“THERE you have it. The person talking to you now is both Featherio and not Featherio, as one person preserved in the Heaven-Wing clan’s ocean of unconsciousness. Think of it as Featherio calling up someone from that ocean who’s good at speaking to explain it to you. Our clan members are connected in the depths of our hearts and can communicate without speech, so many don’t develop good speaking skills. I hope that doesn’t bother you. …Do you have any questions about anything I’ve explained to you?”
“…Um…”
I had a lot of questions. But I couldn’t say that outright, so I glanced at King Glenreed instead.
“……”
His face was pale and he’d gone totally silent.
I gently placed my hands around his clenched fist.
“Please calm down, Your Majesty. You’re digging your nails into your skin.”
“…Right, I’m sorry. Are you all right? You must have been terrified when Silverio took over my body.”
“I’m all right. Your nose should be able to tell that that’s the truth.”
“…So it seems. You’re very strong, Laetitia.”
“No, I’m just shameless.”
After everything that happened, my emotions had actually come around and were stable again. I’d been asked to become the official queen, had a sword pointed at my neck, taken in six hundred years of secret history, and was on the verge of my brain short-circuiting.
“Um, may I ask a question?” I said.
“Yes. What is it?”
“What is your sword for?”
Lord Featherio was seated on the sofa with his long sword lying next to him. I’d been too overwhelmed to notice it until now, but it was so much more beautiful and ornately decorated than King Glenreed’s personal sword.
“Ah, allow me to explain this one.”
“The sword?! It’s talking?!” I jumped up to my feet.
The sword had spoken. Not only that, but the voice was none other than that of Silverio—the man who just tried to kill me.
King Glenreed was on full alert toward the sword. I ran and hid behind him.
“Don’t treat me like a monster. That hurts, you know. Is this better?”
A glint of light poured out of the sword and transformed into a transparent version of Silverio. He had silver hair and greenish-blue eyes. Though his face strongly resembled King Glenreed, his soft, chilly expression was something unique to him.
“This is a sacred sword. It’s part of my power that has taken a form, but it’s usually stored inside the body of the person with ancestral reversion powers. This man from the Heaven-Wing clan just pulled it out of Glenreed’s body, taking me with it.”
“…Didn’t you say these two shared the same soul? How are they able to exist separately like this?” I asked.
“My soul is a special one, unlike that of any human. We can’t be separated too far apart, but we can still both talk at this range.”
“I see…”
This was like a supernatural phenomenon. I was starting to feel like there was no comprehending it at all. I let out a big sigh. Then I looked toward Lord Featherio…or rather, the person who was borrowing Lord Featherio’s mouth.
“Are you allowed to oppose Silverio’s will like you did, Lord Featherio? Wasn’t your clan made by gods like him?” I asked.
“It’s not a problem. We were granted our role by King Silverio, but we do not act as his servants. We have yet to play the Wing Chord in this country. However, King Silverio tried to forcibly take over King Glenreed’s body, which sent out waves that even I could feel from afar. I came here because I believe King Glenreed, not King Silverio, should have the use of his body at this time. I’m glad I stopped him before things turned deadly.”
Is that really how it works?
I still wasn’t quite grasping everything, but it was a relief to know Lord Featherio wasn’t an ally of Silverio.
“But you’re not disturbed at all, are you?”
Silverio had turned to look at me with a grin. It was a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. Even though he looked so much like King Glenreed, the impression he left on me couldn’t have been more different.
“Nobles usually get furious or terrified when they learn about this Renewal process. Do you understand? The Heaven-Wing clan dwelling in Elltoria have played their Wing Chord and carried out the Renewal many times already.”
“…So it really is the same in my homeland, isn’t it?”
I’d had a bad feeling about this ever since Lord Featherio mentioned the gods taking the form of animals.
If the eight gods became the rulers of eight countries, where they created Heaven-Wing clans in all of them…
“Would the Heaven-Wing clan have played the Wing Chord this winter if the coup d'état in my homeland was successful?”
“Most likely, yes.”
The clan member in Lord Featherio’s body nodded.
“There are a few conditions under which the Wing Chord is played. The country might lose a large amount of territory in a short timespan or suffer a loss of many of its people. It can even be played in times that the royal family devolves into a power struggle and ceases to function.”
“…So we were in real danger…” I sighed. “This Renewal is essentially a form of brainwashing, yes? You say you only change the order of their priorities, but to me, that’s no different than turning them into a different person.”
What things did they cherish? What did they wish for in this world?
Perhaps it was dramatic, but those questions were essentially what made up a person’s true nature. It was what they lived for.
