Chapter 161: Hauzen Underground
Chapter 161 – Hauzen Underground
Eris, who was still puffing her chest up arrogantly, spoke as she recalled something .
[Ah, right! Mimir tried to follow me earlier, but I left her back at the castle . I suppose it’s for the best, right?]
[That is indeed for the best . ]
Mimir did have holy knight skills . However, she’s prohibited from using it by law of the kingdom .
Even in a terrible emergency like the goblin shaman incident, she was still judged harshly for breaking the rules .
Fortunately she was exempted from the punishment by the authority of the queen herself .
But there wouldn’t be a second time .
Therefore, I’d rather not put her in a situation where she had to wield a holy sword again in the future .
[That’s why I ordered her to a.s.sist Seto instead . ]
[That really helps . ]
[Ehehehe . I was praised by Fate . That’s got to be a lot of points for me!]
Anyway, we should track and follow Snow through this underground sewer…
What an easy going woman, she was .
[Good grief…can we really act this easy going especially at times like this?]
By the way, our only source of light at the moment was the magic fireball I casted .
I had the night vision skill, so I could see just fine in pitch dark conditions . But that’s probably not the case with Eris and Roxy .
Right then, Eris moved in and embraced me .
[Not bad . It’s nice for a change . I don’t like using Night Vision anyway . ]
[Indeed . The flickering light also looks beautiful . ]
Nn? From their reaction, it seemed that they had their own methods to see in the dark .
With a meek smile, Roxy showed me a magic tool she kept in her breast pocket . The tool was palm-sized, with magic inscription on its surface .
[This has a similar effect to night vision skill . It is quite rare though . ]
Looks like an item unearthed from Gallia .
[Does Eris also have that kind of item too?]
[Nope . In my case, I have various kinds of magic eyes transplanted on me . One of them has a similar effect to the Night Vision skill . ]
[Magic Eyes?]
[To say the least, it’s not l.u.s.t skill’s power . Monsters that lived in the ancient period had magic eyes with varying function . He transplanted many kinds of them into me . ]
He… when she said that, a certain man’s face immediately came to mind . The man who showed up before us earlier today .
And this same man shared a history with Eris as well .
[Libra?]
[…… . yes, it was him . As I’ve told you back on Tetra, he was originally my owner . ]
Roxy hadn’t heard any of that of course . She unintentionally raised her voice .
[Original owner…?]
[Ahaha, don’t give me that kind of look . For those people back then, we humans were no more precious than pebbles in the dirt . ]
[But…]
[I…and the white knights back at the capital shared the same situation . We were the only survivors . Those people, even if they looked like humans, what was inside was…something else . Anyway, that Libra had a particular interest in Mortal Sin skills . ]
In my understanding, Libra had conducted various kinds of experiments on Eris in the name of research . Maybe during those so called ‘researches’, he transplanted the magic eyes on her .
[It’s not all that bad . I’m fine with having them . Some of the magic eyes are useful after all . ]
[I see… But why didn’t you tell me before this?]
[The reason is simple . I don’t want to rely on the magic eyes too often… . or more like I can’t use them . ]
I wondered if there was something wrong with Eris .
[Nn? But you used magic eyes with night vision capability before this, right?]
[I did . It’s the easiest to use actually . ]
[What do you mean?]
[For example, it’s like Fate’s Gluttony skill . ]
Like Gluttony skill? Where is the similarity…?
[So there is a risk in using it?]
[Correct! The eyes weren’t originally mine after all . Therefore, the more powerful the magic eyes are, the greater the burden they imposed on my body . ]
[What’s the worst of it?]
[I might become blind . Worse comes to worst, I might also die from overusing it . ]
Eris chuckled as she said so . I couldn’t really tell if she’s serious or not .
[Then please don’t overdo it . ]
[You’re not one to talk . Am I right, Roxy?]
[Exactly! Whenever he got away from our sight, Fate always stormed off to do something dangerous!]
[That’s… . . ]
I couldn’t refute that .
So I chose to steer the conversation back on topic .
[So Libra captured Eris, and conducted various kinds of experiments on you?]
