Chapter 176
Chapter 176
The One Who Rages (3)
After finishing my meal, I surrendered myself to the bed. I caught my breath for a moment, my body limp with exhaustion.
My consciousness sank in an instant. When I opened my eyes again, I was in the Palace of Dreams, which had now become familiar.
“Mister!”
―Myu-myuu!
Young Canis, who now looked almost exactly like me, and the Dream Bird welcomed me. I let out a small sigh and waved at them.
Both of them scampered over and looked up at me. At their childlike appearance, I patted their heads.
“You came early.”
“Yeah.”
“You didn’t get hurt?”
“I did, but I recovered.”
“…….”
At my frank answer, young Canis pressed her lips tightly shut. I threw myself onto the Dream Bird’s bed.
The Dream Bird had apparently followed me from the beginning, but I had no idea why Canis was acting like this. Seeing my memories had probably influenced her quite a bit.
The two of them subtly climbed onto the bed. I stroked the Dream Bird with my left hand while looking at young Canis.
“Did you bring everything I told you to?”
―Myu!
The Dream Bird nodded vigorously. I looked toward the place it pointed to with its wing.
I saw boxes sitting in a corner of the bedroom. I stroked the Dream Bird to tell it that it had done well.
“What are those?”
“Your body.”
“Huh?”
Young Canis let out a dumbfounded sound. They had originally been materials I gathered so I could easily enter and leave the Imperial Princess’s nightmares.
The plan had been to make a doll and create a place where the Imperial Princess’s soul and mine could gather. But now that I had the Dream Bird, there was little need for that anymore.
I no longer needed Aro’s Necromancy either. Come to think of it, I could have simply asked the Dream Bird. Well, at first, the Dream Bird had been recovering.
“My body?”
“Yeah. You’re not going to live here forever.”
Young Canis’s expression turned peculiar. It was the face of someone moved after receiving an unexpected gift.
I clicked my tongue quietly and shook my head. I had no idea why she was misunderstanding things like that.
“Did you figure anything out?”
“Pardon?”
“You. This isn’t exactly a normal situation.”
“Ah.”
Judging by her reaction, she apparently had not even thought about it. I gave a hollow laugh. Somehow, she seemed even dumber.
Then again, considering she was six years old, she was already doing well enough. As long as she wasn’t crying and throwing tantrums, she was pulling her own weight.
“Hehe. I’m fine.”
Young Canis answered with a silly grin. She seemed to be misunderstanding something again. I hadn’t exactly said that because I was worried about young Canis.
“Ah. There was something I was curious about, though.”
“Hmm? What?”
“Is the ‘other Canis’ I saw in those memories my future?”
My words caught in my throat. How did she know that?
“How did you know?”
“Pardon? Know what?”
“My memories. No, I mean what happened yesterday and today. You saw those, didn’t you?”
“Yes. That’s right. I could just see them because I was here. Through an orb.”
I looked at the Dream Bird. Perhaps misunderstanding my gaze again, the Dream Bird beamed at me.
So it was like a living CCTV camera. Something like that?
“You can see everything?”
“Pardon? Uh. I think so? Through what you see, Mister.”
I nodded. This might actually be better.
“Anyway, to answer your question. Strictly speaking, that isn’t what your future looks like.”
“Pardon?”
“That’s something completely different. The future assigned to you ended after the point when I saved you.”
Canis tilted her head at my words. She did not understand them easily.
“Your future already ended when you died back then. The Canis you saw was a different Canis. The you who’s here now was simply pulled out from the you inside those memories.”
“…….”
Young Canis closed her mouth. Her face grew serious, as though she had something to think deeply about.
---
“Phew.”
Today had been a little easier. There were six memories in total. One was the moment Canis died, and I had dealt with two yesterday.
I had visited two places today as well. Today, what the Head of the Ulbushis Family had expected did not appear.
“How was it today?”
“I saw things I shouldn’t have.”
At the Head of the Ulbushis Family’s question, I shook my head from side to side. No matter how tolerant I was toward young Canis, this one had been a little difficult.
One was a memory of Canis kissing some boy. The other was a memory of going on a trip with the Head of the Ulbushis Family.
Both were things worthy of being called disgusting.
“What kind of memories were they this time?”
“One was Canis’s first love.”
“What!?”
The usually composed Head of the Ulbushis Family burst out with intense emotion. I looked at him with calm eyes.
He cleared his throat and showed an awkward expression. I really couldn’t understand the doting-parent trait.
“The other was Canis going on a trip with you, Head of the Ulbushis Family.”
“A trip?”
“Yes. Where was it again? It was humid. There were a lot of forests.”
“Ah. That must have been the jungle trip.”
The Head of the Ulbushis Family nodded, apparently remembering something.
“Was that really such a difficult memory?”
“Yes. Your expression made it rather difficult. That expression as though you were looking at everything lovable in this world while staring at an adolescent girl committing every kind of outrageous behavior.”
That was why I had found it difficult. Not only was Canis’s severe tyranny while suffering from middle-school syndrome unbearable, but the Head of the Ulbushis Family’s expression as he watched her made my stomach churn.
“Ahem. In any case, good work. Are you finished for today?”
“That was the plan, but how long can you maintain ‘Sorrow’?”
At my question, the Head of the Ulbushis Family looked confident.
“Don’t worry. I can maintain it for over a month.”
He truly was someone worthy of being called the Head of the Ulbushis Family. It had to consume a considerable amount of mental strength and magic, yet he showed absolute confidence that it would not faze him.
