Lord of Disease (JP-GL) 458

458: A Sister’s Memory

I was busy, with my hands framing the valiant figure of my sister-in-law, to burn it into my memory.

Bridget, too, was surprisingly cooperative, and at my request, she would strike a pose, holding her sword with a composed expression, or placing her hand on the pommel of her longsword and looking into the distance with a melancholic expression.

I praised her, with all my might, from the bottom of my heart.

“Bridget-neechan, you look so good in your armor! You’re so cool! So valiant! So cute!”

“I-is that so?”

Bridget, though embarrassed, didn’t seem to mind.

“Shall we try sitting on the bed?”

“Yes. …It might get dirty.”

“Don’t worry about it now. I’ll clean it later.”

“I see.”

Bridget sat on the bed and, changing her pose, we continued the ‘photoshoot.’ Basically, I was just burning it into my memory, but I was also planning to ‘output’ it later, like a bromide. It was quite expensive, but if I didn’t use it at a time like this, then when would I?

“Shall we try putting your feet on the bed?”

“Is it alright?”

“Yes.”

She sat on the bed and placed one foot on the edge. She thrust the longsword, which she had taken from her sword belt, into the floor and, supporting the pommel with her gauntlet, she pressed her cheek to it. She tilted her head a little, and her golden eyes narrowed, and her lips curved into a smile.

And she opened her mouth, and the words were spun.

“…It’s like a fool, isn’t it?”

“Huh?”

My blood ran cold. As a Greater Wraith, I was usually just simulating, but since I was faithfully reproducing the functions of a human, I could also turn pale at a time like this. I could.

Had I gone too far? I didn’t know what kind of an expression I had, but Bridget followed up.

“I mean it in a good way.”

“I-in a good way, like a fool?”

At the very least, it didn’t seem to be an insult. And yet, I was startled. …In more ways than one.

“…Because I don’t have the idea of enjoying my daily life like this.”

Of course.

“I might have forgotten what I was fighting for. What I had taken on, as a supreme commander of the Demon King’s army, and as the commander of the Dark Knights… was probably something that was too much for my hands, because.”

She had been entrusted with the lives of far more subordinates than I had… and like me, she had ordered her subordinates on missions where there was a possibility of death. She had not run away. Though not always, as a supreme commander, she had stood on the front lines, if necessary, and had risked her life.

And many had perished in Litalside and Itria and had not returned.

Who could hold such a thing? It was not a responsibility that a single person could bear. And yet, she had continued to hold that resolve.

“So, I’m happy. That you say such foolish things, and that you are spoiled. That I can think that it’s alright to be like that now.”

Even though I had been called a fool, in a good way, the sound of her words was sweet, and her smile was soft.

For those who only knew her as a single, sharpened sword, they would not be able to imagine her like this. —For those who only knew ‘Bringit Finis.’

Bridget smiled.

“Say whatever you want. Today, I’ll go along with your whims.”

Anything.

“Then shall we take a little off?”

“Huh?”

“Take off your breastplate.”

“Ah, yes. That’s what you meant.”

Bridget leaned her longsword, sheath and all, against the bed and carefully placed the sword belt, with the dagger still attached, on the bed. And she unfastened the clasp with the emblem of the Second Army and, taking off her cloak, she let it fall to the floor.

She unfastened the two leather belt clasps on the right side of her breastplate and, taking it off, her padded gambeson was revealed. The color was a pale pink, lighter than the crimson of her armor.

I had known it, in theory, but the knights of our Sixth Army had all not been wearing it. Because the chainmail would dig into their skin, or because they needed to absorb the impact, the concept was weak.

She picked up the cloak and threw it on the bed and gently placed the breastplate, with its tasset, on the bed.

The way she handled her equipment was, as expected, careful.

“Oh, a rare sight. You’re cute, even half-undressed.”

“Is that so?”

“Without a doubt.”

The basis of an armor was to protect the entire body, without a single gap. And then, to protect the important parts. To take off only the breastplate was not a normal ‘style.’

