## Chapter 95 – Black Root
“…You know who I am, don’t you?”
“…Yes.”
She looks like Iran, but the person in front of me isn’t Iran.
The light in her voice, her face, her eyes, I’ve seen it before.
It was the long-haired man I saw on the beach in my dream, or perhaps reality.
That man had the same colored eyes as the color I ate.
If that’s the case, then this woman who looks like Iran is probably…
“That’s right, I’m one of the people who made the flower, just like that guy.”
“You can read minds too?”
“Why? Did you think only you could do it? I’ve been able to do this for a long time.”
The woman, tidying Iran’s disheveled hair, sits on the bed with her legs crossed.
A small silence falls between her and me, and the woman smiles as if she finds the situation amusing.
“What did you do? Are you going to take over her body? Like a petal?”
“Ahaha… Even so, we don’t have the ability to take over human bodies.
This is all because this kid ate the fruit containing me.”
“….”
“I understand why you’re looking at me so suspiciously.
But if I could take over a body, wouldn’t I have done it already?
It’s too stuffy and boring inside that fruit.”
“…I’m not suspicious, it’s just that you feel completely different from the man I met before.”
“Ah, you mean that guy with the weird hairstyle? Why? How did he come to meet you?”
“…I just fainted and woke up on a strange beach, and he suddenly appeared there…”
The woman bursts into laughter, clutching her stomach, cutting off my story.
She apologizes even while laughing, as if worried about interrupting me.
I’m bewildered as I watch the woman laughing so hard that she’s rolling her feet.
Did I accidentally tell a funny story?
“…No, no… I’m sorry, I just remembered that guy’s face.
The man you met is named Virgilio, and he’s always been such an eccentric guy.”
“…He had a name?”
“Don’t tell me he didn’t even tell you his name? The mysterious concept is still going strong.
Oh, right. I didn’t introduce myself either. I’m Lapice.”
A woman named Lapice, who seems to be enjoying chatting with me endlessly.
She clearly looks like Iran, but inside she’s a completely different person.
The noisy and talkative part is exactly like Iran.
No, is Iran messing with me? I get that kind of illusion.
“…Sorry, did I talk too much about myself?”
As if she read my thoughts, she stops talking and abruptly stops laughing, looking at me cautiously.
I shake my head at her and start putting on the pants I had taken off.
Just as she can read my thoughts, I, who gained her power, also read her thoughts.
Inside Lapice, who talks endlessly, was the loneliness she had endured alone for a long time.
Having tasted a bit of that immeasurable pain, I couldn’t interrupt her.
And on the other hand, I had more questions.
What was the reason they were trapped in the fruit for an infinite amount of time?
What happened to them, and what is the secret of the flower?
“…”
I scratch my head, looking at Lapice’s face, which is looking at the floor with a gloomy expression.
“So, you’re not going to disappear somewhere, are you?”
“Huh? Yeah.”
“Then I have some questions, would you mind telling me a little bit?”
“What is it?!”
She seems genuinely happy about this trivial conversation.
She leans her upper body forward with Iran’s small body, demanding questions.
…Well, I was going to hang out with her later anyway…
“Huh?! You’re going to hang out? Where are you going?!”
“Hey, get off me! Don’t read other people’s minds so carelessly!
I’ll take you wherever you want later, so let me ask my questions first…!”
“Okay! Sure, ask me anything!”
I push away Lapice, who is excitedly clinging to me, and coax her.
She sits down with a poised posture and demands questions triumphantly.
I, who raised my voice in a hoarse voice in embarrassment, clear my throat and ask her.
“…Then I’ll ask you right away, what am I?
A human? Or something else entirely? A monster?”
Something I wanted to ask Virgilio when I met him again after meeting him.
I’ll start with that first. Lapice hears my question and erases the smile she had until just now.
And unlike before, she smiles maturely and beautifully, and speaks calmly.
“…Do you need an explanation? Or should I just tell you?”
“…Just tell me.”
‘Okay,’ she says, adjusting her posture a little more comfortably and sitting down. She pauses for a moment before opening her mouth.
“…You’re human, but not a normal human.”
“…Something like an ancient person? Not human but human?”
It was a somewhat incomprehensible answer.
An answer that couldn’t erase the fear I had, the fear that Iran had caught on to.
