* * *
The first time I met my mother was at the pub on the inn’s first floor, and, well…
“Aah, hello! I heard you’ve been doing great work with the mercenary band.”
She looked so full of life. Like a real living person… Of course, she actually was alive.
I stared at her like she was something unbelievable and muttered, “Yes, hel…lo.”
Beer came to the table, and we went through a brief round of introductions. My mother spoke up first. “You said you were nobles from where, again?”
…I’d forgotten.
Sitting right next to me, Vientin, stiff as a board, rattled off, “I am the lord of a small territory called Adelia in the Provence region, approximately one hundred and fifty kilometers from the capital.”
How the hell can he lie that smoothly? His background research is insane, and his memory is unbelievable. Honestly, I’d already forgotten what my fake identity even was. But he had another problem. Unlike me, who was nervous but relatively natural, Vientin was sitting there as stiff as if he had come to a formal family meeting before a marriage.
“Hahaha.”
“…?”
“Now that I look at you, Lord Vientin, why are you sitting there so stiff?”
He was just like… right. A family meeting before marriage! He really did look like a guy here for a meet-the-parents dinner.
Duke Kalinos lifted his glass and said, “Here, let me pour you a shot of tequila. Please, go ahead.”
My mother withdrew her glass with an awkward look and said, “That’s a fruit juice, Lord Vientin.”
…I’m gonna lose it.
I looked at Duke Kalinos, who was desperately trying to win over his father-in-law and mother-in-law. It really is a meeting between families, but… is this really okay? His behavior was extremely ridiculous, but he looked so serious that I couldn’t bring myself to say anything.
Fortunately, after some alcohol, the atmosphere loosened up a bit. The incredibly stiff Duke Kalinos, I mean, Vientin, and I, along with my father and mother, all dove into a full-on drinking spree. To be precise, it was because my father poked at my competitive streak.
“Let’s make a bet. A bomb-shot drinking contest!”
…So childish. And yet…
“Can’t do it? Huh? You can’t?”
“Why wouldn’t I be able to?”
…The fact that I fell for that childish taunt was just so me.
Vientin watched me with obvious worry, but he had a particular weakness when it came to my family and me. So he couldn’t stop us and ended up drinking a ton right along with us.
“Ah, why is everything spinning?”
“It really is spinning…”
And so, the four of us ended up completely wasted.
They say you tell the truth when you’re drunk, right? My mother looked at me and whispered softly, “You know, I’m actually pretty good at reading people.”
“…”
“…Lady Giselle seems like someone who grew up receiving a lot of love from your family.”
My father chimed in, “Yeah, I thought so too. You seem really well brought up.”
“Darling, it’s rude to talk about someone else’s upbringing so bluntly when you’ve just met them.”
“Even if it’s a compliment?”
“Exactly.”
…I watched my mother laugh as she lightly smacked my father’s arm. Even through my drunken eyes, she looked so much like warm sunlight that I suddenly felt like I couldn’t breathe.
And then, at that exact moment, I noticed a small scale on the back of her hand. I knew exactly what that scale was. The <Demon Seed> was spreading through her body. It would become the same weakness that Count Sehera had. That tiny-looking weakness would eventually drag them into agony and, in the end, kill them.
I forced myself to tear my gaze away from the faint scales rising on the back of her hand. The one thing I’d managed to forget while we laughed and joked and drank… The death of Count Sehera and his wife suddenly weighed heavily on me.
My mother looked at me as I blinked dazedly, then went on. “I’d only heard about you through the video orb, but I was really curious, you know.”
“Aah. About what…?”
“That some newcomers had joined the mercenary band and become its aces. That they were incredibly strong and very capable.”
“Ah…”
“He kept saying he wanted to keep working with you as mercenaries, so I was curious and said I wanted to meet you.”
“Ahaha…”
So that’s what you’d been thinking on the inside, huh. And yet, strangely enough, my bleary, unfocused eyes suddenly cleared. Because… for someone like me, who doesn’t remember the details of my birth, it felt like I was hearing my parents praise me for the first time in my life. It just felt so good… I felt like I was floating, light as air, on top of a cloud. It wasn’t even that kind of situation, but it felt like she was telling the grown-up me, ‘You’ve done so well all on your own all this time.’
Holding my breath, I looked at her and said, “Really?”
“Yes. Now that I see you face-to-face like this, my fiancé’s words feel real.”
“That makes me really happy…”
…Maybe my subconscious was slipping out. Vientin was staring straight at me as I reacted that way.
I’d lived a life without anything like parents, and I’m satisfied with the life I have now. For my father and mother, this would be nothing more than a brief, fleeting encounter, so brief they’d never even imagine I was their daughter. But still… I thought to myself that I would probably never forget today.
* * *
The next day came. I rejoined the mercenary band like it was any other day, without so much as a hangover. I was watching them chop wood, same as always, but for some reason I kept zoning out.
“Giselle.”
“Yes?”
“Could you come over here for a moment?”
At that moment, Vientin looked at me and spoke. He had that look he got sometimes, like he was studying me. He acted like someone who already knew exactly what I was thinking.
“Giselle. I have something to say to you.”
“…”
“If you meddle recklessly, the future will get hopelessly tangled.”
He really was a rational man. And what he said was right. In some future I didn’t even know, someone might end up suffering. That’s what the butterfly effect is. But what I was most worried about was… that this man’s life would end up a mess too.
After meeting me, Vientin had finally managed to crawl out of the trauma of having his older brother killed. And yet…
“I don’t mind if you save your parents.”
But if that happened, then what would become of our future…?
The past, the present, and the future. If I wanted to save my parents, I’d have to destroy the future I’d created with my own hands. Like he said, if I meddle carelessly, I’ll ruin the future.
I looked at him quietly and shook my head. “I’m not going to do it.”
…Me tagging along with the mercenary band for a week or so might not have any major impact on the future. But saving my parents would no doubt have a massive impact on it. So I had no choice but to turn away.
I have to hold back. I’m an adult. It’s time I got free of the past. Even if it hurts. After all, when it’s time to leave, you have to leave.
* * *
The final day to get out of the <Time Slip Machine> had finally arrived.
“Hey, are you really leaving this time?”
“Yes.”
My father, who had no idea what was going on inside me, murmured quietly. “Geez… you’re really going. This makes me kinda sad.”
I put on an expression a little more grown-up than his and said, “I’m sad too. But it can’t be helped.”
“Where are you going? To that Adelia territory?”
“No.” I held my breath for a moment, then let it out and said, “I’m going traveling somewhere really remote.”
“Must be nice. So how long are you gonna be gone?”
…Because I had to return by riding the <Time Slip Machine>.
“It’s going to be a very long trip.”
“You’ll come back again, right?”
“…”
From here on out, he and I would never be able to see each other again. That fact cut deep, all the way to the bone. But I forced a smile and said, “If enough time passes, we’ll be able to see each other again someday.”
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