MEMORIES OF AN OVERLORD
by Victar (vctr113062 [at] aol [dot] com)
Victar's Archive: https://www.vicfanfic.com
"I couldn't stand all the sympathy I got. I didn't deserve any of it, especially not from their families. Why didn't their families hate me more? Even her brother, why did he stop with just the one black eye?"
Chapter Twenty-one
Memories of a Savior: Deliberations of a Savior
When Kreisia's most unlikely Savior learned the full, horrific truth about Kreisia's merciless cycle, he sharply commanded the Royal Mages of his strike force to lift their barricade against teleportation. Then, he tried to invoke the Holy Brand Aldea's power to teleport himself and his three companions from Ascendance City to the throne room of the Royal Castle.
*Savior, that destination is warded against teleportation, and I expended a substantial amount of power while I awaited your arrival. I can draw upon your strength and override the ward, but it would be much more efficient to arrive at the gates to the capital's interior.* Aldea's soundless communication reverberated like a warning bell.
"We are going to see Cedric now," Yusis told the Holy Brand, holding it aloft. It did not protest further. Not another word was spoken among the Savior, his companions, or their assembled allies for thirty seconds, until Aldea's teleport took effect.
Yusis, Laminah, Anemos, and Cynthia arrived in the Royal Castle's throne room. King Cedric Welkin was there, as were quite a few Royal Guards, Royal Mages, and government officials.
"Savior Yusis! I have been informed of our victory in the War of the Lesser Overlord," King Welkin amicably declared, with a nod to a Royal Mage. "A treaty with Ascendance City will be created without delay. Begiad Laatsch may have escaped for now, but no living person will voluntarily support him-"
"Shut up, Cedric," Yusis snapped, lowering the Holy Brand. "I'm here to tell you that out of all the people I trusted, and who lied to me, you disgust me the most."
King Welkin's congenial expression transformed into unreadable neutrality.
"Do not speak to my king in that manner!" Laminah shouted.
"At least I'm being honest with him!" raged the off-worlder. "What is this sick game you've all been playing on me? The Savior becomes the next Overlord? The Savior's companions die and turn into monsters? The only one who didn't intend to con me was Cynthia, and that's because she's a mental wreck who wants to die so badly she summoned me to make it happen! AND YOU ALL KNEW ABOUT THAT, TOO!"
King Welkin half-closed his eyes during Yusis' tirade, and appeared to be lost in thought. Laminah stiffened and clenched both hands into fists. Anemos worriedly looked to Cynthia. The priestess gripped her head and slowly sank to her knees, whimpering, "No, Yusis... I..."
*Savior, as impaired as the Priestess of Salvation has been, your inference about her desires is untrue.*
"It's close enough to the truth," Yusis spat, sheathing the reproachful weapon in an awkward motion.
King Welkin opened his eyes and inspected Yusis. "So, you have learned what the cycle requires."
"From Begiad! From a murdering psychopath, because no one else in Kreisia can tell the truth unless they warp their own mind!" Yusis whipped one arm in a sweeping gesture toward the preponderance of gathered people.
Cynthia started sobbing, in great heaves. Anemos kneeled next to her and provided a handkerchief.
King Welkin impassively said, "Savior, do not scorn the others. I am the rightful target of your wrath. I issued a royal order for all of my people to defer informing you of the cycle's price."
"You planned to force me into your death cult all along, didn't you?" Yusis interrogated, spitefully.
*Savior! Do not make such a corrupt accusation!*
King Welkin answered, "Savior, your implication is unthinkably abhorrent. It is also impossible. Only a willing off-worlder can become the Greater Seal on Kreisia's miasma."
"Are you seriously claiming that every Savior before me chose to...!?"
"Yes, as did every Lesser Seal. Even the derelict Begiad Laatsch was once a volunteer, whose will for self-sacrifice crumbled at the moment of reckoning. I had hoped that another Savior, one fully prepared to accept death and worse, would be summoned before the Holy Brand formally selected you as its wielder. No other Savior has been summoned, and the Holy Brand tells me that it has invested you with the duty to save Kreisia; therefore, my vain hope must now be abandoned. There is no one who can take your place."
