83 – S2. A Curse To The Stars -5
*
The first thing to take care of was Tarada. She thought Venet was dead. It made my heart ache to see her hugging his severed arm and staring blankly for a long time.
I needed to clear up the misunderstanding and confirm that Venet and Niole were alive.
I would directly connect the past and the future. Since the Outer God was a being that distorted time and space in the setting, there was no need to worry about setting collapse. I planned to have them reflect each other and cooperate continuously through the glass window.
The Evil God, that scatterbrained fool, seemed to have caught on to my plan.
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The Evil God added all sorts of illusions to the glass window to interfere. Scenes of Venet and Niole cursing Tarada in hell, scenes of them kissing and getting married.
＞Setting Input: Terra, who loves humans too much, has prepared several human forms as her own incarnations, and she holds her own fashion show in front of the mirror. When she wears her chuunibyou fashion, she acts out a girl character with another self called “Guide of the Abyss and Darkness”.
I quickly suppressed it, but the Evil God’s wedge had already been driven in.
“…This is an illusion. This kind of trick is…”
Tarada bit her lip and shattered the glass window. She had a look of genuine hurt.
It seemed that she was trying to inflict mental damage on Tarada with this⋯⋯ and also interfere with my plan. She was trying to make Tarada believe that all the images reflected in the glass window were the Evil God’s tricks to make her despair, and that she couldn’t believe the fact that they were alive.
It was a clever trick, but not one that I couldn’t handle. Here⋯⋯ I’ll try to lighten the mood with a little gag. First, let’s calm her down.
I’ll raise the perceived temperature slightly to make her feel warm, and I’ll have to tweak the arrangement of the surrounding scenery a bit. In the part that hasn’t been caught in the field of vision yet, let’s put a single , out-of-place flower blooming between the cracks in the asphalt.
It will be a good contrast to the chaotic world and the gloomy scenery of corpses lying around. And let’s place the vanity mirror as if it had been abandoned. It would be a familiar object to a woman. Her gaze will be drawn to it.
I think it would be nice to add some decorations that would remind her of the good old days, so I brought the teacup resource that was used in Abraham’s mansion and toasted it to the rooftop master.
“Just break this roughly and put it in a trash bag. Make it so that even a cursory glance will tell you, ‘Oh, this is exactly the same as the teacup Abraham used,’ and leave it exposed like this.”
“Uh, yeah…!”
I made it and put it in.
Wasn’t the place where the journey first began, and the place where I first met Abraham, also a recycling center? Yes, then let’s put a streetlight next to it. Okay, not bad.
Now for the other side⋯⋯ It’s time to guide Venet and Niole. Venet, who had a lot of guts and was mentally stable, and had been a black magician, was still in good spirits. Let’s raise the atmosphere on this side so that Tarada, who is in a gloomy mood, will be affected by the waterfall effect.
100 years in the future.
From Venet and Niole’s point of view, it would feel like they had just fallen into the wilderness. I needed to let them know that this was 100 years in the future. In fact, it was quite simple. Just put similar buildings in similar places and make them a little old.
And I’ll put in some traces and hints here and there for Niole to catch.
I thought it was a wilderness, but when I looked closely, there were traces of people. From the circumstances, it seemed that people were still living on the land after the Evil God had descended and caused a mess──! It felt like this , more peaceful than I had thought.
I made sure there were no traces of threatening monsters around, and I erased all traces of mutants walking around. I also moved all the dangerous enemies to that snowy mountain with location transfer. Relax and relieve the tension.
Let’s mix in some traces of animal husbandry. It wouldn’t be bad for the atmosphere to add some slightly strange objects. So let’s make it panties.
I scattered panties in front of Venet’s path.
“…I don’t understand your train of thought.”
“Rooftop Master doesn’t have time to chat. I’m cutting this and this, and this too. I don’t know if I’ll use it or not, but this too.”
“Ughhhhh…!”
I gave the rooftop master, who was interfering for no reason, an infinite amount of work. Venet saw the handmade panties made of wool and deduced the following facts: 1) They must be raising sheep. 2) They must be able to collect wool and make clothes out of it.
And here, the decisive blow to raise the atmosphere.
“Oh.”
“…What?”
“Let’s make a statue to commemorate Venet, Tarada, and Niole.”
“…??”
“I’m telling you to cut it.”
The rooftop master sweated profusely and carved the statue with a chisel.
