Chapter 7

“What for?” The caring man who’d been leading her on her journey sat up in bed. Shizuku shook her head emphatically. “I just feel like I’m being a burden. I mean, you’re an unmarried man.” “You’re not causing any trouble. What’s me being unmarried have to do with anything?” “If it doesn’t matter to you, then I’m glad…” He’d declared to have no interest in other people, yet this was still comforting to hear. Shizuku felt immensely guilty nonetheless, but at least she wouldn’t have to worry too much. Shizuku sighed deeply and forced herself to snap out of it. However, Erik clearly noticed she’d been staring at him, entranced by his appearance. “What’s the matter?” he asked. “Oh, nothing. Nothing at all. I’m totally fine…,” Shizuku replied, waving her hands in front of her face. She had to look very suspicious. Still, she couldn’t admit she’d been admiring his appearance. Were he to retort with a disgusted What? Shizuku would never recover. Having lied, albeit rather blatantly, about her actions, Shizuku suddenly found herself feeling drowsy. She yawned, which made Erik laugh. “Get some rest. You must be tired. We’ve got more traveling tomorrow.” “Okay…” Shizuku hadn’t felt particularly drowsy or tired, but that was probably because she’d been so tense. She did as Erik suggested and lay down, while Erik pulled the curtain shut. The magic lantern went out. “Thank you… Good night.” “Good night.” Erik’s gentle voice resonated pleasantly in Shizuku’s ears. She drifted to sleep as though guided by the soothing sound. Early the following morning, Shizuku and Erik stocked up on cooking ingredients. Shizuku examined the numerous nonperishable foods that Erik had picked. “Is that pasta, by any chance?” “What’s ‘pasta’?” “You make it by kneading flour with water, then dry it. Before you eat it, you have to boil it.” “Oh… I think this is more or less the same, then. We call this setanne. You call it pasta, huh?” “I just realized that udon noodles are made the same way, but these ones look more like macaroni.” The dried food inside the bag was divided into shorter pieces than macaroni, all of which had a small, flat oval shape. Shizuku peered at them, captivated. “I heard that Italian soldiers used to cook pasta to eat, even when they were in the desert.” “Is this the part where I’m supposed to laugh?” Erik said. “If a joke requires prerequisite knowledge to understand, then you need to add in an explanation.” “If you have to explain a joke, it defeats the point.” Once Erik and Shizuku were done with their shopping, they ended their stay in the village by purchasing another horse. On the way to the stable, they’d concluded that Shizuku would be able to ride alone, provided they went slowly. Thus, their journey north began at a leisurely pace. As Shizuku gingerly coaxed her horse into a trot, Erik, who rode about a meter ahead, took the opportunity to explain that since the sun was still high, they’d be able to continue until they reached the border today. “I’m an indoorsy person,” said Shizuku. “It’s been a long time since I went camping.” “But you still look like a kid. You don’t seem eighteen anyway.” “Really?” she replied. “That’s a little disheartening.” While hearing she looked young might have sounded like a compliment, Shizuku didn’t appreciate being told she resembled a child. No matter how people phrased it, those two comments were the same to Shizuku. Shizuku peered up at the mountains visible in the distance. “Is the mountain path very rugged?” she asked. “In places. Barely anyone uses it, after all.” “Do they keep away because there are bandits there?” “Bandits can’t pillage anything if there are no people around,” Erik reasoned. “These roads grew deserted after the transit rings were installed.” “That’s like what happens to mountain paths when highways are built.” Shizuku took another look at the peaks. Tall and covered in trees, they obstructed the path like an imposing green barrier. “There are a total of twenty-six letters in the alphabet. English and German both use the same writing system, but in German, there are vowels with marks called umlauts. They’re the letters with those two dots on top.” “I see. What difference do those dots make?” “They change how you pronounce the letters,” Shizuku explained. “Pronunciation rules are much easier to understand in German than in English.” Erik looked skeptical for a moment. “I get it. You adopt an accent when you say them.” He quickly wrote down some notes. Shizuku found this a strange way to explain things, but English and German were both Germanic languages. Around two thousand years ago, they were the same. From that perspective, it made sense that someone from another world would react as Erik did. “There are a lot of countries in Europe that use this alphabet. I’m studying English and German… I’ve only just started German, though.” Then Shizuku lifted her head and took a look around. She and Erik were in a forest a short way up the mountains that served as the national border. The sun had set shortly after they began their ascent, so they’d elected to move off the path and make camp. Erik had found a small clearing and spent a few minutes casting a kind of magic there. He used a tree branch to draw patterns on the ground in several places, then repeated a chant several times. He explained that he’d used magic to create a “relatively safe zone,” but naturally, that meant nothing to Shizuku. They built a fire and cooked a simple meal. After they ate, the books had come out, and they’d begun studying. Japanese was Shizuku’s first language, but it was easier to teach English. Japanese was just something she’d picked up naturally, whereas English was the language she’d made a concerted effort to learn. Shizuku had figured it’d be best to teach a language that somebody else had taught her, but as she spoke with Erik, she occasionally found herself overcome with a strange sense of unease. Not even Shizuku herself could pinpoint what caused it. Erik apparently detected the same thing, because he stopped from time to time to brood. Shizuku used her mechanical pencil to write three sentences in her notebook. The first was in Japanese: “.” The second was in English: “My name is Shizuku.” And the third was in German: “Mein Name ist Shizuku.” Shizuku drew lines to link the corresponding words in each sentence together, then showed Erik. “These sentences all mean the same thing: My name is Shizuku.” “It makes sense that the bottom two sentences have the same meaning, but the first one couldn’t be more different.” “That’s to be expected. I mean, my country’s a whole ocean away!” Erik could question it as much as he liked, but that was just the way things were. Japanese was an established language, so there was no changing it now. Every student who ever struggled to learn a foreign language probably felt the urge to question a lot of things, too. Erik compared the three sentences with one another. “In Japanese, there are no spaces between the words. Do you use hiragana and dots in certain places to make it easier to determine where one word ends and another one begins?” “U-uhhh, maybe. I guess so.” “Got it.” Erik, who seemed to have come to a realization, wrote something on his paper. Shizuku had been vaguely aware for a while that Erik appeared to catch on to things quicker than she could. When Shizuku doubted that he’d understand her descriptions, he still managed to piece things together. Sometimes, Erik came back with thoughtful questions to her unclear explanations. As Shizuku watched him quietly taking notes in his own notebook-like thing, she couldn’t help but audaciously wonder if he might assist her with her school report. She didn’t know how many days had gone by in her world. If time moved at the same rate, then less than two weeks of summer break remained. There was no way she could finish a whole report in that time. Shizuku paled at the idea. Erik looked up, perhaps having noticed the strained look on her face. “What’s wrong?” he asked. “Oh, nothing.” Shizuku frantically waved her hands dismissively in front of her face. Erik seemed to assume she was fretting over something else. He looked around the gloomy forest. “Don’t worry. I’ve set up a protective barrier. No low-level demons will be able to get near us.” “Oh, right… Wait, what do you mean by ‘demons’?!” “A demon’s a demon, obviously,” he replied. “They’re beings with different tendencies from humans and animals. They desire to destroy and contaminate things.” “Huh? I didn’t know we were in that kind of word!” Shizuku exclaimed, inadvertently raising her voice. Erik gave her a cold look. “Why are you making a big deal about it now?” he said. “Let me guess—they don’t have demons in your world.” “…Nope.” This world was even more different than Shizuku had assumed. However, since dragons and magic existed, perhaps she ought to have expected demons, too. Shizuku gazed at her feet dejectedly. Erik cocked one eyebrow. “You’ve been living in this world for over a month, yet you never heard about demons?” “I know I’m causing you nothing but trouble, but please try not to give up on me.” “How heartless do you think I am?” Erik replied. His wry grin, awash in the glow of red fire, momentarily seized Shizuku’s attention, sending a shiver down her spine. In that moment, she stole a glimpse of the depth of his character. To her, it seemed a wealth of knowledge and hardships had been condensed into one individual. He was only four years older than her. What kind of life had he led to end up as he was? Shizuku’s limited understanding of this world made it difficult to fathom. For the first time, Shizuku felt like she’d begun to develop a genuine interest in who Erik was as a person, and that came with a tinge of sadness, too. Once they’d finished studying, the two of them lay down on either side of the burning fire and wrapped themselves in their heavy blankets. Erik assured her they wouldn’t have to sleep outside the following night if all went as planned. Shizuku didn’t mind either way, though. They’d set out on this journey for her sake. That Erik was involved at all made Shizuku feel guilty. Even when Shizuku apologized for the trouble she’d caused, the guileless mage would reply, “It’s nothing I hadn’t accounted for.” On reflection, Shizuku had never really been able to tell what he was thinking. She’d never seen him get properly angry, and she couldn’t picture him beaming with joy. Shizuku let out a small yawn, then extended her hands toward the sky. The stars nearly looked close enough to touch. There was a moon, too. Did that mean that this world was on Earth? “Can’t sleep?” Erik’s voice startled Shizuku, who’d assumed he was already asleep. She put her arms back down and looked over at him. His face was lit by the flames, revealing that his eyes were firmly shut. Perhaps sensing the young woman’s hesitation, Erik continued, his eyes still closed. “If you can’t sleep, then how about we talk? We could tell folktales or something.” “…That sounds interesting. How about we swap legends?” Matters of language aside, Shizuku hadn’t told Erik much about her world. She’d only gone as far as showing him things people carried around with them, like her smartphone, her notebooks, and her writing utensils. Erik hadn’t come to her with any questions, so she’d just left it at that. Unlike the inner workings of a machine, however, legends were something that Shizuku felt adequately equipped to talk about. The idea excited her, and she grew intrigued to hear the stories of Erik’s world. She began with a story she knew. “Once upon a time, there was an old man and an old lady. One day, the old man went to the mountain to cut the grass…” “What for?” “Let’s say he went to fetch some firewood, then… And the old lady went to the river to wash some clothes. That was when a big peach came bobbing down the stream. Bob-bob, bloop-bloop…” “What’s that weird chant? A spell?” “They’re onomatopoeia!” Shizuku retold the famous Japanese folktale of “Momotaro.” Once she’d finished, she was bombarded with a tirade of dry comments from Erik. How naive she’d been to hope he would overlook the fable’s peculiarities. He asked question after question, showing all the self-restraint of a little kid coming to terms with how the world worked. Shizuku wasn’t quite sure whether this was because he was from another world or if that was just his personality. After listening to the story’s conclusion, Erik remarked, “Oh, so it’s a story about using your powers to obtain material wealth.” Shizuku felt the will to live physically drain from her body. Erik nodded to himself, eyes still shut. “So that’s what ogres are like in your world,” he said. “How interesting.” “Now it’s your turn. Tell me one of your legends!” “Sure. How about a demon one? It’s the story of the water god in Lake Nevys.” Erik’s voice took on a soothing tone as he launched into the tale. The ancient legend came from Candela, the country on the other side of the mountains. At the base of the peaks that separated Candela from Tarys lay a blue lake called Nevys. Over a thousand years ago, this lake, which rested gently in a mountain valley, was home to a water deity. The people of the three villages in Candela near the lake worshipped this water god. And it was thanks to his divine protection that they enjoyed peaceful lives. However, this water god did not meddle in the lives of these individuals. Instead, he observed from his home, and the humans benefitted indirectly from his presence. Eventually, the peace and tranquility that prevailed for so long ended as the continent entered the Dark Age. Two of the three villages