"'
Salvation
of
the Netherworld
'..."
That sound — it was far too familiar.
As Yurugen repeated the words, a sense of foreboding stirring within him, Theta continued.
"Yes. To begin with — if you possess the same magic, then you already know what feelings birthed
the Netherworld of Salvation
, don't you? Rose's apprentice... that boy Ermes — I'd imagine he told you as well."
"That... yes, you're right."
Of course, he knew.
The feelings poured into
the Netherworld of Salvation
— they were "dialogue with the dead."
In truth, "Salvation" was a word from a distant land — a place where all living things are saved.
But the one who created this magic heard those words and thought:
"Then — wouldn't there be a world where all the dead are saved as well?"
That was the origin of this magic's inscription, and the very core from which the magic was born.
──If that were the case.
The sentiment embedded in this magic — "Dialogue with the Dead" — was, strictly speaking, also a little different.
Yes. If the chain of events that led to that way of thinking was this, then the more accurate wish was ──
"Dialogue with the Dead ──
can be done ──
...
the creation of a world where it's possible
...!?"
That's absurd. Impossible.
This clearly surpassed the boundaries of Bloodline Magic. No — rather, it was, in the most literal sense...
"Creation... magic..."
"That's right. In that sense, this magic, too, is an irregularity — just like Rose's '
Seamless Great Eagle
'. Of course, it isn't creation magic, but it's a magic born from the audacious wish to come as close to it as possible. You could call it the bloodline magic closest to creation magic."
Indeed, he found himself convinced.
If so, then it made sense why Rose had said this magic's Magic Inscription Liberation was the most difficult. This, too, was a heretical magic that had stepped one foot outside the domain of what bloodline magic could achieve.
...If so, then just what kind of person had the first head of the Trachia family been to have completed this, however imperfectly? ── That question, at least in his capacity as the current head, naturally surfaced.
But before he could dwell further on that thought ──
"Do you understand now?"
The woman before him ... smiled gently and spoke.
"That is why the me standing here is none other than Theta von Trachia herself.
Netherworld
of
Salvation —
I am the same person I was in life, called forth from it."
With that established, she ── then shifted her tone.
"So then, Yurugen?"
She clasped her hands together, and with exquisite, adorable loveliness, let a flower-like smile bloom across her face.
"There are so many things I want to say to you.
Naturally, to you — the man who's been consumed by revenge. To you, who ignored my wishes, Rose's wishes, and Katia's heart all the same, who lent your hand to ruin on the words of some shady charlatan, who's been pretending to've steeled yourself with 'if that's what it takes to be destroyed, so be it' — there are things I want to say, things I want to tell you, and there are just so — many of them."
……He broke out in a cold sweat without meaning to.
"Don't worry. While we're here, both you and I are, without exception, 'the dead' — existences of souls alone. That means neither of us can wield magic power. All we can do is exchange words ── so."
There was nothing wrong with what she said.
And yet — why was it that, behind Theta as she continued speaking, he could somehow perceive what could only be described as pressure on the level of magic power?
Do not forget.
As Yurgen's wife, she was naturally a person of remarkable character, and from the manner of her final moments, that she was a wonderful individual brimming with benevolence and goodwill was beyond a shadow of a doubt.
But alongside that — more than that. As a single, undisputed fact.
Theta von Trachia was ──
that Katia's
mother.
.
"Well then, Yurugen, let's have a proper... 'talk,' shall we?"
And so began their first conversation in a very long time — though whether it was truly desired, she couldn't say.
The dialogue between husband and wife commenced.