Chapter 330 - Ouroboros (5)

As the dazed sensation blooming at the back of my head spread through my body...

THUD.

The sound of something falling brought me to my senses. I checked, and found the Stone Fragment of Records.

I'd been gripping it tightly even when the light burst out. Why had it fallen over there?

"..."

For now, I hurried over and picked it up. Only then did I notice something else on the ground.

"Clothes...?"

It was a robe made from expensive fabric. Though what mattered now wasn't the material, but its owner.

This wasn't just any fine robe. It was the one Auriel Gabis had been wearing, lying right where the old man had stood moments before.

As though his body alone had been sucked away somewhere, leaving only this behind.

"Don't tell me..."

I looked down at the Stone Fragment of Records in my hand.

"This thing worked on that old geezer...?"

I was beginning to grasp the situation. The unexpected outcome had left me dazed for a moment, but...

The Stone Fragment of Records had responded to Auriel Gabis, not me.

'Ugh, I can't get my thoughts straight.'

I forced myself to regain my composure and went over everything from the beginning.

There were two possibilities. First, Auriel Gabis had received the "call of the age," just as I had.

And second...

["Have you used the Stone Fragment of Records before?"]

["I have."]

Auriel Gabis had already used the Stone Fragment of Records.

In that case, the old man had been living in this era after being called here. Then, upon meeting me, he'd finished his task... fulfilled the "role" required of him, and returned to his original time.

'So in the first case, he's gone into the past, and in the second, it's the opposite?'

That was how it naturally came together in my head.

But...

'No, it's too early to jump to conclusions.'

Realizing I didn't have enough information, I reconsidered. I knew too little about the Stone Fragment of Records, so it was wiser to keep every possibility open.

Who said the "call of the age" could only come from the past? You might be called into the future, too.

Therefore...

'I'll think this part through later...'

I put the Stone Fragment of Records back into subspace, picked up the robe from the ground, and eagerly rummaged through it.

'Loot...!'

These were drops from Auriel Gabis himself. Surely there was a chance he'd been carrying something interesting...

'You've got to be kidding me.'

After a thorough search, I found little besides the robe. Just ordinary socks and shoes, and some fancy underwear made from pure white silk.

"Agh, fuck!"

Realizing the scrap of fabric I'd been feeling up in puzzlement was underwear, I hurled it to the ground. Irritation welled up inside me.

'How does this old bastard have nothing on him?'

He'd practically radiated final-boss energy, so I'd gotten my hopes up.

What a complete waste of...

"Oh."

Belatedly, I remembered Auriel Gabis taking water out of subspace and drinking it. At the time, I'd simply assumed he had a subspace ring...

"It must've been a soul-bound subspace."

A soul-bound subspace, something only the most powerful mages could use. It had no physical item attached to it, instead connecting directly to the soul through methods such as tattooing the body.

'Uh, no, hold on...'

Did that mean a soul-bound subspace would let me take the equipment I'd gathered here back to my original time?

The thought suddenly struck me, but it wasn't enough to warrant a cry of eureka.

After all, I wasn't a mage. Unlike magical tools, a soul-bound subspace could only be opened using the mage's own mana.

'Ha... So that's another dead end...'

I sighed and let go of my lingering regrets. Getting irritated and lamenting it wouldn't change anything. Besides, didn't I have something to do right now?

'Let's find Amelia first.'

I gathered up Auriel Gabis's belongings again, stowed them in subspace, and headed back into the sewers. They looked like ordinary clothes no matter how I examined them, but I decided to check them once more later in case I'd missed anything.

SPLASH, SPLASH.

As I retraced my steps, I came upon five or six corpses.

'This is where they fought among themselves.'

I wasn't so clueless that I'd leave ownerless equipment lying around, so I looted it all. Perhaps because they'd all been planning to move to the surface, they had expanded bags or subspace rings, so inventory space wasn't a problem.

'Wow, how much would I get for selling all this?'

With bags hanging from my shoulders, neck, and arms, I continued on. But Amelia wasn't at the spot I reached shortly afterward.

Judging from the traces of my fight with that Commander bastard, this had to be where she'd been lying unconscious. Where had she gone off to now?

I didn't have to think long.

'She must be there...'

Unable to hide my bitterness, I quickened my pace.

How much time passed after that?

"..."

In a passage more than half blocked by the collapsed ceiling, I spotted Amelia clearing away the rubble. She was working so intently that she hadn't even noticed my approach.

"Aaaaaagh!"

What the hell? Why was she screaming all of a sudden? That was scary.

The sight of her clutching her head in both hands was alarming enough that I hurried over and caught her wrist.

At my touch, Amelia shuddered and turned her head.

"... Jandel?"

Her eyes widened at the sight of my face, then she tried to shake my hand off.

"Let go. There's something I have to find..."

What was she talking about?

"You won't find anything, no matter how hard you look."

"What?"

I grinned.

"Didn't I tell you earlier? By the time you woke up, it'd all be over."

Amelia still looked dazed. She didn't seem to understand what I meant...

"Never mind. Just follow me."

Well, letting her see it for herself would be faster.

* * *

When she regained consciousness, there was nothing but despair.

She was alone in the dark sewer, and the familiar silence meant it was all over.

'I see. It's all over...'

