Chapter 230: The People of Rieralia…
Fia and Lea had stopped crying and shown smiles. Now they sat in a row on the sofa, Hiero, Fia, then Lea, all hugged together by Hiero. I sat on the sofa across from them, drank the tea Croana had poured, and watched the three of them with a smile. Croana could not leave her desk, probably because of paperwork, but she looked relieved watching Fia and Lea smile in a troubled way while being hugged by Hiero.
The reason Fia and Lea stopped crying was that Hiero told them their friend Rose’s existence had not completely vanished. The story Hiero explained, if I gave an honest impression, was flying off in all kinds of directions.
The clan of about two hundred called the People of Rieralia was one of the tribes that worshipped Lady Riera, and they had an advanced civilization. Their trait was that they could not use magic power. Instead they used a mysterious power different from magic power, so they were not inconvenienced. One more thing worth noting was that they were said to be a clan that had met Lady Riera in the past. Now even as wreckage or ruins the traces of the clan being there had vanished, so they could not show it, but there had been proof that Lady Riera had descended to the ground.
Every clan has people with extreme thoughts. The radicals plotted to get close to Lady Riera, and as a result the whole clan vanished from the ground. What the radicals did was try to sublimate themselves into an existence like Lady Riera. "They’re idiots~," Hiero said with an exasperated face and a sigh. By the time Hiero and the others noticed the radicals’ movement it was already too late. Their existences were sublimated and they lost their flesh.
Just erasing the flesh was no different from dying. The method the radicals took was using power to bind the clan’s existences to the star of Overworld. But a last-minute method done without experiments was never going to succeed. The place they were bound was inside some kind of sphere. Because they had no flesh, people and children with weak spirits could not keep their memories even if they were summoned by some chance.
Even if they were summoned they were on the ground so they had to use their own power, and if the power ran out they were sent back to the sphere. On top of that they could not leave the sphere by their own will. Fellows who tried to assign the sphere’s location failed and came back. This was a story from thousands of years ago. Even though they had become only spirits, there were more than a few who broke. Even if they broke they were shut in the sphere so there was nothing to be done, and with no flesh they could not even touch. All they could do was keep speaking words of comfort, Hiero said, laughing with a sad face. At the end she told Fia and Lea that Rose had been well, and that she had been well until Hiero was summoned again with Pafa.
"In the end, the correct thing is to physically destroy dangerous people like Fia and Lea. If you leave them because they’re dangerous but you want to watch, you get a tragedy like the People of Rieralia~"
"I agree with that violently."
"Destroying is my specialty."
"What kind of dangerous talk is that..."
I sighed at the three of them’s conversation and cut in. More than that, a sphere... something snagged. When I was exploring all kinds of places in free play I felt like I had seen a place like that. Where had the People of Rieralia lived in the first place? If I knew nearby ruins or dungeons I might remember. I folded my arms, rubbed my chin with one hand, and asked Hiero, who was rubbing her cheek against Fia’s head.
"Hiero, where did the clan live? It’s fine if you only know roughly. I want you to tell me."
"Well... I guess I can tell Raide. In a forest about ten days northeast from the Holy Kingdom of Kail."
"...That’s unexplored land, right?"
"That’s what they seem to call it~. What about it? Being a handful again?"
Don’t stick the nickname on my actions too. Honestly. Hiero turned toward me with Fia and Lea and laughed happily. I could only smile wryly. Setting that aside, ruins and dungeons in that position... two ruins. If I remembered right, one, the Degi Ruins, had a low difficulty, and the other, the Guri Ruins, was a high-difficulty puzzle ruin. I would not know unless I checked whether the ruin names matched Hiero’s memory...
"Have you heard of the Degi Ruins or the Guri Ruins?"
"...I’m surprised. How do you know. I was confident I wouldn’t be surprised by a little thing, but this actually surprises me."
"Fufu. Surprising even Hiero?"
"It really is Raide!"
Hiero looked at me with a surprised face. Fia and Lea laughed happily like they were used to it. I stopped folding my arms at their reactions and smiled wryly while rubbing the back of my neck with one hand. Hiero continued explaining. When the People of Rieralia still existed on the ground, investigation of the ruins was already underway. Hiero smiled in a troubled way and said there was nothing new. I respected that. They were called the People of Rieralia for a reason. The Degi Ruins being easy was fine, but the Guri Ruins’ puzzles were hard and getting down to the last floor, basement eleven, was rough. After all, there was a place there where you had to mutter that word "Tiburiera." At first none of the players noticed.
