Chapter 344 : Side Story (14)

There was another tombstone next to Ametus’s.

It was slightly more fancy than Ametus’s.

It was because the owner of the tombstone was a member of the imperial family.

[Secundus Debius.]

[Second son of Great Emperor Continua.]

[The Debius among Debiuses.]

[A man who was more temerarious than anyone.]

“…….”

Nana jumped lightly while looking down at Secundus’s tombstone.

It was an inscription that made one’s heart gloomy no matter how many times one looked at it.

However, she was the Nine Streams General, and since she shouldered many responsibilities, she could not remain gloomy.

“Kid, I’ve been watching you.”

She looked at Somnia, the girl with amber-colored hair.

Her voice was threatening.

Shadi and Colombous felt anxiety.

“You were wandering all over the imperial palace while riding on Prince Colombous’s back.”

Nana clenched her fist tight.

Her fist strikes could easily pierce through even seven layers of iron plates.

On top of that, a fiery temper.

Now that she was managing Hobel Bay succeeding Niko, her temper had become even stronger.

Even Colombous had no choice but to turn pale.

If Nana Nereyades was angry, then not just Colombous, but even his father, Emperor Shion, would not be able to ignore it.

Shadi Shandor was just as anxious.

She was very close with Nana, but because of that, she knew that Nana distinguished strictly between public and private matters.

Amidst everyone being soaked in a sense of crisis, Somnia raised her voice.

“Oh!”

Somnia laughed aloud.

“It’s Ms. Nana!”

“……?”

“Nana Nereyades! Right!”

The girl shrieked as if she had seen a famous bard and dashed toward Nana.

Nana raised her fist for a moment.

However, since the opponent was a small girl, she could not bring herself to strike down.

Somnia circled around Nana and began observing her from various angles.

“Oh my god! It’s the real Ms. Nana! Nana Nereyades!”

“…What is this kid, really?”

“Me? I am a postman! I have letters for you too, Ms. Nana!”

Somnia lifted the large bag she was carrying.

Then she took out letters from it.

There were more of them than for others.

“Two whole letters!”

“…Just what is this situation?”

Nana made a reluctant face.

Because she was a child, she couldn’t come on strong.

It also meant that if the opponent hadn’t been a child, she would have smashed their skull right then and there.

“Read them quickly!”

“…Whew….”

Looking at the urging of Somnia, Nana eventually accepted one letter.

A small mutter saying, my temper has really died down too, was a bonus.

She opened the letter with her scarred and slender hands.

And soon, she had no choice but to open her two eyes wide.

[To Nana.]

[Thank you for taking good care of Mother.]

The two hands holding the letter trembled.

Nana guessed the person who sent the letter with just these two sentences, and remembered that he was already dead.

Countless questions hovered for a moment.

How can a dead person send a letter? No, how did he know I am at Hobel Bay with Her Highness Marina Debius? It’s a lie, it has to be a lie. But I wish it wasn’t a lie….

The bewilderment and questions made her continue reading the letter.

[I heard there are financial difficulties these days.]

[There are hidden assets of the Debius family.]

[Only Grandfather Deballo and I know; even Mother didn’t know. Go take some and use it. Share some with Kateka too.]

[The location is…….]

Following that, the location of the hidden assets and the method to access them were written in detail.

Nana thought this letter was a preposterous lie.

However, unlike her thoughts, every single sentence pulled strongly at her heart.

If she followed her reason, she should have torn this letter to shreds right now.

And she should have grabbed that shameless girl and thrown her in prison, but she couldn’t do that.

Without realizing it, Nana read the letter to the final sentence in an instant, and soon had no choice but to hug it preciously.

[By the way, did you have a delicious meal?]

[From Secundus.]

“…….”

Embracing the letter, Nana fell into deep thought for a moment.

This letter cannot be real.

It came from a dead person, and it is even full of contents that a dead person could not know.

However, she wished it was real.

It was because it was filled only with words that she herself hadn’t known she wanted to hear.

Nana hadn’t known until now that she needed this kind of comfort.

“Aren’t you glaring too much?”

“…….”

Even at Somnia’s words, Nana’s gaze did not soften.

Even though the scars covering half her face had faded a lot, her spirit didn’t go anywhere.

The gaze was even vicious.

Somnia smiled and held out another letter.

“Here. Take this one too.”

“…Fine. Let’s see what it says this time.”

Nana glared at Somnia and took the letter.