"Good to know. I wouldn't wish this miserable world on anyone not born to it," Yusis angrily rejoined.
Confusion, consternation, and trepidation circulated among the people in the throne room. Laminah held herself rigid. Cynthia's sobs became quieter, but did not completely abate. Anemos bowed his head; his light green hair obscured his face. King Welkin's visage remained indecipherable.
*I am saying this only to you, Savior. Your meaningless emotions are demoralizing nearly everyone present. You must control-*
"Send me back," Yusis demanded, revulsion dripping from each word. "I'm done with Kreisia."
*What cowardice is this, 'Savior'? What maddened fear makes you abandon your duty, even as the 'murdering psychopath' once did?*
Cynthia wept, "I'll send you home, Yusis - I can reverse the summon spell - I can-"
"No. You cannot," King Welkin denied, rising from his throne. "The Royal Capital's interior is warded against many forms of magic. You cannot reverse the summon spell while you are within the city's walls, nor can you use a teleportation bead."
"So you live in a roach motel?" Yusis snarled. "I checked in but I don't check out?"
*Do you realize that you have categorized yourself as a 'roach'? You are unworthy of comparison with an insect.*
King Welkin warned, "I will not allow you to make this decision in haste, Savior Yusis. A dire warning attributed to Yumarac emphasizes that, if the Savior chosen to wield the Holy Brand is destroyed, then the Overlord Orzand will drown our world in a torrential miasma flood. As a scholar, I predict that the same calamity will happen if you voluntarily abandon your quest to vanquish the Overlord."
*Do not doubt him, 'Savior'. If you run away like a coward, then that is exactly what will happen.*
King Welkin instructed, "Savior Yusis, you will spend the rest of the night within the Royal Castle, and think about the consequences of your choice."
"What gives you the right to lecture me about consequences?" Yusis shot back.
"I represent the people of Kreisia."
"You represent a messed up world, and it deserves to-"
"Chains of holy," King Welkin intoned, snapping his fingers.
Links of shining brilliance wrapped around Yusis' body and dragged him to his knees, interrupting his rant with an acute pulse of radiant magic.
"Don't even want to hear it, huh?" Yusis seethed, straining uselessly against the glowing white bonds.
King Welkin calmly replied, "You may speak openly, but I will not tolerate contempt of Kreisia."
"Take this weird spell off me!"
The shining links of holy magic faded from Yusis. He stood up, glowering. "Am I on trial, now? For 'contempt'?"
"It is the opposite, Savior Yusis. We are on trial. You hold the power and the duty to judge all life on our world," King Welkin clarified. "I will now present the case for Kreisia's defense. You will have the option to move about the Royal Castle as you wish, and consult with any person within, as you conduct your deliberations. Tomorrow, you will render your verdict. Should you choose to depart for your home world, then so be it."
Yusis pressed, "Is it really going to be that easy? You're not forcing me to stay on Kreisia, and drown in miasma with the rest of you?"
"No, we will not compel you to stay. That would be as unthinkably abhorrent as your previous implication."
*Unlike YOU, Kreisians place incalculable value on life. So much that they would spare a deserting coward the fate he deserves.*
"You have no case to present for Kreisia's defense," Yusis scoffed. "You have nothing."
King Welkin stoically stated, "As cruel as the cycle is, it is currently our only means of survival. If not for the respite of temporary peace, the Overlord Orzand would annihilate us all."
"So you want me to annihilate you all in ten years?"
"You know we do not desire that, Savior Yusis. I have been exhaustively researching any possible way to alter the dark fates of the Savior and the Lesser Seals."
"Like your sister?" Yusis breathed, narrowing his eyes.
King Welkin returned the off-worlder's glare with a fixed, intent look.
