After Sathya left in the afternoon, Elcalan did indeed show up.
The woman wrapped herself tightly in her clothes. Though her hair had been brushed and styled, it still looked disheveled against her pale complexion. She wore a white shirt under a long blue coat that covered her shorts, and she curled up on the sofa with her arms around her legs, looking lost in thought.
To be honest, when Tina saw Elcalan, she really hadn't expected her to have ended up like this.
Only when Tina drew closer did Elcalan slowly lift her head, looking up at her with hazy eyes. There was no malice, but her gaze was incredibly complex. She looked at Tina almost like looking at an enemy who had lost their hatred.
Tina greeted her, “Elcalan, we meet again. When was the last time, anyway~?”
“...”
She didn't speak, as if she had lost the ability to use words.
Compared to Blood Lotus...
Elcalan seemed much easier~
In terms of turning into a magical beast, that is.
Elcalan's heart was filled with hesitation and wailing. To Tina, she was like a speaker blaring noise, transmitting a flood of emotions that felt as if they were trying to corrupt her own mind in return.
“Do you hate me?”
Tina tried asking.
At this, Elcalan stopped curling up. She straightened her clothes, lowered her legs, and sat up properly like a lady.
Her eyes drifted toward the exit of the living room, completely ignoring everything around her.
She seemed to believe that communication was pointless.
“Elcalan, you used to participate in the crusades against the Magical Beast Cult. Do you still remember them?”
Tina tried asking again, but the result was the same.
But Tina had other ways.
“The Pope is actually a magical beast, isn't she?”
At those words, Elcalan suddenly snapped her head up.
Her eyes were filled with confusion and rage, as if she believed Tina was merely playing with her.
As expected, she cared deeply whenever this name was mentioned.
Tina already had a rough idea of what kind of relationship existed between the two.
Should she lament the fact that she had been running into quite a few lesbians lately?
“I know you... practitioner of the Silence Style...”
Elcalan's voice was extremely soft.
It sounded as though it were being forced out of her throat, carrying a hint of hoarseness. She was like a completely different person from before.
“Castina... what happened to her?”
“You really do care about her, don't you? So...”
“...”
Tina shut her mouth.
Because before she could even say a few words, Elcalan clutched her head and widened her eyes, weeping like a beaten child—yet no tears flowed from her eyes.
After a long wait, Tina finally got another chance to communicate with her.
She pushed the teacup over to Elcalan's side.
“Elcalan, I don't think there's any need to beat around the bush.”
“Join me and become a magical beast. Become my thrall.”
“Wh...?”
“I have this power, and I can guarantee I can do it, but I don't want to hide it from you.”
“You... don't even think about it!”
Elcalan stared at her with vigilant eyes, tensing up again upon hearing that she was to become a magical beast.
This time, Tina completely understood Elcalan's feelings.
She detested magical beasts, viewing them entirely as enemies rather than some mysterious, terrifying entities.
To her, magical beasts were the definition of evil.
That was why she had abandoned Castina, leaving her to lock herself away while remaining completely indifferent.
A person's existence was merely the sum of their past experiences.
Elcalan's experiences represented an absolute loathing for magical beasts...
And the reason she had given up fighting them was also very simple: Castina, the very person whose glory could only be witnessed in history books and textbooks, was also a magical beast.
To be honest, Tina still didn't quite like kicking someone while they were down.
Elcalan had lost her battle instincts; the warrior who could once fight her to a standstill had long since vanished.
But for Sathya's sake...
“Elcalan, I never realized that your so-called easygoing nature was actually just cowardice.”
“...”
“You deny magical beasts, yet deep down, you hope that Castina will get better. But you barely even dared to try.”
“Don't...” Elcalan clutched her head again.
“She is someone who died... she is... beyond saving. It will only... cause more pain... We both will...”
The fiercely argumentative Elcalan Tina had imagined did not appear.
Instead, she was like a startled sparrow, not even sparing Tina a single glance.
Her heart was frantically crying out with a voice, or rather, an emotion.
“Guilt.”
The more human-like Tina acted, the more obvious this emotion became, until it felt as though it would completely dismantle Elcalan.
【She is in pain.】
This was the joint judgment of Tina and the voice inside her mind.
Tina walked up to Elcalan.
Elcalan didn't notice the girl approaching. She clutched her head, letting out soft whimpers.
Tina reached out and gently touched the top of her head.
She closed her eyes, feeling the emotions flowing through Elcalan's body.
Then, like notes slowly coming together to compose a complete piece of music, the fluctuating emotions began to form fragments and images.
She had felt something similar when transforming Velrose.
It was like learning mind reading, but this method was much simpler and clearer. Tina could even “see” what Elcalan had experienced, experiencing one memory scene after another constructed in her mind.
Was it like wearing a virtual reality headset? Tina felt it was close enough...
Though her eyes were closed, Tina quickly entered a dream-like state.
When she “opened her eyes” again, she found herself standing amidst the stalks of a wheat field. Under the setting sun, a damp, cool summer breeze swept across the field, sending wave after wave rippling through the wheat.
Tina looked around.
Amusingly, she found that she could wag her tail...
Did that mean this wasn't Elcalan's perspective?
Of course, Tina soon spotted the “protagonist” of this memory.
A girl was crouching amidst the wheat. Her appearance was identical to the current Elcalan, except she wore a white military dress uniform.
Her white boots and black over-knee socks were buried in the wheat field as she stared expressionlessly at another girl crouching in the wheat...
That girl had crimson hair that looked like a blazing fire in the wheat field under the setting sun.
When she stood up, Tina recognized her face immediately. It really was the Pope, Castina.
“Elcalan, it's a promise~”
Castina smiled sillily and said, “I buried a treasure here. Once we make a name for ourselves, we'll come back and dig it up!”
“We won't be coming back,” Elcalan said flatly.
“Isn't this your hometown~? You'll come back sooner or later.”
Rate on N.U.