I looked at Hiero with respect and asked, "Was the word ’Tiburiera’ used a lot in the old days?" For an instant I felt Hiero’s body glow faintly. Hiero froze looking at me with her eyes wide, then sat back on the sofa and started looking at both hands turned toward herself. I tilted my head. Fia and Lea also looked at Hiero with puzzled faces. For a while Hiero opened and closed both hands, then lifted her face and said while looking at me blankly,
"My power... is recovering..."
"Hn...?"
"I mean my power is recovering. And what did you just say? I didn’t even understand it!?"
"Power? And you don’t know what I said... then how did you go down to basement eleven of the Guri Ruins?"
"Eh... isn’t that place only to basement ten? Aaaaah, geez! You really are a handful!!"
Hiero held her head with both hands, trembling, and started groaning, "Geez! Basement eleven? There? No way!?" No, if you just listen to the talk you’d think I cleared it... I wasn’t at fault for that just now, right? I wanted a little comfort and secretly beckoned Lea with one hand. She understood, smiled happily, and floated her body. Then she flew over and sat on my lap as if leaning her back against me. I wrapped both arms around her stomach and hugged her gently.
...Yes. That calms me down.
"Nishishi. Rare. You coming to me to be spoiled, Raide?"
"Looking at Hiero I only get a bad feeling... and I was just told I should spoil you all and rely on you."
"Fine, fine. Spoil me more! I’m happy being spoiled!"
Lea pressed her back against me hard along with her answer. I answered by tightening my hug a little. Fia looked at me and Lea and laughed in a troubled way, then turned to Hiero beside her and spoke while stroking her back. Um, Fia... I get that you’re calming Hiero, but "because it’s Raide" is a little off, isn’t it? After a while Hiero settled, let out a tired sigh, and said while giving me a dead-eyed look,
"Haaa. I knew there were words only Raide knew. Nobody would think they had an effect like this!"
"If this word can’t be used on Hiero, can Mirishu not use it either?"
"Uuun, probably~. Ancient writing is said to have been made by Lady Riera, so I think it has some meaning, but... do you get it?"
"No. I don’t. All I know is the letters and the pronunciation of ’Tiburiera.’"
I said that, took paper and a brush from my Magic Bag, and wrote the letters on the paper on the table over Lea. Fia was thoughtful and pointed one finger at the paper, floated it with magic, and passed it to Hiero. I smiled and thanked Fia. She smiled beautifully and said "It’s fine." Hiero took the paper, looked at the letters with a difficult face, and tilted her head. Maya and the others had said they could tell something was written but could not understand it... The letters had a shape close to words from my previous life, but I had not paid much attention because they were game words, so I had not researched them. I had not thought I would have a regret I did not want here. Wasn’t the real handful Lady Riera? ...I was too scared to say that out loud.
Hiero lifted her face from the paper, still looking difficult, pinched the paper with the fingers of one hand, waved it, and said,
"I don’t get it~. Something’s written, but I can’t understand it. It might be like Grize’s book."
"If I remember... only someone recognized by the book can read it?"
"Right, right. Same as that. Maybe only someone recognized can understand these letters and pronounce them..."
"...I don’t want to think about that."
"It’s a bit late!? Geez, geez~! When the handful is being a handful it’s terrible!"
Fia and Lea laughed happily looking at Hiero laughing in an exasperated way. From behind I could hear Croana laughing happily too. Hiero asked if she could keep the paper. I answered "No problem" and she put it in a pocket of her clothes. I thought we had spent quite a while in the principal’s office and tried to have Lea get off my lap. She refused. I tilted my head and peeked at Lea, who had only turned her face. She pointed small at the sofa across from us. I followed her fingertip with my eyes. Fia had a mischievous-child smile and both arms spread.
"My? You spoiled Lea, but you won’t spoil me?"
"...I’ll gladly let you spoil me."
"Raide, you mustn’t forget Croana either."
"Of course."
I felt Croana smiling wryly behind me and smiled in a troubled way. If they would let me be spoiled, I would gladly take those words. For the record, after I spoiled the three of them I properly tried spoiling Hiero too. She put on an embarrassed smile and said, "You handful..."
...Am I being that much of a handful?