came under the control of a neighboring country, whose soldiers had crossed the mountains. They set up military camps in those previous peaceful villages. Before too long, the army, whose origin had long since been forgotten, callously desecrated the lakeside in pursuit of drinking water and fish. They unknowingly crossed an unspoken boundary that the water god and the villagers had respected for many years—and by doing so, they incurred the deity’s wrath. In a single night, countless soldiers were hauled into the depths of the lake. Half of the army drowned, compelling the prince who was the commander to order a retreat. “That was when the water god demanded something from them,” Erik said. “An apology?” Shizuku guessed. “Of a sort,” responded Erik, a slightly awkward smile on his face. His voice was gentle, however. It sounded pleasant as it seeped into the night air. “The water god asked the prince to offer his younger sister, whom he’d brought with him, as an apology. If he refused, then the water god would kill all the remaining soldiers.” “Whoa. A human sacrifice, huh?” It reminded Shizuku of Oto Tachibana Hime, a character from Japanese mythology. In her story, she’d been the prince’s wife rather than his younger sister, but it was still a similar tale. Oto Tachibana Hime drowned herself after her husband had incurred the wrath of the god of the sea. This development in the story upset Shizuku a little, but Erik carried on unaware. “At first, the prince wasn’t sure what to do, but he decided that giving up the princess for his country was part of his duty. He went to meet the water god, and in the end, the deity didn’t kill her. He took her as his wife instead.” “A cross-species marriage?” “Yes,” said Erik. “But the story doesn’t end there. After sending the remainder of his army home, the prince visited the water god with a few of his servants. Following a terrible struggle, they killed the water god and brought back his sister, who’d been living a perfectly happy life. Without the water god around, the lake became inhospitable for fish… And that’s how the story ends. They all lived happily ever after.” “Hold on a minute! What’s happy about that?!” Shizuku was sure Erik had claimed the princess was fine before her brother came and snatched her back. Hadn’t the prince done the opposite of what the princess wanted? Erik nodded, still not opening his eyes. “You’re right. It is a little sad. The whole reason that the water god had asked for the princess in the first place was because he was in love with her. Once she found out, she grew to love him, too. That’s why the tale became known far and wide as a tragic love story.” “…You left out the bit about them being in love!” Shizuku exclaimed. “That makes it totally different!” And then there was the part about all the fish disappearing from the lake; that wasn’t happy in the slightest. This story was no more than a tragedy of misunderstandings. Erik received Shizuku’s incredulity calmly. “Still, it’s a decent story, don’t you think? I’m not sure which part you took issue with, but that water god claimed the lives of half of the prince’s army. Marrying the woman he adored and enjoying a blissful life with her afterward with no trouble would’ve been strange. Consider that she was a member of the royal family that ruled those soldiers who died.” “I—I guess so.” The story didn’t quite sit right with Shizuku. After all, none of characters really ended up happy. Frowning, she thought back on how Erik had introduced the fable. “What does that story have to do with demons?” she questioned. “That water god was a demon, a high-ranking one. We have gods and religions that revere them, but no one’s proven that any deity genuinely exists. However, during the Dark Age, there were actual gods out in the countryside that people worshipped. People claim they were actually high-ranking demons. “Oh… I see.” This surprised Shizuku, but as she thought it over, it did make sense. In her world, some beings considered devils were ancient gods whose divinity had been denied by other monotheistic faiths. Here, too, there seemed to be a paper-thin line between powerful beings considered good and those deemed wicked. “Those high-level demons are, by nature, disinterested in humans. There aren’t very many stories like the one you just heard. The only high-level demon that lives on the same plane of existence as us is…the Spirit of Farsas.” “Farsas?! There are demons there?” This revelation almost caused Shizuku to jump to her feet. Dragons didn’t exactly roam the skies here, but Erik just confirmed there were demons so powerful that people called them gods. She was simultaneously frightened and intrigued at the same time, which was a weird feeling. “There are,” Erik replied, his voice calm. “The witches brought them there a long time ago. Nowadays, it’s the royal mages who put them to work.” “Witches…” This wasn’t the first time Erik had brought witches up. Shizuku thought back on that incident Erik had told her about, the one that might hold clues to how Shizuku would return home. He’d mentioned that a witch might have been connected. It was just a “might,” though, one of many mysteries that encircled that particular story. Shizuku found herself sighing. Would all the mysteries surrounding her be unraveled as they were in the mystery novels she used to read? Would she ever make it back to her world? Where would this journey of hers, which none of her family and friends knew of, reach its conclusion? “There’s a legend about the king of Farsas and a witch, too. If you’re interested, I’ll tell you that one another time. Now, though, you need to get some sleep,” Erik said. Shizuku nodded. “Thank you,” she muttered. With the stars in the sky so close that they looked liable to fall, Shizuku gave in to her exhaustion and drifted into sleep. That night, Shizuku had a strange dream. She was standing in a huge, empty space. It had no walls, just a white floor that stretched on and on. Before her stood a single desk, also entirely white. Three large books rested atop it. She gently touched the navy-blue cover of one. It wasn’t made of paper. It felt more like leather. The slippery surface was curiously cool to the touch. Shizuku ran her fingers along the cover’s decorative, silver border, then opened the book. The text adorning the strange volume’s yellowed pages was that of this other world. It wasn’t Japanese or the Roman alphabet, and the letters looked slightly distorted, yet she was able to read it fluently. Her eyes scanned each of the horizontally written lines. “…When Laylia arrived at the castle at the bottom of the lake, she sensed she was about to meet her death. However, the pride she took in her role as a princess and her determination trumped the fear. She simply assured herself that she would forfeit her life for her nation’s soldiers. She reluctantly entered a long corridor, and a door at the end of it opened. The man known as the water god waited ahead, welcoming the bride he’d longed for.” The story was vaguely familiar to Shizuku. She felt like she’d learned of it recently yet had also known about it forever. Why was the story giving her déjà vu? She couldn’t remember. Rather than consider this, she carried on reading the book. No matter how many times she turned the pages of the mysterious navy-blue book, she still felt stuck on the same one. Shizuku awoke just as the sun began to color the horizon. As she lifted herself up, still in a daze, a young man called to her. “Are you awake?” he asked. “Yeah…” Shizuku looked over at Erik. Like her, he’d only just emerged from sleep. Perhaps her movement had roused him. Shizuku patted down her messy hair with her hands. “G-give me a minute, okay?” she said. “Take your time.” Erik stood, brushed the dirt from his heavy blanket, then folded it up. After seeing him making such quick work of tidying, Shizuku frantically rose to her feet. She’d spent the previous night with him, too, but they’d been partitioned from each other, and she’d been able to dress herself before meeting with him. This was the first Erik would see her right after waking. Flustered, Shizuku combed her fingers through her hair to make it look presentable. Shortly after she stood, she got to work helping Erik break camp. Once dawn broke and the two finished their preparations, they set off again. Luckily, the mountain path followed gentle curves. Erik and Shizuku had their horses trot at a leisurely pace as they made their way up, only dismounting and guiding them with their reins when the roads narrowed and turned steep. “I haven’t been up a mountain since I was a kid…,” Shizuku remarked at one point during their ascent. “You still look like a kid,” Erik retorted. “Stop with that already,” Shizuku snapped. “I’m eighteen! Eighteen! Actually, there might be six hundred days in a year in this world, for all I know—still, though!” “There aren’t that many. There are only three hundred and eighty-four.” “That’s a lot… Anyway, that’d only make me about a year younger.” Shizuku realized she didn’t know if a day in this world was the same length as one on Earth. As the day’s trek with Erik continued, she recalled the time she’d gone up a mountain for an elementary school field trip. Back then, a bus had taken them halfway up, and she’d still been totally exhausted by the time she’d gotten over the mountain pass. Perhaps she’d lacked the stamina for it at that age. Even now, she was short of breath, but no more so than if she’d gone jogging. Whenever it seemed like she was pushing too hard, Erik took quick notice and gave her a break, so she didn’t have any worries for now. “We’ve climbed pretty far…” Shizuku looked behind her and suddenly recognized they were higher than she’d expected. The foot of the mountains looked so far down, and the path they’d taken the previous day stretched out of sight. The view was so breathtaking that Shizuku felt tempted to yell at the top of her voice. However, she knew her companion would object and offer some dry quip. Unaware of what was running through Shizuku’s mind, Erik pointed at the route ahead. “If we keep this up, it should take us about three hours to descend. Even if we account for breaks, we should make it to a town within Candela’s borders tonight.” “I’ll try my best.” Shizuku concentrated on the path ahead, taking it step by step. Before long, the idea of a rocky downhill path sounded ideal. Her legs were growing tired, but she still managed to force them into action. Two hours later, she and Erik arrived at the peak. “What an amazing view. Can I take a photo?” “A photo?” Erik thought for a moment. “…Oh yeah, that thing.” Shizuku grabbed her phone out of her bag, which had been piled onto her horse’s back. A series of verdant mountains and a deep lake nestled comfortably below greeted her. “That lake’s incredible… It almost looks turquoise.” The water was astonishingly clear. Shizuku understood why people claimed a god had lived in its beautiful waters. Shizuku turned on her phone—she’d kept it off since her earliest days here. A few moments later, a logo appeared on the screen. The sight of it stirred a despairing kind of nostalgia in Shizuku. She turned her phone on its side to fit the surroundings into the frame, then kept her finger on the shutter button as she panned across the vast expanse. Keen to capture the lake in its full glory, she tried out different angles. Yet no matter how she attempted to photograph it, something felt wrong. Unable determine the reason, she scrutinized the landscape reflected on her phone screen. In her old world, she regularly took pictures of anything that slightly caught her attention. That allowed her to share what she’d seen with her friends or look back on things at a later date, not unlike a diary. It was really useful. Shizuku felt like her phone gave her the opportunity to preserve memories, no matter how insignificant. Now, however, she felt weirdly unsettled—so much so that she couldn’t even bring herself to lift her finger off the shutter button. It wasn’t because of the view. She knew that it was rare to see such beautiful scenery. That was precisely why she’d wanted to photograph it. There was no doubt about that. So why couldn’t she bring herself to do so? She shifted her focus away from the screen and onto the device itself. It had a white, oblong outer shell. For Shizuku, who’d found herself lost in another world, it was a shard of her old life, proof of who she’d been. It should have felt familiar to hold, and yet in this moment, it felt bizarrely alien to her. She put it down and looked up at the young man beside her. He returned her gaze, his deep-blue eyes even clearer than the lake below. She found herself noting their beautiful color. “Finished with your photo?” he asked. “Uhhh… How should I put this?” she replied. “Do you think I might be…good at adapting to things?” “I think you have a lot of nerve, at least. What prompted this?” “You need to learn how to express things in a more considerate way.” Shizuku stowed her phone in her bag. She stroked the back of her horse, pulled its reins, and smiled. “All right! Let’s go!” “Okay.” Once the two of them were mounted again, they slowly made their way down the peaks. Since the border ran along the mountaintops, they had already crossed into Candela, the country that neighbored Tarys, yet no one was around. Shizuku questioned whether it was okay to charge into another nation so recklessly, but considering that some countries didn’t even keep proper registers of their citizens, it appeared that people were rather lax about such things here. As the lake bobbed ever