Volume 10 Chapter 3 Ice's Concern
―――It all started on the day Wade's group arrived in the city.
It was right after they arrived. After Wade asked everyone to gather information, they took a short break to rest.
Clay was taken to a different room with Ice and Toxy.
The tavern where they had all gathered earlier was already empty, and the noise of the demons' customers could be heard from afar.
Clay thought to himself, "Demons might not go on a rampage without a reason, after all." But compared to the surface world, it might take a relatively small trigger to set them off.
"So,"
Clay asked Ice as he pulled up a chair and sat down in their private room.
"What's on your mind, Ice-san?"
"..."
Ice sat on the bed, looking down with a gloomy expression.
It was rare to see Ice look like this.
Before meeting Wade, Ice at the adventurer training school had a timid and introverted image. She was weak and fragile.
But that's not the case now.
Ice is one of the most unwavering members of Wade's party.
With Wade at the center, the core of the party is undoubtedly Wade. However, the spiritual pillar that supports Wade's admiration is Ice.
Ice's spirit is unshakeable. She's calm but strong, a mass of gentleness and toughness. She has no doubts, only following Wade and moving forward together. She even helps to correct Wade's wavering and concerns.
That's why it was a quiet anomaly for Clay to see Ice looking like this. As someone who spends a lot of time with Ice, second only to Wade, Clay felt it even more.
Toxy broke the silence, asking Ice,
"Ice-chan, are you okay? You seem to have been worried about something lately."
Ice was taken aback by Toxy's question. Then, she smiled weakly and furrowed his brow, saying, "...Do you know it?"
"I do," Toxy replied. "Since we left the Bael territory, you've been thinking about something on this journey. It's like... your..."
"Heart's not in it, right?"
Clay chimed in, helping Toxy find the right words as she furrowed her brow, struggling to express herself.
"Clay, that's it! Ice-chan has been spaced out the whole time!"
Toxy said, and Ice responded with a "so..." and a expression that couldn't be put into words, pursing her lips.
Her expression clouded over, her eyes cast downward, and her hands, which were placed on her knees, gripped her clothes tightly. Her hands were shaking slightly, as if frightened by something.
Ice said,
"Toxy, chan... what did you think of Wade-kun's battle with God?"
"Hmm... it was amazing, as usual..."
Toxy paused for a moment before continuing.
"By the way, there was a huge difference in power, wasn't there?"
Clay's eyes widened at Toxy's words, and Toxy herself seemed to realize the gravity of the situation. Looking at Ice, it seemed like that was the problem, and she was frowning in distress.
"...Toxy-chan thought so too, huh. So it's true, after all..."
""...""
The room fell silent. Clay started to feel a sense of unease, similar to Ice's.
"Just a year ago, I never would have thought of challenging God..."
Ice started to speak, her words slow and deliberate.
"I just wanted to get stronger and follow Wade-kun, with all my might. But after the Wyvern incident, I realized I couldn't keep up, and it was tough... I was frustrated..."
Clay and Toxy's expressions turned serious. Those were tough times. The difference in their abilities was right in front of them.
"But thanks to Alex-san, Mudi-san, and Philia-san, I was able to hang in there and grow with them, I thought..."
But, Ice said,
"After seeing God and Wade-kun's battle, my thoughts changed. I feel like I'm being left behind again..."
"So, but, you know, we were pretty useful too, right?"
"Toxy-chan, that's not what I mean."
Ice said firmly, cutting off Toxy's attempt to smooth things over. Toxy looked unhappy, her face scrunched up, and her shoulders slumped.
"Wade-kun's growth rate is, even from our current perspective, becoming impossible to catch up with. At the very least, after defeating God, Wade-kun had... a look of discontent on his face."
Wade himself may not be aware of his own emotions, but Ice, who has been watching him, would notice.
"Heimdall... the super famous light god from Norse mythology. Even though he was an unfairly summoned evil god, Wade-kun defeated him so easily."
"Ice-san... what do you want to tell us?" Clay asked directly.
