Chapter 161 - Hauzen Underground
Eris, who was still puffing her chest up arrogantly, spoke as she recalled something.
[Ah, right! Mimir tried to follow me earlier, but I left her back at the castle. I suppose it’s for the best, right?]
[That is indeed for the best.]
Mimir did have holy knight skills. However, she’s prohibited from using it by law of the kingdom.
Even in a terrible emergency like the goblin shaman incident, she was still judged harshly for breaking the rules.
Fortunately she was exempted from the punishment by the authority of the queen herself.
But there wouldn’t be a second time.
Therefore, I’d rather not put her in a situation where she had to wield a holy sword again in the future.
[That’s why I ordered her to assist Seto instead.]
[That really helps.]
[Ehehehe. I was praised by Fate. That’s got to be a lot of points for me!]
Anyway, we should track and follow Snow through this underground sewer…
What an easy going woman, she was.
[Good grief…can we really act this easy going especially at times like this?]
By the way, our only source of light at the moment was the magic fireball I casted.
I had the night vision skill, so I could see just fine in pitch dark conditions. But that’s probably not the case with Eris and Roxy.
Right then, Eris moved in and embraced me.
[Not bad. It’s nice for a change. I don’t like using Night Vision anyway.]
[Indeed. The flickering light also looks beautiful.]
Nn? From their reaction, it seemed that they had their own methods to see in the dark.
With a meek smile, Roxy showed me a magic tool she kept in her breast pocket. The tool was palm-sized, with magic inscription on its surface.
[This has a similar effect to night vision skill. It is quite rare though.]
Looks like an item unearthed from Gallia.
[Does Eris also have that kind of item too?]
[Nope. In my case, I have various kinds of magic eyes transplanted on me. One of them has a similar effect to the Night Vision skill.]
[Magic Eyes?]
[To say the least, it’s not Lust skill’s power. Monsters that lived in the ancient period had magic eyes with varying function. He transplanted many kinds of them into me.]
He… when she said that, a certain man’s face immediately came to mind. The man who showed up before us earlier today.
And this same man shared a history with Eris as well.
[Libra?]
[…….yes, it was him. As I’ve told you back on Tetra, he was originally my owner.]
Roxy hadn’t heard any of that of course. She unintentionally raised her voice.
[Original owner…?]
[Ahaha, don’t give me that kind of look. For those people back then, we humans were no more precious than pebbles in the dirt.]
[But…]
[I…and the white knights back at the capital shared the same situation. We were the only survivors. Those people, even if they looked like humans, what was inside was…something else. Anyway, that Libra had a particular interest in Mortal Sin skills.]
In my understanding, Libra had conducted various kinds of experiments on Eris in the name of research. Maybe during those so called ‘researches’, he transplanted the magic eyes on her.
[It’s not all that bad. I’m fine with having them. Some of the magic eyes are useful after all.]
[I see… But why didn’t you tell me before this?]
[The reason is simple. I don’t want to rely on the magic eyes too often….or more like I can’t use them.]
I wondered if there was something wrong with Eris.
[Nn? But you used magic eyes with night vision capability before this, right?]
[I did. It’s the easiest to use actually.]
[What do you mean?]
[For example, it’s like Fate’s Gluttony skill.]
Like Gluttony skill? Where is the similarity…?
[So there is a risk in using it?]
[Correct! The eyes weren’t originally mine after all. Therefore, the more powerful the magic eyes are, the greater the burden they imposed on my body.]
[What’s the worst of it?]
[I might become blind. Worse comes to worst, I might also die from overusing it.]
Eris chuckled as she said so. I couldn’t really tell if she’s serious or not.
[Then please don’t overdo it.]
[You’re not one to talk. Am I right, Roxy?]
[Exactly! Whenever he got away from our sight, Fate always stormed off to do something dangerous!]
[That’s…..]
I couldn’t refute that.
So I chose to steer the conversation back on topic.
[So Libra captured Eris, and conducted various kinds of experiments on you?]
