It feels ridiculous to say this now, but I have memories of a past life.
Memories of being born an ordinary human in a world called Earth, graduating from elementary school, middle school, high school, and university, getting a job, and becoming a respectable member of society.
But compared to the memories of my current life, those memories were nothing more than a fleeting instant.
If my past life lasted less than thirty years, then the memories of my current life span hundreds, perhaps even thousands of years. Compared side by side, the memories of this life are overwhelmingly greater.
That was why I had lived on, forgetting them.
Because I had thought it was a place I could never return to anyway.
‘I never imagined I’d come back like this.’
I had noticed it while talking with Sin Sua, but this world that Ratatoskr and I had crossed into was similar to the Earth within the memories of my past life.
The only difference from those hazy memories of my past life was that on this world’s Earth, things called Gates and monsters roamed about.
Could it be something like a parallel world?
I would find that out in time.
Clinging to Sin Sua’s shoulder, I stood before the entrance and exit that could be called the Gate’s only door.
“Don’t be too nervous. Just do it according to the plan. According to the plan.”
“Phew… Understood. Then.”
Sin Sua’s body was still stiff, perhaps because she was nervous about me hanging from her shoulder, so I eased her tension, and we stepped outside the Gate.
It was weaker than when I crossed worlds with Ratatoskr, but I felt as if I were moving somewhere. When I closed and opened my eyes, that place was no longer the inside of the Gate.
A place of memories buried deep in the distant past.
A place where high-rise buildings stood packed together like trees in a forest, and four-wheeled cars moved about.
After thousands of years, I had once again set foot on Earth.
The situation around the Gate was exactly as we had all expected: it was full of armed Awakened.
Regardless of whether they belonged to the Association or Guilds, Awakened whose strength seemed to surpass Sin Sua’s had been guarding the surroundings with the Gate at the center. The moment we emerged from inside, their gazes focused on us—especially on me, hanging from Sin Sua’s shoulder.
Then, from among the Awakened, a man in a black suit approached us.
“Are you Miss Sin Sua?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Congratulations on surviving and returning from inside the fluctuating Gate. Could you perhaps tell us about that thing on your shoulder?”
“Ah, if I were to speak of this person…”
“This person?”
“Yes. Thanks to Lord Nidhogg here, I was able to survive safely inside the Gate and come out.”
“Nidhogg…?”
At the agent, who expressed doubt at both the honorific she used and my name, I cleared my throat and opened my mouth.
Ahem. Acting solemn again is such a bother.
Still, for the sake of the plan, it can’t be helped.
“Grrr— I do not recall permitting you to speak my name. Call it carelessly once more, and I shall bite you to pieces.”
“A-a monster is talking?!”
“Monster? Do you dare place this Nidhogg on the same level as those lowly insects?”
When I deliberately spread the aura I had been keeping contained in every direction, the Awakened, who had been looking at me as though I were some curious animal, placed their hands on their respective weapons and went on guard.
But perhaps sensing the gap in power, one they dared not compare themselves against, their eyes were filled with fear.
As we had discussed beforehand, Sin Sua stopped me.
“Lord Nidhogg! These people simply do not know of your greatness, so please forgive them!”
“Grrrr… Since my contractor pleads so, I shall let it pass this once. Know that there will not be a next time.”
“Yes, thank you.”
When I once again contained my aura and turned my gaze away as if I had lost interest, Sin Sua, who had mediated between us, spoke with the man in the suit.
“As you saw, unlike monsters, Lord Nidhogg is a being with intelligence. I would appreciate it if you were careful from now on.”
“Y-yes. This is the first time we’ve encountered such a situation, so I was rude. Hoo… Miss Sin Sua. Could you please come with us to the Association and explain what happened inside the Gate?”
“Of course I should explain. Where should I go?”
Having naturally taken the initiative through my power, Sin Sua boarded the vehicle prepared by the Association and moved to the Seoul Branch of the Awakened Association.
While we were heading to the Association, I looked out at the scenery beyond the window.
It was different from the world I had originally lived in, yet strangely similar enough to stir nostalgia.
Before long, we arrived at the underground parking lot of a certain building. We got out of the car and moved to the elevator.
“Please come this way.”
The place we arrived at under the agent’s guidance was a spacious conference room.
And inside the conference room, people who were clearly high-ranking figures at a glance filled the seats.
The people gathered in the conference room looked at me with expressions mixed with interest and wariness. Among them, the man seated at the center spoke as their representative.
“Miss Sin Sua. It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Gu Dohan, the head of the Seoul Branch of the Awakened Association.”
“Hello. I’m Sin Sua.”
“If I could, I would like to speak with you in a more comfortable setting, perhaps over some refreshments… but as you know, the current situation is hardly ordinary. Could you please explain what happened to you, Miss Sin Sua?”
