NOVEL NEXT Chapter 146
“This, this is something I can do without using my Wish Right… a response.”
“Oh, that’s a relief.”
“However… why are you asking this? Eliaernes, do you want to fight the Flame Sovereign?”
I glanced around at the awkward expression of the Flame Sovereign, possibly parched.
I handed the Flame Sovereign a Mint Chocolate Latte.
“Do you think I’m crazy enough to fight with the Flame Sovereign? I don’t know what will happen, but just in case the Flame Sovereign might have to fight another human.”
Glug glug– The Flame Sovereign, moistening their dry throat, leaned forward.
“Fight another human…? Who are you talking about?”
“Uje.”
“…Uje. Uje?”
The Flame Sovereign, briefly lost in thought, asked with a calmer expression than before.
“Should the Flame Sovereign kill Uje?”
“If that’s the case?”
“The Flame Sovereign is stronger than Uje. That’s for sure.”
When they said they were strong, it sounded like there was something else…
“But I cannot kill him.”
As expected.
“Why?”
“I don’t know how to say this, but… Uje has become a Natural Existence.”
“A Natural Existence?”
The Flame Sovereign, who had said that, seemed to be pondering for a while before quickly opening their mouth.
“He is a Puppeteer. Do you know this?”
“Yes. Well, that’s famous.”
“Exactly. And… he has no main body.”
“Does having no main body mean his main body is already dead?”
“Uje’s main body is all the puppets he possesses.”
For a moment, I didn’t understand the Flame Sovereign’s words.
“…If every puppet is the main body… does that mean all the puppets have consciousness?”
“They not only have consciousness but also souls. I tore pieces of the soul and embedded them into the puppets, painstakingly raising them to become complete souls over a long time. Ten years ago, every one of Uje’s puppets acquired a complete soul. Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands. Even the Flame Sovereign and the Demon Fist cannot gauge how many there are. And even now, Uje continues to proliferate. Not only that, each of Uje’s main bodies handles hundreds of puppets. If I was going to kill him, I should have done it ten years ago, before the soul was completed.”
There are many main bodies.
It is Uje and simultaneously a Natural Existence.
I understood roughly what that meant.
I got it, but… it was a bit surprising.
Four hundred years ago, there were countless Puppeteers who lost their main bodies and souls.
Is it a trait of Puppeteers? They put pieces of the soul into the puppets to make perfect puppets. Then they get devoured by those puppets.
That is the final fate of humans who tried to tamper with the source of life.
Yet Uje doesn’t die from those puppets and is still creating new consciousnesses.
“What a tough guy. How has he managed to survive without going crazy so far?”
“He maintains his sanity by tearing off pieces of the shattered soul and embedding them into the puppets. Yes, recently, Uje has become a being that cannot help but proliferate even if he doesn’t want to.”
“Hmm… If each has its own thoughts and lives, does that mean their thinking is different as well?”
“That… is not the case. I cannot know what he yearns for, what his desire is, but they all share the same intention.”
“The same intention means… could it be Transcendence?”
The Flame Sovereign’s eyes widened.
“Uje is aiming for… Transcendence?”
I also widened my eyes.
I didn’t expect to be this insightful.
Well… it’s not a big deal.
“Yes. Uje is aiming for Transcendence.”
“Transcendence. Transcendence… Does he know how?”
“He does know.”
“Could you perhaps tell me?”
“Why? Do you want to go through Transcendence, Flame Sovereign?”
“No.”
The Flame Sovereign replied firmly.
“The Flame Sovereign will remain a human to the end, no matter what.”
“I just asked to make sure. Well… anyway, after my Wish story ends, I will tell you about that method.”
The Flame Sovereign, who had been rubbing their temples, sighed.
“Then let me ask one last thing before I listen. Does he… want to become a god?”
“A god? Is there a god in this world?”
“There is. Gods definitely exist.”
“…Well, yes. I get that, but Uje seems to want to become a Demon rather than a god.”
The Flame Sovereign’s eyebrows twitched.
“A Demon? Why?”
“Well, I don’t know.”
Uje’s puppets, or rather, Uje himself, already share one intention.
Transcendence. If that’s the case, among the countless Ujes, who will undergo Transcendence?
If they all share the same intention, don’t they all want to undergo Transcendence? Will they later tear each other apart over Ophelia?
If they do that, I wouldn’t mind, but it seems unlikely.
There has to be a main body. The main body that roots their souls.
If I kill that, will it be over? Even if they die, the puppets that have souls will remain, yet I could prevent the immediate headache.
But… there’s a high possibility that another main body will emerge from those puppets someday.
“What a cockroach-like brat.”
“There are more differences, but in some ways, we could say they are similar.”
“So, what you’re saying is, I could win, but I can’t kill him.”
“That’s right. But, Eliaernes, why do you want to kill Uje?”
“I’m not trying to kill him.”
Tap Tap I pondered for a moment while tapping the table.
Since I mentioned Transcendence, should I just spill everything out?
The Flame Sovereign knows that Eustetia does not have Arisa’s blood.
Then he must realize that this secret could well be a weakness.
It’s highly probable that he’s already aware.
Among the humans living in this era, the Flame Sovereign knows the demonic flow the best.
He must’ve realized something suspicious is being prepared in the Demon Realm long ago.
So.
“I’ll tell you everything from start to finish. But you have to keep it a secret, even if I undergo torture and my limbs are pulled off.”
“Who could pull off the limbs of the Flame Sovereign?”
“Demon Fist?”
“Hmmm…! But the Demon Fist is your master, isn’t he? So the Demon Fist wouldn’t pull off the limbs of the Flame Sovereign.”
