Chapter 1121 – #266_Old Story (2)
#1115
1.
To reach a higher realm, Keter abandoned even some of her lofty hierarchy, leaving only the order within herself.
Erelim, having watched her by her side for a long time, came to a realization.
Perhaps chaos was also a part that completed order?
Wasn’t what was left for Keter just an incomplete order?
It was an old thought that she could never find an answer to.
2.
As was later revealed by a prominent physicist, time is relative.
However, for all beings living on this small blue planet, time was absolute.
Things that seemed like they would never change did change, and moments that seemed like they would last forever passed fleetingly.
This was the same for the transcendent witch who had broken free from the cycle.
Her comrades who had built Gehenna together were no longer close friends who treated each other without calculation.
Perhaps it was a predetermined ending.
The single goal of creating a city for witches had only temporarily served as a buffer zone for their respective interests, ideologies, and thoughts.
“I don’t particularly want to be at odds with Blanche, but this is an unacceptable proposal.”
Count Cagliostro, who was treated as the youngest among her colleagues, was now the head of a large alchemy society called the Emerald Tablet.
“It might sound harsh, but to bring up old friendships… we’ve changed too much, haven’t we? Duke Erelim.”
She gave a bitter smile during her conversation with Erelim, reminding her of her delusion.
Erelim, while acknowledging the validity of her words, was quite shocked.
She felt it was ridiculous that she had held such naive optimism that once a bond was formed, it would last forever, even as time passed.
“Everyone, take care. I’m grateful that I can see your faces one last time like this. It’s shameless of me, but our Eloa is still lacking in many ways, so please take good care of her.”
Tiferet passed on the name Tiferet to her apprentice witch.
It wasn’t just her.
Yesod, Gemena, Kohav, Adonai, Ophiel, and many other connections.
One by one, they left behind successors with a relieved expression, as if they had ‘achieved everything.’
She understood.
This was the essence and fate of a witch.
The pilgrim’s steps toward the high realm of magic are completed upon death.
The act of feeding on one’s teacher and gifting the promised despair to one’s own disciples, who are like children.
What turns one’s eyes away from that cruelty is the awareness as a seeker who carries on the great work of the witch of creation, and the pride of a witch.
How precious is this pride?
Erelim would sometimes, as if she were a bystander unrelated to the series of events, wear a sneer.
So, if Erelim herself hadn’t changed, that wasn’t the case either.
“We will now begin the general meeting of the Truth and True Name Academic Society.”
Erelim had become the head of Gehenna’s largest academic society, the Truth and True Name Academic Society.
Even after rising to a position where she was revered by all, she didn’t feel particularly moved.
This was because she knew that talent that exceeded a certain level did not simply remain an attribute, but determined the future of the one who possessed it.
Time flowed by meaninglessly.
The life Erelim had lived had become a long enough period to be called ‘history.’
Many things had happened during this time.
The number of witches Keter had personally killed exceeded three digits.
About half of Gehenna’s citizens had become exiles.
Keter, who was simply the city’s designer and duchess, had become the Queen of Witches and reigned over the iron-blooded laws.
The complaints and resistance that were heard in the beginning had dulled as if worn away by the waves of time, and before long, most of the witches in the world accepted the laws established by Keter as a matter of course.
Around that time, Keter had become a different person, with almost nothing left of her former self.
Keter no longer smiled at Erelim.
She neither grieved nor rejoiced.
Her once star-like golden eyes now only revealed apathetic disillusionment and fatigue, like tarnished gold coins.
Erelim did not ask for the reason in detail.
She didn’t go to Keter with alcohol to comfort her.
Because after the news spread that Keter had killed Nukelabi, the two, who were once like teacher and student, mother and daughter, older sister and younger sister, began to treat each other as if they didn’t exist.
This was not a sign of hostility towards Keter.
Rather, it could be said to be Erelim’s own compromise.
Erelim could not accept Keter’s order, but she wanted to respect her intentions.
Even though they differed in values and methodologies, she believed that they agreed on the goal of creating a world for witches.
Avoiding conflict with Keter and acting as an indifferent bystander was the greatest concession Erelim could make.
“It’s been a long time since you’ve come to my chambers.”
“…Your way of speaking is as strange as ever, Keter.”
Erelim visited Keter only a few years after the massive invasion of Gehenna by the Qliphoth.
As mentioned earlier, Erelim’s life was a long period that should be called history.
She had actually watched the changing world for a long time, and repeatedly pondered whether she was wrong.
“Keter, I believe your intentions are right. But your methods are wrong.”
