Dark Fantasy’s Extra Chapter 203

“Noah… is gone….”

That was all I could say.

I don’t deny my past as Noah.

But it’s also an undeniable reality that I decided to die as Noah and have lived that way until now.

“What are you saying? How do you know about Noah?”

There were very few people in this era who knew Noah’s name.

At least since I was reborn into this world until relatively recently, I had never heard any stories about Noah.

Probably erased over the hundreds of years that passed.

Though it was once an object of faith, Belle must have erased it.

Just like she erased the names of the other sisters.

“…”

What should I do?

Should I speak honestly?

But if I do that….

…No, I can’t run away.

Though it’s a past I killed, to my children it’s still their present.

“Because I… was Noah.”

At that moment, Rusalka’s spear came down toward me.

The spearpoint stopped just millimeters in front of my eyes.

“Let go of that.”

Rusalka said.

“No…”

Maia answered while trembling as she gripped the spear shaft.

“Speaking with you at all was a mistake. To dare claim to be a witch and Noah’s creation – I can tell you’re some different kind of being, but you should know your place…”

“Were you… able to find your prince?”

I spoke quietly but firmly.

“…Huh?”

Rusalka looked down at me again with wide eyes.

“I knew you wanted to make me your prince.”

“How do you… know that…?”

“…”

“Really?”

Rusalka moved her spear aside and brought her face close to mine.

“Are you… really Noah?”

“…I was, back then.”

I reorganized my thoughts briefly in that short moment.

Am I Noah?

I was Noah.

Noah is the past.

“But now I’m human, and Eugene.”

“W-wait… something’s strange here. You’re… you’re Noah?”

“That’s why I said, not anymore.”

“…Just one thing, let me ask just one thing. If you’re really Noah, you would know.”

Rusalka swallowed hard.

“What… what’s my favorite tea?”

“…You preferred coffee over tea. Like me.”

“It really is… you, Noah…?”

Tears welled up in Rusalka’s eyes.

Belle was right in that nightmare.

I tried to run away.

And as the price for that, my children are suffering.

Even back when I was Noah, I had never seen Rusalka cry….

“Sniff, uuu…”

Hot tears fell onto my cheeks from Rusalka.

I reached out to wipe her eyes.

“I’m sorry.”

“Waaah!”

I wanted to let Rusalka cry more.

And it would be nice to talk slowly with each other, but….

“Oh dear.”

The ground shook.

The floor vibrated like lying at a construction site with pile drivers pounding.

And small red sparks began shooting up from the peak of Ivan Mountains that had been spewing black smoke laden with sulfur.

Those sparks flew in arcs scattering in all directions.

“Can we save the touching family reunion for later? The mountain doesn’t look good.”

Maia said.

I had no choice but to get up from Rusalka’s lap.

“Right. Family reunion can wait a bit.”

“Then should we escape from here…”

“Not escape, we need to go welcome someone.”

“Welcome?”

“…Yes. Vasilisa is still up there.”

Rusalka wiped her flowing tears and changed to her usual stern and cool expression.

“Noah, give the order. My subordinates can…”

“No, that’s wrong.”

“What?”

“I’m not Noah anymore. I’m Eugene.”

“But just now…”

Before Rusalka could finish speaking, the peak of Ivan Mountains began spewing fire with a thunderous roar.

Lava flowed slowly from the summit and acrid black smoke covered the sky.

It looked almost identical to the Ivan Mountains I remembered from Blue Paper Moon.

“Details can wait! If we don’t escape now we’ll get caught in the volcanic eruption! But you want to go back in there to find that mad witch?!”

The volcanic rumbling was so loud that even Maia’s shouts seemed quiet.

I nodded.

After coming this far, I can’t leave Vasilisa behind again.

“Ugh… but what are you planning to do?”

When they subdued Vasilisa before, Margarete played quite an active role.

She balanced out the endless hellfire well with winter’s chill, and thanks to the other children joining forces too, they captured Vasilisa without major injuries.

But now we only have Rusalka and her forces, plus Maia who isn’t at full strength.

Of course if the two of them seriously combined their power they could probably defeat Vasilisa, but what we want in the first place is to subdue her, not defeat her.

“There’s… a way. Maia, do you have any candy?”

“Candy?”

What I had was completely burnt earlier so nothing remains.

That was quite expensive too….

“Hmm… if you mean candy, or snacks, I do have something.”

What Maia took out was something round and orange about the size of a thumb joint.

“It’s made by preserving fruit juice in sweet plants. We ate these in Swamp Island, will this work?”

“That’s enough.”

“You’re going to calm her with something like this?”

“It’s possible.”

Back then she became docile after we restrained her and put candy in her mouth.

That’s why I brought candy this time too, but things turned out like this.