"Your sister..." Yusis repeated. "Laminah said 'the cycle killed her' twenty years ago, and a Lesser Seal butchered your village ten years after that. Your sister, your own sister was-!"
"A Priestess of Salvation, who summoned a Savior. Her name was Circe. She all but raised me in my youth, and I loved her dearly."
Now, emotion started to show in Kreisia's representative. It was neither anger nor misery. It was resolve. It was a bedrock of absolute will.
"As a Lesser Seal, she returned to her former home. Supported by the Overlord's magic and monsters, she led an assault that slaughtered nearly every living person. She almost destroyed me." He flicked back the golden locks on the side of his head, revealing black miasma scars. A handful of onlookers gasped in shock.
King Welkin continued, "Savior Clize and his companions saved my life. Those same companions arose as Lesser Seals ten years later; one devastated Kreisia's monster hunting guild, and another eradicated the city of Vatoren. Savior Clize is now Overlord Clize Orzand; if you do not vanquish him and become the next Greater Seal, then all of Kreisia will perish."
"Easy for you to say, nice and safe in this comfy castle," Yusis retorted.
"I failed to protect my relatives, friends, and neighbors, when they needed my diplomacy instead of my pride. I have outlived far too many whom I have loved. I expect that I will outlive more. Sometimes I fear that I will outlive them all, yet I will not give up on Kreisia."
King Welkin's breathing became harder and heavier, compressed by the unyielding force of raw determination.
"I will not let grief consume me. I will not surrender to despair, I will not stop fighting for my people's survival, and I will not question the value of saving every life I can save!
"I will not let Circe's sacrifice be for nothing. I will not disparage the memory of Savior Clize by abandoning hope. I will not forget any of the Saviors, the Seals, my family, my friends, all those who were dearest to me, all those to whom I owe everything!
"I will not put a single one of them out of my mind!
"I WILL NOT DISHONOR A SINGLE ONE OF THEM!
"I - WILL - NOT - GIVE - IN!"
Yusis staggered backward. His head recoiled, as if struck.
*Did you want to make the king feel pain, 'Savior'? You have succeeded. Does it please you, to torment him so? Do you think you can hide from your own cowardice by projecting it on another?*
"Rrrggh-!" A guttural, wordless growl emerged from Yusis' throat.
"GAAAH!" He turned and sprinted out of the throne room.
"We can't let you out of the castle," said a male Varg Royal Guard.
"King Welkin's orders," said a female Lunarl Royal Mage.
"I'm not trying to leave!" Yusis snapped to both of them, without breaking stride.
"Then what are you doing? Just walking back and forth in front of us?" wondered the Lunarl.
"Maybe it's an off-worlder thing," reasoned the Varg.
"Walking and going nowhere?"
"We spend a lot of days standing around and going nowhere."
"Of course, but that's part of our job. He doesn't get paid to do that."
"Does he get paid to be the Savior?"
"The families of Lesser Seals get a government stipend, and their villages get military support for their defense ten years later, but the Savior doesn't get much of anything for saving us, does he?"
"Maybe the Savior does get something. It's just not something tangible. I've heard that the summon spell never calls a Savior who has young children, fosterlings, or any other responsibilities like that. The Savior never has anyone depending on them for survival, other than us."
"I've heard that, too."
"Instead, the Savior is always someone who has lost friends, family, or a loved one. Or any combination of those."
"Maybe you're right. Maybe what the Savior gets is a second chance to save people."
"At least the Savior knows that when they're the next Overlord, they won't kill anyone from their home world."
"That's a little less awful than how it is for Lesser Seal volunteers, isn't it? They know they will murder their families and friends, if the next Savior or the military doesn't stop them."
"Like how two out of the last three Lesser Seals destroyed almost everyone they ever knew, and more."
"I'm so glad I joined the Royal Mages, instead of the monster hunting guild."
"I'm so glad my parents moved from Vatoren to the Royal Capital before I was born."
"Do you think either of us will survive the next cycle?"
"I don't want to answer that."