—- —-Niore deduced from the surrounding terrain, geography, and the forms of the remaining buildings that this place was about 100 years in the future. The soft, gentle soil had become crumbly, and the traces of civilization had been half-erased, but… it was not as serious as she had thought.
She had expected a hell created by monsters torturing and killing everything that had been swallowed by the void. But it was not so.
Had the evil gods retreated in the future?
There were traces of humans. The fact that they had survived and maintained their species’ life even in the place where the fearsome beings had descended gave her a strange feeling.
Niore had her abdomen wrapped in cloth. Originally, it was a serious injury that could not be treated with just that, but perhaps the power remaining in the goddess’s crystal had given it a healing effect at the end.
The wound had not disappeared, but she was able to move around after some simple first aid.
In the future 100 years later, the power of the evil gods did not reach, and the whispers were no longer heard. That alone made Niobe feel much better. She looked around slowly and said,
[Has humanity… not been destroyed?]
“It seems they have survived. Some of the buildings are still in use… Hmm?”
Venet picked up a piece of cloth rolling around on the broken asphalt floor. When he unfolded the crumpled part to see its shape, it looked like women’s underwear. It was made within 10 years.
In addition, the faint smell of detergent tickled Venet’s sensitive senses. Presumably, it had not been washed for a long time.
[There must be a place where people live, not far from here….]
“Don’t let your guard down. There is a possibility that it is a monster that leaves traces similar to humans.”
Although they had finished first aid, Venet’s arm was cut off, and Niobe had a hole in her abdomen. Even if they were in perfect condition, they needed to be vigilant. They had to be even more careful because they were injured.
Niore looked around carefully and wrote on Venet’s broad back with her finger.
[However, there are no traces of violence…]
“…………”
They proceeded cautiously.
The cult weather was nice, and the blue sky with the sun shining felt refreshing. Even though they had been blown away by the leader’s last magic and had fallen into a serious situation, the sky was so blue that it was savage.
It was a funny assumption, but she wondered what would have happened if Tara had been involved.
Then, they finally met a mirror. The glass window of the showcase that had somehow managed to maintain its shape until now. The reflected image flickered violently, and when they noticed it, it was reflecting a completely different image.
“…………”
Was a monster going to pop out of the glass window? Venet and Niobe stared at the glass window with great tension. Beyond it, none other than the past was reflected. A pitch-black city with starlight looking down and laughing. Crawling monsters.
[…The past is shown, is it an illusion?]
“I can see it too. It is likely an illusion… That is?”
[Tara?]
In the far distance of the glass window, Tara was reflected, covered in blood, slaughtering the fanatics. She was wielding a thorny vine that she had never seen before in her life, but judging from her characteristic outfit and the magic sword in her hand , it was Tara.
Her expression was distorted with terrible pain and regret. Venet frowned without realizing it. That kind of expression didn’t suit her.
[Wait a minute, Venet. Over there.]
Venet, who had been concentrating on the image reflected in the glass window, turned his head when Niobe urgently patted his shoulder.
“…What, is it. That is.”
A strange phenomenon was literally happening there. A buzzing noise occurred in the next building, and the large crack that had been there until just now disappeared. Flowers bloomed, and broken glass was restored.
The decisive clue to the unknown phenomenon was obtained the next moment.
The moment Tara on the other side of the glass window threw her magic sword and nailed a fanatic to the outer wall of the building. A wound like a sword had been stabbed into the outer wall of the same building.
“…Is the future being changed in real time by what happened in the past?”
[Did the changes, such as the cracks disappearing, happen because Tara killed the fanatics? If so, we need to tell Tara this fact.]
“If we can see each other from over there, we might be able to communicate. The medium of this phenomenon seems to be the glass window, so let’s find a glass window near her.”
Venet and Niobe ran. It was just a strange intuition, but if they used this phenomenon well. Maybe… they might be able to do something.
After wandering around the city, they were able to meet Tara at an old dressing table.As Tara turned the corner, having dispatched another zealot, an incongruous bloom caught her eye. An unknown white flower swayed in the breeze.
“……”
Her gaze shifted to explore her next quarry, and she noticed a trash bag half-sprawled against a wall. A shattered teacup gleamed from within. It was the same one Abraham had used to drink his cocoa. Was it the same brand?
Finally, her eyes fell upon an abandoned vanity. Her reflection in the mirror made Tara scowl. It was too late to turn away. She had already met their gaze.
Again.
Another f*cking hallucination.
Bennett and Niobe stared at her from beyond the vanity. Tara’s fists clenched. What bitter words would they spew this time? What new way would they find to torment her mind?
