It seems I was silently eating, but before I knew it, my true feelings were seemingly seen through.
I suspect this is not due to Kuuneru’s “Innate Differences,” but rather to the accumulated experience of a thousand years.
However, that description is not present in her Acquired Skill section.
Yet, it’s not entirely “quantified” either.
I reconfirm that Kunel Chronicle Shuls Regia Ingrid holds the undisputed highest record for “actual age” and answer her.
“Was it showing on my face? Sorry, I was just a little worried about my dad and mom.”
“—President, you should not meet your parents. It’s an ‘request,’ so please don’t meet them.”
Suddenly, she presented her second “request” card.
However, although we have a contract, I don’t necessarily have to obey everything Kuuneru says. I inform her that there are some requests that can be fulfilled and some that cannot.
“I think I should meet them. …My parents and I are ‘family’.”
“President. What do you intend to talk about when you meet that ‘family’? You will undoubtedly be asked about your sister Hitaki’s absence. Are you going to tell them everything, everything up to today, to the residents of this world? To parents who have never heard or felt ‘Demonic Poison’?”
“Still, I think I have an obligation to tell them about Hidaki…”
“I don’t think so. On the contrary, I believe there is an obligation to hide it. If you saw your daughter and son turn into ‘completely different beings’… your parents would be sad. Normally, absolutely they would.”
“My parents are not normal. They are very strong people.”
“However, I heard that they lost all their status, honor, and fortune by being tossed around by you and your sister… Are you sure they are strong enough not to be affected by meeting you now? Honestly, I think there is no one stronger than you anymore.”
I was being pushed back by the sudden drop in her tension and the speed of her barrage.
Completely different from a moment ago, she had the look of an old woman and was incredibly preachy.
Kuuneru throws a follow-up question at me, unable to answer immediately.
“President… do you know about Ragune Kaikuola’s mother?”
“R-Ragune’s mother? Rather, it’s on the level of ‘how do *you* know about her’… I thought I was the only one who knew about her. Even Sera, who was close to her, didn’t seem to know about Riel-kun.”
“I suspect that Ragune Kaikuola’s mother killed that Riel Kaikuola. After interviewing survivors from Shido Village at the time, many unnatural points were observed.”
Kuuneru answers immediately.
Presumably, the cautious Kuuneru thoroughly investigated the person named Ragune Kaikuola during the information gathering phase to defeat the “Foreigner” Hitaki.
That last battle started because that idiot Ragune killed me and the “Senate,” so it’s a natural investigation.
And, I’m gradually understanding what she wants to say.
“Ah… Just as Kuuneru is thinking, I am walking the same path as Ragune, and I have succeeded in “Affinity” once. Naturally, my parents and her mother also become similar. They are truly very similar.”
“My guess is that she is an extremely cold and rational person. Someone with the strength of heart to not mourn her child’s death, but rather to use that death to rise in the world—”
Kuuneru drones on.
She says it’s a guess, but in Kuuneru’s mind, it’s already a certainty.
That’s right.
My parents were cold people.
They were honest with their desires and very selfish.
The twisted education and neglect I received as a child proved it.
—More importantly, I discovered the truth that the kind parents in my memory were due to the influence of “Failed Magic.”
I have a premonition.
No, this is “precognition” now.
I figured this out a little while ago, with the magic “Dimension – Decisive Calculation (Prelude)” I used when I fought Seldra in this “Original World.”
—After a thousand years, the influence of “Failed Magic” on my father and mother is gone.
So, those kind parents are no longer anywhere to be found.
What remains are people who are just very strong, like Ragune’s mother.
Therefore, my parents, who escaped my and Hidaki’s clutches, were not in prison.
They skillfully used their connections, got bail through acquaintances, and even managed to cover up that scandal and return to the entertainment industry. They are likely fabricating impossible stories for the narrative of two people who are moving forward despite the misfortune of losing their children.
“—Aren’t those the kind of people they are? Would such people still wish for their children to be alive? No, would they even want to meet someone like ‘President’? What kind of faces would they make if they reunited?”
This is the same as Ragune’s mother.
They wouldn’t want to meet because it would interfere with their work.
They would likely wish I stayed dead.
No, that’s a problem before that…
Their son, who was supposed to be missing due to neglect, suddenly appears before them…
And he can read other people’s minds, see the future, and is like “Magic” itself…
It’s ridiculous.
They wouldn’t even believe he’s their child in the first place.
Even if they did believe it, they would feel nothing but fear.
Above all—
“Please, believe me. The President of this world, when summoned to our world, it is happiness for everyone to think he is already dead. Of course, it is also happiness for you, President. …I know I am saying something selfish now. But please, think about it for just a little. Even if you go to meet them now, you will only be sad.”
— The fact that I am already dead.
