Chapter 319 – Parallel Kites

000

[Remember, Illenu. Memories and ego are connected by desire.]

The most important place in the realm of death.

Inside the cathedral where the goddess resides.

Seated on her own throne, she closed her eyes, recalling her voice her in her her earliest memories her, her her Death Goddess-Dhampir Illenu opened her eyes.

It was because he felt that someone with vitality was approaching him.

Every time she closes her eyes, who is it that comes to mind in her head her?

Unsure of even the memory of the answer, Illenu opened the church door and watched the two entering.

One side is made. In order to manage the specter-type undead in this realm, she is her vassal who has allowed some authority, magical power, and ego.

And the one standing next to him… He’s the man he brought into this realm.

Magic Swordsman Cleon.

First aid was given to the wound, but it would be better not to move.

While thinking the same thing, Illenu once again looked at the maid.

Then, while looking at the maid’s eyes her, Illennu made a rare wrinkle between her eyebrows her under her mask her.

In the empty maid’s eyes, a slight light returned.

“Illenu…”

“Illenu?”

When the maid called herself that, the goddess could n’t help but ask back in her questioning voice of her.

Even the goddess does not know her own name.

Because as soon as she heard the name, she sensed that it was her own name.

“Did you get your memories… Back?”

Illenu’s voice was a mixture of bewilderment, sadness, and embarrassment rather than joy.

It was as if it would have been better if it hadn’t been done.

“That’s right. Your name is Illenugo, and I-“

The moment the maid was about to say that, thinking that Illenu’s figure had disappeared-

Cleon quickly grabbed the maid’s body and slammed her sideways, causing her to roll on the ground.

“Keugh…!”

As he rolled on the ground, some of Cleon’s healed wounds opened and blood leaked from under the bandages of her.

It was n’t just the shock of rolling to the ground, but when she swung her sword, a negative energy that was completely incompatible with silver, the sacred metal, spread and flowed, dealing invisible damage to the area where her sword was swung.

“Cleon…!”

In the place where the maid had been standing before her, there was only a silver goddess, holding a silver rapier, looking at her target her, which she had missed.

Although the goddess who manages the dead is her death her self.

As if inflicting another death on that soul was out of the question, of course she tried to slash the maid with her rapier.

The maid looks at Illenu with a surprised face, but all she feels under her mask Her is an ice-cold, sharp gaze like a blade.

“Illenu, wait… Why-“

“Anyway, I don’t think I was too happy to have my memories back…”

Saying that, Cleon quickly got up from the ground and took up his stance of her, but he himself questioned whether he would be able to stand up against the fully armed ruler of the realm.

“Magic Swordsman. Did you make her regain her memories of her?”

“Yes. It was completely coincidental.”

At Cleon’s words her, the light in her eyes her disappeared for a moment under the goddess’s mask. She seemed to have closed her eyes for a moment and contemplated something on her part of her.

“Please wait, Illenu…! I am for you-“

“Enough. Now that you have your memories back, I can’t leave you in this realm. Having memories in this world means you can create desires that will change the realm.”

At her words her, the maid bit her lower lip.

“Don’t worry, I won’t do anything to destroy your soul. I’ll only cut down the memories inside you. And… Along with the magician next to you who can bring back those memories.”

Looking at her as she spoke with pity for her, the maid also became a sad expression.

“Illenu…”

“Don’t call me by that name, I don’t need a name. No. Anyone in this place.”

“Then you shouldn’t have brought me…”

Cleon staggered to his feet her, even as his mouth his was bleeding.

Without looking back at the wounds on her body her, regardless of the gap in her armament her, I tried to stop her.

“…That’s funny. I treated him at best and made him look a little like a living person… But now he’s become a living corpse again.”

“Ha, if you listen to that tone. Then that dhampir must be right.”

When Cleon pretended to be relaxed and answered, Illenu’s eyes narrowed again.

“I brought you here… He. It’s to keep a promise with a tainted sage from the same world as you. Because you looked troubled when you died. There’s no other reason.”

Illenu’s voice was cold and devoid of any emotion.

No, to put it bluntly, he was a little fed up with Cleon for making him say this.

