Here's what I've done since then.
First of all, I found out about the problems of this territory from the King of the Water Spirits.
She offered me some conditions in exchange for the information, but I'd like to discuss this and other matters with the butler-san later, so I'll leave it at that for now.
Next, I borrowed cookies from the kitchen, a white handkerchief from my room, and a light blue ribbon from some small room, taking advantage of Augusto-san's crazy specs.
You already know the rest, right?
I wrapped the cookies in a handkerchief and wrapped them with a ribbon, gave them to the Spirit King-san, and watched her go home in a good mood.
Spirits are so cute, aren't they?
Putting aside such unimportant matters, the next thing I did was to take care of the most important thing, Julia-san.
The frozen room and Julia-san's corpse that made me sad just by looking at it, as if Augusto-san's love for her was painful, as if he cherished her dearly and stopped time.
I have to discuss with Augusto-san's mother and the butler-san about what to do with this room, so I'll leave it for now.
But in order to move Julia-san's body, we had to do something about the magic that was making this corner of the room work like a freezer.
First of all, I picked up the rainbow-colored magic stones that were placed in the four corners of the room.
Destroying them seems to be easy with Augusto-san's overly powerful specs, but I heard that magic stones are actually good for money, so I'd like to reuse them.
Because there's a good chance we'll run out of money in our coffers.
When I put the four magic stones I picked up on a nearby chest and stared at them, I saw some kind of magical, unfamiliar formula playing in my mind, like a computer program.
I don't know how, what became like this, I don't know anything, but to say I know, it's really something that I don't understand. What is this.
It's no use thinking about it, I thought as I formulated the magic power to intervene in the magical program.
If it was too strong, it would destroy the whole room, so I had to be careful.
Magic is energy, and if it fails, it will explode, just like gasoline, I suppose.
Through trial and error, I tried to find the perfect balance of magic power.
It is very difficult to make it stronger than the program, but not to the extent of destroying it.
But I had to do it.
To concentrate, I breathed in through my nose and out through my mouth.
A magic program is a strange word for me to think of....
I don't really care about that, but for some reason I can't stop thinking about it, and I chuckle to myself.
I looked at the program and thought about what would be the best way to go about it, and realized that it might be better to delete them one by one rather than rewrite them.
The first step was to cut the magic power supply in the magic stone.
It would be like making a blade out of magic power.
That way, the power to run the program would be gone, and it would be as if the power was off.
There are traps that will explode if you turn off the timer of a time bomb, so it might be easier to say that it is similar to turning off the wire that is connected to the power supply first.
As I cut the supply, the air around me changed as I had expected.
The ice that was born from the magic melted into the air as magic power.
Thinking that the dense magical power might accumulate in this area, I decided to create a flow of air and compress it.
If the magic power fills the area all at once, the people nearby will suffer from a symptom similar to altitude sickness.
Even though magic power is not harmful to humans, it is not good when it accumulates in large quantities.
This is also true of water, snow, and air, so it is not surprising.
So, I decided to use this magic power for the magic that was being deployed to protect this land, which was not being used at all.
As the ice slowly melted, I started deleting the programs one by one.
First, to prevent it from starting up, then the circuits that supply it, and so on, one by one, without fail.
There was even a program to stop time, which made me sad for Augusto-san's love.
It would take a lot of magic power just to activate it.
It took a while, but I removed it.
In addition, the magic power generated by the melting is compressed and sent to the defense magic little by little.
This magic is used to store magic power on a regular basis so that it can be used to create a magical barrier in case of emergency.
Apparently, Augusto-san was also using the magic power he had originally stored for defense to preserve Julia-san.
...... It's a good thing we've had peace and quiet so far.
Perhaps because the program was rather simple, except for stopping time, the four magic stones quickly became nothing more than magic stones.
The rainbow-colored magic stones are now ice blue, the same color as Augusto-san's eyes, probably because of the magic power that Augusto-san has put into them.
Now we just have to wait for the ice to melt.
I could have melted it all at once, but I didn't feel like doing that.
With Augusto-san's specs, I think I could do it without leaking any magic power, but I felt like I would be denying Augusto-san's love if I did.
It was the first place that froze, so it was inevitable that it would take some time for Julia-san's ice to melt.
The magic power used for this spell was Augusto-san's love.
However, this love is only self-righteous and sad.
The ice that was slowly melting gradually decreased in extent and disappeared, leaving only Julia-san's body at the center.
Without a moment to ponder, the next thing that happened was the collapse.
Julia-san's body, which had been frozen in time for twelve years, slowly collapsed from the point where it came into contact with the outside air.
Slowly, like the petals of a cherry blossom falling down.
I couldn't touch it, I could only watch.
All that remained were the ashes of a human figure.
It was so fragile that if the wind blew, it would all be gone.
I couldn't even touch it with my bare hands.
The Julia-san in Augusto-san's memory was smiling happily.
Tears spilled.
───── Thank you ─────
The air that was supposed to be motionless moved softly.
