Chapter 250

"Do you think reality is important?"

Giovanni tilted his head at Saintess Aram's question.

"That sounds like a question about the new dungeon. Am I right?"

"Yes. Watching the Moon Cult's brothers and sisters study the 'Amusement Park of Dreams' got me thinking. I wanted to hear your opinion, Teacher."

"I'm surprised to be greeted with such a profound question the moment I arrive. It's been quite a while since my last visit."

"... Oh."

Only then did Aram seem to take stock of their situation.

"Was it a bit much to ask you something like that as soon as you got here?"

"I packed a fresh bag to stay a little longer this time, so I don't mind. But when you make other friends, you should at least give them time to unpack before you ask."

"S-sorry."

Jio unpacked, privately muttering, 'Lacking in social skills.' Now recovered and able to move about freely, Aram trailed after him like a chick following its mother.

Once he had finished putting his things away in his room, he turned to her.

"Very well. Now we can have a leisurely conversation. Is there somewhere you would recommend?"

"So formal all of a sudden... Hmm, somewhere I'd recommend."

"I mean somewhere suitable for a casual exchange of opinions."

"What about the debating hall you visited before?"

"The Priests there are far too frightening for me to venture in."

"Huh? You didn't look frightened at all..."

Still, since that was what he said, Aram offered another option.

"How about my room?"

"Your room, with all those theoretical texts and research papers for company?"

"The dining hall should be empty by now, so somewhere quiet...?"

"Hmm? It's already seven. Do you suppose I came without eating dinner?"

"... Oh, oh!"

At last, Aram found the answer.

"Let's go to the garden salon! The salon we set up together last time is still being well maintained. It'll be a nice place to chat over a light snack or a cup of tea...!"

"I'm glad you're starting to understand me."

They headed toward the garden beneath the twinkling stars. Aram smiled sheepishly.

"Actually, before you came, Teacher, this garden was mostly just maintained out of duty. The occasional visitor would praise its beauty, but hardly anyone in our order came here apart from those outsiders..."

"I understood that staff from the Eunwol guild looked after it, but I hear the Moon Cult's Priests have started doing a little gardening lately as well. How do they feel about it?"

"I think they said it's a good place to zone out. Somewhere suitable for cooling down an overloaded brain..."

"They really do love their studies."

Jio and Aram arrived at the salon. A tea table stood in the middle of the glass-enclosed space, which resembled a greenhouse. They had put it there for casual conversation.

An attendant approached once they were seated.

"May I bring you something to drink?"

"Some snacks as well, please."

"I'll bring them right away."

Warm tea arrived with fruit. The attendants went outside the greenhouse, apparently to let them talk at ease. They could ring a bell if they needed their help.

At last, the stage was set for their conversation.

"So, about what I was saying earlier..."

"You're asking about the weight of dreams and reality?"

"Hmm, perhaps?"

Aram wrinkled her nose.

"The brothers have been acting strangely lately. They sleep for the usual length of time, but they're sleeping more and more often. When they've slept so much that they can't fall asleep again, they even take sleeping pills..."

"That sounds a little dangerous."

Jio's expression darkened.

"I've heard similar reports through Collector. More and more people are becoming addicted to the 'Amusement Park of Dreams.' Even if the time spent asleep on each visit hasn't increased and society is still functioning... there will be trouble eventually if this continues."

"Oh, so it's happening outside the order too. Certainly, I wouldn't call it a problem here just yet. We've experimented with drugs plenty of times before, too. But how should I put it? Chasing dreams instead of reality feels... a little..."

Aram hesitated before continuing.

"Unnerving."

The Moon Cult had always been quiet, but lately it was quieter still.

"I've never experienced it myself, so I don't really know what the brothers are thinking or feeling."

"Has the bishop still not granted you permission?"

He had abruptly turned formal again, but Aram had come to understand it in her own way. He seemed to speak casually when treating her as a child in his care, and formally when treating her as a student.

She sighed.

"No. She says there could be unforeseen side effects, given what happened to me recently. There are even rumors that this dungeon isn't the work of an ordinary monster, but an evil god's prank... so I think she's being all the more careful."

"A dungeon made by a god rather than a monster would be troublesome."

"Even the conditions for clearing a dungeon made by a Divinity are far more ambiguous. At first, people mostly thought of it as a lucid dream where they could fulfill wishes left unfulfilled in reality, but now it seems to be turning into a refuge."

