“The problem is this one. We need to wake him up first.”
I set down the child I was carrying.
Elodie moved her hand in front of the child’s face.
A brief flash of mana light, and the child slowly opened her eyes.
The child looked around blankly.
“…Ah.”
Seeing my face, he seemed to realize the situation.
He looked at Sybil and Elodie with frightened eyes.
“Don’t worry. They’re my comrades.”
I asked, “By the way, I don’t know your name. What is it?”
“…Rokbel.”
“You’re Grobel’s sibling, aren’t you?”
The child nodded slightly.
Shivering. The confusion and fear must still be mixing inside him.
“Why not just send him back to those guys? One of them is his brother, right?”
“If we send him back as is, he’ll be taken hostage again.”
“…Surely. Would his brother just let that happen?”
Of course, Grobel wouldn’t just stand by.
…If I know Serf, maybe.
“Let’s move then. It’s best not to meet them, right?”
Sybil said that, but.
I shook my head. Elodie probably felt the same.
“It’s too late.”
As if on cue with my words.
“──I’ve been looking for you for a long time.”
That unpleasantly friendly voice was heard again.
Serf had a scout with him, so running away was useless anyway.
Serf’s voice could be heard, but he was not in sight. He was hiding deep within the forest.
The suddenly increased sounds of movement and footsteps. It seemed like they were surrounding us from hiding.
“Don’t move. Frondier, Sybil.”
Elodie said in a low voice.
With her mana detection, she could roughly locate them.
Given Elodie’s tense state, it was safe to assume their encirclement was complete.
“──Serf Daniel! Give it up now!”
Elodie shouted.
“I know it’s pointless now! Framing Frondier won’t work! I’ll be Frondier’s witness!”
Elodie, nicely said.
Though it’s what I said earlier. Anyway.
“Yeah. That seems to be a mistake. I didn’t expect Sybil to go this far.”
Serf still speaks, hidden in the forest.
He really doesn’t want to show himself.
“So, I’m going to kill you all here.”
“…What?”
At Serf’s words, Elodie questions as if doubting her ears.
Yes, that’s the kind of person he is.
The goal of ‘Indus’ is to increase the influence of the common people. Behind it lies a more dangerous word, ‘revolution’, but on the surface, Indus is still on the side of justice. ‘Revolution’ is still premature for them.
However, Serf Daniel has a different personal agenda.
‘A noble hater. Serf Daniel.’
In the future of the Etius game, Serf becomes a notorious criminal. He initially joined Indus to find a justifiable reason to kill nobles.
Gradually accumulating achievements within Indus, he plans to join the eventual revolution.
Serf usually doesn’t take the lead.
He appoints a ‘fake leader’ for others to see and works in the shadows.
‘The problem is, this is just prior knowledge.’
I’ve never fought Serf while playing Etius. After all, the revolution fails, and Serf gets caught by the investigative team and sent to ‘Tyburn’s Rampart’. I heard the head of that place, Ludwig Urfa, had a hard time.
I know nothing of his abilities or techniques.
‘But even so, could Serf really beat Elodie?’
Serf’s face is not visible, but his voice is utterly calm. Even in this situation with Elodie, he sounds confident of his victory.
How?
Those who can defeat Elodie are truly few.
“Rokbel.”
Suddenly, Serf calls out Rokbel’s name.
Rokbel, who was crouching beside me, suddenly stiffened.
“Stab Frondier.”
Thud!
“…!”
──The situation came later.
For now, an excruciating pain surged through me, enough to lose consciousness.
My side, perhaps.
Stabbed by a knife─
As I fell, what I saw were the bewildered eyes of Sybil and Elodie.
On the other hand, there stood Rokbel, completely losing focus, holding a dagger.
* * *
Submerging consciousness.
Within that sinking consciousness, I struggled to wake up.
What a fool.
Fainting from just a stab wound?
Wake up!
Wake up!
A giant bubble of unconsciousness approaches, and I barely cling to a thread-like consciousness.
And then, all sorts of memories from the past flood in.
──I hate Elodie.
──Why do you always make it hard for me by your side?
─Why are you always smiling in front of me?
─Why are you always kind to me?
─Yes, I know. It’s because you have divine power.
─Overflowing with divine power and talent, naturally, you would smile at someone like me!!
These must be Frondier’s memories.
His hatred, inferiority complex, and discomfort turn my insides upside down.
Yes, I am Frondier.
As if a forcibly plugged hole was opened, his memories pour out like mud.
─Die, Elodie.
─Fall into despair and die.
─This is my true heart.
─This is my honest word without lies.
Frondier’s memories become clearer.
A scene plays before my eyes like a film reel.
Frondier meeting someone in a cabin.
Wearing fluttering robes, their gender indistinguishable.
That person hints something to Frondier, and as if enchanted, Frondier deciphers the ancient language.
Fragments of that interpretation seem to be injected into me.
Finally, looking at a completed spell, Frondier trembles with ecstasy.
─With this, Elodie’s divine power…!
I felt that joy and ecstasy too.
As if it was not Frondier but I who hated Elodie.
As if I wanted to eliminate Elodie’s divine power.
As if I’m truly happy about that plan.
…But.
“Shut, up…!”
Of course, too obviously.
In the end, I am not Frondier.
Because I am not Frondier, I have always had a sense of guilt in my heart. Because I took Frondier’s life.
Whether lazy or incompetent, it was entirely his life.
No matter how that life ended, it would have had its own value to him.
But if Frondier was to kill someone.
If he was to plunge an innocent someone into misery.
Then, I no longer have anything to hide.
Frondier deciphered the ancient language. To eliminate Elodie’s divine power.
But such things don’t matter to me.
He must have studied hard out of hatred for Elodie. But I only use it to suit my tastes.
‘I’ll use the memory of deciphering the ancient language.’
‘Frondier de Roach,’ this is how you’ll live now.
Struggling with all your might in a world doomed to destruction.
Give up, Frondier.
You’re the lowest of villains.
I recalled Frondier’s memories over and over, endlessly. I crammed all his knowledge into my head.
It wasn’t learning new knowledge. Like recalling a memory I had momentarily forgotten, I quickly absorbed the knowledge.
I remembered what Daud had said a while ago.
-Then, this rune could be ‘ancient language.’
He had said.
That Menosorpo is made up of ancient language.
That its symbols, patterns, and arrangement rules are ancient language.
After absorbing all of Frondier’s knowledge, I faced the rune of Menosorpo in the workshop.
‘…I see.’
I understood.
What Menosorpo is. How it should be used.
The moment I understood everything,
I opened my eyes.