Chapter 135

Help me. Answering that call was the whole reason Hakua Shirakami came to be known as a “Hero.” I have someone to protect. A home to return to. A wish I want to make come true, no matter what it takes. So help me. She sympathized with those feelings, accepted their requests, and went on running through the ages. Until her body sank deeper and deeper. Even when she realized she was too far gone, she kept helping them. And thus, when she was so far beyond saving herself that it was much too late… She became Hakua Shirakami, the “Lord” of the Faust. “……” Hakua Shirakami gazed silently at the scenery as it whipped past. She was riding a private train that only the highest-ranking priestesses in the Faust could utilize. It was primarily used when the archbishop needed to travel. Normally, it would connect to an ancient relic called the “Dragon Gate” and instantly teleport through space, but that connection was broken. Now it was just an ordinary Guiding train. Hakua was wearing a school uniform. She knew it was remarkably out of place, yet she could no longer bring herself to take it off. Nishibori High School. That was the home of the precious few memories that Hakua still held. She hadn’t touched the food or drinks that were prepared for her. In fact, she hadn’t even slept a wink. How long ago was it when she realized that her mind was losing its humanity just as her body had? Was it when she’d lived half a century, or when she passed the hundred-year mark? She certainly must have caught on by the time she reached five hundred years. Yet even now that a thousand years had passed, she still clung stubbornly to the last traces of her humanity. “…What a joke.” Her face reflected in the window was twisted with self-mockery. Unbeknownst to anyone, Hakua had left the holy land behind, supplied with only the memories she would need for the tasks ahead. For good measure, she destroyed the “Star Memory,” the structure that stored the memories of everyone on the continent, on her way out. Even if someone were to approach the place now, there was nothing left to find. Virtually no one knew about the structure in the first place. More likely than not, no one had even noticed it had been destroyed. She never intended to return. An image arose in her mind: a person who wasn’t her, yet wore her face. She had created this duplicate of herself to meet Akari when she was summoned in this era, to grow close to Akari so that Hakua could use the duplicate as her own vessel. The girl was currently acting under the name of Menou. Once Menou’s body achieved a Guiding Force connection with Akari, rendering them the same person by conjuring standards, she would have the perfect workaround for the otherworld repatriation circle’s limitation that it could only be used by one person—at least, that was the plan. Hakua Blanched Akari’s memories when she reached the holy land and nearly got her hands on Menou’s body—only for Flare’s betrayal to allow Menou to escape her grasp. Now Menou had entered the “Mechanical Society” in order to escape Michele, the pursuer Hakua had sent after her. Shortly beforehand, Hakua exchanged words with Menou, her duplicate, and left the holy land immediately thereafter. Because she knew that preparations for the “Starhusk,” which connected this world to the world where Japan was located, were nearly complete. “I’m so close…” Soon, the wish she’d held for a thousand years would finally be fulfilled. She tried to picture the bright future that awaited her, only for her heart to falter a little. “I must be, right, Nono?” Why had Nono predicted Akari’s summoning back then? Nono Hoshizaki was a girl who had worked with Hakua a thousand years prior. She had the Pure Concept of Star, which could see the future. Hakua tried to recall the face of her former friend, whose eyes each glowed with a star-shaped Guiding Light, and came up empty. By this point, Hakua’s memories of a thousand years ago were nothing more than information. She remembered names. She knew the sequence of events. But she couldn’t remember anyone’s voices. Their faces, too, were shrouded in mist. She couldn’t even remember the countless conversations they’d exchanged. It had been hundreds of years. She had avoided conversing with anyone else as much as possible, and yet her memories still faded. Hakua scowled. She had accepted every cry of “help me,” every “save me,” every last “I beg of you.” Even when the line between herself and the people whose pleas she accepted began to blur, she went on accepting all of them. Heedless of how it muddled her mind until she could no longer remember who she used to be. “It’s fine… I’ll leave the ‘me’ of this world behind here. All of it.” And then she would finally go home. Back to Japan, along with Akari. She would forget everything about this world and go back to the very day when they’d both disappeared. That was the sole reason she’d survived all this time. “It has to work…” Just as she started muttering to herself to try to quell her churning thoughts, the train stopped. She’d arrived at her destination. Grisarika Kingdom. The royal capital. One of the continent’s most successful cities. Hakua quietly stepped out into the crowded train station, then furrowed her brow when she saw the person who came to greet her. “Nice to…meet you?” “Not quite, Hakua. But it has been a while since we last met in person.” The woman with red-tinged blond hair smiled majestically at Hakua.