Novel Full Chapter 328: Lighthouse (3)
Chapter 328: Lighthouse (3)
“Everything okay?” Quay asked, walking over and chuckling as he glanced between Ria and Deculein.
Without a word, Ria stood up and faced Quay as if to protect Deculein, while mana flared up in her hands.
Quay smiled brightly.
“Desist from your foolish act,” Deculein said.
“… But I haven’t done anything yet,” Ria replied, mumbling with her words as she looked back at Deculein.
Then, Deculein raised his upper body to a sitting position.
“No, you shouldn’t be moving. You are not well enough—”
“I am well.”
Deculein pushed away Ria, who was trying to stop him, then lightly stood up on his two legs, stretched his neck and wrists, and straightened his clothes.
What an amazing recovery, Ria thought.
“It’s been a while, the child who interpreted the Holy Language. I believe we’ve met before, haven’t we?” Quay said.
At Quay’s words, Ria swallowed hard.
“But why haven’t you killed Deculein? You have a perfect chance to kill him right now,” Quay added with a warm smile.
That question from Quay was quite impolite and thoughtless, and it made Ria feel uncomfortable.
But I can’t hesitate in front of the final boss.
“No, I’m not going to fall for your tricks. We are not going to kill each other,” Ria replied, her brow furrowed in a determined look.
“A trick? Oh, you must not know,” Quay said. “The lighthouse is practically complete.”
“… What?”
That’s a bit of a shock. More than a bit, really, Ria thought.
“The only thing left is to wait for the right time,” Quay replied.
“… Time?”
“Yes, time. The last ingredient needed for completion.”
“What would that be?”
Even the last ingredient was unknown to Ria, which was unsurprising since the completion of the lighthouse meant game over—that is, the destruction of the world—and she had never reached the moment when the last ingredient was required.
“That part’s a secret for now~” Quay replied with a bright smile on his face.
“… I mean, then why even bring it up—”
“The starlight, the moonlight, and the light of the comet.”
The answer came from behind her, causing Ria’s ears to perk up as she quickly turned to look at Deculein.
As if he had already perfectly recovered, Deculein’s complexion was fine, and he must have used Cleanse in the meantime since there was not a single speck of dust on his clothes. This was indeed pathological—no, a cleanliness obsessive-compulsive disorder that transcended sickness.
“The light of the stars, the moon, and the comet will blend together, and that otherworldly mana will be used to temper the lighthouse for the final time,” Deculein continued.
Ria remained silent.
“And that is how the lighthouse will be completed. There is no will in the world that can stop it.”
Listening to what Deculein was saying and looking at him, Ria’s eyes narrowed and her brow wrinkled.
“What the end will bring, we’ll all find out when the time comes,” Deculein concluded, twisting his lips into a sneer.
“… I saved you for nothing,” Ria muttered.
“I distinctly remember stating that this was your final opportunity. You’re the one who let it go.”
Deculein’s eyes swept sharply over Ria, and she felt as if a knife had slid from the crown of her head down to her ankle.
“Quay, what will you do with her?” Deculein inquired.
“What do you want to do with her?” Quay replied with a bright smile.
With her eyes blinking, Ria looked back and forth between Quay and Deculein.
What is going on? I feel like I’m stuck between a bunch of dangerous people, Ria thought.
“If she proves to be a hindrance, I shall kill her. After all, she claims she wishes to die,” Deculein said.
“What did you just say?!” Ria barked.
“You were the one who said you would sacrifice your own life to prevent the destruction of the continent,” Deculein said, a smile on his face.
“… I mean, that’s…” Ria replied, scratching the back of her neck.
The game over ending, to be precise, was a victory in itself because it was a rare branch of the main quest called Hero’s Sacrifice.
“No,” Quay said, shaking his head, his eyes on Ria with a strangely affectionate look. “I will not kill you. You are the child who can interpret the Holy Language. I have been watching you for a long time.”
Ria remained silent.
“Instead, I would much rather have you by my side.”
As such, the final boss was proving that Ria was a player.
“No, that’s not going to happen, so just wake up from your dream,” Ria replied.
“Hmm~ that’s too bad. Deculein had planned to be with me,” Quay replied.
