Chapter 74 - The Star Seeker, The Story After
It was a result born from a terrible entanglent of coincidence upon coincidence.
Originally, Arien would not have had to agonize. The Arien from the original story had a faint humanity at this point in ti.
She would rationally determine that the Stella before her was suspicious and reject her.
Then, she would enter into battle… and an explosion would occur.
That was the predetermined causality.
But causality was overturned.
Arien began to explore her humanity a little earlier than in the original story. And she began to agonize.
That was why Arien's subconscious affird the stirring of her heart upon seeing Stella. That defined Arien's actions.
It beca a weakness for Stella to exploit, but at the sa ti, it beca a stepping stone for further growth.
The girl thus ca to stand at a crossroads.
Would she settle without moving forward?
Or would she move forward with hope?
It was not a choice that was concretized in Arien's brain.
A choice of the subconscious, decided through the subconscious in the subconscious.
And Arien chose to move forward.
Through that experience, Arien ca to recognize it. A heart that could not be verbalized, that was beyond the realm of reason.
There is no reason why it must be so.
There is no basis for choosing so.
But, I want to.
Through such a thought process, Arien chose to be by Rain's side.
And that was sothing that filled the void of reason in her understanding of humans.
***
It was truly an explosion of light so dazzling it could blind you, and so beautiful.
Arien's signature magic from , the ga I had only seen.
『Where the Stars Sleep』.
Its beauty was more than the descriptions written in the ga.
‘The scene where the sky-blue magic circles overlap and spread across the floor. Keuh-.’
…Did that sound a bit like gushing? But it couldn't be helped. What gar could see this and not make a fuss?
I didn't think it was impossible that I could literally go blind because it was so bright.
Because it really was bright.
“...Hoo.”
Anyway, after the explosion ended, I returned to the scene.
[ Ti Remaining : 35.23 ]
Swiftly, with my body enhanced by using 『Mont of Decisive Battle』.
[ Strength : D → B ]
[ Agility : C → A ]
[ Stamina : D → B ]
[ Intellect : B → A ]
[ Mana : D → B ]
[ Dexterity : B → A ]
Truly, saving 『Mont of Decisive Battle』 until the end was a good choice. Dragging out the ti as much as possible was also good.
At the last mont, I used 『Mont of Decisive Battle』 to escape the attack from Stella's homunculus.
“I can't just let myself be used as a hostage.”
The art of battle lies outside the enemy's consciousness, was it? Those words Jeduin taught were a great help.
I walked back to the corridor where the explosion occurred.
‘You can only call this the scene of a massive explosion… That's all I can say.’
Of course, since Arien had precisely designated the range, it wasn't to the extent that the whole factory was blown away like the Ulfendite explosion in the original story, but…
‘I'm sure other people saw this.’
Even in the original story, Arien's 『Where the Stars Sleep』 boasted considerable power.
Since such a technique had exploded, its light probably leaked out far into the distance.
To be precise, it might have been visible all the way to downtown Endinium.
‘Though there probably weren't many people who saw it since it's late at night.’
I looked up at the corridor's ceiling, or more accurately, where the ceiling used to be.
The sky-blue explosion that erupted from the magic circle soared into the sky.
And as a result, the ceiling had beco the ceiling (that was).
“...It's all gone.”
Even though there were so many homunculi, they had vanished without a trace.
It was a matter of course. Stella's homunculi did not have physical forms.
They were rely fragnts of a dream.
The continuation of the dream Stella couldn't finish. The ability to create a utopia. That was Stella's magic, 『Dream Realization』.
‘This won't be the end.’
It was obvious, but Stella, being the First Astro of Ad Astra, wouldn't end with a one-ti event.
She would persistently extend her influence to Arien until the latter half of .
“Well, whatever.”
Still, the situation wasn't bad. The Arien in this world was different from the Arien in the original story.
The girl who had been tornted by an unintentional massacre was not here.
There was only Arien, who had faced her past a little earlier.
Thump.
As I continued to walk down the corridor, sothing ca into view.
“……”
It was the sight of Arien, staring blankly at the sky beyond the hole in the ceiling.
The clear moonlight settled on Arien's sky-blue eyes and hair, making them shine even brighter.
“Arien-ssi.”
I called out to Arien as I approached her.
At that, Arien turned her head and looked at .
“The enemy has fled.”
She suddenly started with that. It was very much like her, if I had to say.
“...Is that so.”
“Yes. It seems they had prepared an escape route in advance.”
Well, in the original story, a huge explosion from the Ulfendite was the canon event… so she would have prepared her own escape route.
“……”
And then, silence fell again. Arien's gaze was still fixed on the sky.
As for … I waited quietly. It seed like Arien was probably choosing her words.
