So we kept talking for a while.
Then, Bell suddenly asked me, "Then what is your original name, Magus?"
"My name? Hmm..."
I fell silent for a moment at that question.
It wasn't that I was dragging things out to set the mood or anything.
To be honest.
"I don't know."
"You don't... know?"
"Yeah. I don't know."
At my answer, Bell's expression twisted slightly.
No, don't look at me with that weird face.
What isn't, isn't. What I don't know, I don't know.
I'm not some Princess of the Root or anything.
We'd never actually met or anything like that.
And besides.
"I don't know how much Caster told you, but Magecraft has a price. My frequent injuries and my memories are part of that."
"Then... could it be?"
"That's probably right. Honestly, I don't even have the memory of having been like that before, so I can't be certain... but I can't think of any other reason why I wouldn't be able to recall my past. So yeah, that's probably it."
"I see..."
At my answer, Bell's face fell even more sadly.
This guy, reacting like that over something that wasn't even his business.
What a needlessly kind fool.
Maybe it was because he was still young.
Come to think of it, this guy was actually younger than Lili, wasn't he?
He really was a rabbit boy.
He didn't need some Antioch holy grenade or anything... no, what kind of bizarre radio wave was that?
Anyway, he was just dragging the mood down for nothing.
I was the one involved, and I said I was fine, so why was he making such a fuss?
"Come on, don't worry about it so much. This life of mine is already my third one. As the saying goes, new wine in a new skin. What's the big deal about using a new name? Well, in my case, I'm borrowing someone else's, but still."
"B-but..."
"I said I'm fine. Why does it matter if the person involved says it's fine? Besides, after you die, it's normal to forget everything from your previous life.
"If you look at it that way, isn't I the lucky one? I can keep the memories I don't want to forget for as long as I like, and I can conveniently choose the ones I do want to forget and forget them whenever I want."
So I'm fine. I'm satisfied. Really.
At my words, Bell stared at me in shock.
His expression only became more stained with guilt.
And so, as if it were nothing at all, I kept going, insisting that I was fine.
"If I'm being honest, if I paid for my memories by deciding them however I wanted, then maybe the memories from my first life weren't all that meaningful to me in the first place.
Maybe I was a lonely orphan with no ties to anyone in my whole life. Or maybe I was some rotten little scumbag so vile that even I, looking back, would think, 'Yeah, that was not okay.'
Or maybe it was just a dry, tasteless life like a mummy or a dried fish, with no emotions or joy, anger, sorrow, or pleasure at all."
"But... even so, that was still part of your past, Magus. Even then, do you really have no regrets at all?"
"Yeah. None whatsoever. There's no way I can live while worrying about every little thing like that when I'm so excited every single day about the future that's waiting for me, and all the countless romances I might encounter in it.
"If I imagine those things right now, my heart starts pounding fiercely. That's the only driving force behind my life. Everything else is just... peace and prosperity within my own little fence, more or less. Stuff like that."
"Magus's romance..."
"So, since the subject came up, let me ask you something."
Boy, what is your dream?
At my question, confusion flickered across Bell's face.
It was, in a sense, a sudden question.
But for me, this was something I wanted to seriously get to the bottom of while I had the chance.
Maybe he noticed how serious I was.
The boy's expression also turned serious.
"My... dream?"
"Exactly what it sounds like. Bell Cranel, what did you become an adventurer for? What are you going down into the Dungeon to obtain and pursue?"
"I..."
Bell Cranel fell silent for a moment.
But then.
"I came to the Dungeon to seek encounters."
He laid bare his honest feelings to me, and with them, the meaning he carried in his heart.
A romance of his own, something similar to mine.
"Seeking encounters, huh... So in other words, you came here to pick up girls?"
"Huh? Ah, ahahaha. Well... I guess you could say that, y-yes?"
