Chapter 197 - Damn Reincarnation

Spring of Light

The pipes could no longer draw up any water. The Spring of Light and the purified water at its source had all disappeared. And not just the water. The spheres connected to the pipes, and the holy relics inside them—every last one was gone.

Eugene glanced back at Kristina, who was being held aloft by the wind. She was still unconscious, her eyes closed.

He thought that was probably for the best. Everything he did not want her to see had vanished without a trace, but he did not want Kristina to see even those decrepit pipes.

"... What?"

He had reached into his cloak, intending to sweep the place clean, when Mer seized his fingers as though she had been waiting for him. Clinging to the hand with which he was taking out the Moonlight Sword, she emerged with him.

"You son of a bitch."

"Whaaat?"

"You... you... Sir Eugene... you're a son of a bitch."

Mer pointed at Eugene, trembling all over.

"How, how could you do something so... shameless! Right in front of me, too!"

"No... well... technically, I wasn't the one who did it..."

"Liar! You're a liar! You could easily have dodged! But you didn't! Instead of dodging, you... your lips! When your lips touched, and her t-tongue went in, you just stood there!"

"Well... you see... um... Mer. When something happens that a person simply can't comprehend, their body stops doing what they tell it to. Their thoughts stop dead, and they freeze up. And with the backlash from Ignition, my body was..."

"Liar! You're moving just fine now!"

"Strictly speaking, I'm not the one moving right now. Tempest's wind is..."

"Aargh!"

Mer let out a shrill scream.

"Anyway! You were so defenseless back there that even I could have stabbed you to death with a dagger!"

"Do you think I've ever imagined anything like that happening in my entire life?"

Eugene desperately tried to soothe the furious Mer. She huffed and stamped her feet against the floor.

"I just don't understand. You're handsome now. But you weren't in your past life! I saw Sir Hamel's face every day in Akron, and not once did I think he was handsome."

"That's a bit harsh... Honestly, it wasn't the sort of face anyone would call ugly, was it...?"

"I've thought this every time we talk about this sort of thing, but your confidence is so arrogant and baseless. How could you be so confident about your face when you had Vermouth the Great standing right beside you?"

"Hmm... I'll admit I was a little less handsome than Vermouth, but I was much better-looking than Moron. Besides, being handsome isn't all about having a good face. I had a handsome air about me."

"You're insane..."

"The recording in Akron just didn't capture that handsome air properly. Actually, even in that, my... uh... what do you call it... proportions were pretty good, weren't they? A reasonably small face, broad shoulders, a muscular body..."

"You son of a bitch."

"Even the scar across my face looked pretty cool. I'm not saying this for no reason. In my past life, not a single bastard ever stood in front of me and called me ugly."

"That must be because you killed every last person who said it. Anyway, you're awful. How could you do something like that right in front of me?"

Mer stamped her feet again as she snapped at him. Feeling deeply, genuinely wronged, Eugene drew the Moonlight Sword from its sheath.

"Hey! Did I do it? Huh? It happened to me! I'm a victim too. So why are you only giving me grief?"

"It happened to you? How shameless... Deep down, you enjoyed it too!"

"I didn't enjoy it... Really. I was just too surprised to move. And, uh... I was sad, too. In the end, my companion Anise is dead. I'll never see her alive again..."

Speaking with a dejected expression, Eugene held the Moonlight Sword out to the side. Mer hesitated at the sight of his slumped shoulders. She regretted losing her temper and flying into a rage... She sensed a loneliness in him that nothing could soothe.

'... But Lady Senya is still alive.'

With that thought, Mer cleared her throat.

"... I'm telling Lady Senya later."

"Fine, fine."

The Moonlight Sword shone. The slowly spreading moonlight erased every piece of machinery underground. After confirming that the room was empty, Eugene turned away.

He walked through the ruined temple, passing the dead without gathering their bodies. A few people were still breathing, but whether they lived or died was none of his concern.

He had lost his head and rampaged without considering the consequences. After running wild to his heart's content, wouldn't offering help now that it was all over be like inflicting an illness and then offering the cure?

'Am I fcked?' *

The thought crossed his mind. Everything was over, and the anger, hatred, and murderous intent that had surged through him had subsided. His rational mind was gradually starting to work again.

... What was he going to do about this? He hadn't killed some commonplace, low-ranking priest. He had killed a cardinal. He had also killed a captain of the Blood Cross Knights and a senior inquisitor from the bureau of inquisition. Beyond them, the number of people Eugene had killed today was well over a hundred.

... He had gone too far. He had rampaged without a thought for the consequences, just as Hamel would. He had warned them not to stop him. He hadn't intended to kill them from the beginning, either.

But they had refused to back down and attacked him... Their insistence that they were absolutely right, that they would stop him and send him back regardless of his reasons, had irritated him.

'If it were just me, I could work something out. The problem is Lionheart.'

The emperor of Kiel coveted what Lionheart possessed. What if Yuras brought this matter to the fore and a dispute broke out between the empires? Naturally, the emperor would try to place the blame on Lionheart.

