I sat blankly on the grass.
Young Yeriel had long since vanished, but the memory remained, and the wind and sunlight swayed in a steady rhythm.
“I don’t get it…”
I looked into this world with 「Comprehension」 and calculated the mana concentration. But something felt unnatural.
The problem lay not in this memory, but in me.
It felt as though several of my 「Traits」 had disappeared, and I couldn’t sense the 「Telekinesis」 engraved into my body either.
“Hmm…”
I stroked my chin and pondered.
“Ah!”
At the thought that suddenly came to me, I raised my index finger.
“What if only my soul was dragged in?”
The “security mechanism” had stored my body somewhere, and because of that, only my soul—my “consciousness”—had flowed into this record.
“That would explain why I’m this free, and why I can’t feel the 「Telekinesis」 engraved into my ‘body’…”
If that was the hypothesis, then it certainly fit.
However, in that case, the problem was “where my body is.” If I was trapped in Yeriel’s memory, there was nothing I could do…
Just then.
Whoooosh—the wind rose, and mana condensed in the middle of the bushes.
I stared at it blankly.
“What the.”
The mana undulated on its own and transformed into some kind of door. It was, quite literally, a “door.”
“…A passageway?”
Like the “Anywhere Door” of that famous cat robot on Earth.
I tilted my head, approached it, and opened the door.
Inside was…
* * *
…Thirty minutes earlier.
Yeriel, who had dived into the frame, felt the sensation of her entire body shrinking. At the same time, her mind grew hazy.
She nearly fainted for a moment, but when she witnessed the bizarre sight with her own eyes, they flew wide open. Electricity shot up the back of her neck.
“No waay…?”
My hand.
Not just the palm, but every knuckle of every finger.
Small.
Too, far too small.
“What da heck ish going on!”
The moment she shouted that.
Yeriel realized that her tongue and voice were not normal either.
“Thish ish…”
She raised her hands and touched her own face.
It was plump like a steamed bun. Round and chubby.
“…Why am I a kid? What the heck ish thish!”
She was shouting at the sudden regression, when a cold gaze stabbed down from somewhere.
“You. Be quiet.”
…It was Deculein.
To be precise, young Deculein. But his neat appearance and cold attitude remained the same. His aristocratic bearing was no different then than it was now.
“Have you lost your mind?”
“…”
If that Deculein looked about eleven, then was she in the body of a four-year-old?
Only belatedly did Yeriel look around.
It was the tea room of Yukline Castle. She was with Deculein, and the face reflected in that glass window was…
“My cheeksh are weird!”
“…Chicks?”
Deculein frowned.
“Cheeksh! Cheeksh like chubby cheeksh.”
Deculein shook his head as though he had not understood.
“You really do all sorts of things. I told you I had no time, yet you insisted on calling me here.”
“…I’m gonna loshe my mind.”
I’m going to lose my mind.
Yeriel first checked her belongings. Fortunately, she had not lost the 「Yukline Key」, but 「Deculein’s Notebook」 was gone.
Had she dropped it on the way, or had it melted away when she entered this record?
As she was worrying over it, the door to the tea room opened and someone came in.
“Now then, young master?”
Yeriel stared at her blankly.
“These are sweets I made myself.”
It was her mother, Adel.
“Yeriel helped a little too…”
Ah. This memory.
She remembered.
She had made cookies herself with her mother to give to Deculein. Of course, her mother had made ninety-five percent of them, and she had only done the remaining five percent—putting the chocolate on top.
Naturally, Deculein had not even touched them.
He had simply stood up like he was doing now, as if it were bothersome, and headed outside…
“Don’ go.”
“…”
Yeriel grabbed his sleeve. As if he had never imagined it, Deculein’s movement stopped.
“You shaid when you eat, you hab to shtay together.”
“…”
He looked down at her with cold eyes. It had happened quite a long time ago, and he was much younger compared to now, yet those eyes still made her heart sink.
“You shaid that wash manners.”
“I’m not eating.”
“Eat it.”
“…Were you struck by lightning yesterday?”
Deculein’s eyes sank sharply. Adel, reading the atmosphere, hurriedly stepped in and took Yeriel into her arms.
“S-Sorry. What’s gotten into her today?”
Young Deculein glared at the two of them in turn, dumbfounded. Adel was flustered, but for some reason, Yeriel found the situation funny.
“Never mind. Just keep better control of the child.”
Deculein said that and left the tea room. Adel hugged Yeriel tightly once, then said gently, “I’ll be right back,” and followed after Deculein.
“…Don’ go.”
Yeriel was about to grab her mother, when certain words suddenly came to mind. Deculein’s words, that she had “taken away the person he loved”…
Goooooooo—
“?”
For some reason, the other side of the glass window was suddenly dyed in darkness. Yeriel frowned and stared intently.