"Oh, that's right. One of the Lesser Seal volunteers knows us, professionally. If we tried to leave the Royal Capital next cycle, she would hunt us down."
"That's assuming there is a next cycle."
"I've always wondered if one day, a Savior would judge us unworthy of saving."
"So have I."
"Maybe we are unworthy."
"I've thought that, too. I could never volunteer to be a Lesser Seal. That's a price that almost no one will pay."
"Did you hear that Altean bard is going to do it? He offered it as his own sentence for high treason!"
"Do you think he'll abandon his duty, like the last Altean did?"
"I hope not, because there's no one else. Lesser Seals have to be willing volunteers."
"How absolutely miserable does a person have to be, to make them willing to die and become a monster that tries to kill everyone they ever knew?"
"That applies to the former Captain of the Royal Guards too, you know."
"I don't think her life was very happy. Plus she's got some bizarre complex over King Welkin."
"And the Priestess of Salvation?"
"That one's just brainsick."
Yusis stopped pacing and screamed, "STOP INSULTING MY FRIENDS LIKE YOU THINK I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" in their faces.
*You would abandon your 'friends' like a coward, yet you take offense when strangers say things about them?*
"Or else what?" challenged the Lunarl. "Or else you'll go back to your world and leave us to drown in miasma?"
"Maybe he won't," reasoned the Varg. "Maybe he'll target us first when he becomes the next Overlord, instead."
"I would deserve that, wouldn't I."
"I would deserve it too, but I don't want it to happen."
Yusis spat, "Why aren't either of you calling me a coward? Or comparing me to Begiad, for trying to run away?"
*Why do you need them to call you a coward? You already know what you are.*
"If you're a coward, then everyone in Kreisia is a coward. Including us," shrugged the Varg.
"Everyone except the Lesser Seal volunteers," amended the Lunarl.
"Rrrggh-!" A guttural, wordless growl emerged from Yusis' throat.
"GAAAH!" He turned and sprinted away from the guards.
Yusis found the warrior Laminah training by herself, in a room intended expressly for that purpose. She swung her halberd again and again at a straw-filled dummy, and showed no reaction while he berated her.
"You planned to die and become a Lesser Seal from the beginning!? Just yeah, that's what you want to do with your life? And yeah, sure, you'll come back and try to kill everyone you ever knew, sounds good, time to sign up? Do you have that much faith in the Royal Guards to stop you? Your own mother is in no shape to fight back, that's for sure! What about Cedric? Does he want you to - did he ask you to-!?"
"Your conduct in the throne room was worse than shameless," she coldly stated, between halberd swings. "Yet the Holy Brand conveyed my king's royal order to let you speak. I could not pummel you unconscious."
*It is true. The king asked me to broadcast his order to let the 'Savior' speak openly. Why he chose to grant that privilege to a coward like you is beyond my understanding.*
"You really do have a weird complex over Cedric," Yusis accused, viciously. "You admire him more than anyone in the world, but you're also the only one who won't call him by his name! You won't even say 'King Welkin'! And he-!"
Livid, scathing anger boiled in Yusis' every word. "No, Cedric doesn't want you to become a Lesser Seal, does he? It's wrecking him on the inside! You mean more to him than anyone else alive; I've known that since the moment you told him you were going to fight Orzand with me. He almost shattered to pieces, right in front of us!
"I thought he was scared because you'd be in danger. Now, I know, I know - you're going to add yourself to the list of people he's loved and lost! And you won't call him by his name, because-!
"...because no matter how you feel about him...
"...in some twisted corner of your mind you think that if you don't say his name, if you keep some kind of distance, then maybe you won't murder him when you're a Lesser Seal! Maybe you'll settle for killing your mother and your uncle! Or at least you'll go after them first, and that'll give the Royal Guards time to shut you down before you can butcher Cedric!"
Laminah threw down her halberd and marched up to Yusis.
He clenched his hands into fists and glared at her, gritting his teeth.
She seized his shirt and effortlessly hefted him above her head with one arm.
