Berserk of Gluttony (LN) - Volume 8 - Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

Memory Lane

EVEN THOUGH WE SOARED through the air at tremendous speed, the wind was surprisingly gentle as we stood on the deck of Libra’s airship. I wasn’t the only one to notice how strange it was, either.

“This airship…” Roxy said. “It’s so perplexing. I didn’t really notice it when we were talking with Libra earlier.”

“Probably because we’re used to ships that sail the seas.”

“Exactly. It seems there’s still so much we don’t know. So many mysteries and surprises.”

“Like you sprouting wings and soaring through the air.”

Roxy chuckled. Then she turned her gaze to Galia, floating on the horizon. “Well, the wings are thanks to Snow. That’s not due to any power of my own.”

Roxy’s wings were gone now. She couldn’t remain merged with Snow for long periods of time, so the two had separated before Roxy and I had come up here to the main deck of the Endeavor. Snow had elected not to follow us. She was much more interested in exploring the airship. Being that it was Libra’s ship, I didn’t think it was wise to go digging around and tried to stop her, but Snow was a free spirit. She couldn’t be repressed. In short, she had refused to listen and scampered off somewhere on her own.

“Are you worried about Snow?” asked Roxy, reading my mind.

“Yeah. I mean, you know what she’s like.”

Roxy giggled. “Energetic.”

“Reckless, too. She’s literally in enemy territory.”

“So are we.”

And yet here we were, casually hanging out on the main deck of Libra’s airship.

“Snow is strong. She can take care of herself,” said Roxy. “And we have a connection now. I’ll know the moment anything happens to her.”

A connection… Something the both of them feel, even when they’re apart…

It made me think of the connection Aaron and I had formed through my Gluttony. As I grew more powerful, so too did Aaron. Though Roxy and Snow’s bond was of a different sort, it resembled what Aaron and I shared. I could sense that he was well and in Seifort, so I knew the effects of the Door to Distant Lands hadn’t gotten out of hand in the royal capital yet. That link between Aaron and myself was the reason I could stay calm, but I wondered if Roxy was worried. Her mother and resurrected father were in Seifort, along with the family’s servants. Now that the Door to Distant Lands was open, long dead monsters were returning to life, and danger was everywhere. 

“Seifort will be fine,” Roxy said, noticing that I was looking in the direction opposite Galia. “My father is there, along with the white knights and Aaron. Have faith in them, Fate.”

“Roxy…”

“I’m getting a little nervous.” She smiled bashfully. “We’re heading to Galia, but it’s a floating continent now. I think that’s why I wanted a chance to talk to you, Fate. When I was young, my world was much smaller, and I was surrounded by those I liked. I was happy. But my whole world was just the Hart family estate. Everything changed the very instant it came to light that I was capable of Holy Sword Techniques.”

“You mean the holy knight skills?”

“Yes. My mother has no such skills, so my chances of inheriting them were fifty-fifty. My father was overjoyed to have an heiress, and I was sent to Seifort to train as a holy knight.”

When traveling, Roxy had never once slacked off training. It was all too easy to imagine that, even in the past, she had trained with an equally fierce determination.

“My father had very high hopes for me, but I was full of worry. I was in a place I didn’t know, and I didn’t fit in with the holy knights. I grew up in the countryside and didn’t know the ways of the royal capital. It was overwhelming. One day, I slipped away from an important party held at the castle.”

“That doesn’t sound like you.”

Roxy’s cheeks puffed as she pouted, and she flicked my nose. “Even I need to get away from it all sometimes, you know,” she said.

I understood that feeling—the need for fresh air, space, and time to yourself. Since I started visiting the castle with Aaron, I’d had a chance to see holy knight society with my own eyes, and it looked anything but enjoyable. Most holy knights came from old, established lineages and were vainglorious and proud. Bring up anything that infringed on their power or authority, and they would vote it down in an instant. And if you were as young as I was, they wouldn’t even lend you an ear in the first place. All I had to rely on was Eris, the queen, overriding their authority.

“Yeah, it’s not easy,” I said. “I can say that now that I’ve been there myself.”

“Right? But I need you there, leading the way to a new future! That’s why you have to apply yourself to your studies!”

“What?!”

Roxy looked satisfied by my reaction and turned her eyes to the sky above. “You haven’t changed one bit, you know that?” she said. “You always put your entire being into facing the problem in front of you. Though I must admit that it can be a little frightening watching you go about it. Your only flaw might be your forgetful nature.”

“Hmm? Wait… Did I forget something?”

“Like the fact that you and I actually met six years ago, you mean?”

“For real?!”

I didn’t remember that at all. Wait, but… There was something. There has to be. I can see it in the way Roxy’s looking at me. Remember, Fate! Remember! I put everything I had into combing my memories, but…

“You don’t remember a thing, do you? That’s so like you, Fate,” Roxy said, exasperated. “But then again, you would have had so much going on at the time. I suppose meeting me was just a small part of that whirlwind.”

“Roxy, that’s not—”

“When I slipped away from that important party, sad and dejected, it was you who encouraged me, Fate.”

Me?! How could I forget that?! Why couldn’t I remember it?

“That day, I wore an outfit sent to me by the people of our estate, so you mistook me for a castle servant.”

“Huh?”

Roxy’s words were like a key unlocking an old memory. I did remember a dejected girl sitting near the castle gates, and I did remember asking her what was wrong.

“Wait!” I said. “I didn’t mistake that girl for a servant. She told me that she was a servant!”

“Oh, that’s right,” said Roxy. “It seems you finally remember.”

The scene was coming back to me, though I couldn’t remember the servant girl’s face. I had never, ever imagined that she was, in fact, a holy knight. That’s why I never realized who the girl had been.

“I’m sorry I lied to you,” said Roxy.

“But why would you have to lie to me?” The answer hit me immediately. “Oh… I see…” 

“If I told you I was a holy knight, I would only have frightened you.”

“Yeah. I’d only just arrived at the royal capital. Holy knights terrified me.”

“Exactly. I couldn’t just come out and say I was one of them. And I was very troubled by the thought at the time, too.”

I thought back to when I sat down next to Roxy, all that time ago. I had a feeling I’d said some pretty bold, arrogant things.

“I was down in the dumps, Fay, but your words perked me up.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t say anything more considerate,” I said.

“Don’t be. Simply having someone by my side was more than enough. Your actions spoke for you, and much louder than words could ever have.”

I remembered talking about how we were both the same, because we’d both just arrived at the royal capital. Then, I’d asked Roxy about her hometown. She’d asked about me, too. Back then, I still thought of my Gluttony as a pointless skill that only made me hungry—and the reason I had been expelled from the village where I’d grown up. Roxy even gave me some food, too. I should have known that there was something strange about her. There was no way a new servant at the castle could get away with bringing me food.

“Some years after our first encounter, I found you again. I tried to talk to you when I found opportunities to do so, but you always ran away.”

“I’m sorry. Now I realize why you always looked at me the way you did.”

Roxy giggled. “I’m so glad I finally told you. I know others might see it as no big deal, but it’s a precious memory for me.” Roxy looked once more upon the floating continent of Galia. “The night we met, you told me how important your father was to you. Is he still important?”

“I…”

For a time, I said nothing, simply staring in the same direction as Roxy. I stared toward Galia, where my father waited for me.