Translator: Alpha0210
Anastasia squeezed her eyes shut. It was the reaction of someone who'd just had a bomb tossed right before her eyes, seconds from going off.
"......?"
But even after she held that pose for a good while, nothing in particular happened.
When she cracked her eyes open to check the situation, Iris wore an ambiguous expression, and there was no great change in Residue's face either. Only Anastasia, standing between them, felt inexplicably guilty as she glanced back and forth between the two of them.
It was not an atmosphere where words would come easily.
Then, whatever was on his mind, Residue resumed walking, and Anastasia, who had been standing there in a daze, followed a beat behind.
He brushed past Iris without incident, and it seemed as if nothing would come of it, but a moment later he sensed her following along behind as well.
"Where are you going?"
At Iris's question, Residue replied indifferently.
"The top of the King's Castle."
"Planning to watch the fight from up there, I see. How very like you, I suppose I should say."
"Your sarcasm is getting more refined. By the way, Iris PeaceFinder. How is the fight between Kasajin and Sedi Trowman going?"
"See for yourself and judge. I couldn't make heads or tails of it watching."
"Fair enough. With your eye, you couldn't hope to grasp what's really going on."
There was still an edge between them, but compared to the chaos Anastasia had expected, it was a remarkably peaceful scene.
Trailing along behind them, Anastasia finally couldn't contain her curiosity and asked Iris.
"Hey."
"What."
"Is that all you've got to say? Nothing else you want to ask that bastard?"
"Ask him what? Oh. About him rolling around in a room with the Red Knight?"
Iris gave a wry laugh.
"You still don't know this man very well. It's obviously just some wicked joke he's spouting. Pure bluster."
"B-bluster? Really?"
Anastasia turned a blank stare his way, and Residue gave a sly shrug.
"You're certainly quick on the uptake about this sort of thing."
"I've lived 4,000 years on nothing but reading the room."
"That you have."
Then Iris, who had been following along, stopped walking, as if she'd said all she had to say. Anastasia, moving beside her, stopped too. Because come to think of it, following Residue all the way up to the castle roof to watch the fight with him seemed strange.
"We'll go wait at the Summit Hall, so come there once you've finished preparing."
"Will do."
But how was he supposed to get up to the roof of the King's Castle? Considering the needlessly vast interior of the castle, simply smashing through the ceilings one by one on the way up didn't seem like a bad idea.
As he walked along with these idle thoughts, he heard the soft thump of something collapsing behind him. When he turned to look, Iris appeared to have lost the strength in her legs, and Anastasia, standing beside her, wore a dumbfounded expression.
"Good grief. Seems like you're the better bluffer here, no?"
"...Oh, be quiet."
Listening to their bickering, Residue broke into silent laughter.
*
One way or another, he made it up to the roof of the King's Castle and perched in a suitable spot. A little hard, perhaps, but the view was quite splendid. A pleasant breeze happened to be blowing too, and Residue slowly closed his eyes.
This had been a place without even such natural phenomena. Once.
Sitting atop the roof of the King's Castle that towered in the middle of the desert, beneath a starless navy sky, savoring the wind, he felt as if he might sink into sentimentality, unlike him as that was.
For a while, Residue kept his eyes closed and let the lukewarm wind wash over his body. It was not a bad feeling. After he'd stayed like that for some time, the clash of weapons drifted faintly over from far away.
He didn't even need to look for it.
In the middle of the desert, not far from the King's Castle, Sedi and the Demon King could be seen fighting. They must have fought fiercely, for neither of them was in good shape. Both were bleeding profusely, in a state where it would not have been strange for either to collapse first.
Yet neither seemed inclined to concede victory easily, for the fighting spirit they radiated was still going strong.
Widening his view a little further, he realized it wasn't just one or two parties watching this fight. First, closest of all, was the Half King. Arms hanging at her sides, she looked at a glance as if she were standing there defenseless, but in truth she was not. While keeping a proper distance, she held a position from which she could intervene in an instant if she so chose.
