Episode 114
“The Voice”
It is said that the Cardinal exists in four forms in the world.
Among them, the powers of Amon, the most influential one.
The Voice is a force that significantly contributes to expanding Amon’s influence.
Although it can only be used by a ‘designated individual.’
With this, it sways many currents of the world.
The process of the Voice works like this.
One day, suddenly. Out of the blue, a particular voice resonates from the Inside, gently stirring the depths of that individual’s heart, little by little.
At first, the person who hears the voice only spills an opinion that has a subtle difference from what they intended.
Thus, most people consider the Voice as their own will, accepting it without rejection.
In reality, even if they follow the Voice initially, it feels no different from their original mindset, so they won’t even realize they are listening to it.
But here’s the catch: that ‘subtle difference.’
Over time, it grows wider.
Let me give you an example.
Let’s say an individual wants to bring A.
Their intention is simply to bring A, a straightforward task.
However, once the Voice intervenes, it subtly twists the path, leading them to bring a result similar to A, let’s call it A1.
Up to this point, it’s fine.
A1 also aligns well with the original intention.
No problems arise, and the result remains the same.
But as time passes, the influence of the Voice increases, and the path twists even more.
What started as differences like A1, A2, A3 eventually morphs into B1, B2, B3.
Before you know it, it spirals into Z100, Z99.
This causes thoughts and results completely different from the person’s original intent.
Lilians has been hearing the Voice for at least over 20 years.
Consequently, she becomes dependent on the visible values of the Voice, abandoning her own reasoning, leading to contradictions.
Lilians genuinely loves her daughter, Erica.
She would do anything for her, to the point that Erica is the most precious person in the world to her.
However… let’s take a moment to rewind the story.
There was an incident that served as the stepping stone for Erica’s acceptance into the Goddess Church. The hiding Bishop, Caliculea, in the Theater.
Who was the one that gave the ticket to go there?
It was none other than Erica’s biological mother, Lilian.
Is this a coincidence? One could argue it could be.
The ticket that Lilian conveniently obtained happened to be for the Theater where Caliculea was hiding, and once again, by ‘coincidence’, Caliculea knew Erica would arrive through the Scripture.
A perfectly crafted scenario indeed.
A plot that connects everything by sheer coincidence, the pinnacle of plausibility.
…There’s no way that’s true.
If it’s that kind of script, it’s better to burn it.
If it’s a script, it’s better to burn it.
Lilians, who had completely lost control to the voice, had been distorted and manipulated in her one-minded intention to help Erica.
The bishop, Caliculea, belongs to the Formist organization.
Knowing that Formist is one of the many factions led by Cardinal Amon makes it not too difficult to infer.
Unbeknownst to herself, Lilian was trying to push Erica toward death while aiding the Goddess Church.
But guess what?
I barged in and messed up the script.
Erica, who should have been incorporated into the Goddess Church, lost plausibility, and correcting this to fit tastes would require a lot more distortion and time.
Thus, Amon would have effectively stopped trying to incorporate Erica, and the Lilian who was needed for that purpose lost her functionality and was abandoned by Amon.
The voices she once heard no longer echoed.
It’s very likely that the fragments of the power she had scattered were reclaimed.
I don’t know how often the voice had been heard, but with several months already passed, Lilian began to notice the anomaly and displayed severe anxiety symptoms.
The support she’d relied on for so long had vanished, making it impossible for her to find her own way.
……
I know how to reach a method that can save her.
The key is whether Erica will accept this proposal.
Just like with Frikkanrisk, I could deceive Erica by claiming to know the future and presenting a suitable logic, but I won’t do that this time.
After possessing Vargan, I am in the stage of building a new relationship with Erica.
There’s something I want to check as a sort of interim inspection.
*
Vargan and Erica walked around a deserted lake shrouded in darkness. The reason for choosing this place was simple.
Erica didn’t want to go far away.
She currently lacked the energy and thought to engage in much conversation. She wanted to return inside and stay by her mother’s side.
Vargan read that emotion in Erica’s dark eyes. Her small mouth opened.
“…Where did you hear that?”
“It’s strange to think I wouldn’t know that my mother-in-law is ill.”
“Did someone from the Portlet Family tell you? I don’t know who, but it was unnecessary.”
Erica’s voice was faint to the point of sounding fragile.
Vargan and Erica didn’t look at each other, only gazing down the path around the lake.
Though Vargan had set the stage for conversation, he didn’t throw out any questions or topics like one carelessly tossing stones.
Instead, it was Erica, wanting to end the current situation, who pushed the questioning.
“If you summoned me, state your business. I don’t want to waste time.”
“Just sticking around without knowing the exact cause won’t improve things.”
Very few know about the ‘voice.’
Erica, too, was unaware of why her mother had become this way.
It would be frightening for her, given how kind and caring her mother had been to suddenly exhibit such abnormal symptoms.
Erica’s drooping gaze sharpened slightly as she glared at Vargan.
“Did you come here to mock me?”
“No. I wouldn’t do that.”
Vargan met Erica’s cold glare. Though cold, it wasn’t enough to freeze something.
Vargan immediately moved to ‘confirm’ how the narratives and emotions until now had formed a relationship.
“Erica. How much do you trust me?”
“What?”
“I think you didn’t hear me clearly, so I’ll say it again.”
No hesitations are made.
Using a direct tone, he struck right through the wall.
“I asked how much you trust the current me.”
“…How much do I trust you? Right now, that’s—”
“It’s just a word. I know you’re harboring negative feelings towards me due to past events. I won’t ask you to express it in specific figures. Just give me a rough idea….”
“—Schugenharz.”
Erica interrupted Vargan.
