"...so this is where you learned of the location of my imprisonment."

The building which now stands before us is of a noticeably different architectural style from what I had assumed was the standard in this city. Unlike its more utilitarian neighbors, there has a clear emphasis on aesthetics... and on closer look, I do believe that this may have originally been a place of residence.

Odd.

"I guess you could kind of consider it that way?" Brigitte replies to my previous statement.

"Then I owe its creator a great debt," I nod. "Where might I seek audience with them?"

Upon hearing my question, Brigitte's mouth once again warps into that adorably awkward smile that may as well be her default expression.

"Uh... that'd be kind of hard."

"How so?"

"He died a couple hundred years ago."

"...ah. That is unfortunate."

Human lives are so fleeting.

"Apparently he used to be the mayor here right after the Holy War ended..." Brigitte says.

"Holy war?"

I do recall her mentioning that phrase in passing before, but I am at a complete loss as to what such a thing would even entail.

Because how could something as wretched as war ever be considered holy?

"Oh yeah, of course you wouldn't know about that," she mumbles while looking off into the distance. "Uhhhhhhh......"

The ever-present storm of thoughts within her grows even more intense than usual.

And then she starts to pace around in a circle, which somehow causes its intensity to increase even further.

"...before I explain that, I also kind of have to explain what led to it," Brigitte sighs.

"Please do," I reply.

I am treated to a few more seconds of adorable pacing before she finally resumes speaking.

"...so almost a thousand years ago, some psychotic asshole figured out a way to turn Elemental Spirits into swords."

"What?"

Swords? As in the weapon?

All the amusement I had just been feeling immediately vanishes, and a disgusting sensation takes its place.

"Do not tell me that after finally being freed from that hell, I now have to worry about-"

"Nah, you're safe."

Brigitte stops her pacing and rests a hand atop my head.

"That knowledge got incinerated along with its creator."

The air crackles as she rustles my hair.

"Undying Inferno Anrasorana was the first victim, but-"

"Eh!? Anra was-"

A violent chill sweeps over me.

I want to vomit.

"Wha?" Brigitte pauses. "You knew him?"

"Yes, I do... did know him," I mutter. "He would always boast how his flames were the most powerful of all, that they burned hotter than even the sun."

I can feel my fingernails digging into my palms.

"And as someone who has been there, I can personally attest to the veracity of his claims," I say through gritted teeth. "But you mean to tell me that he of all people was actually slain?"

I am doing my best not to cause a scene, but-

pat pat pat

"Not 'slain,'" Brigitte shakes her head.

"But you said that he was transformed into a sword, an inanimate object!"

"Yeah, uh..." Brigitte's voice trails off. "The curse he fell victim to did turn him into a sword, but his consciousness is still intact. And allegedly it'll wear off eventually."

"...I see."

This knowledge is somewhat comforting.

But even so, the thought of anyone else suffering anything even similar to what I did is still horrifying.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Especially when it happened to an actual acquaintance of mine.

wait-

"But if Anra fell victim to this... curse," I spit, "there is no way that Alsiradna would not have done everything in his power to-"

"I did say that the guy who did it got incinerated, remember?" Brigitte forces a smile. "His rampage lasted like three years, but Alsiradna was the one who finally put an end to it."

I would expect nothing less from him.

However...

"...is it known how many others fell victim in the meantime?" I ask.

"The actual count is unknown," Brigitte replies, "but it's thought to be somewhere between thirty and forty."

"......"

Yahanaseara, pull yourself together.

You are not a child.

even if you now cower from the darkness like one

pathetic coward

"...is the identity of those victims known?" I ask.

"Mostly, yeah. His initial targets were the most prominent Elemental Spirits of the eraaaa..." she grimaces, "...which also happened to be your era. Shit."

A heavy sigh.

"Sorry, I didn't even consider that you might've..." Brigitte curses. "You're worried about someone in particular, right? What's their name?"

just spit it out you coward

"...the First Lightning."

"Eh!?" Her eyes widen with surprise. "Zaraliara!? That First Lightning!?"

"There could be no other."

Though he insisted as playing at being a human, his true power was so immense that even at the height of my strength, I was naught but a spark in comparison.

He was old enough to make my two thousand years seem like a mere blink of the eye, old enough to even claim seniority over Anra, who had existed since this planet was nothing but a churning mass of magma.

All that I know of humans, I learned from him.

All that I know of Elemental Spirits, I learned from him.

And all he asked of me in return was that I learn from his past mistakes and not repeat them myself.

If only I had met him before contracting with my brother...

