Chapter 23

What Cannot Be Taken Back -eggs had a great fall- 1. The Seven of the Past They probably planned everything out very carefully. They probably invested a lot of time and money in elaborate preparations. They had a horde of monsters with equipment enhanced by concept-manipulation magic, battle puppets created with a liberal use of illegal heavy metals, and cockatrices forced under their control via charm enchantments. Each individual part was equally as powerful as a single army—no, perhaps even more powerful. Their military strength could be described only as overpowering, strong enough to topple a small country. The ones in charge of the whole thing were probably certain of their victory when they set their plan in motion. That was several years ago. Willem Kmetsch was fourteen at the time. In his experience, that was four years ago; in terms of the real world, it was 529 years ago; and by the flow of time in this dreamworld, a mere two years ago. Indeed—here, it was just a mere two years ago. He swung his sword. He swung it again and again. He grew tired of counting the enemies he felled after about twenty. So he eventually cleared his mind, concentrating on nothing but cutting down any enemy who appeared before him. But the big trouble were the monsters strengthened by spells. Concept manipulation magic was a type of enchantment that overwrote the very essence of the target it was cast on. Spells that often appeared in children’s tales—turning people into stone or transforming a little bird into a cute girl—were that sort of magic. They gave muscular capabilities to creatures that didn’t originally have them and modified their bone structure to incorporate weapons. That being said, that didn’t mean they were formidable enemies. It was just that as he cut into enemies who housed dense and high-level enchantments, his Carillon, which also incorporated high-level enchantments, would start acting up. It was not much more than a nuisance, so he was planning on ignoring it and pushing through by force until the end. But there were more enemies around him than he had first thought. If he kept fighting with his sword’s lowered capabilities, then it was possible he’d end up with more problems on his hands because he was lazy and got his priorities backward. Oh well. With Haze Step, he put distance between himself and the horde of enemies and poured magic into the Carillon in his right hand. “Initialize adjustment!” A Carillon was a weapon fashioned from fragments of metal called talismans, bound together by magic. He would typically undo the binding force that was the veins of enchantment when he began adjustment. The sword would lose its sword shape and turn into twenty-nine pieces of metal. And those twenty-nine pieces would scatter in the air around him, in a state ready to receive precise adjustments. But on the battlefield, there wasn’t any time for such careful and leisurely activities. Willem didn’t undo the veins but instead just loosened them. The fragments were free but remained in the shape of a sword. They separated just wide enough for a couple of fingers to fit in between and stay in place. A steel puppet soldier came up right behind him, and he split it in two with the Carillon in his left hand. At the same time, he slipped his right thumb between the metal fragments and pressed the crystal hiding inside. By making contact with it, he could read the Carillon’s status. …Bleh. There was a large venenum blockage in the spinal root. The venenum he’d just activated wasn’t circulating throughout the blade. Now he understood why it hadn’t been working so well. For now, he would do emergency repairs to get through this ordeal so he could do a full maintenance pass later. He rearranged the talismans through his thumb, creating an impromptu bypass for the venenum to circulate. He finished the adjustments and returned the veins of enchantment back to normal. There were many different types of Carillon, but this was the reason why Willem liked using these mass-produced Percivals. They were of a simple make and were receptive to strain and practicalities during adjustment. There was no other Carillon whose slayer levels and resistances could be allocated mid-battle. And incidentally, since they were comparatively smaller blades, Willem rated them highly, since he was only fourteen and wasn’t completely grown yet. If he pushed himself a little, he could actually dual-wield them, like he was doing now. Regardless, his fellow Quasi Braves often sighed and said, “You shouldn’t be able to adjust your sword on your own in the first place” and would never agree with him no matter how he sang the praises of the Percival series. Anyway. The Percival in his right hand was in good shape for the time being, and he sensed that his Dindrane would start to wear out soon. He just needed to be a little careful as he fought from now on, so he gathered himself and— —he leaped backward with all his might. A brilliant flash burned his eyes. There was a deafening roar that could be described only as a shock rather than a sound. The intense blast felt like it would rip his whole body to shreds. “—Rgh—” He ignited his venenum and concentrated his power in his legs. Since his five senses were unreliable, he relied on his sense of balance to search for the direction of the ground and landed as though ready to kick. “Ngh, gah…” His senses slowly returned as he stayed a few moments in that position, groaning. His lungs, crushed by the impact, started working again. Ignoring the slight pain in his throat, he inhaled two lungfuls of air, and— “EMISSAAAAA!! Are you trying to kill me?!” he yelled. “Oh? So that’s where you were.” A little ways away from him, a lone woman landed gently on the ground. He’d heard she was twenty. She wore a long, frilly skirt that was inappropriate for battle. Her outfit looked like it would get mud all over it just with a little jogging around, but he could scarcely spot any dirt on it. Emissa Hodwin. Adventurer. Her registered level was 61, apparently the second highest of all current adventurers. “It’s not the time to do this all nice and compact, is it? We were supposed to blast them away all at once, no?” “I’m complaining because I was just about to be blasted away with the rest of them!” “What, you’re just fine after everything’s been said and done, and our enemies have all been neatly put away, so there’s no problem, is there?” “Yeah, but that’s something only I can say!!” As he yelled, he looked at the battleground—or what was the battleground. The spot he had been running around only moments ago, where he’d fought with two Carillon at his beck and call, was now nothing but a concave hole. He could no longer see any enemies nearby. That was caused by an impossibly large-scale venenum explosion. It was way beyond the limits of how much venenum a person could typically activate on their own, but a naturally peculiar physique and outstanding talent, coupled with original control theories, could apparently make such destructive power a reality. He’d swung and swung and swung his sword and stopped counting at around twenty, but he figured he’d killed about fifty or sixty enemies. But just in that moment, the number of enemies Emissa had blasted away easily surpassed what Willem had racked up. “…And you blew ’em all away, huh?” “Yeah, that’s what I’ve been telling you!” Willem plopped down onto the ground, where the views were now oddly clear. He looked around. Before the battle began, this was the base of a mountain, decorated with precipitous and beautiful curves and a forest of evergreen trees, though somewhat sparse. But now that he was looking around again, the mountain curves were battered, and rocky skin peeked out from what was once a forest. “We’ve destroyed too much nature.” “What? Let me just say that this isn’t entirely my fault, okay? Hilgram was supposed to be in charge of the mountain over there and those rivers that way, you know.” “…Huh.” Hilgram Moto. Adventurer. Level 58. He didn’t use weapons. He didn’t use venenum. He chose to stand on the front lines completely unarmed—a certified eccentric with excellence as his only weapon. Willem looked to where Emissa was pointing. A great boulder had crumbled like sand, and there were countless tiny creeks in a spot where a waterfall used to be. “All of that with his bare hands, huh? Just looking at that makes me lose confidence as a venenum user.” Yeah, I get it, but hearing you say that pisses me off. “All right. Can you see how many enemies there are left?” “Uh… There’s a few left in Kaya’s forest, and… Oh, there’s one whole group left over there.” Emissa followed Willem’s gaze, then cried out in astonishment, “What is that? That’s an ivy dryad, right? It’s really big, though.” “That thing’s very ecology’s probably been altered, like always.” “Huh… Creepy.” Concept manipulation spells came with incredibly great cost. That thing was probably their opponent’s last and greatest trump card. And she brushed that aside with a simple “Creepy.” A pity. “So who’s gonna take care of that? I’m not doing it. I’m staying far away from that thing.” The second after Emissa spoke so selfishly, an enormous ball of light floated up into the sky. “…Oh, I guess Suowong is.” As she gazed blankly up at the sky, she pulled out earplugs from her bag. An invisible paintbrush scattered the light, weaving a delicate lace pattern on the blue sky. “It’s another big one today.” “Casting more thaumaturgy on an opponent who’s already cursed isn’t really effective. He’s probably gonna hit it hard because he wants to clean this up by force.” Thaumaturgic seals, as the name suggested, were emblems used as catalysts when inscribing thaumaturgy. Higher-level thaumaturgy required large and complicated seals to match. Of course, there was no time to construct every detail of something like that on the battlefield. Most thaumaturgists opted to carve their seals onto parchment or clay tablets ahead of time and use them depending on the situation. Suowong Kandel wasn’t most thaumaturgists. He could fabricate thaumaturgic spells that carved out the seals he needed at the time, on the spot. So no matter how complicated or special it was, he could create and use whatever he wanted when he wanted it. Even Willem, who had no drawing sense and couldn’t even carve out the most basic thaumaturgy, could clearly tell it was one big sham. How awful Suowong’s fellow thaumaturgists in society must’ve felt… As he sat thinking about all that, the thaumaturgic seal in the sky completed. Both Willem and Emissa put in their earplugs at the same time, turned their backs to the seal, and closed their eyes. Five seconds later. The two opened their eyes and turned back around, and the mountain that was just there had been chipped away and was now one size smaller. “Too much destruction of nature.” I totally agree with you, but hearing you say it really pisses me off. “Hey, kid, good work today!” Kaya Kaltran came and embraced Willem as she voiced her appreciation. “Hey— Stop, ouch, that hurts and you’re dirty that hurts you’re so