Chapter 4

Questions

Why, and how, was Seraphia standing before my eyes?

My thoughts continued, but I could not follow them to their conclusion. The rising madness consumed my mind in an instant. My consciousness turned crimson, and everything before my eyes blazed red.

Memories of the past flashed through my mind. My comrades in the allied army, dying horrific deaths at my sister's hands. Seraphia, mercilessly slaughtering people who screamed for their lives. The vicious witch who had taken the Hero Ian's left arm even as she died.

Those horrific memories and emotions surged up all at once, telling me:

'Kill that bitch.'

I surrendered myself to the explosive surge of madness. My body shot forward in an instant. Before the soldiers around us could react, I seized Seraphia by the throat.

"Hahk!"

Seraphia let out a short gasp. I tightened my grip, cutting off her breath. Her feet lifted off the ground and kicked helplessly. Her eyes pleaded with me to spare her life.

... She was far too weak. I could not see her as the Sovereign of Bitter Cold who had mercilessly slaughtered my comrades and so many others.

The Seraphia struggling in my grip was not the Sovereign of Bitter Cold. Nor was she the vicious witch who had taken the Hero's left arm even in death. She was a small, weak, utterly frail woman. That was all I held in my hand.

Which meant this was my only chance.

"Gahk...!"

I had to kill her now. I had to kill Seraphia before she became the Sovereign of Bitter Cold.

It happened just as I was about to snap her neck.

["If you... go back..."]

Suddenly, I heard Ian's voice. I could not tell whether it was a hallucination born of my madness-ridden mind. Only that these were the last words Ian had left me before his death. The voice of Ian as he leaned limply against me, dying without a heart.

["Don't... hate... your sister... too much..."]

Ian's regret rang in my ears like a hallucination.

* * *

Adrian's eyes glared at her with murder in them. They were not the eyes of a man looking at his younger sister. There was not even a trace of familial affection. All they held was a terrible rage directed at Seraphia.

'Brother...'

She had known for a long time that Adrian hated her enough to kill her.

Seraphia had been adopted into the Whitewolf count's household five years ago. That was also around the time Adrian had begun losing himself in gambling and pleasure.

Her presence had ruined him. Believing it was all her fault, she had studied and worked all the harder for the house. Day and night, she had pushed herself, hoping to be of even a little help to the house and to Adrian.

But those efforts had only driven a dagger into Adrian's heart. When the head of House had passed away recently and his will was read, he had left everything to Seraphia, not Adrian.

Yet Seraphia had no intention of following the will. The household had adamantly urged her to reconsider, but her mind was made up. Adrian was the rightful master of the house.

But before she could clear up the misunderstanding, Adrian had left. And now...

"Because of you...!!"

Adrian shouted at Seraphia. She could feel his terrible rage at having lost everything to her. The face before her seemed to belong to a man confronting a demon, not his younger sister.

CRUNCH!

The grip around her throat grew tighter and tighter. The soldiers dared not approach for fear of provoking Adrian.

Her vision blurred. Her consciousness slowly faded to black. Seraphia could offer no resistance.

Just as she caught the scent of death, Adrian's grip gently began to loosen. Her dangling feet touched the ground, and she collapsed limply. Only then could she breathe again, coughing violently.

"Gah...! Cough! Hagh...!"

"My lady!"

The soldiers rushed over and positioned themselves in front of Seraphia. Bristling with menace, they drew their weapons on Adrian.

SHING! SHING!

They looked ready to fight him at the slightest provocation.

Seraphia hastily struggled to steady her breathing and shouted.

"S-stop...! Cough! Please stop...!"

"But he attacked you—"

"I said stop!"

The soldiers flinched at her shout, but did not lower their drawn weapons.

"That's an order! Lower your weapons at once!"

Only then did they reluctantly obey.

Adrian watched it all in silence. He seemed wholly untroubled by the menace radiating from dozens of soldiers. Somehow... he felt like a different person from the Adrian Seraphia knew.

"Let me ask you one thing," he said at last. "Why did you come looking for me?"

He wanted to know why she had sought him out after he left the house. Seraphia lowered her gaze slightly and answered.

"Isn't it... obvious?"

"Obvious? What is?"

"... Of course I'd be worried."

"Worried?"

A flicker of puzzlement crossed Adrian's previously impassive face. Seraphia bit her lower lip and said,

"We're... family."

Adrian's eyebrow twitched. His eyes looked down at her, filled with disgust at her seeming hypocrisy. It was as though they were saying:

'I don't consider you my sister.'

Offering only an icy look, Adrian slowly turned and walked away.

* * *

If I really had returned to the past, then apparently I had missed Seraphia the first time because I was busy fleeing the ice troll. This time, defeating it had allowed us to meet.

Whatever the case, that no longer mattered. Only one thing mattered now. I had failed to kill Seraphia.

It wasn't some ridiculous sympathy on the grounds that she was still my sister. Nor was it complacency because she wasn't the Sovereign of Bitter Cold yet. It certainly wasn't fear of the soldiers around us.

To be even more frank, it wasn't because of Ian's words, either. Not his nonsense about not hating Seraphia too much.

It wasn't that I had chosen not to kill her for those reasons. I had been unable to kill her. And ironically, that was because of Ian's words.

["Was there really no other way back then, besides killing your sister? Did she have to die? That's what I regret most."]

His regret, to be precise. Ian had deeply regretted killing Seraphia. He had regretted it even more than confessing to the Saintess and getting rejected.

"Of all the things to leave me with, it had to be that."

