Chapter 64 - Killed by a Fairy
The time Elenoa spent speaking with Louis from the past was not particularly long.
About ten minutes after trapping her in his arms, Louis let out a suspicious, "Huh?"
He released her, patted his own body up and down, and gave Elenoa a troubled look, saying, "Um..." At that moment, Elenoa realized it. The Louis from the past was gone.
"It's okay. Louis just got caught up in a little event."
"An event? What kind of thing is that?"
"Memory regression. And, this."
Elenoa handed Louis a piece of parchment. Folded to the size of a memo pad, it had been entrusted to her by the Louis of the past. Louis tilted his head, asking, "What is it?" but the moment his finger touched the paper, he froze for an instant. Then, narrowing his eyes slightly, he accepted it.
――It has magic cast on it. Moreover, this mana is――.
While remaining wary, Louis asked her.
"Did I write this?"
"Yep. During that event earlier, I was told, 'Please give this to Louis.' From the past Louis."
If that was the case, Louis was convinced this letter was safe.
If he had chosen Elenoa as his messenger, there was no danger. Louis did not trust himself, but no matter the era, he could not imagine his self entrusting anything harmful to her.
The opened letter appeared blank at first glance. The magic that prevented one from reading the letters unless they flowed their own mana into it was indeed something Louis had devised.
However.
He had actually come up with this magic and refined it into its perfect form only very recently. He remembered all the magic he had crafted.
When Louis slid his finger across the paper surface, causing the embedded magic formula to emerge――I see, it was slightly different from the completed formula. But he could tell that the effect would not be much different with this formula either.
Obsessing over even the beauty of the formula, a clean-freak magic addict. That was a quirk Louis himself was aware of.
After inspecting it thoroughly, he finally flowed his mana into it.
He quietly lowered his gaze, carefully tracing the lines of ink that slowly seeped out from the bottom of the parchment.
――Ah, so that is how it is.
Louis had guessed the reason why the body that held the 'past self' until just now had been holding Elenoa so tightly.
＊
Since they could not afford to get lost in the Demon Realm, teeming with monsters, they first gathered as many rumors and information as possible in the human world to prepare, searching for clues to the Demon Lord's Castle's location and how to capture it.
Of course, leveling up while gradually approaching the Demon Realm was the job of the Hero's Party.
Furthermore, true to a romance game, they had to properly clear their hearts by facing each party member's dark past and traumas.
Returning to the Martial Artist's hometown, or wanting to visit the Healer's mentor, and getting caught up in trouble along the way――that was the standard routine.
Hasumi, the Hero, would agree to every single 'detour' with Hero-like kindness and resolve. Thanks to that, their levels rose as well, so it was likely not a wrong judgment.
However, to Elenoa, the mage who blended into that party with an innocent face and smiled quietly――knowing the Demon Lord's status――those efforts looked like nothing more than futile resistance.
They had tried tracking down the author of the unfinished book 'Hero's Adventure Tale,' which was rumored in a certain town, but the person had lived nearly a hundred years ago. Moreover, the person seemed to have had an excessively strong vanity, and the texts, which grandly embellished his appearance and journey, were not very helpful.
According to information they managed to grasp while being made to take many other futile trips, it seemed there were hints leading to the whereabouts of the missing Demon Lord's Castle in the Ruined Capital Grenole.
Hasumi and the others had passed through many trials to arrive here.
『Ruined Capital Grenole ~The City of Beginnings~』
A title like this flashed across Elenoa's mental screen and faded out.
Looking down from a high mountain, it was a massive, circular gray city. The defensive walls were broken in places, untouched by anyone.
Under a clear blue sky.
The city seemed considerably smaller than Elenoa remembered.
Since the gate was firmly shut, Elenoa had no choice but to fly over, grow to human size, and open the gate from the inside. By simply pulling down the wooden lever with a clack, she could operate it smoothly, which was surprising for a ruin. It was a familiar mechanism 'if it were in the game world.'
Grenole was in a terrible state.
The brick buildings were completely destroyed, and most of the houses had only walls about as tall as Hasumi remaining.
Wooden desks, wardrobes, dirty stuffed animals. They must have once warmly supported people's lives, but now, inside roofless houses, they were simply on a path to weathering away.
There were countless black scorch marks as well.
Elenoa looked down on them coldly.
She had not forgiven the former Royal Capital, which had become the cause for the individual named Elenoa to despise humans.
She turned toward Louis and dove into his robe. Louis accepted her silently.
While walking down the main street where they had to step on some kind of debris with every step, Emiel proposed.
"Hero-sama. It might be better if we split into two or three groups here."
The Hero nodded in agreement. He understood well what the Healer was implying.
It was a waste of time for everyone to trudge through the same places together.
