Chapter 220 ·Rio (2)
Rio (2)
Several days had passed since Rio had seen her past life.
Though Rio had been shocked by the revelation, she thankfully regained her usual self as time went by.
The people who had also listened to the story of her past were each handling their assigned tasks.
Ferus was still in Seifert Village, working in the facility he'd set up himself to begin artifact production, and the two heroes imbued in Silia's weapon were helping with that as well.
Everyone was constantly busy for Louis's sake.
Even the mere fact that the empire's top technician was making an artifact was a matter of national importance, yet it was being carried out for just one person.
That's right. All sorts of people were struggling just because of him alone.
In that sense, Louis felt slightly apologetic, but it couldn't be helped.
If he were left as he was, who knew what disaster might befall the continent.
'Of course, in the end, all I can do is feel grateful.'
To begin with, Louis's goal was to free himself from this damned Chaos Dragon's curse.
Even now, if Pram left his side, he would surely lose his reason.
Not only the village, but the entire empire might go up in flames.
'How many years has this crap been going on already?'
Louis looked back on his past.
How long had he suffered because of the Chaos Dragon since coming to this world?
Actually, the world hadn't been bad at first.
Unlike in his previous life, he had grown up under kind parents and was able to be at ease both physically and mentally.
His memories with Lord Seifert and his parents still remained in Louis's mind.
'The reason I'm so attached to this village is entirely because of them.'
But that's when the problems started.
When the village burned down, his parents were killed, and at the same time, Louis became the Chaos Dragon.
'Yeah. Damn, it all began then.'
If only the village hadn't burned, maybe he wouldn't be struggling like this now.
If that was the case, he would have calmly lived as the lord's son, and Dimo and the other kids wouldn't have died.
'Those kids from the evil Class route were the real problem, though.'
Anyway, if he hadn't transformed into the Chaos Dragon from the start, none of this would've happened.
But after some thought, Louis realized it was pointless to dwell on it and quietly closed his eyes.
"Young master. Are you asleep?"
"..."
Pram, who was perched on his head, asked.
"Well then, I'll sleep too~"
When Louis didn't reply, Pram drifted off like that.
Thanks to Pram using Louis's head as a pillow, Louis could quietly think.
There wasn't no way to get rid of the Chaos Dragon's rampage.
The most extreme example, for instance, was suicide.
'Am I crazy?'
Of course, Louis had no intention of dying for anyone.
Unless he'd gone mad from some drug, the thought wouldn't have even occurred to him.
Another method was giving up the Chaos Dragon's strength.
It's a classic that the greater the power, the more one is dominated by it—a tradition as old as time.
If he abandoned that heavy, burdensome power, the rampage problem would be solved neatly.
'The problem is, how do I throw away that power?'
If there had been a way to relinquish the power and return to being human, he would've tried it already.
Since that was impossible, he had to rely on the help of others as he was now.
"No."
That didn't mean there were no clues for controlling the power.
When Louis first transformed into the Chaos Dragon, coincidentally, he'd managed to return himself to human form.
'If only I could recall the sensation from back then...'
Just what mechanism had let it happen?
His mind remembered how he overcame it, but his body didn't.
Was it a simple coincidence?
Or a miracle?
'Was the Chaos Dragon even a villain in the first place?'
The Chaos Dragon advertised himself as the final boss throughout the game.
From that viewpoint, he seemed like a villain, but now, having learned things he couldn't have known in the game, Louis thought differently.
If the World Tree was responsible for the wisdom of the gods, then the Chaos Dragon was said to be responsible for godly strength.
To begin with, wasn't the Chaos Dragon created to block the invasion of the great devils?
'Though it's ferocious, its real role isn't a villain at all.'
In conclusion, the Chaos Dragon was the good side.
Despite his appearance, he was actually a character on the ally's side.
Just as the World Tree originally took human form and then became a tree out of wisdom, the Chaos Dragon must've had a certain degree of intelligence.
'Wisdom...'
The more he thought about it, the more that word lingered in his head.
But no matter how much he racked his brains, it wasn't a situation he could resolve by thinking alone.
"Young master."
In the middle of the night, with everyone else asleep, Rio came alone to visit.
Judging by the dark circles under her eyes, it seemed to be another bout of insomnia.
"Can't sleep?"
"Yeah."
As expected, since seeing her past life, Rio had been acting a bit unlike her usual self.
Instead of drawing her sword as soon as there was trouble, she would simply stand still, and the girl who loved fighting now said that violence was bad.
It created such a sense of disconnect that it made one wonder if this was the Rio they knew.
Maybe it was because her past and current memories had synchronized.
If so, she might feel like a different person, but still, Rio was Rio.
"What are you doing now?"
"Cleaning away obstacles."
That's because she set sleeping Pram, who'd been atop Louis's head, onto the ground and claimed the spot for herself.
"There. Now I can sleep comfortably."
"You can really just move Pram off my body?"
"Don't worry. It's fine as long as she's not moved too far away."
Fortunately, even though Pram's sleeping spot had moved closer to Louis's hip, she was still sound asleep.
Now occupying that spot, Rio spoke to Louis.
"Young master, what did you eat today?"
"I flew to a distant river this evening and filled up on huge monster fish. Why?"
"You must've eaten enough to pass gas."
At those words, Louis glanced at Pram lying near his backside.
"Rio, are you trying to kill Pram?"
"Would that be enough to do it?"
"..."
He gave up trying to reply.
But seeing her like this assured him that this was indeed the Rio he knew.
That brought immense relief.
"When you went to eat fish at lunch, I helped Grandpa Ferus. I did well, right?"
