Side story episode 28
* * *
The northern lands are as cold as ever.
As it had been in the past, Dale was crossing the courtyard of the Saxon Imperial Castle, which was being reborn as the heart of a new empire in history.
The night sky was dark, and gray snowflakes were falling. With every step, the pure white ground piled up and left footprints.
“Dale.”
Just then, a voice was heard. Dale raised his head at the sound.
“… … Sepia.”
There was once an elven wizard there, the teacher of Dale and Lize.
“Your expression is dark.”
“In a world where I was left alone, when I met my loved ones again… … .”
Sepia said. Dale smiled bitterly at her words.
“I finally believed that my journey was over.”
And he said it with a weakness that he never showed in front of anyone.
“The world is in my hands, and my loved ones are by my side. What more could I ask for? What more can I acquire to fill the emptiness in my heart? How much longer must it take for my wandering to end?”
Before he knew it, Dale’s voice was faintly sobbing.
“Please teach me, Ms. Sepia.”
He was not a god of evil or meaninglessness that people feared.
There was just a human being full of weakness.
As usual, there was a ‘black prince’ seeking teachings in front of the elf wizard Sepia.
“Unfortunately, I too am nothing more than a wanderer lost in the world.”
But even the wisest teacher in the world could not answer Dale’s question.
That’s why Sepia just hugged Dale without saying anything.
* * *
I had a dream.
It was such a blatant dream that I was clearly aware that it was a dream.
Under the white, dark night sky, Dale raised his head.
He inherited the name of the Duke of Saxony, became the Emperor of the Empire, and became a loner who was trapped in the ice of absolute zero and was left alone in the world.
Nevertheless, he is reunited with his loved ones and is reborn as the emperor of a new empire.
The god of meaninglessness.
It was Dale, and there was a boy in front of him.
It was a boy with his eyes covered by black bandages. However, it was by no means the Immortal Frederick.
How could I forget that sight?
No one can forget their past.
The ‘Black Prince’ was in front of Dale.
Nevertheless, Dale could only smile bitterly. This was just a dream. That being before him was also just a ghost of the past.
But that was just then.
“Why are you turning your head away?”
The black prince asked, in a voice as polite as Dale had once been.
“What are you talking about?”
Dale asked back.
“From me.”
“Is there any reason I should face you?”
Dale asked coldly, and the black prince answered coldly.
“Are you afraid?”
It was always like that. Black Prince was always able to read the other person’s mind and catch what was in the gap. The greatest genius in the empire, the prodigy of the Duke’s family.
The being was facing him. And the being felt incomprehensibly like another person. That was why Dale laughed.
“Why should I fear myself?”
The ‘Black Prince’ asked back as if he didn’t understand the question.
“Do you really think I am the same as you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Didn’t you ask her again? Was she really the person she was back then?”
She must be referring to Shub.
“──Do you know about the Ship of Theseus?”
“… … ”
And then the ‘Black Prince’ spoke. At those words, Dale swallowed his breath quietly.
After killing the monster Minotaur, Theseus returned safely to Athens on his ship. And the Athenians, in honor of Theseus’ deeds, resolved to preserve his ship for future generations.
“I know.”
“But whenever a plank in the ship of Theseus rotted, the Athenians replaced it with a new one.”
Even if you replace one wooden plank on a large ship, it is undoubtedly the ship of Theseus.
“But through the countless years of storms, through the endless process of replacing planks and replacing worn-out parts, at some point, there will be no more ‘ship planks’ left from when Theseus came aboard.”
When the ship was finally rebuilt with a new plank, without a single thing left behind, the old Ship of Theseus no longer existed.
After endless reconstruction, there is nothing that can be called ‘original’ anymore.
But the Athenians still called it the Ship of Theseus.
“… … .”
“Then can it really be called the Ship of Theseus?”
What an unlucky kid.
And when I remembered that it was my past self, it was even more absurd.
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“Our cells are still dying and being reborn. Even after the cells that make up our existence are transformed one by one and the cells of our entire body are changed, can we really say that you, who are there now, are the same as the ‘Black Confucius’ of the past?”
“You know very well that I was a very unlucky kid in the past.”
“Cells aren’t everything. How many ‘planks’ have been put in place from the time I was a ‘black Confucius’ to the present you, the beliefs, thoughts, and goals you believe in?”
“What do you want to say?”
“I am not you. Just as you are not the ‘Black Prince’.”
“… … So what is it?”
“That’s for you to think about.”
The black prince sneered coldly, and the fluttering snowflakes stopped falling.