"Hmm, how strange. The boy I've seen so far seems very far removed from that sort of frivolous type. If you don't mind, could I hear the details? Like I did when I told you about my past earlier."
"Uh, then..."
And so Bell continued his story.
About his childhood.
About the only family who raised him and stayed by his side there.
About the stories that person told him.
About the longing and excitement for romance he felt in them.
About the resolve he made alone after becoming by himself, to fulfill the promise he made with that person.
About the many encounters he met in this labyrinth city after arriving here.
And about his own embarrassing admiration for the girl he fell for at first sight.
About the back of that girl he vowed to catch up to.
"I see. So that's how it is."
Listening to Bell's story—shy and awkward, yet still carrying a firm resolve—I understood.
In short.
"The boy wants to become like the 'heroes' in those stories, doesn't he? No, to be more precise, he wants to be acknowledged by the old man who told him those stories. As his grandson, and as a man."
"Uh, um... is that weird after all?"
"No, not at all."
In fact, that's why I like it. I'm almost jealous of your grandfather.
"Likewise, his admiration for her, the Sword Princess, is for a similar reason. It started with your grandfather, but now it's her, huh. Heh heh, youth."
"Eh, hehe..."
All right, decided.
The conclusion is in.
This guy is an idiot.
An absurdly kind, absurdly naive idiot.
No matter the world or the era.
A good-natured, soft-hearted idiot who's easy for others to look down on and laugh at.
But from the perspective of someone with a twisted personality like mine.
"Now then, for this hardworking young man who's been suffering all day, shall I become a lake fairy for today?"
"Huh? What do you mean by—?"
That is the most basic, the most essential, the very first prerequisite for becoming a 'hero.'
So I held out 'that' before the boy.
Sorry for testing you again and again.
But this is the final judgment.
"Th-this is!?"
"The stone holy sword. You saw it when you came to Orario too."
"Yes, that's right! But why is it here...?"
"Why, of course. Because I'm this thing's father. A rotten parent who made it on a whim and then abandoned it just as carelessly."
He seemed to have a fairly easygoing personality, so he didn't look all that angry.
In any case, even though it had been summoned on its own at such a late hour, my imitation holy sword had not changed at all.
As always, beneath the dark night sky, it was more dazzling and radiant than anything else in the world.
"Could it be... Magus?"
"Yeah. I'll give this sword to you."
"Ah!"
At my words, Bell Cranel's eyes naturally went wide in surprise.
I gave the boy before me the kindest, brightest smile I could manage.
Along with that, I added just a little faint allure and hypnosis to stir his desire.
"In the name of the partner I borrowed in this world, I promise you this. The moment you draw this sword, you will be able to become the kind of being you've always longed to be."
Needless to say, that was no lie.
Even if its origin was merely a counterfeit that followed the original, this was still a true holy sword of mystery unique to this world.
If he could be chosen by such a holy sword and become its master.
The boy would surely become a great hero unlike any other in the world.
If I supported him as well, the shortcomings would become even more perfect.
So my words were absolutely not a lie.
However.
"Before you draw that sword, you'd better think carefully."
Once you take it in hand, that's the end.
"Without a doubt, you'll be able to become the hero you've always wanted to be. More dashing than anyone, faster than anyone, stronger than anyone—a greatest of heroes, greater even than the object of your admiration..."
But at the same time, you would no longer be you, a human.
Even so, you...
"Now then, what will you do?"
"I..."
At my question, Bell said nothing for a long while.
He simply stared wordlessly at the holy sword before him, his fingers twitching.
And then, before long.
Swish
The boy's arm moved.
And then, soon after.
His eyes looked straight at me.
At that steadfast gaze, all I could do was let out a dry laugh.
Yes.
"So that's your answer."
There was no other reply.
And yet even so.
"I'll be counting on you from here on out too, Bell Cranel."
"Yes, me too. Magus."
I could be satisfied.
My disciple, the hero chosen by Lili, had passed perfectly to the very end.
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