dirty!!” Kaya, unlike Emissa and Hilgram and those weirdos, was a proper and respectable Adventurer. Level 39. She wore well-forged armor to protect herself and struck her enemies with swings of her master-crafted sword. A regular person’s spine would snap in an instant if given a hug with all the strength from such a seasoned veteran. Additionally, post-battle Kaya still wore her armor, soiled with the backsplash of blood from the monsters. “Sorry, sorry. You’re such a cute kid— I just have to, y’know?” “Don’t strangle me in a way that forces me to use all my venenum to protect myself just because you have to, okay?!” “Awww. I got to, since you can use all your venenum to protect yourself. If I did that to any other kid, I’d wake up the next day with a bounty on my head.” Is this chick really saying that with a smile on her face? “This is the only time you’re ever going to be this cute! You’re a growing boy, so either next year or the year after, your limbs’ll get bigger, and you’ll grow up to be a great young man. What a waste it’d be if I didn’t enjoy it now!” Oh, okay. Hope I grow up fast, then. “So it would be your son’s turn next, right? He’s about three, was it?” Lillia joined the conversation, poking her head in from the side. “Yeah, you’re right. I want to start training him as soon as possible. My husband doesn’t agree with putting a sword in his hands, though.” “Oh, and why’s that?” “He’s saying things like: I won’t let him take up dangerous work like Adventuring, I can’t stand to lose in strength to both my wife and my son, and on and on. What a pain he is!” You’re the pain. Good luck, husband guy. I’m secretly rooting for you. “You were just secretly rooting for her husband, weren’t you, Will?” Navrutri read his mind. “You’re not supposed to say anything, even if you notice… Sheesh, my clothes are nasty.” His clothes were already muddied from his own battle and Emissa’s explosion, but now they were covered in blood as well thanks to Kaya’s armor pressing against him. There was no questioning if he walked around like this at night, he would immediately be chased by the guard. “They sure are dirty. Didn’t you use Haze Step? I thought I taught you how before?” “You sure did, and I sure did. But they’re like this anyway,” Willem responded sourly. That was one of the curved-blade techniques handed down in Navrutri’s homeland. By basic logic, it was a feint move that used fluctuations in the user’s movement speed, but anyone who mastered it could turn their own body into haze and slip through all sorts of attacks and whatnot. “You can even avoid dust once you get a little used to it.” Even if I wait my whole life, I’m never going to get that used to it. “Ooh, I did! See, my clothes are nice and neat.” Shut up, Lillia. Your talent is the enemy of the common folk. “Come on—tell her she looks nice and neat. You can’t be stingy with stuff like that.” “He’s right; he’s right! Be honest and say it to me!” Shut up, both of you. Just a little ways away from them, he noticed one small boy sitting by the corpse of a monster. The hem of his baggy white cloak was dirtied with mud and blood, but he didn’t seem to notice. “…What are you doing?” Willem approached him and asked. Suowong Kandel, a genius thaumaturgist at the tender age of twelve, responded without lifting his head. “I checked into the structure of its enchantment. Something wasn’t right during the fight.” “What about it?” Prompted by Suowong’s words, Willem kindled a bit of venenum and activated his Sight. Complicated magic was stretched out over the monster’s entire body. Willem, who wasn’t very well versed in all this, was unsure how it was all connected or what sort of enchantment it formed. “Is something weird about it?” “The patterns are all the same.” Suowong lifted his head to look at Willem. “Curses like these are usually custom-made. They have to be created specifically for each subject, otherwise, they won’t be as effective. That’s why they’re costly and not suited for mass production. But it seems like this enchantment somehow solved that problem.” “…Enchantments with the same pattern that can be cast on just about anyone?! Isn’t something that ridiculous Seniorious’s specialty?!” “No, it doesn’t seem like it’s as simple and direct as Seniorious. They must still be researching, because the only enchantments with pattern changes are simple and light ones. Like ones that give them horns, or increase muscle mass, or change the number or location of internal organs…” “Still researching? Doesn’t that mean things’re gonna get pretty bad in the future?” “It does. We need to carefully shut down the organization that made these things as soon as possible, otherwise, things don’t bode well for the days to come.” Willem pressed his temples and fished around in his memories. He tried to remember that name he’d forgotten. It was something like True… Verity… Something, something, Earth…? “The True World.” That was it. “That’s an awful name. It’s too generic to remember, and it sounds so edgy and embarrassing.” “You think so? I think whoever came up with it has great taste.” Oh, right, you’re the one with the “great” taste. Please don’t ever start calling yourself by that nickname you came up with for yourself because all it does is cause secondhand embarrassment. Willem Kmetsch was fourteen at the time. So in Willem’s experience, it was four years ago; in terms of the real world, it was 529 years ago; and by the flow of time in this dreamworld, a mere two years ago. Indeed—it had been only two years since then— 2. What Must Be Protected He didn’t know exactly what day it was, but the Seventeen Beasts would soon be birthed into this world. And a few days after that, the world would be destroyed. Right now, Navrutri was working to put a stop to that. But frankly, it probably wouldn’t work out. The world would end. That’s what history dictated. “Hmm, what to do?” Though Willem was in a dreamworld, there would probably be bad effects on his real life if he died here. They needed to get out of this world before they were killed along with the rest of humanity. (…Guess I’ll pull myself together and search for anything out of place.) No matter who created this world, their goal was to make Willem and Nephren stay here for the long term. There was a high probability that they would take an obvious approach to break them. And if he could identify that, then it would be easier to think about their chances of escape. Nephren was reading in the shade of a tree. Expressionless as always, she turned the pages, one after the other. A small group of boys stood frozen a few paces away from her. They hid behind a tree, peering at her. “What’re they doing?” Willem watched them from a window of the orphanage. “I think it’s pretty obvious what they’re up to.” Almaria came to stand right beside him and cackled in a rather unladylike manner. “Little Miss Nephren’s a big hit. She’s polite, mysterious, and she’s crazy good at swordplay.” Well, now that she mentioned it, she was right. Nephren didn’t say much, it was hard to tell what she was thinking, and he didn’t need to say much about how she handled the sword. “She’s so small, but she’s way stronger than me at level 8. Makes me feel bad.” Willem thought he heard something. He would ignore it. “That’s why the boys are so bothered about her. They want her to play with them. But she has an unapproachable air about her, so they’re waiting for the perfect time to talk to her.” “…I see. She’s like the admirable big sister to them.” “Ah-ha-ha, that’s exactly right.” It was weird calling Nephren anyone’s big sister, but that’s how all young kids saw people older than them. “Guess they’re getting old enough to think about stuff like that. Warms my heart.” “Are you really old enough to be saying stuff like that, Dad?” Almaria smiled mischievously. “So did you ever find a lover or a fiancée in the end?” “Uh…” At that moment, Chtholly’s face came to mind. “…I found a great woman; then a bunch of stuff happened, and I ended up proposing.” “Huh?” “Ah!” Almaria and some other kid he didn’t care about froze. “R-really? Do I know her? Is it Miss Lillia? Or Emi? Or, surprise, is it Suowong? …It’s not Nephren, is it?” “Wow, you’re really invested. And that’s a weird list of names there.” Lillia was Lillia, Emissa had a boyfriend, Suowong was a boy, and Nephren was a kid. None were people Willem wanted to propose to. “Oh right, you said you met the Imperial princess once a long time ago… Don’t tell me.” “That’s a big leap.” He playfully and lightly smacked Almaria across the head as she got carried away. “You don’t know her. She’s honest and hardworking and kind and spoiled and opinionated and simple and stupid and basically an idiot.” He didn’t think he was being too harsh. He almost wanted to say simple and idiot one more time. “…Huh.” She cast a sidelong glance at him. “I see. You sound pretty similar.” “Hey, c’mon, where’d you get that from?” “Bring her over next time. I’ll be the best evil stepdaughter I can be.” “Come on…” He would bring her over. He would have her meet them. How great would it have been if he could? Chtholly and Almaria. They’d probably get along well. They grew up in similar environments and worried about similar things—they’d probably feed off each other’s energy really well. Then their main topic of conversation would probably be insulting Willem Kmetsch… He couldn’t believe how easily he’d come to that conclusion. “Oh, they’re on the move.” Willem turned his gaze back to the boys. They had marched right up to where Nephren was, pushed a toy sword onto her, and were boisterously shouting, then pulled the girl up to her feet and dragged her off to play soldiers. “Wow, they sure are a forceful bunch.” “They have no idea how to treat a girl. Guess that makes them similar to you.” “Hey, wait. I’m not that bad.” “The way you do it is different, but what you’re doing is all the same.” It was sort of hard to argue against what she said. All he could do was stay quiet. Whack. Whack, whack. They could hear the sounds of toy swords clashing against each other on the wind. “Oh my gosh, look, look! Falco’s face is bright red! He’s so shy.” Almaria suddenly pushed her upper body through the window, almost as though she was going to start pointing. “Awww, they’re so cute…,” she murmured, her face flushed with excitement. “You’re the cutest when you do that, Allie…” He heard a stupid mutter come from right beside him. “Oh, you were here the whole time, Ted?” “Yes. And please stop trying to reflexively kick me out please I’m serious.” “It’s a big deal you’re preventing me from kicking you out, Level 8. I won’t go easy on you next time when I throw you out by your neck. I’ll use enough force to bump up your level if you survive.” “So you mean I won’t survive?!” Ted was easily sidestepping Willem’s playful kicks. He started to enjoy himself more and slowly ramped up the speed of his attacks. “Looks like you two are getting along, too, aren’t you?” Almaria watched the two with a strangely satisfied look. “Wait, so why are you here in the first place, Ted?” “Well, I’m here