Vol 7 Chapter 7

That felt more comfortable than being a coward. Though Kapros thought so, he didn't say those words. Something about his answer must have been funny to Superior, who suddenly started laughing.

[ Heh. Hehe, ha. Hahaha. ]

"..."

Kapros frowned, feeling somewhat embarrassed. He had given advice seeing Superior acting unlike usual... This guy. Just watch if he ever gave such advice again.

[ Haha. Well, yes. You seem to be right. A second chance... I never had such a thing. ]

"What?"

[ No. Nothing. I seem to have shown an unsightly appearance for a moment. ]

Though it seemed like Superior had said something more at the end, when Kapros asked because he couldn't hear clearly, Superior cut him off saying it was nothing and finally gave an answer to Ilumine who had been waiting all this time through Kapros's mouth.

"I'll look. What do I need to do to check the contents inside, Lumi?"

Ilumine's gaze deepened further.

"Yes... Since this sphere is a compressed barrier so strong that even I cannot open it carelessly, I can only open it briefly even with intense concentration. When I release the barrier, this green light will disappear for a moment. Then if you put your hand inside, the seal will be released. The child will have to do that. Can you do it?"

"Yes."

"Good. I'm starting."

When Kapros nodded, Ilumine quietly closed her eyes after slowly placing both hands on top of the light green sphere. At that moment, the surrounding air suddenly dropped heavily.

"-ra na mileia e riion. Planna ne meleni de reion..."

As an incomprehensible chant like a song softly leaked from Ilumine's lips, the green light began growing stronger. As the incantation continued, their hair flew wildly in the air as if a strange wind was blowing, disturbing the surrounding air currents. As Ilumine's voice grew louder and rang more clearly, this strange wind also grew stronger. Almost blinding light now burst from the sphere.

Just as Kapros was thinking he could no longer make out the exact pronunciation of the chant echoing throughout the space with various reflections, while struggling to open his eyes squinted from the light, the black space instantly turned white as the green light disappeared and even sound could no longer be heard.

Whoosh...!

'Ugh...!'

Though he tightly closed and opened his eyes, the scene before him remained the same. It felt like he was alone in the white, silent space. After blankly blinking several times while looking around, when he looked forward, he could see that scroll floating in the white space. Though the green light that had surrounded it was no longer visible, not only the light but also Ilumine who had been standing before him had disappeared.

'Should I grab it now?'

After hesitating briefly, Kapros reached for the scroll. The moment he firmly grasped the scroll with fingers that had approached almost touching it, the white space around him was sucked into blackness again and Ilumine's figure suddenly appeared before him as if being erased and recreated. It happened in the blink of an eye, as if he had been dreaming.

"Well done. The scroll's power will activate soon."

Unlike her usual self, Ilumine's voice, showing clear signs of tension being released, was strangely faint as if coming from far away. Kapros looked down at the scroll in his hand. So this was supposedly part of Superior's existence, who no longer existed. But what exactly did that mean?

Feeling the scroll growing hotter in his hand, Kapros looked at Ilumine.

"By the way, what do you mean by part of existence?"

"All living beings exist through their memories of living. Existence becomes reality through memories."

Though unusually kind, it was more than enough of an explanation to make Kapros grimace.

Could it be... so in the end this was also Superior's memory?

'I've been completely fooled.'

There will be more to tell you when you return.

Just before the light bursting from the scroll in his hand blocked his vision, Ilumine seemed to say that faintly while looking at his waist, but before he could confirm it clearly, he was already plunging into the dazzling light.

'Urgh...!'

The last thing he felt was the sensation of the scroll's binding unraveling in his hand and papers spilling out...

Rustle.

When he opened his eyes at the sound of paper unfolding near his ears, the first thing he saw was a dark room that seemed to be advertising itself as obviously a wizard's laboratory.

While wondering at the sight of suspicious objects of all kinds and mountains of dust-covered books piled up, he saw someone frantically pacing around the room in disorder.

"Haa... haa... Nothing... There's nothing..."

A man's voice, thoroughly sunk in irritation. He could immediately recognize who its owner was upon hearing it.

[ That's... me. ]

Because it was identical to Superior's voice that he had heard to the point of tedium until now.

Superior's face, who was walking around the dark and messy room repeatedly saying there was nothing, had short hair with clear scars crossing his nose and cheeks, perhaps from 10 years after the war ended. Superior, who had been frantically searching around, suddenly seemed to think of something and pulled out a random book from the pile of books, roughly opening it until the pages were about to tear and started reading, but soon threw it away in anger, apparently not finding what he wanted there either.

"Damn it!"

Thud!

The book hit the stone wall and collided with others piled below, falling like dominoes and raising clouds of dust. Without even looking that way, Superior's shoulders, which had been breathing heavily, suddenly began trembling.

"Nothing... nothing... nowhere...!"

Had there ever been such an unstable state among all the memories of Superior he had seen until now? Superior, who had been screaming like a madman and pulling at his hair, collapsed onto the floor gasping for breath.

"If it's not in the Ancient Ulakian Book, not in the En Tablets, how am I supposed to... where can I find it...?"

Superior, who had been painfully muttering while lying face down on the floor, threw his head back again like a madman and slammed his fist against the floor.