That's the way to go, my friend!　Yeah, yeah, it's fine!

　-- Yeah, I can hear Dear's voice.

　But the quality of her voice is completely different. Instead of the usual masculine language, it's a softer language that matches his body.

　I understand it instantly.
　That this voice is not of Dia, but of the 'Sith', and that now I am dreaming.

　I'm remembering the memory of that castle again.
　It's a new and beautiful hall, but it's a little different from the last time.
　But it's a little different from the last time. I look out the window and see that it's raining heavily. Since the glass was not covered, the raindrops were blowing into the hall.
　The clattering sound was constant and steady, and the drops of rain were running down to the magic circle painted all over the floor.

　As if escaping from the rain, countless books were piled up like a mountain in the center of the great hall.
　I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to make it work.

　--I looked down at it from above.

　It's that dream again.

　The castle I arrived at after searching and searching and searching for a way to save my sister.
　There are three people living there, the 'Apostle Sith', the 'Saint Tiara' and the masked man.

　I've been living in another world for a long time, so I understand.
　Right now, the three of them are developing magic in the castle's great hall.
　They are kneading their body's magic on the magic circle, repeating the trial and error of breaking it down and constructing it, and writing down the "magic formula" one after another in books.

　Even for me, the highest human class that has reached the 20th level, the castle is filled with an eye-popping amount of magic power. The girl Tiara is controlling it as if she were playing with clay.
　The eyes of the masked man watching over the situation are sharp. The light in his eyes that can be seen through the gaps in his mask is so bright that it appears to be luminescent.
　He continues to see and analyze Tiara's magic with his eyes, moving his hands unsteadily to leave the magic formula in the book. And I can clearly see that he is inscribing the magic formula into his own brain as well.

　--I know the man in the mask as if he were my own.

　After all, the masked man's name is "Kanami". Of course.

"Hey, master. How does it feel?

　Same as before. As always, Tiara calls the masked man her master.
　Tiara anxiously checks her magic performance.

'Oh, you're getting better, Tiara. ...... but that's not the end of it, you know. If your conversion efficiency isn't good, your 'conversion result (status)' construction is full of holes.

　The man smiled thinly and graded the girl's magic.

'Don't compare me to Master. Master's construction of 'conversion results (status)' is too perverted for me. ......
'But someday you're going to adapt this for the whole country, right?　You can't just whine here.
'Right. If this can be done by anyone, no one will call 'magic power' 'poison' anymore ....... We'll have to work at it .......

　Rather, the girl regained her spirits and started the magic construction all over again from the beginning.
　Seeing this, the man was impressed.

'You're amazing, Tiara. I can work hard for my sister, but you can work hard for someone you don't know.'
...... Well, yeah. But my mentor is great too. It's a good thing that he was the one who guided me. We're going to create a 'magic' together that will make everyone happy.
'In the end, though, the only thing I could make was not 'magic' but 'spellcraft'. This time I'm trying to use my previous reflections to make sure the cost isn't too great, but I'm not sure it will work: ......
It's going to work. This time it's going to be 'magic' - magic that makes everyone happy. It's the magic that will turn the darkness of the world into light. It's a very gentle, warm, holy magic.
I hope so: ......

　With that, Tiara builds up her magic.
　A small light boils and lights up, illuminating the great hall little by little.

　I know that magic.
　This is 'sacred magic'.
　But the degree of perfection is oddly low. The technique is full of holes.
　But it's true that this was the prototype magic construction for "Sacred Magic".
　It may be poorly constructed now, but if it continues to evolve smoothly, it will become the 'sacred magic' that I know.

　The two wizards are developing their magic under the watchful eye of the Apostle Sith.
　This is the beginning of the "magic".
　The foundation of magic is said to have been created by the founder.

Hmmm, it's difficult!

　Tiara's cheeks puff out as the magic doesn't work.
　Then she asks the masked man.

''In the first place, I don't really understand the meaning of the words. 'Magic power conversion' is 'level up' and 'conversion result' is 'status'?　How did you come up with that name for this?

　The masked man can't hide his agitation at Tiara, who turns very innocent eyes on him.

''What?　Oh, no, that ....... It's a common word in this world over here, and that's .......

　The masked man replies sluggishly.

　Then a word is interrupted from another direction. It is not the Apostle Sith who is watching over you.
　A fourth character who wasn't there in the previous dream appears.

