Side story episode 31
* * *
The child of the two, Dale and Charlotte, was crying.
I was crying and sobbing without knowing anything about the world.
Looking at that sight, I thought about what Dale’s father, Allan of Saxony, must have felt when he saw their child, ‘Dale’.
After that, after learning Dale’s secret, I pictured my father crying alone in the shadows.
And yet, to the very end, the father loved his son. And so did the son. But when Dale finally embraced his child, the pain and weight the father must have felt became painfully real.
My legs were shaking and I felt like I was going to burst into tears at any moment, under a weight I couldn’t even bear.
“… … Dale.”
Just then, Charlotte smiled and opened her mouth.
“what’s the matter?”
“… … It’s nothing.”
“You have a really sad expression on your face.”
Charlotte said, and Dale shook his head and forced a smile.
“I’m not sad.”
“then?”
“I’m so happy.”
Dale answered. He turned his head as he answered. His father and mother, Alan and Elena of Saxony were there.
He was watching Dale, smiling at his son as usual, and the fact that it was just so heartbreaking that I couldn’t understand it.
So Dale sat down and began to sob silently.
After the god of meaninglessness disappeared, all that remained were pitifully weak and naked humans.
* * *
How much time had passed? I couldn’t tell.
No one spoke of the emperor and revolution, and no more talk of the world was heard.
Yet there was still an empire there. The Great Demon Island Empire, the successor to the Fourth Empire and ruled by the Black Gold Monarch.
The Black Gold Throne still existed for Dale, but it was no longer Dale’s place to sit on that imperial throne.
He ruled the Empire, presided over the Imperial Council, and whenever anyone foolish enough to want to confront them appeared, it was not the Black Gold Lord who moved.
Charlotte of Saxony, once called the Sword of God, was all hers.
Whenever she rode out on her war horse to battle, Dale would quietly see her off. No longer would he be afraid or awed by the world, he would simply remain silent in his castle.
The new subjects of the empire also loved Empress Charlotte. Neither too cruel nor too merciful, Charlotte always knew how to make fair and rational decisions.
In a sense, it would not be an exaggeration to say that he was more qualified than Dale to be a ruler. And I was able to realize that.
At some point, Dale himself was not a very good ruler to begin with.
“Yes, Alan.”
Dale smiled as he said that.
In his arms, the baby squeaked in delight at the name.
It was the name of my father, whom I respected more than anyone else, and at the same time, it was the name that was reborn as my son’s.
Alan II.
Dale looked at his son silently, smiling happily. Sometimes, like a spoiled brat, he would make funny faces or surprise the child, and make exaggerated gestures.
It was just then.
As Dale was laughing like a child, he felt a presence. Dale turned his head in confusion.
“Dale.”
“……father.”
He had a father, Alan.
“Alan II.”
And looking at his grandson in front of him, Alan smiled bitterly.
“Why have you named your son after me?”
“Because I want my son to be like his father, whom he respects more than anything else.”
Dale said. Alan was silent for a moment, and then shook his head.
“I am not worthy of the respect you think I am.”
Alan said.
“My past, too, was filled with countless sins, unforgivable evil deeds, and mistakes.”
“I understand.”
Dale nodded blandly.
“Nevertheless, I respect you more than anything else.”
“Is that so?”
At Dale’s words, Alan smiled sheepishly. He smiled in an uncharacteristic manner and walked towards his grandson, Alan Jr.
Alan Jr. was reaching out his arms toward his grandfather and babbling something.
Alan smiled as if he loved that very sight. It was an incredibly ridiculous smile, considering that he was once a man who was feared by everyone under the name of Black Ball.
Yet Dale remembered, too. The smile on his face as a child, the smile on his face as a man.
No, why are you talking like it’s someone else’s business?
I wondered how the black-gold monarch who was here right now would be perceived by the people of the world. The god of meaninglessness. Then I couldn’t even laugh in vain.
“Sometimes I wonder if I deserve this happiness.”
Alan opened his mouth.
“… … Me too.”
Dale nodded and smiled bitterly. They were a father and son who believed without a doubt that no one deserved to be happy. In that respect, it could be said that father and son were exactly alike.
And yet, no one in the world disputes their right to happiness.
* * *
In the northern castle, the castle was open and there was a woman walking majestically.
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She was a knight wearing black and gold armor, and furthermore, she was wearing the marks of a night crow and a rose.
“Come on in, Charlotte.”
“huh.”
Charlotte nodded as Dale greeted her.
