Chapter 85

From that point, I could more or less predict how the rest would go.

Ultimately, his plot to destroy the nation was uncovered. With the cooperation of numerous mages, he was captured and executed.

The documents ended with a frantic scrawl, probably penned just before his capture.

“…But I have entrusted this record to my child. Someday, my descendant shall shroud this world in darkness, for I dwell within each and every one of them—The End.”

I see… I could nitpick so many things, but I shouldn’t expect high moral standards from someone a thousand years ago.

I understood why these records had been buried; it would be dangerous for the family to be seen as kin to a super-terrorist.

Man, there really had been a crazy guy back then. And he even had a connection to Mary’s brother.

As far as I was concerned, that settled it.

However, Mary was staring intently at me.

“For such a miracle to happen… I think this is destiny.”

“I guess so. To think my ancestor summoned Mary’s brother—”

“No, that’s part of it, but that’s not it.”

What else could surprise her? The ancestor being a siscon?

At the very least, I don’t have a sister, so I’m definitely not one.

“Look, remember when I asked you to invent a backstory for me? That I’m the ‘descendant of a legendary Black Mage who was executed a thousand years ago for plotting the downfall of a nation’?”

“Right—if word got out that you’d been summoned by a total rookie like me, it would make you look less prestigious.”

When she was first summoned, Mary was shocked to learn she’d been called by someone who’d only just joined the company. Understandable.

“Franz, you really are the ‘descendant of a legendary Black Mage who was executed a thousand years ago for plotting the downfall of a nation.’ Not a single detail out of place.”

“Oh, you’re right! What a crazy coincidence!”

I thought my family had no mages, but apparently there had been a big shot back then.

“It’s not a coincidence. It’s destiny! You and I were fated to meet!”

Mary hugged me, looking incredibly happy.

If you can call this a miracle, maybe it’s fair to call it destiny.

“How wonderful! Love truly brings two people together! There is nothing stronger than love!”

Beside us, Cerulia dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief, clearly moved—she always got excited over anything romantic.

“I don’t know if it’s love… I mean, there are all kinds of destiny…”

Mary got quite bashful when things were put so bluntly.

At that moment, something else happened that I could only call fate.

—That’s right. You have the aptitude to master your desires. You carry my blood; a fragment of me dwells within you. I am omnipresent in my descendants.

I clearly heard that voice in my head.

Ah—so the voice on the uninhabited island was my ancestor’s.

Coming back to my childhood home had solved many mysteries; my aptitude for Black Magic was likely due in no small part to my ancestor’s influence.

I thought I knew my own home, but it pays to investigate.

“But there’s something that bothers me a bit,” Mary said, flipping through the documents once more.

“This siscon ancestor of yours… it’s one thing that he summoned my brother, but I don’t get the sense he actually used him for specific acts of destruction. There aren’t even any entries about going to destroy the Capital.”

I see. So we don’t know exactly what he planned.

“Maybe it was so top-secret he didn’t write it down. If anyone found it, he’d be finished, so he might have left no record.”

“But even so, he wrote all about his obsessive love for his sister? Isn’t that also risky if it were found?”

“That’s… maybe he was such a siscon that he didn’t mind if that part was known…?”

“Since we’re here, I’m going to read a bit more of this. I want to read the poetry section too.”

Even though an ancestor from a thousand years ago is a stranger, it was awkward watching someone read his most pathetic side.

That afternoon I let Cerulia and Mary lounge around the house; I didn’t go out either.

In a situation like this, staying home felt like filial piety, so I figured it was fine.

Meanwhile, Cerulia was learning to cook from my mother, Milky.

“See, Cerulia-chan, you wrap it in the flour dough like this and fry it in oil.”

“Ah, I see! This looks delicious!”

“Fufufu, you have a natural talent for this, Cerulia-chan~”

“I’ll do my best to master the taste of this home!”

“My, my~ You’re welcome to have a shotgun wedding whenever you like. I’m sure I could forgive being called ‘Grandma’ thousands of times by a grandchild.”

She’s already perfectly prepared to welcome her as a daughter-in-law…

As for my father, my mother scolded him for staring at Cerulia and sent him out to do the shopping. His dignity keeps plummeting.

Mary, meanwhile, spent the whole time at the table reading the ancestor’s records.

“Is it really that interesting to read so intently?”

“When you read old records like this, you get a sense of the person’s character. So far, the only thing that comes through is his unbearable love for his sister.”

“That was already clear before you started reading it thoroughly!”

Neither my father nor my mother had apparently heard of him. He’s not on the family tree; my family probably erased the record of a Black Mage in the lineage.

I suppose he wanted to leave some trace that he and his line had existed, so a descendant sealed it away; it stayed hidden until now.

“Well then, shall I read a particularly tear-jerking part of the poem aloud?”

“…Yeah, do whatever you want.”