Chapter 253: Recall (5)
“Alright then…… where should we start the story?”
Talia quietly began.
Looking at Berenistella, she opened her mouth in a subtle tone.
“As I told you earlier, I…… no, we have no intention of fighting you.”
Siren and Rikerka, who were standing on either side of her, silently looked at Berenistella and Lian as if in agreement.
Their stance seemed almost threatening, yet Berenistella did not shrink back in the slightest and spoke.
“You launch a surprise attack with all the strength in your body, and now you say you never wished to fight this concubine?”
“Hmm……. Did that hurt that much earlier? If so, I’ll apologize. Sorry.”
Talia tossed out the apology carelessly, as if throwing it away, sounding not particularly sorry at all.
A playful smile still hung on the corner of her lips.
“But I held back and didn’t clench my molars when I hit you, so how about we just let it slide? They say it’s best when things end well, right?”
“…….”
At her sly remark, Berenistella closed her mouth as if she no longer wished to continue the conversation.
Watching her, Talia shrugged.
“Anyway…… right. I suppose I should start by explaining what I said earlier.”
“There is no need for useless prefaces. Stop wasting time and speak the main subject.”
Berenistella said it openly, showing her displeasure.
“Revived in order to die. What kind of nonsense is that supposed to be? Are you asking this concubine to believe such a thing? That kind of…….”
“Ridiculous nonsense?”
Talia spoke first, as if cutting in ahead of her.
“Yes.”
Berenistella nodded briefly.
“Such words that contradict reason could not possibly come from your mouth.”
She said it firmly.
“I do not wish to admit it, but this concubine had acknowledged you to some extent as one who walks the same path of magic.”
“Oh? That’s quite an honor. You acknowledging me.”
“Do not mock this concubine, brat.”
“I’m not mocking you. I mean it.”
At Talia’s refusal to yield even a single word, Berenistella glared at her briefly with visible irritation.
“……Anyway, as one who walks the same path of magic, and as one who has reached a certain realm and gazed upon the vast world…… you would never utter words that defy reason and law.”
“…….”
“Those are not your thoughts or words. That is not the language or thinking of us mages. Whose mind and mouth are you borrowing?”
“……Would you believe me if I said they were the thoughts and words of our youngest?”
“If you were the Sage I knew, the one that remained in this concubine’s memories, I might have believed it.”
She glanced at Arpentia, who was still unconscious.
Tear marks filled the hollows beneath her eyes.
“……But what stands before this concubine now is nothing more than a child denying reality after losing her family and her bonds.”
“Hmm.”
Talia fell silent for a moment.
As if pondering what to say, she suddenly looked at Lian.
“Hey, kid. What’s your name?”
Lian glanced briefly at Berenistella.
Only after confirming she remained motionless did he cautiously open his mouth.
“My name is Lian Gwendil.”
“Right, Lian Gwendil. You’re from the Holy Sun Church, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
Lian nodded briefly at her question.
Talia asked again.
“Then let me ask you something. You can answer comfortably.”
“If it’s something I can answer, I will.”
“I’m not going to ask anything difficult, so you don’t need to be so stiff. For starters, you and I have met before, right?”
Talia said this with a slight smile.
“If it’s revealed in the Holy Sun Church that someone has the ability of prophecy or foresight, what happens?”
“……They are immediately brought to the center of the church.”
Lian answered.
“Additionally, they are treated just one step below a Saintess or Saint, and they live in the Holy City.”
“Right, that’s how it is outwardly. Then what about in reality?”
“…….”
Lian fell silent for a moment.
Answering this meant exposing the ugly truth of the Holy Sun Church.
In truth, he could hardly be said to possess any faith at all, but even so, this was the kind of thing he felt reluctant to say with his own mouth.
“……They are little different from living livestock.”
Eventually, he spoke carefully.
“Even nobles find it difficult to escape, but if the person is a commoner, it is almost like being forcibly abducted. And inside the Holy City they live under constant surveillance until death, bound by strict rules and heavy control.”
“Livestock, huh. Right. Livestock that spits out prophecies? Something like that?”
“Yes.”
Lian nodded slightly at Talia’s words.
Then he added quietly.
“If nothing else, the Holy Sun Church is extremely obsessed with that area.”
Lian let out a small sigh.
“And as you already know, the ability of prophecy or foresight is not something one can obtain simply by wanting it. It can only be something one is born with, so they desperately search for those with the talent.”
“Hmm, that’s not quite right.”
Talia shook her head.
“There is a way to obtain it afterward.”
“……Excuse me?”
“Oh? Are you pretending not to know?”
Saying that, Talia stared at Lian intently.
“I think that even if others don’t know, you probably do.”
“…….”
Under her gaze that seemed to say she already knew everything, Lian abruptly turned his head away.
The teachings of a different Talia Poas he had once met in the Room of Memories came to mind.
