A dazed sensation spread through my body from the back of my head.
Thud.
I ca to my senses at the sound of sothing falling.
It was the Fragnt of Records.
I was clearly holding it when the light erupted, why did it fall?
“…….”
I quickly picked it up.
And then I realized there was sothing else on the ground.
“Clothes…?”
It was a robe made of high-quality fabric.
Well, the owner was more important than the material right now.
It wasn’t just an ordinary robe, it was the one Auril Gabis was wearing.
It was lying on the ground.
In the spot where he had been standing.
As if only his body had been sucked away.
“Don’t tell …”
I looked down at the Fragnt of Records in my hand.
“This… activated on him…?”
I was starting to understand the situation.
I was montarily stunned by the unexpected outco…
But the Fragnt of Records had reacted to Auril Gabis, not .
‘Ugh, this is confusing.’
I tried to calm down and retrace my steps.
There were two possibilities.
First, Auril Gabis was ‘called by fate’, just like .
And the second…
[Have you ever used the Fragnt of Records?]
[I have.]
…Auril Gabis had already used the Fragnt of Records.
If that was the case, it ant he had been living in this ti period after being summoned.
And then he t , finished his ‘role’, and returned to his original ti.
‘So if it’s the forr, it ans he went to the past, and if it’s the latter, it ans he went to the future?’
That’s how I organized my thoughts.
But…
‘No, it’s too early to jump to conclusions.’
I realized I didn’t know enough about the Fragnt of Records.
So it was wise to keep all possibilities open.
‘Being called by fate’ might not only happen from the past.
He could also be called from the future.
Therefore…
‘I’ll think about this later…’
I put the Fragnt of Records back in my subspace pocket and picked up the robe that was on the ground.
And I rummaged through it excitedly.
‘Loot…!’
It was Auril Gabis’s loot.
He must have sothing interesting…
‘Are you kidding ?’
There was nothing in the robe except for ordinary socks, shoes, and a pair of white silk underwear.
“Damn it!”
I threw the underwear on the ground after realizing what it was.
I was annoyed.
‘Why doesn’t this old man have anything?’
I had high expectations, seeing him exuding the aura of a final boss.
This was a complete bust…
“Ah.”
I belatedly rembered Auril Gabis taking out water from his subspace pocket and drinking it.
I thought it was just a subspace ring back then…
“It must have been a dependent subspace.”
A dependent subspace, only usable by high-ranking mages.
It didn’t have a physical form since it was directly connected to the mage’s soul through a tattoo or sothing.
‘Uh, wait a minute…’
Then could I use a dependent subspace to take the equipnt I had gathered back to my original ti?
I had a sudden thought, but it wasn’t a ‘Eureka!’ mont.
Because I wasn’t a mage.
Unlike magic tools, dependent subspaces could only be opened with the mage’s own mana.
‘Damn it, so this is also a bust…’
I sighed and dismissed my regret.
Complaining wouldn’t change anything, and I had sothing more important to do right now.
‘I have to find Alia.’
I picked up Auril Gabis’s belongings, put them in my subspace pocket, and then headed back to the sewers.
Although they were just ordinary clothes, I wanted to check again, just in case I missed sothing.
Splash, splash.
I found a few more bodies as I retraced my steps.
‘This is where the fight happened.’
I looted them all since I wasn’t heartless enough to leave unclaid equipnt behind.
They were all heading towards the surface, so they had expandable backpacks or subspace rings, so I didn’t have any inventory problems.
‘Wow, how much is this worth?’
I continued walking, my shoulders, neck, and arms laden with bags.
But Alia wasn’t at the place where I had left her.
Judging by the traces of battle with the Captain, this was definitely where she had been lying unconscious.
Where did she go?
I didn’t have to think for long.
‘She must be there…’
I hurried on, unable to hide my bitterness.
And after so ti…
“…….”
…I saw Alia clearing the debris of a collapsed passage.
She was working so diligently that she didn’t even notice approaching.
“Aaaaaaaaaaargh!”
What the hell, why is she screaming?
She looked scary, clutching her head with both hands.
I quickly grabbed her wrist.
Thud.
Alia shuddered and turned her head as soon as our skin touched.
“…………Yandel?”
Her eyes widened in surprise as she saw , and then she tried to shake off.
“Let go. I have to find…”
What the hell is she talking about?
“You won’t find anything.”
“What?”
I grinned.
“That’s why I told you. It would be all over when you woke up.”
Alia looked at blankly.
It seed like she didn’t understand…
“Just follow .”
…so I decided to show her.
________________________
When she regained consciousness, she was filled with despair.
She was alone in this dark sewer, and the familiar silence ant that it was all over.
