There is a black dragon in front of me.
　Its large wings are folded up and it is jostling like a dog with its huge body.

　After what happened in Artemias, after being brought to the headquarters at the transfer, me and Sufilia were locked in the hall with the dragon in front of us.

''So you're Nito....''

　The black dragon was ransacking me with his big eyes.

''In front of this Carpent ze Bach, you don't seem to be afraid of anything.

　The dragon gave a small laugh.

'I ask you, Lord, what was that thing on Ichijou, that was your doing, wasn't it?'
"...a misfire. I miscontrolled the magic, and I am sorry.
I'm sure that's true, or else Zeke wouldn't have invited you here. "That's not what I'm asking," he said. "That's not what I'm asking," he said, "but why did you make a mistake? I can tell by Alford's and Eliza's heartbeats and the change in temperature. Suspicion has fallen on you. Which means that you have yet to give us a satisfactory explanation.
It was my mistake. There's no other way to answer it.
'I see, I sense an apology. I'm sure it's not a lie. But there is one thing that bothers me. When you said the word "mistake," your pulse quickened. I felt a rise in temperature. This means that you are upset. I don't know why. Why, what are you not telling me?

　If you deny it, is it the same if you read further?
　Dragons are tricky creatures.

　Suddenly, a large claw of a dragon loomed in front of me.
　I reflexively caught it with one hand.
　A shockwave went through the area and the hall shook.
　Sufilia's eyes widened at the suddenness of it, and she turned her killing intent on the dragon in front of her in surprise.
　I shook my head to tell Sufilia to control her hostility as a sign that there was no problem.
　I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to make it work.

''What are you doing?''
Okay, I see what Zeke meant.

　The black dragon retracted his arm.

'I got to see a bit of power,'

　With Zeke and this dragon, don't these guys know another way?
　Normally, there would be some kind of rejection first.

I have lived for a long time. I have lived for a long time and have seen the world change many times. I have seen the world change many times. I have met many people, including one as rare as you.

　Apparently it is rare for a human to stop a dragon's arm.

'This is not upsetting ... yes, this is fear. What are you afraid of, Lord, that I will answer you if I can?
What do you mean by that?
There is no need to be alarmed. "There is no need to be alarmed, for I do not wish to condemn or punish you in the first place. I just want to know what happened. But perhaps that's the same for you, as you don't understand the reason for what happened to you.
'I want to know about magic. Is magic something that's heavily influenced by emotions?
'Of course it is. But not strictly speaking. Magic is always dependent on the magic of its host. Dependent on emotion is not an accurate description.

　But as for me, that logic doesn't apply.
　If that's the case, are you saying that Ichijou lost his arm due to the influence of magic power?
　That's not right by any stretch of the imagination.
　My invasion has touched my friends before.
　But as long as I'm conscious that I'm one of them, there was no harm done.

'But there are exceptions,'
Exception?
It's called the Abyss.

　Black Dragon said.
　At the same time, he stared into my eyes.

''I see, so that's what happened...''

　Apparently, he's read my mind again.
　Is the mind the only thing you can't train even if you raise the level?

''Were you a fool in the abyss?
What do you mean, isn't the Abyss a fairy tale?
The Abyss is real, but few know of it anymore. "The abyss is real, but few know of it any more. As you say, the abyss is a place where adventurers live in fairy tales. As you say, the abyss is the living legacy of the fairy tale adventurers, and that is the extent to which most of us today know about it, if at all.
But you know that, don't you?
"I do not know much about it. But I do know the stories.
"Lore?
It's about the lore supposedly left behind by the wizard of creation--Adams Rad Polyphile.

　The dragon said.

　He who is tainted by the abyss loses his life.
　He who is swallowed by the abyss, loses his beloved.
　Those who fall into the abyss lose their freedom.

It doesn't make sense.
'Lore, but this is a warning letter. Those who touch the abyss lose not a little something. In other words, if you don't want to be, don't touch it. Those who ignore the warnings and touch the abyss will be called - the abyssal fool.
...I see.
Life, beloved, freedom. If you know you are going to lose all these things and you still seek power, you are a fool. That's what I took from the lore. It was a long time ago. At the time I was thinking about what the abyss was. But in the end, I did not see the abyss.

　That led me to one hypothesis.

"Was it life, beloved and free?
Hmm, it said they were to be lost.
'If that's the case, then maybe my magic isn't abyssal.
What do you mean?
'I've always thought my magic was abyssal. The first time I thought so was when Zeke pointed it out to me. It wasn't so much that I realized it, I thought it was because he told me so. But I'm not dead, and I haven't lost my beloved. And most importantly, I'm free. Then doesn't that mean I'm not an abyssal fool?

　The dragon made a reluctant face.

'Indeed, I suppose you could be right...'
''By the way, what's the first exception you mentioned that has to do with the Abyss?''
''It was a long time ago, but I once asked the Dragon King about the Abyss.
Master Ryuoh?
"Our Dragon King. I still adore him.
So, what did you say about the Dragon King?
'I asked him what the abyss was,' he said. The Dragon King said - don't get involved in the abyss alone. He warned me not to get involved in the abyss and that if I was swallowed by the abyss, I would get away with it. But I could not contain my curiosity and asked him. What does it mean to be swallowed by the abyss? The abyss is something different from the abyss, where one can follow the will of the host and manipulate his or her influence to the will of the host.