Ria glanced at Deculein, whose expression remained exactly the same.
“Deculein, are you planning to return to the Empire?” Quay added.
“Indeed,” Deculein replied.
“It might be dangerous, you know?” Quay asked, a note of concern in his tone.
The final boss worrying about Deculein—this is not something you see every day, Ria thought.
“It is of no concern.”
“Is that so? Then never mind,” Quay said, immediately accepting Deculein’s words.
“Hmm? Then… Ria?” Quay continued, giving Ria a smile.
Ria gave no reply, and was rather curt.
“After ninety-seven days,” Quay added.
“… Ninety-seven days?” Ria repeated.=
“Yes, in ninety-seven days, a meteor is going to fall.”
Only ninety-seven days? That’s hundreds of days sooner than the main quest was supposed to happen. Is it because the lighthouse itself is pulling in the comet?
“Work hard until then. We’ll see each other again later, then?” Quay concluded.
With those words as his last, Quay disappeared, and like sugar dissolving in water, he was gone in an instant.
“What did you say? You’re the one who said you’d kill me,” Ria replied, her eyes narrowing as she looked up at Deculein with clear displeasure. “Go on. Try to kill me.”
Ria pressed her head against Deculein’s chest.
“You should take your leave,” Deculein replied, giving his head a slight shake.
“… Go where?”
“The Intelligence Agency is pursuing me. There is no need for you to get involved,” Deculein said.
A moment ago, he said he’d kill me if I was a hindrance, and now he’s talking as if he’s worried about me. What is he really thinking? Ria thought.
“Alright, but more importantly, what do you think of what I said?” Ria asked, gathering her courage, reasoning that Deculein and Yuara would not have called each other by titles.
Then, Deculein looked at Ria without a single word before taking a step forward.
Thud, thud.
“You are not the Yuara I know,” Deculein replied, walking through the underground passage.
At that moment, Ria’s heart trembled. Of course, she could not know whether Deculein’s words meant he did not believe she was Yoo Ah-Ra or that she was exactly not the Yuara he knew.
What if, on the off chance, he already vaguely knew that I was Yoo Ah-Ra, and that’s why he could distinguish between Yuara, his former fiancée from the game’s setting, and who I am now? In other words, what if he was aware that this world was a game—if he somehow realized it while living in this world…
“… No,” Ria muttered, giving her head a quick shake.
That can’t be. No amount of insight or awareness could ever accept that it is merely a being inside a game.
“What is that supposed to mean?! You can’t leave me behind!” Ria added, following closely behind Deculein. “Take me with you!”
No matter what, I think it’s right to have Deculein stay close for now… Ria thought.
***
“… Because I am Yoo Ah-Ra.”
When I first heard those words from Ria, I was taken aback, and my instincts rejected them before my rational mind could process them.
However, I soon thought that it could really be true if that was the setting, if Deculein’s former fiancée had died and been reincarnated as the current Ria, and if she had added this setting.
“… Miss Ria has stepped out for an outing,” Ren said.
Anyhow, that incident was now four days in the past. I had last met with Epherene, heard the problematic confession from Ria, and escaped the siege of the Intelligence Agency. I was now recuperating at the Yukline mansion, recovering my broken body, while leaving Ria, who claimed to be Yuara, behind there.
“An outing?” I repeated.
“Yes, sir, it seems she has gone to meet Ganesha’s Adventure Team… however, I have placed a watch on her.”
“Keep a close watch on what she is doing,” I replied with a nod.
“Yes, sir. However, may I ask if you are alright with it?” Ren asked, glancing at the newspaper on the desk.
Chairman Deculein’s Theory Found to be Plagiarized
Protégé Epherene’s disrespectful research was supported in secret by the…
The mass disappearance incident intensifies… with reports pointing to Deculein’s protégé, Epherene, as the one responsible.
The newspaper was entirely filled with gossip about me, which was probably all the work of the Floating Island, but there was not a single word about the Purger massacre incident, likely because it was too embarrassing for them.
“It is of no concern.”
However, this was infinitely lighter compared to the burden Epherene carried and the weight Her Majesty the Empress had to shoulder.
