Chapter 23 – Character Development
They were in a long meeting room.
On one side was Artoria and Yasaka, whilst on the other was Azazael and Serafall.
Some students were also present, including Issei and his crew.
After he woke up, he started to complain a bit on the group chat, but didn't elaborate further so everyone just thought it was a rant.
Anyway, once everyone gathered, Azazael smiled and began.
"It seems everyone is here, then let us start this meeting..."
Urrgghhhh.... Why am I getting déjà vu? She shivered a bit at remembering how she was completely and utterly destroyed in the face of Ciel in the same type of gathering.
First of all, he asked Issei and co to recite their accounts of what happened.
"Now, miss Artoria, please explain to us what happened exactly."
She didn't complain and told the story how it was.
"I was strolling on the streets when I felt a disruption in space in front of me, so I slipped in and hid myself whilst I watched what was going on. It seemed like they were getting defeated, "she looked towards Issei, "so I decided to step in and help. Through my brave efforts there were no unfortunate casualties and everything worked out."
"That... is quite an oversimplified version of it. First of all, how did you even get into the space? Not even Serafall and I could, since it is made by the wielder of Dimension Lost after all."
"Well, my sword is quite strong."
"A sword."
A brief flash of light shone before a golden sword appeared in her hand.
Azazael frowned a bit but didn't say anything, but this was different for the rest there.
The most affected was Serafall. As she looked at the sword, her eyes constricted and cold sweat ran down her back. Her hands started shaking and her body itself was petrified in fear, but then the feeling vanished.
She only took the sword out for less than a second, but it was more than enough to horrify everyone there.
"This sword. As expected it would cause quite a reaction from devils."
"W-w-what was that?" Serafall questioned. Azazael also had a curious look.
"That, was my sword."
"..."
"..."
"What?"
"I mean, what sword was it?"
"Oh, its name is Excalibur."
"Excalibur, but I thought the church had them all."
"Those are fakes. You see, the weapons others call Excalibur that is owned by this supposed church is actually a fake imitation of the real version. It may have similar abilities and appearances, but ultimately the difference between the two is insurmountable."
"I see, so it seems you are the true wielder of the true 'Excalibur'?"
"Yes. My full name is Artoria Pendragon. I am the progenitor of the Pendragon family." Or at least that's what I think I am.
"Artoria Pendragon?" Serafall looked down and a look of deep thought was evident on her face.
"Then let me ask the most important question, why are you here? You have not appeared ever since the British Empire fell. Now you show up here and was hired as a history teacher at Kuoh Academy. What is it you want?"
"Truthfully?"
"Truthfully."
"I was forced into this."
Confusion. The great mind of the fallen angel couldn't wrap his head around her answer.
"Forced?"
"Indeed. Some events happened, and before I knew it, I was in that classroom reading off of a textbook. In fact, before it happened, I found myself in a similar situation to this. How ironic."
He didn't know what half of the sentence meant, but the first word was enough to confirm her point.
"Then what do you intend to do?"
"I don't really know. I will have to report back to my superiors."
"You have superiors?"
"Well, not really superiors as in the sense that they command me. They're more like close friends or family, something I never had, so it is quite nice to be around them. I didn't want to expose myself today but it just so happened that fate did not listen to my interests. I have to talk this over with them to see what I will do next."
"Interesting..."
It was then that Serafall spoke up, "what do you think about joining the devils?"
Azazael spoke up with a hint of warning in his voice, "hey Serafall control yourself."
"I can become a devil?"
"Of course you can." Despite the fear and horror she felt from her before, now she was like a changed person and was abnormally cheerful, "you see, because of low birth rates we developed something called evil pieces. They can make anyone become a devil. They're quite special in the fact that they represent the 16 pieces on a chess board. You can either join me as the queen or make your own peerage as the king. What do you say?"
"An enticing as your offer is, I refuse."
It looked like an arrow was shot through her heart, "ehhhhh?????!! But why?"
Now, all attention was on her. She felt all the pairs of eyes on her, "simple, because I am already a devil."
Now, this completely silenced everyone there. Even Serafall had a dumbfounded look.
Azazael asked, "how are you a devil? To be able to use such holy power, and you have no wings. What you said contradicted everything else you said."
"Perhaps this me isn't the devil, but before I answer this, let me ask you a question.
Have you ever experienced being a king?"
