Chapter 158 – Episode 157. Your Name (2)
Even after three or four days, Leopold did not move at all.
He is not leaving the hotel, nor is he making any other moves.
He only read the reports that came up every morning, noon, and evening, but he didn’t move much.
“Hey, Your Highness.”
“Hmm? Is that Astrid?”
“Yes.”
Leopold can now tell the difference between Astrid and Asti just by the way he speaks.
But lately, Asti hasn’t come out at all, so if you put it roughly, it’s also Astrid.
“Is it okay if I don’t move like this right now?”
“Are you bored?”
There was no way I wouldn’t be bored, having been in a hotel for several days without moving.
It was just boring for Astrid since she didn’t even go outside.
“But be patient with me, Astrid. Astain’s whereabouts will be found soon, and if so, they will be able to move immediately. It would be nice to think of it as the night before the storm.”
“Ah, I see.”
Astrid, who could no longer disturb Leopold, who started looking at the report again and checking something on the map spread out on the table, went out onto the balcony overlooking the garden.
A cold wind blew.
Come to think of it, it’s been a bit strange lately.
‘Hey, you.’
【Why.】
When I saw him replying like this, he was there, but he didn’t even ask for a change, and he didn’t bother to come out.
Occasionally, when Leopold mistakenly called Asti, he would come out and give way to Astrid soon after.
‘What are you up to these days?’
【What is there to do? Nothing happened. Really.】
‘It’s not like nothing happened.’
Astrid has a good sense of humor.
If you have a conversation with someone who can’t hide their thoughts well, in severe cases, you can read the other person’s plans just by looking at their face.
There was no way Astrid was fooled by Asti’s statement that nothing was wrong.
‘Just talk. What else do we have to hide between us?’
【… There’s really nothing wrong with that. I just have something to think about.]
Astrid knew why.
Asti was still unable to speak honestly.
Why can’t I remember the name?
Just as Leopold had said, I took a deep breath and woke up, but I couldn’t remember my name.
No matter how much I replay my memories, I remember everything about where she originally lived and where she stayed, even the small one-room room, and on top of that, I remember the road to the house that didn’t even look like it and the surrounding geography.
One of her names, does it make sense that she can’t remember that.
‘… Shall we talk a little bit? Come to think of it, she doesn’t seem to have talked openly about it while living in one body like this.’
【I think so.】
Asti was unusually weak.
She knew what was going on, but no matter how much she asked, she wouldn’t answer, so even Astrid had a frustrating side.
However, the more pressing it is, the more it has the opposite effect.
Even when he encouraged soldiers on the battlefield, it would have the opposite effect if he treated them harshly.
Compared to Astrid, her natural soldier, Asti didn’t seem like that at all, so it was her turn to have Astrid as her life counselor.
‘What kind of place have you been? I thought it was a different world from here.’
These are the words she heard from Leopold, who had visited her in her dreams.
I’ve heard of it from Berashien as well.
A steel carriage that does not even need a horse, and runs on its own.
A place where buildings taller than the imperial castle lined up.
Science and technology far more advanced than this Einhafen.
A place where there is no magic, but there are magical things.
【I don’t know how to explain it. It’s just where I was born and raised. Until one day I suddenly woke up in your body, that place was also my hometown… 】
‘Is this your hometown? Is that the place you want to return to now?’
【Return to… 】
Asti quietly muttered in her mouth.
A place to return to, home.
That sounds really nice to hear.
But something got stuck.
Where to return?
Where to go back?
I thought I had abandoned my attachments now, so I stopped desperately looking for a way to return to the past, but
Even so, when I mumbled like this, something awkward remained.
‘Why is that?’
【Ah, no. Nothing.】
Astrid looked out over the balcony at the garden.
Familiar mood.
The endless plains and the mountain ranges carrying the ice caps that can only be seen near the edge of the horizon, but not to the horizon.
She is to her a familiar landscape that she has seen all her life,
What would it be like for Asti, who is not a local person?
How she must have felt when she opened her eyes in this body of hers.
She was unimaginable for Astrid.
‘… It’s okay if you don’t have to talk about it. I just wanted to know more about who you are.’
【I am someone… If so… 】
I couldn’t remember her name.
But I remembered as much as my age.
A 24-year-old, soon to be 25-year-old man.
He was a very ordinary person.