Therefore, these words, spoken without the formality of ‘how have you been,’ were the result of a decision made after a very long period of contemplation.
“Humans are dangerous beings. It doesn’t mean that witches should dominate and conquer humans. But I don’t think they are beings that should be protected even at the cost of killing and expelling our own kind.”
At that time, the current world was in the midst of the imperialist craze.
It was a time when the great powers were exploiting numerous colonies, and they justified their exploitation with the rhetoric that ‘we, as noble intellectuals, have a duty to spread civilization to the uncivilized barbarians.’
She had seen an era of massacres, exploitation, and war.
Each case was stained with a bloody color that was too dirty to even speak of.
Erelim saw human greed, desire, foolishness, and cruelty within that bloody stain.
She saw which direction the power moved when humans gained it.
Keter listened to Erelim’s words with a calm attitude.
She did not show even the slightest change in expression from the beginning to the end of the conversation.
“Keter, we were going to create a world for witches, weren’t we? Or was I wrong?”
Even though she had anticipated how the conversation would end at that point, Erelim spoke desperately.
Erelim’s tone was closer to a plea.
Perhaps she was hoping that Keter, who had only responded with silence, would persuade her with her eloquent speech.
But Keter did not.
“…If you have finished your story, step back. I will reconsider.”
“Again, with that kind of…”
Erelim could no longer suppress the long-standing anger and frustration that erupted from deep within her chest.
“No, I won’t step back. I deserve a more proper answer from you.”
“……”
“I’ve carried out everything you’ve instructed! Because I respected you more than anyone else, because I thought you would always take the right path, even if the methods were different! Even on the night you killed Nukelabi, I was in my office organizing the damn city laws!”
“……”
The resentment, which had become too old and turned into a raw, sticky mess, was sharply poured out towards Keter.
“Psyche is wandering the current world with the stigma of being a public enemy, and Nukelabi died at your hands. What was the city for? What was the rule for? An order achieved by killing friends, killing our own kind, and protecting the wrong people? If this is the order you wanted… I…”
Erelim was about to say things like ‘I will gladly become a public enemy,’ ‘I will become your enemy,’ ‘I will deny this city.’
These words were half-hearted, but they were paths that Erelim would never choose.
It was just a kind of desperate struggle to draw out the truth from Keter’s mouth, or to distort her face, which was looking at Erelim expressionlessly, even for a brief moment of bewilderment.
It was a desperate cry for attention, like a child left unattended in indifference, acting out.
“…Ha.”
But Erelim closed her mouth with a sneer.
Because she was certain that Keter would not be shaken no matter what she said.
Keter was just looking down at Erelim without any emotion, like a tired ancient dragon.
“You are not the Keter I knew. You are just a machine that reigns over an order you created yourself, that’s who you are.”
Erelim turned away.
She thought that any further conversation was worthless.
She felt a clear line of separation that could never be mended again.
Or perhaps, it was a line that had already been drawn a long time ago, and she was only discovering it now.
“If I become a public enemy and cause a ruckus, you’ll kill me with that boring expression, right?”
A word flew out behind Erelim’s back as she was about to leave without expecting an answer.
“No, Blanche. That’s not it. I would definitely be very sad.”
Erelim bit her lower lip tightly and left Keter’s bedroom, struggling not to look back.
3.
Keter fell ill.
Erelim did not know the exact cause.
She didn’t even hear what kind of illness it was, and in the first place, only a few people knew that she was sick.
Keter no longer properly ruled the city.
She rarely showed her face to the outside world.
She put up a ‘no visitors’ sign at the Ivory Tower, stopped all her work, and of course, she no longer issued direct purges.
The really ridiculous thing was that after Keter disappeared, Erelim silently maintained her order.
Even though she felt fear when she saw the humans who had developed so frighteningly, she stood by.
If there was a witch who interfered too much in the current world, she would manipulate the location points and Psyche from behind the scenes to purge them.
She had heard from Keter before.
That Keter’s body had become unable to achieve a normal inheritance in the process of separating from Lilith in the past.
That Keter’s legacy, which had reached the 30th level, would eventually be given to someone other than an apprentice witch.
But Erelim’s actions were not the result of calculation because she coveted Keter’s legacy.
She was certain of that much.
That was why Erelim herself could not understand why she was continuing Keter’s will, which she considered unreasonable.
Judging coldly, it was the height of foolishness.
Only after a long time had passed did Erelim realize the cause of her contradictory behavior.
‘No, Blanche. That’s not it. I would definitely be very sad.’
It was probably because the last conversation she had with Keter was echoing in her head like a melody.
