Chapter 209

The atmosphere in the three girls' rooms turned quiet when Ziel mentioned a girl's name. It wasn't because they were angry or jealous, but because they were dumbfounded, and the girls' bodies were shaking. They also shed tears without knowing the reason after hearing that name.

In contrast to Ziel, who only had a single teardrop on his emotionless face, the three girls burst into tears. The girls couldn't stop the tears, no matter how they wiped them.

"What happened to me? Why am I suddenly crying?" Clara muttered as she wiped the tears that kept running down her cheeks.

"Why do I feel such deep sorrow after hearing that name?" Princess Iris also feels the same with Clara.

"I feel a pain in my chest when you say that name. Who exactly is she!? What does she have to do with us!?" Kyouka shouted hysterically. Her feelings became messy after Ziel mentioned the girl's name. Sadness overflowed from her heart without her knowing the cause.

Ziel looked at the three girls with a nostalgic face, but not long after that, his face became emotionless again. He wiped a tear from his cheek and looked at them with another glance. He immediately knew what had happened to them after hearing Princess Iris' explanation.

"Before I answer your question, I want you to listen to my story first because it relates to the answer you want." Ziel said softly to the three girls.

Clara, Princess Iris, and Kyouka nodded after hearing Ziel's words. Tears were still running down the girls' cheeks because they still couldn't shake off the sadness in their hearts. Ziel didn't want to tell them about his past life. But since this matter had to do with the three girls, he couldn't help but explain.

"900 years ago, the human region of the Clorius continent was ruled by an empire and seven kingdoms. One day, the divine race invaded this continent. At that time, they were called fallen gods. Since the people of this world were unable to deal with them, the empire and the seven kingdoms decided to perform a hero summoning ritual. The location for it was in the imperial palace." Ziel stopped his explanation and looked at the three girls, focused on listening to his story. Then Ziel opened his mouth again.

"The people of the empire managed to summon four heroes from another world. Two of them are boys, and the remaining two are girls. Among the four heroes, two of them have an excellent relationship or can be said to be very close, and their names are…" Ziel was silent for a moment and then said the names of the two heroes.

"…Shiori Akama and Ken Nijisaki." When Ziel mentioned the two names, the three girls trembled.

Clara, Princess Iris, and Kyouka were shocked for two reasons. The first was because the name 'Shiori Akama' sounded very familiar in their memories, and the second was because the last hero's name was the same as the boy's name in front of them!

"Ken, don't tell me you and the boy in your story are the same people?" Clara asked in a trembling voice. Princess Iris and Kyouka also had the same question in their minds. Then the three girls fell silent and waited for Ziel's answer.

Ziel nodded in response to Clara's question. Even though Clara, Princess Iris, and Kyouka had guessed that Ziel was one of the heroes in the story, they couldn't help but be shocked after receiving a direct answer from Ziel.

"So, you've lived for over 900 years?" Kyouka ventured to ask Ziel. Her demeanor looks very different from the old her. Kyouka would usually ask without hesitation about things she wanted to know. But right now, she was like a little girl who was afraid of being scolded by her parents.

"I am not an old geezer as you think." Ziel answered her gently. He knew what Kyouka was thinking right now, and it was only natural for the girls to think so since Ziel hadn't finished his story yet.

"Uh! That's not what I mean! I...I just asked out of curiosity. But I never thought of you as an old geezer! Isn't that right, Iris?" Kyouka asked Princess Iris for help because she didn't know how to explain it and was afraid that Ziel would misunderstand her question. She realized that Ziel's words were the same as she thought. But she didn't want to admit it for fear that Ziel would be angry with her.

"That is… I think you still look very young and handsome!" Princess Iris unconsciously spoke her mind out of panic at Kyouka's sudden question. But after she realized what she had said, Princess Iris's face turned bright red, and she covered her face with both her hands and lowered her head. The atmosphere in the room became awkward due to Kyouka and Princess Iris' unusual behavior.

"I understand what you are thinking, but your guess is wrong." Ziel answered to clear up their misunderstanding.

"What do you mean, Ken?" Clara asked because she didn't understand what Ziel meant by that. She and the other two girls waited for Ziel to continue his explanation.

"I am indeed from 900 years ago, but the current me was born in this era, and my age is not much different from you guys." Ziel didn't immediately answer what the girls wanted to know. But Kyouka and Princess Iris quickly understood what his words meant.

"You mean…you were the reincarnation of Ken Nijisaki 900 years ago?" Kyouka asked Ziel. She was still doubting the conjecture in her mind at this moment.

"You are right." Ziel confirmed Kyouka's question with a short answer.

Kyouka took a deep breath because she seemed to have understood a bit of the mystery behind her dream.

"But, how is that possible? Does reincarnation really exist? If you reincarnate, how come you still have the power and memories of your past?" Princess Iris had heard of reincarnation. But she never thought that such a thing really existed and thought it was just a fairy tale. What's more, Ziel still has memories of his past life. Because according to what she knew from the story, a reincarnated person would forget all that stuff.