"I have only one more thing to say," she told him, her eyes and voice like ice. "I will continue the war against Orzand with or without you."
She physically flung him out of the room. He flopped like a discarded rag, then weakly pushed his head and torso off of the ground.
"That's it?" he fumed. "That's all you have to say to me!?"
She retrieved her halberd, and resumed swinging it against the training dummy.
*What do you want her to say to you? She would sacrifice her life and more to protect Kreisia, and you mock and provoke her for it? Why are you trying so hard to make her hate you? Is it so you will feel better about deserting her like a coward?*
"Rrrggh-!" A guttural, wordless growl emerged from Yusis' throat, as he staggered to his feet.
"GAAAH!" He turned and sprinted away from the training room.
Yusis found the Priestess of Salvation by herself, seated at a humble table. She looked as though she had cried for hours.
"Cynthia..." His thoughts became flustered, a knotted morass of bitterness, confusion, and pain.
"I remember, Yusis," she whispered. "I remember everything now. The fog that covered it up is all gone.
"I remember my parents... my first parents... I loved them so much.
"They fought back against the Overlord's monsters so hard... they gave everything to protect me...
"I tried to save them from miasma poisoning. I couldn't do it. I was too young... my magic was too weak...
"I saw them die.
"Siwell and Oreanna saved me from what they became.
"It hurt so much I couldn't - I had to - if only no one died that day - if only I could make it so no one died-!
"Ten years later, the cycle turned again. People started dying again. The pain started to bubble up inside. I wanted to make it stop. This Overlord's reign of terror didn't reach my village - Siwell and Oreanna both survived the first Lesser Seal's rampage, when so few other monster hunters did - but I kept hearing news while Siwell and Oreanna were away. The Royal Mage assigned to our village gave all of us regular reports, and traveling Altean merchants brought warnings. Every story pushed back horrible memories, memories that I wanted to hide from.
"Siwell and Oreanna are so strong that I was never afraid of becoming a Lesser Seal. I knew I wouldn't be a threat to them. I just wanted to make the stories I kept hearing stop, because in every one of them, I knew someone was losing a person they loved!
"So, I tried to cast the summon spell. Again and again, I tried.
"I couldn't do it.
"I couldn't do it because I knew what it meant. I'd take someone away from their home, away from everyone they knew or cared about, and condemn them to death and worse. I'd turn them into an undead monster, into the next Overlord-!
"I never wanted to use anyone like that! Not ever!
"I couldn't make the spell work, because I didn't want it to work!
"Then, we lost the city of Vatoren.
"So many people gone... I...
"...all it took was a little... push... make myself believe... what if the Savior didn't have to die? What if he could go home to his world, after defeating the Overlord? What if...?
"Yusis, I didn't summon you to make my own death happen. I just wanted to stop hurting. I wanted to stop the Overlord. If I could do it without sacrificing myself I would, but I don't know any other way.
"Cedric is so much stronger than me. He just takes all the pain and accepts it. I failed to do that. I twisted my mind so much to cast the summon spell. Now that I realize what I did, I don't want to make you - you don't deserve to - thinking about how I've condemned you makes me sick-!
"I'm sorry, Yusis. I'll reverse the summon spell when dawn breaks and Cedric allows me to."
*Are you sure you don't want to say something that will hurt her? Something that you hope will make her hate you? Something that will make it easier to desert her like a coward?*
"Cynthia," Yusis softly addressed. "Why didn't you tell me what the cycle would do to you?"
"Because I wanted you to be happy, when you went home," she trilled. "I still do."
She put her arms on the table, and rested her face on them.
*Do you want to make her cry some more? She very likely will, if you remain here any longer.*
"Rrrggh-!" A guttural, wordless growl emerged from Yusis' throat.
"GAAAH!" He sprinted away from the Priestess of Salvation at breakneck speed.
*You have yet to approach the bard. The bard that you wanted to save so much. Do you remember that?
