Chapter 618 – Backstories and Promises of Reunion

000

On the way, Cleon saw a different scene than the other colleagues around him.

Even when he was able to read the inner side of the Rakshasa, which could not be heard in a simple video, or even while the camera was turned to chase Gaios for a moment at Layla’s request, Cleon saw the Rakshasa and the various attacks attacking him as if they existed in reality. The sight of these events came into my mind.

And at the moment when Rakshasa’s death was confirmed, it wasn’t Cleon’s own fear that made his arms tremble-

Certainly, the thing of the Rakshasa that had nestled within him.

He must have died there, along with his loved ones.

If it hadn’t been for that, the reincarnation factor would not have been passed on to the next generation of humans.

“Cleon.”

Somewhere, while pondering the ending of Rakshasa, which could be said to be meaningless, when Cleon turned around at the voice calling him, Layla was looking at him with a slightly dark expression.

“…Are you okay?”

“Ah… No problem.”

When Cleon said that, Layla reached out her hand and wiped the bottom of one of Cleon’s eyes.

He didn’t even notice it, but at some point, tears seemed to run down her cheeks.

“Anyway, it seems that the rakshasa inside Cleon spilled.”

“Because I saw my own end objectively like this. …Anyway, I knew what kind of person Rachal was in the past and what kind of relationship he had with Gaios.”

At Cleon’s words, Artis leaned back on the chair and spoke with a slightly disinterested expression.

“Yeah, that’s right. Our purpose is not to find out the past of Rakshasa, but to the end, where Gaius is now. Looking for that hint. Didn’t you forget that part?”

“…”

In response to Artis’ words, Layla and Cleon were silent for a moment, then nodded after a while.

‘I forgot…’

‘Because Rakshasa entered Cleon’s body… I just thought that I needed to investigate Rakshasa as well…’

“Hey stupid couple… I thought so.”

“Boo, married couple!?”

Lila is startled by Artis calling her and raises her voice, but Artis doesn’t care and she goes on with her words.

“What. After watching the video, I think I know where the next trace of Gaios will be.”

“Is that true?”

When Kshat said that he was surprised by Artis’ confident remark, Artis nodded lightly and at some point drank the coffee that Kanon brewed.

The conclusion she draws using doped brain cells as she gulps and runs her hot, bitter liquid down her throat.

“There are two types of candidates. First of all. One is an adamantite mine.”

As she drew her V with her forefinger, the group’s gaze naturally focused on her fingers as she opened her mouth.

“The adamantite mine is still operating. As you probably know, in the hands of the Dark Dragon Firm, which has changed its name now. I’ve never been there either, and I knew where it was just from watching the video.”

As far as Cleon knew, the ore called adamantite was now being processed into coins and used as currency by the Assassins.

Considering how much Gaios was wary of the ore from the records of the past, it was difficult to imagine that it was used like that.

Perhaps, after hundreds of years, it is okay to think that there is a way to eliminate the danger of adamantite.

“However, if people were coming and going in and out of the adamantite mine, wouldn’t something about Gaios have been left behind and discovered already?”

When proposing a theory, there is always a possible counterargument.

When Artis heard Lyla’s story, she shook her head and denied it.

“It’s not like I thought. We are aware that the existence of ‘Gaios’ is related to this Eastern country, so we can follow its traces. Otherwise, even if there is an item related to Gaios, it will be difficult to find out its value.”

Well, if it’s the opponent who erased the record as it is.

“…Even a stone slab that is considered a treasure to those with knowledge is like a stone to the general public.”

At Kshat’s analogy, Artis nodded, saying it was correct.

“Like you said! It doesn’t matter if others saw it or not. If you don’t go and find any traces on your own feet.”

“Oh oh…”

When Kanon clapped his hands as if he was a little moved by Artis’s words like a good archaeologist, Artis shrugged his shoulders a little and adjusted his glasses.

“Another one?”

Or not, when Cleon asks Artis about what is believed to be the second trail, he pouts in displeasure at Cleon for not praising him.

“That’s it. It’s the joint in the basement of the temple. I’m glad Layla asked Gaios to set the camera.”

To Artis’s words, Laila answers with a sigh.

“In the end, the common camera got caught up in the space created by the priest presumed to be the ‘Expelled Church’ and was destroyed.”

When the video suddenly cut off and the screen was colored with something like a gray sandstorm, everyone except for Kanon was shocked.

“But there was also information that it was Gaios’ ‘old nest’, right? As for the dragon’s magic, Cleon seems to have a way to track it down. He thinks it wouldn’t be bad to put his hopes on that part.”

Cleon listened to her and nodded, looking down at the dragon ring he was wearing.

