Chapter 57
Flash—
Zen opened his eyes. He quickly looked around.
“Did I die? Did I just die? How many times has it been now? …Wait, was that the first time? Was everything just a dream?”
Slowly but firmly, he slapped his own cheeks several times.
“Haa… haah…”
The deck came into view. He could see stairs, light, and the vast underground space. He was still inside the ship.
Zen finally steadied his breathing. It had all been an illusion. The image of Ria lying in a pool of blood, his supposed first death—none of it was real.
“My first death, huh…”
After countless regressions, he had almost forgotten that day. The day he had died for the first time, without even realizing it was death.
To think these cursed loops would make him recall such an unpleasant memory.
A sharp pain ran through his back, as if pierced by a sword. Zen slapped his cheeks again, harder this time. At least it brought him back to his senses.
“…Hm?”
At that moment, the space before his eyes rippled, as though reality itself was trembling.
“The space is shaking?”
He squinted, trying to focus, then smacked his cheek even harder. The clearer his mind became, the stranger it was. The scenery in front of him kept shifting. The stairs and light that had been there moments ago warped, vanished, and reappeared.
“The scenery’s changing? Am I… losing my mind from all these illusions?”
Just as he shook his head roughly—something suddenly jumped out in front of him.
“Who’s there?”
Zen instantly leapt back, his voice low and sharp. His hand instinctively reached for his waist, only to frown when he remembered he had no weapon.
His body tensed like a bowstring ready to snap—
“Meow!”
“…What?”
Soft fur brushed against his leg.
“Meow, meow!”
Zen slowly picked up the thing rubbing against him.
“You… what on earth are you doing here?”
It was none other than Lucina—the long-haired white cat.
Meanwhile, Ria was anxiously watching from atop the hill.
It had been quite a while since she sent Lucina to check whether Zen was inside. In the meantime, she had remained alone on the desolate hilltop, her body growing stiff from the cold.
“Why isn’t she back yet? Did something happen? Were they discovered? Are there that many people inside?”
Ria bit down hard on her lip. Then, suddenly, a thought struck her.
“Wait… could that be…?”
Her eyes widened. She finally realized what the familiar-looking artificial structure below truly was.
“A ship?”
Yes, it was a ship. A wooden one.
The reason she hadn’t recognized it until now was because it stood upright—completely vertical.
But that wasn’t all. The ship itself was odd. The mast was missing, and for something positioned upright, its shape was blunt. She supposed one could still call it a “ship,” but not in the usual sense.
“Are the ships here supposed to look like that?”
She muttered quietly. With that design, it couldn’t possibly float on water.
“Well… that’s not important right now.”
Her eyes stayed fixed on the vessel. Whether it really was a ship or simply something that resembled one didn’t matter. What mattered was whether Zen was inside—and whether Lucina could bring him out.
“Huh?”
Suddenly, the bright light shining from part of the ship vanished. The only illumination in the area was gone, plunging everything into darkness.
Ria shot to her feet, only to crouch again, her body rigid with tension.
Good or bad, something had definitely happened.
“What should I do? Should I go down there? But what if I miss Lucina on the way back?”
She bit her lip hard, torn with indecision. At last, she whispered an incantation. A faint white glow appeared before her, just enough to make out her surroundings. It was a light spell she had recently learned.
“I’m scared of being discovered, but… staying out here and getting ambushed would be even scarier.”
Gulping nervously, she peered down the hill. The ship remained eerily silent, its lights still out.
She straightened her back and pulled out a small vial from her clothes. It held Zen’s blood.
“This should activate the protection spell. I won’t die.”
She tucked the vial away and touched the necklace Lucina had given her.
“Come back… please, come back. What’s happening in there?”
She prayed desperately, but Lucina didn’t appear.
“…Then I have no choice. I’ll have to use the last resort.”
Resolute, Ria shut her eyes tightly and began chanting a long spell. It was a recovery spell Corend had taught her—not one used after injury, but rather a preventative one. Cast beforehand, it could lessen the severity of wounds to come.
A soft white glow spread from within her, surrounding her body like a protective aura.
“This is the only way.”
Though her face was stiff with tension, determination shone in her eyes.
“Haah…”
Ria’s “last resort” was simple—throwing herself down the hill.