She might look like that, but she must be complicated inside. At least, the Arien I knew from was that kind of person.
Arien, who had been staring at the sky for a while, turned her head towards after a little ti had passed.
“...You heard, didn't you.”
And she asked such a question.
“Heard what?”
I had a guess, but I asked back anyway.
“...The story… about being a homunculus.”
At those words, I readily nodded. Well, there was nothing to be shocked about. I already knew from my knowledge of in the first place.
‘From the reason for her birth to the process, I'm in a position where I can't help but know.’
Because of this, my reaction couldn't help but be quite simple.
“Yes, well.”
As I nodded, Arien spoke again.
“...Are you okay with it? I'm sure you know what kind of being a homunculus is.”
A homunculus, a pseudo-sentient lifeform that only borrows the form of a human.
In this world, the treatnt of homunculi was… well, about the sa as humanoid robots in reality. But much more advanced.
But I once again nodded as if it were no big deal.
At that, Arien wore an expression as if she couldn't understand.
“Homunculi are not human. They do not go through the developntal process of emotions that humans rightfully experience.”
That was true. Homunculi are born already sowhat grown when they are cultivated.
It ant they couldn't go through the socialization process that people rightfully experience.
But one could also think, then why not just create homunculi in baby form and raise them?
“Also, we are beings that fundantally cannot think like people.”
The arrangent of their thought processes was also a problem. Because their thought processes were programd one by one, one couldn't expect the rich emotional expression or complex thoughts of a human.
“We are not born in the human way, but are beings born into ‘such a form’ with magic formulas engraved in our brains.”
In short, they were like the AI of modern tis.
Of course, in Arien's case, as she was the masterpiece of Magic Tower Master Tyrion, she was indistinguishable from a human.
“...We will not be able to understand each other.”
Arien added at the end.
But, I thought.
Is that important?
“Is that so.”
I just responded calmly to Arien's words.
“I request that you respond a little more seriously.”
Arien said with a serious look in her eyes. Did it look like I was just giving a half-hearted response?
But I was responding seriously enough right now.
“Well, even people don't live in perfect understanding of each other. No matter how close they are.”
Just thinking about my relationship with Yuna proves it.
I have a definitely close relationship with Yuna, but she doesn't know everything about .
I also have general information about Yuna, but there are gaps in the finer details.
“……”
Arien was silent. So I added to my story.
“And yet, people live together. Even though they don't understand each other.”
Serene and I.
Yuna and I.
Khan and I.
Regina and I.
And, like Arien and I.
“Why do you think that is?”
I asked Arien.
“...I do not know.”
But Arien shook her head at my question. Well, I expected that kind of reaction.
“It's because even if they can't understand each other, they respect each other.”
“Respect…”
People are different. There is no ans to grasp each other's hearts.
Unless sothing like a mind-reading technology becos widespread.
But, people live together by respecting each other.
I don't know the feelings Serene has for , nor what happened in the past.
The sa goes for Regina. Since she's a villain who appears only briefly, my information on Regina is limited.
As for the detailed personalities of Yuna and Khan, there were many parts that I was surprised by after interacting with them directly.
I also have many things I'm hiding from the people I can call my friends. My very foundation was like that.
And yet, we live together. Even though we don't know each other perfectly.
“There's almost nothing we know about each other properly. And yet, to be able to respect each other.”
Sothing like that.
“Is surely a wonderful thing.”
I looked at Arien's expression. The girl's expression was still not relaxed.
“...But, I want understanding. Understanding of people. Is that forever impossible?”
“I don't think that's a futile effort either.”
I like the character Arien.
I like her attitude of challenging the impossible, her attitude towards life.
“If we respect each other and never stop trying to understand each other…”
And, I think.
“Soday, won't we reach it? That thing called perfect understanding.”
I said, raising the corners of my mouth slightly into a smile.
It was nothing more than an optimistic hope. The day when people perfectly understand each other might never co.
No, it's not a matter of 'might not'; the possibility is higher that it won't. Perfect understanding itself is close to the realm of fantasy.
But, even if it's a fantasy, so what?
No one loses anything because of it.
“……”
Arien was silent for a mont, then looked up at the sky.
And she reached her hand towards the sky.
Towards the stars in the night sky, which she could never reach.
At that, I too followed Arien and looked at the sky.
Perhaps because it was a remote area with no lights, countless stars hung in the sky as if they were about to pour down.
“It's beautiful.”
It might have sounded like sothing I said because the silence was awkward, but those words, at least, were sincere.
It was beautiful. This sky.
“It is.”
Arien replied in a calm voice.
I wondered what kind of expression she was making now. I was a little curious… but I didn't turn my eyes away.
And so, we looked at the sky for a long ti.
It was possible that we had engraved in a corner of our hearts the will to one day reach the unreachable stars.
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