Berserk of Gluttony (LN) - Volume 4 - Chapter 24

Chapter 24:

Fate and Roxy

THE WHITE-HAIRED BOY spun the black spear Vanity in skillful circles, as though the weapon were an extension of his body. We readied our own weapons once more, preparing for an enemy whose power was completely unknown.

I wanted to use Identify, but I had a feeling he’d release magical energy of his own when I did. If that happened, I’d be blinded. In a battle against another person in the Domain of E, not only was the Identify skill pointless, it was potentially deadly.

We were locked in place, waiting to see how the young boy would move. Then he glanced at me like he would at an insect. “Hm…how many thousands of years has it been? One? Two? It couldn’t have been four, could it? Time just goes so fast, doesn’t it? Blink and you miss it. Don’t you agree, Myne?”

“Shin. You’re dead.”

“Surely you’ve figured it out by now? I don’t die. I hid a part of myself in this world. Then, when that worthless holy knight discovered me, I possessed him in order to resurrect myself. Yes, yes, I suppose you could say that relying on circumstance is a potential weak point in this process, but it worked out this time around. The proof’s in the pudding, as they say: Here I am!”

In the next instant, the boy shattered into a flock of chittering bats, which swarmed to our sides before reforming. Shin spun his spear idly as he spoke. “Myne, I’m not the person I was then. Come back with me. Look at you. Lust can barely even use her own weapon, and Greed’s only just made it to the Domain of E. None of you stand a chance against me.”

“Shin…”

“Or would you prefer to try your luck? You’ll understand how futile it is pretty quickly, I can tell you that.” He flashed his glare at me, grin unrelenting. Both his eyes struck me with a pure, scarlet red.

Gah! What the hell is this?!

It was a terrible power, like my own when Gluttony overtook me with its full starvation. Eris and I were both trapped in that scarlet gaze, unable to move, barely even able to breathe under its power.

“Oh, my,” said the boy. “I show a hint of real power and you two are frozen stiff! How totally pathetic.” Shin frowned at Eris and me. He looked sincerely disappointed, like a boy who had been so looking forward to playing a new game only to realize he was stuck with an old partner.

Myne raised her axe in the air. “You will open the Door to Distant Lands for me.”

“Ah, I see. So, you’re still looking for that. But…I do quite like that about you!”

“Shin!”

In an instant, Myne closed in on Shin, splitting him in half from top to bottom. It was so quick, I wasn’t even sure it had happened. The two halves of Shin collapsed into a flock of bats before he appeared again, some distance from us.

“The same as always, I see. Always battle-ready. Very well, I’ll take you where you want to go. Come along. We’ll have to make a stop or two on the way, but we’ll end up at the door you want, I assure you. Well, shall we, Myne?”

Shin once again burst into his bat form, and the enormous flock flew toward the east. Myne glanced at me, her usually expressionless face now etched with a touch of loneliness as her brow creased ever so slightly. A single bat flew around her head in circles as though impatiently urging her along.

I was still frozen, unable to say a word. I wanted to tell her not to go, but I couldn’t move my mouth. My arms and legs also refused to move. It was proof of the overwhelming difference between Shin’s power and my own. I hated it. Myne had saved me countless times, and now I couldn’t even speak. I couldn’t stand the humiliation.

“My…ne…” I strained to break free of Shin’s spell. With everything I had, I called out to her, my voice rasping as it tried to break free.

As I did, the bat flew over to me. “Well, I must say I’m impressed,” the bat said, clearly amazed. “I’m going to have to rethink my opinion of you, Gluttony. But she won’t stop. She wouldn’t, even if you prayed for it. Everybody has something to live for, and for Myne, it’s that door. Well, so long. Perhaps we’ll meet again!”

“Myne…don’t go… Don’t go!”

I couldn’t help feeling like this was the beginning of something terrible. Like it was a truly horrible move for her to dive into this situation on her own. I’d thought we were friends—partners. I knew I was weak, but I wanted her to rely on me. To trust that I would grow stronger.

Myne turned once more toward me. Her eyes glistened with tears. I’d never seen that expression on her face before. It wasn’t the face of someone who had lived an extraordinarily long length of time. It was a face that finally matched her appearance—that of a young girl.

“Thank you for everything, Fate. Being together with you was the first time in so, so long that…I could just have fun.”

“Myne!”

“Forgive me.”

Myne headed east together with the last remaining bat. It was only a few seconds and then…they had both vanished. The sky over the kingdom once again filled with clouds, and snow fell silently around us.