Amelia wearily rose to her feet and trudged onward. There was somewhere she had to go.

Because that day, she hadn't been able to do it.

["Forget all the painful memories... of this place."]

["An ordinary life... is finally going to begin for you, too."]

She'd been forced to leave her sister's body behind.

By the time she'd returned to look for it later, it was already gone. Apparently, the workers repairing the passage had cleared away every corpse in the sewers.

It had become a regret that would haunt her forever.

That was why...

"I have to find her."

She had to find her. Even if all that remained was a lifeless body, she had to find it and recover it.

Not leaving her sister's remains in this filthy sewer—having come back twenty years into the past, surely she could manage that much. No, perhaps that was all she'd ever been allowed to do.

"Ngh, hngh...!"

Soon, Amelia reached the site of that day's tragedy and began hauling away every rock within reach. She looked so desperate that she seemed half out of her mind.

And that wasn't far from the truth.

"Wh-why...?"

Her sister was nowhere to be seen. She had to be somewhere around here.

Was even this denied to her?

"Aaaaaagh!"

For the first time in a very long while, she screamed aloud. She could endure sliced flesh and shattered bones with little more than a brief groan, but not this.

It felt as though her heart were being torn apart.

Just then, human warmth touched her wrist.

"... Jandel?"

It was someone all too familiar, someone she'd seen every day for nearly half a year.

"Let go. There's something I have to find..."

She immediately tried to shake him off, but as always, the barbarian refused to let go. Saying things she couldn't understand as she resisted, he pulled her forcibly to her feet.

And then...

"This is..."

After a long walk, they reached the surface. Raphdonia, the enormous city where no corner lay beyond the royal family's reach.

"Ugh, my eyes..."

Having emerged from the dark sewers, she found the city at midday unbearably bright. Before her eyes even had time to adjust, however, the barbarian was leading her somewhere by the wrist.

"Wh-where are we going?"

"I told you, you'll see when we get there."

Even as his strong grip pulled her along, Amelia scanned her surroundings. Passersby on the street. Laughing children and their parents. Merchants calling out to customers, and white marble gleaming in the sun.

This was the place she'd once yearned for so desperately. A world filled with warm sunlight, where, unlike in Noark, she could lead an ordinary life.

Of course, she knew now that the surface was no paradise. Beasts harboring malice even worse than anything in Noark lived here, too, and everyday tragedies unfolded day after day.

But even so...

"Just once..."

Just once, she'd wanted to see it. Herself and her sister living ordinary lives in this city, sometimes crying, sometimes laughing.

"Huh? What did you just say...?"

"Jandel, go on without me. There's something I have to find down—"

"I told you, you won't find it no matter how hard you look!"

When Amelia stopped walking, the barbarian turned to face her in frustration.

Then he said it.

"She's alive. Your sister."

"... What?"

Alive?

But how...?

"I'll... explain later. Why don't you just come with me for now?"

The barbarian led her onward in her confusion, and she didn't resist. She couldn't spare the presence of mind to do so.

How much time passed like that?

"Whew. Took ages to find her because I never heard which relief shelter she'd been taken to."

Amelia arrived at a relief shelter on the surface. After a description was given to a staff member, they found the room.

RATTLE.

The door opened, and Amelia saw a girl lying in a bed by the window, bathed in the warm sunlight streaming through it.

"S-Sis..."

It was an unreal sight, one she'd thought she'd never see in her lifetime.

As though entranced, Amelia approached the bed and took her sister's hand. Through the contact of their skin, she could feel a heartbeat.

"How did this happen?"

In answer, the barbarian told her everything that had happened. His deal with Auriel Gabis. How they'd erased her sister's memories with an early prototype of Lete's Blessing to eliminate any contradictions, and disguised it as a carriage accident to account for the memory loss.

"When your sister wakes up, she probably won't remember anything. She'll go through life thinking the name on her identity tag is her own."

"Ah, ah..."

So that was it.

"But don't be too sad. Once we're back twenty years in the future, none of that'll be a problem anymore. You can just tell her who you are and be close again, right?"

Her heart thumped. Only then did it truly sink in.

"Besides, didn't you say that Dragonslayer bastard tried something to recover his lost memories? Let's look for a way together when we get back. A way to bring back the memories she's lost."

He'd truly done it.

This man had.

"Huh? Come on, say something. You're making me nervous..."

He'd accomplished something miraculous, yet there he was, anxiously shifting on his feet as he watched for her reaction. Without realizing it, Amelia let out a small laugh.

"It's all right."

"Huh? What's all right?"

"I mean you don't need to worry about it anymore. I won't be trying to restore her memories..."

"What? Why not?"

At his question, Amelia lifted the corners of her mouth. Having so rarely smiled, she found the movement of her facial muscles terribly awkward.

But...

"Because she's better off not remembering."

Her sister's life would be different now. The life she'd yearned for so desperately would begin. Those painful memories would only get in the way of it.

Yes, so...

"... Take care, Sis."

I'll be all right.

Even if we're not together. Even if my life is far from the ordinary one I wanted. Even if simply lifting the corners of my mouth still feels awkward.

What you feared won't happen to me.

"Let's go, barbarian."

"It's Jandel, not barbarian."

"Yes. Jandel."

Because she was no longer alone.