Just imagining those desires being rewritten was a dreadful thing.
“It may seem that way to nobles and royalty such as yourselves, since you’re candidates for this Renewal.” Silverio squinted his eyes slightly. “But to the many people of a country, the Renewal comes as an unmistakable salvation. Statesmen who wouldn’t be able to run a country without the Renewal are all reborn as loyal subjects who serve without selfishness. What better turn of fortune could there be? You nobles won’t be able to maintain a living if the country falls into ruin. Instead, the country is rebuilt before it can completely devolve. It’s not a bad deal for your kind, is it?”
“……”
Silverio was correct, in a way.
If the Renewal wasn’t carried out unless the country faced a crisis, you could say that all Renewals were actually the fault of the nobles, who’d failed to run the country adequately and were left to pay the price.
Indeed, it was an act of salvation to be able to reconstruct the country while we settled that debt. But something stuck out to me—something I just couldn’t accept.
“The Flute Bees…”
Once the words were out of my mouth, it clicked.
The nobles worked diligently and loyally, serving their countries at the king’s orders, all while undergoing these “Renewals.”
It was a way of life that greatly resembled that of the Flute Bees—creatures who had no choice but to follow the sound of the flute.
They were weak because they could only move as a group, controlled by the will of a single person. It was all over if that person led them down the wrong path.
These renewal orders were being given by beings on the same level as gods, so perhaps it wasn’t a process that could result in any mistakes…
Still, I couldn’t rid myself of that uneasy feeling.
But it wasn’t something with a simple answer, so I decided to stop thinking about it for the time being. My homeland had evaded the Wing Chord, but I wanted to know more about the other countries.
“Is the Maldion Empire the country most likely to experience the next Wing Chord?” I asked.
“Probably.” Silverio nodded. “Corruption is rampant throughout the empire’s high society. The royal family is no better. I don’t think they’d survive an invasion of the Ringrard Empire on their own.”
When Silverio finished saying that, King Glenreed shot him a glare.
“I agree that the Maldion Empire is in danger, but things are different here. Wolfvarte is a peaceful place, even if there are a few lingering problems that need resolving. So how dare you steal my body and try to hurt Laetitia, of all people?” The hostility in King Glenreed’s voice was deadly. It pierced my skin like it was out for blood. “You said it was your role, as a god, to preserve this country. What does Laetitia have to do with that? Killing her would have the opposite effect.”
“Because she said she had memories of her past life.” Silverio moved his eyes toward me. Those icy, greenish-blue eyes chilled me to my core. “One soul with memories of two lives. If she doesn’t have a special soul like mine, her egos will become blended and she’ll experience a collapse of the self.”
“Collapse of the self…” I stared at my own palms. I’d never had any symptoms of it, but suddenly, I was very apprehensive. “…How long does it usually take for symptoms to occur after regaining those memories?”
“It can happen the same day, at the earliest. Usually within a month at the latest. The better cases end with the person losing their mind, but if it’s really bad, you could wipe out an entire town.”
“What…?”
Something wasn’t right. I’d regained my past life memories over a year ago now. Besides, what on earth could he mean by wiping out a town?
“Why would a town be destroyed from regaining past life memories?” I asked.
“Because the soul gets overloaded and goes on a rampage. The soul is the source of magical energy, so if it gets out of control, it will lead to tragedies far greater than anything a spell could ever produce.”
“……”
My magical energy had increased sharply since I regained my past life memories. It wasn’t out of control, but maybe it was still capable of causing harm someday.
I was concerned, but then I noticed Silverio watching me closely.
“You don’t know anything about curses, do you?”
“Curses…?”
“It’s a system of magic that meddles with the soul itself. One can curse the soul of anyone whose name they know, killing them or causing any manner of trouble. It’s why there were so many casualties during the Great Darkness. We believed we’d eradicated such curses, and they’re not supposed to exist in present times.”
Of course I didn’t know any of that.
I shook my head while Silverio’s eyes remained fixed on me.
“But I smell a curse lingering on your soul. You must have met a black magic practitioner at some point. That’s how you reincarnated into this world with your past life memories intact, I’d assume.”
Silverio stretched his hand out toward me.
King Glenreed instantly hid me behind him, but those transparent fingers didn’t stop.
“Our duty is to kill those with past life memories as soon as we find them. Your brain will deteriorate sooner or later, so it’s an act of mercy to kill you before you can hurt anyone else, wouldn’t you say?”
“How dare you…?!” King Glenreed unleashed his anger at him.
Silverio stroked my chin with those transparent fingers. His smile was like ice.