Instead of explaining about the woman and the dome, Soph told me what had to be done immediately.
[Place the black stone you brought on the shelf in front of the dome. That should stop the sandstorm.]
He was right.
I had forgotten for a moment because of the unexpected sight, but the urgent matter right now was getting rid of the sandstorm.
I walked toward the dome.
In front of it stood a single shelf.
It was a small shelf, about waist-high.
At the center of the empty shelf was a small indentation.
It looked like the place where the black stone was meant to go.
[...Place it in the groove. The rest will proceed on its own.]
Soph spoke as I took out the black stone.
His words sounded hesitant somehow.
That was unlike Soph.
I asked again.
“Is it all right to put it down?”
“Yes. I’ve seen enough. This much is enough.”
This time, his words were firm, as though he had made up his mind.
I placed the cracked, faded black stone on the groove.
Click.
It sounded as if something had locked into place.
Light began to shine from the black stone.
Flaaash.
My vision turned white.
‘Again?’
It was something I had experienced once before.
What I had experienced when I grabbed the staff.
Just like then, my vision, which had turned white, returned to normal.
This time, too, the scene before my eyes had changed.
It was the same space, but now two people stood before me.
One man and one woman.
The man was standing right in front of me, peering at me, while the woman stood behind him, looking at him.
I recognized the woman at once.
Unlike the woman lying inside the dome, the woman before me had disheveled hair and dark circles heavy beneath her eyes.
Even so, her clothes were the same, and her natural features were beautiful, so she was not hard to recognize.
The problem was the man.
‘No way... It can’t be, right?’
A greasy-looking man in his thirties holding a splendid staff.
No, to be honest, he was an incredibly handsome man.
He was handsome enough that it wasn’t strange for the woman to stare at him, but I didn’t like the fact that he was handsome.
It wasn’t some kind of jealousy between men.
It was because I recognized the staff he was holding.
An extremely ornate staff set with several black stones.
I had seen that staff in Soph’s memories.
That was Soph’s staff, the staff I was using now.
‘That means that man is Soph!’
That senile old lecher had been a handsome man like that!
This made no sense. I never knew the world could be this unfair.
If I had been able to move even a little, I would already have cursed him out.
“The linkage is complete. Now, when the power of the star—its energy—is depleted, it can be recharged here. There shouldn’t be any issue with you controlling it either, just like the other Guardians.”
It was the voice I knew this time as well.
It was Soph.
At his words, the woman opened her mouth.
“Are you leaving now?”
“Yes.”
At her question, Soph, who had been examining me, nodded.
“Why do you have to go? There are plenty of mages.”
She spoke with a sorrowful expression.
“As I’ve said before, because I’m the best mage.”
“Not because you’re following your lover?”
Soph turned around.
Her expression changed.
The melancholy vanished from her face.
“What lover? Everyone is my lover.”
At Soph’s words, she snorted.
“What nonsense. Whenever someone actually makes a move on you, you always back out.”
Soph turned back again.
“The energy contained in it is large, so there shouldn’t be a need to charge it separately. But if it breaks in an accident or something, it can be repaired too, so don’t contact me right away just because it’s broken. Repair it and use it.”
“See? You’re changing the subject again.”
“If you fill this place with energy, the laboratory’s defenses will weaken for a short while. I’m sure you’ll handle it, but charge it while keeping an eye on the situation.”
Seeing him continue to change the subject, she bit her lip.
After letting out a sigh, she relaxed her expression and spoke brightly.
“Come back alive. When you do, I’ll show you a pretty side of myself that won’t lose to your lover.”
At those words, Soph turned his head.
My vision brightened again.
Flaaash.
The light vanished, and I returned to the present.
The vast underground plaza.
The shelf before me, and behind it, the dome filled with plants.
On the shelf, the black stone was shining brightly.
[Repairing black stone. Due to insufficient energy, external defense magic will be temporarily suspended.]
A sound like a mechanical voice came from the shelf.
It was the same kind of voice I had heard from the clay dolls.
The voice continued.
[In a moment, the dome maintenance magic will be suspended.]
Dome maintenance magic?
Startled, I tried to pull the black stone back out.
[Leave it. If you take it out now, we cannot stop the sandstorm.]
Soph’s voice came.
I had no choice but to stop my hand.
Because the image I had just seen came to mind.
I couldn’t believe they were the same person.
Then a new sound came from the shelf.
This time, it was not a simple announcement.
[One video remains. Would you like to view it?]
This time, I answered before Soph could speak.
“I’ll view it.”
Was it thanks to the translation artifact?
The shelf understood my words.
Shhhaak.
A screen appeared above the shelf.
It was a hologram like the ones I had seen in Soph’s memories.
On the screen stood the woman I had just seen in the memory, the woman now lying in front of me.
[I am Tenia Malka, director of the environmental control facility.]
Tenia.
I didn’t know what it meant, but it was a pretty name.
Unlike in the memory, she was extremely beautiful.
She wore makeup, her hair was neat, and her clothes were clean.
With a calm expression, she continued speaking.
[This place is this star’s final bastion, maintaining an environment where living beings can survive even after the enemy’s invasion. If you are watching this video, it means, fortunately, that you have arrived before it was too late.
Those of you watching this video must have been surprised to see the plants in the dome and my body.
Unfortunately, neither the plants inside the dome nor I are alive.]
‘They’re dead?’
I looked at the staff resting against the shelf.
Soph said nothing.
[Some time ago, the facility’s unmanned defense devices were damaged in an attack by monsters. An authenticated administrator is now required for defense.
So, in a short while, I intend to use the dome’s environmental stasis magic to fix my body in place.
