Isis Remnant…… had chosen a thorny path, not to compromise with what she had now, but to continue to search for what she truly sought…… turning her back on her own heart that tells her that she will never find it.
[Eh? A castle? Well, it’s not impossible to make one…… but why are we making one again?]
[……From now on…… I’d like to be like the old Kuromueina…… traveling through the Demon Realm…… and then finding a place to settle down…… and building a castle there…… I’d like Shalltear to build it for me…… and bring it with me using Space-Time Magic.]
At first, Isis asked her family, Shalltear, to create a castle where she would later live. Being as versatile as she is, she thought Shalltear could create her a castle.
In fact, it was indeed possible for her, but Shalltear had a somewhat difficult expression on her face when she was asked this.[……Isis-san, as expected, why don’t you stay here with Kuro-san? It’s already a well-known fact that Kuro-san is the Strongest in the Demon Realm, and I don’t think there will be any problem with two Kings staying in her place. Under Kuro-san, there will be many talented people, people who can resist the magic power of death……]
[……No…… I’ve already made up my mind…… I will…… look for them myself…… just like Kuromueina did back then……]
[I see…… I understand. So, what kind of castle do you want?]
Shalltear wanted her family to take the position of the Six Kings and bring order to the Demon Realm, but she often suggested to Isis that she should stay with Kuromueina.
Isis’ magic power of death was so unique that Shalltear expected that Isis wouldn’t find any subordinates. No, if she just focused her search only on subordinates, she really might be able to find them. All she had to do was to find someone who could withstand her magic power of death and subdue them with her power.
However, that is not what Isis is looking for. What she is seeking the most is a being that accepts her without the power to resist her magic power of death, and above all, she’s actually trying to find that being. She knew she wouldn’t look at anything else until she found that being…… but from Shalltear’s perspective, she felt that it would be very difficult…… or even impossible.
[……I want a big castle…… so that a lot of people can live in it…… with a big dining room so that everyone can eat together…… and that thing Shalltear talked me about…… the bath where everyone gets into…… Onsen, was it? …… I want one of those too.][……Isis-san. I know this isn’t a good thing to say, but if you turn your eyes away from reality, you’ll regret it if you set your expectations too high for the future…… No, I suppose this isn’t something I can tell you huh. I understand. Since we’re at it, let’s build the best castle ever!]
[……Unnn…… Thank you.]
[Please let me know when you decide on a place to settle down. I’ll also come visit you once in a while.]
[……Unnn.]
Shalltear was about to warn her that if she expected too much from the future, she would suffer severe repercussions due to the gap between expectations and reality, but she stopped mid-sentence.
After all, she was in the same state as Isis, as she was continually searching for a being that she herself thought she would never find.
That’s when, when she thought about the despair Isis would feel later, she felt a desire to stop her…… but precisely because she had gone down a similar path herself, she understood all too well that nothing anyone said here would be able to stop Isis. That’s why she couldn’t intervene.
In the end, Shalltear listened to Isis’ request and completed the castle just as she asked. When Isis saw the finished product, her eyes were shining with hope…… No, it was as if she was trying to force herself to look forward to the future by turning away from what she didn’t want to think about right now.
She decided to travel through the Demon Realm, just as Kuromueina had done in the past. A journey to find the being who would accept her unconditionally…… It could be described as something like a battle.
A thousand years had passed since she began her journey. The concept of Peerage-holders and the Six Kings, created by Shalltear’s proposal, became well known in the Demon Realm, and Isis also became widely known as the Death King.
At the same time, her family members that came to be known as the Six Kings became independent from Kuromueina and moved to different parts of the Demon Realm, and began to build up their own influence.
It was lonely and painful for Isis to live apart from her beloved family, but it was also a good opportunity for her to search for the thing she hadn’t found yet.
Five thousand years have passed since she began her search. The Demon Realm, where once all that mattered was the ability to fight, has been at peace thanks to Shalltear’s work, and each region had come to have its own unique characteristics and history.
By this time, Isis had already visited every corner of the Demon Realm. However, she was still unable to find the being she sought.
She toured every region. She saw Demons of all races. However, the only thing she felt from those who fled in fear of her magic power of death was always a clear rejection.
Seeing her being rejected no matter where she went, Lillywood, who was closer to her more than anyone in their family, couldn’t bear it any longer and suggested “Why don’t you settle down and look for a place to belong?”. Accepting her suggestion, Isis decided to settle in a place called the Land of Death, where no other living creatures resided. By the time she made this decision, her loneliness had become so immense that it was beyond her control.
How many times had she shed tears?
How many times had she embraced her body, which trembled with loneliness?
How many times had she been jealous of the other members of the Six Kings who were accepted by many……?
“It seems like it didn’t work again today.”
[……Why…… Why…… Why was I born…… with the magic power of death?]
“……I’m sorry.”
[……Why…… are you…… apologizing to me?]
“I guess it’s because you’re crying?”
The other Isis, whom she met in her dream, looked up at the dark sky, which seems to have become thicker, and told her the words she have repeated many times before.
“……You’re not giving up yet?”
[……Perhaps…… They still…… haven’t been born yet.]
“Is that so? I think that’s not possible though. No one will accept us.”
[……You’re annoying…… Shut up.]
If she had been able to, it might have been easier for her to give up, to compromise. However, Isis could not give up what she wished for. Ironically, this made her heart suffer even more.
Ten thousand years had passed since she began her search. The feeling of resignation grew and grew, and Isis gradually stopped going out of her castle.
She spent her time alone in the spacious castle, reading a large number of books she has collected throughout her travels around the Demon Realm. The words of the other Isis…… that there would be no one who would ever accept her, weighed heavily on his mind.
Still, she couldn’t completely give up, and just the number of times she went out didn’t go down to zero. Under the pretext of “hobby”, she searched for the being that she couldn’t find, with the excuse of collecting items that appear in books.
Twenty thousand years had passed since she began her search. The world drastically changed. The invasion to the Human Realm by the Demon Lord led to the Treaty of Friendship between the three realms…… and the expansion of the world she had been living in.
Therefore, it would be inevitable…… that she would harbor hope in the expanded new world……, but she wasn’t accepted.
While the other members of the Six Kings were accepted and their sphere of activity had expanded…… she alone was rejected.
What she got was the fear and awe of being the “most terrifying among the Six Kings”. As one would have roughly expected, she also wasn’t able to find what she wanted.
[……Why…… How come…… I was…… just……]
“Why don’t we give up already? We had worked hard enough. We traveled around the Human Realm, even met people from another world…… but still, not one of them had accepted us. That’s why……”
[……No…… Staying lonely like this…… I won’t…… give up.]
“……Is that so?”
On the snowfield with a black blizzard blowing around her, Isis and the other Isis shed tears.
Trembling with loneliness, they despaired about their circumstances…… yet they continued to struggle, unable to give up hope.
Could that be…… perhaps the reason why? Because they did not give up everything there, the miracle that they had been waiting for …… finally appeared a thousand years later.
After a really long time, Isis met the being that she had been searching for————- Miyama Kaito.
<Afterword>
? ? ? : [Seriously, when I read Isis-san’s past arc, I end up thinking “Kaito-san, please come already~~”.]
Serious-senpai : [Speaking of which, you were quite worried about Isis huh. Come to think of it, in the main story, Isis did mention how “you would sometimes come visit her”.]
? ? ? : [Well, she is family after all. To be honest, I didn’t think that Isis-san would find the person she was looking for, so I’m actually in the same camp as the other Isis-san. Kaito-san really is just that much of a singularity.]