She should just smash the glass before they could speak.
But as she considered it, Tara found herself hesitating. She wanted to look upon their faces, hear their voices, just one more time. Even if all the apparitions ever uttered were barbs, she wanted to see.
This time, however, was different.
-Tara, can you hear us? We’re alive. It seems that… due to circumstances, we were caught in the cult leader’s final spell and sent a hundred years into the future.
“……”
Bennett spoke calmly from beyond the mirror. The sight of his severed arm stabbed Tara in the chest.
It seemed the fiend’s illusions were growing more adept at tormenting her mind. Giving her hope that they were alive, only to dash it all the more painfully.
“Don’t lie. You f*cking… gods. I know you’re illusions.”
-………..
“Go away. Just go away. Please. Even if you’re just reflections in a mirror, I don’t want to shatter the sight of you…!”
Bennett looked momentarily taken aback, then conferred with Niobe beside him. Niobe considered thoughtfully. There was a detail to all this behavior and dialogue that had not been there before.
Tara had to steel herself. Lest she find herself cherishing the hope that perhaps they were not illusions. That they were truly alive. She had to deny it, erase it.
If she allowed herself to believe, then surely… just as the dream of her family had been shown to her by the mad sorcerer… these apparitions too would vanish like laughing mirages.
-It seems… you’ve seen illusions before. Are you in a position to discern whether or not we are real?
“……”
-If so, there is no way for us to prove it from this side. All we can do is ask you to believe… hm?
Niobe started to reach around Bennett’s back, then paused as she caught Tara’s eye. She picked up a flat piece of board from the ground and used her magic to write upon it. Tara could read it.
[How about you say something an illusion would never say?]
-What do you mean?
[The fiend would have shown you illusions to break your spirit. The content of those would have been words that mercilessly prodded at the darkness in your heart… So, the complete opposite. How about a compliment?]
“……”
The conversation was taking a strange turn. Never before had any of the fiend’s illusions said anything like that.
-Hmm… Tara, you have a strong punch. Of course, there are areas for improvement, but considering you’re not a vanguard, it’s quite good. Why do you hit like that, Niobe?
[You said to compliment her.]
-Then show me how it’s done.
[Hmm… Well, Tara… has a nice figure! I mean, the sideboob that shows through the holes in her clothes is, um, as lovely as water droplets. Mine are just uselessly large, so I’m envious of Tara’s shapely breasts…]
-…..Wouldn’t that be s*xual harassment if I said that?
“……”
Seriously?
And wasn’t that more like… a backhanded compliment?
Tara was starting to get confused. If this was an illusion shown to her by the fiend, it was so subtly crafted that she felt her conscience slipping.
-Um, well… The side slits in your outfit are definitely excessive. It didn’t seem like you were enjoying the attention you were getting last time, so wouldn’t it be better to dress more modestly?
[You said to compliment her.]
-………..Well, um. Tara, you… um. You have a big… butt.
[You said to compliment her. Not s*xually harassing her.]
-What do you want me to do…?!
[Just be honest about what you remember.]
It felt real.
Bennett, from beyond the mirror, groaned for a long moment like a youth who had wasted his youth on the dark arts, then finally managed to force out the words. If he remembered correctly, when Tara had kicked him…
-………..There was a beauty mark on the inside of your thigh. I thought it suited you well. And──
“S-stop that! I get it, okay?!”Tara waved her hands frantically, applying the emergency brake. For once, her face was flushed red with shame, not anger.
Tara fanned herself vigorously to cool the heat on her face that felt like it was about to explode, then dropped her shoulders. It didn’t seem like the devil could have played such a detailed prank.
It felt like the rope that had been strangling her neck had disappeared. Tara placed a hand on her chest, exhaling a sigh of relief in gratitude to fate. Then she smiled faintly.
“…You guys, you’re alive.”
-Were you worried?
“Yeah, a lot.”
-I’m sorry for making you worry. Can you forgive me?
Tara burst into laughter at his awkward apology. She was the one who had been fighting hard and had nothing to apologize for, so why was he asking for forgiveness?
Whether it was because she had laughed too hard or for some other reason, a tear formed in the corner of her eye. Tara wiped away the tear with her finger and stuck out her tongue.
“I’m not going to forgive you. You idiot.”
-⋯⋯⋯⋯.
Knock knock.
[Ahem. Tara, I’m sorry to interrupt, but we have a lot to discuss and do⋯⋯?]
And that was how their reunion ended.
Cool