Translator: Alpha0210
An enormously spacious room.
Sculptures were arrayed along the left and right walls, and at the far end stood a work desk and a sofa set for receiving guests. Excessively large, perhaps, but it appeared to be an office of some sort.
Residue took in the sculptures displayed on either side as he asked.
"Is this your room?"
"To be precise, it is Oesst Jore's room."
Agolet drew a clear distinction over a fact that hardly seemed important. Residue snorted and dropped onto the sofa. Agolet, too, slowly took the seat across from him, and– only then was Residue able to get a full look at the bastard's face.
That face that still seemed to gleam and shine, an expression that gave nothing away, a composed bearing… apart from the change in his clothes, there is almost no difference from the figure in Residue's memory.
Residue does not know what this temple is for, or how lofty a position this "Oesst" is supposed to be. In truth, he does not care, either.
But it did not look like a seat one could get hold of quickly or easily, so he asked.
"When did you come here?"
"Long ago."
Agolet murmured it in a low voice, then glanced at Residue and continued.
"…Quite some time ago. It isn't a particularly important matter."
"Then what is important?"
"Your Majesty saw through my identity from our very first meeting. And yet you did not avoid me. It seemed you were waiting for me to approach you first, and the mood has now settled far enough for us to talk like this. Your Majesty. May I take the present situation as a positive sign?"
"Positive?"
"That you are at last prepared to accept my counsel. Or, failing that, that you have at least come to feel like speaking openly with me. The former would be best, of course, but even the latter is welcome enough."
I see. It seems this fellow doesn't know either.
In that case, if only to keep the conversation moving smoothly, there is one fact he has to state.
"Let me say this first. This one has lost his memories."
"Heh."
A small laugh escaped Agolet.
"An amusing joke."
"……."
But when Residue only kept looking at him without a word, his expression changed at once.
"…Is that true?"
"Yes, it's true. That clownish streak of yours is worth reconsidering, too. It drags conversations out pointlessly at times like this."
"How? No, why in the first place… which memories have you lost?"
Agolet pressed him in an uncharacteristic babble, but for the moment Residue let the questions pass in one ear and out the other and spoke.
"I've heard the Second Destruction has already passed."
"…'Heard', you say."
"That's right. This one has no memory of that time. The things that supposedly happened on some island, right after going out into 'the Outside'."
"……."
At those words, Agolet's color shifted slightly.
Was it because his history with this fellow, too, was a stubbornly long one? This time Residue could vaguely make out what that minute change of expression meant.
"Don't go working your head over it, though."
"I'm not sure I follow."
"It means drop any thought of using the fact that this one has lost his memories. You have your specialties, don't you. Doctoring facts, cleverly burying the truth, scheming, whatever you want to call it… that sort of thing won't move this one the way you want."
"…Naturally, I have no such intention."
Truly a remarkable bastard. To rattle off lies that brazenly without so much as a change in complexion. That was precisely why, no matter how much time passed, Agolet was a man Residue could never be at ease around.
"It seems you came to know that you had lost your memories through your conversation with Pale."
"That's right."
"A fair amount of time has passed since I came here, yet I have not once run into Pale. Nor have I found any trace of her. She is not the sort to move while erasing her own tracks, so the conclusion is that she landed here only very recently."
Agolet nodded slowly.
"Certainly, both Your Majesty and Pale set out later than I did."
"What do you mean, set out later?"
"I mean the order in which we used the 'Passage' at the Center. For reference, the Black Thorn Demon King was first, and I was next."
"Hm."
That much he had not heard from the Blue Knight.
Residue asked.
"And the order after that?"
"There is no way for me to know that. I had already left, after all. All I remember is who was left behind."
"……."
"In any case, it does seem certain that Your Majesty and Pale set out at nearly the same time."
Residue nodded.
"Fine, let's grant that. Enough of the pointless talk, let's get to the main subject. You'd know better than I do, but Pale's vocabulary is abysmal."
"Yes."
"She gave me some sort of explanation, but honestly, I understood almost none of it. What happened on the island is an important clue for this one right now. I'd like to hear the details from you, if possible."
At that, a subtle look crossed Agolet's face.
"You and I are enemies. Surely you were told at least that much."
"Well, so I gather."
"And yet you give me orders?"
Residue smiled faintly.
"Before coming here, I gave some thought to how I'd deal with you, or the Black Thorn Demon King, or the Lightning God, if I ran into any of you. The conclusion was simple. I decided to give back exactly as much as I'm given."
"Which means……."
"Whatever happened on the 'Island', it isn't in my memory now anyway. Which is to say that, by this one's reckoning, the relationships of that time have been reset."
"So as long as I don't turn hostile first, you won't go out of your way to attack me?"
"So long as you don't try anything cute."
Agolet, too, slowly raised the corners of his mouth.
"…Very well. But Your Majesty's memory loss is also an opportunity for me. And though you say you have forgotten everything that happened on the 'Island', the wounds I took then are still with me."
"Did this one injure you somehow?"
"My heart was wounded."
"Hahaha. An amusing joke."
"…Since Your Majesty has set aside the past and shown me your true intent, I shall be a little more honest myself."
"And what's that supposed to mean?"
Agolet filled his manufactured smile with cunning.
"Not everything I say from here on will be the truth."
An advance notice of lies.
It was so utterly like Agolet that Residue let out a hollow laugh in spite of himself.
*
"…Your Majesty tells me what you know, and I, Agolet, correct whatever is wrong in it. That is the format. That is basically how I thought we might proceed. How does it suit you?"
"Good. That will save the most time."
"Though of course, before we begin, there is one thing I should mention."
Agolet said it while casting a glance toward the window.
"There is a Demigod beneath this temple."
"I know."
"You knew?"
Residue answered in a bored tone.