Even after Shin’s curse broke, Eris and I stood in place as though we were still petrified by its power. My friend was gone, and she’d left for reasons I never could have expected. I despised the powerlessness I’d felt in that moment. Was this how Lady Roxy had felt when I’d left her in Galia?

I cursed. “I’m so stupid…”

“Oh, so now you finally get it. But I guess that’s in character, when you think about it.” Greed’s voice echoed through my Telepathy skill, but despite his words, I noticed a soft kindness to his tone.

Eris walked over to us, awkward and unsure of what to do or say. “What are you going to do now, Fate?”

“I’m heading back to Barbatos Manor. Aaron must be worried about us.”

“You sure? You don’t want to go chasing after Myne?”

“If I left in the heat of the moment, the same thing would happen all over again. Besides, I have my duties here. As the head of the Barbatos family.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Make sure to stay warm. It’s gotten so cold today, we’re lucky we didn’t turn to ice.”

Everywhere around us, snow was beginning to pile on the debris of the Military District. The warning sirens that had rung incessantly fell silent. The battle that had brought the kingdom to its knees was over. The night was over too, as the sun crept up from the east. No matter what happened the night before, that always marked the start of a brand-new day.

So much had happened. Too much, in fact. My heart was racing, but all the same…it was time to go home. I realized suddenly that there was no better feeling than simply knowing I had a home to go back to.

Eris walked with me to the Holy Knight District. The battle had been waged across so much of the kingdom, and soldiers and holy knights rushed by us hurriedly.

“They’re not going to be using the Military District for quite some time, by the looks of it,” said Eris.

“You talk like it’s not your responsibility.”

“Well, it’s been under Envy’s control for forever. It just doesn’t feel very much like mine anymore.”

“That reminds me! What’s the story with that gunblade, anyway?”

In contrast to her usual elusive manner, Eris’s face became earnest. As she spoke, she rested her hand on the finely decorated sheath in which the gunblade rested. “As you surely gathered from our battle just now, Envy is my Weapon of Mortal Sin. But quite some time ago, we had a pretty big falling-out. It was only because of everything that happened in Galia that we reunited and made up. Now the weapon is back where it belongs.”

According to Eris, it all began when she and Envy had founded the kingdom of Seifort. After a few hundred years, they essentially broke up over a difference in moral values. As a result, Eris went wandering about on her own personal journey while Envy continued to rule the kingdom through its ability to possess bodies.

Shaken by Eris’s disappearance, Envy became obsessed with the idea of finding the perfect body to wield it. This was where the seeds for Envy’s scheme to create the human version of a crowned beast had been planted—a unique existence with its own unique title.

In order to see this plan to fruition, Envy had needed to stir enmity in the people of the kingdom from which to develop and grow the “hate” phenomenon. The weapon then waited for many long years as it fostered barely livable conditions for the general public under the oppression of the holy knights. When the hate from this treatment boiled to its limits, Envy attempted to kill the people’s last remaining ray of hope: Lady Roxy Hart.

However I looked at it, I couldn’t bring myself to just up and forgive the weapon. Even as the king of Seifort, there were limits to what could possibly be considered acceptable behavior. Envy had controlled the Divine Dragon, which meant that Envy was also responsible for the murder of Lady Roxy’s father—as well as for Lady Roxy’s own expedition to Galia.

My anger must have shown, because Eris looked at me apologetically. “I told Envy over and over again—what happened in Galia was its punishment for its oppression of the people of Seifort. Ideally, I’d break the weapon in half to make amends, but that’s impossible. The thing’s indestructible. What I can do is make sure it spends the rest of its time with me making up for its mistakes. After all, I was the one ignoring its little schemes.”

Eris went on to tell me that she had been late catching up with us when we arrived in Seifort because she’d been trying to reconcile with the weapon. She’d arrived in the city before us and met with the gunblade, which had been recovered by that point.

“Please,” I said, “I’m begging you. Be the ruler this kingdom deserves.”

“Oh, I will. It’s just…I get bored easily, you know?”

Just then, the two white-armored bodyguard knights ran up to Eris. They had a great number of things to report, and although at first she listened intently, after a time, she let out a yawn.

Is this really the person we should have on the throne? I sighed.

“I’m going to leave all that up to you guys,” said Eris. “Just don’t let me down, okay?”

“Understood!” said the two knights in unison. “We’ll get to it immediately, Your Highness!”

