Chapter 1008 – After Laughing and Crying

000

“That’s it… Leona forgave me… Hehe…!” In the end, she and I, together with Kaidolph, created ‘Babel’…”

As I speak with my twisted tongue forcing the pronunciation, it only sounds like a strange pronunciation.

Cleon was blankly looking at Seth, who was talking while shaking his upper body from side to side with a dazed expression.

＂… Huh… Big…”

She suddenly let out a sigh and couldn’t stay still as her voice sounded like she was gasping for air and talking in her sleep.

＂Why are you sleeping all of a sudden!?＂

＂Hung!?＂

In the end, when Cleon struck her forehead with a blow of her anger, she made a strange sound, opened her eyes in surprise, and immediately cupped her forehead.

＂Wow, you suddenly beat someone! It’s too much…!”

“I guess that’s too much…”

When Cleon decided that there was no problem with what he had done and said so, Seth looked at Cleon with cold eyes.

“There’s still a lot to explain, right? Why did your body become like that, or what happened after that? If that happened over a thousand years ago, why are you still alive? In many ways!”

When Cleon confronts Cleon like that, Seth lets out a ‘ngh’ sound as if clearing her stuffy nose, then blinks her eyes and looks at Cleon.

＂Oh, didn’t you explain…?＂

＂Ah… Nothing… ＂

This drunk guy… Is he really so drunk that he can’t remember what happened just before, or is he testing his patience?

Either way, my patience to be tested was slowly running out.

＂Oh… I see, I’m sorry… I’m getting older and my memory is failing… How much did I say…”

＂Are you doing that on purpose…?＂

When Cleon asked about Seth’s behavior as if he was acting like an old man, Seth spoke while avoiding eye contact.

＂It’s not an act~ It’s true that you’re ancient~＂

“That’s right, Grandma.”

＂Who is the grandmother!＂

She said she was older, so I said she was her grandmother, and she got angry there…

After all, is this guy just a drunkard?

However, just as I was thinking that, Seth made a somewhat lonely face, hugged his arm, and answered.

It was as if he couldn’t handle the feeling of being down if he didn’t play around a little ahead of time.

“Well… This body and head are not that pleasant. One thing that is fortunate is that things became like this after Leona died…”

＂…＂

Seth’s voice as he spoke was a bit of regret, but there was also a hint of resignation about what he couldn’t avoid.

“If Leona had seen me like this, she would have been so angry that she would have been running wild all over the place.”

Seth speaks in a slightly more genuine manner than before.

“Did you ask why it happened like this? It’s a simple story. Adam shows no mercy to those who become his enemies. Even if it was something he created himself… No, maybe that’s why he was even more obsessed with me.”

As she recalled a time in her past, she held the hand that held her arm even tighter.

＂When Kaidolph died of life and Leona sacrificed herself to help Babel’s members escape from the attack of the Exiled Church. I also stayed by Leona’s side. Well, I thought that if Leona died, there would be no point in living for me.”

＂…＂

“As a result, Leona lost her life on the spot, but I survived. … I guess it would be better to say that I survived. It seems like Adam wasn’t happy that I betrayed him. That’s right. For me, a perfect human being created by myself, to go against his will would be to deny his perfection.”

It’s a story I’ve heard somewhere.

If God is omnipotent and omnipotent, why do humans exist who defy God’s will?

In the past, I read that there were religious people who debated such things.

“So even though my head was cut off, my life was held on, and I was taken to Adam. Forced to live as his child once again, I tried to rack my brain to find out the destination to which the surviving remnants of Babel had fled. What. I couldn’t answer because I didn’t hear the destination in the first place.”

“… You survived well.”

When Cleon said that, Seth shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, that’s right. The fact that he survived with only his head remaining was thanks to the magic of the Expulsion Church, but the mechanical body he obtained afterward was obtained by manipulating a member of the Expulsion Church with the ‘one-time control ability’ mentioned earlier. ＂

Well, I had a bit of a problem at the time, and it affected my brain, so my personality changed a bit.

Seth answered as if he was talking about someone else who had nothing to do with him.

Is it because it happened in the distant past, or is it because I really feel like I am a different being from then and now because of a brain problem?

“Was this the answer? In the end, I ended up telling you everything you asked me to know.”

As Seth said that, he emptied the bottle of liquor in his hand to the last drop.