Crrrrrrrack…
A fissure spread through the air like a spiderweb, and within it, Dikaillen’s red eyes were glaring at her.
“Bweh!”
Yeriel jumped in fright. Even with a young body, she had that much lung power.
—You cannot escape me.
She was horrified at the sight of the bastard muttering.
How did he follow me here?
Run, I have to run… No, wait, how am I supposed to run in this body? My legs are too short!
“…No.”
Wait.
This world was my record, my memory, anyway.
Then… can’t I change it however I want?
“…”
It was worth trying.
No, it was better than doing nothing.
“Hoo.”
Yeriel sighed, then gripped Yukline’s golden key tightly in both hands, opened her eyes wide, and glared at one spot in the tea room.
At the same time, she pictured a certain image in her head.
“Nnngggg…”
Craaaaaack—!
The sound of Dikaillen widening the fissure rang out clearly, and as a result of concentrating so hard that her little body trembled.
Truly, just as she had imagined.
A “door” appeared in the spot she was staring at.
“It woked!”
Yeriel clenched her adorable fist and went one step further. She set the place this door would connect to.
“Nnngg…”
Kwaaaaaang—!
The fissure in the air opened completely, and Dikaillen appeared. He shattered the glass window and the wall at the same time, but with perfect timing, the door she had made also flung open.
“…Deculein!”
“Huh?”
It was Deculein. Having opened the door without much thought, he tilted his head when he saw the chaotic interior.
“It’s me, me! Me! Help me! I’m weally Yeriel!”
At young Yeriel’s cry, Deculein immediately grasped the situation, crossed over in a single stride, and took her into his arms.
Yeriel let out a sigh of relief.
“Phew!”
“This doesn’t seem like the time for ‘phew.’ We should run again.”
“Huh?”
Deculein looked at Dikaillen, who was radiating murderous intent like mad from beyond. Shwaaaaaak—! Dikaillen stretched out a tentacle.
Deculein rolled away and dodged, but the “door” was destroyed.
“Can’t you make one more of those doors?”
Yeriel nodded, then closed her eyes again and trembled. The first time had been difficult; after that, it was easy.
Yeriel soon made another “door.”
“Go through that doo!”
“Right.”
—You cannot escape…
Dikaillen muttered threateningly and stretched out his tentacles, but Deculein thrust himself into the door first.
Whoooooosh—!
At that moment, the world changed. As if the photograph in a frame had been swapped out.
Yeriel’s body also changed to match the “memory.”
“…The garden?”
The scenery was Yukline’s garden.
Her voice came out properly now. Her pronunciation was no longer slurred.
Phew.
Yeriel let out a sigh of relief.
“So it is. The garden.”
Deculein said. He was looking around the garden full of flowers.
Yeriel pouted for no reason and asked.
“…Why did you come into this diary?”
“Because I thought you might be in danger.”
“Liar.”
“Because I thought you might do something stupid.”
“That sounds right.”
Deculein laughed softly.
Grrrrrrr— Yeriel’s stomach rumbled loudly. Yeriel flinched and blushed, and Deculein tilted his head and asked.
“Hungry?”
“Y-Yeah.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“…Are you making fun of me? Must be nice not being hungry.”
“…”
“…What?”
She thought he was teasing her, but Deculein’s face was serious. Deculein looked Yeriel up and down.
Yeriel folded her arms for no reason.
“But Yeriel, you… your body changed according to the record. You were a baby just now, weren’t you?”
“…”
Yeriel nodded silently. It was a little embarrassing.
“But I’m the same. Even when the record changes.”
“Yes. That’s true.”
“And I’m not hungry either.”
“So?”
“It means I’m a ‘soul.’”
Deculein said with conviction. Yeriel looked at him with a prim gaze.
“…A soul?”
“Yes.”
As their eyes met like that, he suddenly burst into laughter.
“Puhuhu. Ah, how fascinating.”
That loose smile left Yeriel flustered.
An honest Deculein.
Once his outer shell was gone, was this what he had originally been like?
…It’s not bad.
Just as Yeriel quietly hid a smile.
Craaaaaack—!
A fissure formed again in the air above the garden. This time too, it was Dikaillen.
Deculein clicked his tongue.
“What a tenacious bastard.”
“What should we do?”
“What do you think?”
If it was Deculein, he should have some sort of answer.
Yeriel focused her gaze on his mouth.
“We have to open another door.”
“…Huh?”
“What. Why. We have no choice but to keep running until I think of something.”
To say so easily that he had no solution yet… Yeriel stared blankly for a moment.
“Hurry. That thing’s coming.”
Bang—! Bang—! The tentacles began pounding on the fissure.
“Ah, right.”
Yeriel closed her eyes and imagined a door. The door soon appeared.
“The destination?”
“I didn’t set one in particular.”