That would not go smoothly, however. Eugene had no intention of keeping his mouth shut about this madness. He could silence the Holy Empire's objections with the Holy Sword. If those bastards refused to accept it, that refusal itself would be a denial of the Light they had served.

The power Lionheart had accumulated over three hundred years was considerable. Kiel could not expel that enormous family from the empire in its entirety. If they reached a satisfactory agreement...

'They'll throw me in prison, or exile just me.'

He doubted it would go as far as exile. Eugene was too exceptional for them to convict him over this matter and banish him. What would Kiel gain by expelling him? Nothing. The moment he was exiled, countries everywhere would try to recruit him.

'They might throw me in prison and try to sweet-talk me... No. Even that would only happen if Yuras protested. If the Pope decides to bury the whole thing, there's nothing Kiel can do.'

Most of his problems would be solved if he could shut the Pope up.

How? Eugene had come face-to-face with fanatic devotion to the Light in this temple. They had called his actions a sign of corruption. The Light's choice was not mistaken. Eugene Lionheart's abilities were suited to a Hero. But Eugene Lionheart's character had become corrupt...

Their logic was invincible. They deftly sidestepped the Light's true will while insisting that their actions were dictated by faith. If even the holy knights and inquisitors were like that, he doubted he could have a reasonable conversation with the Pope who stood at the pinnacle of those fanatics.

'... If I reveal that I'm Hamel...'

Until now, revealing his past life had more or less resolved things. But this time he was dealing with the Pope of the Holy Empire. Revealing that he was Hamel did not seem likely to solve anything. What if he made the Holy Sword shine? That alone would not be enough. He needed something more... something like an unmistakable miracle...

"If you're awake, why don't you get down?"

Eugene looked back and grumbled.

Kristina's shoulders twitched as she hung limply in the wind.

"My body and mind are both wrecked right now... Even summoning a spirit is hard, you know?"

"... Ahem..."

Kristina cleared her throat and descended from the wind. She kept her head bowed. Her clothes, which had been soaked in spring water, were already dry, but she kept tugging and brushing at her collar as though something about it made her terribly uncomfortable.

"... You..."

Beneath her disheveled blond hair, her ears were bright red. Eugene stepped back, a complicated expression on his face.

"... What do you know?"

"Ahem... ahem... a-ahem..."

Clearing her throat repeatedly, Kristina cautiously raised her head. Her face was red. Their eyes met, and she immediately ducked her head again. Eugene's expression grew even more complicated at that blatant reaction.

"Hey..."

"S-Sir Hamel."

Kristina stammered.

"N-No, that's not right. That was your past life... I... I'll simply call you Sir Eugene. Yes. That is the proper thing for me to do."

"I'm asking what you know."

"Well... you see... Lady A-Anise's... memories entered me... No... not just her memories. It feels as though her consciousness itself has become part of me..."

Kristina held her spinning head as she rambled.

Her confusion was only natural. Anise's soul dwelled within Kristina. It had been there for a long time, but these events had awakened it. Their consciousnesses had become shared, and Anise's memories had been added to her own.

As a result, Kristina had learned what saints were, what ritual had taken place at this spring, and what she herself truly was.

All of those truths were cruel to her. Most of what she had believed to be true throughout her life had been denied. She knew it was all unquestionably true, but accepting it immediately was honestly difficult.

... And that was not all. Eugene Lionheart was apparently the reincarnation of Hamel the Stupid, a man from three hundred years ago.

"Please understand, Hamel. All of this is difficult for this child to accept, so please watch over her for the time being... mmph."

Kristina clapped both hands over her lips, which had moved of their own accord. Eugene's eyebrows twitched as he looked down at her, sitting on the ground in surprise.

"... Anise?"

"N-No... I-I'm not. I'm not Lady Anise."

Kristina stammered her answer.

What was that just now? Words she hadn't even thought had come out of their own accord. Her mind was... in turmoil. Things she did not want to understand, things that were hard to understand. And at the end of them...

A face far, far too close.

Trembling eyes.

The sensation of lips touching, and the tongue she had pushed inside entwining with...

"... Aaaaah!"

Kristina let out a scream like a lament and clasped her hands in prayer.

["I never imagined that memory would be passed on as well."]

"What?"

A voice rang inside her head. Startled, Kristina looked up.

["I have startled you unintentionally. Please understand. I did consider leaving you and ascending to heaven, but for your sake and Hamel's, I believe I must remain here for the time being."]

Eugene could not hear Anise's voice. But from Kristina's expression and the way she looked around as though hearing things, he could roughly guess what was happening.

"... This voice..."

Kristina's expression slowly stiffened. The first revelation she had ever heard.

Eugene Lionheart is the Hero chosen by the Light.

Vermouth's soul did not enter heaven.

... The voice of the 'Light' that had delivered that revelation.

["I merely acted as a messenger. The revelation was not false. The God of Light is not omniscient and omnipotent as you and the other clergy believe, but he does exist. He simply cannot intervene directly in this world."]

Anise continued speaking. Kristina's trembling gradually subsided.

["So please do not deny even the Light's existence. You... hehe. If you do not wish to call yourself a saint, that cannot be helped, but your existence and your power are unquestionably miracles. If you wish to use your miracles for Hamel... no, for Eugene Lionheart, I will help you."]