nearer, Shizuku felt her heart begin to race with juvenile delight. “I wonder if I can swim in it. The idea’s kind of exciting.” “You can swim?” “I’m pretty good at it, actually. When I was a kid, my grandpa used to call me a kappa,” Shizuku said, referring to the river-inhabiting creature from Japanese folklore. “What’s a ‘kappa’?” Erik questioned. He’d known about ogres, but he hadn’t heard of kappas. Shizuku had been focusing on steering her horse, but she looked up to answer. “It’s a monster from folklore that lives in the water. They have a hundred hands—that’s what makes them so charming.” This last part was a flat-out lie. The turquoise-blue lake glimmered in the sunlight. Shizuku found herself entranced by its natural color. She didn’t need to take a photo. Even if she didn’t have a physical record of it, she was confident she’d never forget this sight. The tragic love story of Lake Nevys had spread across the continent, but all its iterations were slightly different. Sometimes, it was only the princess’s hair and eye color that varied, whereas in others, the result of the battle between the water god and the prince and the way the princess felt differed. These variations, which had all branched from the same story, became well-known among the populaces. The iteration Erik told Shizuku was the most widely accepted version. After the water god’s death, the princess had returned to her country, still harboring feelings for the husband she’d been briefly wed to. From then on, the lake became uninhabitable for wildlife. Ultimately, all one saw on its surface was a reflection of the sky. Legends that evoked a sense of sadness must have tugged at people’s heartstrings. There were many books based on the legend. It was quite popular. And now Shizuku stood before the very site of that tale from over a thousand years ago. Her cry of admiration resonated through the crisp air. “This is amazing! It’s so clear! Can I swim in it?!” “I wouldn’t recommend that,” Erik said. “You don’t know what’s in there.” “Kappas?” “Didn’t you say those things have ten hands? I doubt you can find one of those anywhere.” “Multiply that by ten.” Shizuku hoped to draw a comedic parallel with the Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara, a figure in Buddhism with a thousand hands. She bit her tongue, however, knowing that would only draw the conversation down a needless tangent. After peering into the water, Shizuku looked back at Erik, who stood behind her. The gently curving shore of the lake was covered with small, round stones. Its water was clear to the very bottom and reflected the sky when viewed from an angle, shining so brightly that it nearly brought tears to the eyes. Shizuku couldn’t find the words to describe the mystical scene. No cliché comment would do it justice. It was clear from Shizuku’s face that she didn’t want to leave. Erik tapped her on the back anyway, though. “It’s time we leave,” he said. “We need to find somewhere to stay in the town nearby.” Shizuku nodded. “Okay.” The two of them climbed onto their horses and rode along the edge of the lake. The path that came down from the mountains continued by the water. Now that the ground was flat, Shizuku’s horse seemed to find the terrain much easier to traverse. Although she was only the rider, she felt grateful for that. A breeze suddenly brushed against her ears from behind. Shizuku felt compelled to look back at the mirrorlike lake. No ripples ran over its surface. “Is something the matter?” Erik asked. “…I thought I felt something. Never mind, it’s nothing.” Shizuku gently shook her head and faced forward again. It had felt like someone was speaking to her, but she had surely imagined it. She and Erik were the only people around, so it must have been the wind. Shizuku tamed her windswept locks and tied them back. Eventually, the path beside the lake led to the unmistakable shapes of buildings. The town of Colwa, which lay on the shore of Lake Nevys, had changed its name and even its national allegiance in the past thousand years. Yet despite all odds, it was still standing. Its origins could be traced back to the era of the legend Erik had told Shizuku. Once, it was one of the three villages whose people revered the water god, the only one not seized by the neighboring country. This last village, which had relocated shortly after the other two disappeared, gradually expanded to become the present-day tranquil country town. Shizuku and Erik entrusted their horses to a stable near the town’s entrance before making their way inside. The town stood at the foot of the mountains, but that didn’t keep travelers from visiting to see Lake Nevys. Erik chose one of the many local inns and decided that they ought to rest. He spread his map of the continent on the table. “From here, we’re going to head farther northwest, toward Candela’s castle city. Once we arrive, we can either use its transit ring or take the highway west.” “Got it. Is the castle city far?” “Fairly so, I think. I’ve never been there myself. Provided things go well, it should take about two weeks.” Shizuku ran her finger across the map. They’d moved a little way west, but Farsas remained a distant thing. That was to be expected, considering their trip had only just started. She was reminded of Journey to the West, the old Chinese novel, although she didn’t plan on fighting any monsters. If Shizuku was Sun Wukong the Monkey King and Erik was Tang Sanzang the monk, they were short a few characters. As Shizuku idly mulled this over, the young man sitting across from her cast her a suspicious glance. “What are you smiling about?” he said. “Are you plotting something?” “Of course not! I wasn’t thinking about anything, really. I was just wondering what you’d look like if you shaved off your hair.” “I think I’ll be heading back to Wanope now. I trust you have no objections?” “I’m sorry. I sincerely apologize.” Erik gave her a somber nod. He didn’t seem interested in asking why she’d been imagining such a thing. Given Erik’s handsome appearance, Shizuku felt he’d make a good Tang Sanzang, if one could overlook the fact that he wasn’t Chinese. Once the two of them had decided on how they were going to proceed, they retired to their separate rooms until dinner. It allowed Shizuku just enough time to take a hot water bath. The inn’s washrooms weren’t big, but guests could use them in privacy, which meant that she could relax and stretch out her arms and legs. “I’m so tired…” She hadn’t felt weary, yet the fatigue struck soon as she relaxed in the warm water. She must have been holding it in while climbing the mountain. Shizuku took a deep breath, inhaling steam and letting it spread through her. She rubbed both her shoulders in turn, then massaged her tense calves. She combed up her wet hair with her fingers and peered into the water, where she could nearly make out her reflection. “…I want to go home.” She looked like a Japanese person. Thus far, she hadn’t met anyone who shared her appearance in this world. In the past, she’d always thought she didn’t resemble anyone in her family. Now, though, she felt like she was gazing at their faces in addition to her own. It had been so long since she’d seen her sisters. The last day she’d spent with her family had been at the start of April. Almost six months had already come and gone since, if the time Shizuku had spent in this other world counted. Her family was likely searching for her by now. The very idea made her want to cry. Shizuku pressed her wet fingers against her eyes. She knew she was lucky to have received so much help. Without it, she would’ve died alone and forgotten in this confusing new world, or perhaps met an even worse fate. That was a poor consolation, though. Shizuku didn’t feel more fortunate than any of her classmates who’d enjoyed a perfectly ordinary summer break. Why was she the only one dropped into an unknown land? “…I can’t think like that.” Once Shizuku had grounded herself again, she slapped her cheeks. She couldn’t allow herself to fall into the trap of negative thinking. It was an insult to Erik, who’d been kind enough to accompany her on her journey. On one occasion when Shizuku worried whether she’d ever get home after they reached Farsas, Erik had replied, “If the land of Farsas knows what caused those mysterious incidents two hundred and forty years ago, we might be able to use that to send you home. To be more specific…we need to make your past memories materialize. Memories of your old world, I mean. When you’re in the center of the memory that’s remanifested, you get sent to the place where it really happened once the phenomenon concludes. You’d be able to return to your world.” After hearing that, Shizuku had clapped her hands together enthusiastically. “Oh, I get it now!” she’d exclaimed. Being armed with a concrete idea of what they might be able to do brought a genuine sense of relief. It was too early to feel hopeless. There was no need to fall to her knees in despair. She could continue forward. “It’s fine… I think we can make this happen.” Had Shizuku’s older sister been put in this world, she would’ve attracted more support and made it to Farsas without any trouble. On the other hand, her younger sister would’ve taken the initiative to turn things around and found the solution on her own. So what would Shizuku Minase do? What was her method of overcoming this challenge? She looked up at the ceiling as steam drifted through the air. She could feel the blood flowing through her outstretched limbs. She lacked focus and awkwardly flailed about a lot, but as long as she refused to give in and pushed ahead, Shizuku was sure that this journey would be a positive one for her. Someday, she may be able to think of it as a precious memory. There was no choice but to trust that. Shizuku exhaled, letting her breath dissolve into the steam. For a moment, Shizuku felt like she could make out a hazy outline of what was to come in the white steam. The town of Colwa wasn’t particularly large, rivaling Wanope in size. After a night at the inn, Shizuku got Erik’s permission to take a walk around by herself. Unlike Ilmas, which had been a key location on their journey, nobody in Colwa was armed. What Shizuku really wanted, though, was to see that blue lake one more time. Since the town stood on the lakeshore, the edge of the settlement looked straight out onto it. A stone path sloped gradually downward as it approached the water’s edge, where pebbles covered the sand. Water lapped against them, wetting the white stones. Shizuku crouched down beside the lake, then spotted two brothers playing not long after. “Good morning,” she called out to them. “What are you up to?” The pair looked surprised. Their home was a tourist spot, so they were probably used to travelers. They returned her greeting, seeming friendly. Shizuku glanced down at their feet. They’d cleared away some pebbles and were using rocks to draw on the exposed sand. “Are you making pictures? Can I join?” Shizuku asked them. “If you want to. Where are you from?” “The other side of that mountain,” Shizuku replied, picking up a rock and starting on her own picture. “After I’ve seen this lake, I’m going to the castle city.” The two boys watched, captivated, as she drew into the sand. Just as she was about to finish, the younger boy yelled, “It’s a cat!” “That’s right,” said Shizuku. “Now…what about this one?” “A fox!” “You got it. And this?” “A deer!” “It’s a goat.” Shizuku continued to draw animal after animal. She’d always been fairly good at drawing, so she had a habit of doodling cartoon animal characters in her notebooks. In every picture she drew in the sand, she captured the characteristics that made that animal unique. The brothers enthusiastically offered rapid-fire guesses. After playing this game for over half an hour, Shizuku had learned plenty of interesting stuff. For one, the boys didn’t seem to recognize a zebra or a giraffe. This made Shizuku wonder if they’d recognize an elephant or a lion. To her surprise, they did. There was a possibility that they simply hadn’t come across zebras or giraffes, since they were so young. However, it did lead Shizuku to consider that the ecosystem of this world might differ from what she was accustomed to. Shizuku made a mental note to ask Erik about that next time it came to mind. That was when the young brothers stood up. “We need to get going. We promised everyone we’d be back soon,” one of them announced. “Okay. Thanks for spending time with me,” Shizuku replied. The pair waved good-bye and hurried back to town. Now that she was alone again, Shizuku inhaled the crisp air and looked around. Lake Nevys was a stunning sight to behold, the deep azure of the sky reflecting off its surface. Had Shizuku wished to see something so lovely in her old world, she would’ve had to travel quite far, perhaps even to a foreign country. She definitely understood why travelers came to this secluded place among the mountains just to see the lake. Shizuku walked right to the edge of the water, pebbles crunching beneath her feet. According to the story, the lake had become inhospitable for wildlife. The blue water was crystal clear, so much so that it felt entirely plausible a water god once lived deep below. The surface remained utterly still, as if refusing to change in any way, and exuded a sense of desolation. Squatting down, Shizuku tried to put her finger in the water, but before she could, she suddenly had the sensation someone was calling to her. She looked up and surveyed the area, but there was no one nearby. The only other person was a distant boy on a leisurely