"You mean Lamia, don't you."
"…Astonishing. To know even her true name. Here she is called Noxstantin, and in fact most people believe that name to be her real one."
In the course of his training he had digested the Demigods' power in full. Their origins and their characteristics had been hammered firmly into his head as well, and as for the power itself, excepting Michael's– the Lord's, he had come to wield all of it at will.
Naturally, there was no reason to go out of his way to tell Agolet any of this.
"I arranged matters so that she would kill Lukas."
"You revealed yourself to a Demigod?"
"Who can say……."
Agolet let the concrete answer trail off and simply looked at Residue. It was less the manner of a man meeting another's eyes than of one observing him.
Presently his mouth opened, slowly.
"You aren't moving."
"Why would this one."
"Shouldn't you be going to protect Lukas Trowman?"
"……."
Residue kept silent.
However he took that silence, a faint animation came over Agolet's face.
"You really do feel very different from how you were on the 'Island'. I hardly know whether to call it hope. Perhaps I might even be able to persuade you."
Agolet smiled and went on.
"If you already know the danger Lukas is in, then there is nothing more to say. I simply didn't want to be accused later of stalling for time. Now then, will you tell me your side?"
"Shall I? I met Pale exactly last night. Around dawn, in this village. She turned up out of nowhere and–."
Residue nodded and laid out a summary of the information he had heard from Pale.
The island they had come upon right after going out into the Outside, a world that was neither 'the Outside' nor 'the Inside', every manner of threat that had waited there, the mission to lead Lukas to the 'Center'.
The conflicts that had erupted along the way, the dramatic alliance with Pale–.
"If there's one part I find hardest to believe, it's that."
Residue said.
"Even granting that our interests aligned, the sight of me joining hands with that woman doesn't come easily to mind. Answer me, Agolet. Did the Blue Knight lie to me?"
"No. It is the truth."
With a single line, Agolet put an end to Residue's disbelief.
He couldn't be lying already. This was a fact Residue could confirm the moment he met Pale.
And though Agolet had given notice that he would lie, Residue did not think he would turn most of the story into falsehood.
They say that nine parts truth mixed with one part lie makes the most convincing blend, but this man goes beyond even that. Ninety-nine percent truth and one percent lie… and he was a man with the brains to move his opponent exactly as he intended by means of that one percent.
"On that island, Your Majesty and Pale joined hands. From where I stood, it made things a nuisance."
"……."
"You look sour about it. Pale would be hurt to know."
"Ha. What kind of bullshit is that?"
"She seemed deeply moved by her friendship with you."
Residue shut his mouth.
"I judged that you had become someone important to her. In a different sense than Lukas. As you know, there was never such a thing as a comrade in Pale's life. Lukas Trowman is precious to her too, but only as the object of her passion, he can hardly be counted a comrade."
"……."
"So you were most likely the first. The first ally to share her purpose in pursuit of the same goal."
"Cut the pointless talk, Agolet. That isn't what matters now. I've heard the Second Destruction's turn is already over. So what actually matters is this point in time. If this really is the past, Agolet, why are you trying to kill Lukas?"
"……."
"What meaning is there in killing him at this point? Does killing him change the future? Does it hold back the birth of the Fifth Destruction?"
"It seems you weren't told about that. Even though it is the most important part of all."
"They'd have been difficult words for the Blue Knight to grasp."
At that, Agolet shook his head.
"I wonder. My own guess is that she controlled the information deliberately."
"She lied? Weren't you the one going on about comrades a moment ago?"
"Since when is being comrades, being friends, a reason not to lie? Your Majesty, Pale can hardly be called clever, but she is perfectly capable of concealing herself when there's a purpose in it."
"……."
Perhaps that was so.
Not least considering the faces she had shown in front of Lukas back when she was hiding her identity as the Blue Knight.
"Why do we mean to kill Lukas? There are many reasons, but let me begin with the one Your Majesty is most likely to accept. Because Lukas Trowman wanted it."
"…He wanted to die himself? That's the hardest thing to believe out of everything you've spouted so far."
And it runs counter to reason, besides.
If that were so, why had the Lukas they met on the 'Island' asked Residue and Pale for protection? And even setting that aside, if he had truly wanted to die, there would have been ways to end his own life.
"I can guess why that puzzles you. Let me answer once more. The Lukas Trowman of this moment has a dual identity."
"A dual identity?"
"Yes. The one who wishes to die is Human Lukas Trowman– the personality of the man Your Majesty remembers."
"…Then the one refusing death."
"The Fifth Destruction, of course– Lukas Trowman as Destruction's Commander."
"……."
Residue let out a slow breath.
A strange sensation of the strength draining out of him came over him, and the gaze he had kept on Agolet slowly fell away as well.
"What meaning is there in killing Lukas Trowman, you ask? More than enough. So much so that not killing him would be the unreasonable choice. This place is certainly the past, and the changes that occur here do in time exert a definite influence on the future. But that influence is extremely limited. Of course– in a good sense, for us."
"Meaning?"
"No matter what happens here, the only one whose influence reaches all the way to the future is Lukas Trowman."
Residue faltered.
Words not easily grasped.
Agolet's voice went on.
"For instance, killing the Black Knight who is somewhere in this temple right now– forgive me. Killing Sword Emperor Lucid would not undo the Black Knight's birth. Nor would the man in the Unified World suddenly cease to exist."
"……."
"Kill Schweiser and Anastasia will still exist. The same goes for Iris PeaceFinder and Kasajin. Their deaths here, their changes here, can have no effect whatsoever on the future. But Lukas is different, Your Majesty."
Agolet looked at Residue with clear, transparent eyes.
"Kill him, and the future– that is, the 'Fifth Destruction' of the world we came from, will most certainly cease to exist."
*****
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