Chapter 147- Snow of the Oblivion

A girl with fiery red hair.
The wounds on her body gradually healed by itself. It was most likely the effect of a self healing skill like Auto Recovery.
During our battle when she’s still in her beast form, I did use appraisal on her, but I couldn’t read her skill at all. What about now?
Let’s just try it out. I activated 《Appraisal》 and checked.

Haa…..

The figureless voice of Greed rang out on my head.

『What’s wrong? Why the sighing?』

[It’s just like Myne. My appraisal skill does not work on this girl either.]

This was certainly not the appraisal nullification technique that Aaron had taught me. That one forcefully disable appraisal by interrupting it with internal magic power explosion.
With this one, I simply couldn’t read anything.
Appraisal skill allows one to see the target’s stats and skill. Stealth skill can conceal one’s own skill from being appraised. But this was also certainly not due to Stealth’s effect as the skill cannot be maintained while one is unconscious.

[Ah whatever…]

『Appraisal won’t work on this creature.』

[Don’t call her ‘creature’. I never treated Greed as an inorganic item, didn’t I?]

『Hahahah! That’s rare coming out from you. Then let me set you in for a good info. This me doesn’t mind even if you choose to consider this creature as a person. Sacred Beasts and the holders of Mortal Sin skill had this long standing relationship. To those beasts, we are like livestock. And of course, those beasts will seek to eat us, the livestock.』

[Did my predecessor also fight against a sacred beast in the past?]

『Why of course. He was the first to fight back.』

Greed sounded very excited when he said that, probably reminded of the old days.
Looking away to the moon in the east, I suddenly noticed a familiar star. That star was aptly named Laplace by the astrologs, and it’s been shining brighter recently.
I turned toward Greed, then back to the star… I also saw that same star back in the green region of Gallia. And my Gluttony skill always seemed to react whenever I saw that star.
And the same also applies right now. I could sense Gluttony skill wriggling inside me. There must be some sort of unknown relation here.

Greed mentioned just now, that my predecessor was the first to take the initiative to fight back against the sacred beasts.
I felt like whenever I see the Laplace star, I could find the answer to all my questions there. Actually, maybe because I just want to see this through.

[Hey, what happened when my predecessor fought that magic beast?]

『The answer is here.』

[Ha!? What do you mean?]

Could it be that my predecessor fought the same sacred beast that is now lying next to me here?
But he didn’t make it clear.

『Good grief.』

[What was that? Don’t treat me like I’m a troublesome kid!]

『Ohh? Did you not mind at all being treated like a kid by your dad earlier?』

[But I didn’t.]

『If you keep denying it, it’ll be the same as if you’re admitting it.』

This bastard!! Just when he’s about to say something worth hearing…

『Patience, patience. The result of that fight was a draw. He managed to heavily injure the sacred beast, and vice versa. Both sides retreated before the victor could be decided.』

[Then why did it seem to me like you’re referring to Snow and this place just now?]

『After that, apparently something happened among the sacred beasts. We didn’t actually manage to kill Snow back then. And yet, here she is, revived by the power of the Door to His Land. Suppose you can tell already what that means, yes?』

I see…..but wait! Was that why this guy said 『the answer is here』earlier!?
I felt like he skipped a lot of things there.
But still, the sacred beasts treated Mortal Sin skill holders like cattles huh…? If Greed said the truth, then my predecessor probably fought the beast to gain freedom.
And apparently, the battle hadn’t seen any conclusion yet.

The question now is…What really happened among the sacred beasts that it ended up killing Snow? And there is also the question of whether we can actually get along with her.
It would be a big trouble if she’s still hostile toward the mortal sin skill holders. I could only hope that we wouldn’t have to fight again when she woke up.

I tightened my grasp around Greed’s handle, just in case.
Enemy? Or ally? Will Snow turn against me when she finally woke up?
The girl slowly opened her eyes, staring into the night sky while staying supine on the sand.
And the first few words that came out from her lips was,

[Where…is this?]

She didn’t seem to be hostile for now. Her eyes hadn’t fully regained their clarity just yet. But she seemed to know that I was sitting right next to her.

[I heard from Holy Knight Lishua that this place is called Desert of Devastation.]

[Desert of Devastation… And you are?]

[My name is Fate Barbatos. You are Snow, aren’t you?]

[Snow?]

When I mentioned her name, she tilted her head instead.
Ehh!? What’s this? I felt very anxious all of a sudden.

[You mean, I am Snow? U～n…]

[Could it be, you don’t remember your own name?]

[…….Un. I can’t remember anything]

[You can’t remember anything else other than your name?]