stroll. “…What was that?” Shizuku thought someone had whispered in her ear. It had felt so close, yet the voice was so quiet that she’d barely heard it. Could it have truly been the wind? Shizuku stood and glanced around nervously. A stone monument stood on the shore, not far from her. Shizuku began to walk over to it, watching her steps as she went. As she got closer, she realized that the statue was surprisingly small, only coming as high as her waist. The monument, which had been carved from white rock, had long known the caress of lapping waves. However, the absence of moss suggested someone was looking after it. Shizuku let her hand touch the letters etched into the monument’s surface, but she couldn’t read them. It wasn’t a particularly long string of symbols, either, which made it more frustrating. “I should have studied harder…,” she said to herself. To her surprise, someone answered: “…That’s the princess’s monument. The princess who married the water god.” “Ahh?!” The unexpected voice coming from behind made Shizuku jump. This time, she hadn’t imagined the sound. She turned around to find a boy of roughly middle school age standing there. “You’re a traveler, aren’t you?” he said. “Did you come to see the lake?” “Well, not exactly… I’m actually heading to Farsas,” she told him. “Huh? Farsas? Why would you come through here, then?” “I have my reasons.” Shizuku let out a dry chuckle, but the boy looked at her skeptically. Hoping to avoid an awkward situation, Shizuku decided to change the subject. “Hey. What does this say?” she asked. “What do you mean? Can’t you read?” “No. Can you read it for me?” The boy’s expression changed from skepticism to something crueler. He regarded her as though she weren’t human. If Shizuku allowed herself to panic, she’d be admitting defeat. Instead, she calmly shrugged. Evidently giving in, the boy pointed at the monument and began to read the inscription aloud. “It says, ‘From this very spot, Princess Federica is invited to the castle at the bottom of the lake.’” “A princess? Is that the one from the legend?” “Yes. This is a town landmark.” “I see… Thank you.” The boy then walked away, still watching Shizuku with obvious doubt. Once Shizuku was alone, she turned to face the monument again. She mulled over the name she’d heard. “Princess Federica…” Erik hadn’t mentioned the princess’s name in his version of the legend. The boy she’d just met hadn’t had any reason to lie. Shizuku was certain he’d read the inscription verbatim. Yet for some reason, upon hearing the name, her first thought was That’s wrong. What was wrong? What did she know? Shizuku felt a prickly sense of unease burning inside her. She closed her eyes. An unfamiliar scene came flooding back. White Book A thick book The letters and the stories are connected My memory whispers to me It says… The wind asked Shizuku a question. “What is your name?” The voice was so quiet—barely audible. Yet with an unyielding fixation that refused to fade, the wind persisted in its questioning. Finally, Shizuku spoke. She uttered the name almost instinctively. “…Laylia.” Instantly, Shizuku’s world changed. A sudden rush of air raced past. The previously mirrorlike surface of the water rippled vigorously, its surging waves engulfing the monument. In the blink of an eye, the lake rose to her calves, and water droplets splashed against her cheeks. “Wait, what?!” Shizuku shielded her head with her arms. She took a few steps back, but it wasn’t enough. She still couldn’t get away. Something had stirred and sought to ensnare her. Using both hands, Shizuku clawed at the rising water. The memory of being sucked into that black void flashed in her mind. Desperately, she stretched out her arms toward the clear sky. A breathy scream caught in her throat. “Save me… Eri—” Her world turned black. She was dragged into the water. Unable to call Erik’s name, Shizuku disappeared from the lakeshore. Erik, still at the inn, had been sorting his research and reviewing the letters Shizuku had taught him. However, he grew suspicious when noon came and went, and Shizuku still hadn’t returned. The town wasn’t big enough for her to get lost, and the past few days had demonstrated to him that Shizuku’s sense of direction was exceptional. He didn’t think she’d struggle to find her way back, even if it was her first time here. What’s more, she was weirdly conscientious. There had to be a reason why Shizuku, who’d confidently announced she’d been back by midday, was yet to return. “Should I be worried?” Erik got to his feet, stone-faced. He doubted the mercenary she’d met in Ilmas had tracked her down. He hadn’t felt like they were being watched or pursued. The only scenario Erik thought plausible was that Shizuku had been dragged into some trouble while out. After leaving a message with the innkeeper in case Shizuku returned while he was away, Erik left to have a look. He hurried through the little town, eventually making his way to the lake. Had he been too careless? This was a countryside village, its lake being the only point of interest. Shizuku had been quite taken with it, too. Only an hour or two had passed. She wasn’t a kid and had demonstrated reasonable levelheadedness. Erik didn’t think her walking around for a change of scenery would lead to any issues. What’s more, he’d assumed that spending all day with a man she didn’t know well would get boring. Shizuku was a normal girl. There was nothing special about her. If she’d heard him say that, she might have scowled and argued that she was too old to be called a girl. However, to Erik, she was very much like a protégée, just on the brink of adulthood. Erik also knew that for someone like her to remain “a normal girl” required tremendous willpower, though. After all, she had been suddenly transported to a different world. There was no guaranteed way of returning. The mental burden of being alone in an unfamiliar land was no ordinary thing to cope with. Despite this, Shizuku still laughed like an average girl. She tried hard to stay positive and not fall prey to anxiety. Her seemingly natural demeanor was the result of a conscious effort. She’d been a total mess during their first meeting. It wasn’t a stretch to conclude that her bravery was a facade. As a result, Erik had chosen to respect her wishes and let her act independently. Should he have been more attentive? “Our luck was bound to run out eventually…,” Erik muttered, quickening his pace. The blue lake was right around the corner. Someone had once told Shizuku that she needed to stick up for herself more. At the time, she hadn’t understood why they told her as much. She didn’t feel like she had any difficulty speaking her mind. If there was something she needed to convey, she would. If she remained quiet, it was because that felt like the best choice. Later, Shizuku came to understand what that person meant. Her older sister had learned to smile sweetly and use it to get her way, and her younger sister made firm decisions about her desires and expressed them. Compared with them, it probably did seem like Shizuku didn’t stand up for herself. Whenever the three of them were together, her sisters did much of the talking. Most of the time, Shizuku merely nodded along. If she agreed with one of them more than the other, she’d remark, “Yes, I guess I feel the same way,” to the one she shared the opinion with. That said, the claim that Shizuku never stood up for herself simply wasn’t true. When she disagreed with both of her sisters, she would quietly express her opinion. Although low-key, Shizuku never felt like she was suppressing who she was. Besides, she barely knew what kind of person she was in the first place. Her character was still undetermined, so she could shift it in any way she liked. She could still become anybody she wanted to be. Once she’d separated herself from her sisters, she would be free to create a new personality for herself. That had been her plan, at least. Perhaps it was her desire to be alone and see herself for who she truly was that had led her to enter this new world—a magical continent where she was as foreign as possible. Here, Shizuku had to be the one to take the first step. Shizuku had heard plenty of stories about people regaining their consciousness only to discover they were dead, but she found the notion very contradictory. With her eyes only slightly open, Shizuku saw a white ceiling. “Am I in heaven…? Is that a ceiling?” Her head ached. She didn’t know where she was. She clenched and released her fists, confirming she could still move. With that done, she sat up and looked around. She was in a room that she didn’t recognize. The floor, the walls, and the ceiling were all made of white stone. It looked like a temple of some sort, but there was nobody else in the disproportionately expansive space. She had been sleeping on the cold floor in her dripping wet clothes. “…I bet I’m going to catch a cold,” she muttered. Shuddering, she rose to her feet. She squeezed the water—lukewarm from her body heat—out of her long skirt and watched it drip onto the floor. She wanted to change her clothes, but she didn’t have any of her belongings on her. The water definitely would have ruined her books and broken her phone and music player. She took small comfort in knowing she’d avoided that disaster. Shizuku shook her head like a wet dog, sending water flying. A single door existed in the windowless room. Shizuku made her way to it cautiously. “I feel like I’m in a horror movie,” she remarked to herself as she nervously reached for the stone door. Before she reached it, however, the door opened itself. “Gahhh!” Shizuku instinctively pulled her hand away and recoiled in shock. A young girl stood on the other side of the door. At a glance, Shizuku judged her to be twelve or thirteen. She had green hair, green eyes, and the kind of pretty face typically only seen in movies. It was expressionless, though—like that of a doll. Shizuku gazed in awe at the young girl’s hair. It was bright green, the shade of young leaves. “…What a beautiful color,” Shizuku found herself whispering. When she realized what she’d said, she clapped her hands against her mouth in a panic. The idea of there being green-haired people in this new world had initially excited her, but she worried it was rude to comment on it. She knew Erik would laugh at her assumption that this girl was human. “Don’t be ridiculous,” he’d say. “No human being would have hair like that.” Shizuku stooped down slightly to meet the girl’s eyes. Although unsure how to explain her situation, she had to try. “Ummm, I was in front of Lake Nevys, but I suddenly found myself here, soaking wet. I think the person I’m traveling with is waiting for me at the inn, so, well, to put it simply…where am I?” Shizuku tried to gauge what the girl was thinking. She had a restrained air to her that made her seem a little unapproachable. The girl fixed her gaze on Shizuku, her eyes as green as emeralds. Shizuku waited a little while for an answer, but the girl remained perfectly still. Stumped, Shizuku decided to explain herself again, but just as she was about to speak, the girl lowered her head and gave Shizuku a deep bow. “Welcome home, Consort,” she greeted. “Huh?” Shizuku struggled to process what she’d just heard. She didn’t look anything like a consort. She was just a suspicious-looking girl in soaked clothes. What could have led to this misunderstanding? Shizuku grew flustered, but she eventually regained enough of her composure to respond. “A-are you sure you’re not mistaking me for somebody else?” she asked. She knew she sounded a bit uneasy. However, it was the best she could manage. The girl, however, didn’t appear to be listening. Instead, she just looked Shizuku up and down. “I think you should get changed,” she announced. “I’ll show you the way.” “Huh? Ummm, okay…” Shizuku’s attempt to converse with the girl hadn’t led anywhere, but she did want to put on something dry. Shizuku hesitated, but in the end, she decided to follow the girl out of the room. They walked down a corridor that also lacked windows, though that wasn’t as much of a surprise now. The girl led Shizuku to a chamber larger than the one she’d arrived in. Far bigger, in fact. There was a huge canopy bed, an oval-shaped full-length mirror, and various other extravagantly decorated pieces of furniture. It was a picture-perfect bedroom fit for a princess. “Wh-whoa… This is like something from a fantasy world…” Shizuku gawked at the interior, entranced. Upon closer look, she realized that much of the furniture—including the frame of the mirror and the cabinet drawers—was decorated with the same flower-shaped emblem. When Shizuku came to a stop in front of the mirror, the girl called to her. “This way.” The girl ushered her into the bathroom next door. Steam hovered over the wide, shallow bathtub. Evidently, the girl had run the water for Shizuku. The sight made Shizuku’s eyes widen with surprise. This tub was about five times the size of an ordinary one. The completely white bathroom only captivated her for a moment, however, and she swiftly returned to her senses. The young girl reached out to help Shizuku remove her wet clothes, but she hastily pulled away and waved her hands in front of her chest. “I—I can do this myself!” “But won’t it be hard for you to wash your hair and your back?” “It’s fine! I always wash myself!” The young girl seemed baffled by this adamant refusal, yet her expression remained blank. “I’ll leave your change of clothes outside, then,” she said before exiting the room. Once Shizuku was alone, she heaved a sigh of relief. She took off her