I had never heard his reason. But it had been enough to make me hesitate to snap Seraphia's neck. If he regretted it more than confessing to the Saintess and being rejected, there had to be a good reason.

"He wasn't actually in love with Seraphia, was he?"

I doubted it, but I couldn't be certain. The Ian I knew was entirely capable of that.

Still, an impossible love between the Hero and a witch? You couldn't ask for a more heartrending romance.

In any case, Ian's regret was why I hadn't been able to kill Seraphia. But that wasn't the only reason.

I should have snapped her neck. Ian's regret had certainly made me hesitate, but I had been gripped by the madness of Predation. Once that madness took hold, I had no reason left.

So if I had been the me of fifteen years ago... I almost certainly would have snapped Seraphia's neck.

◆Player's Will[EX] resists the encroaching madness!

That message had suddenly appeared as I was about to snap her neck. At the same instant, my mind had snapped awake. Slowly but surely, my reason had returned, and the madness consuming me had vanished.

"Player's Will, huh..."

As I muttered, a flash lit my vision and translucent text appeared.

==「Current Skills」==

◆I Alone Level Up[EX]

: The player can accumulate experience to increase their level. Each level gained grants 1 stat point.

◆Player's Will[EX]

: Grants immunity to all effects exceeding the player's mental fortitude (curses, illusions, brainwashing, hypnosis, suggestion, etc.).

◆Predation[S+]

: Devour a living creature's heart to absorb its abilities and convert them into skills. Consumes mental fortitude.

◆Regeneration[C+]

: Consumes nutrients stored in the body to repair physical damage. The type and amount of nutrients consumed vary according to the affected body part and the severity of the damage.

<Absorbing additional genetic material strengthens this ability.>

This showed the abilities I currently possessed. I still had no idea what mechanism lay behind this translucent text.

But one thing was certain: Predation[S+] was my ability. And Regeneration[C+] was the ability I had acquired by using Predation[S+] on the ice troll.

I Alone Level Up[EX] and Player's Will[EX], however, were not abilities I had possessed. I had absorbed plenty of abilities through Predation during my time as the allied army's Predator, but I had no memory of absorbing anything like those.

Which left only one answer.

"Ian."

Those were Ian's abilities. I had eaten his heart.

I wasn't certain that I Alone Level Up[EX] was his ability. But I could be sure that Player's Will[EX] was.

"Could this be how Ian was able to face the Sovereign of the Abyss...?"

Six Sovereigns served the Emperor. Among those six, the Sovereign of the Abyss was known within the allied army as [The Inexplicable Terror of the Unknown].

As the name implied, it defied explanation. And so it could not be countered, either.

The Saintess's miracles, the Archmage's magic, the Spirit Mage's spirits, the Blacksmith's arms and armor... All were useless before [The Inexplicable Terror of the Unknown] unleashed by the Sovereign of the Abyss.

But Ian alone was different. He did not succumb even to [The Inexplicable Terror of the Unknown]. Only he could stand against the Sovereign of the Abyss, and in the end, he had succeeded in annihilating it.

That was why I could be certain.

"It's Ian's ability."

Player's Will[EX] was Ian's ability. So was I Alone Level Up[EX]. And I had absorbed those abilities through Predation.

I hadn't known what Ian's abilities were. But Ian had known about my Predation. He had known I could gain a creature's abilities by devouring its heart.

Which meant the last words he had left me...

["If you... go back..."]

...meant he had known I would return to the past.

In other words...

"One of Ian's abilities let him return to the past?"

That was the conclusion I arrived at.

* * *

Whenever the Archmage, one of the allied army's heroes, discovered some unbelievable phenomenon, these were the words that followed:

["Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever possibility remains, however unbelievable, must be the truth."]

A thoroughly mage-like statement. And one that cut straight to the heart of my current situation.

"Returning to the past..."

It sounded utterly absurd. Yet every circumstance pointed to it being the truth.

Suppose my body becoming younger could be explained somehow. A secret experiment by the Emperor, say. Something like that.

"The Sovereign of Bitter Cold is alive."

But Seraphia was alive.

Not even the Emperor's supernatural powers could revive the dead. Undead did exist, but that was a far cry from resurrection.

If resurrection had been possible in the first place, he would have started by reviving the other Sovereigns Ian had annihilated. And if he was going to revive her, why bring her back as Seraphia rather than the Sovereign of Bitter Cold?

There was no room left for dispute. I had definitely returned to the past. Denying it would be utterly pointless.

From now on, I needed to think along different lines.

"Am I the only one who came back?"

Had I truly returned to the past alone? After all, returning to the past wasn't my ability. It was Ian's. Which meant there was every possibility he had returned with me.

Just as my thoughts reached that point, a message appeared.

◆A main quest has arrived.

"A main quest?"

As I voiced the question, lines of text streamed into view.

* * *

You woke up out of nowhere in the snowy northern mountains!

We expected you to panic, but what's this?

You were remarkably calm!

You calmly defeated the ice troll and calmly assessed your situation!

And as a result... ta-da!

You realized you had returned to the past!

Well done! Very, very well done!

You're totally awesome!

But don't get too full of yourself!

The fundamental questions still haven't been answered!

If one of Ian's abilities was returning to the past, would this really have been the only time?

Might he have returned to the past countless times before?

Why did Ian give you his heart?

No, was this really the only time he gave you his heart?

Your head's pounding already!

Nothing but questions! Everything's a mystery!

Fortunately, someone knows the truth behind all of this!

Now, with your keen insight, you know what you need to do next, don't you?

You must find the Hero, somewhere on this continent!

* * *

◆Starting main quest [Find the Hero!].