Chapter 37 - Consideration
"Come on, you don't need to be on your guard. I won't hurt a muscle on you, so relax. Why don't we start with introduction first? My name is Miyamoto Kei."
"...Yae Sakura."
"Sakura-san, is it? Then do you want anything to drink? There's orange juice, coffee, and ever beer. Of course I also got normal water if you're fine with that."
At my question, she pondered for a bit before saying,"Orange juice please."
"Alright, please wait here for a bit," I said before standing up and walk toward the kitchen. Since she might be confused and wary of her surrounding, I'll let her be alone for a moment.
When she was unconscious on the sofa, I could tell she was having a nightmare judging by the frown on her face. I don't know exactly what happened in her past, but surely it isn't anything good. I can guess, but without hearing directly from her, I couldn't be sure just yet.
Though this world might be the same as the game, there are still a lot of things different between them. One of the obvious example was the world turning into reality instead of world filled with data. Now that they were all free from restriction as a shitty NPC with repeatable words, they can do whatever they wanted, even going as far as changing the plot. After all, no one was there to force them to do their biding.
I wouldn't be surprised if there was a change like someone else becoming this or that herrscher instead of the supposedly chosen character by the game writers. My very existence had proven that it is indeed possible.
"Here, your orange juice," I said while placing down her cup of drink on the table before finding myself comfortable on a single sofa with a cup of hot coffee in hands.
"So, can you tell me more about yourself?" I ask before taking a sip of coffee. Ah~ caffeine is good once in a while isn't it?
She didn't answer to my question just yet, and was silently staring at the cup of drink on the table for a moment until she may have gathered the courage, and took a few sips of orange juice. She nodded her head before saying,"I'm from Yae Village, somewhere far from here."
"Yae Village? And your name was Yae Sakura?"
"Yes, the village was name after my family name because it holds quite important position there." So she said.
"Does it have anything to do with you wearing priestess-like outfit?" I ask.
"I was indeed a Shrine Priestess of Yae Village. My family have been guarding the village since olden days for as long as I remember."
"I see," I nodded. I already knew about her being a Shrine Priestess, but it's the first time hearing her family being the guardian of the village. Now I knew why her village was named after her family. And here I thought the game developer was too lazy to find a name and just name it after her or something like that.
"But 'was'? Aren't you still one?" At my remark, a bitter smile appeared on her face.
"Due to an accident, I lost everything I cherished alongside the village."
"Oh, I'm sorry for reminding you of that." She shook her head at my words.
"No, it's fine. It's all in the past now," She then fell silent for a moment before continuing, "...though it would've been nice if I could follow them to the afterlife. Why am I the only one still alive and having to suffer endless nightmares of that day that still plagued me to this day?" As if something had broken inside of her, she couldn't help but released the feeling bottled up inside of her since the beginning of the time she woken up to this age.
"If it wasn't for them, everything wouldn't have happened! It was all their fault! I just wanted a life where there's color in it, and not the black and white which I had since the time I lost my little sister to God!"
"I...I thought that finally, I will be happy at her appearance in my life. I was! For a moment when she was there by my side. But even that was taken away from me, how cruel the world truly is."
For a moment, I felt like I saw a spirit of Kallen embracing Yae which I thought was me seeing things. But when my eyes locked onto her eyes, I knew it wasn't just an illusion. And before I could do or say anything, the spirit disappeared with a smile.
"I'm not the one that should be telling you this, but don't blame yourself too much. It wasn't your fault. I don't know much of what happened to you, but I at least understand that you're blaming yourself just by a quick glance at you and the information you provided. Think of what your loved ones would say in this situation, they wouldn't want you to be like this either, don't you think?"
Is this one of the parallel world where Yae ended up killing Kallen instead of the other way around? If that's the case, it make sense that Yae holds herrscher power, the 12th Herrscher of Corruption.
I only remember the real storyline where Kallen was forced to kill Yae(which had been taken over by herrscher) because she was consumed by the hatred she holds for the villagers for sacrificing her little sister. Maybe this one also goes the same way, just a different ending. And that very ending is Kallen dying while Yae somehow survived to this day.
But that should have been a long time ago. I'm pretty sure the only one that's considered long lives/immortal was Phoenix and no one else. How is she still alive and shows no sign of aging at all? Is this a perk for someone who holds herrscher inside of them? I still doesn't have much knowledge about herrscher and their power.
"...you're right. Kallen wouldn't want me to be all depressed like this. But what can I possibly do? Other than my job as a Shrine Priestess, and my knowledge of medicine, I don't know anything else."
"Don't worry about that. Why not live here until you figure out what you wanna do? And oh, I'm not the one living here, there are also other girls but currently they are all out of the house. I'm sure they won't mind of your presence so long as I explained everything to them. What do you think?"
"...okay."
***Author's Note***
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