to check on everyone, you know. Because recently, you know, I’ve been worried about all that stuff— Bwuh!” Willem’s heel struck him in the side. Ted writhed in agony, with a bright smile still on his face. Skillful guy. “All what stuff?” “Y-you know, the stuff, the rumors about the dreams. Haven’t you heard?” All right, what was he talking about? “There’s apparently been more and more people these past few months having strange dreams at night. They all dream the same thing, and there are rumors circulating that it’s some kind of omen. According to the word passed down to the Adventurers Guild from the Alliance, these dreams are happening to all different kinds of people throughout the whole continent.” “…Dreams, huh?” To Willem, this world was already a dream. His only thought was that things would start to get complicated hearing even more about dreams. “And there’s been a little additional information as well.” Ted rose, rubbing his side. “People here and there have been falling comatose without any clear reason lately, right? They say that people who haven’t been seriously ill even once before suddenly don’t wake up one day.” “Really?” “…Really. Rumor says it’s the dreams that are to blame.” “…What?” Almaria shivered slightly. “Oh, I’m sorry; I’m sorry. It’s nothing to be afraid of; it’s just a rumor.” Ted smiled, dots of greasy sweat appearing on his forehead, as though he was enduring great pain. Willem almost felt like admitting the man did have grit, at least. “But still, there’s not a huge number of them, and it might just be a coincidence. But it makes you worry hearing about it, doesn’t it? That’s why today I was coming to see Allie with the excuse of making sure everyone’s all ri— Wuh!” Tch, he dodged again. He’s got a good eye. The moment Willem was going to make a follow-up attack, the doorbell rang. “Hmm? A visitor?” “Oh, it might be the new book lender that opened up nearby. I keep telling them we don’t want any, since they only carry really difficult books, but they come to show us whenever they have new stock in.” “All right, I’ll get it.” Willem raised a hand, stopping Almaria as she was about to go for the front door. An older guy was probably more suited to dealing with insistent and annoying visitors than a young girl. “Mm… Fine, you can do it, but don’t get too violent, okay?” “Who do you think I am?” “A weirdo who doesn’t understand limits, Dad.” Ha-ha, she sure gets me. Now that he had his family’s understanding, he’d go and show this uninvited guest the thin line between life and death. He cracked his neck and shoulders as he headed for the door. The bell rang one more time. “Yeah, yeah, I’m getting it.” He took the doorknob, turned it, and opened the door. “Sorry, but our kids don’t need your—” “Hey, Will.” His gaze met with the visitor on the other side of the doorway. He had unshaven stubble growing around his mouth and chin and wore a teasing grin on his face. “Sure’s been a while. How’ve you been?” “…Oh.” Willem pressed his forehead with the tips of his fingers, fighting a sudden headache. Right. He was this kind of guy. “Long time no see, Navrutri. I’ve been good as usual, thanks.” He meant to respond sarcastically, but Navrutri nodded cheerfully. “That’s great to hear.” “Hey, Allie, you’re beautiful as always.” “Welcome, Navrutri. And you’re a flatterer as always.” “Oh, hey, I’m being serious. Beautiful buds beget beautiful blossoms. I have no doubt you’ll grow up to be a lovely young lady in a couple of years or so— You’ll catch the eye of all the boys. I guarantee it.” “Sure, sure. I’ll accept about half of what you said.” “Aw, that makes me sad. Can’t you up the percentage just a bit…?” “…Okay, wait a second, you two.” Willem cut into the lively exchange. “Al, you know Navrutri? I don’t know about Suowong and the others, but I don’t remember having you meet this stubbled coxcomb.” “He’s been coming around to check on us lately. He’s your friend, right, Dad?” “…Navrutri. What are you doing here?” “Hmm, well, I’ve been coming here a lot lately on orders from the Church. I dropped by to see if either you or Mr. Nils was around. Both of you are out most of the time, but I’m glad I caught you today,” he said, with the nerve to put on a cool face. Willem thought he was an odd one to actively want to see a weirdo like Mr. Nils—his damn teacher. And he felt a futile emptiness being treated the same way. “And of course, meeting this lovely little lady along the way has also become an important goal for me, you know.” “All right, Navrutri, get out and tell me what you want me to write on your grave.” “Stop it, Dad… I’m sorry, Mr. Navrutri. He doesn’t really understand jokes when it comes to us.” “It’s not a joke, though.” “And I don’t plan to leave it as a joke.” “Guys, stop it. Sheesh.” Almaria sulked. “That aside, I came to see you today, Will, to ask you a favor.” “Okay.” He could practically hear his own face twitch. “I thought you told me just the other day that you weren’t opening yourself to me?” “That has nothing to do with this.” Willem had done his best to make his remark a snide one, but Navrutri brushed it off with an innocent look. “What I’m here to talk to you about today is a different matter. You’ve heard the rumors, haven’t you? Of more and more people falling comatose recently for unknown reasons?” Oh, that. They had just been talking about that. Willem glanced at Ted. Navrutri had apparently made quite the name for himself as an Adventurer before he became a Quasi Brave, and he was spoken about as a practical legend among some Adventurers. It seemed like Ted was a part of those some Adventurers, and his eyes had been glittering with awe for a little while now. Oh, give me a break. You sure are treating him way differently than you treat me, even though we’re both Quasi Braves; come on—he couldn’t help the thought from crossing his mind. “…Yeah. I’ve heard, at least.” He wouldn’t tell him they had just talked about it, though. “Then this’ll be easy. The True World is behind it.” …What? “What kind of a name is that? It sounds like people got carried away when they were younger and just regret it a few years later,” Ted murmured—something Willem thought he’d heard somewhere before. “To put it simply, they’re a heretical organization with military power. Will, our lovely companions, and I crushed them once two years ago. But it seems like they’ve recently started staging a comeback.” “…They were researching enchanted weapon appropriation, right? Why would that cause indiscriminate cases of comatose people, though?” “I don’t know the details. But it’s estimated that it’s just one part of the research they’re conducting. They’re basically developing an enchantment that produces perfect results, even if their subjects are chosen at random. And I guess at the same time, they’re also developing technology that can broadcast it freely over a very wide range.” A deep chill ran down Willem’s spine. Navrutri spoke easily, but if what he talked about became a reality, that level of technology could easily wipe out the planet. …Oh, wait. Now that he thought about it, that scale of threat was a given. It was a historical fact that the world would end after this, after all. He wasn’t sure how it was related to the birth of the Beasts, but it wasn’t unrelated to this cutting-edge enchanted tech. “The Imperial Council has recognized the danger of the situation and has asked the Alliance to conduct an investigation for the time being. Though the incident is reaching every corner of the continent, they want the focus of the investigation to remain on Imperial territory for now. Which means the Adventurers Guild here in Gomag will also be asked to cooperate soon.” Ted’s ears perked up. “And what do I have to do with this?” Willem asked. “Well, actually, the Church asked me to put a Quasi Brave on board to help with the investigation in Gomag. I was just about to be forced into it.” This is weird, he thought. It wasn’t too unusual for Adventurers and Braves to work together. They did so when it came to subduing especially dangerous monstrosities, when it came to collapsing underground mazes that were threatening to leak a miasma into the surrounding area—when an insurmountable wall stood before them, it was natural for those who had the power to stand up to the challenge to work together. Even in the battle with the Visitors, which happened not too long ago, three adventurers—Emissa, Kaya, and Hilgram—lent a hand to the Legal Brave, Lillia. However, that was basically when the mission entailed beating or breaking something into submission. There wasn’t much Braves could do in the first place on the types of missions where it wasn’t certain there would be fighting. (Guess it doesn’t matter.) Navrutri was going to be the one working anyway. He’d probably come here to push the work onto Willem, but Willem wasn’t going to let that happen. “Glad you got some work to do. Hope you work hard.” “Aw, come on. You think you can take it for me? It’s to help people in trouble, y’know.” “You’re the one in trouble.” “Yeah, probably.” Navrutri lightly scratched at the back of his head. “I know I might seem relaxed, but I’m actually pretty busy right now. My current mission might seriously involve the fate of the whole world.” Of course it would. The Seventeen Beasts would soon be completed, so if they didn’t stop the True World’s ambitions in their tracks, then the world would be destroyed. Rather, they wouldn’t be able to stop them, and they would be annihilated. Willem knew that well. “…Um. I’m sorry. Do you mind?” Almaria cut in on their half-baked conversation. “All those people who fall asleep and never wake up have the same weird dreams, right?” “That’s what I’ve heard. There hasn’t been any proof yet of their causal relationship, but there have been suggestions that the dreams are connected with how susceptible someone can be to the curse.” Navrutri nodded. “And do you know what kind of dream it is?” “Sure. The key points in the dream seem to be a gray desert all around them and an odd feeling of intense nostalgia.” Almaria looked to Ted, who gave a few quick nods. “…Dad?” With an uneasy look, she turned to Willem. “What?” Everyone shifted their gazes to Almaria, and she spoke in the faintest whisper: “What should I do? I’ve always had that dream.” “You what?!” Willem’s shoulders dropped with such force, they could’ve cracked the ground. “Ah-ha-ha, you don’t need to worry, Allie.” Navrutri spoke too cheerfully for Willem’s taste as he waved his hand. “This veteran Brave right here will solve this mystery for you straightaway.” “Sure pisses me off hearing someone who’s got way more experience say that to me…” He tore at his hair. This was a dream. This Almaria was fake. He knew that. He was rationally aware of it. And yet, still. This thing was in the form of Almaria and spoke with Almaria’s voice and called him “Dad” with Almaria’s smile, and never in a million years could Willem Kmetsch abandon his daughter. “Fine.” Never. “Damn it. I’ll take the job, okay? I’ll take it.” “I knew you would.” Navrutri beamed. Willem wanted to