There is a presence in this room where no one is supposed to be.
A fragile, gentle, and sad presence.
I didn't know it, but Augusto-san knew it.
The presence of the person that Augusto-san loved so much that he longed for and stopped time.
───── Thank you ─────
The white and transparent person smiled happily, just like in Augusto-san's memory, and then melted into the air.
Unable to understand what had happened, I could only stare dumbfounded at the space where the presence had disappeared.
In front of me, the humanoid ashes of Julia-san's body were lying on the bed.
There was only one answer that could be drawn from this.
Augusto-san had frozen Julia-san's soul as well as her body.
All these years, for twelve years, here, in such a lonely place, Julia-san was all alone.
She may not have had any sense of time because she was frozen in time, but I think Julia-sam understood that she was trapped.
But when she disappeared with a really happy face, I felt a little bit like I was saved.
Even though she had no sense of time, she might have understood that Augusto-san was dead.
That's probably why she was smiling so happily.
I guess this is how we finally met.
When I thought about it, I felt a little envious.
I want to go home, too.
I want to go home and see my mom and dad.
I felt my heart creak again, making an unpleasant sound.
I felt a peculiar sensation of tears running down my cheeks.
I breathed in through my nose and out through my mouth.
I wiped away the tears with my palm and stared at the ceiling.
Augusto-san's true wish was probably fulfilled now.
I'm still not satisfied with the fact that I have to clean up his mess, but this is the price I paid for the chance to live.
The reason I am able to live now is because I was given Augusto-san's body.
I want to live.
I want to be alive.
Then I have to live.
With a firm fist, I made up my mind again.
A room filled with various documents.
The sound of pens crunching and writing echoed through the room, and there were three men in the room.
A man was writing a document, his large body shrinking to avoid bumping into it.
His slender build leaving plenty of room, however keeping his spine straight, a fox-eyed man wrote the documents.
And a man in a butler's uniform who was sorting through the documents they had written, it was those three men.
They are the subordinates of the head of the house, Duke Augusto Werstein, and they are also his brothers.
In other words, the three of them were also childhood friends from long ago, and they were each other’s sworn brothers.
Stopping to fill out some paperwork, the large man ─── Ernest, suddenly opened his mouth
“Ah that’s right, what's that?"
"... You can't communicate without a subject, brother. What are you talking about?"
The fox-eyed man, Paul, asks Ernest, who looks back at him with his muscular, slightly thick figure swaying, in a dumbfounded tone of voice, without stopping his hand from writing the document.
"I'm sure you've noticed."
"So, what are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about the Young Master"
The man in the butler's uniform, Alfred, stopped sorting through the documents as a tense feeling suddenly began to set in.
"... Ernest, what are you trying to say?"
As he asked, he made a small metallic sound and adjusted one of his glasses, looking back at Ernest with a calm voice.
Then Ernest, the one who asked, took out his beloved cigarette and answered.
"I've been watching people for the past twelve years, so I can usually tell what kind of person they are by looking into their eyes."
He sucked on the cigarette and lit the cigarette in his mouth with a magical flame at his fingertips.
He inhaled and exhaled a cloud of purple smoke.
“… Is that really the Young Master we know?"
The words were so plain that you could tell from the sound of his voice that he was only confirming a fact, not expressing any dismay or doubt.
But for Alfred, his personal butler, it was something he could not overlook.
"There are some things you just can't say, Ernest."
"Oh, come on, even you haven't noticed?"
Ernest asked back with a bitter smile, mixing anger into his voice.
"What do you mean?"
"You've been around the Young Master for a long time, and I'm asking you if you've got holes for eyes."
When it comes to the Young Master, the blood is still rushing to his head, as usual, he thought, as he looked at his friend whom he had not seen for a while, as if confirming whether Alfred was aware of his lack of composure or not, but he gave him a sharp look.
"What are you trying to say?"
Ernest let out a breath that smelled of tobacco, and then stared back at Alfred with a sharp gaze that made everyone who saw him cower.
“… Then I'm going to ask you, is Young Master a person who makes eyes like that?"
"What do you mean, like that?"
"...... The kind of observant, emotionless, crystal ball eyes."
The Augusto Wehlstein he knew was a man who seemed cold and hot, fierce and gentle.
But the man he met for the first time in twelve years looked a little different from before.
He certainly looked as if he had just aged from his previous appearance.
But there was something different about him.
"..... What do you know about Master when you haven't seen him in 12 years?"
"I don't want you to get the wrong idea, but I don't mean to imply that the Young Master is a fake."
Alfred finally regained his composure there, and quietly opened his mouth at Ernest's words while inhaling smoke from the cigarette mouth and exhaling purple smoke.
"...... You haven't been told by the Master, so you don't know."
"Did something happen to the Master?"
Perhaps he had been refraining from interrupting the two blows, but here Paul finally posed the question.
After glancing at Paul, Alfred opened his mouth again.
