Belgrieve looked up, aghast. “So that attack...”
“Indeed, it was me. With that said, I simply figured a former demon would have a strong dependence on something. I aimed to heighten her emotions by attacking her homeland, but I missed the mark. The flow of events is complicated. To put it simply, my scheme was misplaced. That’s why I crafted a false persona to observe you people.”
And that was Ishmael, huh? Belgrieve had heard about that from his friends. To think that the companion whom he had fought alongside and swapped campfire stories with would turn out to be his greatest foe. It was a devastating realization.
Schwartz went on. “Meeting, growth, parting, love, fighting evil... All these various factors raised her up, and all who got involved with her added to her flow. I was convinced this girl was the center of the phenomenon I needed. However, I could not foresee the terminal point of the flow. So I directly intervened to cause it to spiral on my own.”
“How...?”
“First, I purposely chose defeat at the capital. A reunion with friends and family, and a triumph over evil—your comrades all had the makings of great heroes. That would surely enhance the force behind the flow... But the effect was not as great as I had hoped for. Positive emotions weren’t enough; I would need to have her negative emotions burst out. That’s where I got a certain idea. First, I would give her happiness. I would give her relief that her problems had been resolved and her objective achieved. I would let her cling to the hope that it would continue forever. Then, I would take everything from her.”
Belgrieve glared at Schwartz, but the man’s gaze remained dispassionate in return.
“I have the ability to perceive the pasts of others. But I need more than a little contact to do so. That’s why I used Ishmael to interact with you while I looked into your past. There was a time when the elf woman worked alongside us, so I had a plethora of memories to choose from. I picked the most painful scenes and emotions and showed them to Angeline as dreams using this right here.”
From the folds of his robe, Schwartz produced a branch from an apple tree and showed it to Belgrieve—Solomon’s Key.
“It was just the catalyst I needed. But the clincher was your leg. She was the one who had inflicted the greatest wound on the one she loved and depended on the most. This fact was more than enough to shake up her heart. She overflowed with emotion as she lost her place in the world.”
“Don’t tell me... That’s the reason you had Satie give birth to Ange?”
“No, that was entirely coincidental,” Schwartz flatly denied. “That was outside of my expectations. Naturally, I could have never even imagined that the baby would make its way to you either. However, perhaps events had begun to flow in a certain direction from that very moment. Like a fallen leaf riding the current of a mighty river, the direction that girl would drift was already decided. It was only natural to see it that way; I simply perceived the flow and directed it.”
“Why did you try to make demons into humans?”
“Because I wanted to give birth to the strongest souls. Solomon’s homunculi were powerful, but they were mere constructs. They were like soulless programs. It was impossible for them to direct events in their base forms.”
“That’s why you made them into humans?”
“That’s right. With that said, everyone else seemed to regard them as merely powerful weapons. Not that I ever expected to come across anyone who could understand my designs in the first place. We were merely using one another, and making weapons out of demons turned out to be a complete joke. It is no exaggeration to say that everyone apart from myself failed at everything they set out to do.”
Schwartz offhandedly tossed the branch aside. Belgrieve looked down at it, then at Schwartz.
“You’re casting it aside?”
“I don’t need it anymore. I’ve hopped aboard the flow. Now that I’m here, it’s no trouble if I’m swallowed up by it.”
Their conversation lulled there, and the two of them walked on in silence for a while longer until Schwartz broke it with a question.
“You’re not angry?”
“Me?”
“Yes. I have memories of traveling with you as Ishmael. I am the ringleader who put your daughter through such terrible things. I took you for quite the doting father... Was I wrong about that?”
“I’m livid. If killing you would bring Ange back, I’d do so even if I had to sacrifice myself in the process.”
“Oh?”
“But I’m here to get Ange. I didn’t come to kill you.” Belgrieve sighed. “I can’t sympathize with or understand anything you’ve done. But ironically...I would have never met Ange if you hadn’t been there. I would have never learned of Satie’s suffering, and I’d never have known Percy’s lament or Kasim’s sorrow either... I’m a bit disgusted by my own selfishness, frankly.”
Schwartz laughed loudly. “My word, what a strange one you are! It’s rare to come across a man like you. You’re risking your own life to save your daughter, but you won’t even direct your anger at the very cause of her torment.”
“Was your goal really just to come here?”
“That’s right.”
“That’s far stranger, in my opinion.”
Suddenly, Belgrieve realized there was finally a visible divide between the sky and the earth. A boundless horizon spread out before him, and soon, there were stars twinkling in the dark sky above. Try as he might, he couldn’t make out a single recognizable constellation. Eventually, far off in the distance, he could make out a faint light. The two of them locked their eyes on it and walked on with single-minded focus. The ground was neither hard nor soft, but walking for so long was exhausting all the same. Just as their feet began to ache, they came near enough to begin to make out the shape of this peculiar light source.
“A tree?” Belgrieve squinted.
It was indeed a faintly glowing tree—an apple tree, with branches spread far and wide. It was teeming with countless leaves, not one of which showed any sign of being gnawed on by insects. The branches were abundant with plump, red apples. There was an indistinct figure sitting down next to the trunk. Black hair... Ange? Belgrieve thought, but it soon became apparent it wasn’t her.
Schwartz forthrightly marched up to the tree, while Belgrieve warily trailed after. He was close enough now to see the figure reclining against the trunk was a man in a voluminous robe, with coarse black hair long enough to reach the ground. He was tossing a ripe apple into the air and then catching it again one-handed as though it were a ball.
The black-haired man turned his head towards the interlopers, revealing features that were still young—childish, even. His eyes seemed sleepy at a glance, though they had a sharp glint to them.
“Oh dear... I’m getting a lot of visitors today.”
“Solomon. What lies beyond here?” Schwartz asked.
Belgrieve turned to Schwartz in surprise. Likewise, the black-haired man looked at them inquisitively.
“Hmm? You know me? Who are you?”
“Schwartz, a magician.”
Solomon tossed the apple up and caught it, an amused look on his face. “Hmm? A magician? So you came here after you ran out of things to see down there, huh?”
“If you understand, then that makes things quicker.”
“I’m sorry if you got your hopes up, but there’s nothing here for you. Not a thing.”
“Oh?”
“You look like you don’t believe me.”
“The fact that there’s something here means that there has to be something beyond.”
“Tsk... I hate guys like you the most,” Solomon complained. He huffed on the apple and polished it with his sleeve. “Do you really want to see what’s past here? It’s not a nice and orderly world like this one.”
“I don’t mind.”
“You’ve got strange tastes. Well, do what you want.” Solomon snapped his fingers.
Belgrieve was startled by the sudden gesture and instinctively reached for his sword. At the same time, Schwartz’s right arm immediately crumbled away as though it had been made of clumps of dirt.
Schwartz was momentarily taken aback, but that quickly gave way to laughter. “I see! This is wonderful! It looks like there are still so many things I don’t know!”
“You’re just as stupid as I used to be,” Solomon wearily muttered.