The room was silent, with only the sound of slow breathing and the sound of rain outside. That rain reminded him of that day. Maybe it was the worst and the most special day for him.
It was so lonely without her...
When Louise heard the sound of creaking wood, he turned to the open door. Although he could not see, he could already guess who was opening the door. Louise immediately greeted her with a greeting.
" You are already here. Come, sit down."
Eriu, who felt that the atmosphere in this room was already quite calm, felt bad when he saw that Eros was holding his hand as usual.
His current feeling was as bad as that time...
Following Louise's words, Eriu and Eros sat on the other side of the bench. Finally, Ariadne sat next to Louise and smiled languidly at Eriu.
Louise, who had been silent, soon opened his mouth, "I have something to tell you before we go to Loss Paradise."
Eros noticed the atmosphere in the room and the look on his face was one of uncertainty. Ariadne took both of Eros' hands, "You are part of our family too, so we want you to know about this."
"Um." Louise nodded at Ariadne's explanation. Seeing Eros looking relaxed, Ariadne took her hand and immediately took the two glasses of hot tea on the table and gave them to the two children.
In a calm voice Louise started the conversation, "Eri, do you remember the book I gave you a long time ago?
"The book called The Depth of the Sea and the Height of the Sky."
"Yes, I still remember." He even kept the book. At that time, 001 just said that it was an ordinary fairy tale and not too important, but somehow the story of the fairy tale was too deep for me to be a children's fairy tale.
It's possible that a small, invisible thing is the solution to all problems.
With the belief that the book also had something to do with the reason why 'Eriu Grith' was killed for no reason, without even explaining who his parents were and where they were.
Besides, now that he had seen his parents, he was sure that they were not the kind of parents who would abandon their child in the middle of the street.
The book tells the story of an immortal creature's journey to find the meaning of his existence. Knowing no one, he had to grow up alone in the forest without any help. Armed with the skills of his knowledge of medicine and poisons, the immortal finally left the forest where he lived.
He set out into the vast world.
On his first journey, the immortal was in a small kingdom that showed the status of humans between the rich and the poor. The Immortal eventually learned to speak and write from the inscriptions on the stalls, and generously taught the poor how to read and write.
But after that, the immortal was banished because he tried to teach someone the knowledge of the rich. The poor would never be allowed to hold paper. For the rich, the Immortal was like a fly that interfered with their power.
The poor were silent when they saw the immortal being beaten, but after the mustachioed people left, the poor immediately gave him medicine, although it was not an effective medicine, but it was the most sincere gift they could give.
After leaving the kingdom, the immortal traveled again and finally arrived at a tower filled with the aura of death. For the first time, the immortal saw the cruelty and kindness of humans, be it science or humanity.
It was very unfortunate for the immortal to set foot there. It was said that there was a kingdom that said that immortals would come to visit their city. The mysterious rumor spread until it was heard by those who were crazy for knowledge.
Immortals were kidnapped and used as "guinea pigs" before they finally realized that the person rumored to be an immortal was just an ordinary human. A false rumor that caused his body to be destroyed.
The immortal who was no longer useful to them was immediately thrown into the stench-filled sea. His body followed the current of the moving ocean, and there he found the meaning of death. He feared the depth of the ocean until he could no longer breathe.
Afraid that he would never be free from the sea that dragged him down.
Finally, a bird that had set foot in the vast ocean realized his existence. To save the immortal creature, the bird was willing to go to the depths of the ocean to pull him out.
With all its might, the bird flapped its wings in the water. Although the water hindered the bird, it did not stop until it finally saw freedom. The immortal creature slowly opened his eyes and saw a beautiful full moon filled with clouds that danced beautifully across the indigo-colored sky, mesmerizing the immortal creature until he forgot that he was standing on the sea he was afraid of.
The bird that saved him flew straight up into the sky until it was no longer visible.
The immortal remembered the beautiful color of the bird. When the water surrounded the bird, its feathers were a beautiful bright blue color, and every flap of the bird's wings could be seen flickering from the water that followed the bird's path.
The immortal immediately looked at the shadow cast by the ocean and asked himself, trapped in the ocean: Is this the meaning of life that I am seeking?
Slowly, the shadow that had been reflected in the ocean disappeared after the immortal disappeared.
All that remained was the sky, the moon, and the clouds dancing beautifully in the sea's reflection.
"That book is a very important thing to me."
"No... The book is very important to us because it is the origin of our existence."
Despite the white cloth over his eyes, Eriu could still see the sadness radiating from him, even though there was still a smile on his face.
"That's why our ancestors named our clan Shui, which means water."
"Still waters without disturbance to life's flow." His voice sounded nostalgic as he told the story of his life.
"I was one of those clan members."
"The Shui Clan was once very wealthy. Many of our clansmen worked as administrators in the empire. However, no one ever tried to interfere in the affairs of the state, because our motto is to be calm as water."
"Haha, maybe it's because we don't like politics that we don't want to be subservient to the emperor or other higher-ups, deliberately using our clan's motto as an excuse. To be more precise, we prefer to live on the coast."
"Even though the Shui Clan has a lot of influence in the public, the emperor and other bigwigs who usually have other motives become cowards in the face of the Shui Clan.
"Because we are the only clan that can befriend the water phoenix, even though the phoenix is usually seen as an ancient, arrogant dragon. For this reason, none of the previous emperors dared to invade our territory or try to take it by force."
