Episode 17
…Having heard the whole plan out from Teresia, Monica gave a small “hm” — a response that could have meant either agreement or disagreement.
She fell silent for a moment, thinking it over, then nodded slightly. “I see.”
“You know, you’re fonder of Yurina than I’d realized.”
“What a thing to state as though it needed saying. Obviously I wouldn’t travel alongside someone I disliked.”
“No, it’s not that I doubted it. Just — well, yes — it seems you care for her even more than I’d assumed.”
“We go back many years. Since before I became the saint, I’ve loved Yurina. For a very long time.”
“I see. Well, if that’s the case, I do think — hm — something.”
“‘Something’?”
“That the two of you aren’t quite as similar as one might expect.”
“That’s…”
Teresia’s words caught there.
Monica, looking a little surprised at that reaction, replied as if it were hardly worth remarking on: “Isn’t that beside the point, though? The two of you seem to be quite mutually devoted to each other, after all.”
“What matters is that you care for one another — isn’t that the important part?”
“That’s — no. More importantly, why do you think the two of us aren’t similar?”
“At the very least, I don’t imagine Yurina would say something like ‘a feeling that grew over a long shared history.’”
“That’s… true, I agree. Yurina would more likely say something like, ‘time doesn’t matter — however long it’s been, it always feels like it was only a second ago.’”
“Right, which is why I think the two of you are different. So — isn’t it possible that, at some point along the way, the two of you might have simply drifted apart?”
“I won’t deny that. But isn’t that just an idle ‘what if’?”
“In reality, the two of you do care for each other, after all.”
Genuinely fascinating, Monica said.
“I think the two of you are more like opposites than either of you realize — though not opposite in the sense of contrary, more like mirror images. Teresia, you’d want to stay by her side forever. Yurina would lay down her own life for you.”
“…”
“And even how you each express those feelings is the mirror opposite, isn’t it? Yurina seems like the type to say things quite directly, whereas in your case—”
“On that point, I’m well aware, and I’d like to improve — once everything is over will be too late for that.”
“So then — does Yurina know about the plan you’re currently considering?”
“That’s…”
Teresia lowered her face, and Monica gave a resigned little laugh. “As I thought.”
To begin with, the only reason this plan had been shared at all — reluctantly, at that — was because Teresia needed cooperation to carry it out.
Without that need, she would almost certainly have carried it out entirely alone, telling no one.
“I have no intention of either approving or condemning what you’re planning to do. I’m merely someone dispatched here on orders from above, so to put it bluntly — it makes no difference to me either way.”
“How cold. I don’t much care for that side of you.”
“I’m not doing this to be liked by you, particularly. Though — for the record — I’m not trying to be disliked either.”
“Then — since I’ve told you everything, about this plan—”
“As I said before, I have no intention of stopping you. And beyond that, to be frank, what actually matters to me is simply whether the demon lord’s influence will continue on into the future.”
“If my plan succeeds, the demon lord’s influence will vanish from this world completely.”
“In exchange for which, you, the saint, will be lost. That — I know it’s an unkind thing to say, but — isn’t that an outcome Yurina herself wouldn’t want either?”
“As for Yurina — please, you tell her that this is simply how it has to be.”
Teresia’s expression settled into something lonely, something that looked like she was quietly biting down on pain.
Even if it was only her own conceit, she believed Yurina cared for her.
She wanted to be cared for by her.
Which was exactly why she could imagine, at least this much: that if she herself disappeared, Yurina would surely grieve.
Teresia believed that Yurina was someone capable of that kind of grief — someone who would deeply mourn the loss of a person precious to her.
And it was precisely because Yurina was that kind of person that Teresia had come to love her so completely, from the very bottom of her heart.
“I’d like her to understand, but… she may end up hating me, thinking I’ve done something terrible.”
“Do you think she’s the sort of person who would understand, in your case?”
“She’s probably not the sort who would understand. Which is exactly why—”
Teresia looked toward the direction of the Scarlet Frog Inn, where Yurina surely was.
“Even after I’m gone — I’d like her to only carry it with her for about two years, at most.”
She murmured that, sounding lonely, and let it go at that.