Ice looked up, her lips trembling, and said,
"Wade-kun's happiness is... going to end soon."
Happiness? Clay tilted his head in confusion. But Ice started crying quietly.
"Someone who can match Wade-kun, someone who can have a fun battle with Wade-kun, is going to disappear from this world soon. What I've been afraid of all along is finally going to happen to Wade-kun..."
"?"
Clay didn't understand what Ice was getting at. If a powerful enemy were to disappear, wouldn't that be a good thing? He wondered.
But Toxy was different.
"...Ice-chan had realized it too, huh?"
When Toxy said that, Ice looked back at her.
"Toxy-chan, too...?"
"Yeah, just a little while ago. That's right, isn't it? I don't want to see Wade get depressed because he doesn't have a strong enemy to fight."
Clay looked at the two of them in turn, still not understanding. Then he made a puzzled face and asked,
"Sorry to interrupt, but I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Clay-kun will understand too, I think. For example, Clay-kun... likes making money, right?"
"Well, yeah... I guess so."
When thinking about how to make money, how to increase it, what mechanisms or tricks to use, Clay would probably get excited.
Ice asked Clay again, "Don't you feel thrilled when you're thinking about those things?"
"Yes."
"So, what if Clay-kun gathered all the money in the world?"
"What? That's impossible, isn't it?"
"It's a hypothetical situation, okay? Just imagine it."
"...Alright."
He's told to think about it. If he had all the money in the world, what would happen?
First, he wouldn't need to earn money anymore. He'd have everything he needs. If there's something else he wants, he could just buy it. With money, he could influence countries and people.
It sounds like a utopia. But Clay quickly realized...
"That would... probably get boring fast."
Having everything means there's nothing left to gain. Clay caught a glimpse of that suffering through the Roman Emperor in Collapse.
Ice nods at Clay's words.
"Yeah, that's right. When you've done everything you want to do in this world... there's nothing left to do."
If Wade were listening to this conversation, he'd probably compare it to a game where you've cleared all the challenges.
You've got everything you want, but there's nothing left to do. You don't want to ruin what you've built up, but even if you did, you'd just see the same scenery.
That's probably the epitome of boredom. One can still have some fun for a while, but eventually, they'll hit a limit.
If there's something else they can get obsessed with, that's great, but if everything that interests them becomes like that...
That's unbearable boredom. An empty throne.
And Wade is... reaching for that empty throne.
"...I see."
Clay finally understands what Ice is getting at.
"We were afraid that one day, we'd be left behind by Wade-kun. But Ice-san, what you're afraid of isn't that."
"Yeah... it's not just us. The whole world won't be able to keep up with Wade-kun. That means..."
Ice bites her lip and says...
"Wade-kun will become alone in the world...!"
Ice's eyes welled up with tears, like pearls rolling down her cheeks. Toxy's eyes also misted over as she placed her hand on top of Ice's.
Clay couldn't quite put himself in Wade's shoes. But imagining it wasn't that hard.
What came to mind was a Roman Emperor.
It was the same. The Roman Emperor had also gone on adventures with his friends back in the day. Clay had heard the emperor's own tales of adventure as a bedtime story. He had idolized the hero as a child.
But the hero he had admired was no more. All that was left was a lonely, crazed old man. A madman who scorned everything, unreachable by anyone.
Clay looked at Ice.
"What should we do?"
Clay didn't pity Wade to the point of tears.
Ice hadn't meant to cry either. But the depth of his love had made the tears spill out.
So, in response to Clay's question, Ice wiped away her tears. Her eyes, now open, shone with a strong light. Her words were filled with determination and resolve.
"We have to get stronger. We can't afford to choose our methods anymore. We'll use every trick in the book to get stronger."
Get stronger.
And then what?
Would Wade's loneliness be healed if they stood by him? Ice wasn't naive enough to think that.
So Clay asked again.
"How strong?"
Ice said,
"――Strong enough to... kill Wade-kun."
