Chapter 223: Arpentia (1)
A Declaration of War that she would kill me.
Moreover, the one who uttered those words was a former comrade, a Hero whose name represented an era and was still praised as a legend to this day.
In such a situation, what reaction would most people show?
Would they not grow angry, flustered, deny the situation as unbelievable, or react as though they had been betrayed?
“……Ah!”
Yet the reaction Arpentia showed was something entirely different.
She was rejoicing as though there were nothing in the world that could make her happier.
“Ahh!”
She was even jumping up and down on the spot like a child, expressing her joy with her whole body in a manner utterly unbefitting the title of Sage.
“Valen Zeisho, Valen Zeisho! Ahh, Valen Zeisho!”
As a result, the Robe covering her head slipped down, revealing the face that had been hidden beneath.
It was a face too beautiful to be expressed even in a painting.
Her snow-white skin gave off a soft glow, and her blue eyes—like they held the sea itself—were filled with a mysterious aura.
Her wavy blue hair cascaded down like a waterfall, its ends glimmering with a faint jade hue.
A beauty as lovely as her voice.
I clearly remembered how the female members, including Talia, had cherished her especially, saying that if others found out how pretty our youngest was, all sorts of pests would swarm her.
And yet, at the same time, the Arpentia standing before me now revealed all too clearly that she had endured countless storms and hardships over many long years.
Her lips were badly chapped, and deep shadows lay beneath her eyes.
Her cheeks were so gaunt that her cheekbones stood out, telling me that she had neither eaten nor slept properly.
At that sight, my eyes grew even more complicated with emotion.
“…….”
Was she not a mermaid, said to live nearly as long as us High Elves?
The youthful appearance she once had was nowhere to be found.
Looking at her haggard state, I could easily guess how much suffering and how many harsh years she must have endured over the past several centuries.
“I’m glad…… you were alive. Truly…… truly…… I’m so glad…….”
Arpentia wept openly as she murmured quietly.
Even so, she approached me with unsteady steps.
She seemed utterly convinced that I would never attack her—like a child who trusted her parents without question.
“…….”
I could not bring myself to draw the bowstring against her.
Over the long years, it was not only Arpentia and the fragments of the bow that had rusted and broken.
I was no different.
Clasp.
Arpentia, who had come close without me noticing, grabbed my hand.
Her voice, trembling as though she could not believe it, reached my ears.
“It’s warm…….”
After hesitating for a moment, she carefully looked up at me.
Her eyes shone brightly, as if a long-cherished wish had finally come true.
“Now we can live like before.”
At her murmured words, I asked,
“……Like before? What do you mean by that?”
“Well…… all of us, like before, together……! We can spend our days happily…… together!”
She blinked both eyes at me as though asking to be praised.
I asked again,
“I’ve always told you this, but for someone who has lived so long, I am not particularly clever. So please, explain it in a way even I can understand.”
“……Ehehe.”
At my words, Arpentia suddenly burst into laughter like a child.
Then she flinched and hurriedly added, as though making an excuse,
“Ah, I’m sorry…… I just…… haven’t heard you say that in so long, Valen Zeisho. It still feels like a dream…….”
Muttering that, she nodded several times.
Then, quietly—but in a voice clearer than ever—she answered,
“I’m going to bring everyone back.”
She repeated with emphasis,
“I can save them all. His Majesty the Great Emperor, Talia, Siren, Kenekar…… and everyone else…… all of them! All of us!”
As she spoke, Arpentia began explaining how she intended to revive them.
Her voice trembled with excitement.
“Ordinary Necromancy…… isn’t enough. That only forces obedience……! It doesn’t truly bring them back. And after hundreds of years, the souls would have deteriorated…… they’re difficult even to find.”
She took a moment to steady her breath before continuing.
“So…… I found a way. Do you remember Popolotuass among the Eight Demon Lords? The one who turned back time.”
At her words, I nodded.
“Yes. He was truly troublesome. At first, I could not believe it. But thanks to him…….”
I was able to smell those who had turned back time.
The last remaining Eight Demon Lord.
And the fact that I had sensed that same scent from Lian Gwendil as well—I did not say that.
“Yes! That’s it!”
Arpentia bounced slightly as she continued her explanation.
Even though her speech occasionally grew awkward, she desperately pressed on.
“Fragments of him, and the strange power the Eight Demon Lords used…… I mixed them together and created something. I call it a receiver…… Through it, I can summon and bind the soul…… and link it to the past and to memory…….”
“Once again,”
I cut her off.
“I am a fool. Even with that explanation, I do not understand.”
“Ah……!”
She paused at my words, then nodded again.
“I’m sorry…… To put it simply, yes. With this, I can bring everyone back……! As long as I have a medium.”
“So that is why you came to the Auction today. You thought my corpse had appeared.”
“Yes!”
Arpentia nodded vigorously.
Her face was still filled with irrepressible joy and excitement.
“I managed to gather the others, but I couldn’t obtain you, Valen Zeisho…… Your traces had been cut off so perfectly……. So when I heard about today’s Auction, I thought how lucky I was…… but to think something even better would happen……! I never imagined I would meet you in person like this!”
Watching her rejoice, I murmured quietly,
“A medium, you say…….”
I nodded slowly.
“So it was you who shattered the Sanctum a few days ago and took what was inside.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
She answered brightly.
“Because…… that was what I created it for in the first place.”
“You created it for that from the beginning?”
Valen Zeisho asked back.
“Yes.”
