Berserk of Gluttony (LN) - Volume 5 - Chapter 16

Chapter 16:

The Return of the Dead

LORD MASON SAW ROXY and dismounted his horse. He took slow, steady steps toward her. Roxy stood still, watching as he approached. Unlike those who were overjoyed at the sight of their lost loved ones returned alive, Roxy was frozen, speechless.

Lord Mason paused, looking at his daughter, unsure of what to do. I read feelings of doubt in the expression on his face, a sort of melancholy worry that returning home might have been a mistake.

“Roxy,” he said, his voice filled with kindness. “I’m back.”

Lord Mason’s words seemed to thaw his daughter. Ever since his departure, Roxy had worked her hardest to live up to her responsibilities as heir and head of the Hart family. She had been surrounded by holy knights who despised her for siding with the townsfolk. Her newly granted position of power had burdened her with an absurd number of duties. Even as a servant in her household, I had been able to tell that the burden was immense. But I knew that recognizing the weight was nothing compared to shouldering it. 

As part of Rafale’s scheme, Roxy had been sent to Galia shortly after her father’s reported death. I would never forget the day she’d left, burying her true feelings as she departed for the land where the once-passive Divine Dragon had turned violent. The day before, I watched her stand before Lord Mason’s gravestone, making what I thought was some kind of pledge. There was so much she had wanted to say that she thought would forever go unheard. Perhaps she had decided to leave those words at his resting place. Roxy and I had that in common. My parents had both passed away while I was young, and I could no longer talk to them, even though there were still things I wanted to ask them.

But here and now, with Lord Mason standing before her, Roxy could now say those things to him. Perhaps because all those thoughts bubbled to the surface, she couldn’t find the right words. She instead replied to him with the tears in her eyes. Lord Mason embraced his daughter in a hug.

“You’ve been through so much,” he said.

Everything that happened next felt like it happened in an instant. Aaron called out to Lord Mason. He recommended going to the castle to report his return. Lord Mason nodded and headed for the castle. Though Roxy tried to follow, he told her not to.

“Father…” Roxy said.

“There’s no need for tears,” Lord Mason said. “After all this time, I thought you would have grown into a real holy knight, but you’re still a child.” 

“That’s not it at all!” Roxy protested. “I…I…”

“I’ll be back soon. Wait for me at the manor.” Lord Mason then turned to Aaron and me. “Aaron, thank you for your suggestion. And my apologies for not realizing you had returned to active duty. I can scarcely believe it. And who is this?” He looked in my direction.

“This is Fate Barbatos, my adopted son,” Aaron replied. “I’ll tell you the longer version when we have more time.”

“Indeed. Until then.”

I felt nervous standing before Roxy’s father. I bowed somewhat clumsily to him. He returned my greeting with a warm smile and headed toward the castle. In that instant, I felt that I stood before a man of great valor.

We watched as the soldiers continued, still unable to grasp exactly what we were witnessing. It was impossible that so many soldiers could have miraculously escaped death in Galia. It wasn’t just that, however—the belongings of the fallen soldiers had long ago been returned to their grieving families. This was also true of Lord Mason, whose things were buried in his grave at Hart Manor. Aaron asked Roxy if she could confirm that, but she shook her head.

“I’m too scared…” she said. “I’m sorry, but I can’t do it. I know it’s important, but…I’m sorry.”

“No, I asked you for something I shouldn’t have. It is I who should apologize.”

After a short time, soldiers and holy knights began appearing at the southern gate, having received word from Miria. We left the rest up to them as we returned to the Holy Knight District. Lady Aisha was at Hart Manor, and we needed to inform her as soon as possible that her husband was alive.

“Mother will be so shocked to hear the news,” Roxy said.

“She might jump out of her own skin,” Aaron added.

I watched Aaron and Roxy walking along ahead and put my hand to the black sword at my waist.

“What do you make of this, Greed?”

