Chapter 68

Chapter 68

Memory

At that time, Fort Polrwin’s commander Mikhail and the Three of Black Blood had come to the cemetery of the academy students who had participated in the war.

“It has been a long time since I came here too. A shame Priscilla could not come with us.”

Mikhail said softly as he looked at the gravestones.

“Priscilla said it would be too hard to look at...”

Reina answered Mikhail.

It was a tragedy.

They had sacrificed themselves at a young age for their nation, for their families, or for humanity.

Flowers that never had the chance to bloom always carried emptiness.

“It was not easy. Not for you, nor for me.”

When Mikhail had heard the order from above during the war to command a unit made up of academy students, he had wondered whether they were trying to screw him over.

But heroes were said to shine in crisis, were they not?

Reina and Edward entered Mikhail’s eyes.

The Three of Black Blood.

They were war heroes who had shown dazzling achievements in the war.

Mikhail himself possessed outstanding command ability, but if one compared them to chess pieces, they were like queens.

The strongest pieces.

As if age was nothing but a number, they roamed the battlefield and slaughtered countless demons.

“Do not look so downcast. Because you were there, they too were able to gather courage... Is Kaliman still there?”

“Yes. I think we need to give him some time alone for a while.”

Edward answered Mikhail’s question quietly.

Kaliman had lost his lover in the war.

She had been a pure and fresh-faced female student who attended the academy with him.

When she died, Reina and Mikhail had gone through quite a bit of trouble stopping Kaliman, whose eyes had flipped as he tried to charge into the enemy lines.

Like that, they quietly walked through the cemetery, reading over the names on the gravestones.

They were comrades who had shed blood together, irreplaceable friends, and loyal subordinates.

As Mikhail swallowed bitter regret and sank into thought...

A soldier hurriedly ran to Mikhail.

“What is it?”

Mikhail nodded and asked him.

Soon, the soldier, whose face was extremely serious, approached him and whispered.

“Commander. They say the lich on the snowy mountain has revived. But...”

“The lich revived...? What is the extent of the damage?”

“Well... they say it has already been subjugated. There is no damage to the fort...”

“What?”

“Based on the circumstances, it seems an academy student who was on the scene subjugated it alone, but they are still investigating.”

“A student subjugated a lich alone...? Why are they investigating?”

“It is because there was also the body of one of our Allied Forces soldiers at the scene... and... a demon book came out from the soldier’s clothes.”

“Haa...”

At the headache-inducing news, Mikhail held his brow and let out a deep sigh.

“It seems he used the demon book to resurrect the lich...”

“That would be the logical conclusion. Is there any possibility that not our soldier, but the student, was involved in the resurrection...?”

“The student at the scene is... ‘blind.’ So...”

“He would not be able to read the book...”

Mikhail cut off the soldier’s words and answered, trailing off.

It was the moment when it became certain that the soldier was a demon agent.

A demon agent had appeared on the Allied Forces’ side, which stood against demons.

He knew that among the first-year students who had come from the academy for the field trip, there was a blind student.

Mikhail had argued a little with Edward over the absurd request to place that student in the night patrol team.

“That blind man, no, that student... Why did they say he was on the snowy mountain?”

“According to the student, it was ‘to memorize the route in order to make patrol more convenient.’ I myself was doubtful while receiving the information, but can a blind person be assigned to a patrol team?”

The soldier answered Mikhail’s question and tilted his head.

At this, Mikhail barely held back the sigh that threatened to burst out and continued the conversation.

“...That student is likely part of the night patrol team. I put him there myself at the instructors’ request. There seems to be no particular problem with the student... How many people know about this?”

“They say it is several soldiers who went to the snowy mountain and the academy’s medical officer. And the student who was at the scene. Not many.”

“Haa... Very well. Prepare to return to the fort at once.”

“Yes, sir!”

Mikhail sent the soldier away, held his throbbing forehead, and lowered his head.

Then Mikhail called Edward, who was over there.

“Edward, let us speak for a moment.”

***

In the middle of cooperating with the Allied Forces’ investigation, I ended up speaking with Mikhail, who had hurried back to the fort.

It concerned the reward for subjugating the lich alone.

I received one small box from him.

That was the reward.

“As it happens, I have one elixir on hand. I heard you use a technique that burdens your body. Priscilla and Edward testified to that, so you should accept it without feeling burdened.”

Mikhail said that and handed me the box.

It was different from the reward I was originally supposed to receive.

In the game, the reward received from Commander Mikhail after subjugating the lich differed depending on how it was handled and what weapon the player used.

If one subjugated it alongside the fort, there was no particular reward.

However, if one succeeded in subjugating it alone, one could receive a reward such as a weapon or armor.

Only when the player used a spear, Mikhail would gift them one of the spears he had used in the past.