"Before he was born again, when he was poisoned and died, he lost his memory.
Therefore, the Master we knew in the past…"
"Is that really all?"
The question posed in the middle of the explanation was somewhat decisive.
"... Ernest?"
"I don't mean to doubt Young Master’s words, but it doesn’t look like that to me"
"What do you mean by that"
"What Young Master keeping inside?"
In a quiet and somewhat mysterious voice, Ernest spoke up.
“Isn't there a whole other person in the mix?"
The Lord, Duke Augusto Werstein, is a silent man.
So, his subordinates can only guess his emotions from his eyes, his voice and his mood.
Alfred, the butler, was very good at this.
How could he not be aware of this?
"It's not possible."
"...... If my fears are unfounded, that's fine, but Alfred-san, you don’t have a idea of what I’m talking about?"
I have no idea.
I don't have any idea, but I do have an idea that I may have missed to notice the change.
──── I was too excited, you know.
He's ugly and fat, his mouth is full of abuse, his words and actions are incoherent, and without a shadow of his former self.
He has regained his former glory, beautiful, intelligent, magnificent, calm, and reliable.
Moreover, he has been reborn as the wisdom of mankind, a being close to God.
How could I not be happy?
How could I not be more or less elated?
He was shocked at his immaturity, and at the fact that he could not change it.
Suddenly, he found himself walking in front of the Lord's room.
He remembered something being said to him by those two behind him, but he couldn't remember anything, not even what they had said to him.
The only thoughts that came to mind were shock that something had been hidden from him, and self-loathing at himself for not noticing the change.
He was filled with vague negative emotions, but he couldn't seem to find any meaning in continuing to worry about it.
He took a deep breath in order to calm himself down.
Then knocked on the door and called out to the person as usual.
But no matter how long he waited, there was no answer, so he had no choice but to open the door.
However, contrary to his expectation, I couldn't even find his master, whom I had expected to be reading.
He was supposed to be spending the day without doing any work until his next appointment, but he was nowhere to be found.
By asking the nearby servants, I was able to quickly find out the direction the Lord had gone.
It was in the direction of the late Julia, Duchess Werstein's room.
An area that is now inaccessible to humans due to the Lord's magic.
I couldn't even enter the tomb and could only watch from afar as the Duchess slept peacefully in the frozen world.
"What a mess…"
I stepped into a place that had been transformed.
The area that used to be covered in ice was now so different from what I remembered that I thought it was a dream.
There was a certain amount of dust on the floor due to the fact that it was forbidden to use it, but it became less and less apparent as we approached the Duchess's room.
This was due to the fact that time had been stopped by magic as he moved toward the center of the room, but as a butler with minimal knowledge of magic, he had no way of knowing.
The door was still open, and he gently looked around the room.
What he saw was the figure of the Lord, staring at something in his hand.
──── It was as if he was only observing, without any emotion, in his crystal like eyes. ────
Eyes that from the Duke Augusto Werstein, he knew, were unimaginable and unfamiliar.
He was supposed to be the Lord, but he looked like someone else.
He heard the faint sound of his own blood dripping, like a light rain falling.
I decided to put the ashes of the body in a vase that Julia-san had liked, which was placed near the window.
This is a temporary measure until the body is placed in the grave, so I apologize to Julia-san, but I would like her to bear with me.
The wise man's magic is based on imagination, so it is very useful in these situations.
Like the application of wind magic, or the magic used by the wizard in Cinderella, the ashes flying through the air flowed into the vase.
After all the ashes were placed in the vase, all that was left was the ashes of the sleeping woman.
After all the ashes were put into the vase, what was left was a distorted magic stone that was supposed to be a small life sleeping in her body.
I picked up the light green stone with the same eyes as hers, and gently scooped it up with both hands.
It was a small life, about the size of my thumb, and I couldn't even tell if it was a boy or a girl.
It would be better to make a separate grave for this child.
I decided to put the other magical stones in a vase with Julia's ashes.
"…… Master."
For some reason, the familiar voice that I suddenly heard sounded terribly depressed.
Humans are really a wonder, to make a voice so depressed that it almost makes me chuckle in spite of myself.
"......... Alfred?"
I took my gaze off the magic stone that was the small life in my hands and called out to him.
The butler-san's face, which should have become familiar to me, had the most awful face I had ever seen.
"Is it time for the next appointment already?"
"......... Master…"
“It was a visit, with mother’s doctor, right"
"......... Master, no, you are…"
“Alfred?"
With a pale face, the butler-san's words and actions were choppy, as if he was checking something.
I called his name, a little mystified by his out-of-the-ordinary appearance.
"Who the hell are you?"
I felt my heart beating louder than ever.
//Melki: *dramatic ending music rolls in~*
Thanks for the chapter!
F... this is, heavy... I want them to understand and help and for her to be freed from all their expectations and I want her to be at the very least understood, this isn't her fault, or their fault, it's "that god that enjoyed a certain video game" fault... thanks for the chapter...