It was similar to when Vargan suddenly barged in earlier.
Instead of being directly angry, her emotions were masked in a stillness that felt almost sorrowful.
Erica’s words, tinged with a hint of moisture, were delivered with a sense of exhaustion.
“I’m leaving.”
Erica turned completely away until her face was out of sight.
Due to her mother’s situation, her emotions had become tender and prone to overflow, which now trickled down.
She wiped it away with the back of her hand as she tried to walk away.
No, she tried to walk away.
“You can’t leave.”
Vargan grabbed Erica’s hand, preventing her from turning back.
His hand, hardened from rigorous training, held firm.
Erica struggled to free her forcibly held hand, but perhaps due to not having eaten or slept recently, she lacked strength.
“Let go.”
“…….”
“Let go of me—!”
“I still haven’t heard your answer. I can’t let you go until I do.”
As if engaged in a tug-of-war, their struggle continued until Erica, lacking strength, brought it to a halt.
Exasperation washed over her, and she let her hand drop.
She then turned back to face Vargan, her previously crumbled eyes now sparking with resolve.
“Is that what you really want to hear?”
The anger that surged in Erica’s eyes was fueled by Vargan’s attitude and words.
But the foundation of that anger was the memory of the past.
Erica’s restrained rage was unleashed.
“Is that the only thing you want to hear, making me suffer like this—!”
Once the dam broke, Erica couldn’t hold back.
The thin wooden plank that had been keeping the flood of her emotions at bay could no longer hold.
“…Why? Do you want to relish seeing me suffer like before? Do you want to etch my pain and sorrow into your retinas again?”
“That’s not it, Erica.”
“Then what the hell are you doing—! You’re sharp, right? You know what I’m going through. So then… isn’t this wrong?”
As the sentence finished, Erica’s eyes trembled violently. A tiny, peculiar vibration.
“Can’t you just leave me alone while I’m struggling?”
“…….”
“If you’re at least my fiancé…. If there’s any shred of affection, be it negative or positive… please don’t throw stones at me while I’m bleeding.”
Her voice trembled as she spoke.
It had been four years since those words escaped Erica’s lips.
“I’m begging you. Vargan….”
The moment she finished, she managed to slip out of Vargan’s grip. Free once more, Erica quickly composed herself and walked toward the mansion.
Vargan silently watched her retreating figure.
Inside him, reason and emotion clashed as he recalled the reaction Erica had shown.
“…….”
For a moment, he needed a breather….
Just a little bit of time would be nice.
*
Returning to her mother’s room, Erica felt drained.
Her physical and emotional reserves were already empty, and Vargan had drawn every last bit out of her.
Now, it seemed even tears would not come.
The tear stains left on her pale cheeks had hardened.
In the dark, spacious room, only Erica and her mother remained. Just the two of them.
Her mother. The only one.
If there were tear marks on Erica’s face, her mother, who would have been startled awake and wiped them with a handkerchief, had yet to rise from her slumber.
As Erica looked at her mother’s closed eyes, a dry fear began to creep in.
All emotions had been exhausted, but the anxiety of her mother lingered, like an unexplainable chill making her body tremble.
She would prefer if her mother muttered anything like she did just moments ago, but now that too had stopped.
Could it be that she wouldn’t wake up at all?
Is she trying to flee into a dream to escape reality?
Erica was torn.
Should she wake her or leave her be?
Was her mother just temporarily at ease, or was she slipping away?
She couldn’t discern.
If she wakes her, would she only suffer again? Should she just let her be? Was there no other way to check? How could she calm her just a little…
Thoughts spiraled, but they were utterly pointless.
On the outside, Erica always dealt with people sharply and coldly, brimming with vigilance against the unfamiliar.
Yet inside, her heart was fragile and soft, made of sand that could crumble with the slightest touch.
The facade she’d built so firmly was all to hide her dull inner self.
Now, with her mother’s condition unusual, Erica’s thoughts lost their center.
…tap.
…tap tap. tap tap.
In the deepening night.
Erica, sprawled asleep beside Lilian, suddenly found her eyelids opening.
She didn’t even realize she had fallen asleep.
She thought, just opening her eyes means she must have woken up.
She hadn’t forgotten that the Schugenhartz family had come and that she was lost in thought beside her mother.
Checking the surrounding mana, it was still quite some time before morning. The sleep had felt like a drunken haze, but it wasn’t long.
⎯tap tap.
The knocking sound reached Erica’s ears again.
It didn’t seem to come from the door. It sounded like it was coming from outside the window.
Something like a bird’s beak was pecking away.
Erica turned her gaze towards the source of the sound.
There she spotted a yellow bird glowing brightly.
As if enchanted, she got up and moved toward the window.
From the outside, it seemed the same spell she had used when delivering her mother’s letters at the Academia.
Erica opened the window to check properly.
Through the gap, the yellow bird flew in and whirled around Erica.
This too was exactly the same.
Unless specifically designated, it wouldn’t perform such a motion.
After flying around, the bird soon perched on Erica’s shoulder, only to explode with a bang, scattering a flurry of stars.
The stars recombined into a letter envelope.
“……”
Holding the letter, Erica looked at her mother, who was sleeping in bed.
This couldn’t have been her mother’s magic.
Then what exactly….
Erica tore open the seal on the envelope and examined the contents.
What came out were crumpled papers that had clearly been torn in various directions.
A letter that had been reassembled from its ragged fragments.
From the handwriting to the texture, it was the same as that troublesome cat doll she had received from Vargan.
Erica skimmed through the content.
The magic of the yellow bird.
The texture of the paper within was the same as that.
「Erica. I know about the voice.」
In his unique handwriting was a completely different message.