'--No, it's your brother's hobby. It's a disease. What, are you teaching Tiara to lie?

　A voice like the sound of a bell.
　A girl walks into the hall.
　She's a dark-haired, dark-eyed girl wearing a white cloth that looks like sick clothes. For a moment, you mistake her for Maria. But you immediately recognize her as different.
　Her hair is longer than Maria's and her skin is a sickly white color.
　It's a similar but different person.

　--Oh, I knew it, .......

''What? Master is sick too?

　The dark-haired, dark-eyed girl's words startled Tiara.

''Yes, a very, very serious illness. It's an incurable disease that has worsened since I came here.''
Oh, no!　Master, really!

　Tiara stops building magic and approaches the masked man.
　The man shakes his head in a panic.

''No, I'm not sick!　Health itself!　Yotaki (...), you're the one who's teaching them lies!

　And then you call its name.

　--I'll call it.

　The man who was previously called Uzurinami gives the name of Yotaki.

　I feel many hopes crumbling and many speculations being established.

　The girl who looks exactly like my sister laughs.
　She jokes with her brother, a man who looks just like me.

'That's unexpected. I'm not going to lie. After all, your brother still dresses up and wears a mask. Isn't this what you call 'chuuni-bias'?
'I'm wearing it because I need it!　He said I don't like to wear it either!
'As I recall, it was to get to know the people in the 'north' as well at first?　We're the only ones here, we don't have to, do we?
...... No, I've already gotten into the habit of wearing it. Besides, I've decided not to take the mask off anymore because it could be anyone visiting at any time.
You see, it means I have to wear a mask to feel comfortable. That's a disease.

　Oh, I've missed .......
　This kind of decent sibling conversation feels like it was years ago.
　And this is the scene I really want to see now.

　That's why I didn't want to see that scene.
　I didn't want to notice it.
　I'm at peace and in pain at the same time, and the whole dream world is distorted.

'Mmmm. It's getting pretty good, isn't it? It looks like Yangtaki's "magic power transformation" is going well... My ally.

　The Apostle Sith laughs in distortion.

'No, not yet. I'm not perfect yet. It's not enough.'

　But the masked man does not laugh at the words of the Apostle Sith.

'...... I know,'
"Sith, let's go 'north'. We need to collect more and more.

　The man touches his own black mask and speaks of his decision.

"There's the 'Mad King' - no, there's that 'King who rules'. It's dangerous.
I know it's dangerous. But I have to go sometime. For my sake and for your sake.
'Yes, ....... I'm sure you do.

　The Apostle Sith and the masked man did not exchange many words, but they understood each other.
　Then they decided on the next guideline.

''--So, let's go. The 'border' between 'North' and 'South', to the center of the battle.
Yeah, let's go. Let's go to ...... and we'll be fine. Everything will be fine until the end.

　The Apostle Sith laughed venomously and turned his eyes to 'North'.
　The man laughed at Tiara and Yotaki, who were a little anxious, and urged them to head to the 'north'.

　Thus, the four of us (the party), including Apostle Sis and Saint Tiara, set off for the 'North'. They leave the ship from the new continent, stay in the port of the 'mainland' and start walking to the 'north'.

　--The dream goes on. But gradually the dream becomes fuzzy.

　I contort my face as I look off at the world, which is distorting as I go.

　I've already noticed.
　This dream is a replay of a memory.
　I don't know why. I can't even be sure of its authenticity.
　But I can be sure that this memory belongs to Aikawa Uzumi, and that it is also from a thousand years ago.　

　It's as if I threw a stone into a lake with a pool of stagnation at the bottom, a memory that had sunk to the surface.

　Which is the cause?
　Is it an encounter with a guardian, or the reasoning power of Parallelism?　
　Or is it because of the status that has been increased by leveling up, or is it because of the magic the id gave you?
　Perhaps it's everything.

　All of this is the key to awakening my memories.
　My deep psyche is as intricate as a labyrinth, but I feel as if everything is prepared to invite me to the deepest part of it.
　However, there is still a long way to go beyond the dream. The deepest part is far away.

　And then the four of us will reach the "North" and meet.

　The girl who became the "Lord".
　The two men who support the girl - Aide and the other one.