He says he brought Cleon and the maid got her memories her back?
Wrong, he was just-…

‘Illenu. I will always be by your side.’

“Ugh…!”

A voice resounded in Illenu’s head.

The voice that gives you a headache – the voice that should exist only in your memories that you have closed off.

What makes the heart beat fast is the echo that accompanies the pain.

In the next moment, the black shadow stretching under the goddess’s feet changed its shape and arose in the form of a human, as if sticky blood was condensed.

It was like a poor-quality clay doll with holes in its eyes, nose, and mouth, and nothing in it.

With the sword in her hand her, she turned her gaze from the empty hole to Cleon.

“What, what…?”

Even the maids were perplexed as if this was the first time they had seen something like that pop out of Illenu.

However, Cleon felt as if his body her froze as the doll’s eyes met the black eye sockets and the flesh directed towards him.

It was because he also felt that the doll’s life was directed straight at him.

‘Damn… That’s not good.’

Besides, if he still couldn’t stop the bleeding, Cleon’s eyes seemed to slowly blur.

Even if he tried to forcefully talk to Illenu here and now, it would be meaningless if he could n’t open his closed ears to her.

The maid saw Cleon’s breathing quicken, and she grabbed his wrist her.

“K-Cleon. Let’s run away. Right now, it’s too dangerous with that body…”

The maid, who had never imagined that Illen would react this much, said so, and then she ignored herself and reached out to the shadow puppet that was about to attack Cleon.

Then, various furniture, including a long chair, placed inside the cathedral was engulfed in gloomy green light, and flew randomly through the air, crushing the shadow puppets as they were.

“Ugh…!”

It was the first time in hundreds of years to perform an attack using magic power, so the maid let out a scream from her mouth at the unfamiliar use of magic power.

At least, the random movement of objects and the uncontrolled movement of furniture threatened the shadows and Illenu.

The shadow collapses once in the first attack, then rises again to protect Illenu, who is unable to move due to a headache.

“In this gap…!”

And, likewise, leading the wounded Cleon through the door of the cathedral they had entered, they escaped as they were.

“Wait…!”

Illenu reached out to grab the two of them, but the shadow puppet blocked Illenu’s arm from her.

“You… What the hell…”

And, as if Illenu didn’t know the identity of that shadow, she looked at it.

Soon, he passed out from an unbearable headache and collapsed.

The shadow looked down at the owner, then picked her up and sat her on the throne.

Then, she turned around behind the throne and looked at the inverted cross embedded in the ground-

Adhering to its surface, she tore apart the regenerated vampire flesh with her own sword.

As if it had replaced the work its owner originally had to do, it melts into the shadow and returns to its owner as if it were crumbling again.

The cathedral, which had been in a moment of commotion, became quiet again.

001

“Kuh…”

Cleon bit his lip as he watched his own blood flow non-stop.

In a situation where there are no potions or healing magic, the only way to stop this bleeding is to stop the bleeding with a bandage.

It was clear that it also had its limits.

“Cleon, be patient… There’s a place to get the medicine.”

Saying that, the two of them escaped from the cathedral and headed towards an old, shabby cabin at the end of the cemetery.

The maid hurriedly knocked on the door of the hut, and when the door opened a little later-

There, Richie, who had visited the previous maid and asked where Dullahan’s head was, looked at the two with a surprised expression.

She still had her hood pulled over and a skull mask on her face.

Beneath it were empty gray eyes.

“What, what’s going on…?”

It was the first time a maid had found herself in such a hurry, and it was also unexpected to Rich that she had a living human next to her.

In this world where there is little change, this kind of thing is happening.

“Boo, please. Mr. Richie, could you make a cure…?”

“…Come in first. Your dying living corpse…”

Richie thought about something of his own, but he let the two of them into his cabin-workshop as if he couldn’t help it.

Originally, inviting outsiders to a magician’s workshop had to be very close, but…

The maid has helped clean her own studio several times, so it should be fine.

“But… I’ll put this on the living corpse.”

While saying that, what Richie took out was an eyepatch made of jet-black cloth.

