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–––Lapis’ viewpoint

“Say Lapis, what kind of relationship did you have with Sorciere?”

After leaving the city she had built, we used Flight Magic to return to Surfour. As we flew, Karin asked that. Ciel and the others were more reserved about things like that, but Karin had no qualms at prying. That was the main difference in their personalities.

“What kind of relationship, huh…”

I could definitely not just tell them everything. Sorciere had worked so hard to keep my identity hidden, and I would just ruin all of it if I babbled about it now. I took some time to figure out how to best explain it, eventually giving a rather safe reply.

“…We used to hang out a long time ago. We went through a lot of things, and sometimes fought together.”
“Hehh, but considering how strong you are it makes sense you could fight alongside her. But hm? Didn’t Sorciere only fight before the hero decided to retire?”
“!”

That was bad! I had been too careless. I had never expected she would pick up on a small detail like that, considering how dense she usually is. Was there any safe route for me? Could I still salvage this? Ciel seemed to notice how I stayed silent, drops of sweat dripping down my cheeks one after another, so she decided to rescue me.

“Lapis, you don’t have to force yourself so much. We could already guess you’ve lived for much longer than your appearance suggests since we met you.”
“Eh?!”

Ciel looked stunned when I acted so surprised. Were my lies really that easy to see through?

“Do you even realize how obvious you were? Like saying how everything has changed when seeing a map, consistently using the ancient tongue, and on top of it all, there’s hardly any other way you could’ve met Sorciere, who disappeared so long ago.”
“…”

It made sense after hearing all of that. No matter when we met, knowing Sorciere already pinned me at a few hundred years old. I was still as bad at lying as always, which I should have seen coming.

“But that’s why I’m sure you’re much older than you look. Am I right?”

Everyone’s eyes focused on me… I had no choice but to give in. It was impossible for me to keep pretending by now, so telling me my age was probably for the best. I coughed lightly to clear my throat, then spoke with a more serious tone.

“Okay, I’ll tell you the truth…like you said, I’m way older than I look.”
“I knew it. How old are you really?”
“I didn’t keep track of the exact number, but I’m at least three hundred years old.”
“Th-three hundred?!”
“Isn’t that before the Demon King was defeated the first time?”
“Yeah…”
“At least that explains why you’re ridiculously strong…”

Humans were not a race with a long lifespan, so living just a hundred years was impressive, not to mention three hundred. Hearing my age, they were obviously surprised.

“What did you do to live so long? And you haven’t aged a bit either… or are you and Sorciere a different race from humans?”
“Not at all, we’re proper humans. I’m not really sure why either, but I’m guessing it might have something to do with magic.”

There had been other humans like us in the past, though very few of them. The only common link between all of them was that they were all magicians. Some of them had lives similar to any average person, others were obsessed with magic, their personalities and ideals were all very varied, but the only common trait was possessing a ridiculous amount of magic power. Sorciere is probably more knowledgeable about things like that, but there was a chance that magic and aging were linked in some way.

“I don’t know if it’s simply that someone with a strong magic presence has delayed aging, or if those who train the control of magic a lot naturally gain that ability. But at least there’s some connection between the two.”
“I see! Then if I continue training I might extend my lifespan as well.”
“That’s good to know. I’ll try to learn more magic as well then, and see if it applies to me too.”

Hearing that, Ciel, the only magician of the group, became motivated to train more. A long life… living for more time is probably better than dying young, though considering the bleak and monotonous life I had I would not recommend it too much. Though I’m not someone to stop others from doing so if they wish.

Somehow talking about extending their lives distracted them enough from pursuing my past, which is good enough for me. If they had continued prying, it was possible they could have deducted my identity. I sighed in relief to myself and we continued on track towards Surfour.

§　§　§

News that there was more than one Demon King was sent by Govenor Grom the directly to the king, and then quickly spread throughout the entire country. When I was asked how I found out about that, I spoke truthfully and said Sorciere told me. They obviously doubted that at first, asking how I had found her, where she was living, why she did not come to help us instead, and other minuscule details, but I was saved from it in an unexpected way.

In this country, or rather, in this world, there is a special ritual during trials to judge if someone is innocent or not. It was a way to gather the victim, alleged perpetrator, and witnesses in a single room, and get everyone to speak truthfully. There is this special sword called the Sword of Truth, a special tool that renders the holder unable to lie. Those standing on the podium to testify had to hold the sword, and reply to any question truthfully, otherwise the sword would move on its own and attempt to cut down the holder. It is a somewhat rare tool, so it is only available in the capital and most large cities. But thanks to holding one of these, they were able to ascertain I was telling the truth.

Every time they asked something unrelated to the Demon King, I would just stay silent. The Sword of Truth would only activate when a lie was said, so not saying anything was safe. No matter how good of a tool it was, it still had that limitation.

I was in the presence of the king and high-ranking nobles, who showered me with questions, but I only replied to two. Whether I really had heard that there was more than one Demon King, and if the person who called herself Sorciere was truly the legendary magician. Any question that would reveal too much was met with silence, but I realized I might need something more to convince them, so still holding the Sword of Truth, I revealed my true age. When those nobles heard I was more than three hundred years old, the way their faces contorted was a sight to behold.

Some began murmuring, others turned pale, while others turned red. It was ridiculous how the news had such a strong effect on them that somehow they stopped asking me stuff.

“We’ll have quite the tumult once this news reaches the other countries.”
“Yes, but noise alone won’t make the Demon King disappear. We should do everything we can to fight back, so Karin, Ciel, and Luvias, get ready to train even harder from now on.”
“I’m ready for that, just don’t hit us too hard…”

Having just one Demon King was bad enough, but if there were more I had no time to slack off. To give the human side better chances at winning, I had to train my disciples more rigorously.