"You recognized both his name and title, so I must assume that he suffered the same fate as-"

"Nope," Brigitte interrupts. "I am happy to inform you that Zaraliara was one of the Old Kings who made it out of that whole mess completely unsca-"

whump

Before she can even finish her sentence, my arms are already wrapped around her abdomen and my face is buried in her chest and I am embracing her as tightly as I can while sobbing uncontrollably.

And despite the fuzzy prickling of anxiety and embarrassment emanating from her body due to the fact that we are outside in the middle of the day, Brigitte does not push me away.

I hate this.

"Sorry..."

you have nothing to apologize for

"...I didn't even consider how traumatizing all this must be," she says in a gentle voice. "For me this is all just abstract historical information, but for you it's actually personal."

"Mm."

why are you so kind

"It's just that you're usually so put-together that it's easy to forget..."

"It is a facade," I mumble into her chest. "I am a mess."

"Hey, you're not a mess-"

"I am currently weeping into your bosom," I choke out in between sobs. "And I cannot bring myself to stop."

"...okay, maybe you are a mess," she concedes.

Exactly.

A pathetic mess who cannot even manage her own stupid emotions, overcome with relief to the point of completely losing control.

"But it was also stupid of me to expect you to not be a mess after everything you've been through."

rustle

I can feel her arms gently slide around my back and now I am crying even harder what is wrong with me

"So if you wanna talk it out, or not talk it out, or go back to the inn and cry it all out there instead, it's all fine with me," Brigitte says. "Just let me know what you want, and that's what we'll do."

what I want?

what I want is to remain in your arms and cry and cry until there is nothing left to cry

but that will not do

"I want to hear the rest of what you were saying before I did... this," I say with my face still buried in her chest.

"Uh, you sure?"

It is a wonder that she can even understand what I am saying.

"No," I reply truthfully. "But please do so anyways."

"........."

Brigitte heaves a long sigh and gives my shoulders a little squeeze which actually makes me feel the slightest bit better.

"...so targeting the most prominent Elemental Spirits of the era meant that he was also targeting the rulers of most of the countries that existed back then."

I may not be able to see her face right now, but I can practically hear how awkward her expression must be at this moment.

"A bunch of them ended up collapsing outright as a result, which then resulted in continent-wide unrest, and the whole period of time is referred to nowadays as 'The Fall of the Old Kings.'"

"Mm."

"So after all that, Alsiradna ended up forming an army consisting of people who contracted with him under the conditions of absolute loyalty," Brigitte continues. "They serve as the standing military of the two countries that he more-or-less rules, and also do general peacekeeping throughout the rest of the continent."

That is... unexpected.

I never took him as one to involve himself in political matters beyond what I myself did as the guardian of my people.

"And the members of this army had families and kids of their own, all of whom inherited the same power as their contracted fathers but without the actual, you know, contract."

"Mm."

I found it a blessing to see that the souls of my brother's children were all dyed in my colors from birth, that they had inherited the lightning that I had given to him.

It was as if we were finally related not just in name, but in blood as well.

"But the children of Contractors also have certain physical characteristics, which the leaders of the Church took umbrage to..."

"What, the pointed ears?"

I pull my face from these most comfortable pillows and look up at their owner.

"But those are adorable."

"Yeah, well people are fucking stupid," she sighs. "Over time, they became colloquially known as 'Devil Children' and the Pope declared them an abomination that ought to be purged from existence."

Once again, that disgusting feeling takes hold of me.

"Alsiradna naturally opposed this," Brigitte continues, "and his opposition led to a massive conflict between his army and the Church."

"...please do not tell me that this 'purge' was successful," I say in what may as well be a whimper.

"Not in the way the Pope wanted, at least," Brigitte shakes her head. "In the end, the Church was thoroughly defeated, their central authority and the position of Pope itself abolished, most of the surviving Devil Children fled to the continent to the east of this one, Alsiradna's army was cemented as the strongest force around, and all new recruits accepted since then have been sworn to celibacy to keep anything similar from ever happening again."

"........."

This is a lot to take in.

"Timeframe-wise, the Holy War was about three hundred years after the Fall of the Old Kings," she continues.

"Eh?"

So at the very least, my brother's children...

"Oh-" she snaps her fingers. "and Zaraliara happened to be one of the major players on Alsiradna's side in its later stages. That's actually the reason why I recognized his title when you said it."

"...heh."

An unintentional chuckle.

"Well thank you for that," I say as I finally let go of her.

"So I guess you two must've been pretty close before you got, uh..."

"It depends on who you asked, I suppose?" I shrug. "He probably just saw me as some little girl who he decided to give some advice to out of some faint sense of kinship. But to me, he is a goal to aspire to and an irreplaceable mentor."

"...oh," she nods. "Okay."

Was a sigh of relief just now?