It was a magic tool specialized only for the purpose of blinding, temporarily depriving the wearer’s eyesight by using magical power.

“Hey, it’s Cleon. It’s not a living corpse.”

“Yes, no matter what the name is. The only ones who can see my workshop are the Goddess, you, and me. These three are enough.”

While saying that, the lich moved closer to Cleon’s face and put his magic tool behind him-

Seeing Cleon’s troubled face, he felt something go through his head.

“Ugh…”

The maid widened her eyes as Richie staggered back and saw the cloth drop from his hand her.

“Couldn’t you too…?”

“…I don’t know what you’re talking about, but… You put on the eye patch…”

Richie, who was trying to shake off his headache like shaking his head, handed it to the maid like throwing his eyepatch and sat down on the chair in front of the table.

Then, as she watches the maid put an eyepatch on Cleon, she feels the shaking of her spirit her subside, albeit slightly.

“This, is this enough? Then, the healing medicine…”

“Wait. They told me to come in, but I never said they would give me medicine. First of all, let’s talk about your condition, maid.”

The maid flinched at Richie’s words and clenched her fists as her body her trembled.

“Your current state… It’s different from usual. Agitation, worry, sadness… And a little anger. I feel that my ego is stronger than before. And even my special feelings for the man over there.”

At her words her, the maid felt her shoulders shrink.

Could it be that she, like her goddess her, Illenu, has animosity towards the one who has her memories her back?

“That, that’s…”

“Answer me honestly.”

I could see the embers dancing on her hand.

The maid absolutely needed her help her, and traveling this distance was a matter that directly connected Cleon’s life to her.

In the end, the maid responded by holding her hand and lowering her head.

“…That’s right, I’ve got most of my memories back. Thanks to Cleon…”

“…Thanks to that man?”

The maid nodded at Richie’s confirming question and looked up at her.

Then, hold Richie’s hand and talk.

“Oh, that’s right. I was a travel companion with him before I was alive. We crossed the threshold of life and death together many times… Thanks to you, I was able to bring back the memories hidden in my soul!”

“…”

At the maid’s words her, Richie frowned slightly.

Human memory is something that dwells in the body, and what remains in the soul is only traces of it.

It weathers over time, just as it does when alive.

There is no way he could have recovered it just by meeting this human.

While pondering her thoughts of her, she remembered the strange thing she had seen when she visited her earlier.

“—Wait, no way. Then… “

Richie, feeling that something is going on, is about to say something, but the maid looks into Richie’s eyes and talks.

“And, that goes for you too!”

“… What?”

“I remember now… No, I remembered because I got my memory back and I saw you…! You, like me, were Cleon and Illenu’s adventure companions!”

“…”

Richie looked at Cleon and the maid as if they were dumbfounded by the maid’s words her.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about… Who else is Illenu…?”

“It’s the name of the goddess. Don’t worry, I’ll retrieve your memories as well. So, before that, give Cleon some medicine-“

“Wait…!”

As she tells her story at will, her lich uses her magical power her to push her away and sit her in her chair.

“It’s up to me whether or not I’ll get my memories back. If I want to save him like that, I’ll have to pay a corresponding price… But memories aren’t that important to me. The important thing is the magical knowledge of the outside world.”

“Magic… Knowledge?”

The maid looked down at Cleon while saying that. His wound was so severe that he could feel the fire of life slowly fading away.

In such a situation, I felt a bit resentful of the rich who said they wanted something like knowledge.

“The dimensional rift, especially this world, is a stagnant world. I was asked by the Goddess to develop a ‘magic that can annihilate the undead forever’. However, it is difficult to create new magic in such an unchanging world.”

So, the lich approached Cleon and took off his mask of her.

“So, if you help me develop new magic based on the magic knowledge of the outside world you have… I’ll make you a medicine.”

And when the hood her was removed, the red side tail hidden inside it flowed down.

“…It’s a contract, stranger. Your magical knowledge…”

Then, he stretched out his finger and pressed Cleon’s forehead of hers with his index finger of hers.

“Give it to this Lyla Flamewatch.”

The familiar name was to be heard by Cleon.