"Well, if it is like a leader position for a-"
"No, as in a real king. Someone who always stands at the front lines. Someone who leads their subjects. Someone who has no friends and no one to rely on but themselves. Someone who has seen the worst of humanity but cannot interfere in anyway. And eventually, someone who sees everything they worked for collapse to the ground. Have you ever been in that situation."
"No... I can't say I have."
"I have. It is hard to admit, but the human mind is fragile, even for the strongest of humans. I could endure heart-wrenching pain, but not grief and sorrow, not too much of it at least. Once, I had the foolish dream of wishing for a better utopia, but that was crushed by reality.
Do you really think I came out unscathed? That was when I became a devil. Do you get what I mean?"
"What you mean..." The silence still permeated through the air, and it was only Artoria and Azazael who had the imaginary rights to speak in this atmosphere.
He looked down with his hand on his chin and thought for a while, before his eyes widened.
"You don't mean-"
She looked at him straight in the eyes, and he saw... black.
It felt like the temperature dropped to freezing, and it was most concentrated around Artoria.
Her holy aura began to falter, and it was soon corrupted by a bone-chilling darkness.
Blades of black crept up her skin, and her entire body became much more metaphorically dark and dangerous.
"I have to give it to her, she introduced me quite well." Her voice was calm and firm, but full of arrogance and confidence.
She looked around and then back at Azazael.
"Does this answer your query."
"It does. Thanks for demonstrating." He lightly bowed his head respectively.
"There is no need to thank me. It was according to her wishes."
As if this was all a dream, the warmth soon returned and everyone's nerves relaxed.
"Any more questions?"
"Uhh." His mind went blank for a second, before remembering the reason why they were there, "ahh yes, the final question, what is it that you want to do? Like, as in what do you want to accomplish? Do you want to continue this, or was being a teacher here just something for fun or to pass time? Genuinely, what is your justification for all the events that happened. Why?"
"It's quite hard to answer that directly. Originally, it was because I was kind of forced with no choice. But now I realised that it wasn't too bad. The main reason was to look after someone who enrolled there as a first year, but after observing her for a bit, I can safely conclude that I no longer need to look after her anymore. She has settled in quite fine.
I don't know if I want to continue. I mean, my main task is accomplished..." she didn't carry on but fell into thought, and Azazael correctly interpreted this as the end to her answer, so he didn't try to pry more.
Instead, he focused his mind on other important tasks relating to the three factions.
"Okay, now for another important question. Yasaka, do you wish to sign the treaty?"
...
The trip ended quite well. Despite the brief interruption by Cao Cao and co, the rest went quite peacefully.
Days passed like seconds and they were already on their way home.
As she got off the train, the final steps to her trip began.
The walk back took an hour, and it was quite pleasant to take in the scenery and natural atmosphere of the streets.
*Ding. A very familiar sound echoed as she opened the door, followed by greeting from Medea, Rimuru and Ciel.
She went up to her room and unpacked her bags before doing some mundane tasks, and then she went back down to the café floor.
As the day ended, Rimuru and Medea headed back to their rooms, leaving only Ciel and Artoria cleaning up. Medea volunteered but she insisted.
It was after a couple minutes of silence before Ciel asked, "so, how was the trip?"
"It was quite good."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, very relaxing and fulfilling. It's been a while since I enjoyed myself like that."
"Good."
Having nothing else to talk about silence once again took over.
But she soon broke it, "hey Ciel..."
"Mm."
"Uhh, could you please era-" She stopped before finishing her sentence.
Do I really want to erase their memories of me though? I've been doing this for over a month against my will but... it now seems so hard to part with them. Is this what attachment feels like? So inconvenient...
"Nevermind."
"Don't worry, please speak your mind."
"No, it's fine, "she shook her head, "it is getting quite late now, I should head up."
"Sure, goodnight."
"You too."
Looking at her, who gradually disappeared behind the doors, Ciel had a warm smile on her face. It was not common for her to do this, but for some reason, she saw something in her.
She could actually read her thoughts just then, but didn't. Instead, just by looking at her obvious expressions, she was able to realise what was going through her mind.
She then rewatched scenes of Artoria teaching, shopping, fighting and smiling in her mind through [Information Lord Akashic Records].
Artoria went from a cold and, in some ways mechanic king to someone who learned to love and depend on others. She abandoned her thoughts and pride of a king. Although it is still evident by some of her unconscious actions, it was not nearly as bad as before. And all of this was because of Rimuru...
In a way, it was quite similar to someone else...
What an idiot...
A faint smile appeared on her face, thinking about a certain face, then she switched to Artoria,
Perhaps I should start treating you better... after all you did learn some character development...