[I think it’s more like I was born to serve that purpose.]
[Nn? Say again?]
[Look, you remember what Envy was trying to do back at Gallia?]
As we kept walking, Eris gave a regretful look on Roxy.
[Could it be, when it tried to kill me back then?]
[Un, I’m truly sorry for that. Envy is also reflecting on it.]
While saying so, Eris tapped on the black bayonet on her waist.
Is Envy really reflecting on it? Honestly I don’t know. I hadn’t heard its voice again ever since our battle on Gallia.
It’s always been Eris who said that.
Probably realizing what I was thinking about, Eris chuckled.
[Envy is prideful in nature. It had the upper hand, yet still got beaten by you in the end. It’s already doing its best by not complaining while being around you.]
[Humph, and I still haven’t forgiven it for that incident yet.]
[Now now, I survived in the end. Rather than me, think about the other people who suffered from the Tenryu’s attack instead.]
Roxy might say that… But she also lost her father, Mason-san to Tenryu’s attack.
He’s back alive now, thanks to the Door to His land opening… When I talked to Mason-san, his reply was similar to Roxy.
Quoting what Mason-san said, when the entire situation forced us, there’s nothing we can do about it.
[Then, what does it have to do with the attempt to kill Roxy?]
[Fate, you are leaking killing intent now. When it comes to Roxy, you always get easily riled up.]
[Just get on with it already!]
Since I urged her to, Eris relented and continued her story.
[Good grief, how impatient. Envy deliberately overlooked the tyranny of the Holy knights. Even when the hatred of the people kept accumulating, it pretended to not be aware of that. Do you know why?]
[Indeed…when I talked to it back then, it mentioned something about producing a Crown-tier human.]
[You remember well! Good, good!]
I brushed away Eris’ hand when she tried to pet my head.
She’s playing around again. However, her expression turned serious again as she turned to Roxy.
[When Mason died, Roxy had to take his place as a guard against the Tenryu. It was pretty much sending her to death, and the hatred of the commoners would’ve reached the peak.]
[If, hypothetically, I was killed back then, what kind of person would be born from it?]
Eris took a deep breath before slowly answering Roxy’s question.
[Our kind.]
[Don’t tell me…]
[Yes, the Mortal Sin skill holders. We were born out of people’s hatred.]
Hearing that for the first time took me off guard.
Born out of hatred…. At the same time, I found that everything made sense now.
Eris’ expression changed when she noticed the look on my face. Roxy also looked at me anxiously.
[I thought you’d be more upset than that.]
[Looking back again, I understand now. Eris also told me before, didn’t you? That Envy did everything to find a replacement for you.]
[Yup…..you are right. I guess I did give you a hint back then.]
[But seriously, thanks for telling me all this.]
Eris was stunned wide eyed.
[I never thought you’d thank me. Knowing your past, I honestly thought that such words would never escape your mouth…]
[If it was the old me, maybe I would take it badly. But now, I know that I’m not alone.]
I put my hand over Greed, and glanced at Roxy.
Then I recalled each person I met during my journey.
[Moreover, I have stopped living in my past. Thanks to Roxy.]
How I was born is something I couldn’t do anything about.
In the past, these kind of thoughts always crossed my mind. I wish I did that instead…If only I did this at that time. There were always some regrets after knowing the result. But time cannot be rewound back.
After fighting Rafal, I was made aware of this by Roxy.
The importance of living in the present, rather than staying in the past. I would never forget that warmth.
[That’s why, I don’t know if I can do it as good as Roxy did to me, but I intend to teach Myne the same thing.]
[I see…hopefully you’ll get through her. That feeling of yours… But it will be an uphill fight. Myne is strong, much more than you know. Can you really defeat her?]
[I know. In order for her to listen to me, I need to defeat her first. Otherwise whatever I say will amount to nothing.]
As we proceeded through the dark underground, we finally arrived on an opening.
It’s obvious an artifact of the past. I recognized the markings. It’s similar to those structures I saw in the capital’s military district.