11. Leaving Only Me Behind
A hazy dream continued.
Raindrops fell in a steady drizzle. It was a ruin deep in a forest blanketed by pitch-black darkness. Not even the chirping of birds could be heard.
Flames not yet extinguished illuminated the dying in their final moments.
The procession of corpses and trails of blood converged around the Tower of Prayer. On the outer wall of the tower, tremors and cracks appeared—enough for even ordinary people to sense. Tuduk. Here and there, bricks split and fell to the floor.
Chaeng, chaeng.
From afar, the keen note of death defying oblivion rang on without end. It was the sound of imperial knights and wraith knights, still unwilling to give up, trading blows of their swords.
The outcome of the battle had already been decided. Any further fighting was nothing but a meaningless war of attrition. Yet to them—the expendables of war—that fact had not yet been conveyed.
Because battles were breaking out all along the tower stairs, it would still take time for the situation at the top floor to reach the outside.
“Lord Eristo!”
Lina lay bleeding on the top floor of the tower. She had clearly blacked out for a moment when she took a heavy blow of light.
“Lord Eristo! Are you all right?”
Someone shook Lina. Annoying. She just wanted to sleep a little longer like this.
“Lord Eristo! The tower is about to collapse!”
Lina’s eyes flew open. Before her stood a translucent yet beautiful knight, his expression anxious and urgent.
An angelic face—Reinhardt. His ash-gray eyes shone crimson, reflecting Lina’s fresh blood. His curly silver hair draped long over Lina’s blood-stained neck and the backs of her hands.
Behind Reinhardt lay the pitch-black sky. The tower’s ceiling had been blown away entirely, leaving a gaping hole.
“Sir… Reinhardt.”
Only then did Reinhardt seem relieved as he examined Lina’s wounds.
“Are you all right, Lord Eristo? Have you returned to your senses?”
“Ah… Did I lose consciousness for a moment?”
“Yes. Are you all right?”
Though she said she was fine, he kept asking the same question. All of Reinhardt’s senses were fixed solely on Lina. In his ash-gray eyes, there was nothing but concern for her—and a tender, aching love.
Lina tired of repeating the same answer and pushed herself up—only for unbearable pain to clamor through her body.
“Ugh!”
A tremendous surge of blood rose the wrong way. As Lina coughed blood and reeled, Reinhardt’s face twisted.
“Lord Eristo!”
Brushing off his support, Lina wiped her lips with the sleeve of her black dress. The luxurious black lace was quickly soaked through with red.
Looking out the window, she saw the signs of fierce combat—imperial corpses strewn everywhere. The wraiths and evil spirits had already died once, so those who met death a second time would have simply vanished.
“Uhhh… huuu…”
At the center, a man lay prostrate and weeping. Beside him, a small child was crying as well. On this topmost floor where Lina stood, they were the only living people.
Lina picked up her fallen sword. She started toward the sobbing man—then stopped short at a sudden sense of emptiness.
“Where… did everyone go?”
Reinhardt couldn’t bring himself to speak.
“Sir Reinhardt, tell me. Where is everyone?”
Reinhardt only looked at Lina with pity. Lina had just watched everything unfold with her own eyes. Even so, she could not accept what she had seen.
“Sir Rein… hardt, just now…”
Somewhere, it felt as if a terrifying woman’s laughter echoed. It had all happened right before Lina’s eyes.
“Sir Reinhardt, that person! Where did that person go?”
Lina hurriedly looked around.
“So lovely.”
Her throat seized. It was as if someone were mercilessly squeezing her neck; she couldn’t breathe.
“Beautiful, Lina.”
Her head rang; thoughts would not come.
“Even if you forget me…”
His name would not come to her. A name so very, very precious.
“Where is he!”
A scream tore free. She grabbed nearby furniture and objects, hurling them as she desperately searched for someone. Throwing, smashing, shattering—an immense power surged up in her like a monster.
“I will be by your side.”
She had to find him. She had to. She could not possibly let him slip away.
Along with him, black energy once more flared up from Lina’s entire body. A chilling, ominous vibration rippled around her.
“Lord Eristo! Please, don’t do this! You must calm yourself!”
Though his body was long since dead, even Reinhardt’s soul began to grow ragged under Lina’s magic. Even so, he held her tightly from behind and would not let go.
“Let go of me!”
“Get a hold of yourself! We have to get out of here first! This tower will collapse any moment now!”
“What am I supposed to do then! Leaving only me like this!”
Lina thrashed, begging to be released.
Reinhardt wiped away tears that should no longer have been able to flow from his body. Unable to stop her, he only embraced her from behind and buried his face against her back.
“Lord Eristo!”
“No! Put it back! Reset it, right now!”
Tears flowed from Lina’s eyes as she screamed. On her face smeared with blood, her tears slowly mingled with it like smoke. Drop by drop, they ran down her lips and fell from her chin.
The floor was already slick with blood. Upon it, her bloody tears fell and spread in beautiful ripples.