Toxy's eyes widened in shock at those words. She tried to say something, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized that was the only option. In the end, she buried her face in Ice's chest and wept.
Clay closed his eyes, thinking "I knew it." He took a deep breath, then exhaled and replied.
"Alright. Let's do it."
"~~~~~~~!"
Toxy let out a voiceless scream. Ice quietly hugged her back.
This is tough, Clay thought, looking away.
But there was a strange sense of resignation. Clay had been rivaling Wade all along. Maybe this was always how it was going to end.
Trying to distract himself, Clay turned away and said...
"Is Sandra-san okay?"
"Yeah. Sandra-chan is a genius, so she'll probably be able to keep up with Wade-kun without any problem. She'll probably figure it out even if we don't tell her."
Or rather, she's not that easy to catch, right...? Ice looks troubled. Come to think of it, she had already noticed and disappeared earlier.
"...Yeah, that's just the kind of person she is. Unpredictable and a genius. I mean, she even beat Master Sieg once, after all."
"Yeah... Hehe, Sandra-chan is amazing."
They share a laugh, and then let out a sigh. Their resolve is slowly firming up.
"Let's get stronger."
"Yeah..."
They exchange words, a quiet vow.
"But, but, but..."
Toxy says, her face scrunched up in tears.
"How...? You said we wouldn't choose our methods, but I don't know how to get any stronger than this..."
Clay nods in response to Toxy's words, and then looks at Ice. She's staring at the door.
"...It's okay, come in..."
"Whoa, can we come in? The atmosphere in here is intense!"
"Excuse me, everyone. I didn't think someone like me, a newcomer, should be listening in on this conversation..."
Philia and Sur enter the room.
Philia, the petite girl in full armor, is Clay and Toxy's mentor. On the other hand, Sur is the sorcery user with dark skin who recently joined their group.
Clay thinks it's a weird combination.
"Ice-san, why did you bring these two?"
"It's mostly intuition, but... I think these two might know some pretty extreme methods, don't you?"
Clay nods in response to Ice's words.
Philia is the one who took Clay and Toxy in and trained them. And Sur is a sorcery user from Nilfheim.
Philia smiles slightly as she's stared at by Ice, Clay, and Toxy.
"As you expected, I brought some pretty crazy and cool methods. Well, I just had Sur-chan bring some, but..."
"Hmm... If you were going to do this with a half-hearted resolve, I would have stopped you, but I can see that you all have a good understanding of what's at stake. So, I'll teach you."
Sur says.
"What I'm going to teach you all is one of the training methods for sorcery. Originally, magic and sorcery are 2 different things. The applications don't overlap, but I think this is a special case."
"Sur-chan, get to the point already!"
"Don't rush me, Philia-san. I need to explain some things first. ———Ah, excuse me. Magic gains power by getting close to God. On the other hand, sorcery gains power by going against God."
Sur raises his index finger.
"This is the fundamental principle of magic and sorcery. They're on the same axis, but they're complete opposites. So, normally, the more you learn sorcery, the more you lose magic power. And vice versa. But what I'm going to teach you now is———."
After a pause, Sur continues.
"In a sense, it's the act of going against God the most, and in another sense, it's the act of getting closest to God."
The 3 of them swallow hard.
"Magic can't reach this level of thinking because of its nature. But sorcery can. You could say this is the essence of sorcery. However, if you're willing to do whatever it takes, this method will smile upon you."
"...Sur-san, please teach us. What do we need to do?"
When Ice asks, Sur nods. Then, with a cold and ruthless expression, he tells the 3 of them.
"———Kill God. And not just any God, but the one who gave you magic seals, poured love into you, and gave you protection. Bring that God down to this hell and kill it."
The 3 of them are left speechless, their eyes wide with shock.
Sur declares.
"We'll do it through the ritual of summoning an evil god. You'll all be going against God the most, while also getting closest to God. The power you'll gain is immense."
Please bookmark this series and rate ☆☆☆☆☆ on here!
Donate me
Support Me with USDC
(ERC20)
Support Me with XLM
(Stellar Lumens)