Chapter 167 : Chapter 167
Chapter 167: Phantom Liberty (5)
Shurine inside the ‘memory’ seemed out of place, no matter who looked at it.
Should I call her an alien existence?
Those who came to visit Shurine sitting on the ‘Divine Seat’ all served her like a god without exception, but in fact, they looked as if they didn’t consider her a real god.
In the first place, even the person herself being served reacted as if she didn’t really think of herself as a god.
The problem was, that didn’t mean she thought of them as the same ‘people’ as herself either.
Neither a god, nor a person.
Then what in the world am I?
Shurine in the memory was always wearing a confused expression, harboring such questions.
However, it wasn’t always like that.
─ Have you been at peace during that time, Lady Shurine.
─ …!
At the appearance of a man greeting her politely, Shurine showed an expression I had never seen until now.
And we now know who that man is.
Although he had a slightly different impression from now.
─ Pariah!
Right.
It was Pariah.
As soon as Shurine saw Pariah who came to visit her, her face immediately brightened, and.
“…That guy, knew how to make a face like that?”
She welcomed him with a bright smile, to the extent that such a murmur of disbelief naturally came out.
She even sprang up from the Divine Seat she was sitting on and approached him with quick steps, almost as if running out.
─ You must keep your dignity, Lady Shurine.
Then Pariah showed a gentle smile as if he really couldn't help it, as if this wasn't the only time he had seen Shurine like this.
─ Still, I am glad you look healthy.
─ Have you been well, Pariah?
─ Yes.
Thanks to you, Lady Shurine.
There was a reason Shurine welcomed him.
As I said just a moment ago, those who had visited her until now did not see her as a ‘person’.
But Pariah was different.
As could be seen, he was clearly treating Shurine as a single person.
The only one, that is.
So the two looked like they had a very intimate relationship.
No, in fact, it was more than that.
It was like.
“They seem like... a father and daughter relationship...”
It was as Miki said.
No matter how majestically she was adorned, the sight of Shurine, who eventually had the appearance of a young girl, following Pariah looked just like a close father and daughter.
It was literally visible that Shurine really trusted Pariah.
And one could tell just by looking at his expression that Pariah also thought of such a Shurine very preciously.
“Someone who was like that, why...”
Considering the appearance of Rine instinctively shrinking back in fear despite clearly losing all memories of him when the two encountered each other again after a really long time a while ago, or the appearance of Pariah trying to kill such a Rine by any means... it was truly a scene that was hard to believe easily even after seeing it.
─ What story did you bring today, Pariah?
─ I will tell you everything, Lady Shurine.
Please go back to your seat and sit down first.
Pariah was, in a word, a ‘spy’.
In the sense that he was active outside Shurina while hiding his affiliation and collecting outside information.
So Pariah belonging to the Kapers was a natural conclusion in a way.
Since Kapers gather all kinds of information on the continent.
It is easy to access that information, and there is nothing suspicious about collecting it directly.
However.
Just looking at those eyes full of expectation, for Shurine, Pariah was not just something like a spy who brought back information.
If anything, he was like a Bard telling interesting stories happening outside to her, who could absolutely never go outside this city.
Is that why?
Likewise, Pariah also unleashed the ‘information’ he brought to Shurine not by reporting calmly, but in a tone as if reading a fairy tale book to a child before going to sleep.
“They really... had a good relationship...”
The only existence Shurine could open her heart to and rely on.
That was Pariah.
Then, where in the world did the two go wrong?
As soon as we naturally harbored this question, a new ‘train’ arrived as if to answer.
***
─ Eternal, indestructible...?
─ That is correct, Pariah.
Everyone seemed to have vaguely noticed that this was a story from a different point in time than the memory we peeked at just before.
Of course, the appearance of the two who did not age, and the scenery of the room that didn't feel like a 'human place', were exactly the same without changing a bit.
However, from the exhausted expressions of the two, we could guess to some extent that much more time had passed than before.
─ If it is this method, surely no one will have to suffer anymore.
Shurine, to the ‘prayers’ of the people who had appealed their pain to her.
And Pariah...
─ ...You too, Pariah, will no longer have to send away precious existences.
─ …!
Being active outside the city, unlike herself who neither ages nor dies, to the countless partings with those who inevitably had to be ruled by ‘time’.
The two were undoubtedly exhausted.
So Shurine came up with it.
A way to become free from that ‘time’, the cause of everyone’s suffering.
And she revealed that plan of ‘eternal immortality’ for the first time to the only existence she trusted.