If this ring was made for intimacy with the dragon, it would surely help in chasing Gaios.

“Either way, you’d better hurry~ Because when the Five Elements Festival starts, the temple will be extremely busy. If you suddenly go up and say, ‘Please let me in the basement~’, you can be kicked out saying, ‘Michat or are you?'”

“Suddenly dialect…”

Her tone was playful, but what she said made sense, so Cleon nodded her head.

“And you won’t be able to enter the adamantite mine unless you ask Hertie. I know that? Even me, her friend of several years, asks for her every birthday and gets turned down.”

‘Isn’t that the wisdom of Mr. Herti that if Mr. Artis obtains the adamantite ore, something big will surely happen…’

It wasn’t just Kshat who thought so, but for Attis’ sake, he decided not to say it now.

“I’ll have to convince you. … If it becomes a task to save the East, Hertie will surely agree.”

“Nothing.”

Responding to Cleon’s words, Artis brushed off all the coffee left in her mug and pressed the button on the computer, which she had become accustomed to.

Then, as the screen lost its light and turned off, she stood up.

“Then. Have you decided what to do?”

“I guess I’ll have to ask Herti and Tokoyo separately… Let’s go back and talk to Herti.”

When Cleon nods at Lyla’s words, Kanon also notices that they must leave his house and moves in a panic as if preparing to see them off.

It was then.

“Uh, over there…!”

When Fleur, who sat still and watched the video from beginning to end, uttered a voice that was surprisingly loud enough to be heard by people other than Kshat.

Everyone in her turned to look at her.

Although she flinched a little at the suddenly gathering gaze and shook her head.

“Ah, sorry, sorry…”

It was Lila trying to soothe her as she cleared her throat, as her voice gradually changed to her crawling voice.

“No no! You can tell me! Fleur usually speaks loudly, so everyone is just a little surprised, right Artis?”

“Yeah, that’s right. Fleur’s voice is also cute. Isn’t that Cleon?’

“Okay.”

Suddenly, at the arrow pointed at him, Cleon shyly nods her head and agrees with Artis, and Artis presses Cleon’s side with his elbow while talking.

“Hey! Praise him more to build up Fleur’s pride!”

“Don’t suddenly turn to me…”

“Shouldn’t you be a harem master if you answered without embarrassment?”

“Who is the harem master-“

“Both of you are noisy! You can’t hear Fleur’s voice!”

At Lyla’s angry voice, Cleon and Artis had no choice but to shut their mouths at the same time.

“At the end… The video… The tree that covered Mr. Rachal and Mr. Nayuta’s body…”

“Huh? Ah. It’s the Great Maiden’s sealing ceremony. It’s a seal, but it’s actually a self-destruct technique.”

When Lyla says that to Fleur’s words, Artis nods as if agreeing with her.

“Poem, it’s not as much as the divine tree, but it was a pretty big tree, right? However. Right now, Asteris doesn’t seem to have such a tree…”

“… Surely.”

The tree that wrapped around the bodies of Rakshasa and Nayuta, who showed up last, had grown to a height that exceeded the second floor of the building.

If time had passed like this, it might have grown more, and it would have been a very noticeable tree even in the city.

Not to mention Cleon and Lyla, who have just arrived in Asteris.

Neither Fleur, nor Kshat, nor Attis had ever seen the tree.

Then, upon hearing her story, Kanon exclaimed, ‘Ah…’ As if he had remembered something about her.

“That tree…Surely, until a few hundred years ago, there was.”

At Kanon’s words, he praised their long lifespan and memory, saying “As expected of elves!”

“I also have lost most of my knowledge about Rakshasa, so it’s probably a distorted memory… But I think I used to call it a ‘cursed tree’ in temples and royal palaces so people wouldn’t get close to it.”

“Is it a cursed tree…?”

In fact, those who knew that it was Raksha who saved Asteris from the danger of destruction, and Nayuta, who gave her own life to save Raksha, would not be left behind.

However, if Gaios had been there, he might have said something about being called that nickname.

“It’s called the cursed tree, so of course people didn’t go near it… And no buildings were built… So one area of ​​Asteris was empty, and it remained empty around the tree…”

“But it disappeared. Did someone cut it?”

When Lyla speaks predictably, Kanon nods.

“Yes. Perhaps, the people called the Oberti family…”

“Oh~…”

At Kanon’s words, Layla and Cleon exclaimed at the same time, “I understand.”

“It’s been hundreds of years since Raksha and Nayuta died, so even if they were cut down, there might not have been any problems with magical powers or actual curses happening, but…”

“Ah… That’s obviously why the Oberti family bought Gaios’ wrath.”

Fearless, Lila sighed as she shook her head.