“It shouldn’t be possible, but it’s happening.”

“Yeah, that much I can see for myself. That’s not what I’m asking.”

“I expected that you would have fit the pieces together already. Just like Luna told you. No happy endings for anyone.” 

“Happy endings…so even if things look rosy at the start, in the end they’ll turn tragic?”

“Yep. You saw Roxy earlier. She was a bundle of nerves when she first saw her father, but now look. She couldn’t be happier.”

Perhaps some part of Roxy had always hoped for another chance to see her father. Now she was beginning to accept his return, though some part of her perhaps feared that it wasn’t true. I had to ask Greed if all of this had something to do with Myne and her search.

“Is it the Door to Distant Lands?” I asked.

“And if it is?” Greed asked in return. “What will you do then?”

“Greed!”

“I’m sorry. But there’s still time. No need to get hasty. If things have gone this far, Eris won’t be wasting any time either. She’ll be back, and I’m sure she’ll have updates for us. Your best bet for now is to wait.”

“No choice but to wait…”

I wasn’t good at waiting. Still, there was nothing else to do. Before leaping into action, we needed to see if anyone who came back had any leads. I could rely on the two white knights at the castle to investigate this matter for us, but I wasn’t too good at dealing with either of them. In any case, I knew that if I asked, they would tell me what they knew.

We saw Lady Aisha at the gates as we approached Hart Manor. She’d been waiting there for us since we had returned to our original bodies. As soon as she saw us, she ran to meet us. She had put on an air of confidence earlier, but the truth was that she’d been worried sick for the both of us.

“Ah, you’re both back safe and sound. I’m so glad, I really am. And there’s no need to worry—Memil woke up just a little while ago. Miss Sahara is with her.”

“Thank you, my lady.”

“Ah, it’s so much better that you’re both back to normal! Still, that boyish Roxy was lots of fun. I dare say I’m going to miss her.”

“Mother, please! Show some manners!”

“Oh, my. My apologies, dearest daughter. There’s no need to get so angry. You’ll only give yourself more wrinkles. If you keep that up, you’ll only scare Fate off.”

“Huh?!”

As usual, Lady Aisha was nothing if not full of vigor. It was hard to fathom that she had been completely bedridden until just a few months ago. Now we had to break the news to her. I was a little worried as to how she would take it. Aaron and I watched over Roxy as her face grew serious.

“Mother, I need you to listen to me carefully now, okay?”

“What? What is it? Oh, you don’t mean…? He finally popped the question?”

Lady Aisha looked back and forth at Roxy and me, suddenly brimming with incredible joy and a desire to celebrate. It was clear she had entirely the wrong idea. 

Roxy suddenly realized what her mother was thinking. “Not yet, Mother! Not yet! Why do you always assume that’s what we want to talk to you about?!”

“Oh, so that’s not what you wanted to tell me? How very disappointing Well then, what is it? I’m sure it can’t possibly be as exciting as that.”

Lady Aisha seemed suddenly bored now that she knew we wanted to tell her something different. Roxy’s eyebrow twitched irritably at her mother’s attitude. She had something genuinely important to say. It was always like this with these two. Lady Aisha was always playfully pushing Roxy around.

“Mother, I’m serious,” Roxy said, grabbing her mother by the shoulders. “I need you to listen to me.”

Lady Aisha froze, shocked by her daughter’s actions. “Okay, okay. I’m listening. What is it?”

“Father has come back.”

“What?!”

“Father has returned from Galia. He’s back, and he’s alive.”

Lady Aisha clearly couldn’t comprehend the idea that her husband had returned. She was certain he had died. Her wide eyes blinked with disbelief as she looked at her daughter. “If this is your idea of a joke, it’s in very poor taste. Stop it at once. That’s impossible. Mason is gone, and I won’t have you making light of it.”

“But it’s true!”

“Huh?! My, oh my, wh-whatever shall I do? What is going on here? Aaron, please talk some sense for me, would you please?”