This moment we are seeing now was the memory of that time.
However.
─ That is, just what......
As I said before, that plan was born from a very strictly divine way of thinking.
For Pariah, who had treated her as a person all along, it was impossible to accept.
As could be seen just from that shocked expression, he inevitably felt a tremendous sense of disparity.
─ What kind of...
Therefore, Pariah couldn't easily accept at first just what kind of story he had heard.
─ ...How is it, Pariah?
Nevertheless, Shurine was looking at him with eyes full of expectation.
Thinking that if it was him, as always, he would be the only one to understand her.
─ Will you... lend me your strength...?
Thinking that he would undoubtedly be with her.
─ .......
Of course.
─ Just why... are you trying to do such a thing......?
─ ......Yes?
There was no way he could understand.
Stopping time so they just wouldn't die and making them live forever inside happy memories, how could he understand ‘taxidermying’ them to maintain their current lives and appearances.
That plan which didn't see people as people.
That idea, which showed she didn't know what a human was at all, must have been too shocking.
─ Just how... can you do such a thing......?
For him, who had been the only one treating her as a person all along.
─ Pariah, why...
Therefore, as always, Shurine, who firmly believed that he alone would understand her, also received a huge shock.
─ Why are you, saying such...
As a result, the two crumbled.
The two who were already driven to the limit, holding onto each other at the edge of the cliff and enduring.
Yes.
Just as Pariah was the only support for Shurine, Shurine was also the only escape for Pariah.
Pariah was able to escape from reality thanks to Shurine.
For a long time, he lived with various races other than the Elves of Shurina ‘outside’.
He became their friend.
Became a comrade.
Became a lover.
Became a precious existence.
And he sent them all away first.
He even sent away all those who remembered them.
However, even if those precious existences left his side first, because he knew well that Shurine would never leave this place before him, he could run away from the reality where he was always left alone.
It means he was able to endure until now burying countless partings in his heart, solely with that loyalty towards Shurine.
But, that collapsed.
─ ......Their words were right.
He finally realized that Shurine was an existence completely different from his thoughts.
─ You do not understand people at all.
Then, for what in the world was he doing this?
For what in the world did he continue this tedious life for this long time, sending away countless precious existences?
For what did he have to be tied to the chain of eternal youth and immortality, and just watch them leaving countless times?
The moment this question entered his mind, for him, ‘life’ became a ‘curse’.
─ You were an existence that shouldn't have become something like a god.
─ ……!
And Shurine became the existence who placed that curse on him.
So he left.
─ You are... a monster who cannot understand people.
Leaving behind a single word that likewise became a curse to her, who had cursed him.
......So, he didn't see.
The sight of Shurine, with no one left by her side like that, desperately calling his name.
The appearance of her begging, please do not abandon me again, who was abandoned from birth.
The appearance of her crumbling as the only wall she could lean on disappeared.
─ I am sorry... I am sorry...
Her tears, wailing and begging him to please come back to her side just one more time.
He didn't hear the crying sound.
......Unlike us, who could eventually see it here, now.
“Sh*t......”
Suddenly, Evie muttered a curse.
Then she covered her eyes with her palm as if pretending to rub them, as if she couldn't bear to watch anymore.
Toric showed a complicated expression.
Likewise finding it hard to watch anymore, he turned his eyes away from Shurine who was kneeling.
Miki and Lily were shedding tears just the same.
Everyone seemed to have understood now.
That all of this was, in truth, just Shurine’s desperate courtship.
But because she was always isolated, she just didn't know well what the right method was and was making the mistake of trying in the wrong direction.
“We... must find Sister.”
“We should.”
And that we were the only ones who could stop that mistake.
And to do that.
“......You saw it.”
Suddenly, I had to stop the owner of the voice heard from behind first.
“Mr. Pariah...”
Because he was also one person making a mistake in the wrong direction.
“There is a clear responsibility on me as well for her becoming like this.”
He thought, simply put.
“I made that monster. I protected it. ...So, I intend to take that responsibility.”
That killing Shurine with his own hands was the last method to prove the loyalty he had sworn.
“Because I can end this long tragedy only if I kill her with my own hands.”
Pariah said he had wandered for 30 years looking for her just for that.
That now was finally the time to see the end.
“Move.”
And that if we interfere with that end, you guys will also inevitably have to take ‘responsibility’.
“This is something you bastards cannot handle.”
“Nonsense.”
I will not let Rine die.
And, I will not let him kill Rine either.
“Do you think I’ll let you.”