“Yes, well…”
After that, Sin Sua explained the situation exactly as we had agreed beforehand.
The hunt she had gone on with freelance Awakened.
The sudden Gate fluctuation.
The pursuit by the ghoul.
Up to that point, it was the same, but what came after followed the version we had embellished.
“The one who saved me just before I was killed by the ghoul was Lord Nidhogg here.”
“Oh…”
“Lord Nidhogg says he crossed over from another world. And after forming a contract with me, the first intelligent being he met in this world, he agreed to lend me his power.”
“Hmm…”
The branch head listened intently, letting out exaggerated exclamations one by one at Sin Sua’s story, and the tale concluded with her forming a contract and escaping the Gate with the strength she had gained.
After hearing her entire story, the branch head made one request.
“I apologize if this seems as though we investigated your background, but seeing the powerful mana and well-ordered strength you possess, to the point that you cannot be seen as an Awakened who only awakened as an F-rank a year ago, it is clear enough that you have grown stronger, Miss Sin Sua. That is likely the power of your contract with a dragon. So I have a request… If it would not be rude, could you show us a fragment of that power?”
As he spoke, he glanced sideways at me to check whether he was offending me, and made the request to Sin Sua. She nodded, saying she understood.
From what I had heard while we were making plans inside the Gate, after awakening, she had obtained several fortuitous opportunities over the past year.
Among them was an ability to conceal her power, and thanks to that, she had been able to act as an F-rank Awakened until now without being discovered.
Now that there was no longer any need to hide her power, she revealed the strength she had been concealing before everyone present. At the same time, the Valkyrie standard-issue armor I had given her along with our deal appeared in a flash of light and was equipped onto her body.
To me, Sin Sua’s power, fully revealed, did not seem like much, but that was only because I was far too strong. By human standards, it was powerful enough that even some of the people here had to tense up.
“That armor…”
“It is armor I received when I formed my contract with Lord Nidhogg.”
“Armor worthy of being called a treasure, and power that is purity itself.”
“Yes. Thanks to it, dealing with the undead-type monsters inside the Gate was easier.”
“Even though I made the rude request of asking an Awakened to show her power, thank you for showing us directly like this. Once matters are settled, we will compensate you.”
Since the branch head said as much in front of everyone, even if I did not know about myself, she would likely receive something fairly useful.
After Sin Sua had sufficiently shown her power, she once again concealed both the armor and her strength, and the branch head called in an agent who had been waiting outside the conference room.
“It seems we must continue the meeting a little longer, so please guide Miss Sin Sua to the VIP room so she can rest. Miss Sin Sua. Could you wait comfortably until the meeting is concluded?”
“Yes. Understood.”
Was there something they wanted to discuss without us?
I was curious what they would discuss about Sin Sua and me, but since we had already been indirectly told to leave, we followed the agent out of the conference room.
On the way to the guest room under the agent’s guidance.
I focused power into my eyes and peered through the wall into the conference room.
“I never imagined a dragon would appear from inside a Gate. What does everyone think of the story Miss Sin Sua just told us?”
When the branch head spoke first, the others also began stating their opinions one by one.
“An Awakened who was originally F-rank grew to the lower end of A-rank through a contract with a dragon called Nidhogg. Perhaps this could become a fortuitous opportunity for all of us.”
“I disagree. No matter how friendly a being it may be after forming a contract with a human, as long as it came from inside a Gate, it is a monster. Who knows when or what kind of accident might occur?”
“Then are you saying we should be hostile toward that being? Who will take responsibility for the damage that results from that?”
“I am merely saying we should approach this cautiously. Once we decide on a stance, it will be difficult to change our attitude toward Nidhogg. Therefore, I am saying we should establish a relationship only after completing a sufficient investigation.”
A back-and-forth debate continued among the people.
One side sought the growth of South Korea’s Awakened through me, while the other argued that since I had come out of a Gate, I was a monster and caution was necessary, clashing with each other.
Since neither side was wrong, a troubled look appeared on the branch head’s face.
Just as the meeting was growing heated—
A woman who had been sitting in a corner seat, merely listening without saying a word, slammed the table and rose from her seat.
Bang!
“To think you would be swayed by a mere monster.”
“Guildmaster Baek Yeon! It is not a mere monster!”
“That’s right! It is a dragon that emerged from inside an unmeasurable-rank Gate! A dragon!”
“Did you not feel that even the aura it gave off outwardly was already far beyond us?!”
Many within the conference room strongly rebuked her, but the woman called Baek Yeon merely glanced at them with an indifferent expression. As she left her seat, she spoke as if for everyone to hear.
“Our Seongcheon Guild will never cooperate with monsters, no matter what.”
And in her eyes as she left was hatred toward monsters.
Could the reason I burn the world ten years from now have something to do with her?
Things were beginning to get interesting.