"Takumi-sama, may I ask how you came to this world?"
Shizue asked curiously. She had met quite a few fellow otherworlders before, but this was the first time she had encountered someone like Takumi, who had established an empire of his own.
"Huh? I… suppose I came here of my own accord."
Takumi paused before answering in an uncertain tone.
"Chloe was summoned here!"
Chloe, sitting beside him, chimed in as well.
Upon hearing that she was also from another world, Shizue frowned slightly, revealing a trace of pity and concern.
Young Summoned Ones generally did not live very long.
Shizue had only learned that after withdrawing from the front lines and working as an instructor in the Kingdom of Ingrassia.
With pity in her eyes, she asked Chloe how she had been doing.
Unaware of why Shizue was so concerned, Chloe happily began talking about how kind Takumi was, how he played games with her, and how they read manga together.
"Games? Manga?!"
"It's just a minor ability of mine. I can create certain things."
Takumi snapped his fingers, and a manga appeared in front of Shizue.
She accepted it and began flipping through the pages, quickly becoming engrossed.
After learning about Chloe's past, Shizue also began recounting her own.
Perhaps it was because this was the first time she had found someone she could confide in, or perhaps because she knew she was nearing death and wanted someone to hear her story.
Shizue had no intention of hiding anything.
From her account, Takumi learned about her painful past.
She had been born in Japan during the Second World War. Before she was old enough to remember her father's face, he had already gone off to war.
She grew up relying on her mother alone, but when she was eight years old, she was caught in an air raid.
While she hovered between life and death, she was summoned to another world by a Demon Lord who called himself Leon Cromwell.
The Demon Lord had no interest in her, but Shizue's intense will to survive caught his attention.
Even now, she still remembered what he had said.
[I thought you were nothing but trash, but it seems you possess some degree of affinity with fire.]
Leon then summoned the Flame Spirit, treating Shizue as though she were not even human and ordering it to take over her body.
"At the time, I was fortunate enough to obtain the skill Deviant, which allowed me to survive. I fused with the Flame Spirit while retaining my own consciousness."
As Shizue recounted that part of her past, she spoke with lingering bitterness.
"The truth can't be denied. If he had abandoned me, I would have died. That Demon Lord did save my life."
Hearing this, Chloe looked confused.
The name Leon sounded strangely familiar.
Wasn't that the name of her childhood friend?
"Same name?"
Chloe muttered to herself but did not dwell on it.
He had only been another child from the same orphanage, a companion from her early years.
Right now, Chloe was far more concerned about Shizue.
Compared to what Shizue had endured, her own experience hardly seemed worth mentioning.
Shizue had suffered through such a painful past at only eight years old.
Even Chloe, despite being only ten, felt miserable just hearing about it.
Shizue continued speaking, pain showing in her eyes.
After fusing with the Flame Spirit, she became one of Demon Lord Leon's close subordinates.
Several years later, she made a friend.
One day, that friend begged Shizue to take her to see the Demon Lord.
Unable to refuse, Shizue brought her along.
However, the pet her friend had brought became frightened by the Demon Lord's overwhelming presence and displayed hostility.
At that moment, Shizue lost control of her body.
The Flame Spirit ignored her will, seized control, killed the threatening animal, and burned her friend—who had been holding it—to ashes as well.
"That is the greatest regret of my life. Back then, I had no right to call myself human or to become friends with anyone."
Shizue's heavy voice brought tears to Chloe's eyes.
Takumi listened and quietly muttered, "That Demon Lord really had the mindset of someone who enjoyed watching chaos unfold. He should've been capable of stopping it."
Takumi considered himself someone who enjoyed stirring up trouble, but even he fell short compared to Leon.
Had he encountered that situation himself, he honestly would have intervened rather than watching coldly from the sidelines.
Shizue nodded in agreement.
"That's why I feel both gratitude and hatred toward that Demon Lord."
After speaking in a low voice, Shizue's tone gradually returned to its previous calmness.
Her life improved afterward because the Hero Chronoa arrived and beat Demon Lord Leon senseless.
Shizue, having been abandoned as a disposable pawn, was defeated and rescued by the Hero, then traveled with her for a long time.
Because the Flame Spirit allowed her to freely control fire, Shizue became known as the Conqueror of Flames.
However, after Chronoa left without saying goodbye and a dragon invaded several decades ago, forcing Shizue to draw upon the Flame Spirit's power once again, she gradually began losing control and officially withdrew from the front lines.
Thanks to the Flame Spirit, her outward appearance remained eternally youthful.
But as her control weakened, signs of aging began to emerge.
More precisely, the life force of her physical body was nearing exhaustion.
Once her body's life was completely spent, the Flame Spirit would clearly break free from its restraints and escape.
Every time she used its power now, she consumed what little life she had left.
"My only wishes now, aside from staying away from crowds, are to find Demon Lord Leon."
"At the very least, I want to repay him for what he did—or complain to his face once before I die!"
Shizue clenched her small fist and voiced her lingering resentment.
Now that she was approaching death, those were the only wishes she had left.
"Oh? Is that really your final wish, Miss Shizue? That seems far too careless."
Takumi spoke calmly, without much regret in his tone.
In his eyes, Shizue's condition was not particularly serious.
"Shizue… It's been such a long time since anyone called me that."
Shizue gave a bitter smile.
Ever since arriving in this world, Demon Lord Leon had renamed her Shizu.
Hearing her true name again after all these years felt strangely unfamiliar.
At the same time, a trace of doubt arose in her heart.
"My eyes can see many things, including other people's true names."
"There's something else, Miss Shizue. Your condition is extremely poor."
"You may not be able to feel it clearly yourself, but the flame of your life is almost extinguished."
"My comparison may not be entirely accurate, but you're currently in the final burst of vitality before death."
Takumi's warning left Shizue stunned.
She had felt that her body could still hold on for a while.
Had things truly deteriorated that badly?
It was as though the last trace of determination supporting her had suddenly collapsed, and overwhelming weakness swept through her body.
...
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