“Hmm. I’ll just finish it today.”
It was my third day at the Ulbushis estate. I had already skipped two of Gorilla’s classes. There was no need to miss tomorrow’s class too.
Besides, it wasn’t all that difficult. I gestured that I was fine to the attendant offering me a towel.
“Is that so.”
“Yes. Ah. Please get me something to drink.”
I asked the attendant for a drink. The capable attendant produced a chilled lemonade in an instant and handed it to me.
“……Magic?”
“Pardon?”
“Ah. Nothing. Thank you.”
I immediately gulped down the lemonade. A moderate sweetness and a sourness that snapped my mind awake. It was the perfect drink for refreshing my mood.
“How is the doll coming along?”
“It’s being completed without issue. But why do you need it?”
I thought for a moment. Should I tell him the truth? In the end, I decided to tell him exactly as it was.
“It’s a doll made to match the crystal containing the Anger separated from Canis.”
“Hmm. A doll, rather than a body?”
I stared at the Head of the Ulbushis Family with an incredulous expression.
“I’m sure you know this, but Homunculi are technically included within Chimera-manufacturing methods.”
“…….”
“If I inform the Imperial House about this, it’ll probably be quite a sight.”
The Head of the Ulbushis Family quietly averted his gaze. I stared at him for quite a while.
“In any case, I’m counting on you.”
“Understood. I’ll bring you the finest work possible.”
Leaving those words behind, I headed toward Anger again. I took in the single white sphere that remained.
I grabbed it just like that. Along with the sensation of being sucked in, the scenery around me changed.
“The last one. Is this a funeral?”
The atmosphere was solemn. This time, there were an enormous number of people. It was different from before, when there had been at most one person accompanying Canis.
I looked around. Were these gravestones in Ulbushis Territory? Everyone gathered in one place was dressed in black mourning clothes.
“Hmm.”
I saw two people with blue hair. The Head of the Ulbushis Family and Canis. The two stood in front of a gravestone with their heads lowered.
Both of their bodies trembled as though they were crying. I watched from afar. This was the funeral of Lady Ulbushis that the Head of the Ulbushis Family had mentioned.
“I can already see the signs.”
I could see energy surging from the two heads of blue hair. One was black, while the other was blue.
I worried that they might both go berserk. If I approached in my current state, the crystal would automatically alter Anger.
And then I would have to fight. Some unknown person suddenly appearing and charging toward Canis? That was practically asking for a fight.
“This could be fun.”
I was slightly tempted. The complacent thought crossed my mind that maybe I could just start by throwing a Lightning Spike.
I barely came to my senses. That might not be bad either, but this was the Ulbushis Family, of all families. It would be one thing if I had made exhaustive preparations, but charging straight in without them was a little too much.
I had already lost many spare lives while doing this quest. Any more expenditure than this felt somewhat burdensome.
“…….”
After looking around, I frowned. Around the gravestones, there was an awkward stretch of forest—not particularly far away, but not exactly close either.
There was someone among those trees. The suspicious figure quietly watched the Ulbushis funeral.
I silently left my position and moved.
“…….”
Because I had taken a wide detour, it took longer than I expected. Even then, the suspicious figure remained in the same place.
“Life is truly fleeting.”
I revealed my presence. The suspicious figure did not spare me even a glance. Suddenly, he spoke quietly.
The deep voice belonged to a man just entering old age. I did not bother answering and stared at the robed figure.
“Who are you?”
“Well. Would you know if I told you?”
It was somehow a familiar answer. I snickered at the response.
“Tell me. I think I might.”
“Hmm. What a bold young man.”
Only then did the old man’s gaze move. He was an old man with thick white hair. His impressively grown beard connected with the hair on his head. He looked like the sort of person who ought to be holding a shield and swinging a hammer.
“What are you doing here looking so suspicious?”
“Do I look suspicious?”
My eyes cooled at the question he returned instead.
“Then you don’t? Watching a funeral gloomily in a secluded place like this?”
“Wouldn’t the same apply to you, young man?”
“That’s true, but I didn’t say something like, ‘Life is~.’”
“……So that was the problem.”
The old man shook his head from side to side. Watching him, I somehow found the situation amusing.
“You’re a magician.”
“Indeed. I am ‘Magus.’”
The old man readily revealed his identity. So that was it. The reason Canis’s quest had become a Main Quest.
It was because it was connected to Magus, who would become a major antagonist in the Main Quest.
“Are you connected to the Ulbushis Family?”
“My apologies, but I cannot tell you that, young man.”
I carefully examined the old man’s appearance. I remembered the faces of every executive in Magus.
Yet there was no face matching him in my memory. It wasn’t as though the word Magus was common, so he was definitely affiliated with them.
“Since we’ve happened to meet like this, allow me to ask you something.”
He showed no sign of tension, apparently quite confident in his abilities. I stared at the old man with cold eyes.
He did not seem to be looking down on me, yet he was completely carefree. Apparently taking my lack of response as agreement, the old man began asking whatever he wanted.
“Have you ever lost someone precious to you?”
“I have.”
“……As have I. Whenever that happens, I feel how fleeting life is.”
“So do I.”
I had a memory of losing someone precious to me. I had lost myself, of all people. I still remembered vividly the terror of my first death.
For the first time, an expression appeared on the old man’s face, as though my answer had surprised him.
“Is that so. In that case, would you join me?”
Only then did I realize who the old man was. He was the grandson of the person who founded the organization known as Magus. If Magus were a knight order, he would have been a heavyweight equivalent to its Vice-Commander.