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Great Sage 32 – The Queen of Darkness and the Valley of Death Part 5
Merging your consciousness with another person…..
It’s an extremely strange sensation.
Half a lifetimes worth of memories from a beautiful and gifted woman surged into me.
Born into a wealthy family, loved by kind parents, the young girl was brought up like a princess.
After receiving the trial of the gods, she wandered the forest and repeated the cycle of life and death over and over, united the demon tribes and became the Demon Lord, then sealed herself within the deep valley.
Her great pain and suffering became my own experience and engraved itself upon my heart.
I turned my head to find a blank white space with a woman with fiery red hair and tears streaming down her face.
“Your life was also full of hardships I see”
Her appearance was that of her mid twenties but her way of speaking was that of a young girl.
“Well I do have experience dying but it’s nothing compared to you Hera”
There was a time in her memories, back when she was human, where she was called that.
“I’ve already discarded that name so I would like it if you could call me by something else”
Wearing nothing but my robe, she wrapped her arms around my neck and shut her red, well proportioned eyes.
Various things touched me so it was troubling in multiple ways.
“Witch and Demon Lord are both not quite right. Then how about Queen?”
I spoke,
“Sounds good, Darling”
She smiled at me happily with upturned eyes and hugged me harder.
Is that really what she’s going to call me from now on?
I was about to demand a change when,
“I’m sorry Darling but I still think it’s best I depart from this world. It’s impossible to keep enduring this pain, besides…..”
She slowly released her arms.
The agony that Queen felt, as that god had said, reached me as well. It seems that she’d noticed it too…..
“Sorry but it seems that’s not possible anymore”
I grabbed the sword that was floating around in this space.
Its shape was still that of a sword, but its function had become a [Shackle] that connected the two of us.
“I’m sorry, even after being given a chance to run from that pain”
I apologised to her,
“You’re a really something aren’t you Darling”
Large tears fell from Queen’s eyes.
And then, as if becoming free of something, she smiled,
“That’s right, you don’t have much self awareness about how your soul got broken, it might be painful but you need to remember. I know because I’ve seen the depths of your heart. ――If you don’t it’ll become even more dangerous”
Queen gazed into my eyes and gently and lovingly cast a spell on me.
×　×　×　×　×
I awoke in my room from my previous world.
As if dissolved into the air, I watched myself from above.
There were reference books and textbooks scattered around the room and at the desk in the corner, a thin boy wrote away with a mechanical pencil.
“At least my studies….. no, if that goes well…..”
His frantic muttering suggested that something was already broken.
“Remember, what happens after is an important key”
I heard Queen’s voice from somewhere but I couldn’t see her.
Eventually the thin boy stood up and attempted to open the door.
If I remember correctly, I realised that I was hungry and tried to leave the room.
He sighed when the door did not move.
My younger brother Ryuuki had brought his girlfriend over to play and tampered with the door in order to prevent me from leaving.
Thinking that someone would eventually come, I gave up on food and returned to my desk.
However an hour passed, then more, until it became late at night and the door had still not opened.
There was a simple toilet that my mother had left behind so I could at least do my business but…..
“For now let’s study and everything will work out”
I turned back to the desk and studied to run away from the issue of the door.
Then the next day, I awoke to the unusual sound of my parents and brother leaving in the car.
I thought about shouting towards the parking lot but I was scared of being scolded for being an “embarrassment to the neighborhood” by my mother and brother so my voice would not come out.
I checked once again but the door would not open.
For a while I was delirious with thirst and heartache but after vomiting over and over, for some reason my thirst faded and I began to feel calm.
It was easy to tell when watching from above but I was dehydrated to a dangerous degree, enough to numb my senses.
“Hey Darling, what were you thinking about at that time”
“The bullying at school perhaps. The bullies would say [This much is fine] [We’re just playing around] [The one at fault in the first place was you so this much payback isn’t a problem] slowly breaking me down”
“I see, then?”
Queen’s gentle voice resounded.
“This is the same thing….. Ryuuki just happened to forget that he rigged the door, my parents just happened to leave without knowing that”
Queen giggled.
“There’s no way that’s true, the bullying at school and this event too. They’re filling Darling with hatred and malice. That’s not how bullying works”
Of course I knew that.
But somewhere in my heart, I didn’t want to accept it.
“The same thing occurred in schoolhouses in this world. In order to discover why it happens, a certain sage ran an experiment”
In that study they found that rats living in harsh environments protected each other and bullying type behavior could not be observed….. however when rats were kept in a small well fed environment free from predators, bullying was observed.
“That sage called it a distortion of an animal’s survival instincts I believe. What’s interesting is that the rats that bullied were the type to be eaten by predators while the rats that were bullied were the type to be leaders”
“It can’t be”
I smiled bitterly,
“That’s exactly it, survival instincts are hatred and aggression to those who could threaten your existence”
I felt Queens warmth around me.
“So that’s why Darling took such an attitude towards your enemies. It’s dangerous to harbor such kindness against malice”
But I suppose I didn’t have the courage.
If I felt like it I could have kicked down the door, or jumped from the second story window and called for help.
That’s why the one who killed me wasn’t Ryuuki, or my mother…..
Or my father, who ignored it all with no interest.
“This was nothing but suicide”
“I understand how you feel Darling, but you need to take a closer look at reality. There are many unforgivable evils lurking nearby in this world, quietly targeting the unprotected. I’ve eaten more than enough of such evils”
“Then what should I do…..”
“Stand resolute against sin. Otherwise Darling will soon lose your life….. besides”
“Besides?”
“I sense someone’s strong malice from these events, there might be something else going on”
Then below me, as I was on the verge of death from dehydration, a goddess appeared.
“Having no choice except to live on sharing pain with someone like me….. Sorry”
My memory ended, and before my eyes the beautiful woman appeared.
“I don’t regret anything anymore. We’ve been connected deep within our hearts and knowing that, I love Darling even more”
Queen came closer while smiling.
“The problem is that a dense darkness has distorted the expression of love? I’m sure if the problem of the darkness or the problem of love is solved then it’ll return to its original form”
I put my hand on the sword as I spoke.
“So that Darling is not broken further, let’s create shackles for us both with this sword. For me it will alleviate the pain and it will prevent the darkness from consuming you”
Then Queen’s body began to shrink as chains and belts wrapped around her.
“Also not just the darkness in Darling, let’s place shackles on your affection too. It’s already twisted as is and there’s something that concerns me”
“Concerns you?”
“I know it’s selfish of me but it’s safer in more ways than one. I don’t want to get beat up by that person calling themselves your master any more….. It’ll put a brake, or more like control, your perverted nature”
Some what bashful, Queen put her hand on my head and chanted some form of incantation.
“You know Master?”
Queen had turned into a young girl.
“Back when I first started to get called a witch she appeared before me but….. despite having the strength to defeat me, she just looked at me with pity and left. She’s a unpleasant person”
She puffed out her cheeks,
“Also the shackle on your affection will be released whenever an issue is resolved. It wouldn’t be fair otherwise”
I tilted my head.
“For example?”
“Like when the issue behind the [Malice] that drove Darling to death is resolved”
Thus we made our oath.
The first clause was…..
No matter what happened in the future, neither of us would try to take our own life.
――That was our promise.