn’t that what a saint is?”
“No. I’m definitely not a miracle.”
“…….”
“I’m a woman with many secrets too.”
With a bitter expression, Arwen fiddled with her glove covering the mark.
Thinking of that fake mark, I didn’t know how to respond.
Thankfully, Chris changed the subject at just the right moment.
“But why recruit that elder in particular? It’s true she’s old, but she doesn’t seem especially strong.”
“You really were raised in a strict household.”
“She’s clearly not a warrior, probably not a mage either. And she’s not a cleric.”
Renel and Arwen nodded in agreement.
I recalled a memory from before the regression—
Atrisha, who had put the party to sleep in an instant with a single gesture, simply because she wanted a quiet place to talk.
“Have you ever heard of a soulmancer?”