*'If you kill any of them you are no better than Orzand!'
*Did you truly believe that sentiment, when you expressed it to me? When you persuaded me to grant that Altean throwback a stay of execution?
*Now, you would condemn all of Kreisia to execution. Do you think you can escape becoming Orzand, by retreating like a coward? Do you think that abandoning an entire world to death and worse will make you any less of a monster?*
"Shut up and tell me where to find Anemos. There's something I want to ask him."
*That Altean throwback has lived a fairly wretched life. You could dig at the scars of his past and cause him a great deal of pain. Perhaps you could get him to hate you. He has more ability to hate than most Kreisians, although the majority of his loathing has been directed toward himself.*
"What part of shut up and tell me where to find Anemos don't you understand?"
Close to midnight, Yusis confronted Anemos the bard.
Then, Yusis withdrew to a secluded alcove of the Royal Castle, and privately communicated with the Holy Brand Aldea.
Then, he spent hours pacing and reviewing his own thoughts.
In the last hour before dawn, he exchanged more thoughts with the Holy Brand, prior to approaching the Royal Guard and the Royal Mage he had previously spoken to.
"I figured I'd tell you first," Yusis mumbled to the pair. "Since I'm working up the courage to tell my friends, after I treated them all like dirt. I'm staying. I'm going to be the Savior."
The Varg turned to the Lunarl and said, "Pay up."
The Lunarl handed over a modest amount of Kreisian currency.
"You two made a bet on whether I'd stay?" Yusis asked, incredulously.
The Lunarl said, "If you had judged us unworthy, he would have owed me his house."
"Not like I'd need a house for much longer anyway," the Varg shrugged.
"Those odds..." Yusis reflected. "You two had that much faith in me? Why?"
The Varg gestured to the Holy Brand Aldea, in the sheath on Yusis' hip. "You held on to that, didn't you?"
The Lunarl remarked, "I imagine it had some choice words for you all night long, didn't it?"
"No way you'd keep carrying it around if you really meant to abandon us."
"I knew I'd lose the bet, but I can afford it. He has a nice house, too. If I'd won, then at least I'd experience the end of the world in style. Until we all drowned in miasma."
Yusis hung his head. "Thanks, I guess... wait, I just realized something. Whenever I passed by you two before, it was daytime. Another pair of guards is usually here at night."
"We weren't needed for the treaty proceedings, so we caught a couple hours' sleep on the trip back from Ascendance City," the Varg remarked. "That airship travels fast."
"The night watch filled us in on what happened while we were away," added the Lunarl. "We traded shifts with them. They appreciated the opportunity to spend time with their families, since no one could completely guarantee the world wouldn't end in the morning."
Yusis raised his head back up. "You two fought alongside me and my friends?"
"A lot of people did," confirmed the Varg.
"You saw me break down in Ascendance City, and you still had faith in me?"
"A lot of people do," affirmed the Lunarl.
"I... I don't even know your names."
The Varg coughed. "We, uh, really don't want to give you our names."
The Lunarl pressed her ears tightly against the sides of her head and neck. "Please don't be offended, Savior. We just don't want to make it any easier for you to target us, when you're the next Overlord."
Yusis' eyes darted to one side. "That's actually pretty sensible."
The Varg gave the Lunarl a sidelong glance. "He could learn our names from the former Captain of the Royal Guards, couldn't he?"
She's never told me any living person's name, other than her own, the off-worlder silently contemplated. Now I know why.
The Lunarl returned the Varg's sidelong glance. "He could learn your name. I joined the Royal Mages under an alias."
"Knowing your alias would still make targeting you a little easier."
Will she keep your names secret from me when I'm the Overlord, and she's a Lesser Seal?
"We should make a list of things we want to do in the next ten years," the Lunarl contemplated. "I know what I'd like to start with. How about a party at your house, when the cycle turns?"
"You're not trashing my house with any parties."
"The guest list would be very exclusive."
"You lost the bet; give it up. We'll party at your place."
