Vol 7 Chapter 51

"More precisely, I came to ask your thoughts."

Kapros added while looking at Superior's furrowed brows.

"What are you planning to do from now on?"

"...Huh?"

Superior answered a beat late as if hearing something unexpected.

"What do you mean, what am I planning to do?"

'What? I thought he would have obviously thought about it.'

"I'm going to keep following the path your past self created for successors to follow. I'll probably learn more along the way. But what are you going to do?"

"..."

When Superior first appeared before him, he had smiled saying he was Kapros's quest helper. Though there hadn't seemed to be even a trace of lie in those words then, could this Superior now really be said to be the same as back then?

That was the first thought that had occurred to him after seeing the memories Ilumine had.

Kapros continued while looking straight into Superior's slightly widened eyes.

"What you remember from when to when, whether anything changed in you after hearing Ilumine's words, what you'll do from now on. I think I need to know too."

Superior remained silent for a long while. Seeing him looking down with his red eyes while keeping his lips tightly closed, the image of when they first met suddenly overlapped with that face.

"Hello. So you are my successor I've waited 500 years for."

That face that had given a light greeting with a bright expression without a trace of darkness. Come to think of it, though it hadn't actually been long since meeting this Superior, it felt strangely like they had been together for a very long time.

'Back then, I never thought I would be saying such things to Superior.'

"Yes... you have the right to know about me."

Superior quietly opened his mouth and muttered.

"I first awoke in Rezul. My last memory before that stopped at where I had departed on a journey to arrange for future successors after the war ended. Because those arrangement plans included creating an avatar of myself to help successors, I thought I was such a being. I only thought I was an avatar with quite a lot of power, memories, and abilities infused. And... for a long, really long time, I waited for the future successor who would come find me. You."

Superior's red eyes looked straight at Kapros.

"...You don't have any other memories after the war?"

"Right. I had almost no memories after the war. I never even imagined that 'I' would be suffering and going insane like that."

"..."

"To be honest, even now, that 'I' I saw there doesn't feel like me. But since Lumi said so too, I suppose I must accept it. That my memories are incomplete. ...Probably that 'I' from then was the one who manipulated my memories like that. So you could say even the memories I just told you about, I can't know exactly which parts are right and which parts are wrong."

Superior said this as if talking about someone else. But he couldn't hide his somewhat complicated expression.

"You asked what I'm going to do."

"..."

"I thought about it too. What would my past self have wanted me to do in this situation, what do I want to do... things like that."

After saying this, Superior briefly paused while looking into the distance. How many times had the trees standing hazily in the bright sunlight lazily shaken their branches whenever the wind blew? Superior's lips could be seen faintly curving up.

"To be honest, I don't really understand the thoughts of that madman even if he was 'me.' But I just... if there's any possibility that this world my loved ones protected might be engulfed in war again, I want to prevent that. For that, I want to keep helping you going forward. ...That's all."

"Ah..."

That's all. Superior's expression as he said this looked, for the first time, like an ancient wise man resembling an old tree that had lived countless years. That one conclusion drawn through much anguish was simpler and purer than any answer Kapros had expected.

"But for that, I'll need to search for more information about myself after the war ended going forward. There's too little information to deduce from now. And... according to the memories Lumi showed, about that other me that should be remaining somewhere on this continent too."

Another Superior. At those words, Kapros felt himself tensing up involuntarily. He was right. According to the memories Ilumine had shown, there should definitely be another Superior somewhere on this continent.

"If there is another you, do you think he would still be alive until now?"

At Kapros's careful question, Superior blinked several times.

"This is just a feeling, but I think he probably is."

"...What are the chances he's an enemy?"

Though it felt somewhat strange to ask such a question since that one would also be Superior after all, Kapros wanted to get at least rough answers about all possible issues before acting. Fortunately, Superior didn't seem completely unprepared for the question as he showed a bitter smile.

"Well... If my original self divided himself based on 'two thoughts' that could drive him mad, wouldn't they probably have been extremely opposing thoughts? Then the hearts of the two divided beings probably..."

He didn't continue, but the hidden meaning seemed clear.

The Superior Kapros was looking at, though only half a being, was an existence with extremely strong self-esteem and rationality.

The past Superior he had seen while progressing through Superior's quest also seemed to be someone with a righteous character befitting the title of first 9th circle mage. If such a Superior had been driven mad...

'What kind of being would the other Superior be? Will I meet him while carrying out the quest?'

Though he didn't want to see him right now. While thinking this, Superior suddenly changed the subject with a different question.

"You said you're going to Kor again?"

"...That's the plan."

"I see..."

After hearing Kapros's answer, Superior remained lost in deep thought for a while before looking at him.

"When you leave tomorrow, I might be gone for a while too."

"What?"