Most likely she meant to observe the situation, then step in if the fight grew bigger than expected or one of them ended up on the verge of death.
A little farther out were the Twelve Void Lords, along with a few Absolutes who had yet to depart. Analysis, observation, simple spectating, or having nothing better to do – they each seemed to be watching the battle for reasons of their own.
Residue, too, rode that current and turned back to appreciating the battle.
At a glance, the two demons' fight looked evenly matched, but in reality the scales tipped slightly in Kasajin's favor. The reason wasn't hard to see, either.
On the whole, it was a matter of proficiency.
The Demon King had been through countless real battles since becoming an Absolute, whereas not much time had passed since Sedi became the 0th Demon. The reason she was holding her own regardless was that Sedi, too, had once been an Absolute, and was familiar with the way they fought.
Beyond that, there were finer factors as well, from the difference in build to the matchup of their weapons and their total stamina, but none of these were decisive.
In the first place, the things Residue had laid out were not factors that could definitively settle the match. Sedi might be getting pushed back a little, but the outcome was still anyone's guess.
It was then.
"On the day the thunder rolls... raise the anchor......"
From somewhere came what sounded like someone humming a tune. It had the feel of a drunkard's slurred nonsense, but the voice was oddly familiar.
Wondering what it was, he glanced back to find a man staggering toward him, carrying something.
"Retip. I thought you'd left with the Lightning God."
"I meant to, but I realized I hadn't even said a proper farewell."
"What a promising lad."
"Haha. If you don't mind, would you care for a drink?"
Retip said this, the liquor bottle and cups sloshing as he shook them. Judging by his complexion, he looked like he'd already knocked back several bottles on his own. It wasn't every day one saw an Absolute swaying about drunk, so curiosity stirred regarding the contents of the bottle the man was holding.
When was the last time he'd had a drink?
It seemed like he'd drunk often, and also like he'd never drunk at all.
In any case, it would clearly be his first drink as 'Residue', so he nodded.
Retip came over and sat down a short distance away. He was still moving precariously, like a drunken man, but the distance he kept still conveyed his respect for Residue. When Residue lightly held out the cup he'd received, Retip poured the liquor with both hands.
With a clear, ringing sound, the cup quickly filled.
Residue gazed quietly at the transparent liquid filling the cup, then spoke.
"Nice aroma. What liquor is this?"
"Hard to say. I picked it up in some universe I visited a very long time ago. Incredible stuff, so I took a massive supply of it."
Retip shook the bottle.
"Now this one bottle is all that's left."
"Is that so? A precious liquor, then."
So saying, he downed the cup in one go.
The moment the liquor touched the tip of his tongue, what he felt was that it was tremendously strong. His tongue, and his throat down after it, burned hot. It wasn't on the level of drinking hot water; it was as if he had swallowed flame itself.
No joke, anything this potent might as well be called poison rather than liquor.
Of course, by an Absolute's standards it was just strong enough to get pleasantly drunk on, and a satisfied curve traced itself across Residue's lips.
"This is good. Won't even need anything to eat with it."
"Is that so?"
"Hold out your cup, Retip. I shall do you the honor of pouring you a drink myself."
"I'm honored."
Drinking a cup of liquor.
Taking in the fight between Sedi and the Demon King.
And when he closed his eyes a little, the lukewarm wind cooled his heated face.
For a while, Residue and Retip traded pours back and forth and emptied the bottle. The bottle was fairly sizable, but it didn't take long for it all to run dry. That was despite drinking at a relatively leisurely pace. Setting down the empty bottle, Residue murmured.
"...I wonder if they have anything like this in 'The Outside'. Well, probably best not to get my hopes up."
It didn't quite feel real that he had to leave in two or three hours.
He had no worries, but honestly, he couldn't be certain things would work out. He believed he was making the best possible choices, but in truth, that might only be Residue's own opinion. The moment they actually stepped Outside, they might fail to mount even a proper response and all die for nothing.
But would that really be such a bad ending?