In this world, I am classified as a ghost, zombie, or something similar.
My body has become “such a thing,” and I recall the content of a certain “Deal with the World.”
It was a deal made when I and Hidaki first wandered into “Another World.”
The meaning of “Summon” was carefully explained to me by an Apostle.
At that point, Diplakla-san said that my sister and I were already “chosen special beings as saviors.” The content of that deal was the beginning of the Tale of Wandering Another World, the biggest deal in the story—
“Perhaps… you two have lost your lives in the ‘Original World’ forever. You can never return. Therefore, you are as good as dead. That is how the ‘World’ judges you.”
“We assume you cannot return. After all, the ‘Deal with the World’ when you were summoned—
The ‘Price’ for the Summon of Aikawa Hidaki was ‘the crisis of this star.’
The ‘Price’ for the Summon of Aikawa Uzunami was ‘that the Aikawa Siblings would permanently reside in this world.’
That’s what was decided. There were various candidates for the ‘Price,’ but we three discussed and decided.”
Without a “Price” of this magnitude, it would be impossible to create a “Connection” between two Worlds.
And since beings who pay such a “Price” to newly create a “Connection” are truly rare, I told the invaders at the “Senate” meeting that “they don’t come often.”
In any case, it’s undeniable that the proper Japanese person, Aikawa Uzunami, is dead.
If I were to choose to live with my parents in the “Original World,” it would invalidate the first and greatest “Deal with the World.”
I don’t know what form of “Curse” would befall those around me.
“Kuuneru’s advice is correct. It is truly, very correct. …But, please let me see them from a distance, at least. I’ll watch my parents from afar… and if their lives are going well, I’ll stop trying to meet them. At least until I’m sure that the ‘Curse’ I have is completely gone, meeting ‘living family’ is dangerous…”
“—!! Th-That sounds good!! …Oh, heh. Ah, I’m so glad. I’m so happy that President chose ‘our world’—!!”
—Chose.
Kuuneru expressed it that way, and I thought it was true.
And I understood that Kuuneru wanted to come to the “Original World” with me more than anyone else, in order to make me say this.
In order for me to prioritize “Another World” over the “Original World.”
“Wow, that’s really great, great! As expected, President is on our side—!”
Kuuneru, having accomplished what no one else could, rejoiced with a sigh of relief.
“You threatened me halfway with the word ‘request’… If I break the contract here, I don’t know what Kuuneru, who holds the real power in the ‘North-South Allied Nations,’ might do to me.”
“Does that mean… you are genuinely worried about our world? I understand that. Heh heh heh.”
“Of course I’m worried…”
I couldn’t just leave it.
That had always been ” a different world where I met Rustiara.”
However, after that last battle, it has now become “the world where I live with Rustiara.”
“—Phew! I ate, I ate—!”
Having said that, Kuuneru rubbed her full stomach.
The dishes spread across the table had been completely devoured.
We got up from our seats, paid at the counter, and left the family restaurant.
My body, accustomed to the air-conditioned space, stiffened slightly upon contact with the cool, natural air.
Kuuneru next to me rubbed her hands together, blew warm breath from her mouth, and made a suggestion.
The cold, blade-like atmosphere from just moments ago was completely gone.
“Now then! It’s cold, so let’s go to the next place quickly! Next is a clothing store! I like clothing stores!”
“Haa… For our first clothing store, perhaps a department store would be good. I hope there’s one nearby…”
I took out my smartphone and started searching for stores.
I found a large shopping mall run by a nationwide group nearby.
According to my search, we could see clothes from multiple brands here.
Kuuneru beside me peered at it with interest.
She nodded “I see—” happily when I told her that I could understand the geography of an unknown land like this, even without “Dimension.”
Then, she hugged my arm and pulled me along to move.
“Well then, let’s go, let’s go—”
As I was being pulled along, I continued the conversation.
“…Kuuneru, you’ve changed a bit. Compared to before, you’re so pushy.”
When I met Kuuneru again, even with the Demon King Titty beside her, she was truly hesitant. I pointed out that while she always tried her best to get away from me, now it was the opposite.
This is retribution for Kuuneru’s cold “request” earlier.
I, too, with no hesitation, intend to treat her as a “Thief of Principles” and question her.
“Is it because my ‘Curse’ of [My Most Beloved Will Die] is gone?”
“—”
Kuuneru stopped walking.
Thinking back on it, she was paying attention to Hidaki and Tiara at that time.
She was always signaling to ‘someone’ that she was trying to avoid doing anything extra, asking to be overlooked.
“Did you know about the ‘Threads’? Like Ragune?”
Although seemingly omnipotent and invincible, the “Threads” are not without their weaknesses.
They can sometimes be easily detected by strong “People.”
Kuuneru, who was asked, froze.
Then, she gradually relaxed her body and, while starting to walk slowly, confessed.