Lady Aisha still thought her daughter was playing a trick on her, so she turned to Aaron, who was always trustworthy.

“Aisha, Roxy is speaking the truth. I met Mason myself earlier. He’s currently at the castle.”

“My lord…I never would have thought you’d join in this sort of tomfoolery. You’re lying, you must be lying. I…he…Fate, please, tell me the truth!”

I was her last resort, and she grabbed hold of me in search of an answer. It wasn’t that the idea of Lord Mason being alive bothered her. Rather, it was that this kind of good news was so divorced from reality that she couldn’t comprehend it. Lady Aisha’s response was entirely natural. After all, it was a case of the dead coming back to life.

“Why would you all lie to me about this?” she pleaded. “Mason…Fate, is he… I feel like if he really has come back, I’ll faint on this very spot…”

“My lady, please calm down,” I said. “Take a few deep breaths.”

“Yes, you’re right. Thank you, Fate. I feel a little better.”

“Great. Now it’s my turn to tell you the truth: Lord Mason has returned.”

It seemed that my words were the last straw. Lady Aisha’s eyes rolled back into her head and she fainted, exactly as she said she would. I caught her before she fell. Roxy was shocked; she hadn’t expected this reaction from her mother.

“Mother?!” she cried.

“Let’s take her back to the manor and let her sleep,” Aaron said. “As far back as I can remember, Aisha had completely devoted herself to Mason. She loved him like no other.”

“Ah, I see,” I said. “I’m sorry about this, Roxy.”

“You have nothing to apologize for, Fate. My mother has always been a handful. Come on, let’s head to the manor.”

“Okay.”

With Lady Aisha in my arms, I followed Roxy into Hart Manor. 

The head servant Haru dashed up to us. “Lady Aisha! What happened?!”

“She got a little too excited,” Roxy explained, “and it appears she fainted.”

“I’ll get something prepared to help her cool down.”

Haru ran off immediately. The manor buzzed with palpable tension, and Aaron turned to Roxy.

“Mason will be coming here once he’s finished at the castle,” he said. “You had best explain the situation to your staff before he does.”

“You’re right. I’ll gather everyone and give them the news. Will you take care of my mother for me?”

“Of course. Right, Fate?”

“Yes. Roxy, leave your mother to us. We’ll take care of her.”

“Thank you. I’ll see you soon.”

Roxy walked off and started gathering her staff, just as was expected of the head of the family. When they were all together, she shared the news that Lord Mason was coming home. I didn’t expect anyone to react quite like Lady Aisha had, but I was certain they would be astonished. Even when I had worked as a servant at the manor, Lord Mason’s passing had left the staff with a deep well of sadness. I could still remember how, after a few drinks, people had opened up and talked about their memories of him. 

I watched as Roxy informed the staff.

“However you look at it, she’s amazing, that Roxy,” said Aaron. “Let’s go, Fate.”

“Of course. However, I’m a little worried. Is it okay for two men to be alone with Lady Aisha in her private quarters?” 

“Hmm…you’ve always been a bit uptight when it comes to that kind of thing. In that case…”

Just then, Haru returned with a small bucket of water and a towel.

“Just in time,” Aaron said. “Haru, would you mind showing us the way to Aisha’s room?”

“Right this way,” she replied.

We followed Haru to Lady Aisha’s room. As we did, I could hear Lady Aisha mumbling, calling out Lord Mason’s name.

“He’ll be back soon,” she said softly, a look of relief washing across her face.

All this time, she had held back her true feelings, hiding them behind a veil of jokes and love for her daughter. 

Luna’s words played over in my head again. I couldn’t forget them. The Door was opening. That, or it had already opened. Though I still didn’t know what was happening in any real sense, that had to be why Lord Mason had returned, and for that I was happy. 

For that brief moment, just like Lady Aisha and Roxy, I allowed myself to enjoy the good news.