punch him. “—You know I’m not doing this to give myself an easier time, right? Word you’re alive will spread all throughout the land through the Alliance by working alongside the Adventurers Guild.” Navrutri shut one eye. He must’ve practiced a lot, because his wink was flawless. “So many people were sad when they heard you hadn’t come back. I’m not saying you should show yourself to everyone, but you should at least let everyone know you’re safe to give them peace of mind.” “Well…” Of course, the thought had crossed his mind before. But worry, relief, and everything else were nothing but phantom sensations in this dreamworld. When he thought about how quickly they would fade and vanish, he didn’t exactly feel like doing it. “…I don’t really want to ask in this context, but what’s Lillia doing?” “Ahhh.” Navrutri hesitated, his expression clouding over. “She really broke down from the battle with the Visitors. She’s been in a hospital in the capital ever since.” “Oh.” He didn’t care, really. This was a fake world with a fake Lillia. And unlike Almaria, she was in the Imperial capital, so he couldn’t even see her fake face. But still. If that cockroach of a talented girl managed to survive somehow, he could probably take it as good news. “Hmm? So you’re worried about her, aren’t you?” “On a very general, worried-about-her-because-she’s-our-coworker level.” “There you go again. You don’t need to be so shy, you know. Love can make or break the world.” He patted Willem on the back. “And so, you can just leave Allie to me, okay? Don’t worry—I at least have the good sense to wait until she’s grown up.” Willem balled his hand into a fist. He took the stance of a lethal charge taught to him by Hilgram Moto himself. “…Okay, okay, I get it—you can un-ball your fist. That’s the initial stance for draconic festering, isn’t it? That’s the one you used to kill the rust dragon, right? Getting hit with that would really hurt, wouldn’t it? It’d burst a person’s body right open, wouldn’t it?!” Nephren, finally freed from the impish boys, came into the room and immediately tilted her head with a wondering look. 3. The Self-Proclaimed Daughter and the Self-Proclaimed Pet Almaria Duffner had a dream. There was an infinitely vast and empty gray expanse. Occasionally, out of the corner of her eye, she saw nameless, unknown Beasts slowly pass by. The gusts of wind left behind an odd melody in her ear. She should’ve thought it an odd scene. But strangely, she felt calmed. Not just calmed, but deep within her heart, she even felt a longing for it. Ah yes. This is where we should be. This is how we should be. The voice whispered to her, its song sinking deeper and deeper into her— She opened her eyes. Her heart was beating loudly in her ears. It was that dream again. She’d had it so many times, over and over, ever since she was little. It wasn’t exactly a nightmare. It wasn’t frightening, nor was it gory. She just saw and felt things she didn’t understand—that was all. But that sensation…the feeling of calm in the dream terrified her. The feeling that she wasn’t herself, and yet, how that fact didn’t make her sick, was so inexplicably frightening to Almaria. She hadn’t had it for a while. When she lived in her parents’ house, she had it about once every six months. When her father died and she moved to the orphanage, it lessened to once a year. Its frequency had dropped even further in recent years. So in her relief, she’d let her guard down. “A curse that puts you to sleep forever, huh…?” The incidents that Ted and Navrutri told her about had spurred on her anxieties. Even though they said the dream didn’t necessarily mean she’d be cursed, and their causal relationship was still undetermined, she was still afraid. I have to get up early tomorrow, too, so I should go back to bed. That’s what she thought, but her heart, now agitated, couldn’t exactly calm down. She felt like she’d see the strange scenery if she closed her eyes again, so she couldn’t even do that. “…Sigh.” Oh well. Rolling around in bed like this wouldn’t solve anything, either. She’d have a glass of water to refresh herself. With that in mind, she got out of bed and threw a cardigan over her shoulders. Her body shivered slightly. The small fire in the stove burned with quiet crackles. As she came to the living room, she found a girl sleeping on the couch. It looked like she’d lost the battle with drowsiness in the middle of reading a book. Someone had placed a blanket on her, but it was slipping off. “Nephren…” She’d heard the girl was a Quasi Brave and Willem’s junior. She came from a country far away and didn’t really know the Imperial language, but she studied hard, and in just a few days, she was able to hold simple conversations. “Since the grammar is similar, it’s easy” was how she talked. But still, she felt like it was a little too outrageous. All the Braves were people who felt that way. But as she slept, curled up and hugging her book, she just looked like a child. Almaria gently stroked her ashen hair. It was soft and warm, like a baby’s. She could move her finger just a little more to poke her soft-looking cheek— “…No, no, wait.” She stopped herself. “The blanket, right. I need to put the blanket back on her. Otherwise, she’ll get sick.” Just as she moved to grasp the blanket and murmured to herself— Nephren’s eyes opened. “…Almaria?” “Wh-what? Did I wake you?” “Mm…” With a drowsy gaze, Nephren looked around the room. “Did I fall asleep?” “I’m sorry—I was just going to fix the blanket on you,” she lied. “Now that you’re up, you should go to sleep properly in a real bed. It gets pretty cold here at night, so you’ll get sick.” “Okay.” Nephren nodded but didn’t sit up. She still looked half-asleep. “…I was just going to have a little tea. Do you want some, too?” “Okay.” Nephren nodded again, still not quite fully awake. She’s kind of like a puppy, Almaria thought. And so, that’s how the strange little tea party started in the middle of the night. Almaria tried her hand at brewing some herbal tea, which supposedly helped calm nerves. She’d bought this kind immediately after someone recommended it to her, and she didn’t even know the name of the leaves, but it was perfect for just the two of them to drink in the middle of the night like this. Cookies went with tea. She’d hidden some deep in the cupboard just for times like these. Nephren must not have liked hot things very much because she blew and blew on her cup. “Nephren, what’s your relationship with our dad?” The question suddenly spilled from her mouth. She realized after the fact that it sounded like she was interrogating her. “…I’m sorry. I worded that wrong. I’m not, like, suggesting you have some sort of impure relationship, but you know…” She found it hard to find the right words. “I heard you’re his junior Brave, but it doesn’t really feel like that’s all there is to it.” That was it—ever since Almaria first saw the girl, she thought it strange. Willem treated Nephren like something very precious. She also could sense that Nephren herself also cared greatly for Willem. And from the outside, their attitudes toward each other were very natural. It didn’t really seem like a romantic relationship or that kind of thing, though. “Mm…” Nephren thought for a moment. “A pet.” A pet. That wasn’t what she was expecting. Almaria, who’d had a vague smile on her face up until that moment, suddenly grew serious. This might be something she needed to question her dad about as well. “Willem looked like he would fall apart if he was alone. So it is my job to stay by his side. I recently learned the secret to mastering this is to stay just close enough that I might be in his way.” “Oh… Okay, that’s what you mean.” She’d ended up imagining something a little too extreme when she heard the word pet, but this girl had apparently used the word with the nuance of a close friend. Almaria felt relieved, and her expression relaxed. She almost forgot when they chatted normally like this, but Nephren had only just learned the local language, and her vocabulary should still have been lacking. Almaria interpreted that as being the reason why her word choice was so eccentric. “But…,” Nephren continued, a small and somewhat sad smile appearing on her lips. “Willem here is different. It doesn’t feel like he will fall apart.” “…Really?” Almaria couldn’t compare, since she didn’t know what Willem was like outside the orphanage. “I don’t think he needs me by his side anymore.” “…You think so?” She’d known Willem very well when he was in the orphanage, and she didn’t quite agree. “You know how he is. He’ll definitely leave and go someplace else again. I can’t go with him when that happens, so maybe he will start to fall apart again, like you said.” She poured herself another cup of herbal tea. “Then, I’ll have no choice but to have you take care of him, Miss Nephren. You’ll have to do something about my miserable piece-of-junk dad somehow.” “Almaria…” Nephren looked at her with surprise. She hadn’t expected those words to come out of her mouth, either. “Okay. You can count on me, then.” Nephren gave a slight yet somehow powerful nod. The tea party was over, and Almaria put away the tea set. She returned to her room. (Dad always has really wonderful women around him, doesn’t he?) She wriggled her way under the blankets. There wasn’t much time until dawn, but she felt like this time, she could sleep soundly. 4. The Adventurers More than half of Adventurers were originally untrained, foolhardy dreamers. Though it sounds like a given, their way of life was unstable, and societal trust in them was practically nonexistent. On top of that, the return rate of Adventurers who went off to fight monstrosities or whatnot was surprisingly low. The Adventurers Guild was a mutual-aid organization for these Adventurers. They were universal, with establishments located throughout the continent and even two or more in larger cities, all operating on individual profits. The Alliance was then the superordinate organization, created as a system for all the Guilds in every location to facilitate in mutual aid. The frameworks they put in place, such as the level system, that they normalized transformed the foolhardy dreamers into trained explorers. They stabilized their income, which had been an unfavorable gamble before then, to a certain degree, and pulled up the survival rates considerably. “It’s a Brave…” “Yo, a Brave…” “A Brave, huh…?” He hated how clearly he could hear their whispers. They stared at him with a mottled pattern of jealousy, hatred, and admiration. (I’m used to it, but it’s still uncomfortable…) He tightly swallowed the sigh that wanted to escape and looked around. He was at the entrance of the only Adventurers Guild in Gomag. A group of a dozen or so men and women was gathered in the spacious room. They were all staring straight at Willem, their gazes full of mixed emotions. (Man, they sure do hate us.) He smiled wryly, feigning ignorance. The reason was because Adventurers were generally treated like hoodlums and scoundrels who simply had a little more muscle than most. And