It was an Epic-grade spear, and it was evaluated as a usable weapon until the middle of the story.

Because of that, I had not expected much, but I had received the elixir I needed for Chapter Two of Rebellion Against Heaven.

It was an unexpected gain.

The elixir I received from him was a byproduct that had fallen from the horn of a deer-like spirit beast living in the North called “Dius.”

Should I call it a shell that had fallen from the horn?

I did not know how exactly to eat it either, but at the very least, it seemed to be a better-quality elixir than mandragora.

He had originally planned to give it as a gift when a new captain was appointed to the fort, but due to how things turned out, it seemed a captain-level person would not be assigned for some time.

Sierra glanced at the contents of the box and muttered something like, [ Now you are eating deer horns too, of all things. ]

In any case, after that, the students’ tour of the fort was suspended.

Polrwin announced this incident and began a large-scale investigation of its soldiers.

The cleanup flowed as I had expected, and it seemed to end well without me receiving any particular suspicion.

At least Sierra warned me that I should “go to a temple and make a confession” for having uttered blasphemous words.

Soon, time passed, and it was the final day at the fort.

The first-year students, who had been scattered apart, met again, and with “Lucia” and “Crank” at the center, they held a secret party.

“Thanks to Mr. Zeto, we did not freeze to death standing guard on top of the wall!”

Lucia raised a glass filled with a drink and shouted in an excited voice.

At this, Orphel glanced at her and added one word.

“...Did you not merely doze, rather than stand guard?”

“Th-that is because they told me to stay still, so I got bored... and sleepy...”

Everyone laughed loudly at the conversation between Lucia and Orphel.

It seemed none of them had gotten used to the North’s cold either, because they all said it was wonderful to have been able to rest for the last two days.

In the middle of that, Kaen, who was sitting beside me, whispered to me.

“Was the fact that Buckland was a Demon God worshiper also information you already knew?”

“No, it was a coincidence.”

It seemed Kaen was bothered by the fact that I had subjugated the lich alone.

[ Hmhm, how utterly shameless. ]

Sierra snorted as she listened to my answer.

The lich.

It gave me many rewards.

Especially the “Tear of the Dead”...

...Eisel, sitting across from me and drinking, entered my sight.

I did not think giving the Tear of the Dead to Eisel would allow her to escape her repeated deaths.

A more fundamental problem had to be resolved.

To save Eisel, there was no choice but to erase the demons targeting her from this world.

With this level of growth, it seemed I could begin touching those bastards.

“Before that, I will have to meet Daidros, though.”

I could only hope Daidros had not yet grown tired of pretending to be a village chief.

Just like during the drinking party last time, Sierra did not speak to me much in places where many people had gathered.

As if she would not disturb me so I could fully enjoy this time.

At that moment, Lucia rose from her seat and shouted.

“Ah, right! Everyone, I bought souvenirs! Today is our last day in the North, after all!”

At the word souvenirs, everyone’s attention focused on her.

“I heard they are special souvenirs you can buy only here!”

Lucia said that and handed out souvenirs to everyone one by one.

“Here, Mr. Zeto too. Hehe.”

I quietly stared at the souvenir Lucia handed me.

It was a small piece of ice.

What was fascinating was that it was neither cold nor melting.

“What is this?”

Yuri, having received the souvenir, asked Lucia for an explanation.

Soon, Lucia, who had been diligently handing out souvenirs, opened her mouth.

“They said that if you infuse mana into this ice while recalling a memory you want to place inside it, the memory is stored!”

“Um... Lucia... just hearing that, it sounds fairly expensive...? Storing memories...”

Crank, who had been silently listening to Lucia’s explanation, asked in a reluctant voice.

“It was not very expensive! Only one gold each!”

““One gold?!””

At Lucia’s cheerful answer, everyone there reacted with shock.

“Wh-why is everyone acting like that...?! The merchant clearly said it was only one gold... that he was practically giving them away...”

Soon, Lucia began stammering.

Orphel, who had been watching Lucia, opened his mouth and began organizing the situation.

“No one buys souvenirs for an entire gold each. And in such large quantities...”

“Considering the personality of the Windless family head... You will probably be scolded.”

“It would be fortunate if it ends with a scolding. They do have a gentle personality, after all.”

After that, Yuri and Amon each added a word.

Listening to Lucia’s following explanation, it seemed that merchant had been a wandering merchant traveling around the North.

With this, the conclusion was that a refund would likely be impossible.

Lucia began sniffling... but everyone patted her and thanked her, so her expression brightened quickly.

What was fortunate was that Lucia had bought them only to match the number of people present, and since this was not a gathering of all first-year students, it seemed she had spent around a dozen gold.

“If it is a souvenir that costs a full gold, no wonder I do not know it.”

I thought it was an item that looked unfamiliar, and now it turned out to be extremely expensive for a souvenir.

