My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero's

Chapter 222 updated at 22:00, nya—

Since I was very little, basically from the moment I became aware, I noticed someone speaking from inside me. The voice wasn’t frightening or creepy; it simply had emotions like mine and conveyed them to me. Like another me, perhaps. So even if Father was too busy to pay attention, or I fought with Kirika, I wasn’t lonely. After all, I had someone to talk to inside myself.

I tried telling Kirika and Father that someone seemed to be in their hearts too, but the conversations never quite matched up, and I eventually learned that other people didn’t have that. After that realization, it began to feel disgusting and I tried to forget it. In fact, since Kirika flooded the labyrinth, I hadn’t remembered it or heard the voice at all.

I still don’t know what it was.

“Why now…?”

A Wyvern attack, apparently from the main force, had badly damaged the airship. The shock woke me from rest, and I headed to the front of the ship to support those fighting there in place of Akira, who had gone aft.

Or at least I was supposed to.

‘I…gu, ka, hoshi…’

The voice that had stopped being heard long ago suddenly started again. It was faint, unfocused, echoing in my head like it was barely there. Along with it came a headache and ringing in my ears.

“What the hell? What do you want now? You didn’t say a thing when I was at my lowest…”

My sense of balance finally went wrong. I pressed my hands to my ears and crouched on the stairs up to the deck.

“Hey! What’s wrong!!”

I felt someone’s hand rubbing my back—probably Noah’s—but I didn’t have the capacity to respond, and the voice in my head drowned out whatever Noah was saying.

‘Aa, shika, nai… kaware!’

The last word came unusually clear. Then, with a switch-flipping sensation, I lost control of my body.

It was somewhat like when Mahiro’s body was being manipulated by the magic “physical puppet” in the Brute Labyrinth. I tried to stop my arms with all my strength, but my body didn’t move a muscle. Panic and fear made me want to scream; if this continued, I might harm Akira and my friends like before. Unlike with Mahiro, even my mouth was not under my control, so I couldn’t warn Noah.

“...Are you... alright?”

Noah spoke to my body, which rose without Amelia’s will. This time I could hear the words.

Suddenly I realized the tormenting voice had completely stopped. The headache and ringing ended too.

“You’re Noah, immortality Noah, right? Because of you I had to debate for two hundred years whether to classify immortality as forbidden. Wanting children so badly—I still can’t understand humans who go that far.”

The voice coming from my mouth was lower than Amelia’s usual voice. Even though it was the same body speaking, the difference was jarring.

“…You’re not Amelia, are you? Who are you?”

The presence using Amelia’s body didn’t answer directly. It looked over the foredeck and aft deck of the ship as if seeing through them, then sighed deeply.

“You people are still fighting each other, as always. Thousands of years of effort, truly admirable.”

Noah’s eyes widened at those words.

“No way—The One and Only God Aitel!? I thought Aitel never left Human territory!”

The name Aitel surprised Amelia too.

Among the four races, the Elf race venerates and worships Aitel the most. The royal High Elves like Amelia manage the Sacred Tree, considered the divine embodiment of Aitel, and conduct ceremonies around it. Recently Kirika performed sword dances, and Amelia, as royalty, had danced or shot arrows before the Sacred Tree on several occasions.

Rumor had it Aitel never left the Cantinen Continent’s Yamato Country and hardly ever communicated directly with other races. In the Beastmen territory, which barely had any contact, some people allegedly didn’t even know Aitel was a god.

Aitel using my body? That would mean the voice I once heard was Aitel’s. Before I could fully grasp that, the conversation with Noah continued.