"True. In that case, we need to balance the teams. First, Elenoa and... Alois. Then Emiel-san and Faras. And me with Louis. Is this balanced? ...By the way, where is Elenoa?"
"Hmm?"
Elenoa popped her head out from the collar of Louis's robe.
"Why are you in a place like that?"
"Just because. The Mage-sama's robe is exquisitely warm and comfortable."
"I-is that so. But I'm sorry, Louis and Elenoa can both use magic, so if you're together, the balance..."
"It's fine. It can't be helped."
Ideally, she wanted to be with Louis, but if they were splitting teams to avoid skewed status distributions, the mage and the fairy would be the first to be separated. As a former player, Elenoa understood that feeling.
Hearing that the Hero and Louis would be on the same team pricked her chest slightly.
Louis sent her a thought, "I will check that house. If there is a chance, you come later," so she decided that was fine.
The fairy flew beside the knight, advancing in silence.
Elenoa faced forward without complaining, merely glancing at him after he arbitrarily decided, "We're going that way."
"............"
"............"
Silence. Even when they entered houses that had escaped collapse, or looked into dried-up wells, there was no conversation.
Only the knight felt uncomfortable; the fairy seemed absent-minded.
Alois, who could easily trade light banter in front of everyone, somehow could not speak when they were alone.
Elenoa, who would pick a fight if one was sold to her when dealing with humans, was always passive in both speech and action.
As a result, only a strange silence clung to the two of them as they moved.
Even the sound of Alois stepping on fragments of brick sounded loud.
Other than that, at most, there was only the sound of a slight breeze by their ears.
Glance.
Alois glanced at Elenoa.
...Glance.
He looked a second time.
Then, he deliberately sighed and called out, "Hey." Elenoa responded honestly without him even needing to call her name.
"What?"
"You know, I used to hate fairies."
Are you picking a fight?
What was he suddenly saying? Turning his eyes away from the irritated Elenoa, Alois stopped walking.
He approached the ruins of a certain house and thrust his hand under the rubble. What he dug out was a wooden spatula. He threw it away and started walking again.
"I don't know my real parents. Before going to Kalgina, there were people who raised me, and I thought those two were my parents. I call the man who acted as my father 'Old Man.' It seems Old Man hated fairies quite a bit, so I also thought fairies were terrible bastards."
"I see."
"Won't you listen to the reason Old Man hated fairies? It's a bad story for you, but I don't know any fairies other than you, ...but I want at least one fairy to know."
"...I don't mind."
"...Sorry."
Elenoa was surprised and speechless at his rare apology.
"Old Man's mother was killed by a fairy."
"...Eh?"
"Though, she wasn't killed directly. She was just ignored."
Alois advanced, looking only forward. He seemed to be subtly ignoring the Hero's intention to split up and search for clues.
The fairy said nothing, listening to the knight's words.
"When Old Man was small, he was a failure within his home, had no place to belong, and could only rely on his mother. He went outside with his mother to pick medicinal herbs and was attacked by monsters. Although the monsters were repelled by his mother's magic, she was seriously injured, perhaps because she fought to protect Old Man. Although he needed to call for help immediately, Old Man, who was just a child at the time, didn't even know where his current location was."
"............"
"It seems his mother was still breathing. It was an injury that could have been saved if treated quickly."
The knight did not seem angry.
"Old Man's mother was not saved."
He walked, looking calmly only forward.
"A single child couldn't carry a person. But he couldn't make her walk either. ...At that time, there were fairies around. Apparently, there were many small ones.
Old Man asked the fairies for help. Because fairies were the only creatures present who could understand language and offer assistance. It would have been fine if they had called for help, stayed by his mother's side in Old Man's place, or even just told him the way. ...But the fairies ran away."
"...Is that so."
"Leaving his mother behind, Old Man desperately ran around the mountains. By the time he finally returned to town, brought people, and went to retrieve his mother, it was already..."
Anyone could understand the rest.
The boy whom Alois called 'Old Man'――how frightened he must have been. How much he must have cried, unable to save his mother.
Elenoa furrowed her brows, but still said nothing.
The fairy in the story was not her. However, if her pure fairy self, before regaining her memories as a human, had been there, would she have helped the human? ...She could not nod in agreement.
Seeing Elenoa's difficult expression, the knight laughed lightly, "Haha."
"I know what humans did to fairies. I think the fairy side, Elenoa's side, has its reasons too. But facts like abandoning someone important to die, things like that, aren't about historical grudges or logic; it seems it remained in Old Man's heart forever. He couldn't come to terms with it."
There was no malice in his voice. He spoke with a flatness of reminiscence, refreshing and not sarcastic.
"And about my mother too."
"Mother?"
"Hmm? ...Ah. My mother isn't my real mother either, apparently. She wasn't married to Old Man, but since they lived together, I just call her that arbitrarily. It seems Mother had someone else she liked. But that person was taken by a fairy."