“However, Count Yukline, this matter concerning Epherene—the mass disappearance incident—cannot be blamed on you, can it?” Ren asked, cautiously presenting a confidential document that appeared to be information he had personally acquired.
Then Ren added, “The Intelligence Agency is now planning to incriminate you as an accomplice, Count Yukline. You will see for yourself once you look at the documents.”
The mass disappearance incident had been occurring for the past ten days under Epherene’s influence, and its current frequency was so drastic compared to when it began that it could be called a social phenomenon, with tens of thousands of people disappearing each day.
“If you delay in your response, you may find yourself in a difficult position. The Imperial Palace will accept your open obedience. I do not understand why you, Count Yukline, must shoulder the blame for Epherene’s unilateral actions—”
“It is not needed,” I said, interrupting Ren as I picked up the document he offered and burned it on the spot. “It is time for the fools of the Floating Island to realize what their arrogance has created—what kind of monster they have created.”
In any case, the fact that I was an accomplice in the mass disappearance incident was not a lie, and the remaining time until the comet’s descent was only ninety-three days.
Therefore, now was the perfect time to begin in earnest, and perhaps Epherene was also adjusting the timeline according to her own plan. Though unrelated to time and able to do whatever she wanted, she could only seek proper assistance and walk the same path as us if her timeline aligned with ours.
“Ren, merely deliver a message to the Imperial Palace.”
Because of that, I too could help Epherene, as Deculein of the Yukline family, in a very certain and efficient way worthy of the ruthless and cruel reputation.
“That I have devised an excellent method of exploiting this mass disappearance incident,” I added.
“… An excellent method, sir?”
“Regarding the execution of the Scarletborn, those who are about to overflow the concentration camp shall all be sent into that canvas…” I replied.
***
… At the same moment, Epherene was sitting on a long branch of a zelkova tree, watching from a distance through the window of the Yukline mansion, where Deculein was becoming an enemy to everyone as she looked at his back.
“… Professor…” Epherene muttered, her legs swinging, her voice tinged with sorrow, and her face full of longing. “I didn’t know it back then.”
The confidential document that Epherene had seen with her own eyes—the Bill for the Punishment of the Scarletborn proposed by Deculein to the Empress—was the incident that re-ignited the embers of Scarletborn discrimination, which had briefly entered a respite, and as such, Deculein would continue to try to put countless people into a canvas by force.
“Back then, Professor, I just thought you were trying to use my magic.”
Epherene had known that future before, but the emotions she felt now were completely different from the ones she had felt before that incident.
“I genuinely believed that was the case.”
Epherene had thought that Deculein, who was driven to the edge of a cliff, was acting in desperation, and that he was trying to kill all of his rivals to protect his status.
“But now that I see it…”
Epherene was now ashamed of herself for having had those thoughts, and because she was filled with regret, she wanted to run, lean on his back, and tell him something.
“… You really knew everything.”
Deculein said that he had trusted Epherene and had always trusted her, from the beginning until this very moment.
“Thank you.”
As Deculein had said, he would help Ria from beginning to end, becoming the most reliable helper, a generous mentor, and a lighthouse guiding her way, and even if the path was despised by everyone or his process entirely wrong, as long as the result was right, he would do it in a Deculein-like way.
“But Professor, did you know?” Epherene muttered, looking at Deculein. “I thought it was impossible for me to like you even more than I did before.”
Epherene continued to watch, even though only Deculein’s back was visible and she could not face his charming blue eyes, knowing this was the limit she was allowed.
“But it turns out that’s not the case.”
Not wanting to waste any time, Epherene did not take her eyes off Deculein for a moment.
“With every passing moment, Professor, I find myself liking you more and more…”
Epherene muttered and hung her head low, barely holding back tears about to pour from her reddened eyes…
“… Huh?” Epherene murmured, her eyes wide as a strange sound escaped her lips. “What?”
Nothing but those words came out of Epherene.
“Knight Yulie?”
Because Knight Yulie, who should have been in a canvas, was looking up at the Yukline mansion in this outer world with a look of determination.
“… I didn’t know. Could Sylvia have brought her out?” Epherene muttered, her eyes on Yulie.