Alicization: Steel and Lycoris

Alicization: Conflicting

“Hehe.”

Allow me to explain just how I am in the current situation before it goes on any further. After our meeting with Bercouli, Eydis and I went out to eat as we have done many times now. Enjoyable time, except...someone got a little too wasted. To preserve her dignity as an Integrity Knight by not walking her to her own tent, I made the decision to take her to mine, forgetting up until now my own dignity. So here I am, a semi-drunk Eydis in a gray and black bra and miniskirt that does absolutely nothing to save my eyes from wandering.

So while I’m trying to calm myself down, Eydis is staring at me. “Do you have to stare at me, Eydis?”

“Ah, are you flustered, Mr. Mage Knight? I thought you were tougher than that?”

And I’m still a slave to the biology of a nineteen-year-old boy. “Hmph. Be lucky I’m not that kind of person.”

“Hehe. I’m half-joking...and half-serious, too. I wonder if Alice was to walk in right now, what would she think of you so close to her big sis in such a compromising position.”

I frown. “I swear, you are going to make me stab you with my sw… Oh, I hate you. Is this how you’re paying me back from earlier?”

Eydis shrugs. “Hmm, maybe. Or maybe it’s because… I just don’t want to be alone right now.” Her smile fades as she drops her head in her arms. “I’m tormented by my past life. All I want to do is remember what Eydis the girl was like before she was Eydis Synthesis Ten.”

I shuffle and lay on my back, staring at the top of the tent. “Alice told me Eugeo died with the memories of Alice Zuberg, which means the Pontifex has them on the hundredth floor, right?”

“Yes.”

“So once we get up there and end all this, how about we retrieve your memories?”

“Is that possible? But if I get those back… I won’t be who I am now.”

I turn to her, looking at her eye to eye. “Eydis, do you love being an Integrity Knight?”

Eydis slowly but surely nods. “I know the original purpose is crap now, but the mission to protect the human realm is still important. I don’t want to go back on that at all. I may even forget Little Cutie, and I don’t want that to happen at all. But still…”

“Maybe there is a way you could see the memories without replacing your current ones. I promise you that if there is a way, I’ll act on it.”

Eydis is on the verge of tears. “Why? You haven’t known me long, you don’t owe me anything.”

I shrug. “I don’t know… You remind me of a witch I know. Pain in the ass, but overall a great friend.”

“Oh, so has she ever done this?” Eydis slides closer and effectively cuddles against me. I barely put up a fight against it, too tired to care and...not actually minding it at all.

“No, she has not. But now I wonder if you’re drunkingly teasing me or are fully aware of what you’re doing.”

“Exactly. And you are not trying to remove me either. Either you’re too kind to poor old drunken me, or you believe I’m sober and are actually enjoying our close contact. Which is it, Mr. Mage Knight?”