Arpentia murmured quietly, yet firmly.
“From that day…… everything was for that from the very beginning. The reason I founded the Academy, the reason I created the Room of Memories, the reason I built the Sanctum, the reason I entrusted the Dragon with the role of Watchman, the reason I took in disciples, and countless other things……. All of it was for that.”
Valen Zeisho hesitated for a moment.
Though he already knew the answer, he deliberately asked her.
“……What day are you referring to?”
“The day the Saintess collapsed.”
Arpentia answered.
Her voice was calmer than ever.
Yet within it was a sorrow and fury so deep it could not be suppressed.
“……She accepted the curse in our place, and because of that she was expelled by those bastards of the Holy Sun Church she had once belonged to, branded a heretic…… Even so, she never lost her smile. And then, and then…….”
“Yes.”
Valen Zeisho quietly continued.
“Evil Dragon Jadaka. She fought that creature, and her entire body was shattered to pieces and she died. I remember clearly how her body scattered like flower petals in the wind.”
“No!”
For the first time, Arpentia raised her voice.
Her eyes burned fiercely.
“The Saintess—Anastasia—did not die! She merely sacrificed her body to seal the Evil Dragon! Her soul and will are still perfectly intact! She is still alive inside me! All that remains is for her to be fully restored!”
“She died.”
Valen Zeisho answered calmly.
“That is what one calls death, Arpentia. ……And what of the others? What answer will you give them?”
He continued quietly.
“Talia ascended upon answering the call of the heavens. They call it ascension, but she wished to return as the smallest and lowest existence in this world. No one knows what she became. Perhaps a spirit. Perhaps dust…… No one knows. Perhaps even she did not know.”
“…….”
Arpentia stared blankly at him.
Valen Zeisho did not stop.
“Siren Everglenn realized that his body, wounded long ago by a Cursed Sword, would never recover. So he said he wished to end his life by being devoured by the Dragon he called his own duplicate, and thus remain together forever. And what happened? That Dragon, unable to endure the shock of losing his soul’s companion, crushed its own heart and died. It happened just before I went into seclusion, so I remember it clearly. And yet you would say he still lives?”
“……Stop.”
Arpentia’s voice trembled.
Her face had turned pale.
Still, Valen Zeisho continued.
“And the others? Yes, Kwakal. That Half-Orc. Do you remember him? The one who mocked himself as cursed from birth. He always complained that he could not understand those who sacrificed themselves for others. He said he had not even been given a name by his parents, that the world was something one faced alone, that oneself was most important and the rest did not matter. And how did he die?”
“Stop, please…….”
Her voice came out like a plea.
“He died protecting us. He used his own body as a shield and sacrificed himself to save us all. And just before he died…… he asked that his body be thrown upon the highest peak of his homeland. He said he wished to be eaten by beasts and birds, to be scattered across his home. And what happened? Barely half a year after we left his body there, a volcano erupted in that region.”
“Stop!!!”
Arpentia screamed.
Valen Zeisho looked at her quietly.
His mouth still spoke.
“……Few among us died with our bodies intact. Even Necromancy cannot begin a ritual without a body. And most of our bodies left not even a trace behind. Now, hundreds of years later—what exactly do you think you can do?”
“I…… I can do it!”
Arpentia shouted sharply.
“I am Arpentia! I am the Sage—the Great Sage who knows the answers to everything in this world!”
“…….”
“Why do you think I founded the Academy? Why do you think I made the Room of Memories, built the Sanctum, and endured all this suffering until now?!”
Valen Zeisho gazed at her for a long moment, then suddenly asked,
“Do you remember the faces of the others?”
“……What?”
“No, you would know better than I. Did you not fail to remember even my face just moments ago?”
He paused briefly.
“……In order to find the method you speak of—how many people did you kill?”
At his words, Arpentia looked at him as if something had caught in her throat.
She hesitated, barely holding back her tears, then spoke.
“How many people have we saved until now?”
Then she whispered quietly,
“Can’t I at least do as I please with a mere few hundred?”
At her answer, Valen Zeisho closed his eyes.
Yes. This child might be the wisest among us, but she was still a child.
“So you joined hands with the Demons…… the Cultists of the Evil God, and even Devils?”
Arpentia answered,
“Is that not allowed? To me, you were my everything—my family! And for me to join hands with Demons, to make contracts with Devils in order to bring you back…… is that truly so wrong?!”
“If you truly remembered our will and our convictions…….”
Arpentia cut him off with a scream.
“Then why didn’t you come to see me?!”
Her body trembled with agitation.
“You all said you remembered me, said you would entrust the Rear to me…! And then you all left me alone……! Do you have any idea how much I…… how much……!”
“Yes.”
Valen Zeisho nodded slowly.
“……Yes. It is my fault. That is why I have come to pay the price.”
He turned and walked a few steps away.
Then, keeping a suitable distance from Arpentia, he looked at her once more.
In his hand, he now held a fragment of the old bow.
“By killing you with my own hands—for betraying us and falling into corruption.”
Arpentia murmured quietly,
“……Me? You? Uncle, you would kill me? ……Betrayal? Me?”
As she muttered faintly, the air around her began to tremble violently.
The blood pooled on the ground writhed as if alive.
“……I am not a traitor.”
She whispered.
The eyes that once shimmered like the sea were now utterly hollow.
“I will meet everyone again.”
Even if—
“Even if you try to stop me.”
With those words, a dark blue aura began to swirl around her like a raging storm.