“Ugh…”
Thankfully, the spell seemed to work. Despite tumbling down the steep slope, she landed without breaking any bones. She had scrapes and cuts, but nothing fatal.
She quickly healed only the worst of the bleeding wounds—she couldn’t afford to waste too much mana.
“If I’d known it would come to this, I should’ve come down with Lucina earlier.”
She sighed at her own mistake, dimmed the glow of her light spell, and cautiously approached the ship.
Its appearance was strange up close, as if space itself were warped. It reminded her of an abstract painting—or a distorted mirror. Things that should be on the left were on the right, things that should be below were above.
“What in the world…”
Grunting, she clambered up the wall and squeezed herself through a sideways door.
Inside, the distortion felt even worse.
“Ugh…”
Her head throbbed, nausea rising in her throat. A strange stench filled the air.
“…This smell?”
Her eyes flew wide open. Without hesitation, she shoved the door open again and practically rolled back outside, then sprinted away until her lungs burned.
“Haa… haa…”
Only when she reached the base of the hill did she collapse to the ground.
“That smell… I know it. That disgusting stench.”
It was the same as in the shop she had visited with Corend—the hallucinogens. Everyone had been knocked out cold in there.
Desperate for clean air, Ria gulped in breaths.
“So… the warped space, the strange shapes—it was all because of the hallucinogens—”
“Correct.”
“Eek!”
A sudden voice made her jump up in fright.
“How did you… No, why are you here?”
She raised her hand as if to strike whoever it was—then lowered it weakly.
“…Zen?”
She gasped, covering her mouth as she looked from Zen to the ship.
“You… you really are Zen?”
“Of course. Who else could look this handsome?”
Zen smirked and sat down beside her.
“What happened? How did you get here all of a sudden—”
“Meow, meow!”
Lucina bounded between them.
“Lucina!”
Ria scooped the cat into her arms joyfully.
“I owe this cat my life.”
“Lucina saved you? What happened?”
“…I…”
Zen’s lips parted, but he hesitated, then closed them again.
“Maybe because she’s a divine beast—or just an animal—but the hallucinogens didn’t affect her.”
Leaning back against a tree, Zen shut his eyes wearily. Up close, his face was covered with cuts and bruises. His torn sleeves revealed dark bruises on his arms—clear signs of a struggle.
Ria’s chest ached at the sight, and she burst into frantic words.
“What happened? Are you okay? Who captured you? How did you escape? Tell me everything!”
“Calm down.”
“How can I calm down?!”
Zen’s eyes opened, darker than usual, his tone icy.
“You were reckless.”
“…What?”
“What were you thinking, coming here?”
“What do you mean, what was I thinking? I came to save you, of course!”
“And how exactly were you planning to do that?”
Ria fell silent. She knew the truth—her magic was rudimentary, her sword grip weak, her stamina poor. She was barely able to run without gasping for air.
“Don’t ever do something like this again. This time, it was only luck that saved you.”
His cold words made her bite her lip. Her voice trembled as she forced herself to speak.
“Then what about you?”
“…What?”
“If I had been kidnapped, would you not have come to save me?”
“……”
Zen didn’t answer. Rare silence. Ria fought back tears—tears of sheer frustration. Because he was right, because she couldn’t refute his words, because she hated how powerless she was.
Roughly wiping her eyes, she finally buried her face in her hands. Maybe it was anger too. She hadn’t braved the forest’s cold, tumbled down a hill, and come all this way to hear this from him.
“…Ria.”
Zen gently took her hands, pulling them away from her face.
“Look at me.”
His tone was unusually tender.
Ria felt the calloused warmth of his palms around her wrists. The reality hit her at last—Zen was alive. She couldn’t hold it back anymore. Tears spilled over.
“Hhh…”
“…Ria?”
Though she covered her face, Zen quickly realized she was crying. Ria—crying. He froze, unprepared, fumbling awkwardly.
“Uh, Ria…”
But she didn’t stop. After much hesitation, Zen finally lifted his arm and patted her shoulder.
Instead of calming her, her sobs only grew louder. Zen swallowed a sigh and, at last, pulled her fully into his arms. He sat her on his lap, letting her rest her face against his chest.
Ria collapsed into him.
His embrace was broad and warm, thawing her body that had gone cold waiting atop that hill.
