Disciple of Immortal
Act 2: Chapter 4: Philia

Act 2: Chapter 4: Philia

After annihilating all the monsters that were attacking the caravan, the caravan started moving again towards its goal, the Magic City of Manarak.

「Sorry… somehow, I ended up sacrificing you, Pomera-san.」

I bowed to Pomera inside the moving carriage.

「I don’t mind but… no, I don’t know whether it’s okay or not…」

Pomera accepted my apology with a rather complicated look on her face.

… In just a matter of a few days, Pomera had transformed from the saint who’d singlehandedly broken Notes’ barrier while healing people during the Aarburgh incident, into a summoner who could use a giant dragon’s spirit.

She must’ve been thinking over a lot of things over the past few days.

Rather, regardless of the title, it was something that was forced onto her by sheer coincidence– of course, the reason being me.

「Uhm… it’s about Philia-chan… who she really is?」

Pomera looked at Philia with an anxious look on her face.

As I thought, at this stage, I guess I’ve got no choice but to tell Pomera about Philia’s background. I mean, it’s impossible to keep her in the dark since we’re going to be traveling together from now on.

I sent a signal to Philia with my eyes, asking her permission regarding telling Pomerea about her origins.

This was a huge secret after all.

Philia was leisurely hanging out her body outside the carriage’s window as usual, enjoying the scenery outside.

She turned to me when I looked at her, an adorable smile blossoming on her face as her eyes met mine.

It’s so cute… but that wasn’t what I meant.

「Philia-chan… can I tell Pomera-san about your origins?」

When I asked that, the smile immediately vanished from Philia’s face. She looked at me expressionlessly.

It seems that she has no idea what I’m talking about.

I still have no idea how much of the memories she’s retained from five thousand years ago when she was still known as the God of Fear, Zorophilia. But still, I don’t think it’s a good idea to thoughtlessly disclose someone else’s past as a third party.

Philia smiled again as she crawled on the bench before sitting on my lap.

「Philia-chan?」

Philia then looked up at my face.

「Philia, don’t understand difficult words, so Philia will leave it to Kanata!」

She gave me her go ahead with the cutest smile on her face.

… So her silence from earlier was because she had no idea what I was talking about.

It seems that Notes’ ancestors had planted an extremely powerful curse on Philia. That combined with an extremely long period of being sealed appears to have resulted in Philia forgetting who she really was.

Or maybe, she just simply forgot about herself.

Well, this might be a blessing in disguise. Moreover, due to her special circumstances, any misjudgements related to her might affect me too.

Maybe the reason why she said 『I’ll leave this matter to you』 was because she was being considerate towards us.

「Philia-chan…」

When I called her name, she leaned her back on me.

Her eyes closed as if she didn’t have any worries about the matter at all.

It seems that she’d already fallen asleep after being tired of all that frolicking around.

… As I thought, I might once again have overestimated her.

「She is a person who got sealed long time ago, and her seal was released by Notes.」

「… FUE?」

Pomera stared at me in wonder.

「Originally, Notes was going to use Philia-chan’s power to overthrow the kingdom. He never expected that Philia-chan’s power surpassed his imagination but… even I got cold sweats when fought her.」

I mean, I never expected for her to change herself into me, she even created four copies of me to kill the real me.

「…」

Pomera’s mouth flapped repeatedly like a fish out of water.

「Pomera… san?」

「She even managed to corner Kanata-san… just what kind of a monster she is…」

「Just what kind of existence I’m in your mind, Pomera-san?」

Pomera quickly covered her mouth when she noticed her verbal slip.

「Naturally, the current Philia-chan doesn’t have any wish to fight me. Though the ancestors of Notes seems to cast powerful curse on Philia-chan to control her will, I’ve already solved that curse.」

「B-B-But… s-still… is it… really safe?」

Pomera asked me with a restless look on her face.

I understood the reason behind her restlessness. I mean, I was worried to death about what I should do regarding Philia, but I don’t think that killing her or leaving her behind was an option. Yet, I couldn’t think of any feasible idea except for bringing her along with us.

「Hyuu~」

That moment, Philia’s body slipped down as her head landed on my lap. She was already sleeping soundly. She was smiling pleasantly in her sleep.

Even Pomera’s face relaxed the moment she saw Philia’s adorable sleeping face.

「I understand your worry but… it’s not like abandoning Philia-chan is an option.」

「You’re… right.」

Pomera nodded lightly, agreeing with me.

After that, our journey was smooth sailing. There were no more monster attacks anymore after the first raid.

Five days later, a city surrounded by ramparts came into sight.

I could see a tall and pointed roof on the other side of the rampart.

「Is that magic city Manarak?」

「Most likely. Pomera heard that it isn’t that far from Aarburgh but… this is also the first time Pomera has come to this city. It is rumored to be the best place for things such as the alchemy research institute. It’s library is supposed to have the biggest grimoire collection in the entire kingdom.」

「I see… Lunaire might be really delighted if she comes to this place…」

I muttered those words to myself.

Though such a plan wasn’t realistic due to her hades impurity… she might be dying to know about the latest developments in magic and new grimoires.

Judging from the roof beyond the ramparts, that city must be a magnificent place.

If possible, I wanted to visit this city along with her.

「Kanata… san?」

I suddenly came to my senses upon hearing Pomera’s voice.

「Welp, I ended up daydreaming. My bad, can you just ignore my rambling just now?」

「Well… I mean, that person called Lunaire-san is your teacher, right?」

Pomera asked with a puzzled look on her face.

「Yeah. Should I say that… it’s not just magic, my combat skills are also something taught she taught me.」

It seems Pomera always has some strange worries about Lunaire.

Well, that might be natural considering how I blew up the story about Lunaire.

「Is something the matter about her?」

「No, it just that everytime Kanata-san is talking about Lunaire-san… uhm… you always sound so passionate…」

「She is my benefactor after all.」

Pomera might be wondering about what kind of a person Lunaire is.

「Judging from the name, Lunaire-san might be a woman but… I wonder how old she is right now?」

「Th—」

Woops, I almost blurted out “Thousand years old”.

Fortunately, I stopped right away.

Because telling Pomera about Lunaire’s age might make the former realize that the latter is a lich.

Though it doesn’t mean that I didn’t trust Pomera, it’s better if she doesn’t know about this fact. Maybe I should convert her age to the limit of a human’s lifespan.

「Around eighty years old.」

「Ooh… So Lunaire-san is a grandma huh…」

Pomera heaved a sigh upon hearing Lunaire’s age.

Though I noticed that she might have some sort of a misunderstanding due to this matter… Well, I think it’s no big deal since Pomera and Lunaire would never meet anyway. [TL : Mark this line, he just set a death flag!]

「Is there something the matter with that?」

「N-Not at all! It’s not a problem at all!!」

Pomera shook her head. Her face was flushed red.

I wonder about that but… well, all is well as long as Pomera understands that.

===

TN : Re-Releasing since it got deleted by accident!