Chapter 229: Tell them for me!
[Fia]
I sat on the sofa in the principal’s office with a solemn face and drank my morning tea. Since I received Nimi’s letter yesterday I had not been able to settle. Lea was the same. She sat across from me with a sunken face and did not drink her tea, just staying still. Croana kept glancing at us from her desk while she worked, worried, but I simply could not get in the mood.
The reason our feelings would not settle was hearing about Hiero. Fia and Lea had a friend who was an existence like Pafa. She used too much power, could not keep existing, and vanished. We let her vanish… if we had rushed there sooner then.
I did not know how many times I had regretted it. I did not know how many times I had wanted to talk once more… to see her once more. I did not want to experience that again, and I did not want Raide to feel that, so I taught Pafa how to use her power. Honestly, when I heard the talk involving skills and that she had appeared in front of the two princesses, I hurried with Sharle and the others to check on Pafa.
Our meeting with her was sudden. She appeared suddenly in front of us while we were investigating ruins, and she did not seem to understand the situation well. Simply put it was like amnesia, as if something had pulled her memories out. Like Pafa her body was adult but her state was like a small child’s. We looked after her and taught her words and about the world. In that process we noticed she was a different existence from us. We thought she was something like a ghost, then at times she materialized and used a mysterious power. A ghost is the power of grudges. They can use magic but cannot materialize. No matter how far you go they are spirit bodies. That is what a ghost is.
As time passed her power seemed to stabilize, and with the memories that came back a little she taught us various things. The locations of ruins, and a way to interfere with their mysterious power using magic power. For two years after we met we traveled and shared hardship and joy. The first family besides Croana. Fia and I both thought that, and I am sure she thought so too. In the end we could not introduce her to Croana, but if we could have I wanted to… to our other family…
A Stampede is a natural disaster. Some are caused by people, but basically they happen when monsters spawn in huge numbers, abnormal numbers. That happened in a village we visited, and we fought hard to protect the village. We left her in the village and went to the front, but even then the numbers were high and Fia and I were at our limit. We fought well… but two people dealing with monsters attacking from three directions was hard. No matter how high our magic power was, if we fought at full strength for a day it would run out. When monsters headed for the village, our friend used her mysterious power and wiped them out. The price was her existence vanishing. If there was any salvation, it was that we could talk a little at the end.
“Rose…”
“Fia-nee…”
“I’m sorry. I’m all right.”
My friend’s name slipped out. Lea looked at me with a worried face. I smiled in a troubled way and shook my head. From Nimi and Elysia’s report, Hiero seemed to have her memories, unlike Pafa and Rose. Would she forgive us for letting her fellow vanish, for not being able to protect her? Would she forgive our worthless selves? Those thoughts would not leave my head…
I dropped my eyes to the cup on the table when a knock sounded on the principal’s office door and my body twitched a little. Lea and I looked at each other, stood, and prepared ourselves with solemn faces to receive Raide and Hiero.
[Raide]
I knocked on the principal’s office door, confirmed Croana’s reply from inside, then opened it. Hiero was on my left. We went in together and my eyes met Croana’s as she did paperwork at her desk. She was smiling with a somewhat troubled face. I tilted my head, wondering, and she guided me with her eyes to the sofas. I looked that way. Fia was standing beside a sofa with a solemn face. Lea was peeking from behind her as if hiding, looking worried. What was going on? The instant I started to speak, Hiero moved in front of Fia and dropped both knees to the floor. She lightly took the right edge of her skirt between her fingers, spread it, bowed her head, and said in a serious voice,
“Thank you for saving our fellow. I should have visited at once, but I chose to come with Raide. I am sorry.”
“…You know… about us?”
“I heard from Rose… no. The expression is difficult, but I was told. That you treated her well. That you were her best friends.”
“Best friends… but, but! We couldn’t save her! We let that best friend vanish!”
“It was the best that could be done. Rose was satisfied that it was the best. In the name of the People of Rieralia, I offer you both my thanks.”
I was surprised by Hiero’s tone, and also surprised by Fia raising her voice with that solemn face. Lea lowered her face at Hiero’s words, her body shaking, and gripped Fia’s black dress hard. Worried about Fia and Lea, I went behind the two of them so I would not get in Hiero’s way. I dropped to one knee and hugged their slightly trembling bodies together from behind. I felt like Hiero smiled faintly when she saw that. I could roughly grasp what they were talking about, but I should not cut in. Supporting them should be fine, though. I was always the one being supported. Today it was my turn to support. Hiero smiled gently, tilted her head a little, and spoke what was probably the main point while giving off a faint light from her body.
“It is similar to a message, but I will convey it.”
The gentle light leaking from Hiero gathered in front of Fia and became a round shape. Fia and Lea stared at the orb of light suspiciously. Then a lively, beautiful woman’s voice rang through the principal’s office.
“Fia-chan, Lea-chan…”
“Eh!?”
“Rose!?”
“You two are my best friends! So if someone meets you, tell them! That I love you! That you’re my best friends! I couldn’t say it at the end, so tell them for me! Someone tell them in my place! Please! Tell them!!”
“Ah… aaaaaah!”
“Rose! Rooose!! Uaaaaaah!”
Fia covered her face with both hands and shed tears. Lea cried and reached one hand toward the orb of light. But the orb scattered at once. Hiero gently wrapped Lea’s reaching hand in both of hers. The two of them looked about to collapse. I tightened my hug and held them up. That voice was probably the friend like Pafa that Fia and Lea had talked about. I could tell from their faces that they regretted it, and I felt the loneliness at the same time.
I had not thought they had not even been able to have a proper last goodbye… I was the one who could not be there at my father’s end, so I understood that feeling enough for it to hurt. I understood the pain of not being able to see them, the regret.
Hiero kept a gentle smile and continued to the two who were crying hard.
“Originally I think Pafa would have told you. But I was given the chance, so I conveyed it. From here it is not as a Person of Rieralia. These are my words. …Thank you! Thanks to Fia and Lea, Rose looked happy! Really, thank you!”
Fia and Lea shook their heads at Hiero’s words and tried to say something, but they were crying and the words would not come. I told the two of them, “You don’t have to hurry. They’re not going to disappear,” and they grabbed the arms hugging them as if clinging. They did not have to hurry. Thanks to the bracelets, Hiero and Pafa would not disappear unless they used too much power. I sent a worried look to Hiero, who had used power. She nodded as if to say she was fine, and I let out a breath of relief. Croana also had a worried face, so I nodded to let her know it was all right. She let out a breath of relief and smiled. For a while, Fia and Lea’s crying voices rang through the principal’s office.