“A surprise isn’t bad either.”
Deculein said something unlike Deculein, even smiling as he gripped the doorknob. Then he looked at Yeriel.
“Shall we open it together?”
“What? Ah… yes.”
Yeriel placed her hand over Deculein’s.
And so the two of them opened the door together, and stepped through beyond it together.
* * *
…After that, it was a repetition of flight. Dikaillen’s learning intelligence persistently chased them, and Yeriel persistently imagined doors and escaped.
They became ten years old, then four years old, then twenty years old…
They were in Yukline Castle, then the Mage Tower, then the Academy…
It was a frantic escape that lasted twenty-four hours, but Yeriel’s mood was not especially bad.
Rather, she liked being with this new side of Deculein. With his honest innermost thoughts.
“…I got wittle again.”
Except at times like this.
Yeriel looked at the mirror with a sulky face. Her appearance was somewhere between four and five years old.
“So you have. You got little again.”
Deculein lifted the small Yeriel up and tucked her under his arm. Yeriel grumbled for no reason.
“Yu fink I’m a fing?”
“You mean, ‘Do you think I’m an object?’”
“Yeah.”
“This is convenient. More importantly, what memory is this?”
“Dunno.”
Now that she had become a child again, memories and the like did not matter to Yeriel.
How long were they going to keep running?
Creating doors required mana, and now there was hardly any mana left…
Streeetch—
Deculein began fiddling with Yeriel’s chubby cheek.
Streeetch— streeeetch—
“Shewiously. Don’ touch my cheeksh.”
“Ah, without thinking.”
He stretched it out like a steamed bun, then let it return to its original shape.
Yeriel twisted her lips for no reason.
“…What do we do now? I can only wun away one or two more times.”
That meant she could only escape once or twice more. Deculein, who understood her perfectly, stroked his chin and muttered.
“Hard to say. I think I understand it to some degree, but…”
“What.”
“Your key. Take it out again.”
Yeriel took the key out of her pocket. Deculein reached his finger toward that key.
“Huh?”
Yeriel’s eyes went wide. Deculein’s fingers had passed straight through the key.
As if he were a ghost trying to touch an object.
“I can’t hold that key, and only your body changes.”
“Why’sh that?”
“You’re asking why?”
“Uh-huh.”
In truth, I already had a feeling. How to deal with that Dicaillen bastard, and what I had to do to return to normal.
But as Kim Woojin, I wanted to savor this independent feeling for even a little longer.
“The reason is…”
Craaaaack—!
Once again, a fissure formed. The two of them sighed as they looked at the air shattering like glass.
“How does that bastard catch up so fast?”
Was he operating some kind of radar?
The way he chased after them, as tenacious as a leech, was horror itself.
“…Wha’ do we do?”
“Let’s go. To another record.”
“Again?”
Yeriel puffed out her cheeks. The cheeks that had been like steamed buns had now become balloons.
“Don’t worry. This will be the last time.”
“…Okaaay.”
Yeriel closed her eyes. Hoping that this really would be the last, she made a door.
“Pwah! Done.”
Now, the door appeared with ease. Deculein approached while holding her in his arms. Yeriel’s little hand opened that door.
Rumble, rumble, rumble—!
—You should know by now that it is useless…
The crack opened, and Dicaillen’s dragging voice flowed in.
“Ignore him.”
Deculein immediately stepped through the door.
Whoooooosh…
Again, the sensation of his body being stretched.
Yeriel opened her eyes and let out a sigh of relief.
“I’m an adult.”
“And this is an empty lot.”
Deculein calmly looked around. Just as needed, it was an empty lot with nothing in it.
Yeriel made a show of glaring at him.
“Explain now. What are you going to do?”
“Ah~ So—”
However.
Crkkkkkkkk—!
Dicaillen’s tracking speed had increased exponentially. Just as we had grown used to fleeing, that bastard seemed to have grown skilled at tracking.
Yeriel looked at Deculein.
“Are we, are we running again?”
“No. There’s no need to run anymore.”
Deculein shook his head. He looked reliable, as though he had found the answer.
“Then?”
“At first, that bastard mentioned a ‘security mechanism,’ didn’t he?”
As he said that, Deculein stretched. It was the posture of someone preparing for something.
Yeriel nodded.
“Yeah.”
“The security mechanism was that key.”
“…?”
To the bewildered Yeriel, he pointed at the Key of Yukline.
“In other words, my body is inside that key.”
“Your body?”
Yeriel asked again. Deculein answered with a smile.
“Yes. Yeriel, you’ve noticed to some extent too, haven’t you? That I am a soul—so to speak, the unconscious.”
“…”
For a moment, she flinched. Yeriel tucked her lips into her mouth. Then she nodded crookedly.
Craaaaack—!