“…How crude….”

It is closer to a note than a letter.

It looks like thick paper was torn roughly and words were scrawled on it hastily.

“…….”

There is no sender and no receiver.

There are only seven characters written.

However, the salty smell was thick on this scrap of paper.

It was soaking up the smell of the sea.

[I am proud of you.]

A note full of the scent of the sea.

Nana realized that this came from the Whale of Hobel Bay, Niko Nereyades, and ended up sighing.

“…Grandfather.”

***

“Working is truly rewarding.”

Somnia made a gesture of wiping off sweat.

Both Shadi and Nana had already left.

The boy and the girl were also moving, leaving the park where the stone monuments were.

Somnia still smiles innocently.

“Right, Colombous?”

“…You. I have to ask now.”

Colombous made Somnia stop.

Because several people appeared and disappeared so instantly, he didn’t have the spare moment to do so.

But now, he couldn’t delay it any longer.

Colombous asked in a low voice.

“Somnia, what are you?”

“I told you, I’m a postman.”

She held up the large bag.

Before he knew it, there were not many letters left in that bag.

“Here. You deliver these, Colombous. There are so many. Four people sent them.”

“…I asked what you are!”

“Just take the letters first! I have to go now!”

At Somnia’s appearance of getting angry instead, Colombous unwittingly accepted the pile of letters.

There were 4 letters, and they were all sent to one person.

He couldn’t understand why he couldn’t straighten his shoulders in front of Somnia.

“Then I’ve passed on all the assigned letters… Now this is the last one.”

Somnia adjusted the empty bag she was carrying and put her hand into her bosom.

And then she took out a small letter and a single flower.

“Give this to Dad, Colombous.”

Colombous asked blankly.

“Dad…? My father, or your…?”

“Dummy. They are the same person.”

Somnia stuck out her tongue.

Colombous noticed that the flower in her hand was a Chyallo flower.

It is a flower that blooms very prettily in the West’s Bururade Peninsula, especially in Merion.

“You still don’t get it? My dad is your father!”

“……?”

“And, I am the older sister.”

She pushed even the last letter and the flower onto Colombous.

Then, without even a moment to stop her, she ran off toward the other side of the hallway.

Watching the girl getting farther away, Colombous raised his voice.

“Somnia!”

“I am not Somnia!”

Colombous wanted to shout don’t go, but he couldn’t even do that.

The girl laughed aloud as she sprinted.

“Actually, that name was a lie too!”

“…Then, the name! Your real name…!”

“Ask Dad.”

The sound of laughter gets farther away.

The girl also gets farther away.

She would likely become invisible for a while again.

“Let’s meet again someday, my brother.”

The scent of the Chyallo flower was faint.

***

Amidst the faint scent of the Chyallo flower, Colombous stood still for a long time.

It felt as if he had dreamed a daydream.

The girl named Somnia was vaguely pretty like that, and she became invisible fleetingly like that.

“…….”

Soon, dark clouds began to gather.

A thundering roar sounded, and soon an old man descended from the sky.

A magical brilliance flashing behind his head.

Six center points, a Six-Origin Halo.

“Your Highness!”

The six-star mage, Hermai Merhes.

“Are you alright, Prince Colombous-!!”

“…Grand Dean Hermai.”

“Something bizarre, something very bizarre was messing up the imperial palace. It was hovering by Your Highness’s side until just now too!”

The old man strung out his words in anger.

Even though a bizarre existence was disturbing the imperial palace, he couldn’t do anything.

As a six-star mage, it was a very pride-damaging event.

“I kept trying to approach Your Highness, but strangely I couldn’t approach …What is this?”

“Letters.”

Colombous held out the pile of letters he had received.

The 4 letters the girl handed over were directed at Hermai Merhes.

“Grand Dean Hermai. There are letters for you too.”

“…Letters, you say?”

Hermai accepted them without hiding his displeasure and bewilderment.

These were also too small to be called letters, just scraps of paper.

While feeling suspicious, he carefully opened one up.

[I was stupid.]

[I miss you, Hermai.]

[Ma-aya.]

“This handwriting…!?”

Hermai was startled and his hands trembled.

Ma-aya?

Isn’t she the colleague who was with him for 400 years?

At one time Karkarsso, at one time Belrsasal, but who eventually lost her life in the West!

Furthermore, when they were young, she was no different from a childhood friend, and truly at one time, she was a lover more precious than anyone…….