‘Right, it’s over…’
Alia got up and started walking.
She had sowhere to go.
She couldn’t do it back then.
[Forget… all the painful mories… you had here.]
[Your… normal life… is finally beginning.]
She had to leave her sister’s body behind.
When she ca back later, it was already gone. The workers who were repairing the passage had removed all the bodies.
It had beco her lifelong regret.
Therefore…
“I have to find her.”
She had to find her.
Even if it was just a corpse.
She had to retrieve it and give her a proper burial.
She couldn’t leave her sister’s body in this filthy sewer.
She could at least do that, having returned to the past after twenty years. No, maybe that was all she was allowed to do.
“Ugh, heugh…!”
Alia arrived at the place where the tragedy had occurred and started removing the rocks.
She was so desperate that she looked half-crazed.
And she wasn’t wrong.
“Wh, why…”
She couldn’t find her sister’s body.
It should be here.
Was even this not allowed?
“Aaaaaaaaaaargh!”
She scread for the first ti in a long ti.
She could usually endure pain, even when her flesh was cut and her bones were broken, with just a groan…
…but not this ti.
It felt like her heart was being ripped apart.
Thud.
She felt warmth on her wrist.
“…………Yandel?”
It was him, the person she had seen every day for the past six months.
“Let go. I have to find…”
She tried to shake him off, but the barbarian, as always, didn’t let go. And he lifted her up, saying sothing she didn’t understand.
And…
“This is…”
…she arrived on the surface after a long walk.
The vast city of Lafdonia, where the royal family’s power reached every corner.
“Ugh, my eyes…”
The midday sun was blinding after the darkness of the sewers.
But the barbarian didn’t give her ti to adjust and dragged her sowhere.
“Wh, where are we going?”
“You’ll see when we get there.”
Alia looked around as she was being dragged by his strength.
Passersby.
Laughing children and their parents.
rchants hawking their wares and white marble bathed in sunlight.
It was a place she had longed for.
A world filled with warm sunlight, where she could live a normal life, unlike Noark.
Of course, she knew now…
…that the surface wasn’t a paradise.
There were beasts with even greater malice than those in Noark, and tragedies occurred every day.
But even so…
“At least once…”
…she wanted to see it.
The sight of her and her sister living an ordinary life in this city.
“Huh? What did you just…?”
“Yandel, go on without . I have sothing to look for down there—”
“I told you, you won’t find anything.”
The barbarian looked at her with a frustrated expression as she stopped walking.
And he said,
“Your sister is alive.”
“…What?”
Alive?
But how…?
“I’ll… explain later, just follow .”
The barbarian continued walking, and she didn’t resist.
She was too shocked to think straight.
After so ti…
“Phew, I couldn’t find out which shelter she was taken to, so it took a while.”
…Alia arrived at a shelter on the surface.
She described her sister’s appearance to the staff and found her room.
Creak.
She opened the door and saw a young girl lying on a bed by the window.
Warm sunlight stread in through the window.
“Si, sister…”
It was a surreal sight.
Alia approached the bed, as if in a trance.
And she held her sister’s hand.
She could feel her sister’s heartbeat.
“How… how is this possible?”
The barbarian explained what had happened at Alia’s question.
His deal with Auril Gabis.
How he had used the prototype of Lethe’s Blessing to erase her mories and disguised it as a carriage accident.
“She probably won’t rember anything when she wakes up. She’ll just live her life, thinking the na on her ID card is her real na.”
“Ah, ah…”
I see.
“But don’t be too sad. Everything will be fine when we return to twenty years later. You can just tell her the truth and be close to her again.”
Thump, her heart pounded.
It was finally sinking in.
“And besides, you said the Dragonslayer was trying to recover his lost mories? We can find a way together when we get back. How to restore her mories.”
He really did it.
This man.
“Huh? Say sothing. You’re making anxious…”
Alia couldn’t help but chuckle at his anxious expression, even though he had just perford a miracle.
“It’s fine.”
“Huh? What do you an?”
“You don’t have to worry about anymore. I won’t try to restore her mories…”
“Huh? Why?”
Alia smiled at his question.
It felt awkward, as she hadn’t smiled much in her life.
But…
“It’s better for her to not rember.”
…her sister would be different from now on.
The life she had longed for would begin.
And painful mories would only be a hindrance.
So…
“…Goodbye, sister.”
I’m fine.
Even if I’m not with you.
Even though it’s far from the ordinary life I wanted.
Even though I’m still awkward at smiling.
I’ll be fine.
“Let’s go, barbarian.”
“It’s Yandel, not barbarian.”
“Right, Yandel.”
Because I’m not alone anymore.
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