“Alan is waiting.”
And when the child’s name was mentioned, Charlotte also couldn’t hide her motherly smile and laughed.
* * *
“great job.”
Charlotte took off her armor and stood before Dale in her nightgown. Dale gently stretched her tired body, and Charlotte smiled happily.
“Alan is watching, Dale.”
“I didn’t do anything particularly shameful.”
Dale just smiled, rubbing her shoulder. Charlotte smiled too.
How long has it been since I was able to laugh so purely? How long can I laugh so thoughtlessly?
Dale couldn’t help but laugh when he thought about it. That was it.
She took Dale’s hand, which was resting on Charlotte’s shoulder.
“I am so happy.”
Just then, the baby next to them started crying. Charlotte panicked, and Dale walked over to the baby and smiled.
There was no trace of the Dark Lord, the God of Nothingness, or the ‘Black Prince’ without blood or tears.
There was a father and a human being there, doing nothing but trying to soothe his son’s cries.
Charlotte smiled faintly as she watched the sight. She too was leaving behind the inexplicable emotions welling up in her throat.
* * *
After the ice of the empire melted, Sepia set out on her journey alone.
However, he occasionally visited the Saxon castle where Dale was.
Every time, he would show up without any notice, bringing with him all sorts of mysterious things from all over the world.
“Welcome, Sepia.”
Dale bowed his head towards Sepia, and Sepia smiled.
“These are the things I brought for Alan.”
From magic stones emitting a rainbow of colors to fossilized models of ancient creatures, Dale smiled as he accepted them.
“Thank you, Sepia.”
Dale smiled and asked.
“After staying for a few days, you will leave the castle again without saying anything?”
“I guess so.”
Sepia smiled without denying it. Dale nodded quietly at her words.
“I’ll see you again, Dale.”
“yes.”
A wandering elf who appears like the wind and disappears like the wind. Dale had no reason to block her path. So he simply remained silent.
It was no different when she disappeared a few days later.
* * *
“What are you afraid of, Lize?”
When Dale asked, his sister Lise tried to smile calmly.
“Because I have no right to face my brother’s child.”
“Why do you think so?”
The blue tower did not answer Dale’s question. He did not know.
“I wanted to save you. I wanted you to stop atoning for our sins.”
“That’s what happened.”
“But that, once again, became an unspeakable pain to my brother.”
Dale was silent for a moment at Lize’s words.
“It’s all our fault.”
After a moment of silence, Dale took Lize’s arm and led her. To lead her sister, who was trapped in the blue tower, Arachne’s web, to the outside world.
* * *
“11. Live happily ever after”
The family was seated, and only then did the court painter begin to capture their appearance on canvas.
A lovely couple and their child, father, mother, and younger sister.
In the silence, the faint sound of paintbrushes echoed.
What the artist had in mind was a picture of the world’s most noble, greatest, and at the same time most harmonious family.
* * *
In the dark, white winter night, the old dark mother stood before Dale.
A girl with black goat horns was also there.
“… … .”
Dale stood silently before them. After a moment of silence, Dale bowed his head.
“Now I can finally understand you.”
“What are you saying, human child?”
The old dark mother asked back happily.
“You too, were a mother who wanted her children to be happy.”
Dale said, and the old dark mother burst into a delighted laugh.
“And it was only because of your devotion that I was able to maintain my human form.”
So Dale said without hesitation, bowing his head indifferently and simply expressing his gratitude.
Their presence before Dale was no longer an incomprehensible, incomprehensible horror.
Rather, they were supreme mothers who could not be described in any other way, and who were filled with love as vast and distant as the universe.
Their kindness is beyond human understanding. Sometimes it is so cruel, brutal, and horrific.
Despite that, nothing changed.
As Dale thought of his loved ones, the old dark mother also loved her son.
“I am glad you understand, my child.”
“I am still human.”
“Yeah, brother.”
At those words, Shuv giggled happily, leaving behind the tentacles wriggling beneath the hem of her dress.
“I hope that my brother can remain human until the very end.”
“I promise, Shub.”
Dale answered. At those words, the old dark mother came up to Dale without saying a word and hugged him.
To some, it would appear to be a sickening sight, a swarm of tentacles wrapping themselves around each other.
To some, it would appear to be just another scene of a mother, full of affection, embracing her son.
Despite that, nothing changed.
At the end of the hug, Dale said.
“Thank you, great old dark mother.”
Ia Shub-Niggurath.