　The journey of the dream continues despite the distortion.
　But the distortion has reached its peak, and the images are almost like a sandstorm on TV.
　I can see the masked man talking about "The King Who Rules (Lord)", but I can't recognize the girl's face or the content of her conversation.

　In order to see the memory any more clearly, I need to get closer to this masked man.
　In other words, he'd have to raise the bar even higher.
　If I don't, I know I'm not going to be shown the rest of the way.

　But against that prompting, I didn't need to see it anymore.
　I think it's because I already have a dim understanding of what is waiting for me at the end of this journey of memory.

　Perhaps when that journey is over, the masked man despairs.

　He will be embittered with the Apostle Sith and become an enemy to be killed.
　He will be betrayed by the saint Tiara, and he will have no friends to trust.

　The guilt over Mary will cease, he will not trust anything of Las Tiara, and events will occur that will make him hate Diah so much that he can't stand it.

　I already know that.

　So, I don't want to see this dream end ......, I don't want to see--

◆◆◆◆◆


　--I wake up.

　I pop the cloth that was covering me and sit up, exhaling heavily.
　The violent palpitations don't stop. My body is wet with sweat and I feel sick.

'Dream now: ......'

　Unlike before, I clearly remembered the dream I had just before.
　But I shook my head at my own words.

''No,'' I said. No, it wasn't a dream. It's too clear: ....... It's a memory .......

　He admits it, his face contorted.
　Then I begin to consider the memory.

　Of course, I know this is not the time to do that. Instead, I should first get clear on where we are. We should find out what happened to us after we fought the Ides.

　But I can't do that anymore.　
　The value of the "Wisdom" status that has risen is not going to let go of that memory.
　Once it began to spin, it was impossible to stop the parallelism.

　I can't stop the parallelism that has begun to revolve around it, sparing myself the power to deploy dimensions and turning my full attention to parallelism.

I knew it was ....... I knew it, or was it ......?

　I have to admit it now.
　I can't say that things will always be the same either way.

'I was there a thousand years ago ......?　I was summoned to another world not just a few weeks ago, but much, much further in the past: ......?

　I have to admit that this is a possibility.

You mean that I was in the labyrinth that day because I was 'recalled converged' (dropped) from a thousand years ago ......?

　I get the answer and I stare at my two palms, trembling.
　I can't believe it's really my own.
　On the contrary, they look like the hands of a 'monster'.

"Am I a monster that has been 'recalled' (dropped) into the labyrinth, just like the other guardians (guardians)?

　The skills I had from the beginning, "Dimensional Magic", "Freezing Magic" and "Swordsmanship".
　High qualities and status. And the fact that I suddenly appeared in the labyrinth.
　The answer to this question is the possibility that I am a guardian.

　If I'm a guardian, that would explain the skills I had when I came to the other world.

　I'm not going to be able to get any more information on this.
　I'm not sure if I'm the one who steals the reason of ice or the one who steals the reason of water, since the freezing magic is an inherent skill and the dimensional magic is an acquired skill. The magic I wove out is also more of a snow and winter image. That's why Eid called me 'the one that steals the reason of water' ......?

　Not long ago, Rowen said he was called in with a force that matched the 30 layers. He blurted out that it was about 30% of the original.
　In other words, I was called to the first tier, so I was level 1 to match the first tier: ......?

That's not all.

　The reason why Aikawa Uzumi is so privileged.
　There are many systems such as "Watching", "Belongings" and "Display".
　Probably, it was Aikawa Uzumi who developed them. In the same way that he was happily creating the "magic power conversion (level up)" and "conversion results (status)" in his dreams, that masked man must have developed it.

　And even that "Labyrinth" was created by Aikawa Uzumi.

That's why Rowen responds to the name Kanami: ......

　The person who came up when I was talking to Rowen - the gentle 'someone' who created the labyrinth.
　It's most likely to be me too. I can't confirm it, but from Rowen's demeanor, that possibility is high.
　It hurts that I didn't pursue the trivial question because I thought I was with my sister at the time. I'll never get confirmation again.

'But if that's the case, how is it that you don't remember me: ......?

　I still can't stop thinking.
　Like a flood with a dam, I can't stop asking myself and answering myself.

'No, come to think of it, Arti also seemed to have a fuzzy memory ....... Rowen also said, 'I finally remembered. ...... Do 'recall converged' (dropped) creatures have fuzzy memories?