Chijik. Chijik. The screen crackled with static.
All light vanished. Once more, pitch-black darkness returned.
Chapter. 2
[Dding]
A familiar sound.
[Starting the Memorial Project.]
She tried to gather her wits, but her eyelids were too heavy—as if glued shut. She could feel nothing in her body. Had she been sleeping?
She couldn’t quite remember, but it felt like she’d had a very sorrowful dream.
It felt like someone was crying in the dream…
Forcing herself, Lina rubbed her eyes and woke from sleep. It felt like she had slept for a very long time. Time to get up and go do the escort duty.
“Huh?”
Lina was standing in the middle of a familiar street.
“Meow.”
A black cat crossed the road.
“Uh… uh?”
Lina had no idea what was going on.
“How did this happen? Do I have sleepwalking? When did I come down to the street?”
Looking down at herself, she wore a black one-piece dress and black shoes—the clothes she’d worn at the very beginning. She didn’t even remember changing.
A long time passed.
By now, the sunset had bloomed across the sky. Stunned and blank, Lina stood under the giant oak.
“This can’t be…”
Everything Lina had kept in the attic was gone; the landlady treated her like a thief and kicked her out. The cemetery manager and even Mark didn’t remember her. Everyone treated her like she was insane.
“Dante…”
Tears fell. The only person left who could prove she existed was Dante. Yet under the giant oak, there wasn’t a single trace of him.
She couldn’t understand why Dante had suddenly vanished. She was confused and afraid.
“Dante, I don’t even know how I’m supposed to find you…”
And of course, hunger came right on time. She’d gone the whole day without eating. On a hunch, Lina slipped her hand into her pocket.
“…?”
Out came the pocket watch she’d had before. She had definitely sold it to pay for lodging.
“Why is this here…?”
And a single 10-gold coin. At the sight of the coin, a cute voice came to mind.
“Pay 10 gold, meow!”
The blue-striped tent in the dark street, and the cat with horn-rimmed glasses.
“…I’m sorry, but no matter how hard you try to save, it’s useless, child. You’ll lose it all every three months, meow.”
Gooseflesh raced up both her arms. Don’t tell her… the fortune had been right? Hadn’t things gone exactly as that cat said? Nearly 4,000 gold gone to thieves, and now she had a mere 10 gold left.
“The wisdom of the cat clan, continued for a thousand years on nine lives, is condensed within this amethyst jar.”
Lina clenched the 10-gold coin tight.
“If it’s that cat, maybe it knows something. About what’s happened, about how I can find Dante.”
Lina hurried her steps and ran to the market.
“There it is!”
The blue-striped tent. Who knew she would be so glad to see this tent! The golden sun and silver moon seemed to roll their eyes to glare at Lina.
Without hesitation, Lina dove into the tent. Rube was sprawled on a little table, peeling candy.
“Rube!”
“Wah…?”
Startled, Rube sprang up—only to tumble right off the table. With a clatter, the candy in its paws spilled onto the floor. A sweet scent wafted up.
“Rube didn’t do it!”
Like talking in its sleep, the cat cried out in a cute voice. Then it adjusted its glasses and looked over the customer.
“Y-you’re…”
Lina hurriedly scooped up the spilled candies and placed them in the cat’s small paw.
“I’m here for a reading!”
Rube looked flustered but quickly shifted back into merchant mode. It set the amethyst jar on the table and straightened its staff.
In her urgency, Lina didn’t even think to haggle this time and handed over the coin. Rube’s face shone sleekly, like candy wet with water.
“Good. Only one question, meow.”
Rube tapped the amethyst jar. Inside, the candies rose floating.
But as Lina watched the candies begin to turn, she faltered.
Where is Dante? What happened to twist the world all of a sudden? Did the landlady steal my money? How did Rube know I would lose it?
Too many questions crowded her mind.
“Have you not decided your question?”
Yet setting all of those aside, a question came to her—a question she should have asked from the very start.
“…Who am I?”
“What?”
“Where is this place?”
Ever since tumbling off the table, Rube had been dazed, and this customer’s questions weren’t the sort you asked a fortune-teller.
A fundamental question like Who am I? belonged to a philosopher—not a seer. Or to the Mother God, creator of this world.
Even so, turning away the first customer of the day would surely invite bad luck.
“Ugh, I don’t know. It’s not Rube’s fault!”
Rube cried out shortly, as if making excuses to someone.
“You may ask only one question! If you want to know who you are, go ask the Mother God.”
Before Lina could ask anything else, Rube hurried to cut her off.
“I’ll tell you where this is, meow.”
Rube struck the amethyst jar with its staff.
Tak!
As if waiting for the signal, jawbreakers shot up and began to spin around Lina’s head.
Whooosh, whoosh—as they picked up speed, the candies stirred the air. Just because she’d experienced it once before didn’t mean she wasn’t afraid.
“Ah…!”
Lina’s body began to tremble on its own.