“…It’s Ma-aya. It’s really Ma-aya’s handwriting.”

He swallowed dry saliva.

“Then the others too….”

Hermai opened the three notes in succession.

[You’re doing well.]

[As expected, among humans, you are the best.]

[From Kerenneus.]

[Living is bearable on this side too.]

[Although it is a bit painful since there are many prices we have to pay. Live kindly and then come.]

[Deballo.]

[The wine on this side isn’t bad either.]

[I’ll prepare good things and wait.]

[From Continua.]

Letters came to Hermai.

From Ma-aya, from Kerenneus and Deballo and Continua.

Even though they were all people who had died and disappeared, letters ended up coming from them.

He couldn’t understand it at all, but still, he ended up being convinced that these were real.

“…….”

He looked alternately at the 4 letters (closer to notes) held in his hand and the flower and letter remaining with Colombous.

“…That must be a letter too.”

“Yes, Grand Dean.”

“To whom is the letter going?”

“To the Imperial Father.”

“I see.”

Hermai looked at the flower held in Colombous’s hand.

The name of that flower, which could be recognized even by its faint scent, is….

“…It is a Chyallo flower.”

“It is a Chyallo flower.”

***

Shion was in the middle of working.

He was the Emperor, and because of that, he was busy every single day without a moment to open his eyes and nose.

Still, he was greatly grateful that he had enough leeway to welcome the son who visited him suddenly.

“What brings you all the way here, Colombous?”

“Imperial Father.”

“I told you to call me comfortably when we are by ourselves.”

Shion put down the golden crown he was wearing on his head for a moment.

The same went for the quill pen.

He looked at his son very happily.

“You brought something. Are you going to give it to me?”

“Yes.”

Colombous held out the letter and the flower.

“…….”

Shion fell into silence in an instant.

It was because he knew better than anyone that that flower was a Chyallo flower.

He was flustered by the scent of the Chyallo flower that suddenly blew into his life again, but he persuaded himself that it must be a coincidence.

And slowly, he read down the letter.

“………….”

Even after reading the entire letter, he was silent for a long time.

Colombous waited for Shion.

It was a mature attitude unlike an eleven-year-old.

“…Colombous.”

“Yes, Father.”

Shion slowly opened his mouth.

“Who asked you to deliver this letter?”

“…I don’t know either. She didn’t teach me her real name until the end. But her height was about this much….”

Colombous began to describe the girl while mixing in hand gestures.

“…Her hair was amber-colored. Even though she said she was Somnia, she said later that it was a fake name….”

“Somnia.”

Somnia means fantasy, or illusion in the Ancient Hotus language.

Shion recalled his old Ars ‘Fantasy Finger’.

“…It means fantasy. And if you say fantasy in the Bururade Peninsula language….”

Shion gently closed his eyes.

He thought he had shed all his tears in the past.

He also considered that there would be no reason to cry again.

But isn’t it strange; water drops formed between his gently closed eyes and soon began to flow down.

“…Poesia.”

Shion spoke toward his son.

“That child’s real name is Poesia.”

Poesia, Poesia.

My beautiful Chyallo flower.

My child, my daughter. My joy….

There is a lingering outcry. It acts as if it would swallow Shion again at any moment. ‘It’s them’. ‘They took her away’.

However, Shion cannot be swallowed.

Because he has reconciled with his whole life.

Because this reconciliation is irreversible.

“She is your older sister, Colombous.”

“…She said so. Did I really have an older sister?”

“Yes. You did. In a secretive time that no one knows… that even I had forgotten…. If it is alright, could you keep it a secret too?”

“Of course, Father.”

Colombous nodded his head without knowing the reason.

It was because Shion’s face, which he suddenly looked at, seemed too weary and sad.

He was mature unlike his age, and because he thought it would be better for his father to be happy rather than sad, he changed the subject.

“By the way. What was written in the letter?”

“The letter, you mean?”

Shion looked down at the letter.

Then he placed his index finger on his lips.

“Secret.”

He was like an innocent boy, and looked exactly like the amber-haired girl.

Though presumably, the girl resembled Shion.

“I don’t have many secrets like before but… wouldn’t a little bit of a secret be okay?”

***

Poesia’s letter was very short.

It was written like this in a child’s crooked handwriting.

[Good work, Dad.]

[From Poesia.]

Shion read that alone.

He didn’t show it to Serena either.

However, there was never a time he let it leave his bosom.

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