Aram looked up at Jio.

"That's why I wanted to ask you, Teacher. About dreams and reality."

"Maintaining a healthy balance between the two would be wisest."

"Maintaining a balance?"

"They say too much of anything is bad, don't they?"

Giovanni gave his characteristically cheerful smile.

"Food is dull to eat if it's too bland, and hard to put on your tongue if it's too salty. Life is much the same. Humans can never be perfect. We need to rest, but we can't simply stay broken, either."

Aram blinked.

"Even your analogies are about food."

"Isn't it the easiest way to understand?"

"It is."

"This seems like a rather serious, philosophical subject for someone like me... I'm a very simple thinker."

"Don't worry. You certainly look the part of a teacher, at least."

"I'm glad you think so. Shall I show off a little more, then?"

Jio rubbed his chin, his eyes shifting in thought, then spoke again.

"... Humanity has escaped from reality countless times throughout history. Not just through sleep, as people do now, but through play, meals, and conversation as well. As time passed and technology advanced, those escapes became more immersive."

The same was true now.

"After the Great Catastrophe, mystery entered our world. People could choose a mental escape through magic, or even flee their everyday lives altogether. In an age as chaotic as this, erasing your identity and moving somewhere else is hardly difficult."

"More ordinary things count as escape than I'd thought."

"Escaping a difficult, exhausting daily life isn't such a grand undertaking. It's simply looking elsewhere. Staring constantly at the moon in the sky is tiring, but aren't you enchanted by its beauty whenever you take a moment to look up?"

Anyone could escape, and that was only natural.

"But staring at nothing but the moon all day is a problem."

"..."

After some hesitation, Aram asked,

"... Are you saying that with our teacher in mind...?"

"Would I really say something so blasphemous in front of the Moon Cult's saintess? It's merely an analogy. Any associations it brings to mind are entirely your own."

"... Understood. Please go on. I'm listening."

"An attitude to make your teacher proud."

Giovanni continued.

"You asked whether reality is important. Yes, it is. The roots of our souls and everything in our lives are here. Those are important things that dreams can never replace."

"You mean they're precious, don't you?"

"What is precious and what is important are very different. Unfortunately, quite a few people go through life misunderstanding that. That's why so many blame themselves for failing to cherish what is important to them."

"Oh, are they... very different?"

"Of course."

Naturally.

"We cannot love every important foundation that makes us who we are. It might be a different story if every human had been created overflowing with such love and patience, but we are always living for ourselves."

"For ourselves?"

Jio smiled at the saintess's question.

"Of course, some people sacrifice themselves, as you do. But that, too, is your own desire. You could have chosen otherwise, yet you wanted to become a saintess and benefit the world, didn't you?"

"That's... true as well."

"A choice is your own opinion, an expression of will that the whole world will never agree with. In that sense, it is selfish. Just as no one can ever be a good person to everyone."

No choice could please absolutely everyone.

"Shall I give you an example? I don't like my blue eyes at all. I simply cannot love them. But if I pluck them both out, I won't be able to see."

"... What if you used a dye to change their color? To one you like."

"How long would that last?"

"No magic or drug can be permanent. But it could maintain the color for nearly a lifetime. Wouldn't that be enough?"

"That wouldn't erase the memory of having blue eyes. Many people besides me would remember them."

"There must be magic that alters memories."

"Very well. Suppose I eventually made that choice."

Giovanni tilted his head.

"Could you still call that me?"

"... Oh..."

"You seem to understand."

No matter how clever or subtle the method, the result was the same.

"My essential nature would change."

That was why important and precious were different.

"Everything that makes up me, my surroundings, and this world is important. But there may come a time when I want to cast something aside because it isn't precious to me. All the more so in a world like today's, where people reject one another and individualism grows ever stronger."

"But there haven't been any problems until now... Hmm, I suppose I can only say that because I've been treated well as the Moon Cult's saintess. When I think back to being a vagrant in the slums, I can hardly call it a world where people could live comfortably without worry."

"The reason all those 'problems' have never surfaced before is that people had no other choice. Can you stop running when arrows are flying at your back? They ran because they would die if they didn't. Now they've found a tree that can shield them from the arrows."

The arrows were reality, and the tree was an escape into dreams.