wet clothes and entered the water. As the blood started flowing through her body again and she began to warm up, her mind finally began to work properly. “Now then…where am I?” She remembered standing in front of the monument and being engulfed by the lake. The water had surged up as though to ensnare her. Looking back, it was like a scene from a horror movie. There hadn’t been an earthquake, yet the water had flowed toward her like a tsunami. The whole thing had been bizarre. Shizuku was lucky not to have drowned. “I don’t…seem injured, at least.” She looked all over her body. There were no prominent cuts or bruises. Other than getting wet, she’d emerged from the ordeal totally unscathed. It was almost anticlimactic. Just as she began to relax, however, a sudden shadow of doubt passed over her. “I sort of remember…somebody asking me a question…” She crossed her arms and frowned, continuing to scour through her fragmented memories. It had only happened a short while ago, and yet she couldn’t quite recall what she’d been asked or what her reply had been. Her memories felt just out of reach, hovering on the edges of her mind and refusing to take clear form. “Hmph. I didn’t think my memory was that bad…” Shizuku tilted her head to one side and then the other as she pondered. Still, nothing materialized. Eventually, she grew guilty as she worried that Erik was fretting over her, and she left the room. The clothes that had been laid out for her were not the kind she could put on by herself. At least, that was the case for Shizuku. That being the case, she wasn’t in a position to decline the young girl’s offer to help. Once Shizuku had donned the old-fashioned full-body undergarments, she was dressed in loose-fitting loungewear and seated in front of the dressing table. The green-haired girl let Shizuku’s hair loose and ran her hands through its wet strands to dry it. Shizuku had no idea how, but steam drifted into the air as the girl combed through her locks. It was like her fingers were hot. Shizuku touched her vaguely warm head. “How are you doing that?” she asked, amazed. “I’m using magic.” “Magic! I didn’t know you could do stuff like that…” Shizuku had gone without a hair dryer since arriving in this world, so she’d been wringing her hair with a towel and letting it dry naturally. As naive as it was, Shizuku found herself questioning if machines were even necessary when you could do things like that without them. The girl finished quickly and proceeded to carefully pin flowers into Shizuku’s shoulder-length hair. Next, she skillfully applied a light layer of makeup to Shizuku’s face. Shizuku sat back and let the girl go about her tasks, captivated by the assured manner in which she moved. The girl moved like clockwork, brisk and efficient. Shizuku observed her in the mirror. Her pretty face remained expressionless, yet there was an air of contentment to it, too. As Shizuku watched the girl enthusiastically doll her up, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of restlessness wash over her. The makeover soon came to an end. Finally, Shizuku was dressed in a white gown to complete the look. The corners of the girl’s mouth curled up in a slight smile. “You look beautiful,” she said. “Th-thank you…,” Shizuku replied. She’d been made up like a princess attending a party, but her face remained that of an ordinary Japanese person. What she saw in the mirror didn’t match. The hem of her skirt dragged along the floor, and she wasn’t used to the shoes she wore. It was quite puzzling. “I don’t think I’d be comfortable wearing this for very long…,” she muttered. “We should hurry and meet the king soon, then.” “Who?!” This was the first Shizuku had heard about a king. If the lake had swallowed her up and taken her through an underwater passage to Farsas, that would’ve been fine. However, maps of the continent suggested that no one could survive a trip like that. This girl had to be talking about another king. Shizuku had a bad feeling about what was to come. She stared at the green-haired girl. Why had she been called a consort? Wasn’t that what you called the spouse of a reigning monarch? In which case… “The king is the head of this castle and the man you are married to, milady.” “Argh, I knew it! You definitely have the wrong person!” Shizuku was only eighteen. She’d never had a boyfriend. Why was this girl acting like she was married to a stranger? After being transported to another world, remaining silent in the face of yet another bizarre turn of events wasn’t an option. She pointed at her own face. “Look at me! I’m Japanese! I have a Japanese face! I’m not the consort who lives in this castle!” The young girl’s expression refused to budge. She did appear puzzled for an instant, though. Following a short pause, the girl averted her gaze and bowed dejectedly. “I’m sorry. I’m not able to distinguish people’s faces. Still, I’m certain that you’re the consort. I’ve been alone, waiting in this castle for you for a very long time—waiting for you to prove your identity by revealing your secret name so you could return to the castle and wake the king…” When the girl looked up, there was an imploring glow in her eyes. “Have your memories of the king already faded, Laylia?” she asked. “…Laylia?” That wasn’t Shizuku’s name. However, it felt familiar. Shizuku pressed her fingers against her temples. Sinking into thought, Shizuku was seized by a feeling that she had wandered into the corridors of her dreams. Eventually, she recalled that the name Laylia belonged to the princess who, after a long and tumultuous journey, wedded the water god from the legend. Shizuku knew her name, but she couldn’t place why. When Erik reached the edge of town where the lake was visible, he noticed a few people near the water were causing a small commotion. He took a quick glance at each of their faces, but none of them were Shizuku. A sense of dread gnawed at him, urging him to approach the group. “I’m telling the truth!” the boy in the middle shouted. The others, a gaggle of men, sounded flabbergasted. “That’s not possible. It’s a lake, not an ocean. There couldn’t have been any high waves.” “There were! They surrounded that one girl for a second and swallowed her up! It was crazy! You need to look for her.” “She drowned, then? We could attempt a search, but it sounds like it’s already too late.” Erik was left speechless. The bad feeling in his gut solidified into a heavy weight. He casually raised his hand in an effort to wedge himself into the men’s conversation. “Sorry, but I’m looking for my traveling companion. She’s eighteen, although she looks younger, and has black hair and eyes. She looks foreign. Have any of you seen her?” The boy in the middle’s expression shifted. “I bet that’s her! She couldn’t read the letters on the monument, so she asked me to read them for her!” “…” Erik’s heavy feeling now felt like a rock. It strangled him and left him wanting to groan from the agony. Several regrets flashed through his mind, but he knew voicing them wouldn’t change anything. He fought them off almost as quickly as they’d arrived, then focused his attention on the boy. “Some waves swallowed her up, you say?” “Yeah! She was right by the monument, all spaced-out. I watched her from a distance when the water suddenly rushed toward her…” “How long ago was this?” “Uhhh, about ninety minutes? I’ve been calling for help, but nobody would listen!” If this was an ordinary drowning tragedy, then the chance to save Shizuku was long gone. More than an hour had passed since the time Shizuku said she would return. That was the entire reason Erik had ventured out to search for her. A stern expression formed on his face as Erik posed a question to the men standing before him. “Are there water spirits in this lake? Does this kind of thing happen often?” “Uh, no. Nothing like that has ever occurred. No such incidents have been recorded for hundreds of years,” one man explained, frantically trying to assure him that the lake was safe. It seemed like the seriousness of the incident had finally dawned on the group. At the end of the day, this was a tourist spot. If incidents like this were regular, they would have taken steps to prevent them long ago. The men paled. Erik grimaced, unable to shake the suffocating sensation. It wasn’t every day that somebody got engulfed by sudden waves. There had to be magic or a nonhuman entity involved. In most cases, that meant there was nothing to be done. Undoubtedly, there were a handful of mages in town, but Erik doubted he’d have much luck finding anyone capable of assisting in such a remote location. He could petition for help at the castle in Candela, but that would take days. Besides, there was no guarantee that they would be willing to allocate any of their personnel to aid an outsider. “…Am I out of options, then?” Erik silenced the restless thoughts swirling within him and mulled over the situation. The idea that he may have already lost her had naturally crossed his mind, but he deliberately set that aside. Shizuku had come from a different world. He didn’t want to believe that she, who had embarked on this expedition with nothing, had reached an early end. They were only just getting started. Erik knew it was wishful thinking. He knew more than anybody how cruel reality could be. Other people didn’t appreciate her effort or perseverance. Rather than lament the absurdity and cruelty of the situation, Erik elected to search for possibilities. That’s what Shizuku did. She’d left the kind, welcoming town of Wanope behind her and set off on a new journey. She’d relinquished that comfortable sanctuary to achieve her goal of returning to her old world. Perhaps that had been the essence of their journey from the outset. It was all about relentlessly pursuing possibilities until the very end. Erik looked out over the lake, which stood perfectly still. His gaze suddenly came to rest on a small white stone monument at the water’s edge. “Is that the statue? The one she was standing in front of?” “Y-yeah.” “What’s it for?” “It’s to commemorate the legend of the lake. It says, ‘From this very spot, Princess Federica is invited to the castle at the bottom of the lake.’” “Princess Federica? Was that her name?” She was the woman the water god had fallen in love with and later married. After spending a brief period of marital bliss with the demon, her husband was killed, and she was taken away by her brother. It was a tragic story. Shizuku had stood before the monument before disappearing. Where could she have gone? Erik thought quietly. The expansive blue lake shimmered vividly in the sunlight, as though to repel everything that tried to disturb it. She had clearly been mistaken for somebody else. Shizuku hesitated for a moment, then asked, “Didn’t Laylia live a really long time ago?” She was sure Erik had told her that the story was over a thousand years old. How could a character from that legend still be alive? This question made the girl tilt her head to one side, confused. “I have no concept of time, so I can’t really help. But…yes, I’ve been waiting for your return for quite a while.” “Wouldn’t she have passed away, then? She’s human, right?” The girl’s green, jewellike eyes widened. They looked empty, which startled Shizuku. Briefly, Shizuku considered that she had said something wrong, but the legend was known across the entire continent. There was no way the girl hadn’t heard of it. Shizuku watched her, waiting for a reaction, but the girl said nothing. When Shizuku looked into her emerald eyes, she sensed that the girl knew nothing and everything simultaneously. The emptiness was so unsettling that it made her flinch. The next moment, however, the green-haired girl calmly turned around and strode ahead like nothing had happened. Shizuku chased after her. “E-excuse me. Where is this castle, exactly? I’m not Laylia, and I have someone waiting for me in Colwa. I need to get back as soon as possible…” It seemed like the girl understood what she was saying, yet at the same time not. Shizuku tried desperately to clear up the misunderstanding. She needed to hurry back and apologize to Erik. She didn’t want to cause him even more trouble. No matter how much he tried to reassure her that he was a nice person deep down, she didn’t want to take advantage of his generosity and burden him further. “Ummm, I really need to get back.” Shizuku placed her hand on the girl’s shoulder. This bought her to a precise halt. She slowly turned and gave Shizuku a slightly self-deprecating smile. “This is the castle at the bottom of the water. There’s nowhere else you need to go.” “…Huh?” Shizuku froze, horrified. The castle had no windows. If it stood on the lake bed, then they were surrounded by a vast expanse of water. The thought of it was so bizarre that Shizuku felt dizzy. She covered her mouth with her trembling hands. “If Mio were here…she’d lose her mind,” Shizuku muttered. That thought grounded her somewhat. Since she was a little girl, Shizuku’s younger sister, Mio, had been a true all-arounder. Whether it was schoolwork or exercise, she was above average at everything. Well, almost everything. Her one and only shortcoming was her inability to swim. She was a pragmatic person, and despite being the youngest of the three sisters, she tended to act like the eldest. When faced with water, however, she’d always hidden behind Shizuku, shaking her head. Shizuku, on the other hand, was a strong swimmer and loved playing in the water. She could even handle long distances of up to three kilometers, provided she didn’t need to go very fast. Shizuku remembered how big the lake