　That's what Vel said.

"But in exchange for all that power, the abyssal immersion affects the mind, the ego, the personality, the will and the intention. The ego, the personality, the will and the intention, all of which can become unconsciously unstable.
Do you have an unstable will?

　I was reminded of Vel's words again.

　--I'm not going to let you doubt yourself," he said, "but if you doubt yourself, you'll be swallowed up in the abyss.

　If that's true, then I doubted myself.
　But when and where did I doubt?
　I've never doubted myself.
　There is always a criterion of whether or not you will regret your actions, and that is my will.

But there are certainly many things that do not apply to you. Maybe you're wrong about that.

　In the end, I don't know what caused Ichijou to be injured.
　If my magic is the abyss that is swallowing me up, then my will is becoming unstable.
　Then I guess there's nothing I can do about it after all.

　The dragon took one last glance at Sufilia, but had nothing special to say.



　When I opened the door to the room, I saw Eliza, Alford, and Ichijo.
　When Ichijo's eyes met mine, which were masked, he smiled lightly, perhaps out of concern for me.

''Excuse me. I need to talk to Nito-san for a moment, so could you two excuse yourselves, please?

　They accepted Ichijou's words, "Okay," and glanced at me before walking out of the room.

'Sorry, we didn't mean to bother you,'
No.
'Well, I'm sorry, I can't take it back,'
'Don't worry about it. Thanks to Nito's magic, I'm not in pain and my body is fine. Besides, it's past time. No matter how much I regret it, my arm won't come back.
I'm sorry...
'No, I didn't mean it like that!　Well I know because I've been through it. I know what Nito-san is thinking right now.
Hidaka-san, is it?
Yes I regretted it, too, many times. But regret is the same as regret, no matter how many times you try. If you don't act, nothing will change. It was comforting or distracting to realize that I was able to regret it at the time. That's how much I felt I was still the right person.... But the guilt that came next was much more than that. And I regretted it again to ease my mind... and I kept repeating the process.

　I didn't know.
　I thought everyone had forgotten about me anyway.
　I had my hands full with my life in front of me, and I thought I was going to be forgotten anyway, and that's what I really wanted.
　I didn't want him to remember me, and knowing hasn't changed now.

　But Ichijo was different.

''Are the other brave souls looking for Hidaka-san too?''
'I don't know, I've been watching everyone since I decided to leave there. I wondered if anyone would follow me.... But as far as I could see, there was no one who thought Hidaka-kun was alive except me. But there was only one student who claimed to be Hidaka's childhood friend. Oh, and by "student", I mean that we brave men and women were originally just high school students, and high school students are...

　A childhood friend, I miss it....
　Probably a little bird.
　I didn't know he was in there.

'How many are you?'
What?
'How many of you summoned heroes are there in total?
There were 21 of them, I think.

　Nineteen people if you omit me and Ichijo.

'I see, so Hidaka-san was oppressed after all.
'Come to think of it, you said something like that then, too.
''No, don't worry about it. More importantly, Ichijou-san's arm, I'll try to find a way to get it back on my end. Until then, I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait for me.

　There's nothing I can do about it now.
　But I think I should be at least a little sorry.
　That would be an apology, and that would mean showing remorse, wouldn't it?
　But I can't take my face off, and when I do, I don't know what I should look like.
　I can't do anything in such a half-hearted state.
　No, maybe this is just an escape, I don't know.

I understand. And, if possible, any information about Hidaka-kun... if you find out anything, I'd appreciate it if you could let me know.

　Why doesn't Ichijou blame me for losing his arm?
　Maybe Ichijou was a 'saintly boy' after all.



　As they moved down the main corridor, they saw Alford.

'Did you give your name?'

　I stop.
　Sufilia stops next to me, too.

'Not now.'
'Well if Ichijou allows it, I won't say anything else. I'm sure Eliza intends to do the same. Besides, even though you were an object of vengeance at one time, I can vaguely see that you no longer think of Ichijou as an enemy.

　I don't like to be seen objectively.

'But I didn't expect you to be so upset. It's kind of funny when I think about it.
'Let me know if there's anything else about Ichijo's arm. I'll look into it as well.
Yeah, don't worry too much. People make mistakes.
It depends on the degree of failure, I should be bothered.

　We left the place.

　I saw Zeke in front of the big door in the hall.

'Are you leaving now?'
Yeah, do the transference spell, please.
A lot of things have happened in this case but I'll leave the princess in charge for now.
Yeah.
And I want to tell you one thing.

　Zeke's expression hardened.

'I've taken care of all the guards,'

　I understood what he meant.

'What we're doing is not charity,' he said. If we let the gun go, it's a danger to the organization. I don't know what you had in mind when you let those guys go, but next time, be more careful.

　I know what he's saying.

"It wasn't good intentions, it was a creed. That was the path I took, and I don't regret it. I'm going to continue to serve only me. After that, it's up to you what you do with the rest of your life. I had nothing to do with the fact that you killed the guards. You just killed them.

　Zeke scowled at me, and after a moment his expression returned.

'All right. I won't say another word.

　The two of us glowed on our feet.

'Speaking of which, where are you now?'
Just get me to the same spot as before.
Huh, secretive. I see.

　Zeke raised only the left corner of his mouth and smiled a small smile.

'So long--'

　My vision was engulfed in light.