Just when I thought she was relieved from her gloomy mood, I saw her whimpering and hiccuping, and her emotions were thrown into chaos.

＂Haa… Okay, well… For now.＂

Cleon nodded his head as if he had no choice.

Then.

＂…＂

Jeeeee. And, Seth was looking at Cleon with eyes as if he was seeing something strange.

“… Why are you looking at me like that?”

Is there a reason to be seen that way?

Cleon must have been sincerely skeptical and asked that question.

I wonder if she herself would look at her like that.

Then Seth let out a short sigh and shook her head.

“No… I wonder how this guy who inherited the sweet Leona’s soul was born…”

＂This drunkard…＂

Cleon wondered if he should hit her again after hearing her words, but she soon shook her head.

If I did that, I thought this would become more of a hassle.

＂Otcha.＂

When Cleon didn’t show much of a reaction, Seth climbed up and got down from the box he was sitting on.

And, as expected, the rags draped roughly on her body, made by somehow tying the robe that Cleon had torn, were noticeable.

＂Ugh. Then I’ll go now. It was nice to be able to meet and talk somehow. If the fight with Adam gets more intense, she won’t have time to spare like this. Because I can’t get close to him easily.”

＂Ah, ah…＂

As she said that, she trudged, step by step, and was about to leave her alley.

＂Eh, eh!!＂

And Seth sneezed loudly.

Due to the impact, the tattered robe that was somehow on her body falls off, revealing her machine-made body.

＂Ugh~ It’s cold. It’s cold.＂

And Seth picked up the pieces of cloth that she had dropped and tried to put them back on her body. Cleon looked at her in silence for a moment and then sighed.

Then, she had no choice but to hand over the clothes she was wearing – her shirt, which was draped over her bare skin today as she was wearing a top without a coat.

“Why on earth are you wearing nothing under your robe? … Rather than that, do you feel cold even though your body is made of machinery?”

As Seth said that, she took the neon shirt that Cleon gave her and smiled.

“Ah? Ah, I’m sorry. Even if it looks like this, there are places made of living organisms inside the machine parts… When the machine gets cold, those places also get cold.”

＂…＂

For some reason, I could imagine the internal organs writhing inside the machine.

And Seth looked down at the shirt she handed him, and then she stuck her face in it.

＂Wait…?!＂

Even Cleon would be surprised by that sudden action, but-

＂Puhheehnn!＂

＂…＂

Then, he froze once again as he watched Seth blow his nose as hard as he could against his clothes.

“Huh… Ah, I made a mistake. I was planning on doing it with the robe I was wearing earlier.”

If you take his face off, you’ll see Seth’s snot sticking to Cleon’s black shirt.

＂W-what are you doing…＂

＂So, it was a mistake… Ugh… ＂

As Seth answered, he probably tried to wear those clothes.

“Ah really! “What on earth is it that you wear so dirty?”

With no choice, Cleon used cleanliness magic to immediately make the dirty clothes clean.

“Wow~ That’s a convenient magic~ Leona said she couldn’t use this type of magic, so she didn’t learn it.”

Seth spoke as if he was thrilled, but upon hearing that, Cleon flinched and lowered his hand.

Cleon himself, if he had tried to learn this magic from the beginning, he might have given up in despair due to the difficulty of learning it, which was much more difficult than ordinary attack magic.

It’s just laundry, something you can do by hand.

However, being able to use magic like this now-

＂The only thing I can use is because I can use the magic that other people have learned, that’s all.＂

That’s because it’s magic that Lila can use.

Cleon simply borrowed and used Lila’s magic, which was connected to him through an imprint.

＂Oh~ You’re using that kind of magic as well~. Hey~ Is it really the smallest among the clans of black demons that have reincarnated recently?”

＂Ha, ah?＂

Cleon reacted that way because he couldn’t tell if what she was saying was a compliment, or she was teasing him.

“No, no. Surprisingly important? In fact, there are many conditions to borrowing power as a symbol of domination… Should we say that if you try to borrow and use power by force, the other person’s soul will be ruined, or should we say that trust between each other is important~.”

＂In the stamp of domination, such danger…?＂

I didn’t even hear such a story from Galatea.

＂It’s not called the Imprint of Domination for nothing~. However, if you use small amounts of energy little by little, it will not affect your soul and will actually help you understand each other.”