'... Lady Anise...'

["I know. I experienced the very same things as you, and I have always watched over everything you endured from childhood onward. Now that you have learned the truth of it all, it is only natural for you to distrust the Light. Kristina. That is all right. Even if you distrust the Light, it does not change the fact that your existence is a miracle. Nor will the Light watching over you leave in disappointment at your distrust."]

Kristina continued praying in silence.

Little by little, understanding came.

Had the dreadful ritual at the Spring of Light been completed, Kristina's blood would have been replaced with spring water. If everything afterward had gone as planned, she would have been baptized with the Holy Emperor's relics in the Holy See's 'Audience Chamber.'

And stigmata like Anise's would have appeared on Kristina's back.

["I do not want that. Even if you were made more perfect than I was, forcibly inscribed stigmata will eat away at your lifespan."]

"..."

["That is why I cannot leave you yet."]

Kristina slowly closed her eyes. She was bewildered, but she understood. For the time being, Anise would remain inside her and support the miracles Kristina performed with her own divine power. She would use her own soul in place of stigmata.

Though she had died long ago, she had refused to enter heaven. She had remained in the world to keep a promise to the companion who had died before her. Even after reuniting with him, she still refused to enter heaven.

It was to fulfill the mission they had failed to accomplish three hundred years ago. From now on, Anise would remain inside Kristina, bearing the pain Kristina would otherwise have to shoulder and performing miracles alongside her. And someday, when Kristina became someone who no longer needed Anise's help, only then would Anise unfurl her folded wings and fly up to heaven.

Tears flowed from her closed eyes. Such nobility—to refuse rest even in death, to endure the pain of the soul and strive to save the world. Every saint the Holy Empire had presented to the people had been a fabrication, but Kristina simply could not consider all the saints who had come before her to be false. Even if their existence had been artificially created, they had all been saints...

["Do you not drink holy water?"]

'... Pardon?'

["You do not seem to enjoy it... If you truly pity me, please enjoy some holy water for my sake from now on. And if you ever feel a troublesome, embarrassing urge toward Hamel, I will act on it for you..."]

"What on earth are you saying?"

["It is truly delightful how innocent you are. I think teasing you will be quite entertaining."]

Anise chuckled inside her head. Without replying further, Kristina recited a short prayer.

"... Are you done?"

"... Ahem... a-ahem..."

"Tell Anise. I can't do it right now, but when I die and meet her in this place called heaven, I'm going to beat her up."

In truth, he wanted to beat her up right now. But if he did, wouldn't Kristina be the one taking the blows? Eugene clicked his tongue and shook his head.

["This is not goodbye, Hamel. I will protect you from within this child..."]

He hadn't even listened to the end. He never imagined this was what she meant.

Eugene was glad he had not shed tears over his parting with Anise. Had he cried then, the mere thought of the teasing Anise would have unleashed through Kristina's mouth was terrifying.

"... Let's make a clear distinction so we don't get confused. Kristina, you... uh... call me Eugene. Got it? Anise is going to call me Hamel anyway."

"... Yes, Sir Hagine."

"What?"

"N-No, Sir Eugemel."

"What are you doing?"

Kristina slapped her own lips several times.

"... Lady Anise is truly mischievous. According to the accounts passed down, she was as warm as the morning sunlight."

"Old stories are never trustworthy. Just look at me. The storybook keeps calling me stupid, but what about me is stupid?"

At his grumbling, Kristina narrowed her eyes and gave him a sidelong look. For some reason, she felt as though she could hear chuckling inside her head.

"... What will you do now?"

"Going back to the cathedral is out of the question."

He doubted anything good would come of returning. The biggest problem was that his body was not in good shape right now. It wasn't as though he couldn't move a finger, but he would need a good two or three days of rest to recover.

"... I think we should destroy the warp gate leading here and hole up somewhere while I recover. After that, well... Honestly, I'd rather just run off instead of trying to clean up this mess."

"Are you serious?"

"Why would I lie? I did go berserk and rampage, but when you rampage like that, you don't spare a thought for cleaning up afterward. But what can I do? If I actually ran off, our family head, who's already stressed out from every direction, would lose every last hair on his head."

Eugene muttered as he staggered along. Kristina finally came over and supported him.

"Anyway. If I'm going to so much as pretend to clean this up, I need to be in decent shape."

"... All because of me..."

"It wasn't just because of you, so don't say that. And what if it was? Why should you feel guilty and worry about what I think? You're the one who had that f*cked-up shit done to you."

A faint smile spread across Kristina's lips at his rough words. Mer glared at her smiling face, eyes flashing.

"Don't cling to him so much."

"Pardon?"

"I said, don't cling to him."

"I'm only supporting him... Ah."

Kristina smiled brightly and nodded. Then she hoisted Eugene's limp body up and onto her back.

"Hey, hey!"

"This reminds me of the forest in Samar."

Kristina supported Eugene's bottom with both hands. His face twisted as humiliation surged through him. Mer could not even muster a response to such a bold move. She froze with her mouth hanging open, while Kristina patted Eugene's bottom and began walking forward.

The morning sunlight was warm.