Chapter 312: A Sister That Never Saw Him As A Person, Or Anything At All

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Riven remembered his eldest sister, Guinevere, and how little the two had ever interacted at all. "I had no idea there was such a facet to her... well, among all my siblings, she was the only one that didn’t really bully me verbally or physically, but she never really showed any affection either, or care. I don’t remember ever speaking to her more than two or three times through my whole life."

He thought back over those few short conversations and realized how little he actually knew about her.

"She does indeed not care at all about anything else," Cagliostro said. "Guinevere is that type of cold woman, I’m afraid. She’s someone who’d seize the opportunity when she can, but that doesn’t mean she actually cares about those around her. She might seem to share a similar goal to you though, is that true? What are you exactly planning? What’s gotten into you out of nowhere?"

The questions came one after another without any pause.

"It’s awkward to speak to someone like they know me when, for years now, I assumed you were just an inert piece of gold," sighed Riven. "It’s a long story, so I cannot tell you everything now, but by now you must’ve figured out some things, right? You’ve heard them."

He rubbed the back of his neck while he spoke, still getting used to the idea of talking to the weapon.

"You want to save this world from its demise? You want to stop Claymore? Hm, that’s certainly seems very brave and bold, but foolish. Do you have any idea what you’re doing, trying to face such an immense power as your own family?" sighed Cagliostro. "You’ve awakened an amazing talent, why seek this much conflict? Simply grow strong on your own over time instead... instead of this. I don’t understand-"

She stopped herself mid-sentence and waited for him to answer.

"I suppose despite how smart you are you are not aware of certain things," said Riven. "Were you once from someone else?"

"I was forged by my original creator, the Heavenly Smith, long ago," Cagliostro spoke. "He was a great and powerful Angel that governed the world of the Valkyrie. I was taught many things by him, and... I also know that the world where I was born is long gone, a fragment of it remains as the Dungeon Guinevere conquered with her party, where she found me."

The mention of a lost world made Riven look at the rune on his hand again.

"I see," Riven nodded. "Then you must know this planet is going through the same, and it will be destroyed."

He said it simply, waiting to see if the weapon already understood the scale of the problem.

"...I couldn’t care less about what happens to you humans, truth be told," Cagliostro spoke with a cold tone of voice, she sounded a lot like his sister, it seemed her personality has stuck to her a lot because they were soul bound for years. "I’d be glad to see your foolishness finally end. Thus, I find what you’re doing completely pointless and... stupid, foolish."

She did not soften a single word as she finished speaking.

"Maybe," Riven said. "No, you’re completely right about everything. It’s stupid, it’s foolish, it’s... it’s pointless. But I still have to try, it is the only thing I can do. Because this is my home, and this is the world I share with the woman I love... for her, for our future, I will continue fighting."

He kept his voice steady even though he agreed with most of what she had said.

"And what’s your incredible plan?" Cagliostro asked almost right after hearing his response, as if eager to speak more with him despite her dismissive and cold tone of voice.

The question came quickly, as though she had been waiting for the chance to ask it.

"There’s a lot happening in this world," said Riven. "Among the terrible things, privatization is the greatest sin. The biggest families are privatizing all of the resources from the population. If the population doesn’t come together completely and grow stronger to evolve as people and as a species, we will never be able to achieve what’s called Ascension."

He listed the problems one by one so she would understand the scale of what he was talking about.

"...Ascension, something not even the Valkyries of the world I come from could accomplish, what makes you so confident you humans, weak and small, could do anything when the great beings of my own world couldn’t?" she sighed.

Her voice carried clear doubt about the whole idea.

"Oh, there’s one big different," Riven said. "I’m here."

"???"

She did not answer right away, clearly waiting for him to explain what that was supposed to mean.

"I’ll force them, with everything I have, to grow strong. I will crush everyone privatizing the gates and other resources, stop the mana and spirit reactors from destroying the planet..." he said. "And then I will force humanity to adapt and evolve and grow no matter what. I will give back what was of the people, and everyone will not only be able to enter gates as they please, but will have affordable equipment and medicine, everything they need to grow strong, and quickly." He finished the outline without pausing, making sure each part of the plan was clear.

"...?!" She was shocked. "You plan to do something this ridiculous? Don’t you understand how society works? These people... they are the way they are because they want to. They are conformists with their own situation. Nobody tries to fight back at all. There’s barely any spirit within these humans you seem to love so much."

She waited for him to argue or defend the idea, but the answer she got was different.

"I don’t love them," Riven said while shaking his head. "And I agree with you, part of why the world went to shit is because people themselves didn’t fight back, it’s as much fault of the oppressed than the oppressor... but I don’t care."

He made the point without raising his voice or trying to convince her otherwise.

"..."

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