[I think it’s more like I was born to serve that purpose . ]
[Nn? Say again?]
[Look, you remember what Envy was trying to do back at Gallia?]
As we kept walking, Eris gave a regretful look on Roxy .
[Could it be, when it tried to kill me back then?]
[Un, I’m truly sorry for that . Envy is also reflecting on it . ]
While saying so, Eris tapped on the black bayonet on her waist .
Is Envy really reflecting on it? Honestly I don’t know . I hadn’t heard its voice again ever since our battle on Gallia .
It’s always been Eris who said that .
Probably realizing what I was thinking about, Eris chuckled .
[Envy is prideful in nature . It had the upper hand, yet still got beaten by you in the end . It’s already doing its best by not complaining while being around you . ]
[Humph, and I still haven’t forgiven it for that incident yet . ]
[Now now, I survived in the end . Rather than me, think about the other people who suffered from the Tenryu’s attack instead . ]
Roxy might say that… But she also lost her father, Mason-san to Tenryu’s attack .
He’s back alive now, thanks to the Door to His land opening… When I talked to Mason-san, his reply was similar to Roxy .
Quoting what Mason-san said, when the entire situation forced us, there’s nothing we can do about it .
[Then, what does it have to do with the attempt to kill Roxy?]
[Fate, you are leaking killing intent now . When it comes to Roxy, you always get easily riled up . ]
[Just get on with it already!]
Since I urged her to, Eris relented and continued her story .
[Good grief, how impatient . Envy deliberately overlooked the tyranny of the Holy knights . Even when the hatred of the people kept acc.u.mulating, it pretended to not be aware of that . Do you know why?]
[Indeed…when I talked to it back then, it mentioned something about producing a Crown-tier human . ]
[You remember well! Good, good!]
I brushed away Eris’ hand when she tried to pet my head .
She’s playing around again . However, her expression turned serious again as she turned to Roxy .
[When Mason died, Roxy had to take his place as a guard against the Tenryu . It was pretty much sending her to death, and the hatred of the commoners would’ve reached the peak . ]
[If, hypothetically, I was killed back then, what kind of person would be born from it?]
Eris took a deep breath before slowly answering Roxy’s question .
[Our kind . ]
[Don’t tell me…]
[Yes, the Mortal Sin skill holders . We were born out of people’s hatred . ]
Hearing that for the first time took me off guard .
Born out of hatred… . At the same time, I found that everything made sense now .
Eris’ expression changed when she noticed the look on my face . Roxy also looked at me anxiously .
[I thought you’d be more upset than that . ]
[Looking back again, I understand now . Eris also told me before, didn’t you? That Envy did everything to find a replacement for you . ]
[Yup… . . you are right . I guess I did give you a hint back then . ]
[But seriously, thanks for telling me all this . ]
Eris was stunned wide eyed .
[I never thought you’d thank me . Knowing your past, I honestly thought that such words would never escape your mouth…]
[If it was the old me, maybe I would take it badly . But now, I know that I’m not alone . ]
I put my hand over Greed, and glanced at Roxy .
Then I recalled each person I met during my journey .
[Moreover, I have stopped living in my past . Thanks to Roxy . ]
How I was born is something I couldn’t do anything about .
In the past, these kind of thoughts always crossed my mind . I wish I did that instead…If only I did this at that time . There were always some regrets after knowing the result . But time cannot be rewound back .
After fighting Rafal, I was made aware of this by Roxy .
The importance of living in the present, rather than staying in the past . I would never forget that warmth .
[That’s why, I don’t know if I can do it as good as Roxy did to me, but I intend to teach Myne the same thing . ]
[I see…hopefully you’ll get through her . That feeling of yours… But it will be an uphill fight . Myne is strong, much more than you know . Can you really defeat her?]
[I know . In order for her to listen to me, I need to defeat her first . Otherwise whatever I say will amount to nothing . ]
As we proceeded through the dark underground, we finally arrived on an opening .
It’s obvious an artifact of the past . I recognized the markings . It’s similar to those structures I saw in the capital’s military district .