on the other hand, Braves continually stood at the front lines in battle with other races in order to protect the emnetwiht race—heroes among heroes. At least, that’s how things ordinarily were. And it was a similar story when their positions were reversed. Braves generally could not choose their own battles. Though portrayed so beautifully, Braves were essentially hired mercenaries for the Church of Exalted Light. Defeat or escape were unforgivable. They were to continue to fight and win as ordered. From their perspective, the Adventurers’ way of life seemed so laid-back and free. Those were only a few examples of how each side felt. There were plenty of other things that caused friction between them. So excluding exceptions like Navrutri, who knew both perspectives, Adventurers and Braves were typically on bad terms. “And this is why I didn’t want to come here…” Willem recalled his time on Island No. 28 and the cold stares he received as a featureless. His gaze wandered upward, and he gave a light sigh in frustration. “…Sir Willem Kmetsch,” the girl at reception called, her voice quavering slightly. “I’ve confirmed your rights and recognize you as a Quasi Brave of the Church of Exalted Light. Once again, we humbly ask for your cooperation in this series of missions.” “Oh, sure. I’ll help you out.” “Th-then, if you wouldn’t mind, please fill out these forms.” “Hold on, hold on. You don’t need to talk like that.” He waved his hand. “I highly doubt you act this businesslike all the time in this Guild—this place is just a remodel of a cheap tavern anyway. We’re working together now. We’re friends. Just talk to me normally. And”—he whirled his head around. —“if you guys got anything to say, you better say it with your mouths and not your eyes.” The group all looked away in unison. Except one— “…Sure. I’ll take ya up on that offer.” —He stared straight at Willem. The large dark-skinned fellow stood slowly from his chair. Every step he took as he drew closer was firm. His physique was admirable, and for a moment, Willem even thought he was a giganto. But he wasn’t. He was an emnetwiht. It looked like he was walking casually, but he wasn’t. Just by looking at the way he shifted his weight and center of balance, he could at least tell that this man wasn’t an amateur. Willem was a little impressed. “’S as you said. This Guild’s just a touched-up cheap tavern. It ain’t a fancy place. One spoon falls to the floor, and a whole fight’ll break out. Most folks’ll spend the night in a detention house or the clinic instead of their own homes. That’s the kinda place this is.” “Huh.” Those are pretty cheap threats, Willem thought. His vocabulary was just a touch tougher than the classic phrases of a third-rate thug. To be honest, it had caught Willem a little off guard, since he’d just appraised his physical strength. Well, still, it wasn’t a terrible development. It was the organization leadership who decided they would work together. That reason alone didn’t make it easy for people to get along, and even more so when the two parties involved didn’t quite get along, like the Braves and Adventurers. And the best way to settle this kind of situation was to let their honest opinions clash. And even better if their fists did the talking. Of course, there would be no point if he totally clobbered his opponent, so he would need to be delicate with his execution. The guy standing before Willem seemed pretty tough. He could probably put a little strength into his punch, and he’d be all right. The problem was acting convincingly that he took damage when he got hit, but…he could probably put it to an end somehow by cutting the inside of his mouth, at most. “So that’s why—” The man’s gaze, which had been glaring straight at Willem, turned to his side. “—you shouldn’t be bringin’ little kids to this place. No one under fifteen’s allowed in here.” “……Huh?” “And she’s such a nice-looking kid, too. Can’t imagine why you’re bringing her in here, but it ain’t good for her education.” Nephren tilted her head slightly. “Um…” Willem looked around the Guild and found that most of the people there were looking away from him, but the rest all nodded. “Uh… Right. Right, you’re right. Sorry.” “If you’re gonna apologize, apologize to her.” “O-oh. Sorry, Ren, can you wait outside a sec?” “Okay.” Nephren nodded meekly and shuffled out of the Guild. Thirty minutes later, she was in a passenger carriage making its rounds within the city. The wagon of the horse-drawn carriage could fit four people, and every seat was taken. Nephren watched as the scenery flew past, her eyes gleaming all the while. The majority of vehicles on Island No. 68, where the faerie warehouse was located, were transport carts. They weren’t for carrying people around at high speed. So for Nephren, who was raised on the island, the scenery scrolling past accompanied with the clattering of the cart was a whole new experience for her. (Airships are probably in a totally different category for her…) If she had a tail, it would most certainly be wagging back and forth. She was so happy that it gave him that impression. If rushing through Gomag, which didn’t have anything remarkable about it, was enough to make her this excited, he wondered how she would act if he took her to the capital. He pulled his gaze away from Nephren and looked straight ahead. There was Ted, clutching his stomach in a fit of loud laughter. “…Is it really that funny?” “Of course it is! Oh gosh, I wish I could’ve seen it. I probably won’t have the chance to see you so overwhelmed for a good while. I can’t believe I missed it.” He had been acting like this ever since he heard about the incident at the Adventurers Guild. Ugh, seriously, I want to punch him. “I really underestimated how complacent things’ve gotten here. Had no idea the Guild’d be as lukewarm as that.” “I mean, what can you do about it?” Ted said, wiping the tears away from his eyes. “There are no underground labyrinths here or any strong monsters living in the area. The really violent types transfer straightaway to Guilds in other cities where there’s plenty of work like that.” “Regular people with common sense shouldn’t be Adventurers. They should get real jobs…” “But the adventure, the ambition!” I’m talking about you, Ted. …Well, it was probably okay. He didn’t want the story of his embarrassing incident to drag on forever. “But still. Are you really a Quasi Brave?” The last of the four riding in the carriage, a woman wearing red, light leather armor sitting next to Ted, stared at Willem pointedly. She seemed just a little older than he was, about twenty or perhaps a bit more. Even though he was used to inquisitive glances, when it was a girl so close to him both in age and proximity, it made him just a little restless. “You’re all spindly, and your face has this blank look to it, and you even said you don’t have a personal Carillon.” She glanced at Nephren, who sat beside him. “And you take a kid along with you on your work. Put that all together, and you don’t strike me as very capable.” Willem knew very well that there was no drive or power in his own outward appearance. “Yeah. I hear that a lot.” “Hmm. There’s not a lot of spirit in your answer, either. That’s no good. Men today need to be proactive to get what they want.” “…Yeah, y’know. I’m well aware.” The woman furrowed her brow. “You’re not like a Brave at all. The last one I met was way different. I dunno what else to call it, but he was superconfident. He would say things like, I’ll take on all the battles, so you weaklings should stay back, all cheery-like.” “Huh…” There were normally around thirty Quasi Braves at any given time. The roster changed frequently due to the nature of the job. And since almost every one of them was sent off to battle all over the continent, even a fellow Brave could be acquainted with only so many Quasi Braves. And despite that, Willem still felt like he knew a guy like that. “I knew he meant well, and he was definitely way stronger than us. But it still pissed me off, you know?” She turned to Ted for agreement, and he said vaguely with a shrug, “Mm.” “So when I heard I was going to be working with a Quasi Brave, I was getting myself ready to be paired up with another guy who would piss me off. But then I saw it was just some nice guy. I feel like I’ve been tricked. How are you going to make this up to me?” “That’s not my job…” “If it isn’t, then whose is it?” Does that really matter? “Quasi Braves are emnetwiht, too.” “Hmm, that’s not a cute thing to say.” The wheel of the carriage must have snagged on a pebble; the whole cart shook with a clunk. “Okay, that’s enough, Ms. Luzie, Willem. We should get to the topic at hand soon.” Ted clapped his hands together lightly. “Sure, we can do that, but having you change the subject kind of irritates me, Theodore,” Luzie quipped. “Yeah. I can’t help but feel irked when I see you act all high and mighty, Ted.” “Please don’t let that become the catalyst for your friendship. Let me just make sure you both know that our work this time is taking a comatose man to the city hospital, okay?” “Yeah, I know.” The woman named Luzie nodded slightly. “His name’s Odle N. Gracis. Forty-seven, a painter. Lives with his wife, who’s forty-five. This is day three since he fell into a coma. His wife realized what happened two days ago when she went to wake him in the morning like she always did.” A flock of pigeons flew right beside the carriage, loudly flapping their wings. Nephren’s gaze followed the white mass up to the sky. “Erm, Ms. Luzie? A question.” Ted raised his hand. “Did she say if this Mr. Odle was having any weird dreams?” “She did. It sounds like he told his wife about his funny dream several times. She said he saw a vast gray desert that continued as far as the eye could see—” Willem narrowed his eyes slightly. Almaria said she’d seen the same scenery, too. And…even though he didn’t know if it had anything to do with the incident…both Willem and Nephren knew that scenery well. He saw it not in a dream as he slept, nor within this dreamworld (phew, that’s confusing), but with his own eyes in the real world. “—With creatures that he’d never seen before that looked like Beasts, roaming the desert—” That also lined up with Almaria’s testimony. And that also matched Willem’s and Nephren’s own experiences in the real world. “—And he apparently heard some kind of song.” “A song?” The question slipped from his mouth. The land Willem knew might’ve been a gray desert with the Beasts roaming around, but he didn’t recall ever hearing a song. “Yeah, a song. She said he couldn’t remember the tune or the words, but it was definitely a song.” Luzie glanced at the notes in her hand. “And this Mr. Odle apparently felt a strange longing for this desert and the beasts and the song. And this feeling apparently got stronger with each iteration, so the second time, it was stronger than the first, and the third time was much stronger, and so on and so forth.” “Do you think the dreams and the coma curse are intertwined somehow?” “I dunno. We could say anything at this point, which