When speaking with a mage, never meet their eyes.
That memory suddenly resurfaced.
“Oh?”
Seeing Lian act like that, Talia chuckled with interest.
At that moment—
“……Stop doing pointless things.”
Berenistella spoke in a voice colder than ever before.
Her voice clearly carried both warning and open displeasure.
At the same time, she stepped forward and stood in front of Lian as if blocking him, glaring at Talia.
“How dare you try such trickery on this concubine’s disciple right in front of me?”
“…….”
At her words, not only Talia but even Lian looked surprised.
But the surprise lasted only a moment.
Lian closed his mouth, and soon Talia giggled in amusement.
“Oh my? Did I hear that wrong? Disciple? Didn’t you just say earlier you weren’t his master?”
“……No.”
Berenistella said flatly.
“My tongue slipped just now. ……What this concubine meant was that you should not meddle with an innocent junior.”
“Hmm, well…… alright, let’s say that’s the case.”
At her words, Talia burst into even louder laughter.
“Were you worried that I might do something to that child?”
“…….”
“You’re really taking care of him like he’s your own child. Were you two really that close?”
Talia shook her head as if she couldn’t understand.
“So that’s why you even passed your Brand to him?”
“…….”
“Excuse me?”
The one who reacted to her words was not Berenistella, but Lian.
He looked back and forth between the two women in disbelief.
‘……She passed the Brand to me?’
It was a sudden remark, yet one impossible to ignore.
Reflexively, Lian placed his hand on the area near his collarbone.
Receiving the Brand—he had no memory of such a thing.
‘No, wait…….’
The incident in the Underground Sewer.
And the several times he had experienced that strange sensation… almost like déjà vu that showed him the future.
At the time he had no idea what caused it, so he had simply assumed the power of the Brand had somehow changed and brushed it aside.
But could it be that all of that……
“Judging by the look of it, that child really didn’t know anything. Even so, being overprotective is the fastest way to ruin a child. You should’ve at least told him something.”
Talia casually tossed the words at Berenistella while watching Lian’s reaction.
“……That’s enough.”
“Ah, fine then. But before we end, let me ask just one more thing. Were you really master and disciple? Looking at the way you are, it seems less like a master and disciple and more like lovers—”
“Talia Poas.”
Berenistella quietly repeated her name.
“That is enough. This concubine has already said so.”
Berenistella then released an icy aura.
It felt as if the space around her froze in an instant.
“……Alright, alright. I’ll stop. I won’t bother that child anymore. I tossed out a joke and you’re acting like you’re ready to kill me.”
Talia raised both hands as if surrendering.
And she truly did not look at Lian again.
“Ahem.”
Talia cleared her throat lightly, as if returning to the main subject.
“Anyway, now you understand, right?”
“Anastasia Mayblin.”
Berenistella spoke the Saintess’s name.
Anastasia Mayblin, a member of the Wolpen Knights and a noble figure revered as the Saintess.
At that name, Talia nodded.
“That’s right. Her.”
Talia answered without hesitation.
“She told us.”
“As far as this concubine knows, she did not possess any ability of foresight.”
“Didn’t that child just answer it earlier? What happens when someone possesses the power of prophecy.”
Talia spoke quietly, but with faint anger in her voice.
“Anastasia—despite being praised as a Saintess, she was treated as little more than a thorn in the side of the Holy Sun Church.”
Then she muttered bitterly.
“Can you understand that the number of times that child nearly died because of the schemes of the Holy Sun Church was greater than the times she nearly died because of you Demons?”
“I did hear several times that she was brought to a Religious Trial under suspicion of being a witch.”
“If that were all, I wouldn’t say anything.”
Talia stopped there and closed her mouth, clearly displeased.
It seemed she had no intention of continuing that topic any further.
“……Anyway, she left us several prophecies.”
Talia sighed quietly and continued.
“For example, that we had to create something called the Room of Memories, leaving our memories for the future generations.”
As she said that, she lightly tapped the backs of the two people standing in front of her.
“And that after being revived like this…… we would have to die in order to finish what we could not accomplish while we were alive.”
“In order for that to happen, Arpentia—our adorable youngest—would suffer for hundreds of years. And that she must not know anything about the prophecy.”
“But that there was no other way.”
Talia continued quietly.
“……Not once was anything she said wrong.”
Anastasia Mayblin.
Her prophecies had never once failed.
Even her own miserable and lonely end.
“Because of that, we decided to follow her will and completed all preparations. And then each of us met our end in our own chosen way.”
She then looked at Berenistella and Lian.
Soon after, she let out a small laugh.
“And she also spoke about the two of you.”
“……About us?”
“Yes.”
Talia nodded.
“The last remaining Eight Demon Lord and the disciple of that Eight Demon Lord. Those two would reverse time… and come to meet us.”