And then she continues the story, fully clothed in her clothes and shaking out her loose sleeves because they are Cleon’s size.

＂Most of the reincarnated dark demon clans do not know this and forcefully use their power at maximum output from the beginning, but they realize it after destroying one or two people. After that, I became so desperate that I thought, ‘It’s already happened like this…’ And I just went further and further away. Should I say that I forgot how to apply the brakes?”

＂Brake?＂

Cleon tilted his head at her words that he couldn’t understand.

“Ah, so. It means you won’t be able to stop yourself. It’s even more dangerous because it overlaps with the rampage of the so-called dark demon clan. Guys like the Demon Sword Emperor were especially like that.”

Seth explained in words that Cleon could understand, then dressed her properly and tied up the loose parts to somehow fit her body.

“If you understand, be careful from now on.”

＂Ah, ah… Okay.＂

Cleon also heard this for the first time and broke into a cold sweat while Seth smiled brightly.

“Ah, that face is the face you make when you say, ‘I didn’t know that until now, but I’m glad~’ Well, it’s natural to have that kind of reaction, but…”

And then she looks a little nostalgic, and she makes eye contact with Cleon.

＂…＂

＂…＂

If we look at each other for a moment without saying anything-

＂Ugh… Coot… Ugh…”

“Under!? What are you doing all of a sudden!?”

Suddenly, Seth’s face became distorted to a degree I had never seen before.

It was like the expression of a child who was about to suddenly burst into tears after receiving an injection, all the pain he had been holding in coming.

＂Tskkut, Leo, I… I miss you…! Leona…”

Then, while holding Cleon’s arm, she suddenly lets go and makes her cry.

Perhaps, the various kind sides that Cleon showed were similar to the kind side of her in her memories.

In the end, her longing for him, which she had endured for over a thousand years, exploded now.

She couldn’t help but look at Seth, holding Cleon’s arm and crying like a child, and Cleon was at a loss as to what to do.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to her, ‘Maybe’, and she sighed and looked at her.

Then she took off the arm she was holding and-

＂… Po, polymorph.＂

So, by memorizing her starter words, she will change the shape of her own body.

It’s been a long time since I took this form.

＂Ugh… Ugh… Huh…?”

And then, Seth sees Cleon’s appearance change in front of her.

Then, there-

Cleon standing with her long black hair down, the appearance of a woman she always took to hide her true identity.

It was standing there in the form of Leona.

“… Ruler. I don’t know if this will comfort you.”

＂…!＂

In front of her, there is Leona.

Of course, the details may be different here and there, but her tall height, long flowing black hair, black eyes, and her face ooze some kind of human nature.

She was exactly like the Leona she loved.

Come on!

In the end, Seth rushed at Cleon.

＂Ugh… Leona…＂

Even though she knows it’s not Leona, she calls it that name.

＂Haa…＂

In the end, when Cleon was in trouble, unable to do anything about Seth, who was clinging to him.

＂Ugh… Leona is exposing her breasts…＂

“It’s because of you!?”

Because of Seth’s words, the emotional atmosphere could never be maintained.

001

In the end, Seth cried for a few more minutes while being held by Cleon (in the form of Leona), and when he had calmed down, he got away from Cleon.

And then he left, leaving only the words, ‘See you later.’

… In the end, what did she want to talk about?

She said she wanted to check on her physical condition, but does that mean there were no problems?

“… I said I’d see you again, so I’ll check it out then.”

Since I have confirmed how Babel was created, I think I can trust it.

Maybe, if she asks Diora, she might know something more.

Thinking like that, Cleon returned to the place where he had parted ways with his group.

Then…

＂Oooooh!! Zita!!”

＂Wink here too!!＂

＂…＂

What is this?

It would be a natural reaction.

At the place where Seth was singing just now, there was Zita who was singing while rocking her body from side to side and stepping on the steps.

In her hands… She was holding an adamantite instrument that she and Herti had played in the basement before.

And in front of her, a larger number of people than before had gathered, waving her hands and cheering for Zita.

… Most of them were men.

“What I want to know about you is~☆ Because you were definitely born that way~☆”

What are those lyrics…

As he watched her humming her somewhat messed up lyrics, Cleon couldn’t help but make a disgusted expression on her face.

But Zita doesn’t seem to care at all about her own lyrics-

＂Kirat☆＂

She placed the hand that made the V-shape next to her eye and gave a refreshing wink.