Chapter 134: You’ve changed a lot since I last saw you, Leon (5)
“Hmmm… I remember that.”
Climbing onto my lap, Rei’s tiny hand clutched the necklace around my neck.
It was none other than a necklace that she had a deep connection to, “The Hero’s Favor Necklace.”
“…Where did you get this?”
“I got it from the Innocence Academy.”
“Ha, that Hubert guy… Just when I thought he was doing something useless as usual, he was planning something like this…”
Rei laughed at that, but then her eyes became solemn as she looked at the necklace.
I wonder if she’s remembering the old times.
“…Do you want me to tell you what happened to them after that…?”
“…”
Rei nods quietly.
“It’s a story that has been told, but…”
I trailed off, recounting the aftermath of the hero death and the members of the hero party.
Rei listened intently, she was eager to hear every detail of her companions’ stories, and she asked questions if she had any.
By the end of the story, Rei had a look of complete reminiscence on her face.
Rei laughed out loud, especially when I told her that Dregonot, the hardy northern warrior who served as the party’s tank, run into the demon lands, inflicted massive damage on the demons, and died on the battlefield.
Thank goodness, the members of the Heroic Party had died happily on their own terms, praised for their deeds.
The only thing is, they’re all dead now.
They can’t even meet their descendants.
“I see… Did they all go back to the land…?”
‘It’s been hundreds of years.’
True, one of her old companions, the Sage, might still be alive in the deepest reaches of the Labyrinth, but his survival was not information I could provide.
I don’t know if the Sage will realize that the Hero has arrived and show himself or not, but if he does, they’ll have a long talk.
It didn’t really matter, since the sage wasn’t going to chase the hero away anyway.
“So there are ‘few’ who remember me now, then.”
“What do you mean…?”
I asked, questioning her words.
Not many beings can live for hundreds of years, only elves and dragons, at most.
“There must be demons who remember me. How ironic.”
When I scratch my head at Rei’s comment, she adds.
“I mean the Elders.”
“Elders… I’ve heard of such a thing, but were they beings that could live for hundreds of years?”
“Hundreds of years? I don’t know exactly how many years they can live. What I do know is that they knew a hero before me, and since I didn’t have the memories of my previous life like I do now, I didn’t even realize it was me. I think they’re still alive, though, although I don’t know if that’s the right word for it, but…”
“Why?”
“Because the ‘elder’ I met was nothing more than a big hunk of meat.”
“A hunk of meat…?”
The words don’t paint a picture.
“That’s the only way I can describe it. It didn’t have a mouth to speak of, but it could communicate, and even then, I killed it after only a few words… There must be some Elders left, for there are many of them.”
“Hmm…”
That was interesting.
At the very least, I’d have to go to the Demon Lands to meet them, but unfortunately, I couldn’t set foot in the Demon Lands in the game, so I didn’t have much information.
I hear the sound of candy rolling in her mouth, and Rei steps away from me.
She asks me to let her be a “hero” in the privacy of her own home, away from prying ears.
Of course I said yes.
As long as she could play the part when needed, I was fine with it.
Sierra was looking at Rei curiously in this bizarre situation.
Watching her sit still in the wagon and pet Sheddie, Sierra asked me when she would be able to become a true hero, and I relayed that to her.
“…the Master asks.”
I told Rei about Sierra’s relationship with me.
She would probably be living with me in the dormitory, so it was better to share any secrets that might make her uncomfortable.
“…Hmm, well, I haven’t even made contact with a Light Elemental yet… and I don’t think I can handle the Holy Sword properly, at least not with my current body.”
Hearing Rei’s answer, Sierra nods slightly. They can’t interact with each other, so they have to go through me to communicate.
To summarize, she needs to ‘grow up’ in more ways than one.
Well, the resurrection of the Demon King is still a long way off, so I guess it’s not something I need to worry about right now.
“Did I mention our destination is the desert? Did this Hubert guy build his academy in the desert?”
Rei asked, looking out of the carriage.
It was too late to ask now that they were already in the desert.
“Not really, I have one more sister to take to the academy, haha…”
“…A younger sister?”
Rei’s eyes widen.
If all goes according to my plan, Rei and Geppeti will be living together in my dormitory.
