Chapter 58
After the Save & Load occurred.
There was exactly one thing I was most curious about.
“Will Mirne remember this or not?”
It was true that the Save & Load function showed a ridiculously fraudulent effect.
But anyone could see that Mirne hadn’t used it voluntarily.
When meaningful damage to Mirne became possible due to the Covenant Seizure judgment.
Just looking at how it suddenly activated right before she died, it was definitely not triggered on purpose.
“Was it the system”s intervention right before death? Naturally, it would be the Protagonist System.'
I could tell without thinking too deeply that it was the system protecting Mirne.
I could tell just by seeing it pop out urgently when her neck was really about to be severed.
However, it was ambiguous to consider it completely flawless just because of that.
“I definitely cut it perfectly.”
The expression of cutting the system itself was very unfamiliar, but there was definitely a sensation in my hands.
The power of the Crown Prince and the power of the sword Gilbart made at the Crown Prince’s request.
When these two combined, I was able to move my body in the frozen world and resist the system.
“Is this the next that the Crown Prince spoke of?”
Realizing that it couldn’t be beaten through normal methods.
Was this the answer derived from multiple regressions?
“What’s certain is that there’s someone else behind Mirne.”
And behind her is the system.
An entity trying to make the situation flow As per the Original Story as much as possible.
That must be the very reason for the system’s existence.
“Then what is the system attached to me?”
Then could the system attached to me not be a system at all?
While various possibilities were coming to mind.
“Your Highness’s Staff #1, Teo! I have perfectly completed the mission and returned! May I report immediately?”
Teo entered in a very polite posture and began his report.
“Reporting! As a result of observing Mirne’s movements, there were no particular movements, and she was only continuously pondering how to end the war peacefully.”
The order I gave Teo was “to observe Mirne”s every move and return'.
Through this, I was trying to find out whether Mirne retained her memories during the Save & Load process or not.
“Furthermore, her body was also in a very intact state, and she looked incredibly healthy!”
As a result of hearing Teo’s report like that.
“Her memories are gone.”
I was certain that Mirne had no memories of before the Save & Load.
For one, the System Message right before the Save & Load was “erasing past actions” and “Modify Past”.
If her memories remained, problems were bound to arise in that process of erasing and modifying.
Also, the wound Mirne suffered right before the Save & Load, without even fighting once, was a fatal one.
But for her to be perfectly fine just because she returned to the past from such a state? It was absolutely impossible.
The moment the pain remained in her head, it would be normal for her to continuously tremble in fear.
The fact that she was focusing solely on the war without any of that meant her memories were completely erased.
“Normally, my memories should have been erased too.”
If memories being erased was the default, my current situation was a clear bug.
And what could have caused that bug was naturally the Crown Prince’s power and the sword’s power.
“Then is Mirne completely unable to even think of using Arveda right now, and does she just think the Fire Spirit never existed in the first place?”
In the case of the Fire Spirit, something that was there disappeared, so I wondered what kind of judgment it was processed under.
Such worries were brief.
“Roll roll, ung! Hee! Hee!”
I stared at Arveda, who was rolling around on my bed with a doll.
I had felt truly heavy-hearted when I subdued Arveda as she moved like she was possessed, saying she would fly toward the Maselin Kingdom.
Seeing her playing so well like this now completely put my mind at ease.
“Arveda.”
“Yes, Your Highness!”
Arveda answered energetically as soon as I called.
Was it because she was the first Executioner I met, and the first one I went on a walk with?
Maybe it was because she felt somewhat like a younger sister.
Pat pat.
“Your Highness?”
I stroked Arveda’s hair and turned my gaze toward Teo.
“Call Pavan, Gilbart, and Luminix.”
“I, Teo! Have received your command! Where should I call them to!”
“Call them to the Palace rear garden.”
Today, I will resolve Arveda’s Covenant.
+++++
Arveda was a dragon, but not a dragon.
“…”
Because she didn’t properly know her own name.
A name was an identity and a proof of the soul.
She didn’t know since when she had lost her name.
According to the covenant, it was a contract made with the Great Prophet, but.
The dragons who told her that story had all disappeared by the time she came to her senses.
“Where is everyone going?”
“When the time of the promise comes… or the promise is broken, we must fall asleep for that moment.”
“Why?”
“Because that was the promise.”
“Me… why are you leaving me behind?”
“Because you are the dragon who will carry on this generation’s covenant.”
That was the last conversation with the dragons that Arveda remembered.
Even this, she only remembered the conversation; she couldn’t recall any other information.
Starting from why they left to where they went, and so on.
Not a single piece of information remained in her head.
What filled the traces where nothing remained was solitude.
A terrible loneliness.
She had made truly various efforts to fill it.
She had listened to Tin Can’s advice and read books, and she had listened to the hairy dwarf’s words and tried making things too.
But none of it suited her.
'It’s boring, it’s not fun.'
