Volume 5 Part 21



He seems convinced I'm Holly.

But I'm not, actually.

"What purpose have you lived for, up to this era?"

"Do you remember what happened right after we defeated the Demon Lord, five hundred years ago?"

Crap! I don't remember, or rather, I don't know!Because I'm not Holly!

"After the Demon Lord was vanquished, I started searching for the remaining saintly swords that we hadn't found yet, parting ways with him, who had been the hero."

Ah, good. He started talking on his own.

"It really helped when you compiled a book with drawings and descriptions of all the saintly swords' shapes and powers. Thanks to that, although it took time, I was able to collect all the saintly swords except for the Pegasus Sword."

So, Holly was the reason he knew so much about the saintly swords!

She... she said she was making a guidebook for the hero, but she ended up giving a walkthrough to someone else.

And because of that, I'm in a terrible situation.

"That was... because you said you wanted to collect the saintly swords, thinking ahead, right?"

I keep talking, pretending to be Holly as best I can.

Oh, God, this is scary.

I hope I don't slip up.

"Indeed, my motivation for wanting to collect all the saintly swords was to make it easier for the next generation's hero to defeat the Demon Lord. In our time, he was so capable that we almost managed to win with just the two of us, but the next hero might not be the same. It's better to have as many saintly swords collected as possible."

Having such a powerful ally would have certainly made things easier for the hero.

"With that thought, I spent a long time collecting all the saintly swords. By the time I had collected them all, the hero had died, and you had fallen into a long sleep."

"Living a long life, it's natural to end up like that, right? You ended up outliving all your acquaintances. That must have been, in a way, more painful than death itself?"

"I haven't experienced as many farewells with people as you have?"

"No. I had the pleasure of meeting a new hero, and I was just asleep until the hero was born. I wasn't in a situation where everyone around me aged and I was the only one left alive."

"Indeed, I may have done something foolish... Perhaps I should have lived alongside him, my best friend, and died at the same time as him."

"Geranium..."

"Then, we could have enjoyed playing chess together many more times, right?"

"!"

This is bad.

Even though it's about someone else, I feel like I'm going to cry.

I can't say it was all an act now.Just knowing that he used to enjoy playing chess with Holly somehow makes me feel sorry for him.

After all, he's overjoyed at meeting an acquaintance after hundreds of years, only to actually be talking to a complete stranger.

"Ah, speaking of which, you've been giving no reaction this whole time, but aren't you curious why we can stand in midair?"

Of course, I'm curious!

Terrified to the point of almost wetting myself!

"...You've acquired a new ability, one that wasn't available to you before? I can't imagine that even with the power of the Timeflow Sword, this would be possible..."

"Heh heh. So, you're saying I've drawn out an ability from the Timeflow Sword that even you didn't know about. Living long does have its perks, huh?"

Geranium, with his back turned to me, continues to walk around the sky high above the royal capital, his footsteps echoing.

"When we float in the air and then fall, it's because time is passing, right? So, if you stop time at your feet, you can stand on water or air alike. An object in stopped time won't fall."

Uh...

That raises way too many questions...

If you stop time, you wouldn't be able to move yourself, and even if you could solidify the air at your feet by stopping time, I'd think that solidified air would just fall along with you.

It's not like we're kids trying to stand on a board on water.

Well, seeking common sense in the abilities of divine swords is futile.

Like the Vacuum Sword that blocks sound, why can we still hear sounds around us if it's supposed to block them? Or the Frost Sword—collecting all the moisture in the air wouldn't amount to the volume of ice it creates, but pointing that out seems petty.

The abilities of divine swords are laughably convenient for their owners.

"Geranium. Let's get back to the main point. You set out to collect the saintly swords of the divine sword in preparation for the Demon Lord's revival, for the sake of the next hero. And you accomplished that. So, why... why obstruct the hero?"

"...We struggled to defeat the Demon Lord. We had few allies, and everyone but me died along the way."

"Yes."

No, I have no idea.

"It wasn't just defeating the Demon Lord that was hard, collecting the saintly swords was too. Every saintly sword owner I met was using the swords for their own selfish desires. There were scum who enjoyed slaughter and abuse. I've seen more than enough of humans obtaining great power and then using it to satisfy their own desires. And then, I understood why we couldn't gather allies for our quest to defeat the Demon Lord."

So, he's gone through hardships similar to what I'm facing now.All of that, without Holly.

"I killed all the users of the saintly swords. I had no choice. They were all fighting over the ownership of the saintly swords, using their powers for evil. So, I decided to take the saintly swords away from those people. After collecting all the saintly swords except for the Pegasus Sword, I returned to the capital ruled by the hero."

"The previous hero was the founder of the current royal family, I learned that after I woke up."

"…Huh? Of course. He married the princess of the royal family at the time. Naturally, he would become the next king."

"!"

Damn!

I didn't know that because I wasn't interested in history!

The previous hero became king by marrying a princess!

I thought he became king because of his achievements in defeating the Demon Lord!

So, there was a royal family during the era the previous hero was active.

"Hmph… I've erased from my memory that damn woman who bore children with my beloved hero. So, that damn woman was a daughter of the royal family, huh…"

"Ha ha ha! Holly, you still hate women as much as ever."

Good. I managed to bluff my way through.

And he actually found it funny.

"But yeah, I agree with you, Holly, that princess was a damn woman. Because he married someone like her, the current royal family is no good."

Ugh, if we keep talking about the past like this, I'm bound to slip up eventually.

I need to steer the conversation towards more contemporary topics as much as possible.

"The noble lineage of the hero, chosen and sacred, was tainted by mixing with the blood of that damn woman. She's the root of all problems."

"The root of all problems?"

"After I finished collecting all the saintly swords and returned to the capital, I was shocked. Despite the famine caused by poor harvests, I saw nobles indulging in luxury. And at the center of those nobles was the grandson of the man who was my best friend."

"…"

"Even though he's the hero's grandson, to me, he's a stranger. I didn't expect much, but it was still a shock. The descendant of the man who fought with his life to protect people's peace had become a naked king who showed not the slightest concern for the populace."

"…That's… unavoidable. He was born into power, after all."

"I know. That's why I turned away. It was too painful to watch my friend's descendants any longer, so I moved to the frontier and lived quietly. I also had a duty to master the use of the Timeflow Sword and manage the collected saintly swords so that they would not fall into anyone's hands."

"Such a reckless thing to do… Knowing that everyone you know would die before you, you still chose to do that? Wasn't there an option to stop using the Timeflow Sword and live out your remaining days in a peaceful world?"

Geranium looked at me and smiled gently."All my acquaintances had already died. Even if I made new ones, they would just die on me, so I spent my time alone. Occashionally, some would come wanting the saintly swords I was managing, but I generally turned them away."

"Generally?"

If you see any serious issues in the translations you can contact me on d3adlyjoker@yahoo.dk and I will take a look.