You both know the cycle turns on sacrifice. Are you seriously going to celebrate the cycle's turn with a party? Are you seriously talking about it right in front of me?
The Varg briefly scrutinized Yusis' appalled expression, then asked the Lunarl, "What type of Overlord do you think he'll be, anyway?"
The Lunarl replied, "He has no magic, so not a Wizard Overlord."
I need to stop thinking about how I could terrorize both of you ten years from now.
"Warrior Overlord doesn't fit either, does it? I mean, just look at him."
You're not making it any easier to stop.
"He didn't give any battle commands when we fought alongside him, so no chance of Master Tactician Overlord."
Neither are you.
"One of the more unusual ones, then? That's good for us, they're weaker and typically don't kill as many people."
"Do you think he might be an Assassin Overlord?"
"He's not stealthy enough. How about Jongleur Overlord?"
"No matter how much he likes bardic music, he just doesn't have the coordination for that."
Why am I still listening to this?
*Perhaps because you have been lashing out at your companions, and trying to make them hate you? And you fear confronting them now?*
Yeah, that sounds about right.
*They will not hate you, Savior.
*Kreisians are not the same as you. Even when you want them to hate you, they will not. The Altean throwback does not have the desire, and the others do not have the capacity.
*However, I do.
*I am 'love of life', and 'hatred of that which threatens life'. If you need to be hated as a coward for wanting to abandon Kreisia, then I will fill that need.
*I remain ready and willing to satisfy your craving for hatred. Any time you desire. As much as you desire.*
Aldea, stop. Just stop. Okay? Enough.
*Perhaps your need to be hated as a coward was not an absolute requirement. Perhaps you would have come around on your own.
*Yet, I cannot take the chance that your resolve will break. That the cycle will falter and all of Kreisia will die. I cannot take the smallest chance of that.*
Yusis nervously pulled together the fortitude to approach his friends, and tell them that he had committed himself to being Kreisia's Savior.
After reuniting with his companions, Yusis requested an audience between the four of them and King Cedric Welkin. The off-worlder's gaze was downcast as he entered the throne room, and he spoke in an unsteady murmur.
"Just wanted to say, sorry for the total breakdown. I'm staying as Kreisia's Savior. We... we're going to look for a better way than this horrible cycle, but if we can't find one, then we'll all have to become Seals, and it'll be up to you to keep researching..."
Yusis trailed off, unable to make eye contact with Kreisia's representative. "I really am sorry."
"There is no need to apologize, Savior Yusis," King Welkin compassionately replied.
"Cedric..."
"Yes, Savior?"
"Thanks for making me think it over."
"There is no need for thanks. It is all of Kreisia that is indebted to you."
"For now, maybe. But ten years from now..."
King Welkin produced a colorless crystal from his sleeve, and handed it to the off-worlder.
"What's this?" Yusis asked, raising his head a little.
"A very few monsters retain some of their original mind and memories. They know what they once were, and that influences what they have become.
"Scholars have pondered whether this is also possible for the Overlord. To our knowledge, no risen Overlord has ever retained the mind of a Savior. Yet, the potentiality could be crucial to transcending the cycle - or at least, to mitigating the Overlord's atrocities.
"That crystal has the capacity to store and repeat sounds. It can be used endlessly, and it is nearly indestructible. Miasma cannot consume it.
"I believe you are fond of music. Or perhaps, there is something else you would listen to? Something that could help you remember who and what you once were."
*Do not let Kreisia rely on that prospect, king.* The Holy Brand Aldea's scornful reprimand reverberated ominously in the mind of every person present.
"Of course not," King Welkin evenly returned. "We will hope for the best, and prepare for the worst."
Yusis stared at the translucent crystal. "You've put in years of research, and this is all you've got? A sound recorder with unlimited battery life? This is it?"
"Yes, regrettably. It is all I have to offer at this time."
"I'll take it," sighed Kreisia's most unlikely Savior.
End of Chapter Twenty-one: Deliberations of a Savior