I had expected more detailed instructions, but instead, Eris just left it all to her knights. She really did get bored easily. But the two knights seemed happy as they left; it looked like they enjoyed the chance to prove their worth through real, meaningful work.

Well, as long as she’s making good use of the people underneath her, I guess.

“Those two have been responsible and trustworthy ever since they were little,” Eris said, reading the worry on my face but responding with a confident grin. “They’ll be fine. I mean, sometimes they’re actually too good at following orders, I think.”

I sensed immediately she was talking about their role under their old king, Envy. The weapon’s bid to create an all-new type of human had been a profoundly large-scale experiment that required a vast, deliberate effort to nurture hate over generations of oppressing the population. Lady Roxy, beloved by everyone, had been key to it all—and I’d broken the entire experiment by saving her.

“But…it’s my fault too,” said Eris. “We might find the idea laughable, but Envy was completely serious. He fully intended to find a replacement for me, even if he had to make it himself.” Her world-weary tone made it sound like the longer you lived, the more life became a mountain of mistakes. “That’s why I want to make this kingdom more hospitable—more worth living in—for everyone.”

“Can I trust you?”

“Of course. In fact, I’ll make today a day where everyone can eat as many sweets as they like!”

“Uh…what? Why even do that?”

“Because eating sweets makes people happy.”

“In a mere two sentences, you’ve completely destroyed my faith in the future of this kingdom.”

“What?! But it’s a fantastic idea!”

How does she not get this? Although I supposed sweets really would make things more bearable. More importantly, her two white knights seemed genuinely reliable.

As I grappled Eris off me, we made our way to Barbatos Manor, where a large number of people had gathered. I spotted Aaron, the barkeep from my local tavern, and all the servants of Hart Manor. Then I noticed a girl among them. She walked toward me confidently, her golden hair swaying in the wind. She was exactly as I remembered her. “Lady Roxy…”

Eris seemed to sense what was coming and released me, and she waited at a slight distance.

I didn’t know what to say as Roxy and I walked toward one another, but I couldn’t stop myself. Was she sad? Was she angry? What would she have to say to me? A maelstrom of thoughts stormed in my head as we stood in front of one another, looking into each other’s eyes.

I knew I had to say something… I opened my mouth to speak, and in that instant, her face filled with a smile so lovely, it left me completely mesmerized.

“Welcome home, Fate,” she said, her three words washing away all my worries.

“Lady Roxy…”

Lady Roxy shook her head. “No, no, that won’t do at all. You’re a holy knight now, and the head of the Barbatos family, no less. You don’t need to use ‘lady’ anymore.”

She was right. I was no longer a gatekeeper, nor was I a servant to the Hart family. I wasn’t the secretive adventurer Corpse either. I was a holy knight, just like she was. I was in her debt no longer, and I wanted to hold my head high, like Greed was always telling me to.

“Roxy, I’m sorry…that I never told you. I kept so much from you, and I caused you so much trouble…”

“I’m not looking for an apology, Fate. You’ve always fought for the people important to you. It saddened me to learn of what happened to Hado Vlerick, but I too shoulder some responsibility for that outcome…”

“That’s not true! It was my selfishness…and it was because…”

I couldn’t say more, because Roxy had wrapped me in a hug. “We’re human, Fate, and we make mistakes. Not just you, but me too. I lost troops in Galia. My own soldiers. Each one broke my heart, and I wondered if I could have done things differently to save them. But life is too difficult, too heavy, if we only ever focus on our regrets. I can see it in your face, Fate. You bear that weight now, and it’s crushing you,”

Roxy let go of me for a moment to look me in the eyes. “So let me say it one more time. Welcome home, Fate.”

Tears welled in my eyes, and they fell down my face. These words, and these feelings, were ones I wanted to speak from the bottom of my heart, because it had taken me much too long to get here. “I’m glad to be home, Roxy.”

“And you’ll always have a home here, Fate.”

If only I’d been able to open my heart to Roxy earlier. Even so, Roxy had accepted everything I was. I would make mistakes in the future, but mistakes were proof of my humanity, and so I would carry them with me.

“Um… Are we done here yet, or what?”

Eris’s voice cut through the air and brought me back to my senses. How long had Roxy and I been gawping at one another? When I looked around, I saw Aaron, the barkeep, and all the Hart family servants staring at us in anticipation of what would happen next.

We’d been completely lost in our own little world, but now I saw Roxy’s face turning red, and I felt mine doing the same. At the same time, there was something nice about that shy embarrassment, as though my wandering heart had found a place to rest.