"But how long can they hide there?"

Had the arrows flying at their backs been the only reason they ran?

"Every human has desires, barring a few unusual exceptions. Even you, who wish to offer yourself up to make the Moon warmer, have your own desires. Your thirst for knowledge is a particularly notable one."

"Th-that's true."

"That means people haven't been running so hard all this time solely because they would die otherwise. They run to eat something they've been craving the next day, to see someone they love, to earn a promotion if they can just hold on a little longer..."

And so on.

"Hiding behind that narrow tree won't satisfy any of those needs."

"But I've heard the 'Amusement Park of Dreams' fulfills people's desires."

"It does just that: indulges their desires. It doesn't meet their actual needs. In the end, nothing tangible remains, does it?"

"But... the knowledge remains."

Even if it was a dream, knowledge gained in the amusement park could carry over, as long as they remembered it.

"That's why the Moon Cult is in such turmoil. S-some say that whatever the case may be for other people, shouldn't we be allowed to use this dungeon? The Moon Cult is a sanctuary of reason that gathers and cultivates knowledge... They say no one could make better use of it than us."

Giovanni smiled.

"And that is how the Association's research labs came to be what they are today."

"... Yes, that's true."

Aram, too, knew what horrible things some of the Association's laboratories kept doing. She could not possibly approve of them. She was simply curious.

"Must I remain whole?"

"Is that your own view?"

"No. I believe it's right to preserve myself. My desire to make the world a better place is far stronger than my desire for nothing more than my own peace and pleasure."

"Then this must be what the other brothers are thinking."

"They want to become part of the dream."

From the beginning, the Moon Cult's Priests had treated themselves not as humans, but as tools and components. They had handled themselves carelessly and used themselves as test subjects. They were not afraid to lose anything, whether 'important' or 'precious.'

At that, Jio said,

"And yet they returned to reality."

"... But at this rate, I think they'll all be addicted to the dreams before long..."

"It would be good if they remembered before they forgot, wouldn't it?"

"... Remembered what?"

"Why they gave up the dream and returned to reality."

"..."

"What could that be?"

The lesson was over.

"Give it some thought."

Before long, she found the answer.

Then she went to see the bishop.

* * *

"Something is happening to our teacher as well...!"

Aram raised her voice.

"There are far too many things about this dungeon that don't add up. Ever since it appeared, our teacher has been silent, and no longer even appears before me. The Moon isn't answering despite my presence as saintess. That clearly means something is wrong!"

"That is no reason for you to participate in this research, Saintess. Have you forgotten how invaluable you are? You wished to warm the Moon and benefit the world. Then you must also remember your own importance."

"I know how important I am. I'm precious to myself, too! I don't want to hurt, I'd rather laugh than cry, and I'd rather be happy than lonely! And knowing all of that, I'm still telling you this...!"

Aram was angry.

"This is what I want to do!"

"Saintess, right now..."

"Stop putting me off and answer me!"

What value could she have if all she ever did was let herself be protected?

"I'm a living person, too. There are things I want, things I want to do! If my selfishness will cause no harm, I have no obligation to refrain. If the Moon Cult hasn't merely been rearing me, if I truly am a person! If I'm not livestock waiting to be devoured, but family to you and the Moon...!!"

If that was true.

"... Then my actions need neither excuses nor reasons, either."

"It could be dangerous."

"We can choose anything and act on it."

"But...!"

"That's what the Moon Cult is...!!"

"..."

Only then did the bishop speak her true feelings.

"... I'm afraid I'll ruin everything."

A few days later, the saintess joined the research into the 'Amusement Park of Dreams.'

* * *

In the early stages of their research, the brothers had woken easily even after tasting the sweetness of the 'Amusement Park of Dreams.'

But more and more of them were becoming addicted to the dreams. And Aram's teacher had said it would be good if they remembered before they forgot.

Aram knew what they were forgetting.

"..."

That they, too, were a family.

They were forgetting that this unremarkable everyday life had brought them happiness as well.

"... I can do it, too."

That was why Aram had stepped forward. She had been chosen, but the desire to become the Moon was her own. She had not refused the position of saintess because she loved and cared for the Moon Cult more than anyone.

She had both a duty and a right.

"It's my choice."

She slipped the paper bearing her wish into her pillow and fell asleep.

* * *

『Please help my family wake up』

(To be continued)