If he died after wringing out every thought until his mind ran white, after struggling with everything he had, there might be some lingering wistfulness, but no regret.
That was true, and yet... something didn't sit right. Was the alcohol scattering his emotions? Or had his true feelings leaked out, just a little?
"Retip."
"Yes."
"What was that you were humming just now?"
"The thing I was humming, you mean?"
Retip looked puzzled for a moment, then belatedly nodded.
"Ah. You mean the sea shanty."
"Sea shanty?"
"It's a song the seafarers of a certain universe love to sing. It's also called the Song of the Storm."
Retip gave a short laugh, then began to hum the song.
On the day the thunder rolls, raise the anchor
A warrior's course, a voyage of courage
Typhoon and tidal wave, behold me
Though the deck collapses and the mast shatters
The warrior's voyage shall never cease
"......"
The melody was simple, yet it had a way of catching in the ear.
Residue had never taken much interest in songs, but he had a feeling that the tune Retip had just sung would somehow stay in his memory for a long time.
"It's a song made by those who roam the seas in search of challenges. When they come of age, they take a ship out onto the ocean, and the measure of their glory becomes how great the trials they faced and overcame on that voyage. This song is what a warrior who has just set out to sea sings when he wishes to be met with even greater trials."
In other words, they avoided sailing when the sea was calm, and when a storm raged, they did the opposite: raised the anchor and unfurled the sails.
Residue burst into delighted laughter.
"Those aren't your garden-variety madmen. I'd like to see them for myself one day."
"You'd like them."
Retip chuckled low, then, out of nowhere, looked Residue over and asked.
"By the way, are you feeling all right?"
"Hm?"
"It's just that you don't look to be in the best condition."
"Ah. I wore myself out doing a little something with the Red Knight."
"...The Red Knight."
Retip pondered something for a moment, then spoke again.
"...Come to think of it, the Blue Knight seemed a little off. Did you happen to notice?"
"She's a woman who's rarely in her right mind to begin with, but was it bad enough for someone like you, who hardly crosses paths with her, to notice?"
"I always keep my guard up around the Four Knights. The Blue Knight especially."
At that, Residue snickered.
"Be careful. She might try to kill you just because your gaze annoys her."
"I'm aware. If that time comes, I'll have to stand and fight. I've been wanting to cross blades with the Four Knights at least once anyway."
"In a certain timeline, as it happens, you did fight the Blue Knight."
Retip's face lit with interest.
"Really? How did it turn out?"
"Ten minutes."
"Pardon?"
"You held out for about ten minutes and were reduced to a pile of ash. Poor Retip......"
"......"
At that, his face filled with disbelief. Ten minutes, ten minutes...... Muttering to himself, Retip asked once more, as if to confirm.
"...Are you serious?"
"Why would I lie about something like this?"
"Mm. I see."
He must have been quite shaken, for he briefly hung his head. He even looked a little crestfallen. He was, after all, a man who had struggled to find a rival outside of the Rulers; the fact that he had lasted a mere ten minutes before being reduced to ash seemed to have come as a shock.
But he soon shook it off with a sigh and continued.
"...In any case, from what I saw, the Blue Knight appeared to be planning something. It didn't feel like she was acting in secret, exactly, but she was calling certain people over and speaking with them."
"The Blue Knight and planning. Not exactly a natural pairing."
"The last I saw of her, she was talking with the White Knight."
At this, even Residue's expression couldn't help but shift a little.
"...With Agolet?"
Being fellow Four Knights, it wasn't as if they had no connection, but the Blue Knight shouldn't be on particularly smooth terms with Agolet right now.
"Yes. After that, the two of them went out together through the back gate of the King's Castle......"
"Hold on."
What Retip was saying interested him plenty, but he cut him off for now and turned his gaze to the middle of the desert.
The air between Sedi and Kasajin had turned ominous. Ten paces apart, both were drawing up their power, and each looked to be preparing a final blow.
It seemed the match would soon be brought to its end.
*****
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