“—Yes. At that point, I understood, albeit faintly, the danger posed by Tiara-sama and the others.”
“When I used “Distance Mute” to see your memories, you guided me well. Looking back now, wasn’t that really walking a tightrope?”
“No, I didn’t intend to walk a tightrope. I knew your personality well, so I was confident that if I said it beforehand, you would absolutely not look at my private life except for things related to vampires.”
I felt a pang of regret at the word “confidence.”
It’s a story that makes me keenly aware that even broken magic depends on the user.
At that time, I had mastered many magics and was quite confident… but for people like Ragune and Kuuneru, I was full of openings.
“Um, um… President, are you perhaps quite angry?”
“I’m not angry. I just think Kuuneru’s crisis management skills are truly amazing, and I want to learn from them—”
“No, no! I’m not hiding anything from you anymore—!? Please believe me! Truly, I have nothing to hide now! That’s why I’m being so openly clingy! Even if it means you’ll read all my thoughts! ”
Kuuneru clung to me, making physical contact, and reconfirmed her willingness to let me read her memories with “Distance Mute.”
In the end, for some reason, she finally—
“—President, I will confess! To be honest, I am aiming for the position occupied by Rustiara Fuziaze!”
Kuuneru’s landmine, which she hadn’t intended to dig up, was revealed to me by her own hand.
Only Kuuneru could say this so boldly now.
Unlike other companions like Dia and Maria, she only knew of Rustiara through information and never came to like her.
“Kuuneru, there is no ‘Substitute’ for Rustiara. For the sake of ‘Proof’ and ‘Curse,’ she absolutely must not be here anymore. Even if there were, it would be—”
“Yes, it would be you yourself.”
Kuuneru seemed to realize it.
For the past two months, I have been doing what “Rustiara wanted to do” in her place.
No, all my companions have noticed, and someone among them must have told me.
The reason everyone’s gaze towards me lately has been gentle, warm, and somewhat sympathetic is this.
“However, how should I put it… While Rustiara-sama’s lover position is irreplaceable, her partner position seems to be clearly vacant! And, I am aiming for that position! Furthermore, I don’t want to lose to that man Seldra in a contest for that position! In other words, my feelings are exactly the same as Snow-sama’s recently!!”
On impulse, Kuuneru declared things she didn’t need to say.
I gave a wry smile and repeated one of the names mentioned.
“Kuuneru, you’re strangely harsh on Seldra.”
“I’ll confess to that too. …The reason I suspect Seldra in various ways is because I heard something from the recovered head of the Siddharuku family. The reason that Glen Walker didn’t accompany us in escaping the ‘Blood Land’ was very simply… he genuinely detested Seldra Queenfilion.”
My pulse quickened slightly.
Indeed, the more I knew of Glen’s gentle and kind nature, the more I couldn’t dismiss the assessment that he “genuinely detested” him.
“Seldra is, if you were to classify good or evil, evil! Absolutely, a bad person!”
Then Kuuneru took a step back and pointed her index finger at me.
“A bad person… Aren’t you a bad person?”
“N-No, please set me aside for now…”
Kuuneru’s eyes darted away when asked about herself.
Since she is aware of the various misdeeds she has done behind the scenes, she can understand Seldra in the same way.
“That’s right… Among the ‘Thieves of Principles,’ Seldra was the worst. I know he has many good qualities, but that much is undeniable.”
I can evaluate him this way because I’ve come to understand the inner workings of all the “Thieves of Principles.”
Indeed, Seldra—
He was worse than Teeda, whose life was filled with betrayal.
He was worse than Rowen, whose life was filled with death.
He was worse than Fafnir, whose life was filled with madness.
Compared to even those three knights, he was still completely superior.
“Right!? That’s why I don’t want to lose to Seldra! Everyone knows that President is heartbroken right now and is slowly trying to heal! That’s precisely why—”
She pointed her finger at me again and declared.
“—I am taking this once-in-a-lifetime chance to prepare myself! To obtain the safest and easiest position in the ‘entire World,’ including both the ‘Original World’ and ‘Another World’! I am serious right now!!”
Kuuneru deliberately revealed her true intentions completely.
It’s not a lie.
In this honest “talks” that felt like a collision, I too became convinced.
She desires my power.
To be precise, the sense of security from the absolute power of the “Magic Stones” of Hidaki and Tiara.
However, realizing that it is impossible to steal it from me, she has shifted her focus to seeking my full protection.
In other words, Kuuneru alone forms a “Senate,” essentially ruling the countries of “Another World”… and yet she is still afraid. Afraid of the last “Thief of Principles” standing before her.
—Let me reassure you quickly.
It’s alright.
For that reason, I visited the “Original World” with Kuuneru before Dia, Maria, Snow, and Reaper.
