The next people to enter the hospital room were Sarah and Albert.
Sarah wore an expression of concern, Albert one of quiet stoicism. With those two contrasting faces, they took seats at Ermes's side. After a brief silence—
It was Albert who spoke first.
"...I don't have the right words to say to you right now."
Just a touch—
Unexpected words.
"...Eh?"
"I don't have the right words for you, nor the convictions to back them up. Whatever you're struggling with, there's nothing someone like me could possibly do about it."
However, what he said next came from a place of genuine conviction.
This wasn't callousness. It was a choice—he understood all too well the weight of words spoken here, and that was precisely why he chose to say nothing.
"So just one thing."
And so, building on that—
"—Even if you're not here, I'll keep moving forward."
He didn't tell him to get up.
Rather—
Even if he didn't stand up—
That was fine.
—so he told him quietly.
"Even if you can't fight, I will. As a mage of the Third Princess's faction, I'll fight whoever it may be, I'll win, and I'll reclaim the Royal Capital just as we originally planned.
"What needs to be done... hasn't changed."
"..."
Such a thing shouldn't be so simple.
He had seen the enemy's overwhelming power enough times in the Secret Sanctuary to be sick of it, and Ermes understood his own tactical value perfectly.
Without him... realistically, facing that Chrono and the three executors was almost certainly impossible.
No—Albert himself must have known that all too well.
In truth, though his expression seemed composed, there was a slight tension in it. He fully grasped the difficulty of fighting on without Ermes, and he correctly felt the fear of it.
Even so... he declared those words not with bravado, but with resolve.
"Why...?"
"That's obvious."
Why could he say such a thing with such conviction?
That was the intent behind Ermes' question, and understanding its meaning fully, Albert...
"Because there is someone stronger than me. Because everyone around me looks like they can't win. Because the environment isn't one suited to my own abilities."
As if forcibly suppressing his heart, which trembled with fear.
He pressed his hand against his own chest as if trying to tear it open, and declared this.
"I just... don't want to turn away and stagnate for reasons like that ever again. That's all."
And his expression...
Though slightly distorted... it was still the image of a boy looking forward, with an unwavering will.
And in that expression, there was no negative energy. No brooding resentment.
Of the sullen boy he had met at the academy... there was no trace to be found, no matter where he looked.
"—"
A soft warmth drifted down onto Ermes's hands, which hung limply at his sides.
He looked up to find Sarah gazing at him — her gentle beauty framed by a look of earnest supplication, her eyes cast upward at him.
"Ermes... I feel the same way Albert does."
And then, she too spoke — her words forged from what she had seen in Ermes as he was now.
"Saying 'please stand up' — that's not something we're in a position to say. If you can't stand right now, then I think that's understandable. That kind of thing happens to everyone, after all..."
And then Sarah, with a depth of tender compassion he had never seen from her before, continued:
"We'll manage on our own, somehow. The two of us will find a way.
And when... when everything is over, we'll come back for you. We'll come to save you properly, the way you saved us. Everything you gave us — all the strength we borrowed from you — we'll make sure to return it all."
"..."
The two of them, as they spoke, possessed a kind of strength he had never witnessed before.
...It was something he himself was only now beginning to realize.
Unconsciously, he had believed they were people he needed to protect — people he had to guide. But the images of those two he had held in his mind were nowhere to be found.
In their place stood two people who simply had their age-appropriate years behind them — and, beyond what those years should have allowed, a quiet 'strength' they had somehow already earned on their own.
And in that moment, he understood.
Most likely, neither of them was speaking their whole, unvarnished truth. No — it was undoubtedly sincere, but perhaps only a part of the whole.
They surely must have wanted Ermes to recover and return. They were not like Niina — each of them carried a private, unspoken pride in this country, a line they would not allow themselves to cross, and to defend that they could not afford to flee this battle. For that to be possible, Ermes needed to be able to fight again by any means, and the desire for that certainly lived somewhere inside them.
And yet they had not said it. Surely because —
If they had told him, "We want you to stand" —
Then Ermes would have—
To do as they say —
he might end up.
Because there's a
possibility
of that, I suppose.
He was no longer merely a solitary soul walking his own path.
Through his experiences in the Royal Capital, through his encounters with so many people — he had developed a proper measure of human warmth, and surely an attachment to those close to him that exceeded what most people felt.
And so, if those people — if his loved ones were to ask him, regardless of what his own heart wanted, if they were to beseech him — then surely that would become reason enough for him to take up magic once more.
And then —
if he stood up
for such a reason —
Ermes would not be able to win the battles ahead, either.
They were saying this because they understood.
"..."
After that, neither Albert nor Sara said another word.
He had known this too. The only words that could reach Ermes now were straightforward, honest ones. Bound by that constraint in choosing what to say... this was the only thing the two of them could tell him that would truly help Ermes.
After the two of them had offered their final, heartfelt words of concern, they quietly left the sickroom.
...In the end, it all came back to square one.
For Ermes to stand up once more, to return to the battlefield —
he would need to find his own reason to rise, from within himself — after having witnessed so much horror, after being forced to confront the truth of magic that he had once believed in so purely.
And yet — all he could do was find a "reason" to face it all once more, having accepted both the pure and the corrupt.
…Because that reason remained utterly elusive. And yet here he was, in so much pain.
Ah. Truly —
"— It's a terrible story, isn't it?"
He raised his head.
There, gazing up at him with quiet eyes, was the girl who had slipped into the room in place of the other two.
"'I want you to fight again — for my sake.' With just that single sentence, you could have moved forward, because you're kind like that. But those two didn't do that. They stripped you of every reason tied to 'someone else's sake.' You, who once could only act for yourself — they forced you into a reason that was solely for yourself.
It's terribly, terribly cruel for you… but it's also the most correct thing possible."
She had most likely been listening from outside the room during their earlier conversation.
Having stated her thoughts on the matter with her characteristic forthrightness and directness —
"— So, with that said."
Quietly, gently, with just a trace of loneliness yet brimming with a faint glimmer of joy —
It was the purple-haired girl — Katia — whose face had settled into an expression of profound complexity.
"Once more, with me. It's been so long… yes, a very, very long time.
Would you… like to continue our conversation? With you, on the verge of breaking?"
He didn't quite grasp the meaning behind those final words.
And yet — of this much, he was certain.
A labyrinth of thoughts. A dead end of emotions. A wall where wishes went to die.
No matter what conclusion was reached —
The time had come to bring one decisive resolution within himself.
That he had come this far... together with Katia.
And so, Ermes stood there. Unable to fully comprehend it yet, but carrying with him a resolve that had settled into place with surprising ease.
"......Yes."
Having given his answer. He himself found it strangely familiar — as though far too long had passed since he'd last spoken these words.
And so he began the conversation with his childhood friend, the fairy-like girl.
Next time: a conversation with Katia. I hope you'll be there to see it.