Before long, the figure of the ‘Black Prince’ was no longer visible. The world of the white and dark winter night was just standing still, endlessly stretching out. An unknown coldness squeezed his heart.
And as he stared out at the endless expanse of empty space, Dale was speechless.
* * *
The next morning.
When I woke up from my dream, I felt the soft texture of the wool bed. When I turned my head, I saw the side profile of Charlotte sleeping.
Without saying a word, Dale reached out and stroked Charlotte’s cheek, and Charlotte laughed happily.
“When I wake up, Dale is right in front of me.”
“okay.”
Dale laughed, and Charlotte laughed too. Then Dale moved his hand towards Charlotte’s swollen belly.
“You, me, and our child are together.”
“Isn’t it a little cramped for three people to sleep together?”
“No.”
Charlotte shook her head at that question.
“Just right.”
“really?”
“Because I don’t want my child to be lonely in such a big place.”
Charlotte said. Dale couldn’t say anything in response and just remained silent.
“It’s not your fault, Dale.”
But then Charlotte smiled, caressing Dale’s cheek. In a voice that was more gentle and loving than anything else.
“You’re not bad. So don’t blame yourself too much.”
“……shallot.”
Dale couldn’t say anything. He just wanted to lie next to Charlotte, feel their child, and be immersed in happiness.
“What do you want me to do?”
So Dale asked back. Charlotte’s expression darkened for a moment. It was only for a moment.
“Be a loving father.”
Charlotte said.
“and……”
With a determination and resolve that is incomparable to anything I’ve ever seen before.
“Give me your empire.”
At those words, Dale held his breath again.
“My empire… …?”
“This world is yours. But the world that lies beneath your feet only torments you.”
“shallot…….”
“Allow me to carry your burden with you.”
Charlotte said.
“When I go out to the battlefield to defeat the enemies of the empire, please stay by our child’s side who will be left behind in the imperial palace.”
“… … .”
“When I summon the nobles to rule this empire, you will stay by our child’s side.”
There was no way he didn’t understand the implications of Charlotte’s words.
“You know, Dale.”
“huh.”
“Are you happy after becoming the ruler of the world?”
Charlotte asked again.
“After our child is born, do you plan to abandon us and take it upon yourself to be the redeemer of the world?”
“… … .”
Dale couldn’t answer those words. He could only bite his lips in silence, feeling the pain and suffering that Charlotte had been carrying all along.
There was hesitation.
But the hesitation did not last long.
“I promise.”
Dale said.
“Thanks, Dale.”
Charlotte laughed at those words. After laughing, she kissed Dale. And while her lips were overlapping with Charlotte’s, the contents of her dream involuntarily came to mind. She remembered what the ‘Black Prince’ had said in her dream.
Is it really the person Charlotte knows who is kissing her lips?
I couldn’t figure it out.
I didn’t even want to know.
* * *
“A person who wishes to see Your Majesty has arrived.”
As soon as Dale got up and went out to the castle, he heard unexpected news.
“Who is it?”
“He calls himself the leader of the revolutionary army.”
“… … .”
At those words, Dale swallowed softly.
“Is there any evidence to support that statement?”
“A large force of Iron Troops, armed with magic armor, is disarming themselves and sounding out the Night Raven Knights in front of the Duke’s territory to surrender.”
“… … .”
“The knights have recovered their magic armor, and yet they claim to be prisoners and follow their leader.”
“Send him into the palace.”
Dale spoke, and his subordinate bowed his head. Even if he was hiding some kind of plot, it meant nothing to him. As loyalists to the House of Saxony, they paradoxically understood more deeply than anything else that their lord did not need their protection or concern.
But it was not Dale’s lot to sit on the throne of black gold.
Charlotte sat on the throne, and Dale stood beside her, but no one dared to object to the act.
Charlotte’s belly was swollen with the two children she was expecting.
Dale smiled quietly as he watched the scene.
Squeak.
After smiling, he turned his head beyond the great hall of the Saxon Imperial Castle.
Those who claimed to be the leaders and leaders of the revolutionary army stood before him.
The clan of the House of Yuris. And to assist them, there was a minimal iron cavalry armed with magic armor.
“It is a pleasure to see you again, Your Majesty the Emperor.”
Across the hall, the leader of the revolutionary army and head of the House of Julis bowed his head.
A clan of vampires wearing Ray Yuris’ skin. Dale remained coldly silent as he watched them.
“What brought you to this realm?”
Charlotte opened her mouth to fill Dale’s silence. Charlotte asked, and Ray Uris coldly replied.
“Do you know about the Ship of Theseus?”