Rei is in front of me now, and all I have to do is go to the desert and fetch Geppeti.
I don’t have much trouble getting them, the problem was how to introduce them to each other.
My choice came down to ‘nothing to hide, everything to reveal’.
Two fake sisters….A reincarnated hero who had never been a woman and an artificial intelligence who had never been human.
A hero who could teach her what it means to be human, and an A.I. who could teach her what it means to be a sister through data.
I realized that they had a lot to learn from each other.
“…She’s not a real sister.”
“Then what is she?”
“She’s more like you.”
“Hey, brother, I can’t understand you. Are you saying there was another hero besides me?”
Rei asked, still speaking in the tone of the hero, only using the word brother in moderation.
“It doesn’t mean that, it means that she’s a fake sister.”
“Ah… what happened to her…?”
Rei, who was petting Sheddie in her arms, asked in a sad voice.
“I’m afraid we’ll have to take her with us. She’s human, for one thing, but she’s not technically human.”
“…”
Rei looks at me in disbelief, her mouth hanging open at my vague explanation.
“Hmm… It’s more like a highly intelligent, self-aware golem, but she’s human.”
“……”
Suddenly, Rei frowns.
It was quite similar to Sierra’s reaction to the explanation a while ago.
I couldn’t help myself.
I think I explained it as well as I could.
Geppeti was an alien to this world. Well, not necessarily in this fantasy world, but still.
“You’ll get to know her when you meet her.”
“……You have two sisters who aren’t related by blood… That ‘setting’ doesn’t change?”
“Yes, the setting will remain the same, and I’m sure she’ll do an excellent job of playing the younger sister. You’ll need to take a cue from her, hero.”
“…To be on the safe side, I’ll defer to my ‘brother’ for now.”
Rei clenches her jaw and puffs out her chubby cheeks, then stares out the window with a sullen expression.
I don’t think I need to ask her for anything since Geppeti will learn to be human just by being around her.
After all, she saved the world and there’s a lot to learn from her.
I could teach her, but she’d probably have more time alone with Rei than with me, an Academy cadet.
‘I hope they can be a good influence on each other…’
***
“Checking physical condition.”
The sphere in my mind made a sound.
“According to self-diagnosis, body temperature is within the normal range. The current heart rate is 80 but I need to make sure that all parts are working properly.”
With that, the sphere opens with a puff of smoke.
Push.
Thud.
A flawless, pure white leg emerges from the sphere, clearing the smoke.
As if she’s used to it, she pushes herself up and out of the sphere.
It’s her first time on the ground, but the red eyes of the girl, with her pure silver hair brushed back, show no emotion other than admiration or fear.
“Testing range of motion.”
The girl shuffled forward, moving her arms but a sharp piece of scrap metal on the floor leaves a mark on her foot.
“Minor damage to left foot. No problem moving around.”
The girl looks at her wounded foot is covered in red blood with a nonchalant expression on her face.
“Body reactions are also normal. Ending check. Main system ‘Geppeti’, startup.”
The girl falls into a stupor, her head facing forward.
She blinked a few times as she stared blankly into space, but it wasn’t long before she came to her senses.
“…”
Geppeti lowers her head and looks down at her hands.
A dark shade is etched on her face, which had previously been devoid of any emotion and the girl’s breathing quickens.
Geppeti senses that her stress levels are rising.
It was an abnormal reaction, but in a way, it was a very normal reaction.
As an inanimate object, she had ‘feelings’; now that she had a body, she was naturally having emotional physical reactions.
The amount of data she had learned about ‘sisters’ at Zetto’s command was quite extensive.
However, once she gained emotions, Geppeti made one error or, more accurately, a conflict with the ‘learning’ she had been doing.
The emotions she had learned from her master, Zetto, were negative: anxiety, confusion, and nervousness.
When Zetto left her side after 200 years of waiting, this led to anxiety and Geppeti was confused by this anxiety.
She wondered if she would be abandoned.
How much longer would she have to wait?
Would Zetto really come back to her?
“Now we can meet…”
And with that, a new Geppeti was born, with the body of a human being.
“…Brother.”
Geppeti mumbles, her face suddenly brightening.