"You have no luck with fairy-related things, do you?"
"Exactly. Our compatibility is too bad. So Old Man said that it was also a fairy who hurt Mother. ...Well, it seems both Old Man and Mother went to the Demon Lord's place and never returned."
"You've been saying 'apparently' a lot lately."
"When Old Man and Mother were around, I was still small too. I was entrusted to Kalgina through their connections, and was taken care of there. At that time, I heard the story from someone who knew them. So, in reality, I don't even know if Old Man's story is the truth."
Continuing to walk, the knight stopped his feet again.
"Was it around here?"
Alois boldly stepped into a mountain of rubble where it was not even clear where one house began and ended.
Halfway through, the remains of a wooden pillar standing precariously fell toward him, and he slashed it with a single flash. He drew his sword and sheathed it at a speed too fast for the eye to follow. Elenoa knew that although this knight had a rough mouth, he was a master in a different path from Louis. Therefore, she was no longer surprised by his flowing swordsmanship.
"...Knight-sama's house?"
"It seems to be Old Man's house. Though it's unrecognizable. ...I had come to this mountain of rubble once before. Before the two of them went to the Demon Lord's place, holding hands. I only remembered this much for some reason."
Alois sat down on some suitable rubble and looked up at the sky.
"Was the sky like this...?"
Murmuring vaguely, he did not require a response from the fairy.
Elenoa floated lightly and sat on the head of the knight, who was gazing distantly at the blue sky.
"H-hey!?"
Ignoring his panic, she grabbed his hair firmly to stabilize herself――of course, she would never do this to Louis.
Looking at it this way, there was a sense of security. Why was that? Elenoa wondered at the change in her own feelings, but it was pointless to think about it.
He stiffened at the sudden contact from the fairy, who usually did not touch him.
Elenoa pulled his bangs and peered down from above.
"Hey, what is your father's name?"
"G-Gilrem Fanaria."
When she heard that answer.
Elenoa thought, "As expected."
――But, huh?
A question arose.
――How many years ago did Gilrem-san and Claire-san come to the Demon Lord's Castle? How many years have passed since then?
It had been nearly a hundred years since the Royal Capital was destroyed. That had happened while she was taking a long "rest." She briefly considered that Claire and Gilrem had come a few years after she had awakened.
Connecting the sparse information just told by the knight with the Demon Lord, who rarely spoke of his work, even Elenoa began to see the unnaturalness.
From the time those two came and died until now.
This number of years should, at the very least, lightly exceed Alois's age, but――.
"Elenoa."
"Hmm?"
His voice interrupted the fairy's thoughts.
"I know it's weird to talk about this, but, well, I wanted you to know... or rather."
"I heard that earlier too."
"That's not it, I mean to you..."
"Hmm?"
"I can tell from the clock that you have someone important to you. ...But I, you――"
It was at that moment, when the knight had steeled himself.
"Ah, so you were here."
As usual, like fate, like inevitability, like it was only natural, Louis interfered. When Alois turned with mechanical movements, there was Louis, smiling and saying, "Hello."
"Are you a new species of haunting spirit!!!!!!!"
"Fufu, how rude. I saw you sitting down here from afar, so I flew over worried."
"Thanks a lot!"
If the teary-eyed knight shifted his gaze even further away, he would see Hasumi crouching in the shadow of a wall, her hand raised mid-air, having lost its place. And she apologized with the movement of her mouth, saying, "Sorry." It was pitiful that traces of Hasumi trying not to ruin the 'good scene' were visible.
Elenoa energetically flew up from Alois's head, which had frozen solid this time, and plunged vigorously into Louis's robe.
"I was worried, but I am glad to see you well."
"Yep."
Seeing the two getting along so well, Alois sulked, and Hasumi gave a bitter smile.
Elenoa popped her face out of the robe and gave a report of their results, for what it was worth.
"There was nothing on our side."
"I see. On our side, there was something interesting. ...There was, but... something like a diary..."
"A diary?"
"Yes. When we looked at the materials, it seemed to be the house of a Court Mage, but there was a diary. But somehow, as soon as I finished reading it, it disappeared."
"Disappeared?"
"Or rather, it burned up."
"Burned up?"
It seemed to be an item of the type that automatically vanishes.
Elenoa knew of the existence of memoirs found in the Court Mage's house――the House of Stylus, which remained intact in the Ruined Capital Grenole――so her surprise was, of course, an act.
――But Louis, you wrote something so troublesome?
She knew the contents from seeing them many times in the game, but perhaps they were different somewhere? Elenoa asked Hasumi out of curiosity, "What kind of diary was it?"
"...Somehow... very..."
It was painful. Hasumi swallowed those words.