　But it's unnatural that I'm the only one who has none at all.
　If I built the labyrinth, placed the guardians, and sent myself a thousand years later - then why am I the only one who doesn't remember a shred of what happened a thousand years ago?

　Could it be that I am not the only one who is not 're-born' or 'summoned'?

　What's more important than 'memory' is 'blood' and 'soul'. That's what I heard from Rustyala and Maria.
　That's why I, a thousand years ago, also prioritized the preservation of the 'blood' and 'soul' rather than the 'memory'. Then that would explain the lack of memory.

　--No, no.

　No, no, this situation is probably the result of prioritizing something more important. Just like I am now, I'm sure they prioritized "memory" over Aikawa Uzumi's "blood" and "soul".
　However, there may have been "something" that should have taken precedence over that precious, precious "memory" a thousand years ago.

　For that "something"...

Have I lost my entire memory?

　And I can predict that 'something'.
　His sister, Aikawa Yotaki. I can't think of anything else. If that's the case, I can understand why you would sacrifice everything.

''But you don't have Yotaki: ......!　He's not here!　I'm so desperate because I'm not there, dammit ......!

　Then does that mean that the 'something' that took precedence over everything else wasn't Yotaki?　No, that's just not possible. It can't be as "Aikawa Uzumi".

　If that's the case, does that mean that Aikawa Yotaki lived his life a thousand years ago, so he's gone?
　My sister was cured of her illness, became happy, and died a thousand years ago, a natural life. Have I already earned my reward?

　I understand that.
　I understand that, but...

　But then, I don't know why she resents her collaborators, Apostle Sith and Saint Tiara. If their cooperation made my sister happy, it would be strange if I wasn't grateful for their help.

　In other words, are you saying that Aide's words earlier were a lie? It's a lie to say that those emotions are 'just the way they are', and that he was still subjected to a special mental manipulation.
　But with the power of 'sensitivity' and 'dimension', I know that guy didn't lie.
　I don't think he's lying, but - in the end, I'm not sure about that either. There's no guarantee that the insight of "sensitivity" and "dimension" will never overlook a lie. For example, if Eid himself is mistaken, I'll assume wrong information to be true.

'd*mn it ......!'

　So I didn't want to think about it.
　I'm not sure about any of these things. I see only contradictions.
　In the end, I can guess, but I can't get any certainty.

　Not yet.
　Not enough.

　The pieces of information just don't fit together.
　I knew we couldn't be sure of anything in the meantime. We've seen it all before.　

　Maybe it's all a blessing in disguise. The scene I saw in my dream was all haphazard, the guardians who knew me were mistaken, and the "Aikawa Uzumi" character I felt in the labyrinth was just my imagination. Such a possibility is possible.

　You can't rely on 'dream memories' or 'information from people's biographies' if you think about it rationally and practically.

''So we have to go to the deepest part of the labyrinth anyway: ......!　I need to get back to it: ......!　I have to go and see the original world to see if it really was 'Yangtaki left behind'!　With that confirmation, it finally becomes true that there was a Yangtaki a thousand years ago: ......!

　The only way for me to feel safe now is to find Yangtaki with my current eyes.
　Because I knew that, I shook off all doubts and worked hard to explore the labyrinth.
　It's not just a matter of time before I get to the deepest part of the labyrinth, it's a matter of necessity.

'Either way, it's the same ......!　It's not going to change: ......!

　I grip the fabric of the bed so tightly that it rips open and I make a sound as if I'm going to squeeze it out.
　Then I get off the bed, moving my body with no effort.

　My feet on the floor wobble.
　If my mind is unstable, then my body is unstable.
　I'm falling apart all over.
　I could feel that various balances were collapsing. It's true that we may be starting to enter a state of affairs that is close to what we would call 'collapse'. I remember Heili's advice and mock myself.

　So I finally regain my composure and begin to pick up information about my surroundings.

　First, I move my head to get a better view of my surroundings.
　It's a lonely little room that isn't flattering. From the dust collecting in the corners of the room, it seems likely that it is a room in Legacy's villa.
　The 'Treasured Sword of the Aleis Family, Lowen' was propped up on the bed. It seems that someone had retrieved it after the earlier battle.

　While placing the sword in my 'belongings', I spread out the 'Dimension' in earnest.