It was not as if I would have bought such a souvenir while playing the game either.

The atmosphere grew cheerful again, and they began talking about what memories each of them would place inside.

“Fortunately, it works.”

Orphel tested the souvenir first and proved the value of one gold.

The way it worked was that if one infused mana into the ice where a memory had been placed, the memory would replay inside one’s head.

However, because it had been made through a special method, it did not seem to be shared with anyone other than oneself.

It was at least fortunate that it could not be shared.

Then Lucia, who had finished handing out souvenirs and sat down, asked Orphel.

“Mr. Orphel, what memory did you put in it?!”

“Just... something that impressed me recently.”

At last, Amon mimicked Orphel’s voice in an exaggerated way.

“That is obvious... Aisin ice... does not break easily...”

“Pfft!”

Crank, who had been quietly drinking, could not hold back his laughter and spat out his drink.

It was a story Lucia had told everyone earlier.

After Orphel said such a thing, the lich revived, and the lump of ice broke.

Orphel’s cold gaze reached Amon.

Unable to watch any longer, Crank stopped the two.

After that, among the students, conversation about what memories they would place inside continued for quite some time.

Yuri looked at me and opened her mouth.

“I wonder what sort of way Zeto’s memories will be stored...?”

“There is smell and hearing, and perception as well. It should be more than enough to revive the memory of that time.”

“What memory are you going to put in?”

Yuri asked me that.

At that, even Eisel and Kaen, who had been pretending to look elsewhere, focused their gazes on me.

If I had to say what kind of memory I wanted to place inside...

“Wouldn’t it be this moment?”

...I think I would want to place this memory of everyone laughing and chatting without worry, eating delicious food, and enjoying this pleasant atmosphere.

Because everyone looked very happy.

“That really is... boring.”

Eisel reacted to my boring answer, and the others all showed disappointment as well.

Feeling awkward, I asked Yuri back in order to change the subject.

“What memory will you place inside, Miss Yuri? It seems everyone is placing memories of the North.”

“Mm... secret!”

“So that is how you will play this...”

I did not give up and asked Kaen and Eisel too, but...

“M-me too, it is a secret!”

“...Who knows.”

The answers I received from them were not especially different from Yuri’s.

What kind of memories and what kind of recollections would each of them place inside?

***

At a time when moonlight began seeping through the windows.

The long party had ended, and in their hands as they returned to their lodging was a small piece of ice.

A piece of ice that stored memories.

Someone stored the sight of precious people all happily laughing and chattering together.

“The scenery is nice.”

“...Pfft, it is.”

Someone stored a memory they could not forget even if they did not preserve it in this.

“They said only I can see this...”

Another person stored the memory of glancing beside herself at a man sweating in a place full of heat, his muscles fully exposed... and got a nosebleed.

And another person...

“As expected, it does not work...”

...was suffering terribly because the memories of him, the recollections with him, would not be stored.

Soon, she dropped the piece of ice to the floor.

—Crack.

And crushed it beneath her foot.

Like that, their field trip to the North came to an end.

Meanwhile, in a city near the academy, far from the North.

At the deep hour of dawn, when night had fully ripened, a luxurious carriage stopped on a dark road.

A female knight wearing glossy silver armor, who had followed the carriage, dismounted from her horse.

Then the knight opened the carriage door.

The woman who stepped down from the carriage wore a pure-white dress without the slightest flaw.

She moved her feet and opened her mouth.

“Are you certain this is the house?”

“Yes. According to the investigation, this is the residence of the merchant Antony.”

“I believe that when he was in the Holy Kingdom, he was called a great merchant. To think that wicked man’s tongue reached even beyond the Holy Kingdom... Let us move quickly. I heard his daughter is critically ill.”

After having that conversation, they headed to the front door of the mansion.

Fortunately, there were still lights on in the mansion.

“Are we too late? May the Chief God have protected this poor little lamb...”

The woman wearing the dress hid her anxious heart and knocked on the door.

Then a sound came from inside the mansion.

“Dad, I want to open it!”

“Emilia, it is already past the time you should be asleep.”

The voice coming from inside the mansion was unexpected to her.

—Click.

Soon, the door opened.

However, nothing entered at her eye level.

Only after lowering her gaze could she see it.

The one who had opened the door was none other than a little girl.

“Uh... who are you...?”

The girl tilted her head and expressed her doubt.

“Emilia, go inside...”

A man’s voice came from behind the girl.

Then the man approached and saw the woman waiting at the door.

The man, Antony, was colored by confusion.

“...Saintess...? Even the captain...”

However, the Saintess was just as flustered.

“I was certain I heard his daughter was critically ill.”

Soon, the Saintess placed a hand over her chest, lowered her head slightly, and opened her mouth.

“...Antony, I apologize for visiting so late. If it is all right with you, could we speak for a while?”