Louise twiddled his fingers, remembering that day as if it were yesterday, when he was a child in his sister's care.
"I was young and eager to see the capital, and my sister, who worked there, took me with her. I, who often saw the sea, was quite astonished when I saw the sea of humans, although their forms, which looked similar to humans themselves, eventually led them to be called vampires, because the comparison between the two was in the age they had."
Eriu widened his eyes and was sure that this was the reason why his senses were sharp and abnormal. Even with his keen sense of smell, he could hardly distinguish between human and animal scents, which made it impossible for him to track down the whereabouts of Eros and the merchants under his command. All the smells mixed together and made his nose hurt, so he did not want to leave the house unless it was urgent.
"The day I visited the majestic city remains one of my fondest memories. The buildings that looked so elegant and even the dances and songs that adorned the city. My sister, who worked in the city, was happy to show me around, although she was afraid that I would hold some strange object and be made to pay for holding it. Perhaps because she saw my overreaction to visiting the capital, my sister offered me a job at her place of work because she was seriously ill."
"I've been working there for over ten years, and there was nothing suspicious about it until I suddenly received a letter inviting me to the emperor's party.
"But I turned it down without a second thought, only to find out later that only the Shui clan had received an invitation from the emperor. Maybe we all made the wrong decision by refusing his invitation, considering that the emperor's orders were absolute orders from the gods in those days."
"Because of this, the Shui clan has been labeled as a clan that does not submit to the emperor and has been oppressed to the point that it has changed people's view of us and made us a tainted creature that needs to be restrained."
"Do you remember the book where the immortals were thrown into the sea?" Although his voice sounded like a question, everyone there already knew the dark side of the clan.
Eriu replied, "The immortal was once saved by the bird that was there..."
Louise nodded slowly at the answer, "This is how the Shui Clan, whose bodies cannot withstand the power that resides in their bodies, leave the world and reincarnate. The water phoenix will appear and pick them up and take them to what is believed to be heaven."
"That's why even though the Shui Clan is called the strongest clan, they can't fight the world that opposes them. If it weren't for the stupid agreement our ancestors made with the previous emperor. It was foolish of them to think that living as an ordinary clan without standing out would give the Shui Clan a long life.
"But unfortunately, their thinking destroyed the younger generation by making that agreement.
"The few members of the Shui Clan who were captured slowly disappeared one by one, with no one knowing where their flesh and bones were. The unfortunate deaths where they became a meal for all."
"For the last time, I was able to see my sick sister come and save me from death."
Eriu, who knew the meaning of the story, could not help but be surprised. Isn't that a bit excessive for a story in a romantic game? Don't tell me that's why Sammael's incarnation is always associated with the word karma.
As I recall, his introduction was that his clan was destroyed and all of his clan members became slaves and were treated very badly.
And is that why the protagonist visits the grave of "Eriu Grith" almost every day? In the presence of the protagonist, they have to be careful in their actions.
Morality can't even stop power.
Ariadne's shoulders shook and her hands clenched into fists with anger, "Those bastards..." Before the sacred language came out of Ariadne's mouth, Louise closed her mouth immediately.
"Ahaha..." Louise calmly continued his interrupted story, "I'm sure you can already guess why we decided to tell you this."
"Ung..." Eriu replied.
Who would tell a dark story that has long been lost to history? Even if I had children, I wouldn't want to tell them the terrible story I went through.
"Last time, before we moved to Te Amo Village, we heard that the situation there was very bad. If we decide to go to the Peacon Kingdom or somewhere else, the chances of getting caught are very high."
"Considering that they said they are currently fighting with that shadow race, it could be that they are also after the elixir."
"Eros, be careful, they must be after you as well."
Louise pulled his hand back and let Ariadne speak despite his hesitation, "Eri, this is not just your father's problem, it is mine as well. There is a race that craves your flesh and there is a race that would absolutely love to kill you."
"The nymph race would be crazy to kill you if they knew you were born of two different races."
"They are a race that loves perfection."
Today, his heart felt like it was rising and falling very fast.
"For them I am different and I was banished by my own race. If they knew I had you, they would not hesitate to slit your throat. Those they consider a disgrace should never be associated with them."
"You are very lucky that my friend who helped you heal chose to keep your whereabouts a secret because she knew the nymphs were wrong, but not the others."
Who?
Although the question came up, Eriu chose not to ask.
"It is not a question of who they are and why they did it. It was never in their holy book to begin with, I want you to live comfortably without their interference no matter what."
Eros, who had been silent as if thinking about something, finally spoke, "I, I will protect Eri no matter what!"
"I promise to protect him and make them not dare to bother him!"
Louise seemed surprised to hear this and laughed, "Haha. I think you should be protected as well, Eros. Especially since you're the target race, right?" Ariadne stood up and walked back to them, slapping their shoulders a few times.
"After arriving there, we decided to train you with our knowledge, even though it is not as perfect as the current strongest master."
"We have to thank Aunt Emma for helping us even though she knew she would be in danger as well."
While everyone was in high spirits, only he seemed to be out of the room. His memory got worse and worse until he couldn't remember anything.
It was as if he realized something.
He had never belonged to this world in the first place.
He was just an outsider trying to kill the owner of this body. Even if they were looking for the winner, everyone had already seen him.
Soon, he would be dragged to the bottom of hell.
They are waiting for me.