“What can you take off next?”

“In order, it would be the gauntlets… though you usually take them off first.”

“By the way, why?”

“Because it’s hard to do delicate work.”

“Ah, I see.”

The armor became a little more familiar. Well, it was true that you usually took off your gloves before you took off your coat.

“Then shall we take them off?”

“Both?”

“Ah, hmm… that’s right, one at a time.”

I had wondered how she would take them off, but surprisingly, she just pulled them off with her other hand. It wasn’t so different from taking off a long glove.

And when the last one was pulled off, and her gambeson and her bare hand were revealed, I was startled by the strangely raw, sensual sight. I had had a naked relationship with Bridget in the bath many times, and even if not, I had seen her bare hands as a matter of course—it was something I should have been able to see.

A dark elf female knight, in her crimson armor, like a crustacean, who stood tall and straight, with a valiant figure, and who inspired the entire army with her clear voice, and who suited a ponytail so well.

—Ah, I understood why you would want to torment her, if you caught her.

I, while calling myself an ‘evil sorceress,’ had been inwardly mocking the villains of fiction. What were they thinking, with their sweet words? What was needed was a rational mind. If you caught an important enemy, kill them. If you didn’t have a truth serum, then give up on getting information. Hadn’t they been taught to always prioritize safety?

…They probably hadn’t (resignation).

I had often felt the ‘invisible hand of God’ of the production team. I had seen many developments where the villain had shown a foolish hesitation, and the heroine who had been captured by the villain had escaped on her own. Where the defensive facilities were strangely weak. Where the defensive facilities were well-equipped, but the quality of the defenders was terrible, and the prisoner was rescued.

For example, when I had watched a movie with my sister, and I had seen such a development, I had sighed inwardly, but I couldn’t say such a thing to my sister, who was happy to see the protagonists in action, with her innocent eyes… I had often averted my gaze from that, by focusing on the actors’ performances and the direction of the individual scenes.

I’m sorry, little sister. Big sister was wrong. The villains had a heart, too.

And a nostalgic memory was revived.

After dinner, a bath, and brushing our teeth, we were surrounded by our futons and blankets, and we had a rental movie viewing party, just the two of us, so that we could go to sleep as soon as the movie was over.

My sister, who was sitting between my open legs, leaned against me, as if to be spoiled, and she rested her back on my chest and said, with a shy smile. —“Big sister, you’re so easy to lean on.”

My cute little sister. Big sister has a heart, too. Usually, I’ve already given up on a lot of things, but if you don’t think about what that ease of leaning is born of—no, ‘what is not there’—then I’ll be hurt.

But right after she had said that, I don’t know what kind of an expression I had, but she had flusteredly said, “S-sorry, big sister. But I’m sure there are people who like people like you…” and she had averted her gaze from a certain part of my body, so unnaturally, and had followed up.

I was happy that she had grown up to be a considerate child, but for a moment, I had wanted to teach her the meaning of the proverb, ‘to rub salt in a wound.’

Instead of holding an emergency study session on a woman’s heart and manners for my sister, who was a greater ‘threat’ than me, I had changed my mood and had operated the remote control and had started the movie. And I had stroked her head. My sister, who was being stroked, smiled, as if relieved. Black hair, to her shoulders, and black eyes. —The same color as mine.

A precious being to me, whose name I couldn’t even remember, my cute little sister, who shared my blood.

…I wondered if she had grown up to look like me. And she had surpassed my apparent age, as a Greater Wraith… and she was living a life I couldn’t be a part of, in a place I didn’t know, and she would die.

I had chosen not to look for a way back.

It seemed there were many worlds, and I didn’t think I could perform the feat of a pinpoint inter-world travel, and even if I could… the ‘research’ and the ‘experiments’ that would be required were all too dangerous.

I had a feeling of nostalgia for my homeland. But I no longer had any proper memories. And I had killed my own kind. —I had killed them all.

And above all, in this world, I had found a person who would say they liked a person like me.

All I could do now was to wish for that child’s happiness.