She just wanted to make friends and play.
But when she actually tried to do so, she had never done it before, so she didn’t know what to do at all and couldn’t do anything.
But in the midst of that.
“Could I call you… older brother or dad…? L-later, if there’s a chance…!”
An opportunity to take a walk with the Crown Prince arose, and Arveda was so happy at this time.
Because she finally wouldn’t be bored, because she could stop being lonely.
Furthermore, the Crown Prince was a very strong person, so it seemed like he would never disappear.
So she wanted to keep sticking around him, and later she mustered the courage to even take up a spot on his bed.
She thought that if things just continued like this, she wouldn’t envy anything and wouldn’t be scared of anything.
However.
“Arveda, I will fulfill your covenant.”
“…Eh?”
The current situation was a case Arveda hadn’t imagined at all.
The Crown Prince, who had definitely been with her just a few minutes ago, suddenly said he had found out her true name.
And he summoned her to the Palace rear garden along with three Executioners.
“I found your true name. So we must resolve the covenant right away.”
“…Uh, uhh…”
Arveda’s eyes spun around and around.
Fulfilling the covenant was definitely a good thing, and finding her true name was definitely right, but.
She strongly felt that things couldn’t be the same as before if that happened.
'It’s not like I can’t stay in the Empire anymore just because the covenant is fulfilled.'
She had completely blown away her worries about that part by looking at Luminix.
Even if the covenant was resolved, she could continue to stay in the Empire.
No, should she say she could live more perfectly as a part of the Empire.
It was definitely unconditionally good.
The worry that if she found her name, she might not be able to act like she did before anymore?
But at the same time, the feeling that she couldn’t give up on finding her true name because of that.
Those complexly mixed together until she finally reached one conclusion.
“…Your Highness.”
“Hmm?”
“This Humble Woman… if I regain my name, I m-might not use honorifics…!”
The Crown Prince burst into laughter as soon as he heard those words.
“You’re acting like you’re in puberty, I understand. Luminix was like that too when resolving his covenant.”
“…Y-Your Highness, I…”
At the Crown Prince’s words, Luminix deeply bowed his head.
Watching that sight, the Crown Prince, Bellon, continued speaking.
“I know, I know. I was joking, so you don’t have to make such a gloomy expression.”
Patting Luminix, the Crown Prince looked at Arveda.
“No matter how you change, you are you, and the Empire will never abandon you.”
The Crown Prince’s words that she didn’t need to be anxious.
Hearing those words, Arveda slowly nodded her head.
“Will His Royal Highness the Crown Prince not abandon me either?”
“I am the Empire, so do not worry about anything.”
With that answer, Arveda closed her eyes.
Taking that as a signal, Bellon spoke Arveda’s true name.
“Arveda Lilaberry Danium.”
As soon as he spoke her true name.
Fwoooosh!
“Uh, uhh, Y-Your Highness!”
Arveda’s body was engulfed in light.
Paaaah!
It began to emit a tremendous radiance.
“…”
Just as Bellon was boiling up his power, pondering how to deal with it.
Poof.
The light completely disappeared like a lie.
“Eh?”
Arveda, wearing a bewildered expression, blankly looked around.
Just as she was thinking, “Did the covenant not get fulfilled?”
“Uh… the covenant has been resolved.”
Arveda instinctively realized that the covenant made with the Great Prophet had been fulfilled.
But she thought something tremendous was going to happen.
Just a huge flash of light and that was it?
“It might be… a bit… anticlimactic?”
Arveda’s expression of feeling cheated for being scared was brief.
RUUUUMBLE!
Suddenly, a tremendous sound was heard from the sky above.
“It is the true birth of the Dragon Princess, so all dragons shall take their places.”
Along with those unexpected words, countless dragons revealed their presence in the sky.
+++++
-The Dragon Princess is special.
-Finding her name is the same as bestowing grace upon all of Dragonkind.
-Therefore, her name must absolutely be regained.
The Crown Prince’s Memory naturally played in my head.
And in the midst of that playing.
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
The dragons came down to the Ground one by one, showing off their massive weight.
“Ha.”
Mirne, did you know this and just blurt out Arveda’s true name?
Were you trying to end the war by suddenly having dragons intrude on a war where love was the justification?
'She’s truly crazy.'
I smiled deeply as I watched what was happening right now.
“Thank you, for letting me know Arveda”s true name.'
You just keep getting hit by the Confession Attack.
I’ll be strengthening the Empire’s military power.
And as if to actually speak for my feelings.
[ Arveda’s Covenant has been resolved. ]
[ The Imperial Military Power is trying to regain its former appearance. ]
[ The Empire’s Probability of Destruction decreases by 10%. ]
[ Current Empire Destruction Probability: 30% ]
[ The Empire does not seem likely to fall within 5 years. ]
The System Message welcomed me.
“This is just the beginning.”
Look forward to it, because I’ll show you what real disruption is.