[Un! I really can’t remember anything!]

She boldly said so with an innocent smile on her face.
Weeeell, what now?
It might not work, but I activated《Mind Reading》as I lightly touched Snow. It worked, but what I saw was confusion. She doesn’t seem to know what to do.

And Appraisal still didn’t work on Snow even now.
Feeling troubled, I consulted Greed.

[What do you think?]

『It doesn’t seem like Snow is lying. But for good measure, give her another question while keeping me in direct contact with her. I’ll detect if there is a disturbance in her heartbeat rate.』

[Alright.]

Being an obedient girl――Snow answered my question while holding Greed in her hands.
Greed then told me that she’s not lying.

『No change at all.』

[If she isn’t lying… does that mean she has an amnesia?]

『That’s the most likely case. That also explains why she went around wildly before this. 』

Dad also said that she was revived in an imperfect state.
Because of that, she probably lost her memory, became wild while unable to control her own stats.
Amnesia huh…? In this state, it’s hard to tell whether she’s an ally, or a dangerous enemy… I just can’t decide.

『What do you want to do? Leave her here?』

[I can’t do that. I’ve promised Dad. I’ll take her back.]

『Thought so. Then, let’s go back! This me could use some polishing.』

[No matter the form, you really care about your appearance, don’t you, Greed?]

『The best of swords certainly deserves the best care！』

When I first saw him, he looked very dirty for sure.
I held Snow up from her supine position. She showed no resistance whatsoever,
This girl is even dirtier than Greed was. Once we get back, it’ll be best to ask Lishua to prepare her a bath.

We strolled through the quiet desert.
Snow was silently staring at the sand in her hand being blown away by the night wind. The wounds on her body seemed to have closed, but she still couldn’t walk properly.
Or perhaps because she spent quite a long while in her beast form and was not yet accustomed with her current form.
Even subtracting the extra distance we might take during the fight with the giant scorpion, we’re actually quite far away from the city. That’s why I couldn’t let Snow walk on her own to save some time.

At long last, we finally reached the city gates. As we went closer, I noticed that someone was standing by outside the gate.
Turned out, Roxy had been waiting to welcome us.

[Thank goodness. All’s well that ends well.]

[Somehow.]

Roxy glanced at Snow, and smiled.
Then turned to look at me with a frown.

[Actually, I was waiting here just in case we get into another fight.]

[I’m sorry for making you worried. But as you can see, she’s not hostile. At least for now]

[What do you mean by ‘for now’?]

I then explained to Roxy how Snow was currently an amnesiac.
As a result, she had no recollection over what she had done. For that reason, I had to put the judgment on hold.

[Understood. I believe in Fai and Greed-san’s judgment in this. And… Can you introduce me to Snow-chan…?]

[Sure. Snow, this is my companion, Roxy]

[Nice to meet you. It must be hard not being able to remember anything. If you have any trouble, feel free to tell me]

I knew it. Roxy loves kids. As for me, I’m a bit neutral about it. But when Roxy saw a kid in trouble… it’s as if there is something in her that made kids become uncomfortable.
Like that one time when she found a lost child back at the capital. Whatever she did, the kid wouldn’t stop crying.
Right… does her face really look that scary?

Anyways, Snow’s response was only predictable.

[I’m scared! Fate, save me!]

There it is! As usual. And Roxy’s reaction was just as predictable.

[Eeee!? Are you… scared of me?]

Understandably, she’s severely shocked.
This was… probably depressing to her. Exhausted from the battle against the sacred beast, and now seemingly being pushed aside.

[Why…why do kids always get frightened when they see me?]

[Even if you ask me…]

[Fai is unfair. How come kids always like you right away? It’s really unfair.]

Roxy stared at me with mild resentment.
Her appearance right now didn’t help with making herself less scary in the eyes of children.
No other choice. I had to coax Snow to get along with Roxy. We’re going to travel together after all.

[Snow. Listen to me.]

[What is it ?]

[Roxy is actually not someone scary. She might look scary now, but she’s very kind.]

[Really?]

Snow clung to me scaredly.
But she seemed to be willing to listen. She tried to glance at Roxy for a while.

[She’s scary after all!]

[Naa… Fai…]

[Don’t blame me on this, okay.]

There was a slight sign of hope, but she was still denied. This is troublesome.
Raising then dropping it like that, the mental damage was actually double than normal.

Snow kept clinging to me while trying to hide herself from Roxy. It might take unexpectedly some time before the two can get along.

I’m in trouble here.
From Roxy’s side, I sensed a silent but suffocating pressure.
Like this, what would happen if we met Eris and Mimir…? U~n, this is certainly worrying.