"Yeah."
"Grandpa says the artifact is about eighty percent complete now. He says it could be finished in a week."
With such good news having happened while he was out hunting (and fishing) by the river in the evening, Louis felt elated.
The headmaster Ferus was asleep now, so he couldn't ask him immediately.
"But even if it's finished, there's no guarantee you'll fully return to your original body."
"What do you mean?"
"The artifact is like a sort of blessing. Since it uses the power of the World Tree, at best it could help keep your reason intact, but he can't promise any effect beyond that."
That meant it wouldn't be much different from carrying Pram around.
In other words, it would just be a totem.
"So am I going to have to live like this forever?"
Would he have to go through life with the artifact stuck in his body?
"But it's not like there aren't any options. As you know, the Chaos Dragon and the World Tree were originally one god. Basically, if you combine them into their original divine form, it's theoretically possible."
The World Tree and Chaos Dragon.
If the two separated gods could be merged, then as a true god with perfect wisdom and perfect strength, nothing would be impossible.
Naturally, that would include reverting to his original human state.
"Is that even possible with current magitech?"
"Of course not. He said it's an area even a god can barely touch."
There were limits to what magitech could do to a god's body.
So there was no choice but to borrow the power of a god as well.
"So, is there really no way?"
"No."
Rio pointed at herself and said,
"There's someone who can perform a ritual to intervene in a god, and she's right here."
Now that he thought of it, Rio's Blood Sword Technique was power born from Chaos Dragon's blood.
So the ritual for the Blood Sword Technique and the Chaos Dragon naturally connected.
"How do you conduct the ritual?"
"It's all in my head. Not just that, but I remember everything my past life learned as well."
Through that recollection, Rio had gained the full memories of her past life.
In effect, it was like another person with centuries' worth of knowledge had joined them.
"Not just knowledge—the experiences and senses too. Everything was transmitted as it was. Isn't there anyone else with inherited memories from a past life... besides me?"
He wasn't the only one.
For example, the king of Woodrock he'd seen recently was a prime case.
Another was Hartmon, a great devil, who directly possessed the knowledge of Isaac, one of the heroes.
"After seeing my past life's memories, I realized something."
When he asked what it was, Rio lowered her head and answered.
"Why I am the way I am."
"..."
"I always look emotionless, speak strangely, and impulsively swing my sword without hesitation—that's all a result of my past life's influence."
Rio's previous existence had been that of a war machine, moving on emotionless orders alone.
If she brought a bit of that over, it made sense that Rio would turn out as she was now.
"So, I started wondering: is the current me nothing more than a copy of my past self?"
"If you put it that way, then I..."
If Rio was just a replica of her past life, what was Louis, who was living his second life?
"What?"
"..."
Louis almost revealed that he'd come from another world.
But would it matter if he told the truth now?
'I already told Elder sister Silia about the tutorial village, evil and good routes a long time ago...'
Deciding not to hesitate, Louis resolved to speak honestly.
"Don't worry about it too much, young master. I'm going to sleep now."
But just then, Rio suddenly climbed down from Louis's head and moved away from him.
"What about your insomnia?"
"It's cured."
She said that she couldn't sleep anywhere else.
"What about Pram?"
"If Pram gets hit with the young master's farts while asleep, that'll be hilarious."
She was clearly out of her mind.
At that point, copy or not, this was just the same old Rio.
.
.
.
Giving up on sleeping atop Louis's head, Rio walked into the forest.
Even at night, parts of her destination—Seifert Village—were still lit up here and there.
It was the young master's hometown, and the village where she herself had grown up.
Rio recalled the first time she set foot in the village.
She'd almost been sold off to wicked nobles, but the lord of this place bought her instead, welcoming her as one of the villagers and not as a slave.
The two who were Louis's parents—without them, she'd never have become this happy or strong.
"They were truly good people."
And yet their son could not set foot in his hometown.
She could not accept that her young master, for whom she'd devoted her entire life, might have to live forever as a monster.
'If it's for the young master...'
Of course, she would have to be willing to give her own life.
Hadn't she done so even in her previous life?
'Yeah. Just like back then...'
Like in those days, when she could fight—and die—just as ordered.
As Rio steeled her resolve and clenched her fists—
[Why are your hands shaking so much?]
She was startled by a voice from behind, but did not counterattack.
There was no hostility, and it was a voice she knew well.
"Ah... Uncle Sword and Aunt Sword."
[We apologize if we startled you.]
Seeing Frederick and Mirianne floating behind her, Rio asked,
"What do you want with me? Especially coming without Silia big sis."
[Is it strange that we sometimes act without her?]
"It's not that."
[We've been keeping an eye on you because you've been acting a little odd lately.]
As befitted true heroes, they seemed to have picked up on something, but Rio pretended not to notice.
"What's odd about me?"
[Do you have a tremor? People might think only your hands got hit with an earthquake.]
Rio was embarrassed to realize her arms were trembling like a leaf.
[People who shake like that usually share one thing in common.]
Most commonly, it's the fear of death that causes such trembling.
It matched Rio's current mood, but there was more to it.
[It also happens when you can't do what you want.]
When you have deep regrets.
When you feel despair at seeing the chance to achieve what you couldn't in your past life fly away.
That was Rio's state of mind.
"Uncle, aunt..."
Suddenly Rio hugged the two sword blades and asked,
"What should I do?"
Tears began to run down the sword blades.
Frederick wiped away her tears with his hilt as he replied.
[Child. Would you like to hear this proposal from your uncle and aunt?]
A week passed after this secret discussion between the three.
At last, the time came to return Louis to his original body.
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