"Of course, it's possible. Aren't you three an example?" Ziel looked at the faces of the girls in front of him one by one. The three girls trembled slightly after hearing Ziel's words. They had the same black hair color as Shiori, but none had the same face and character as his old friend. Then Ziel continued his story again.

"Shiori and I have been very close ever since we were summoned to this world. The two of us spent a lot of moments together. She always brings me lunch when I'm immersed in my practice to become stronger. But Shiori never admitted that she made that lunch for me." Ziel stopped and took a light breath. Then he spoke with a sad-looking face.

"But that moment didn't last long until she sacrificed her life to protect me. Since then, no one else came to remind me when I was immersed in my practice and brought me lunch. I felt I lost something essential at that time, and I understood that I would never be able to find it again." Ziel couldn't help but sigh heavily when he remembered about his past.

Even though Azael's seal was weakened and had many cracks, Ziel still couldn't express his emotions appropriately. When he recalled his happy and sad memories in the past, he could only put on an emotionless face in front of the three girls.

Clara, Princess Iris, and Kyouka couldn't help but fall silent after hearing that story. Not long after, the tears that had stopped started flowing down their cheeks again.

"After hearing the story about your dream, I thought Shiori had returned, and I could find again what I had lost in the past. However, I realized that I was wrong. Even though you are her reincarnation and have her memories, you are not her." Ziel said seriously and looked at the three girls.

Clara, Princess Iris, and Kyouka trembled violently after hearing the last line in Ziel's words. They felt excruciating pain in their chests. The three girls could sense that Ziel felt disappointed even though he didn't show it on his face.

"Shiori is Shiori, and you are you. You don't need to use Shiori's memories as the basis of your current life because she is a story of the past and has become a memory in my heart. So, live as yourself." Ziel stretched out his hand and pointed at the three girls.

Clara and the other two girls were confused by what Ziel was doing. From Ziel's fingertips suddenly formed three balls of light and shot into their foreheads. The girls were shocked but didn't avoid it because they believed that Ziel would never hurt them. It was natural for Clara and Princess Iris to believe in Ziel. But strangely, Kyouka also felt the same way with the two girls.

"Goodbye, Shiori. Thank you for all your care for me in the past." Ziel involuntarily shed another tear, and suddenly his body trembled because he saw the image of Shiori smiling at him from the three girls. Ziel smiled slightly in response.

Ziel thought what he did was right. He wanted Shiori back and could have made it come true after finding out the three of them had Shiori's reincarnated soul. But he had to throw away the other two and combine the three souls to make Shiori entirely back. The other two girls will die, and the girl who becomes their vessel will lose herself, or it can be said to have the same fate as the other two girls.

That's why Ziel had to suppress Shiori's memories in their minds. Even though they still have those memories, they will never have weird dreams like they used to.

"Hmm… what happened to me? Why do I suddenly feel dizzy?" Kyouka held her head as she felt a headache and her consciousness slowly faded.

"Is it because of the light that entered our foreheads earlier?" Princess Iris said in a weak voice while holding back the extreme sleepiness inside her.

"What have you done, Ken?" Clara also felt the same way with the two girls, but she lost consciousness first. Not long after, Kyouka and Princess Iris caught up with her.

Even though the three girls were already unconscious, they still had tears flowing from their closed eyes. Ziel stood up from his seat and wiped the tears on the girls' cheeks. Then he moved the girls to their respective beds.

While Ziel was laying Kyouka on her bed, he heard the girl thank him weakly. Kyouka didn't seem to have completely lost consciousness and vaguely knew what Ziel had done. Ziel responded by gently stroking her hair. Kyouka's body trembled for a while but then relaxed. After that, her consciousness completely sank into darkness.

Ziel quickly left the room after moving the three girls onto their beds. He didn't want to be seen by others when he came out of a girl's room in the morning, let alone the one who saw him was the academy teacher. Apart from that, Ziel still had other problems to solve.

After Ziel came out of the girls' room, he walked down the corridor, then suddenly disappeared and reappeared in the garden behind the castle. He saw a girl with whitish purple hair sitting on one of the chairs, looking at the sea view. The girl was Lilith, and she seemed to be pensive without noticing the situation around her.

Ziel didn't hide his presence when he appeared in that place, and Lilith should have noticed it right away. But it seemed she was deep in thought from contemplating something at this moment. Then Ziel strolled towards her.

"Are you still thinking about it?" Ziel spoke to Lilith after he was right behind her.

"Eh!" Lilith was surprised to hear a voice behind her suddenly. When Lilith looked back, she saw Ziel standing and staring at her. If Ziel were an assassin, Lilith would have been dead long ago.

"That is..." Lilith didn't know what to say. Ziel at least knew what she thought so that she couldn't lie to him. Lilith could only lower her head and didn't continue her words.

"Fine if you don't want to answer it. But now you must come with me." Ziel sighed and didn't mind Lilith not wanting to answer his question.

"Hmm? Where do you want me to go?" Lilith was confused when she heard Ziel suddenly ask her out because Ziel would usually go with Kalya, Princess Freya, or Clara.

"Visiting an old acquaintance and having a little chat with her." Ziel didn't say where he was going.. He suddenly patted Lilith's shoulder, and they disappeared from the place.