“Oh, the Oberti family, I know. It was also a place that had some ties to the Descartes family…”

At that time, when Fleur cautiously brings up such a story, Kshat looks surprised and looks back at Fleur, who continues to speak in a loud voice today.

“The Oberti family is said to have been a family of ‘maskers’… It was a place where they could make the most beautiful masks on the continent… Also, the masks made by that family had a special power, so they affected the wearer as well. I’m crazy…”

As Cleon listened to Fleur’s words, he nodded as if it were true.

Most of all, because I experienced it myself.

“As people expected, the Oberti family started obsessing over making more and more special masks…”

“Ah- then what is it? The reason I cut down their tree was to make that special mask-“

When Layla hears that, she looks at Cleon as if she’s a little dumbfounded.

Cleon also nodded.

“…The wood was used to make a ‘special mask’ … The mask of Rakshasa. And that was the result of touching Gaios’ evil. I was cursed to lose all of the magic of the land.”

Knowing roughly the circumstances of the incident, I feel a little relieved.

“Excessive payment. Excessive greed eventually ruined the entire family. …Well, it’s not that I don’t understand that I have to live up to expectations.”

“In this case, it could also be called ‘self-employment’.”

Seeing Attis and Kshat talk like that, using the archaic language of the Orient, Layla shook her head.

001

“Then. We’ll go now.”

Just like when he came in, he went out toward the entrance through the cave and looked at the group, Kanon nodded his head up and down.

“It was a pretty fun experience. It’s the first time I’ve ever touched a machine in an ancient ruin like this.”

“The lady also said that she would make today’s signature an heirloom when she returns to the mansion. Thank you so much. Kanon.”

When Attis and Kshat smile as they say that, Kanon goes ‘eheh, ehheh’ and scratches his head, showing weakness at being praised.

Then, with an unfamiliar smile, he would tell everyone.

“Please, come again… Now, I know there is no need for you to come, since I have nothing to check, but…”

To the end, my own little snobbish desire.

For herself, like the people who came today, there is no such thing as a mission to move to save someone, and she has no confidence to endure such a thing.

Forever, I will stay here, spy on other people’s lives, and if I think of an interesting article, I will just repeat the life of putting it on paper – until I die.

Kanon raised his head and slowly scanned the faces of the people in front of them.

Cleon, Lyla, Artis, and Kshat. And Fleur-I’m wearing a mask now, but I remember the face I glimpsed through the mask.

‘Ah… It’s dazzling…’

All of them looked dazzling to Kanon.

Like myself, those who deserve a life shorter than 100 years, not an unnecessarily long lifespan.

To Kanon, it felt so dazzling that they lived to protect something while burning up that short amount of time with all their might.

So- I couldn’t lift the bangs that came down long and made a shade.

For him, today’s meeting, and memories will last for hundreds of years.

However, for them, perhaps even in that short life, a moment of even shorter moments.

Even when you think, “Ah, that happened,” I feel that it may be a moment where the impression is a little weak.

That’s why, no matter what answer came back, I was confident that I wouldn’t be hurt.

“Huh. I’ll come again.”

However, what returned was a friendly voice that made me doubt my ears.

Kanon, who heard that it was Cleon’s words, looked at Cleon with his eyes wide open as if a little surprised.

“As Kanon said, even if there is nothing to check with the video now… If Kanon wants to meet us.”

“Well, this facility itself is fun. Kanon: Even if you’re a bit peculiar, it’s true that talking is fun.”

When Lila uttered her rare candid sentiment, everyone in the room could see what a great expression it was for her.

“What am I? I am an archaeologist by profession. There are many things I want to hear from Kanon, who is like a living history book- Fleur…”

“New work… I’ll be looking forward to it! Just in case… If I can help… Anything… Oh, how about a translation into the kingdom language…? If it were me, I could read and write at least three languages…”

It was about the things I liked, that my eyes sparkled and my enthusiasm burned.

“…Of course, you can’t come alone, young lady. I will accompany you too. It may cause trouble, but thank you in advance. Kanon.”

And even Kshat, who says that it is his job not to leave Fleur’s side.

Kanon felt something hot rising from the bottom of his chest. And even as he feels it clog his throat.

Somehow, after swallowing it, he eagerly opened his mouth and answered.

“…Go, thank you… Heh, hehe… Go, I’ll be waiting for you with snacks…!”

It was to declare that she would wait for the day of her reunion, promising the best hospitality she could.

‘…Maybe me too-‘

Kanon smiled and slightly brushed away the bangs that covered their dazzling light.

Even before, the light of people who felt a bit burdened now feels warm.

“!”

And, seeing her best smile hidden under her veiled bangs, her party smiled at her.