Even as they spoke, the fissure was widening. Deculein glanced that way.
“That bastard, wherever he obtained demonic energy from, is made of ‘demonic energy.’”
Of course, he was not a demon.
After all, demons were not the only beings capable of handling demonic energy. But so long as his primary fuel was demonic energy—and so long as Yeriel was with him—there was no reason for Deculein to lose.
“I just need to reclaim my body. Then I can win.”
However, most of Deculein’s 「Traits」 resided in his flesh. In particular, to deal with demonic energy, he needed the 「bloodline」 called 「Yukline」, the most essential of all.
The current Deculein was nothing more than Kim Woojin’s soul.
“Your body? How are you going to reclaim it?”
Yeriel asked back as if she didn’t understand, but the method was quite simple. In truth, it had been in Yeriel’s hands from the beginning.
Deculein said,
“Drive that key into my heart.”
Of course, once he reclaimed his body, this unconscious state would end as well. In other words, he would return to being Deculein again.
It was a little regretful, and he hesitated slightly, and for no reason, he felt afraid.
But he could not remain in this state forever.
This much deviation was enough.
“And leave the rest to me.”
Deculein showed a smile full of confidence.
Yet, Yeriel herself was acting strange. With a reluctant expression, she took a step back.
“…”
“Why?”
She looked up at Deculein hesitantly. She seemed to be worried about something.
Why is she acting like this—Deculein frowned for a moment, then soon realized. He thought he knew why.
Perhaps, it was for a reason similar to his own.
“Aha~”
Craaaaaack—!
It was an important moment.
Yet Dicaillen, oblivious to that, opened the fissure, and black tentacles flowed in first.
Crkkkkkkkk—!
Yeriel looked back and forth between that eerie scene and Deculein. From the fissure spreading open in darkness, Dicaillen thrust in his head, and Deculein laughed softly.
“…”
Yeriel hugged the key to her chest and bit her lip.
She was a little afraid.
Afraid that if she used this key, the him right now would leave. That he might disappear completely. That he might forget all the memories of this day.
I like this Deculein, but if he returns to normal…
He will never smile at me again.
“It’s all right.”
“!”
Had he found out what she was thinking? Deculein called to her in a warm voice. He placed a hand on her head.
Yeriel raised her gaze. He was looking at her, smiling.
“Just as you are still Yeriel…”
A dark, empty lot.
Yeriel stared at him blankly.
His expression, his smile, his voice—all of them were things he had never once shown her in her life.
“I am still me.”
“…”
Yeriel clenched her teeth. She held back her tears that way.
It was an easy thing to do. A poker face, hiding one’s emotions—those were practically the basics of negotiation.
Of course, this was not a negotiation, a trade, a final deal with some merchant, or a meeting between families… anyway, she knew she was rambling in her head, but…
Yeriel nodded resolutely and grasped the key with both hands.
“Yeah. I know too.”
She pushed that key into Deculein’s chest. The key seeped smoothly into him, and with the sensation of something catching—click—it stopped.
At that moment, Deculein wrapped his hand around hers. Yeriel gazed steadily up at him. Warmth settled into her hand and heart.
“…Goodbye.”
Click—!
She twisted the key.
Whoooooosh…
At that instant, a “phenomenon” occurred.
A golden current and mana rose from the key, and those particles seeped into Deculein, whose eyes were closed.
Craaaaack—!
Almost simultaneously, Dicaillen’s fissure opened completely.
However, it was strangely quiet.
Hiss— Hiss—
The bastard flicked his tentacles and stared at Deculein. As if he had sensed the change in him, he had entered a bizarre search posture.
“…”
Silence and stillness.
Yeriel looked at Deculein standing beside her.
His eyes were very different from moments before. They had already changed.
Eyes honed like the sharpest blade in the world. A face filled with the dignity of a noble and a self-assurance bordering on arrogance.
It was the Deculein she had seen before—no, the Deculein who had existed in her memories since long ago.
“…”
Without a word, he swept his gaze over the area.
He neatly combed back his thoroughly disheveled hair. He fastened the loose buttons on his sleeves and straightened his attire.
Not a single wrinkle remained. Every speck of dust had been washed away to a pathological degree. His gaze looked down with lofty dignity.
He did not reveal even the smallest opening.
Yeriel lowered her head with a somewhat sad expression.
“Deculein.”
Dicaillen’s personality spoke.
And Deculein, once again as Deculein, faced Dicaillen’s personality.
“…”
The silent Deculein felt his own inner self.
A created thing, ignorant of its place, fallen into corruption. Looking at that rotten trash, that damned filth…
All the emotions Kim Woojin had not possessed—disgust, contempt, anger, revulsion—surged up at once.
Deculein expressed the entirety of that negation in a single sentence.
“…You maggot-like wretch. How dare you put my name in your mouth.”