Chapter 171 : Chapter 171
Chapter 171: Lines and Chains (2)
I will do what you could not.
As a companion and friend, I am going to have a 'conversation'.
And I am going to end all of this.
"......."
Pariah, who was kneeling on both knees instead of just one before I knew it, could not stop me as I said that and left the spot.
He just stayed like that, lost in thought.
***
The Divine Palace inside this 'memory' had a scenery almost similar to the Divine Palace we had visited ourselves.
So, although it was the first time coming here for the companions as well as for me, it was a place that was not a first time, and thanks to that, we could find the way without difficulty.
Rine was in the underground prison.
The place where the 'nobles' who cursed her were imprisoned, that is.
Originally, that prison was not made to imprison them, but a place they made to imprison Shurine.
And as per that original intention, Rine was shutting herself inside there.
She was not tied by chains or anything, but she looked in a state where one could clearly tell she was tightly bound to something.
She was crouching in the corner of the already cramped iron cage, hugging her knees.
Just like when I first met her.
"Unlike the illusions we saw here, I actually feel the Sister's energy..."
"But no matter how much I talk to Elder Sister, there is no response..."
Must have been so.
Because like back then, she was effectively completely blocking herself from the outside.
However, if there was a difference from back then, it was that she wasn't just sitting still hugging her knees, but.
"......Damn it."
She had buried her face on those knees and was crying.
Perhaps that was why everyone couldn't approach rashly and came to find me.
Everyone knew well about 'Rine' as much as they had traveled together, but they didn't know much about 'Shurine' who was crying in the corner alone like that right now.
"...Do something about it."
If there was anyone among us who knew, they must have thought that I would be the only one who could bring her out of that iron cage, just like before.
Yes.
I knew.
That she, that Shurine, did not know until now.
That she didn't even have a chance to know.
What a person's life is like; because she was isolated alone inside the Divine Palace as a god.
To her, people were merely believers who came to pray to her.
That is why she mistakenly thought that this kind of 'Eternal and Indestructible' could be the salvation they wanted.
Shurine was like that.
She had no choice but to be.
However, Rine was different.
She knew that this world of Eternal and Indestructible could not truly be salvation, that this was the wrong method.
Because she learned it during the journey with us.
What kind of existence a person is.
What a human-like life is like.
She ended up understanding what she didn't know until now.
As soon as her persona as Shurine returned, as soon as her 'ability' returned, she did the thing she regretted not being able to do for a long time.
But Rine's persona, which had been with us during that time, inwardly knew what kind of result that would bear.
That is why she is crying stuck in the corner alone, like now.
Because she was confused.
Because she didn't have the confidence to face it.
The result of how this world of Eternal and Indestructible, which she made with her own good intentions, was accepted by people, and by us.
Our answer.
Afraid that she would hear that she was a monster even from us.
Afraid that she would be abandoned again.
Feeling that she would no longer be able to stay in the space she could barely be in—our 'party'—after failing to ascend to the 'sky' and not being welcomed on the 'ground' either.
She was afraid of becoming alone forever.
Because she was so scared of that, she couldn't come out to hear the answer and blocked herself from the world again.
In short, what was imprisoning her wasn't just the iron cage blocking between us right now.
Something more fundamental──it was she herself.
But it didn't matter.
"...I know you are hearing my voice."
Because I.
"I'll get you out of there."
Came to break that.
So, I opened the door of the iron cage.
The iron cage, which was firmly closed to the point that even Ibi, an expert in these kinds of 'locked doors', couldn't do anything about it until just now, opened obediently to my touch as if it were a lie.
Just as she showed us her 'memory'.
Like that, I slowly approached her and squatted down to match her eye level.
But Rine was still crying endlessly with her face buried.
"I came to pick you up, Rine."
No answer returned.
But I continued speaking.
"You didn't fail to ascend to the sky. You are going to live with us on this land."
That she wasn't unchosen by the existences of the sky, but chosen by the existences of the ground.
"If you still don't know well what a human heart is, let's learn it together with us."
That we would become the place where she should be.
I showed a soft smile.
"Of course, I think the current you knows it well enough, though."
So that if Rine lifted her head, she could see it immediately.
Then.
"I am..."
Finally, Rine's voice was heard.
"Not a person..."
Still afraid to face me, with her face buried.
"I am, a monster...!"
Hearing her say that single word, which made one side of my chest ache, directly with a tearful voice.
"No."
I answered firmly right away, hiding that pain as much as possible.
"Absolutely not."