had looked from the mountain’s summit. “How far is it to the water’s surface?” Shizuku asked. The green-haired girl shook her head. She didn’t appear to understand the inquiry. She turned back around and continued down the corridor, leaving Shizuku with no choice but to follow. Given that this was a lake rather than an ocean, Shizuku figured it would be shallow enough for her to swim back up, but she didn’t know how she was supposed to get out. The castle lacked windows. Even if she did manage to escape, there was the risk of dying if the water was particularly deep. She knew that the deepest lake in Japan was over three hundred sixty meters below ground level. As Shizuku chased after the girl, she kept finding herself kicking and treading on the hem of her dress. No matter how slow she went, however, the girl never seemed to drift any farther ahead. Shizuku figured she was adjusting her speed to stop Shizuku from falling too far behind. The corridor, shrouded in an oppressive silence, looked to stretch on indefinitely. Thankfully, its end did come into view after a while. Shizuku nervously swallowed as she beheld the white double doors. Erik stood before the stone monument where Shizuku had been seen an hour and a half earlier. He inspected the statue intently. There was nothing unusual about it. It was a stone monument like any other. He recalled the legend he’d told her a few days before. If there were no water spirits in the lake and no other mysterious disappearances had occurred, then that legend was the only thing he had to go on. After all, this was the exact spot where the princess had vanished into the lake, and Shizuku had been deeply moved by the scenery here. “But why would something happen now…? That story is over a thousand years old.” There had been no other developments since the Dark Age. Why had she disappeared? Was some other trouble to blame rather than the lake itself? If that was true, dwelling on the lake was a waste of time. Erik rested a hand on the monument, agonizing over what to do. There were no clues as to where or how he should search for her. If he and Shizuku were powerful mages, he could’ve contacted her. Unfortunately, she had no magical power, and Erik wasn’t strong enough to compensate for that. He wished he’d sought out a magic implement that would’ve enabled him to track her down or check if she was safe. Such regrets were pointless now, though. In his head, Erik lined up a number of possibilities and ways to deal with them. He then recalled Shizuku’s behavior when they’d come upon the lake. One particular moment temporarily brought his breath to a halt. “It was right after we reached the lake…” Before heading to town, Shizuku had stood by the water and claimed to hear someone call her name when she’d turned and left. The moment had stuck in Erik’s mind because Shizuku had been trying hard not to show any signs of fatigue from their travels. As a result, he’d paid close attention to her behavior, giving her breaks when she seemed tired and watching for any other unusualness. Why had she looked back toward the lake? Erik hadn’t heard or felt anything. Yet if there had been something there, a presence that elicited a response from her, then it was possible the lake had captured her. “Does that mean she’s in the castle at the bottom of the water?” Erik asked himself. According to the legend, the water god’s castle lay at the bottom of Lake Nevys, and the princess had been invited there. It sounded ridiculous, but a high-ranking demon could certainly build a castle at the bottom of a lake. Perhaps it had survived after more than a thousand years. But how could Shizuku have reached it? High-ranking demons could only appear in the human realm if they took on bodies similar to human ones. In other words, there had to be a barrier around the castle to keep out any water and preserve the atmosphere. Erik wasn’t sure if anyone could break through such a barrier or whether they’d even be able to reach it. Ideally, he’d begin his search with some research, but considering the situation, that seemed like it’d be a challenge. “…Did she get snatched away and taken to the castle, just like the princess?” posited someone behind Erik. He turned around. The boy who’d claimed to have met Shizuku stared up at him with anxiety in his eyes. “I’m sorry. I was the one who saw her get swallowed up, but I was too frightened to move a muscle.” “It’s understandable. If you had done something, you might have gone missing, too.” Erik’s blunt statement made the boy hang his head dejectedly. “But it’ll be hard to get her back now, won’t it? This is just like the legend.” The remark caught Erik off guard. His deep-blue eyes went wide. Evidently, the boy was surprised by Erik’s response because his expression came to match Erik’s. “What? Did I say something weird?” he asked. “Not really. But you remarked that this resembles the legend.” “Well, it does, doesn’t it?” replied the boy. “The bit when the prince goes to get his younger sister back…” “You think so?” Erik regarded the boy with small wonder. Yes, a girl had vanished from the lake, but the parallels with the legend didn’t end there. In the next part of the story, the prince went to retrieve his sister. The trouble was how he’d done so. All Erik knew was that the prince had reached the castle at the bottom of the lake and then fought off the water god. He decided to ask the boy for more information. “Do you know how the prince got to the castle in that story?” “Uhhh… I’m not sure. Didn’t he just swim?” “Don’t be stupid. I know they had simpler armor in those days, but he wouldn’t have been reckless enough to dive into the water wearing it. There must have been another way.” Intimidated by Erik’s decisive proclamation, the boy looked around nervously. Then still feeling a little overwhelmed, he looked back toward the town and pointed at one of the buildings. “They keep lots of old documents over there,” he said. “Maybe you can find the answer…” “Got it. Thanks.” Erik wasted no time leaving the lakeshore and hurrying for the building. The boy chased after him. The midday sun hovered in the sky, giving it a vibrant color. Migratory birds glided over the lake, so eager to soar beyond the mountains that they didn’t descend to rest in the clear water. The archive was located in a corner of the town hall. Erik started by charging straight into the town hall and asking to view its documents. The civil servant who was on duty looked disgruntled. It wasn’t every day that an unfamiliar mage walked in and demanded that he be granted access to their valuable records. “What for? You’re not from around here.” “My traveling companion has gone missing at Lake Nevys. It’s suspected that some sort of magical anomaly is at play,” Erik stated. “If you don’t wish to cooperate, I’d be more than happy to tell some other towns what happened and request their help instead. I’m sure the castle city will be very intrigued.” “What…? But…” The civil servant stumbled over his words. He didn’t want the town’s reputation as a tourist spot to be tarnished. As reluctant as he looked, he gave in and allowed Erik to see the documents. Erik and the boy stepped inside the musty storeroom. The documents stored there were just piled and tied. No measures had been taken to preserve their condition. The boy glanced around the room with a bewildered look in his eyes. Erik quickly scanned the shelves, roughly estimating what era each bundle of the documents was from. He then pulled a large number of them out and piled them on the nearest desk. Unsurprisingly, it seemed like most older documents had a preservation spell placed on them to stop deterioration. Erik silently picked out one of the papers and began to skim its contents. The boy hurriedly took a seat opposite him. “I-I’ll lend you a hand,” he said. “That’d be a great help.” The two of them scoured through the pages without saying a word. As Erik piled up the documents he’d finished reading, he started to wonder what may have happened if he’d been the one in Shizuku’s position. He probably wouldn’t have stood much of a chance. This thought brought a wry smile to his face. She couldn’t read the language of this world. She would’ve had to rely on someone else to look for a solution. On the other hand, Shizuku had claimed to be a strong swimmer. What if she’d jumped into the lake on her own to rescue Erik? That seemed like something she’d be gutsy enough to do. She certainly wouldn’t have given up on him easily. Erik scanned each page quickly, never absorbing much. He was too engrossed in his thoughts. The boy looked at him skeptically. “Did you find something?” he asked. “Not yet.” “Then what? It looked like you were smiling, so I assumed you’d found us a clue.” “…I didn’t realize. Sorry.” Erik re-collected himself and focused on the page before him. Ten minutes later, the boy looked up from a text that had held his attention for a little while. “Hey, isn’t this the prince?” Erik inspected the passage the boy pointed to. He was correct—it was an account of the legend. The boy traced his finger along the yellowed paper, his voice faltering as he attempted to read the old-fashioned, ornate lettering. “‘The prince…at the altar…an offering…summoning…the village’s…water god.’” “‘The prince places the offerings on the water god’s altar. The altar of the village that is under his rule is located to the southwest, by the lakeside. From there, the villagers summon the water god.’” The boy gave Erik a look of admiration, impressed at how fluently he’d read the section aloud—then cocked his head to one side. “But what does that mean?” he asked. “I would assume…that the three villages that existed at the time had their own altars where they worshipped the water god. They used to give offerings. But the prince took advantage of that and forced the villagers he ruled over to leave things for the water god. When the water god came to collect them, the prince captured him.” “Oh, I get it!” Now that he understood what was being implied, the boy’s face lit up. Armed with a lead at last, Erik took the document off the boy and inspected the account with intense detail. He picked out information he thought important, such as the locations of the altars and what the offerings actually were. While Erik was in the midst of his research, the boy remarked, “This trick must have really angered the water god…” “Probably.” Two villages that historically worshipped the demon had suddenly been taken over, and the lake was desecrated by an army of invaders. The water god exacted his revenge for this audacity by killing some of the soldiers and taking the princess. But then as if the water god hadn’t suffered enough, a staged ceremony was orchestrated to provide the prince with an opportunity to kill him. It was hard to imagine just how furious the water god must have been. That said, things probably looked different from the prince’s and the princess’s perspectives. To Erik, it wasn’t so much a story of star-crossed lovers from different species, but a tale of loss in which every character had their hopes destroyed. “The original story had rights and wrongs on both sides,” Erik said. “But I don’t think we’re in the wrong this time. I’m ready to do whatever it takes.” After sparing a moment to gather his notes, he stood to leave. Even if his wishes clashed with someone else’s and he ended up having to fight for what he wanted, he had no intention of backing down. Even if it led people to criticize him for being sly, he was willing to cross a few lines. That was human nature. Erik knew that better than anyone. The green-haired girl stopped before the large, white double doors, which opened inward soundlessly. Recognizing her own anxiousness, Shizuku clenched her trembling hands. Then she picked up the hem of her dress and followed the girl inside. Beyond the door, Shizuku was confronted with a striking, alabaster expanse. The hall was so large that it could fit two side-by-side gymnasiums. Shizuku looked straight ahead. At the far end of the hall was an elevated platform. Nobody stood upon it. All Shizuku could make out was a stone structure reminiscent of an altar. “Ummm, where’s the king…?” Shizuku fretfully asked the girl, who continued walking unbothered. “Straight ahead of us,” she responded. Shizuku took another glance at the back of the hall, but she still saw no one. “He’s not one of those kings who’s invisible to idiots, is he?” Shizuku knew she was getting her fairy tales mixed up, but she couldn’t think of anything else to say. They were already halfway down the hall. Shizuku glanced down at the girl’s green hair. She was shorter than Shizuku. Finally, Shizuku asked something that had been on her mind for some time. “Could I ask what your name is?” she said. The girl stopped abruptly, forcing Shizuku to do the same for fear of bumping into her. The girl turned her head around. Her expression was like that of a doll—it didn’t look real. She looked up at Shizuku with her emerald eyes. “My name…is Mea, Laylia.” Her stern voice left Shizuku with an odd sense of loneliness—it was impossible to discern any kind of emotion from Mea. Still, Shizuku sensed Mea was hiding how she really felt. Shizuku felt a sharp pang in her chest, but she still couldn’t bring herself to respond. The closest site where an altar once stood was about three minutes south of Colwa. Villagers had worshipped the water god there long ago. Erik pushed his way through the short trees and into the lakeside forest. Two other men, along with the boy, followed close behind. All shared a nervous look, particularly the two men, who were mages the town hall had dispatched. They looked both skeptical and worried at the same time. Soon after entering the forest, Erik, who was leading the little search party, whispered, “There it is.” Half buried in the grass lay a circle of weathered, white rocks. The boy reached over and touched one of them, his fingers brushing against its rough surface. “You’re telling us this is an altar?” he said. “It’s broken.” “It’s only the stone that has come apart. The spell formation is still in place. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, considering it’s supposed to connect people with a high-ranking demon.” The mention of a high-ranking demon made the two town mages pale slightly. They weren’t the sort who were primed for combat. One was a doctor, while the other made a living repairing and adjusting magic implements. They’d only come along because Erik had insisted on taking some other mages with him. One of the men looked over the pieces of rock, then shook his head. “This is a very old spell pattern… I won’t be able to analyze it.” “I’ll put it back the way it once was. All I want you to do is use your magical abilities,” Erik said calmly, beckoning the two mages closer. One of them grimaced. “Don’t be so stupid! We can’t fight a high-ranking demon!” “Isn’t he supposed to be dead? That’s what the story says.” “What exactly are we trying to accomplish here?!” The boy glanced around nervously, unsure how to cope with the tense atmosphere. Erik, the only one keeping a level head, glanced at the water through the trees. After a bit of consideration, he answered the other two mages. “We’re rescuing a young woman,” he said, his voice flat and well projected. “All we need to do to achieve that is open up the way.” The pair of mages stared at him in disbelief. The prince in the legend had also wanted nothing more than to reclaim someone. However, he’d been awarded a perilous battle for his trouble. Faced with a scenario that sounded all too familiar, the men went rigid with fear. None of them knew what lay ahead. Every time she was referred to as Laylia, Shizuku felt extremely weird. That much was natural for a victim of mistaken identity, though. Shizuku’s footsteps were heavy as she trudged behind Mea, struggling with the weight of her cumbersome dress. The altar wasn’t far now. Her gaze strayed downward. Previously, Shizuku had questioned why she’d been the one sent to this world. Now, however, she felt like she was coming to understand. Shizuku seemed to know things that she shouldn’t have been able to know. Plus, Mea was calling her Laylia. It was all too bizarre to be a simple coincidence. She parted her crimson lips to speak. “Was I…Laylia in a past life? Is that what this is about?” Mea halted again. Shizuku gulped, worried that she’d said something inappropriate. As it turned out, they’d simply reached the altar. Mea took a step to the left and narrowed her eyes at Shizuku. “People aren’t reincarnated,” she said. “What?” “When they die, their bodies rot, and their spirits vanish. Their souls turn to pure energy and disperse. Nothing remains after death.” “Huh…” Shizuku stood motionless and dumbfounded. This revelation sent her head spinning. According to Mea, death was an absolute end. Many people in Shizuku’s old world insisted that was the case, too. It was by no means an unreasonable suggestion. In a way, it made perfect sense. Shizuku didn’t necessarily believe in reincarnation or life after death, either. Even so…to hear Mea assert her position with such decisiveness proved to be a shock. “Is that what people in this world are told?” Shizuku questioned. “Or is it fact?” “Fact. For demons and mages, it’s common knowledge. The soul is a manifestation of energy. When someone’s physical form expires, others can see it dissolve into the air.” Afterward, nothing else remained. Shizuku could imagine Mea adding, “When someone dies, it’s all over.” The idea stopped her breath for a moment. After a death, people prayed for the deceased to find happiness in heaven. They begged for them to come and visit, even if only as a ghost. People held on to the hope that they may one day be reincarnated. Some surely claimed these were absurd ways of seeking solace. However, there was a reason why such ideas were known all over the world for generations. People wanted to believe. They wanted to believe that redemption after death was possible, that there was more to it than loss. Humans took the idea of death very seriously. Their attempts to make peace with the reality of it were a testament to that. Life had an inevitable conclusion that everyone was aware of. However, those of this world evidently insisted there was nothing beyond this life. They rejected wishful thinking that could salve their pain. This world was different from Shizuku’s—magic existed here, after all. Despite those differences, she was overcome by a profound sadness that all but brought her to tears. How did everyone accept the knowledge of an inevitable end and overcome the despair it brought? Shizuku didn’t know. It was still too difficult for her to comprehend. That was just how foreign this world and the concept of death were to her. Shizuku’s eyes were shut. Mea examined her with evident bemusement. Mea wasn’t human. She couldn’t grasp why Shizuku was in pain. “Is something wrong?” she asked. Shizuku’s body trembled slightly. Her black eyes peeked from beneath her eyelashes, and she peered down at Mea. “I’m…not Laylia. I’m from a different world.” Her tone was more assertive than it had been previously. There was a sorrowful gleam in her jet-black eyes. Mea stood in front of her and stared. Only one human had been permitted to enter the king’s castle—his beloved princess. She was a fragile woman. Even when she smiled gladly, her gaze always had a pinch of sadness. Mea, who was a being like the king, struggled to tell humans apart. To her, any woman within the castle was Laylia. After all, only Laylia was allowed inside. Discerning one human face from another seemed needless in the face of that fact. That being the case, the black-haired girl was obviously Laylia, too. It didn’t matter that she didn’t know anything about the king and had forgotten Mea’s name, which she had once spoken so affectionately. This woman was undeniably Laylia. There was no one else she could be. Were that not true, Mea wouldn’t know how to handle it. Mea wouldn’t be able to bear knowing Laylia was already dead. Mea’s master had a rather unusual temperament for a high-ranking demon. For starters, he lived in the human realm at the bottom of a lake. That was weird enough. Usually, high-ranking demons didn’t take any interest in humans. They didn’t show themselves in the human realm unless summoned. However, the king had chosen to go to the human realm of his own accord, and he even erected his castle in one of their lakes. After selecting it as his personal territory and cleansing its waters, he released living creatures into the lake as though it were his private garden. The people were grateful, and he ended up becoming the object of their worship. Mea had never asked him why he’d done all this. She lacked the free will to question her master’s actions. Instead, she knew a comfortable, peaceful existence inside his castle. Perhaps she even enjoyed it. Then one day, after what seemed like forever, a woman arrived. She exuded a delicate, almost ethereal beauty. When the king had introduced her to Mea, she’d beamed and said, “Nice to meet you. Your assistance will mean a lot to me.” Her smile had been as clear as the crystalline lake. For the first time, Mea had realized just how beautiful humans could be. “You’re Laylia,” Mea declared authoritatively, leaving Shizuku puzzled about what to do. Whatever Mea insisted, the girl was still wrong. Shizuku wasn’t even from this world. She needed to rectify this misunderstanding and return to the surface, no matter what it took. Shizuku kept her eyes fixed on Mea as she spoke. “I’ve only been alive for eighteen years. This Laylia person lived over a thousand years ago, didn’t she? You must have the wrong person. My name isn’t Laylia. I am Shizuku Minase.” “Then how do you know her name?” Mea shot back in an abrasive tone of voice. Shizuku didn’t know what to say to that. She couldn’t explain that. She simply knew it. Still, if she gave in now, it’d cement the fact that she was Laylia in Mea’s head. It took Shizuku a moment to decide how to respond, but she eventually came up with a roundabout way of deflecting Mea’s proposition. “The story of the water god and the princess has become a widely known legend. It’s only natural that I’d know the princess’s name.” “That’s not true!” the girl shouted unexpectedly, startling Shizuku. Mea looked up at her, revealing her true emotions for the first time. Shizuku couldn’t tell whether she was angry, sad, confused, or all of them at the same time. A frenzied haze had come over Mea. Shizuku felt overwhelmed by the intensity of emotion in her expression. The girl’s green eyes shone brightly, making it clear they weren’t the sort humans possessed. A bizarre, tense atmosphere filled the space around them. Then the girl spoke again. “There’s no reason that any other person should know Laylia’s name. It was concealed.” “…Concealed?” Shizuku suddenly felt like she ought to make an escape. However, she was trapped in a castle at the bottom of the water. Her options were severely limited. And that wasn’t her only obstacle. For some reason, Mea looked terribly worried. She reminded Shizuku of a missing child who’d been left in the rain—soaking wet, alone, and fearful. Shizuku couldn’t bring herself to abandon Mea yet. Shaking off her hesitation, she decided to ask something else. “Why was her name concealed?” “She…loved the king. Humans accused her of being a traitor for it. And then…” “And then what?” Mea fell silent. She stood frozen, motionless as a statue. It felt as if time and space had come to a standstill. Shizuku exhaled, but it did nothing to ease her tension. Perhaps this was it. She’d finally learn the truth. Shizuku waited expectantly for the girl to respond. A moment later, however, Mea lowered her head. Her movements became so fluid, it was as though their conversation hadn’t happened at all. “I have been awaiting your return, princess. The king is expecting you. Come with me.” “…Mea.” This was like something plucked from a bad dream—a looping nightmare in which every time Shizuku made progress, she was sent back to square one. No matter how much she wanted to wake up, she just couldn’t. But it wasn’t a dream. Where was the king whom Mea kept talking about? Shizuku was confident he’d know she wasn’t his consort. There was only a large stone altar at the end of the hall. Mea kept her head bowed. Shizuku, who felt like she was about to panic, reined in her emotions and looked around. As she observed the altar again, one of Mea’s earlier comments returned to her. “Mea… Didn’t you say that the king’s consort needed to wake him up?” What had she meant by that? Struck by a niggling suspicion, Shizuku approached the altar. There was a line carved into it that ran the object’s circumference. A familiar emblem was engraved in the center as well. Upon closer inspection, the line just below that insignia appeared to be an opening. That’s when Shizuku realized her guess was correct. Her pulse quickened. This wasn’t an altar, but a stone box. “That’s…not a casket, is it?” Was it Sleeping Beauty or Snow White who slept in a casket? Shizuku couldn’t remember. Her anxiety was scrambling her thoughts. She placed both of her hands on the lid. The moment she tried to lift it up, an arm reached out from behind to stop her. “You can’t do that!” Mea, who’d been bowing demurely just a moment earlier, ripped Shizuku away from the casket. She was far stronger than her diminutive build suggested. The young girl used great force as she dug her fingers into Shizuku’s arm, yet her expression was vacant. She seemed devoid of any driving emotion. Shizuku felt like she was going to scream. “B-but isn’t the king inside?” “No. He’s…” “Where is he, then?” “Back then…the king…” Mea’s grip slackened. When Shizuku frantically pulled her arm away, Mea gazed down at her own hands. Horror showed in her expression. Her abrupt emotions seemed too much to bear. Noticing that Mea looked about ready to cry, Shizuku was rendered speechless. Without thinking, she reached out to touch her, but Mea covered her face with her trembling hands before she could. Shizuku gently retracted her arm and placed a hand on her pounding chest. She got the distinct feeling that she was standing next to something forbidden. However, if she was going to act, now was the time. Shizuku made a lunge at the stone lid. There had to be something inside. She pushed it as hard as she could. The hefty piece of stone shifted away slightly. Shizuku planted her feet on the ground and gave it another forceful shove. The next thing she knew, her body was gently floating. The lid moved farther and farther away. It felt as if time was moving in slow motion. That was when Shizuku realized that an invisible force was propelling her into the air. “Stop…!” Mea, who was standing next to the altar, looked stunned. Her green hair billowed like a pit of serpents. Sensing the floor swiftly approaching, Shizuku tensed up. In the back of her mind, she started to suspect that she was about to die. Still, Shizuku prepared for the impact, her body moving instinctively to protect her head. However, to her astonishment and relief, she collided not with the firm stone floor but with something softer. And damp. “Perfect