“Of course. Anyway, this must be a secret.”
“I swear on the name of the Flame Sovereign.”
“Isn’t that usually swearing on an ordinary existence?”
“The name of the Flame Sovereign holds more value than the existence of the Flame Sovereign. So, I swear on the name.”
“Yes… well, understood.”
I nodded reluctantly and began explaining.
I laid out everything I had sorted in my head and reached my own conclusions one by one to the Flame Sovereign.
After listening to all my explanations, the Flame Sovereign fell into thought for quite a while before finally speaking.
“Generally, I think one should not judge based on just one side of the story… but yes. Everything seems to indicate that Uje and Anton de Herman teamed up with the Demon Race.”
Right. If my explanation were completely wrong, I would be a real dog.
“Yes. But I’m still considering that it may not be true.”
“You don’t look like you’d think that… Eliaernes, you’re quite a clever girl.”
“I can be a bit smart.”
“Ahem… yes. That is so… Even the Flame Sovereign’s Disciple is smart. Smart indeed, but… hmm…”
Stella is smart too.
Among the little ones learning something, the sharpest one is…
Uh… that would be Yurasia…?
Not really? I can’t figure Stella out since I have no idea how magic works.
Anyway, I think I understand what the Flame Sovereign is trying to say.
She is smart, but she shows a bit of a lack… indicating whether she is silly or clever.
But isn’t that a fallout from not having proper human interactions? Something like that.
Recently, they’ve been doing a bit better, but there’s still a tinge of awkwardness and silliness left.
“Stella is indeed smart, but not wise. At her age, she is just too honest.”
“Oho, that seems to be correct. Anyway, yes, Eliaernes. The Flame Sovereign has understood all your words. And now I know very well what your wish is.”
“Is it possible?”
“It is possible.”
“Oh…?”
I thought he would say it’s impossible.
I was even prepared with a second, third, and fourth backup plan.
But to answer so readily like this?
The Flame Sovereign truly… is a benefactor to me.
“Isn’t it something to be so surprised about? It’s similar to what the Flame Sovereign has done until now. Someday, when you and the Flame Sovereign become a little closer… then, rather than using a Wish Right, it could be granted as a simple request.”
“Really? But aren’t we already close?”
“Hmm?!”
The Flame Sovereign’s body flinched.
“…B-but there’s a significant age difference…?”
“Eh. What’s important among friends? Maintaining a close relationship and creating positive influences based on trust and affection—that’s what friends are about. There’s no need for age, background, gender, or anything else among friends. So, aren’t we friends?”
I recited a rough line I read in a book long ago.
I wondered if this cheesy line would have any effect. But…
“Closeness… trust, affection… positive influence… Yes. I see… Affection is an emotion that the Flame Sovereign cannot distinguish, but trust and closeness… it seems both the Flame Sovereign and you have granted that to each other.”
It was incredibly effective.
“Right?”
These days, the Flame Sovereign and Stella often eat together, just the two of them.
Watching them teach, they seem to get along well. Is it because they handle the same magic?
I thought about it, but that wasn’t the case.
Both of them are such antisocial nerds that they’ve never met anyone.
Naturally, I concealed those feelings and extended my hand to the Flame Sovereign.
“Then let’s shake hands as friends.”
“Hmmm… Hmm…! A handshake. Yes. A handshake… sounds good.”
The Flame Sovereign grasped my hand.
Maybe because they handle fire, their body temperature seems higher than an average person’s.
“You… are a Martial Artist, yet your hands are surprisingly small.”
“With a build like this, it’d be weird if my hands were big.”
“Even so, they are soft.”
“…I do have some calluses, you know.”
“It seems the Flame Sovereign’s hands have more calluses than those of a Mage.”
“Sooner or later, I will undergo a transformation and change.”
A gentle smile appeared on the Flame Sovereign’s lips.
“If you get strong, someday, wouldn’t you want to explore the Demon Realm with the Flame Sovereign? Surely, there will be many fun, amazing, and mysterious things.”
I chuckled.
“That sounds great.”
*
“Ah! Young Lady!”
Yurasia, who was drawing many lines on a giant map, looked at me and smiled brightly.
“What were you talking about that took so long?”
“Oh, I was just chatting about this and that.”
Beside her, Stella, wearing round glasses, gazed at me.
Next to her, Pina lay curled up and asleep, while Ophelia was sorting a pile of papers she had brought from somewhere.
“What’s with those glasses?”
“They’re non-prescription glasses, but don’t I look a bit smarter with them on?”
“They’re just ruining your perfectly fine face, so take them off.”
“Uh…? R-really? Then… Hehe… okay.”
Stella promptly took off the glasses. At the same time, Yurasia picked them up and placed them on her nose.
“Lady, what about me?”
“Yurasia has a gangster look, so it doesn’t suit you.”
“…Why is my evaluation like this? Plus, a gangster?”
Yurasia’s mouth drooped.
Regardless, I glanced at the report the kids had written.
“Ah, the report has roughly finished writing.”
“It seems so. So where do you think this meat could come from?”
“The chicken we bought today… No, the Harpy skewers all spoiled almost simultaneously, with a bit of a gap, you see? I’ll have to go back to the Harpy skewer shop tomorrow for accurate details, but I’ve drawn it based on the time we measured today, considering the margin of error. Do you want to see the map?”
The map Stella pointed to.
I looked at the map Yurasia was diligently marking.
Following that, Stella explained further, but none of it registered in my ears.
The map. The numerous lines drawn on it.
Among them, one of them reached the great temple of the Holy Kingdom, where Luna had once dwelled.