is why we can’t say anything. The hospital will carry out a thorough examination on him, and then we could probably narrow it down from there,” Luzie said before turning her gaze to Willem. “Has our veteran Quasi Brave picked up on anything so far?” she asked wickedly. “Yeah. I’ve got information on the True World’s base. You know, the guys the Empire and the Alliance and the Church think are behind the curse.” “Huh?” “What?” Both Adventurers let slip a vacant utterance. “Why this, all of a sudden?” “The coma incidents are happening all across the continent, but regardless, the Alliance began their investigations only within the Empire. The Church added on a Quasi Brave to help with the investigation here in Gomag, which the Empire and the Alliance accepted. There’s clearly something unnatural about the whole turn of events.” Willem turned to the two as they stared at him blankly and continued. “The three parties should be sharing information that predicts the True World will try an armed resistance, as well as evidence to make that prediction convincing.” “Why?” “Regardless of the why, the Braves fight far and wide to protect the emnetwiht. At least, that’s how the Church advertises them, and they take plenty of measures to make the public believe that. And they’ve gone through the trouble of throwing Braves into the mix from the sidelines. That means the Church is almost a hundred percent sure this is gonna cause an emnetwiht-wide war. Not only that, but it’s also extremely possible that since they allowed the interference, the Empire and Alliance share that confidence.” Incidentally, the fact that Navrutri was investigating the True World while staying here in Gomag was incredibly suspicious. Not only that, but there was also what Suowong, the Great Sage, had told him in the sky: The group that released the Beasts had established their base in a small town on the outskirts of the Empire. But of course, he couldn’t say any of that to the two sitting before him. “Hold… Hold on a sec!” Luzie interrupted. “You have to be kidding, right? I didn’t know this job was going to be that dangerous!” “Then complain to the Guild and negotiate better pay or something.” Willem turned his gaze outside the window. “All the Adventurers I’ve worked with in the past did.” “…I know this is a little late for this, but you really are a Quasi Brave, Willem.” Ted seemed as if he’d had an epiphany. “What was that, Ted? You wanna say something to me?” “I was just thinking how it’s hard to suddenly believe what you see when someone close to you reveals an unexpected side to them.” “I don’t remember us being close.” “I already know it’s going to be a long fight for that, so I’ll just take my time.” “I have no idea what you’re saying.” The carriage stopped. “—Looks like we’ve made it. We walk from here.” Ted opened the carriage door just as he was finished speaking and hopped onto the flagstone path below. (…The True World, huh.) He repeated the nostalgic yet ominous name to himself. They destroyed the land. He couldn’t change that at this point. And even if Willem somehow managed to crush their ambitions in this world, that didn’t mean the real, ruined world would come back to life. He and Nephren were supposed to be careful observers in order to find a way out of this dream to begin with, so they shouldn’t be meddling too much with the history of this world. He knew that. He knew. And yet, the reason why he took on the job was because Almaria had surprisingly shown weakness, even though she was typically tough. It was definitely not because Navrutri had talked him into it. (Well… At this point, I may as well do my job and hunt them down.) He went over the basic information he had on them from when he originally looked them up back when they crushed them the first time and the briefing he got when he took on this job. They were a religious group derived from the Church of Exalted Light. They shared the same basic scripture, and their teachings weren’t too different. The reason why they had a military, of all things, and ended up picking fights with the Empire was apparently because of a single added sentence to their teachings: “The way the world should be is not as it is now.” They followed this doctrine and made efforts to attack and destroy the wrong world and bring in the right one. For all the creatures living in the world, it was a total nuisance. And the result of the nuisance was that the shape of the world itself really was redrawn—what a bother that was. There was a bit of distance between the Odle guy’s house and where the passenger carriage was stopped. The four strolled through a confusing residential district on the east side of Gomag. “…Hey.” Willem spotted a roasted chestnut stall on the side of the road. There were lots of chestnut trees in the forests around Gomag. One could sell them without spending any money by roasting the collected chestnuts as is and handing them out wrapped in newspaper. Shops like these popped up all throughout the city in the fall, filling the air with a delicious scent. Most of the stalls vanished by the time winter came, but they didn’t all completely disappear. They sometimes suddenly appeared like this, enticing the appetite. It was a seasonal reminder that repeated itself every year—for Willem, the first time in two years—for the people who lived in this town. “Hold on a sec,” he said to the other three, and jogged over to the stall. He checked to see how many chestnuts were on the fire, then ordered enough for the four of them. The stall owner took the freshly roasted chestnuts, wrapped them in old newspaper, and handed them over to Willem. He took them and returned to the rest. “It’s not chestnut season anymore, though.” “Don’t worry about it. I just wanted some.” He practically tossed the packages of chestnuts to the trio. “They’re hot, so be careful.” Nephren nodded silently as she opened the package. “Baked…tree nuts?” “Doesn’t matter why—if you’re in Gomag during this season, you can’t not eat these,” he said as he plucked one from the pack and popped it into his mouth. It was hot. Though their season of autumn had already passed, they were still delicious. (—Winter, huh?) He suddenly remembered something. (Right, my birthday’s not too far.) It wasn’t entirely irrelevant. Though it would mark the beginning of the seventeenth year since Willem Kmetsch came into the world, it didn’t really have much to do with him here and now. Willem in reality was over five hundred years old, so he didn’t really feel like thinking seriously about his own age. Butter cake. I’m a big fan of your butter cake. I want a really big one on my next birthday. It came to him. He suddenly recalled the very words he’d said himself, and the hand gripping the chestnut stopped. (…Right.) For him, that was a promise he never kept. A thorn that had stayed pierced deep in his heart for a long time. Exchanging new promises with Chtholly and both fulfilling them had eased the pain of the thorn, and it had faded from Willem’s memory. But… For this Almaria, it was different. To her, it hadn’t been that long since the day he made that promise. It wasn’t a past event to her. So since Willem’s birthday was soon, that meant the day she should fulfill her promise was drawing near. “Man…” A strange prickling sensation tickled the underside of his consciousness. Something was off. That was what his instinct told him, but he couldn’t tell what exactly that was. “…You’re a strange person, Willem,” Ted said as he blew on his chestnut to cool it. Willem was pulled out from his thoughts. “What now?” “Well, I thought you’d end up excluding me, like I ain’t got no chestnuts for you. I was surprised to see how naturally I took them from you.” Oh. “…That didn’t even cross your mind, did it?” “Oh, well, y’know, that’s not it. I was gonna say something like If you want these chestnuts, then you’d better give up on my daughter.” “Are you serious? If I said yes, then that would make Allie a cheaper girl than roasted chestnuts, you know.” Rrrrrgh. “You’ve gotten trickier with your words.” “That’s because I can say anything, and you’ll always argue back. I feel like it’s something very worth doing.” “Your personality’s gone rotten.” “People get corrupted when they go without experiencing honest romance.” Ahhh, ahhh, ahhh! Nephren’s face was bright red and her eyes were watering from having tossed a still hot chestnut into her mouth. “What is this child doing?!” Luzie howled as she ran to a nearby public well, drew some water, and passed it to Nephren. That’s right—anyone who wasn’t used to the roasted chestnuts always did this at least once. It was heartwarming and nostalgic. “—Hey, Ted. Can I ask you something weird?” “Sure.” “Let’s say…” Willem hesitated. “…I go off to battle somewhere far away and never come back. Would you make Almaria happy in my stead?” Of course! Why, do you have plans for that in the near future?! Then please, do leave it to me! Oh, I know it’s still a little while now, but would you mind if we named the child after you? That’s what he thought he’d say. “No.” “…Hmm?” “I won’t do such a thing. I don’t even want to think of it as a possibility.” “Why? Aren’t I in your way?” “You are. I always wish you’ll just get kicked by a horse already. But these two things have nothing to do with each other. I will never make promises I can’t keep.” “You don’t think you can make her happy?” “Of course not.” He said it so easily. “The only way she’d be happy in marriage is if her precious dad gave her his blessing. That’s why you need to stay close until that happens, Willem. Didn’t I just say this? I know it’s going to be a long fight, and I’m ready… Oh, but I don’t really mind how quickly you vanish afterward, of course. Actually, it’d be best if you just went away once the whole thing was over with.” “Ah, okay. I get it.” The winter chill was steadily seeping into the wrapped package of roasted chestnuts. Willem took three of the cooled and hardening chestnuts and chucked them all into his mouth, crunching away on them. “So do you have plans to go and fight far away, then?” “Mm… No, not really. Just wanted to ask.” It wasn’t a lie. But he couldn’t be honest about it, either. He did have plans. But they were already done and through with. He certainly did go far away to fight and never came home. “…I plan on living another five hundred years, ’kay? If you want my daughter, you better come at me with your fists and the goal of surpassing me.” “That’s a big hurdle,” Ted replied with a cheerful smile. “It’s hard to tell when guys are talking, but…does he really have a daughter that old? How old is that Quasi Brave?” Luzie asked Nephren quietly. Nephren gave a moment of thought. “Five hundred and forty-something.” And she, too, responded quietly. Luzie could only press her fingers to her temples. They rang the bell. They could hear the high-pitched clanging coming from inside the house. “…No answer.” “Looks like they’re out. That’s weird—I thought the Guild was in contact with them.” The four exchanged glances, standing before the Odle guy’s house. It sure felt