"Ais is too impulsive."
The moment the topic turned to raising children, Riveria felt a throbbing headache coming on. "She was always the type to force things. Ever since she was small, her craving for strength was extraordinary—as if she already knew she had to obtain greater power." She exhaled. "She's treated that craving like her destiny and pushed it to the point of obsession."
That was what troubled Riveria most. "Because of that obsession, she throws everything away and just charges forward. It's happened on so many expeditions. When the Familia faces the Dungeon's malice, she rushes in without a thought, cutting down the monsters that surge up—and in that frenzy she forgets herself, even the wounds she's taking." Riveria's voice sank. "I'm afraid that one day, because of power, she'll burn herself up as well."
Sawada Tsunayoshi listened quietly. He could only feel helpless at the things Riveria was saying. "Riveria, it might sound harsh, but that background basically covers all of Ais's life. She crossed a path of a thousand years—Ais doesn't belong to this era. I think her being sealed was probably her parents' way of protecting her."
"As for her parents… unless there's a way to go back to the past, they likely couldn't have lived across a thousand years, even if Ais's mother is a Spirit."
"Even a Spirit wouldn't?" Riveria still struggled to accept it.
"Sadly, no." Tsunayoshi shook his head. "Spirits, like the gods, are a special race sent down to aid human heroes in subduing monsters. In theory, they have lifespans comparable to the gods—and they don't truly die." He paused. "But 'not dying' doesn't mean they can't change."
The word he used—"change"—made a bad premonition ripple through Riveria's heart. "What do you mean by 'change'?"
"A Spirit swallowed by a monster won't be digested; the Spirit will instead bite back and devour the monster. But once that happens, the Spirit's essence reverses. Those who were meant to assist human heroes turn into spirits of resentment that curse everything and carry out the cruelest slaughter against humans."
"I don't know if that's what happened to Ais's mother," Tsunayoshi said, "but I do know there is such a reversed Spirit in the Dungeon—one that, years later, will even cooperate with the dark faction, Evilus."
"There's something like that!?" Riveria could hardly believe her ears. The Spirits, standing against them? Even collaborating with a dark faction? It sounded like the cruelest joke. She steadied herself. "Then Ais's mother might also be somewhere in the Dungeon?"
"If so, that's beyond dreadful," she muttered, clenching her fists.
"I don't know," Tsunayoshi admitted, "but we need to be ready for that possibility." Some things had to be forecast from the worst angle so you wouldn't lose your reason when the moment came. "I think Ais's parents chose to seal her—very likely somewhere in a corner of the Dungeon—because they were running out of time. What they did unquestionably gave Ais a chance to live. And it also deferred the Dungeon's crisis. Looking at how stable the Dungeon has been, that's not only the result of the gods' efforts—those two did something, a thousand years ago, to push that crisis forward in time."
He drew a slow breath. "But delaying a crisis carries risks. My guess is that the two of them sacrificed themselves and became part of the Dungeon."
"So, chances are that when we push the exploration to a certain depth, the ones standing before us will be the very two who shifted the calamity a thousand years into the future."
Tsunayoshi was, in truth, following the arc of the tale to make his deductions. The story of Ais's parents was a riddle—no one knew what they faced or how they struggled. The one writing the story hadn't advanced it to that point yet; it was like a historical scroll with that section inked over, unreadable. From what could be inferred, though, the couple would appear later—perhaps as parts of the Dungeon, standing on the opposite side.
Even so, that would be years from now. If it really turned out like that, then the couple would become a wall humanity had to cross to keep moving forward. If things continued along the present course, the ones who would have to face that crisis would most likely be the Loki Familia and the Astraea Familia.
Which meant it would also be Ais's hurdle to overcome.
"If that's the case… that's truly a nightmare," Riveria said, listening to Tsunayoshi's projection of the future and feeling the same future take shape in her mind. But if they reached that point, would Ais really be able to lift her sword? Riveria even worried whether Ais's spirit would break. The object of her revenge would shift from the Dungeon to her parents who had become part of it. It would mean wielding the hard-won strength to cut down her own mother and father. Could Ais really do that?
The thought alone was suffocating.
"It's troublesome," Tsunayoshi conceded, "but not hopeless." His gaze steadied. "I have the means to preserve that couple—to save them—but first we need the power to kill them."
Riveria blinked. He continued, "One is a Spirit. The other was the strongest mercenary a thousand years ago. That's not a problem ordinary people can solve—especially if they've likely become part of the Dungeon and grown even stronger as a result." He gave a rueful smile. "That makes it harder."
"But it's still far better than having no way at all," Riveria said, eyes lighting with a faint, precious hope.
(End of Chapter)
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