Since the energy will be fixed along with my body, the facility will regard it as having an administrator inside.
There is no need to worry about the other staff. They have all left for the escape facility.]
Up to that point, she had been fine, but afterward, cracks slowly began to appear in her expression.
[If you are someone watching this video, then you must have passed through the defense devices... It’s you, isn’t it? My dear mage who stood me up. How is it? Am I pretty? I dressed in my prettiest clothes. I’m much prettier, right? Ah, I can’t cry. My makeup can’t run.]
She bit her lip and lowered her head.
Her fists clenched tight, and her arms trembled.
Time passed like that, and the trembling stopped.
[All right. I held it in.]
She raised her head.
She had not shed tears, but her expression was a mess.
She did not know that, and in that state, she continued speaking.
[From now on, I will fix my body in place with the stasis magic, along with the plants in the dome. I don’t know how long it will last... but it will probably endure until the facility is destroyed.]
She bowed her head toward the screen.
[Even if you are not him... whoever ends up seeing this video, I ask that you please protect this facility. It is this facility that protects this star, whose ecosystem has been ruined. Please.]
The screen turned off.
The hologram disappeared.
[Repair complete.]
A sound came from the shelf.
The light vanished from the black stone.
Even after the light faded, what remained was a translucent black jewel, gleaming brilliantly.
The broken black stone had returned to its original state.
And then a new sound rang out.
[Due to insufficient energy, dome maintenance magic will be suspended.]
My head snapped up.
Glittering powder was spreading outward.
The plants inside the dome were crumbling.
Leaves, trees, stems, fruits.
Little by little, all of them were turning into powder.
And it was not only the plants becoming powder.
Along with the bed, the woman was scattering.
Her clothes, her hair, her body.
They became glittering powder and dispersed into the air.
Like that, everything turned to powder.
In the end, all that remained inside the dome was a thick pile of powder.
Nothing else was left.
[Take the black stone.]
At Soph’s words, I glared at the staff.
“You called us violent, but you seem to have no emotions at all.”
[It is only the corpse of a colleague who died long ago. This is not the time to spend on it.]
He wasn’t wrong.
There were injured people, so naturally we had to hurry.
For my part, I should have been grateful.
But that was not how I felt.
“Damn old bastard.”
Cursing, I took the black stone and the staff.
[Let us stop by the dome before we leave. There is something to take.]
At Soph’s words, I went to the front of the dome.
Srrrng.
Perhaps because Soph had cast magic, the dome’s glass door opened smoothly.
[This is a facility that gathers dark energy and maintains the star’s environment so that life can survive. It primarily purifies the air and regulates the temperature. Without this facility, you would not have been able to breathe on this star.]
While the glass door opened, Soph explained what this facility was.
[With me and the black stone, you should be able to use this facility as you wish.]
A facility that maintained the environment of an entire star. It sounded grand, but I had no idea whether I had any use for it.
Leaving that grand talk aside, I stood before the wide-open door and looked inside the dome.
The interior of the dome was covered in white powder.
I couldn’t bring myself to step on the floor.
When I did not move, Soph cast magic.
[Move. Converge.]
The powder began to move.
Starting from where I stood and stretching all the way to the far end, the powder began gathering together.
It was small in scale, but the movement of the powder was like the sandstorm I had seen outside.
[That sandstorm was magic cast using the energy this facility had been absorbing. It is not something comparable to the energy you possess.]
He immediately threw in a remark, but that meant the two were the same magic.
Soph could now use sandstorm magic as well.
“Can’t you make a clay giant?”
[If you wish to play with dolls.]
It seemed that with my energy, he could only make small dolls.
While I was speaking with Soph, the powder gathered in one place.
The place where the powder piled up was right beside the bed.
Where the bed had been, a long tree branch had fallen.
It was a long branch, roughly trimmed.
[As expected, this branch remained.]
“What is this?”
[A star tree... No, you would not know it if I put it that way. It is the branch of a tree that can contain an enormous amount of energy. It is good for recovering from fatigue, so it is often used for beds.]
“Are you planning to make a bed?”
[Of course not. That tree gathered energy inside here for tens of thousands of years. It should be suitable for use as a weapon.]
I picked up the branch and examined it with my senses.
I could immediately tell it was filled with energy.
“Incredible. It’s perfect to use as a spear shaft.”
What a shame. If only Soph weren’t here, I could have used it myself...
After taking the branch, I said to Soph,
“You came in because of this branch, didn’t you?”
Soph said nothing.
“Then I’m leaving.”
I turned to leave the dome.
Only then did Soph open his mouth.
[I would like you to take the powder as well... I ask this of you.]
As expected, he was not an old man without emotions.
He was only trying not to show them.
I opened the box, and Soph put the powder into it with magic.
“It’s over now, right?”
[Yes. It is over.]
“You’re not a tsundere. There’s no need to pretend you don’t care.”
Tsundere.
That term’s expiration date had passed long ago.
But Soph’s next words were nothing like a tsundere’s.
[I am only a broken staff that has lost its memories. I cannot take his place. All I can do is put away the keepsakes left behind like this.
Still, if I were to make an excuse for the mage, at the time, he believed Tenia had escaped. He died protecting Tenia and the people who escaped as well.]
At Soph’s sincere words, I had no choice but to smack my lips.
After I came out of the dome, the closed door opened wide.
Carlo and Magreta rushed inside.
The two of them were greatly shocked when they saw the interior.
On top of that, after hearing the story about this facility, Magreta rushed at me.
“This place is a terraforming facility?”
Her expression was like that of a believer who had witnessed salvation.