timing,” somebody uttered, their voice calm. “Are you okay?” Shizuku opened her eyes. She stared up at the person in disbelief. Her traveling companion was soaked for some reason. He’d caught her before she landed on the ground. “E-Erik…” Erik looked down at the young woman in his arms, water dripping from his hair. Surprise colored his expression, but there was a hint of gladness, too. The look on his face made Shizuku feel like all her strength was draining from her body. “Th-thank you,” she said. “It was nothing. I’m just glad you’re not hurt. You’d been gone for some time, so part of me thought it might have been too late.” “You can keep that last part to yourself, okay? Not that it bothers me.” “What’s with that outfit?” Erik asked. “I was forced to wear it,” Shizuku replied. Just as Shizuku was about to explain, Erik placed her behind him. Her eyes widened in surprise. From over his shoulder, she saw Mea glowering at the two of them. Her emerald-like eyes emitted a subtle, fluorescent light. Shizuku found herself gripping Erik’s clothes tightly. She couldn’t see his face from behind, but his voice didn’t sound much different from usual. “A mid-ranking demon, huh?” he remarked. “Not ideal.” “A-are you going to fight her?” Shizuku asked. “Of course not,” he replied. “I’m not that sort of mage. I wouldn’t stand a chance. I’ve activated a transit ring, so let’s get out of here.” Erik was alone. Not only that, but he was also soaked to the skin. Surely, he hadn’t swum to the castle, had he? Shizuku looked behind her. They were about ten meters away from the door. She looked up at the man shielding her once more, then to Mea, who had inserted herself in front of the altar. Shizuku knew nothing about magic, but she could tell that there was a peculiar atmosphere swirling around the girl. His eyes fixed on the demon girl, Erik urged Shizuku to take a step back. “I’ll buy us some time. Run when I give you the signal. Turn right at the end of the corridor.” “Wait a minute! Aren’t you putting yourself in danger?!” “I’ve brought a defensive magic implement with me just in case. I’ll be fine. Probably.” Before Shizuku could object to Erik’s attempt to get her to leave, Mea’s voice thundered through the room. “Stay away from Laylia, human,” she declared. A gust of wind began to blow through the hall. The strength of the command didn’t alarm Erik. Rather, it was the name Mea had used. He turned to face Shizuku. “What’s going on?” he asked. “Mistaken identity, I think,” Shizuku explained. “She thinks I’m the princess from the legend…” “But why?” Shizuku didn’t know, making it challenging to answer. However, she had devised a theory. Tugging on Erik’s clothes, she said, “I have an idea. Hear me out.” “Okay. I’m listening.” Shizuku kept an eye on Mea as she quickly outlined her thoughts to Erik. He listened silently, frowning when she was done. “Are you sure that’s okay? Won’t you just be adding fuel to the fire?” “I can’t say for certain that it’ll work, but I think there’s a chance. I’m sure she knows the truth deep down,” Shizuku replied. “After all…she does seem very upset.” Some people found happiness in never-ending dreams. Mea didn’t seem like one of them, though. She was locked in a static dream, trembling from loneliness. She’d been waiting for someone who would never return. Erik looked like he wanted to say something, but he ultimately nodded in acceptance. “Fine. I’ll leave this to you, then.” He pulled a pair of crystal balls from the bag hanging at his waist and held one in each hand. A protective barrier formed in front of him and Shizuku. It blocked the gusts of magic that were emanating from Mea, sending them around it instead. “Give me your hands,” Erik said. Shizuku nodded. “Okay.” She obediently held out her palms, only for Erik to casually slip a ring onto the middle finger of her left hand. Shizuku, who’d never experienced anything like this before, automatically lifted her hands into the air. “Hey, what are you doing? That came out of nowhere!” “You’re the one who’s suddenly acting weird,” Erik insisted. “Calm down—it’s not a dangerous magic implement.” “This is a magic implement?” Shizuku examined the ring now that it was on her finger. She remembered it from the shop in Ilmas, and her eyes widened with surprise. “It seemed like you wanted it, and since it’s for protection, I thought it was just right for you. It won’t shield you from especially powerful forces, though, so be careful.” “Th-thank you so much!” Shizuku turned the ring around her finger, then gave her left hand a light squeeze. “…I’m going to be fine,” she told herself. She was certain this would go her way. Things tended to move in a positive direction when she kept an optimistic mindset. Shizuku smiled, then braced herself for what she was about to do. She looked up at Mea, who returned her gaze with sad eyes. That intensity coming from the girl helped steel Shizuku’s resolve. Mea pleaded with her, her voice no more than a whisper. “Laylia, please. Humans will slander and hurt you. They only accept what fits their worldview. They reject what doesn’t align with it and feign righteousness with their words.” “I admit you have a point,” Erik said, pulling a dagger from his waist. It was the one he’d bought for Shizuku. He took a step forward with the weapon in hand. Mea’s face contorted with fear. “You monster… You’re doing it again…” “I want to start by righting the confusion. She and I have never met you before. The princess you know lived over a thousand years ago. None of the surrounding countries that existed in her day remain.” “Silence!” The wind suddenly became more powerful. Even the protective barrier Erik had created pushed against him now. He tried his best to remain standing. Then Shizuku rushed out from behind him, just as planned. Worried that Shizuku would be caught in the brewing fight, Mea hurriedly directed her conjured wind out of the way. Shizuku didn’t run toward the exit or the altar. Instead, she rushed to the right side of the room. Mea looked between her and Erik in turn as the young man strode up to the altar. It only took a few seconds for Mea to decide what to do. In an attempt to do away with Erik, she created a ball of light in her hand. Without a moment’s hesitation, she launched it at him. The very next moment, Shizuku, who was only a few paces from the wall, changed direction and dashed for the altar. Unsure of her aim, Mea was left flustered. “What are you…?!” Erik raised the dagger, meeting the ball of light with its blade. The sphere fell to the floor, making a small popping sound as it struck the ground. Then Erik leveled the point of his dagger at Mea. “…Shoot,” he said. Upon receiving this command, the magic implement sprang into action. A number of small invisible arrows launched from the tip of his dagger. Mea jumped to the left in an effort to evade. The projectiles rose into the air and plunged down toward her, but they ended up dissipating before they connected. Mea must have been out of range. Erik redirected his dagger and launched another volley of arrows at her, but the girl leaped farther back. The constant bombardment gradually forced Mea away from the altar. Gathering up her dress in handfuls, Shizuku ran over to the altar. Her hands collided hard with the odd lid, and she pushed it aside with all her strength. When Mea noticed what Shizuku was doing, the color drained from her face. Mea and Erik both screamed at her at the same time. “Don’t you dare open that!” “Do it!” Mea raised her hand and launched another luminous sphere, this time at Shizuku. The light was dazzling. Shizuku closed her eyes in expectation of what was to happen. However, just as the light was about to hit her, Erik leaped in front of Shizuku and repelled the attack. “Quickly,” he urged. “Sorry!” Grateful that she’d been saved, Shizuku gathered all her might and gave the lid, which was adorned with a floral emblem, a final shove. “Don’t look!” The girl’s scream shattered the stillness that had filled the room. Shizuku peered through the small gap she had made. Inside the casket lay a tattered dress, its color faded to an ochre brown, and a skeleton that had mostly crumbled away, barely holding its form. They were human remains. Shizuku could tell as much, but only barely. The bones had likely had some preservation magic cast on them, but even with that in place, a thousand years must have been too long to stave off decomposition. Shizuku beheld the deteriorated body with a sad look in her eyes. As she stared—unable to drag her eyes away—she heard Mea speak with a feeble voice. “Laylia… Laylia…” Shizuku could tell that Mea wasn’t calling out to her anymore. She looked at the emblem carved into the lid. It was the same sort that had adorned the furniture in the room she’d been shown to upon arriving here. It must have been Laylia’s personal symbol. When Shizuku realized that this altar was a stone casket and contemplated the significance of that emblem, it occurred to her that the real Laylia might be resting within. Erik sighed beside Shizuku, appearing to have realized that Mea—who’d collapsed onto the ground—no longer had any intention of attacking him. He stowed the dagger and fixed his deep-blue eyes on Shizuku. “This is what really happened, then.” His tone was straightforward yet was not without pity. Shizuku wanted to nod, but she couldn’t bring herself to lift her face. “The princess, who’d been rescued by her older brother, returned to her country and lived a peaceful life.” That was how the legend ended, yet in reality, she had died in the castle at the bottom of the lake. The circumstances surrounding her death and why her body was kept here remained unclear. However, as Shizuku reflected on Mea’s words, she began to piece together a possible scenario. When the prince came to retrieve his sister, he or his men had likely accused the princess of being a traitor upon learning that she loved the water god. They must have killed her, although whether it was intentional or accidental was a mystery. Both the death and the name of the princess who’d loved the water god were covered up, and a woman named Federica was sent back in her place. It was unlikely that the water god, who’d lost his wife, was still in the castle. Mea had remained here alone, waiting for the deceased consort to return. The knowledge that nothing remained of a person once they had passed was too much for the demon girl to bear, so she’d continued to live in denial. How long had she waited? Shizuku couldn’t begin to fathom it. It would’ve been presumptuous for her to feign understanding. She had been rescued thanks to the kindness of others on the day she arrived in this new world. Mea, meanwhile, had spent centuries in isolation, waiting for the one who was so precious to her. Now, though, that was finally coming to an end. Mea sat on the floor, crying. No tears flowed down her face. No sobs could be heard. And yet there was no doubt about it. The girl who stared at the ceiling vacantly was crying. She knew that Laylia had perished and would never return. She’d watched the king place her body in the casket and brush his hand against her cold cheek, weeping. No one else knew the truth of the story. The princess had died, not the king. The people who turned up at the castle killed Laylia and fled back to the surface. The stories that circulated afterward had nothing to do with the truth of the castle at the bottom of the lake. As for the master of the palace, he’d long ago returned to his previous realm, heartbroken. With the arrival of the princess, the castle had transformed into a warm and tranquil place. However, that happiness was fleeting, and the castle became frozen in time. Laylia’s demise made certain that it would never be the same again. With both the king and his wife gone, only one girl remained. She longed to see their smiles once more. She clung to the hope that if Laylia were to return, she might have brought joy back with her. However, the illusion that had stood for so long was unraveling. Mea would never retrieve what she’d lost. The reality unfolding before her was solemn, but it was the only reality that truly existed. Mea watched in a daze as the two people moved the lid of the casket back in place. She knew it wasn’t their fault. She didn’t blame that human girl. Mea was the one who’d wanted her here. When Mea’s call, which no one ever heard, caught Shizuku’s attention and she uttered the princess’s secret name, Mea was so overjoyed that she thought she’d lose her mind. At last, the solitude had come to an end, and she would finally have someone to share things with. What would she have shared with her, though? Mea was very tired. Her consciousness, the thread that held her together, threatened to slip away. And would that have been so bad? Mea had completed her duties a long time ago. She just hadn’t been willing to accept that. What did it matter if she broke? Nobody was ever coming back. There was no point in waiting. Mea closed her eyes and lay on the stone floor. In response to her resignation, the depths of the castle trembled slightly. The girl surrendered everything to the vibrations coursing through her body. But then she heard a woman beside her speak. “Mea.” She was calling out to her. She sounded warm. Mea opened her eyes. Shizuku had crouched next to the girl, peering at her with worry in her eyes. Wearing a smile that carried a hint of sadness, she offered her hand. Mea looked up at it like she’d never seen such a thing before. What was going on? What more was left for her? Everything had ended a long time ago, leaving no trace behind.