"But I'm not a god, and not a person either..."
However, Rine's voice could not bear to hide her own pain.
"If not even that, then what on earth am I...?"
"You are Rine."
"...!"
I gently placed my two hands on top of such Rine's two arms.
"You look taciturn and indifferent but are always honest with your feelings, and even if it doesn't show much, you actually have a very lazy personality, and in fact, you are quite possessive on the inside, and also quietly laugh alone when hearing silly puns from others, you are Rine."
Right.
She might not be a god, nor a person.
Too ordinary to be called a god, and too extraordinary to be called a person; she might be such an ambiguous existence.
However.
"You are Rine, and to me──to us, that is enough."
Honestly, I didn't care whatever that was.
As long as Rine stayed by our side as Rine.
"But..."
Even so, Rine still couldn't lift her head.
"That is, 'Rine'..."
She is still afraid.
"Not knowing her name, not knowing her past, not even knowing what kind of existence I was...! An existence who didn't even know shame...!"
Because she thinks the 'Rine' we speak of and herself are different people.
"The real me is, an existence like this...!"
Aren't you guys here to find that 'Rine', not me, Shurine.
"We made a promise, Rine."
No. It's not.
"When we first met. I knelt before you and said this."
It's you.
We came here to find you.
Because Rine is Shurine and Shurine is Rine.
"That the journey ahead will also be a journey for you."
This was something I said to 'Rine', and at the same time, something I said to 'Shurine' who was still sleeping deep inside her.
I wanted her to know.
About the 'person' she wanted to know so much.
"Things you want to do, places you want to go, surely they will appear."
So I wanted her to harbor human-like wishes.
I wanted her to look at this land she would live in together from now on, instead of looking only at the sky she couldn't ascend to while trapped in the Divine Palace as a god.
"And I also said this. That I would never ignore your will again. If a time comes when I have to do an action different from your will, I would persuade you as much as possible so you can accept it."
Because I knew the fact that 'Shurine' was also listening to these words together.
I kept talking to her.
"So, I want to take you out of here, but I won't drag you out by force."
It was an impossible task in the first place anyway.
I didn't have the ability to break this 'world'.
Probably even the 'Beginning' wouldn't be able to.
"I want you, to come out on your own."
Of course, even if it were possible, I would absolutely never have done such a thing.
If Rine couldn't come out of here on her own, that act had no meaning.
It would just be forcefully dragging her out, who was stuck alone, by pulling the chain called 'slave' that was binding her, just like that time again.
No matter how much I stayed by her side, no matter how well I treated her, even if I personally undid that chain I pulled, it was just putting another invisible chain called goodwill around her neck.
Absolutely, we could not become an equal relationship in the true sense.
In the true sense, I could not stand by her side.
"To me, Sister is not a god I must serve."
At that moment, Lily, who was watching us quietly, suddenly worked up the courage and approached, starting to speak firmly like this.
Even though she was a devout cleric who had served a 'real god' all her life.
"Sister Rine is my precious companion. No matter what kind of person Sister was, that fact doesn't change at all."
Squatting down together to match the height in front of the god's avatar, who was no exaggeration to be said to be equal to that god, no, in a higher position than that.
"I swore to protect Elder Sister."
Just like Miki, who approached my side likewise.
"That oath of mine does not change in the future."
Saying that he is only doing what he naturally should do as a knight.
"I came to be with you all for the reason of achieving revenge, but now, that is not all."
Toric also approached us carefully and said.
"I don't want to lose anyone by my side ever again."
Like that, he obediently confessed his sincerity that he hadn't spoken of until now.
"...I told you."
Like Ibi, who approached last while clicking her tongue, tsk.
"I already have a family. ...Of course, that included you, idiot."
Although she was turning her head and looking elsewhere as if this atmosphere didn't fit her at all, she was still glancing at her repeatedly.
"Since you took me out of there too, isn't it my turn this time?"
I placed the hand I had on Rine's arms up to her shoulder as it was, wearing a grin.
Then before long.
"You heard them, right?"
Finally, Rine who eventually worked up the courage lifted her head and came to face us.
It was a face that was a mess, covered in tears and snot.
But because of that.
"──Let's go out, Rine."
More than any other time, it was a human-like face.
"Together."
Like that, Rine slowly nodded.
At that, I carefully approached such Rine and gently hugged her.
To prove the one word she would have wanted to hear all her life, not just with words but in another way too.
"You are not alone."
And as if proving these words, Lily and Miki, Toric and Ibi approached by the side one by one and hugged her.
Together.