Manuke FPS

At the debriefing session held in the audience room, the goal of Rafflesia was surmised――which is Chancellor Zephanel’s great magic and her secret of immortality that allows her to not age at all despite having lived beyond the average lifespan of elves.

“I previously thought that it was just Kilik’s nonsense, so I didn’t think that he was really aiming for immortality. Why would, even having the lifespan of the elves, he still seek after greater immortality…?”

“……most likely something that only those with a long lifespan like the elves could do. Their goal, very little that we know of, must be something that cannot be achieved overnight. Only with a very long lifespan can the leader continue to hold the reins and see the goal to a fruition.”

The ‘nonsense’ that the current King muttered about was probably the conversation between him and Kilik that I overheard back in the underground temple. Kilik despised women as an inferior species and declared that they are unnecessary in the new world of supremacy. However, Chancellor Zephanel seemingly holds the key to his goal.

As Prince Khan said, both Kilik and Felix have elf blood and therefore they have their race’ long lifespan. Elves are a race that can live for 2,300 years without worrying about dying of old age. Because of his long life, he can wait for the time to reduce Chancellor Zephanel’s Promised Blessing to a common skill. And if he were to become ageless on top of that, it might even be possible to wait for eternity――however

“But, I’m pretty sure that Chancellor Zephanel’s agelessness has nothing to do with skill――”

My conjecture was met with Chancellor Zephanel’s nod. I continued after confirming that everyone’s eyes were on me.

“This power of agelessness is neither a Pedigree Skill nor great magic. If I have to make a guess, it’s actually a curse.”

“Curse――?”

“Indeed it is, Ark. This one couldn’t even die alongside that person even if we wish to, and we will continue to live to see hundreds, thousands, ten thousand lives die, devoting themselves for this country…”

The Kingdom of Kurtmerga has been established for over 500 years. It was before that that Chancellor Zephanel devoted herself to subjugating the labyrinth with the Founding King. I don’t know how long it took to establish the country, but it shouldn’t have been easy.

“Kilik foolishly made this mistake. It might be possible to eventually reduce the Promised Blessing into a normal skill――but not with this agelessness.”

“Yuki, you said that the power of agelessness is a curse… Then, who put that curse on you?”

The current King’s question is at the heart of this story. Whether it was to prevent the Rafflesia from achieving their goal or to protect Chancellor Zephanel, it was impossible to take measures unless it was clear.

But, that power――

Chancellor Zephanel’s jade eyes were looking at me as if they were piercing through me.

“――A God.”

Right. When I first met Chancellor Zephanel, she gave me some sort of a warning. I’ve come into contact with two beings, one each after conquering the labyrinth. Now, I know that one of them is the God of this world called the God of Creation, and the other is a mad Goddess who was isolated by the God of Creation. But, I had no idea which one of them gave Chancellor Zephanel her agelessness.

“God――?! Where on earth did you meet such a being!”

“――In the deepest part of the labyrinth, the throne room. That was where I made a wish―― I wanted to be able to heal not only the wounds on that person’s body……but also the wounds of his heart. Even though I, who had no will, no ego, and was only a mere doll, I wished to become his comrade, to be his comrade, and to be his family.”

Ah, as expected――

The current King and chancellor Bergman couldn’t seem to make sense of Chancellor Zephanel’s monologue, given that they only knew about this world. However, I immediately understood the meaning of her monologue. Even though I know in the truest sense that the founding king is also a Magicless ――just like I who came here when I was playing VMB, I know that he also came here while he was playing some kind of a game.

Chancellor Zephanel once mentioned about ESＯ――『Ｅｔｅｒｎａｌ Ｓｔｏｒｙ Ｏｎｌｉｎｅ ~The story with you that will be spun for eternity~』, which I recall existed during the early days of VR games. In that game, players should have been able to create a partner NPC that will act as a guide and companion while traveling through the game world.

NPCs――In other words, AI-controlled characters. But this type of character creation has a high degree of freedom, and can be created in a wide variety of forms according to the player’s tastes, such as appearance, age, race, special skills, and personality.

The little elf…was a character template that remained popular since.

When I saw Chancellor Zephanel having a good time in the bathroom of the Continental――I felt that “It’s somewhat artificial…”, and that intuition was not wrong.

Yuki Zephanel, who never ages and always pine for the Founding King no matter how much time had passed, was the Founding King’s former partner NPC. She, too, was an existence that surpassed the world and defied reason――a trespasser so to speak.

The debriefing session in the audience room ended with Chancellor Zephanel’s monologue. The current King and Chancellor Bergman had plans to dine with the Knight Order executives and magic nobles, which couldn’t be delayed any longer. But, the most important thing was that in the latter half of the discussion, the existence beyond human knowledge such as God came out.

At the end of the debriefing session, Chancellor Zephanel answered Prince Ark’s casual question and kept his mouth shut.

“Will the Gods grant the wishes of those who conquered the labyrinth?”

“It is up to their whim…that is all there is to it….”

They’ve most likely tried…

The Founding King conquered a lot of labyrinths in his lifetime. After chancellor Zephanel gained sentience and life of her own, he must’ve gone to the deepest part of the labyrinth many times to confront those beings. Because he wished for something. Return to his original world? Enormous wealth? Or maybe absolute power?

But, his wish was never fulfilled.

An encounter with God, and a miracle of wish fulfillment――Prince Ark asked Chancellor Zephanel for affirmation with his eyes shining, but the Chancellor denied it so as to gently persuade him.

“Schwartz.”

After the debriefing session, we went shopping at the shooting range. But before that, in order to join Ashley and the others, Chancellor Zephanel and I headed through the courtyard of the Royal Palace to the Chancellor’s residence.

Prince Khan and Prince Ark were heading to the garden to call Queen Anastasia and Queen Claire, who are supposed to be having a tea party with Lapitilika-sama.

Chancellor Zephanel walked in front of me and called my name without looking back.

“What is it?”

“You didn’t seem to be surprised after hearing about me.”

“Really? ….Well, I had a hunch.”

“It must’ve been a laughable story, yes? A foolish puppet that wished to be human for the sake of a certain man, only to gain it from the same hand that tormented the same man.”

“Not at all…to love and pine for someone, is a proof of your existence as a human being.”

“――is that so?”

“――it is so.”

The Chancellor continued her pace without looking back. Perhaps reminiscing about her past, which is pretty much the entire history of the Kurtmerga Kingdom. I thought so as I followed her, noticing that her shoulders were slightly trembling.