Chapter 7 - Intermezzo AF500

P180-181

Intermezzo AF(After the Fall)500

I couldn’t tell the Guardian of the first “vision” I had seen.

It wasn’t just then, for often times I kept silent. Most of the other seeresses up until now probably conveyed all that they had seen to the Guardian without a single doubt in their minds. Because a Guardian is one who remembers what a seeress sees. But, I didn’t think to do the same as they had.

Why do they not doubt the Guardian? How can they innocently believe that the Guardian is a virtuous individual?

It wasn’t only the Guardian whom I had doubted. I couldn’t trust in humans. They only think of themselves, they’re unfair, and they lie without any concern. They ceaselessly oppress those weaker than themselves.

I hate humans. They can all just die.

“Your wish may soon be granted. It won’t be everyone, but many humans will die. To the disaster known as the fall of Cocoon”

How foolish humans are. Even though they should already know. Even though the shattering of the crystal pillar is something that even humans could have easily predicted. Even though there must have been innumerable things they should have done before having something as stupid as a war.

If Cocoon falls then my mother will probably die. When I think of that, I feel a feeling that I can’t put into words. It’s not sadness, but it feels somehow unsettling, like you want to burst out laughing because of it.

That woman who, hating her tribe, ran away wishing for a life not bound to laws.

P182-183

She was deceived by a boring man, discarded and then ended up bearing me. To that woman, I was a bothersome nuisance.

Of all things, it was a seeress who had been born from the woman who left her tribe in hatred. How ironic a turn of events.

She could have gotten rid of that nuisance if she learned to talk, but I wasn’t much for learning words. No. I had remembered them, but I couldn’t speak them. I was afraid to speak. Because I knew no matter what I did, I would be cursed at and beaten.

It seemed that I had already turned five by the time the crest of the Goddess appeared in my eyes and the had Guardian come. That woman very gladly relinquished the me who didn’t even know her own age.

I didn’t trust the Guardian, but in comparison with my life until that point, my journey with him was appallingly tranquil. Regardless of the fact that there were outbreaks of war and terrorism all over, and the world was completely up in arms.

Even when asked what I had seen in my first vision, I did not answer. It would be a lie if I said  that I didn’t want to know what I had seen. But that was something I could look into myself someday.

If I said I wanted to go somewhere, the Guardian would take me there without asking for any particular reason. Even if it had been an area under conflict where bullets were being exchanged, he did not object.

He also taught me to read and write. I also learned how to use the Oracle Drive. I fully heard all that was passed down by the tribe and their laws, as well. That is the how I came to understand the way of the world.

I go where I want to go, and learn what I want to learn. I obtained the freedom to do so. I knew it was objectively speaking, by no means a “life of freedom”, but that was plenty for a seeress and it was extraordinary treatment for a child who was born unwanted.

P184-185

Even so, I still maintained my guard around the Guardian. Aside from when I let my tongue slip, I still stayed silent about my “visions” even when I was asked about them.

Maybe it wasn’t about my faith in the Guardian or anything, but rather that I had been scared. The words of a seeress carry great power. It was the fact that those words would be tied to “visions.”

The first thing I had seen was the end of the world. Almost all of the people had died out and a man who was left on his own was walking the ruined lands. That grief and despair were frightening to me.

I saw that man again. He was not alone yet. Well, he would soon become alone. It was the kind of situation where you could tell.

I hate humans. They’re selfish, arrogant and foolish. I had thought they should just all die... That they should all simultaneously die, leaving not a single one.

Being the last one alive. I was afraid to imagine that kind of isolation, so I thought everyone should die. Because I knew of the existence of he who was left until the end.

I saw him at a time when there were still “two.” In the end, he would become alone, so maybe it would be better if their lives together weren’t happy ones. Happy memories would maybe only serve to hurt him more.

Still, I could not wish for his misery. Even though I knew it would be lost, even if it was for a short while, I wanted for him to be happy.

P186-187

I have a favor to ask, I said to the Guardian.

“Allow the final seeress have a normal life. To be born in a normal family, to be loved by her family, to live a joyful childhood. I want you to let her have a life not allowed to any seeress until then. By then, most humans will already be dead. Laws shouldn’t matter at all.”

I promise you, replied the Guardian. That just the final seeress will be able to lead a blissful life.

After that, I didn’t have a “vision.” Then I realized. The Guardian, without having been asked by me, had planned to let the final seeress lead a normal life. If he changed his mind after being told by me, it was not possible that I would see nothing. The way a seeress lived largely impacted history.

“I saw the death of the final seeress. Her only remaining companion grieved over her. You kept my promise so she must have been happy.”

The Guardian nodded silently. I thought just a little that it would be alright to trust him. The Guardian who had surely wished for the happiness of the seeresses, Caius Ballad.