unfulfilling coming all this way for nothing. Luzie put her hand on the knob and turned it. “Huh?” The door pushed open. “It wasn’t locked.” “That’s pretty careless. This isn’t a very safe area.” “But it’s perfect for us, right? They might be out for a few, but we’ll just let ourselves in and wait.” “Uh, hey—hold on, Ms. Luzie!” Ted followed Luzie as she boldly stepped into the room. “Is this okay for emnetwiht to do?!” “It’s a gray area” came the response as Willem and Nephren followed in after them. The apartment didn’t have many windows, as was typical for communal residences crammed into small plots of land. Even when the sun was high in the sky, the room inside was dim, and a different kind of cold from the winter chill outside enveloped them. —Hmm? Willem lightly furrowed his brow. Something felt strange to him. “Ren,” he called to her in a low voice. “Be ready.” That seemed to be enough for her to grasp what Willem wanted to say. Nephren’s expression sobered, she slightly adjusted her breathing, and she began to quietly kindle her venenum. “Hellooo, is anybody hooome?” As they did that, Luzie shuffled along the hallway, peering around at the other side of the open door. “Mr. Gracis, if you’re home, then plea—” A blade silently pressed closer to her neck— The sound of metal. “…Wha—?” Luzie let slip an odd noise. A dull black sword had stopped just a hairbreadth away from her neck. Keeping the blade in check was a knife of common make, handed out to all the Adventurers by the Guild. It was a convenient and excellent little thing, perfect for chopping away at the underbrush, cutting rope, or taking apart dead animals. But it wasn’t meant for combat. Boom. There was a great noise that reverberated in his gut, like a wall being smashed down by a big hammer. With immense force, both the black sword and the cloaked man gripping the handle were blown back. “Huh?” Willem slipped past the Adventurers and their perplexed noises to enter the room. Beside the man he’d just sent flying, altogether there were three suspicious men wearing hooded cloaks, and all three brandished curved black swords over their heads, ready to cut Willem. There was no agitation in their steps—or even sound. He could tell just by the way they moved that all three of his opponents were incredibly skilled. This knife wouldn’t do the trick anymore. He’d borrowed it from Ted’s belt without permission and used it to stop the sword, but the sword had cut halfway into the knife’s blade. He could tell that if he tried the same thing again, it would just snap in half. So without a moment’s hesitation, he threw the blade into the air. He activated a bit of venenum and used his Sight. Nothing. Which meant these guys weren’t using magic or any powers of the sort. And that was enough information for him. He took one deep breath, stopped—and ran. One of the men’s bodies suddenly flew up vertically. He rammed against the ceiling with such force, it almost broke the boards with an explosive sound of impact. The other men reflexively looked in that direction. Willem moved as he pulled his fist back. It was easy to calculate where their blind spots were when they were all looking in the same direction, so he could stab them off guard without bothering with a feint. He lowered his stance, slipped his body through the shadows and corners of the room, then cleanly sliced off another man’s head. Just one left. He took a deep breath in, a quiet whistling sound trailing him as he closed the distance between the final person with impossible speed. He pressed himself close to the last man’s chest, and with simply a single— The man twisted out of the way. He just barely managed to avoid the attack at the last second. The black sword sliced through the air where Willem’s neck had been just a second earlier. The button on his collar had caught on the tip of the blade, ripped off, and was sailing through the air. (…He saw through the Nightingale Sweep, huh?) That wasn’t surprising. Nightingale Sweep was well-known. Though the number of people who could actually pull it off was few, many knew the name and what it was like. So it wasn’t unusual for those who reached a certain level of emnetwiht combat ability to adopt measures against those who had mastered the move, even if they couldn’t use it themselves. He thought he noticed laughter in the man’s eyes—I see all the cards in your hand, boy! (Heh.) Willem dashed at him again. His first movements were just the same as they were before. The man reflexively looked for the Nightingale Sweep and sliced his curved blade against Willem’s trajectory, then— There was a strong blow to the back of his neck. His eyes rolled back, and he fell unconscious. Willem wasn’t nice enough to repeat a skill the guy already had a read on. What he just pulled off was a Haze Step, one whose initial movements were similar to that of the Nightingale Sweep. It wasn’t normal for a fighter to differentiate the various kinds of movements with all their different starting stances. The man probably never knew why Willem ended up behind him. Ted’s knife, the one he’d tossed into the air, finally fell to the floor with a clear thud. Luzie plopped onto her behind on the spot. “What was that noise?!” Ted rushed into the room. Nephren wore a sour expression as she calmed her venenum. She was probably dissatisfied, having been unable to do anything. “Phew.” Willem released the fog from his chest with a sigh. It hadn’t been a hard fight. But he almost wished it had been just a tad easier. In times like these, Navrutri, for example, who’d mastered the Haze Step, would’ve snapped them all away on the first strike from a distance. Suowong would’ve engraved some thaumaturgy that would bind them all in an instant. Hilgram would’ve knocked them all unconscious with a shout, without lifting a single finger. Emissa would’ve…blasted them all away with a venenum explosion along with the room itself. Probably. For Willem, who didn’t have any overwhelming special moves like that, his only choice was to fight with a patchwork of plain skills to suit the occasion, like a trick. That’s why he had a wide variety of these plain skills. There was no trouble at all if he was in a situation where one or two of his moves weren’t appropriate, and he could fight as optimally as possible in almost any given battle. His military gains had gone up, and Navrutri even teased him as “the strongest Quasi Brave.” But tricks were nothing but tricks. He couldn’t pass over the wall, so all he was doing was jumping up and down in front of it in every way he could think possible. Even if he could skillfully execute the things he was originally able to do, that still wouldn’t let him do things he couldn’t do. No matter how harshly he could beat people weaker than him, that wouldn’t change the reality that he couldn’t win against those who were stronger. But of course, this backward way of thinking wouldn’t solve anything. He could cry for the moon, but nothing would happen. The smart way of doing things would be to leave the work for people who had it all to the people who had it all. Allotting responsibilities like that made the world go round. I want to protect them with my own hands. I want to be able to protect them. That was what he wished for the day he first took a sword into his hands, and he should have been more grown up by now. “In…incredible…” Willem heard Luzie’s astonished remark and snapped back to reality. “Don’t tell me those were those True World people?!” Ted was quicker to grasp the situation than Willem thought he’d be. His sword was unsheathed, and his eyes were swimming back and forth on alert. Willem was impressed—You sure are at home here, aren’tcha, Level 8? But unfortunately for him, the fight was already over. “Ted.” Willem motioned to him to put away his sword. “Our job’s over there.” He turned his gaze to the far corner of the room, where a single older woman sat shivering. “Ah… Could you be Mrs. Gracis?” The woman nodded furiously. “What a relief.” Ted smiled brightly. “We came on behalf of the Guild to get Mr. Odle. It’s all right—you can relax now. And when you’re ready, why don’t you tell us in detail what happened?” The caution in the woman’s eyes visibly melted. Ted was polite, friendly, and charismatic. No matter how many battle techniques he had under his command, Willem could never do what Ted did. And Ted’s way was probably the right way for people to be. They took the sleeping Odle N. Gracis back to the Guild. And while they were at it, they wrapped up the attackers in rope and handed them over. According to Mrs. Gracis, just before the party from the Guild—Ted and the others—came to see them, those men had forced their way in. They silently unlocked the door, which had been locked, wordlessly held her down, and were about to abduct the sleeping Mr. Odle. Basically, had the Adventurers’ arrival been even slightly delayed, both the men and Mr. Odle might’ve been gone by the time they got there. We were so lucky; the gods protected us, Mrs. Gracis repeated over and over behind tears of gratitude. (The gods protected you, huh?) Of course, he wouldn’t say his honest thoughts out loud that that wasn’t the case. The ancient Visitors were already extinct. The last surviving one, Elq Hrqstn, had been about to exterminate mankind but was beaten back by the Legal Brave (supposedly). No matter how much people believed in them and prayed to them, there was nothing left in this world to receive their prayers. “—So those were enemies who required the Braves to intervene?” Luzie asked. “Yeah. They were a little tough for regular Adventurers, huh?” “Tough? If you hadn’t been there, I’d be dead.” Really, though? Willem hadn’t sensed any bloodlust from the men. He felt like had he not stopped the blade heading for Luzie’s neck, it would have stopped after piercing a single layer of skin anyway. That wasn’t to say they didn’t hold the power of life and death over them, though. “You cursing me for getting you wrapped up in dangerous stuff?” There was lots of friction between the Adventurers and the Braves. In Willem’s experience, the biggest reason was this: When Braves were on the scene, that meant the battle was going to become even more precarious. And fear in response to danger dulled people’s judgment. They called Braves the harbingers of danger, a plague on the Adventurers. Let’s say there had been only one casualty until a Brave showed up. No matter how much they struggled afterward, they would demand the Brave take responsibility for the injury. They’d throw stones at them, blaming them. And of course, they wouldn’t let them stand up for themselves or protest their claims. This happened a lot. He’d never gotten used to it, but he accepted it. “Nah, you saved us, so I don’t really have any reason to be mad at you,” she said breezily. “And… I guess, to be honest, I thought you looked pretty slick.” Her gaze was still lost in space when she said that to him. Upon closer inspection, he could see a slight pink tinge to her cheeks. Seriously? “Oh, sorry, but it’s not that. How should I say this—I’m not