I was born in a normal family and grew up in a normal way.
Kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, high school, and college.
And after finishing the first year of university, I went to the army.
‘The army? Is there an army in your world?’
【… It was a place where the army was more desperate than here?]
Since it also had the characteristics of a divided country, it was rather a place that desperately needed an army several times more than Einhafen, which unifies the continent and wields mighty prestige.
[It was a place where almost all men went to the army when they turned 20.]
‘Hoo. It’s a good place. Sounds like a nice place?’
Yep, that’s what you see
As always with the military, it’s a problem because it’s only on the surface and not in reality.
‘For some reason, it seemed a bit like a soldier.’
[To be a soldier. There will be a big difference between the army I was in and the army you think.]
‘An army is an army. What’s the difference?’
Asti’s tone was calm.
Even though he was talking about himself, Asti continued his words calmly, as if he was talking to someone else.
He had served in the army, and while he was preparing to return to school after being discharged…
…
No,
What was it
Library… ?
Night?
Fire… ?
‘Gwa, are you okay?’
【Ah, yes. Sorry. Ah… This is true.]
Confusion came suddenly.
Astiga, as she retraced and traced the memories she had lived through, the confusion intensified.
The feeling that something is mixed up in my head.
It seemed that that figure was invisible to Astrid, who had now occupied her body, and only visible to Asti, who had passed into the conscious world.
‘Hey, are you okay?’
【It’s okay, really. It’s really okay. Anyway, uh… Okay. I was just an ordinary person.]
‘I’m glad if it’s okay. But I think it’s a bit cheesy.’
【What?】
He grabbed the teacup.
Asti dislikes tea because of its thick scent, but Astrid rather likes it.
The teacup, still warm, warmed her fingers.
‘It’s shameful that you and Your Highness have been there alone. I want to go too. I wonder where it is I want to see it with my own eyes once.’
【Maybe I can go.】
‘And if possible, I want to go to the military in that world.’
【… I wish I never said anything like that… And what, if you ask Veracian, can’t you go and see it?]
It’s because they’re demons that are useful in many ways.
Unknowingly, without knowing a single word like Leopold’s, Asti muttered.
*
“The contract is completely broken, right?”
“Huh. No problem.”
“Just in case you don’t know, check it one more time.”
“Is it so?”
Veracien glanced at Eranya and raised her index finger.
Her fingers pierced her temples and entered her head, until finally one of her hands was digging through her head.
“… Wow, it’s really the second time I see it, but the disgusting thing doesn’t change.”
“You talk too much. Anyway, no problem.”
Wiping the blood from her hands, Vera Shien smiled.
“Well, whatever, fine. Can we go to the Grand Duchy of Myterien as it is?”
“They will be there too.”
In fact, Leopold and Astrid were fooling around at the stopover, but Erania and Veracien didn’t even think of that.
Finally, the wagon completely out of the academy started running on the road.
The wagon, which had been running silently, gradually began to make a rattling sound,
Vibration flowed into the wagon little by little.
“Astain, what is the purpose?”
“I heard that collecting all 12 blessings.”
Veracien’s answer came back to Erania muttering to herself.
She muttered to herself while resting her chin outside her car window. Eranya, who did not expect her answer to come back unexpectedly, opened her eyes wide and looked at Serberacien.
“… You say you collect all the blessings?”
“Huh. After collecting all the blessings, blah blah… What do you mean?”
“What are you going to do with all of that?”
“Well, I don’t know. Astain seems to know something. So you’ve already collected 4 of them? I don’t know what’s going on now.”
Even if you do all of them, there are 12 blessings.
It was said that only one protection could be received per person.
It was rather strange that Astrid received two, and even though she stole it from someone else, it was very unconventional that Astain collected four.
It’s not that there hasn’t been such an attempt, but it’s never been successful, and Astein is the only successful case.
If Astain’s plan comes true and all 12 blessings are collected in one body—
There were rumors that those 12 divine protections would gather to become one divine protection.
Rumors that few people now believe.
“Her. Even if it’s crazy, it’s crazy in a strange way. Asti is the first person to have two, so what are you going to do with all of them?”
“I don’t know. But does it look fun? That’s why I signed a contract.”
“I don’t even know. What are you thinking?”
“It’s kind of fun in the first place.”
Erania sighed deeply.
What the hell was about to happen, Eranya could not understand at all.
