12. Slave"s dream, dream"s slave

"Why does Christ dive into the labyrinth?"

"Because it is necessary to live"

On our way back to home we have a little chat.

And Dia asks why I go to the labyrinth.

"Christ is skillful… You don"t need to go to the labyrinth to earn money. And you have your work at the bar, don"t you?"

"It is true, but I have to go to the labyrinth. How do I say it, it is necessary for me"

Yes, I must conquer the labyrinth to continue living as "Aikawa Kanami". Christ is just an alias for me. That is my answer, but even if I told Dia that, he wouldn"t understand.

"Hmm, I don"t understand well what Christ says"

"Come to think of it, what about Dia?"

"It is simple. I want money"

Now that I remember, he said before that he wanted money and power. It seems that he is set on that.

I used to say that I wanted money and power before. It seems to be the way of life that Dia is following to the point that she can answer immediately.

"I told you before that I want money and power, but why do you want those?"

"If I have those two I can get anything I want, honor, position, women, food, freedom, and happiness, whatever I want"

Dia spoke as if complaining about something. There is something similar to obsession and grudge. There must have been circ.u.mstances in the past, and Dia seems to seek money and power because of that.

But our relationship is too shallow to talk about those things.

"It is a common dream"

"It may be, but it is a man"s dream!"

"I don"t think so"

"No, no, Christ should wish for it too, somewhere in your heart. Living in a mansion, with a good woman and delicious food, it is a man"s dream!"

"Maybe… but…"

I am not holding such desires, because my sense of values is different. After all in my previous world delicious food was the norm. So I think that my mental satisfaction was put before the material satisfaction.

I think that there is something more important than those superficial desires.

"In my hometown, the person who has a lot of money can do anything, and n.o.body will oppose it, because of his guards. Because he was the lord he could pick the money from the people, surrounding himself with beautiful slaves, he lived as he wanted, and he seemed happier than anyone. Even in this country there are people like that, people who became rich in the labyrinth"

Dia kept talking about it.

"I will become rich too. And I will make sure that no one opposes me. When I do that and the people acknowledges me, I feel that I will be able to acknowledge myself"

Dia finished his monologue with his powerful will.

I might have misunderstood Dia. I was thinking that maybe he was just a child with some greed. However the core is steady. He looks ahead at his objective without wavering.

Why is it like that?

"Oh, it is wonderful, Dia"

"Oh no, I"m not amazing at all, I don"t have power nor money, I know that I somehow acquired some power with Christ"s help"

Dia got a bit embarra.s.sed and awkwardly scratched his head while talking.

Translator: Leoito