There’s no way Vasilisa was directly affected by Nightmare Shadow, she was probably influenced by me when I briefly awakened as Noah due to Nightmare Shadow’s influence.

“…”

Maybe I should try to draw out Noah’s power somehow even now.

…Back then I swore not to interfere with my creations using the creator’s power.

Once born, I can’t carelessly touch the dignity of life and existence itself.

For a god to intervene in something means changing that very existence.

Even Vasilisa’s current rampage is because I accidentally used that power.

Indeed, such power doesn’t suit me.

“…Let’s go.”

We entered the burning volcano again.

Finding Vasilisa wasn’t too difficult.

Just head for the hottest spot among all the fire and smoke.

There’s still time before the lava flowing from above reaches the bottom.

And before long we found Vasilisa staggering around.

“Giving her candy is important. Somehow keep Vasilisa restrained.”

“Got it. Try not to die this time.”

Maia cast fire resistance magic on me beforehand.

At least I won’t burn up as easily as before.

Of course considering the firepower, I can’t really say it’s safe.

“Alright. Then let’s begin.”

“Magi, forward.”

At Rusalka’s command, the Deep Sea Folk magi came forward.

Elderly Deep Sea Folk wearing round flat conch shells like crowns and holding ominous staves.

When they chanted unknown incantations while waving their staves, rain began falling from the sky.

Perhaps due to the ash clouds from the volcanic eruption, the raindrops were black.

But this is enough.

Originally it was a technique to create buff conditions for Deep Sea Folk by making the battlefield environment similar to water by pouring rain.

This time the goal is to reduce fire power by making it rain rather than buffs.

“Vasilisa…!”

Rusalka threw her trident at her sister.

The spear spun widely through the air and bound Vasilisa with the rope attached to its end.

Of course by the time the spear flew, Vasilisa had already turned her back and hurled a huge fireball at us.

But Maia easily blocked it by creating a mud wall.

At the same time, two sea dragons raised their heads and roared, spewing yellow beams toward the sky.

When brilliant light burst forth for an instant, Vasilisa turned her head that way, and at that moment I ran.

“Let go!”

Vasilisa spewed fire from her whole body while bound.

The falling rain instantly evaporated into black toxic smoke.

Even my body with fire resistance magic suddenly felt intensely hot.

But I didn’t stop running.

It felt like throwing myself into the great fire that was Vasilisa.

And finally I threw myself forward to grab Vasilisa and fell.

“Eugene?! Why did you come again?!”

“Vasilisa…!”

Even more intense flames erupted from her body than before.

Heat that made me dizzy for a moment.

But the candy tightly gripped in my hand….

“Ah….”

The candy had already turned to a handful of ashes.

Damn it.

How could I not think of that.

“If you’re going to interfere with me too, I’ll turn you to ashes for real this time!”

Vasilisa struggled violently.

It felt like embracing an erupting volcano itself.

“…”

The candy had turned to ash.

Vasilisa was still thrashing wildly.

What options did I have left…?

“…Please stop.”

I just kept holding Vasilisa.

“Noah is gone now.”

“Shut up!”

“He’s gone, I said. You don’t need to be the protagonist anymore…!”

“No! I don’t want to hear it!!”

“Vasilisa! Listen!”

I called her name forcefully.

“…!”

Vasilisa stood with her mouth open, saying nothing.

Come to think of it… we, I only treated Vasilisa as mentally ill and tried to respond with force.

Not once did we think to try talking it out somehow.

“…But.”

Vasilisa said.

“But… Noah wanted me to be the protagonist. A good protagonist….”

“Forget Noah. Because he’s gone now.”

“Noah is… gone?”

“Yes. You don’t need to be the protagonist anymore either.”

“…Then what should I do?”  

“…”

“Tell me what I should do?!”

“What… do you want to do?”

“I don’t know! I don’t know, I say! This is all I know! So don’t interfere! I don’t know what I should do either!!”

Vasilisa stomped her feet like a child as she shouted.

Right… from the beginning Vasilisa was a child.

It wasn’t that I created her wrong, I just didn’t spend enough time.

Back then I was just afraid seeing her rampaging while burning everything.

I only blamed myself.

That I had failed again.

It would have been better if we had talked more calmly.

“Then let’s find out together.”

“Find?”

“Yes. Let’s find out together, what you want to do.”

“What can I do? This is all I can do!”

“You can do other things too. I guarantee it. Trust me.”

“…”

“We’ll find it together. One by one, if we look we’ll find what you want to do.”

“…Really?”

“Yes. I promise.”

“Really…?”

“Really.”

“…”

“…”

“…Okay.”

And the fire went out.

At the same time, I let go of the consciousness I had been forcibly holding onto.

Though everything was enveloped in darkness again, this time I wasn’t so anxious.