gonna crush on you or anything. It sounds like I’d have a lot of competition, and you’ve got an older daughter anyway, and—” Luzie laughed out loud, and cruel words came from her mouth. “You don’t seem the type to grow old and happy with.” Oh, I see. It was odd how readily he accepted what she said. The phrase sounded like it accurately described what kind of man Willem was. He always wished he could make someone happy. But on the flip side, had he ever wanted someone to make him happy? “I would be so chuffed if I could provide happiness for you five, ten years down the line. That is the biggest reason why I wouldn’t mind so much being tied to you.” He remembered Nygglatho saying that to him once upon a time. The person he was then hadn’t been able to accept her goodwill. He hadn’t been able to look her directly in the eye while aware of her desire to make the individual known as Willem Kmetsch happy. In the end, he gave her the horrible answer of Can I pretend that I never heard any of this? He said that while leaning on the idea that she would probably easily forgive his terribleness with a smile. “H-hello? Did I say something wrong? Did I dig up some bad memories or something?” “Nope, not at all.” He smiled vaguely. “You’ve got a good eye. You’re probably right.” Before they carried Odle away, they got permission from his wife to inspect his body. And the result was totally off. No matter how much strength Willem put into his Sight, he didn’t find any traces suggesting a curse. Even when he put pressure on various parts of his body with his fingers and checked how his eyes were working, he didn’t spot anything unusual. The man just seemed like he was snoozing peacefully. “—I would absolutely sense the spell if he was the victim of the enchantment experiments. It’s possible his coma is completely natural and has nothing to do with the broadcasted curse…,” he mumbled to himself. “In that case, that means these True World guys don’t know if the broadcast is really happening at random—and who it’s working on. Those men attacking us means that they couldn’t get any info on the comatose people on their own, so they must’ve been snatching up info that got to the Guild from the side. Maybe it’s the backstabber Navrutri was talking about who’s doing it—” He kept mumbling. “Willem.” “The research they’re really concentrating on is the Beasts, and these comas are just an uncontrollable by-product as of now. Are they collecting samples to control that, then? That sounds possible, but then the question of why the land in the future is being shown in dreams—” “Willem.” “Are they giving the power of premonition to the public? Don’t know why or what for, but that sounds plausible enough. Damn it, I just can’t narrow this— Ow!” Nephren pinched his rear. “…What’re you doing?” “It’s your fault. I’ve been calling you, but you weren’t listening.” Her expression was sour, her lips slightly pouted. “What? You need something?” “Of course. Stop thinking by yourself.” She lightly gripped his sleeve. “This is unusual. You usually just come up to me and cling to me whenever you want.” “Because it felt like everything would break if I left you alone.” Right, he thought he remembered her saying something like that once before. “Then why were you so hesitant this time?” “…Because you seemed okay, even if I left you alone.” “Hmm?” “I felt like I was going to fall apart, alone.” “What are you talking about?” “…It’s nothing. Forget it.” Nephren walked alongside Willem, a tentative hold on only his sleeve. “Okay.” He grabbed her by the nape of the neck and pulled her in close to him. She gave a little yelp. “Ha-ha, you sure are warm.” “…I am not your personal warmer.” “I know; I know.” His hand hovered over her head to rustle her hair…but he didn’t. Nephren openly leaned against Willem, giving up on getting away from him, and she looked up to him. “So do you know who’s dreaming?” she asked. “Hmm? Well, at the moment, we know of Al, and the Mr. Odle guy, and then… I think there was a list at the Guild…” “Not that.” Nephren shook her head, somehow sadly. “Someone dreamed this world. But it can’t be made with your memories. You said there should be someone who knows this town better than you do…right?” —Oh. “Did you forget?” “No, I didn’t.” This fake city of Gomag was all too similar to the real thing. It included details that no one would even think to look for. The more he investigated it and the longer he stayed here, other conclusions seemed more and more unlikely. (It might be weirder to think that this was created from the memories of just one person.) When he thought about how accurately the town was re-created and all the books Nephren was reading through, he felt it was more adequate to describe it as a jigsaw puzzle of the memories of a large number of people. He didn’t know if that was logically possible, though. (…Huh?) The memories of one wouldn’t be enough to create this world. A combination of two or three probably wouldn’t be enough, either. But if there were a hundred people, would that work? Or if the number of people was in the thousands—how about that? About three thousand people used to live in Gomag. If he could scoop out the memories of all those people, could it re-create a world that was endlessly similar to real life…? “…No way.” He thought it was a crazy idea. But at the same time, that train of thought could explain all the different peculiarities of the situation. For example, the reason all the people here seemed to move according to their own will was because they were once all “prisoners” like Willem and Nephren. They weren’t aware of it anymore, which meant they were already a part of the dreamworld. When he thought of it that way, things made sense. Then that meant this world was huge. Demons typically enticed only individuals into dreams. Even if they did sometimes drag a whole group into corruption at once, there were only so many people they could keep in one hand. Their extraordinary power would mostly be used to create and keep this world intact. But then, why? During his time living in this world, Willem hadn’t been able to pinpoint any devilish tricks that were trying to break them and drag them into depravity. The incidents surrounding the True World seemed to be the key at a glance, but it was too indirect. Instead, he almost got the impression that whoever it was wouldn’t dare touch anything in order to keep the world consistent. Was there any meaning to this? (Is the enemy’s goal to keep the world historically accurate?) …No, don’t get ahead of yourself. Calm down and think. That guess probably wasn’t right. That’s because he, Willem Kmetsch, and Nephren were here. If whoever this was wanted to keep the surface world as it was just before it ended, then there was no point in incorporating these two outsiders into a world that was supposedly already perfect. These two foreign elements existing alone was enough to warp historical fact. History was already breaking by them meeting people they never should’ve been able to meet in the first place. “…Even if it’s a dream, even if it’s fake, Almaria and everyone are still here, huh?” “Hmm?” “Nah. I was just thinking about getting myself together tomorrow to shake up the world a little.” He couldn’t determine what the enemy wanted. He didn’t even know if they wanted to preserve history or change it. He didn’t know, so thinking about it wouldn’t help. In that case, then his plan of action should be to get up and start messing with history. Like how that group from the True World attacked them today, for example. That should be significant somehow. In original history, they would’ve succeeded in their mission and gotten their hands on Odle’s body. But since they weren’t able to, their research would be slightly…no, substantially delayed. In order to break and get out of this world, first, he would have to save it. That was good enough for now. It felt like someone was watching him. He turned around. There were a ton of people around, likely because the sun was setting on the town. He tried scanning the chaotic throng, but he didn’t see anyone looking their way or even an acquaintance. Had he imagined it? “Willem?” “…Yeah, sorry.” It was probably because he was so tense. It was like how the subtle waving of the curtains looked like a terrible monster after watching a horror crystal projection. It seemed like the peaceful days on Regule Aire, a place so far removed from battle, had stolen the veteran Quasi Brave’s ability to keep his presence of mind on the battlefield. “It’s getting cold. Let’s head back.” “Okay.” The winter sun set early. The two melded into the crowd of people rushing home and quickly made their way back to the orphanage. 5. The Girl with Crimson Hair They almost saw her. The girl pressed her palm onto her loudly pounding chest. Deep breaths, in and out. Slowly, her pulse steadied. Still keeping herself hidden in an empty spot, the girl urgently tried to calm her heart. “What is it? Why did you stop and hide all of a sudden?” There came a woman’s voice from the empty space beside the girl’s ear. The air wavered before the girl’s eyes. Like a clear glass being filled with drink, a flying fish with vermilion scales swirled into view before her. The silent voice of the sky fish whispered to the girl. “…The boy you were just looking at seemed a little strange. The color of his soul remained intact. He shouldn’t still be connected to his real body.” “…No, he shouldn’t…” “Oh? And why is your face all red? I’d say he was a fine young man. Have you fallen for him?” “Nuh-uh, I haven’t!” The girl looked straight at the sky fish. “That was Willie! He shouldn’t be here!” “Will… Ahhh, the second officer that girl met up with in the sky?” The girl nodded furiously. Her face was as red as a boiled lobster. “Oh my. Do you know what this means? Do you think the reason why time in this world suddenly started moving again last week was because he just joined us?” “Probably… I think so…” “Then, what luck! He’s strong, isn’t he? He probably wants to get out just as much as we do, so he may help us if we reveal who we are!” “We can’t. He probably hates me.” She clenched her fists. “He would be so upset if he found out who I am.” “…You sure are creating quite the troublesome relationship for yourself before you’ve even met him.” The sky fish’s tail fin swayed in vexation. “But if you say so, then I suppose we’ll do it on our own. The date might be a little off, but the day will soon come. When that happens, you should find where you are in this world and release her.” The sky fish twirled in the air and vanished back into space. “Okay,” the girl answered as she slowly poked her head out from the alleyway. She tried finding the young man among the evening crowd. She couldn’t find him. He had walked off somewhere a while ago. “Is he still on your mind?” “…Not really. He’s not that good-looking anyway. I don’t have bad taste like Chtholly.” The girl shook her head and slipped back into the alley. “A stickler for looks, aren’t you?” The slowly spreading veil of twilight obscured the girl from view.