What am I, anyway? Since meeting Virgilio, that question and fear have grown more and more.
I feel like something about me has changed a little. It’s not about strength and body,
It’s about something inside me.
Won’t I turn into something I don’t even know? The fear that I’ll turn into something I don’t even know.
Isn’t it the price for harming others and seeking only pleasure? The fear grips my throat.
Hearing her words, an unknown desolation breaks my neck, and I scratch my head.
“…Then I’ll explain.”
“…?”
I was looking down and scratching my head as if it would come off.
Lapice, raising her knees and lifting her body, gently strokes my head,
Lapice connects the end of her words with a calm and soft voice.
“You are human, but you are not human. Because you have received the blessing of the ‘Root King’.”
“…Huh? That person was clearly…
Wasn’t he sealed in the fruit? Like them, in 10 fruits…
Lapice shakes her head slightly, fixing my hair, as if that thought was wrong.
“He likes to travel, he always traveled when something sad happened.
He said the wind felt good while walking, it was ridiculous…
Maybe he left on a trip the day he put us in the fruit.”
“…Then what happened to that person?”
“Well, but you must have met that guy while he was traveling.
His power was a little special, unlike ours. He had nothing for himself,
He could heal or give strength to other people.
The old humans called that a ‘blessing’, and I feel that power in you.”
“…That power is inside me?”
“…To be honest, that’s what I’m guessing, but it’s definitely the power of the Root King.”
I look at my hands and clench and unclench them for no reason.
The power of the Root King is inside me? Since when…?
Then a dark forest flashes through my mind.
“…When my grandfather abandoned me on the mountain…”
‘…Oh, a human child.’
A man’s voice, which I feel like I’m hearing for the first time, and warmth are revived in my mind.
At the same time, a headache rushes in, and I try to grab my head,
Lapice gently touches my head before my hand can reach it.
I groan softly and sweat coldly from the pain.
“…Why is this…?”
“Hehe, I’ll explain everything. It seems like it’s going to be a long story,
Would it be okay if I put on some clothes?”
I lift my head from her arms, who was hugging me, and Lapice is smiling awkwardly.
Come to think of it, Iran’s body wasn’t wearing anything.
I quietly pick out the least burnt and intact clothes from the clothes scattered on the floor,
I handed it to her. Lapice, who nods her head as if thanking me, puts on her clothes,
She sat comfortably on the bed, adjusting her posture as if it would be a long story.
“You’re curious about yourself and the flower, right?”
“…Yes.”
“…Um, how much explanation did you get from the man you met before?”
I briefly explain the conversation with the man I met on the strange beach to her question.
Then, Lapice nods her head and seems to be organizing her thoughts.
“Um, then I’ll start the story from here. You heard from that guy that our relationship gradually deteriorated, right? If you only hear it in words like this, it might seem like a small fight,
It wasn’t that kind of thing. If we had different powers from humans, we should have been more careful,
We couldn’t do that and lost our minds, so we did terrible things to many humans.”
“…What was it like?”
“…You can see that we only look like humans, but our roots are different, right?
The humans at that time had no technology or knowledge, and in their eyes, we were just divine beings.
More and more people blindly believed in and followed our power, and worshiped us, and those people…
They were caught up in our insignificant fights. A war broke out.”
“…Did you fight too? I mean, did you… use humans?”
“Would you believe me if I said I didn’t fight?”
Her beautiful green eyes were stained with sadness,
Had she cried while thinking about various things alone in the fruit for a time close to eternity?
Sadness is felt in her eyes, but tears do not flow, and she rather forces a bitter smile.
“…The Root King, that man, tried to stop the war somehow.
He thought he would protect the humans because the flower he made was at the center of the war.
So, the decision he made in the end was…”
“…Was it to seal you all and try to wipe out the flower?”
She nods her head slightly at my answer.
“…Our powers were equal, so we needed to use petals to win the fight.
And the countless humans who could be the hosts of those petals.”
“…Ugh?!”
My head hurts, I hear countless screams, screams, and shouts in my head.
The headache that pecks at my head, which I’ve become accustomed to.
A scream that tears through the tinnitus caused by the pain.
‘…Stop, please stop…!! Stop it!!!’
A man shedding tears, kneeling on the sea of blood and dropping tears.
“…You…”
Looking at his desperate back, I was also standing on that sea of blood at some point.
