In Dungeon Magia’s true route, Jupiter speaks about Szilard and the others as if she’s not quite sure who they are. She doesn’t call them by name, but for some reason, she seems irritated by the sight of them. And yet the official guide describes her as a “former member of Rosso and Blu.”
This caused a real stir in the community and had people scrambling for more info. It seemed that, for whatever reason, the Jupiter in the game had forgotten James Szilard despite having been a member of his clan. In the original timeline, she never recognizes him.
For his part, Szilard didn’t say much on the matter, either. He merely looked at the fallen Eliza and called out, “I’m sorry,” before turning back to Jupiter and saying, “…but I must take responsibility for this,” as the silver-haired girl laughed maniacally above them. That was it.
…Well, that seemed pretty normal. I mean, that’s just how people are. Forgetting about your former boss isn’t all that weird.
But when I was playing the game, I remember thinking something: In Jupiter’s monologues, she would often talk about having “always been alone.” She was a broken warrior, loved by no one and forever alone.
But that didn’t make any sense, did it? Had everyone at Rosso and Blu, Szilard included, shunned her since her arrival in Sakurabana, isolated her, and in the end, booted her from the clan?
That couldn’t be true. Sure, Rosso and Blu wasn’t perfect, but its members are the heroes’ allies. One of the heroines is even a clan member. Why would a clan dedicated to supporting foreigners treat Jupiter so badly? There must have been a misunderstanding somewhere.
I fished through my memories, giving it all a second thought.
The Jupiter we knew could speak the local language perfectly well. She knew the rules of being an adventurer and how to take care of herself. She even loved dating sims.
But who taught her all of that? Who could have raised her so well that within two years she could move out and live on her own?
Jupiter wouldn’t tell us anything. When Haruka said, “Jupi you’re so good at speaking Imperial!” she would only turn up her nose and proudly state that she “had studied really hard.”
It was the same with dating sims. Apparently, she’d been kept from playing any games that were deemed too depressing or gory and might stress her out. But in that case, who had tested the games to find out which ones were appropriate?
Dating sims with deceptive box art are a dime a dozen. Developers love to trick audiences into buying a title with a bunch of cute schoolgirls on the cover, only for the game itself to be a serious adventure story about a series of grizzly murders. What would happen if Jupiter got her hands on a game like that? That’s right—Keraunos would show up and run amok.
Someone must have tried out the games beforehand. And whoever it was, they must have understood dating sims and Jupiter.
In other words, someone had loved her. Someone had taught her all the things she knew and supported her interests.
And yet Jupiter thought she had always been alone. She was convinced of it.
Keraunos is robbing Jupiter of her memories as the price for its power.
After Szilard told me that over the phone, he further theorized that it was a way for Keraunos to make Jupiter dependent on it.
With that, everything clicked into place, and rage overtook me.
How dare that thing steal her memories? What kind of crappy father figure would rob his daughter of her support system?
“The real problem is that she’s not aware her memories are being diluted. I’ll bet the beast began by stealing her memory of forging the pact. If she can’t even remember what’s happening, how can she resist?”
Without her even realizing it, Keraunos had been stealing all her most precious memories. All the times she had fun, all the people who supported her—it had all been taken away, piece by piece, each time she used her power.
“By the time we noticed what was going on, things had already progressed too far.”
An accident occurred during a dungeon expedition. Jupiter was attacked by an enemy, and her fear summoned Keraunos. The black-lightning beast went on a terrible rampage, and its lust for destruction could not be stopped. In the end, the person closest to Jupiter suffered severe injuries to their face.
When Jupiter came to her senses and found out what she had done, she was inconsolable for three full days. Wracked with guilt, she screamed and screamed. Even when they put her in a special cell and fitted her with restraints meant to limit her emotions, she continued to scream until she lost her voice. After that, she cried out in silence.
I’m sure she was trying to say sorry. She probably wanted to die then and there.
Black bolts of lightning flew constantly around her cell. It was so dangerous that Szilard had to go himself to feed her.
And then on the morning of the fourth day, when Jupiter had finally calmed down, Szilard asked her if she remembered what had happened four days prior.
“Eliza…? Who’s that…?”
She had completely forgotten the woman who had meant so much to her.
“I thought she’d lost her memory due to the trauma,” Szilard said over the phone.
Yet, strangely, when Eliza visited her and spoke with her in person, Jupiter was able to slowly recall the events that had landed her in the cell. But then…
“She went berserk almost immediately.”
…her feelings of guilt and regret once again summoned Keraunos. And by the time she had settled back down, her memories of Eliza were gone.
“I don’t think the beast is like an eraser that permanently rubs out her past. It’s possible for her to recall things, so long as the right stimulus is used to jog her memory.”
But every time Jupiter remembered Eliza and what had happened to her, she would blame herself, summon Keraunos, and then forget her all over again.
“That is the true reason why I, as clan master of Rosso and Blu and as Jupiter’s friend, could no longer allow her to stay with us.”
The whole thing was completely messed up. What a rotten state of affairs. I wasn’t going to let that damned beast get away with this. I would purify it with my own two hands. I would defang it thoroughly and irrevocably. I’d tear it apart until it wouldn’t dare think about hurting another person ever again.
But just as the flames of my rage burned white-hot, and I swore to rip that monster parent to shreds…
“You know, Kyouichirou,” Szilard said, “I think putting that beast to sleep, even if only for a little while, has turned this terrible tragedy of ours into a brilliant opportunity. Please let Eliza and Jupiter talk things out for a bit. You have nothing to worry about. I’ve no doubt that, with the help of her new adoptive family, she’ll be able to face her long-forgotten past.”