“......”
I opened my eyes. The first thing I saw was Epherene sprawled on the floor, drooling and scratching her stomach.
She must have been caught by the sleeping mist.
I picked up the sleeping girl and moved her to the bed.
“Did Allen fall asleep too?”
On the bed opposite, Allen was also snoring softly.
I sat in a chair and watched the two of them.
They did not seem to be having nightmares, but 「Vision」 detected an abnormal condition.
[Status Ailment: Coma]
Coma.
It was not a pleasant problem. The gravity contained in the word was, if anything, greater than ever before.
I looked at the clock.
6:06 a.m.
To be precise, it was the 6th day, 6:06.
“......Strange.”
I picked up [Investigation Record of the Goreth Island Incident] again. I began reading the remaining section.
—The residents of Goreth Island vanished in an instant. One witness, who avoided being swept up in the disappearance because he had gone out fishing, said that at the time of the incident, the entirety of Goreth Island had been surrounded by mist.
‘Mist.’
I looked at the thick mist still surging beneath my feet.
—Furthermore, a day on Goreth Island is different from the outside world. Though the reason is unknown, the moment we reached that island, we came to think of a month as ‘36 days’ with perfect naturalness.
Something Hesrock had once said.
‘The passage opens on the 6th, 16th, 26th, and 36th days, at 18:06:06.’
A year in this world has 365 days, the same as Earth, and there is no such thing as a 36th day.
—This writer believes that the island known as Goreth is itself part of Coma. A space of coma where dream and reality are gathered as one. An island of monstrosity that devours the human unconscious.
“......Goreth.”
I murmured without thinking.
A truly unconscious recitation. Soon, the spelling of the word ‘Goreth’ broke apart in my mind and changed into a new name.
“Hetrog.”
I rose from my seat and went down to the first floor.
The space where Hesrock’s team lived communally.
“......”
However, in that place thickly shrouded in mist, there were only three people. Ihelm and his two disciples.
Hesrock’s team members, who had numbered fifteen, had vanished like a mirage.
“What a bother.”
I lifted Ihelm’s party with 「Psychokinesis」 and moved them to the second floor. After placing them haphazardly on the beds, I stared quietly at Epherene, who was breathing softly in her sleep.
“......”
After agonizing dozens of times in that brief span, I took off my glove. Then I placed my hand on her forehead and activated 「Understanding」.
I was trying to peer into Epherene’s dream.
[Understanding of Dream: 2%]
However, it seemed it would take some time.
Probably because all five of these people—no.
Because every human in this castle was trapped in the same dream......
* * *
......At some point, Epherene opened her eyes.
It felt a little strange.
“?”
Why am I here? What did I come here to do?
She tilted her head and looked around.
“Please prepare yourselves. It will soon be time to enter.”
“Oh, right.”
They were in the middle of an operation.
Hesrock and his team members in the conference room, along with Assistant Professor Allen, Ihelm, and his two disciples.
They put on bracelets and connected one another’s waists with ropes.
“Hmm......”
But something felt empty.
She could not explain it, and she did not know why it felt empty, but in any case, it did.
Allen, who was putting on his equipment, asked.
“Miss Epherene? What’s wrong?”
“Huh? No...... well. It’s nothing.”
“Is everyone ready?”
Hesrock looked around at them and asked. Epherene nodded before she knew it, and Ihelm answered.
“Yes. Let’s go.”
“Understood.”
Hesrock looked at his wristwatch. Then, precisely at 6 minutes and 6 seconds, he opened the door.
“Day 6, 6 minutes, 6 seconds. We will begin the survey.”
“Shall we go?”
Hesrock stored his voice in the crystal orb, and Allen smiled brightly.
“Yes. Let’s go.”
Together, they entered the passage.
It was a wide, dark road like a tunnel. The mist was so thick that they could not see an inch ahead.
“Everyone, please take care not to lose hold of the rope.”
Epherene advanced while relying on the rope. One step, then another. Her face was tense as could be, as if a ghost might appear at any moment.
“Leafy.”
Just then, Ihelm suddenly called her. Epherene looked that way and answered.
“What?”
“Doesn’t something seem strange?”
At that, rustle—! Someone’s footsteps suddenly faltered slightly. Epherene answered calmly.
“I don’t know. What does?”
“What else? It’s too—”
“It is over there.”
Hesrock cut off Ihelm’s words. Then he pointed to the far side.
“Hmm.”
“Oh?”
Ihelm and Epherene were captivated by the scenery there.
“It is the gate leading to Ghost Castle’s inner keep.”
The end of the passage. The mist slowly thinned, and a huge gate could be seen in the distance.
Its appearance was disgusting at a glance. Things that looked like either tentacles or blood vessels were wrapped around the doors.
“As a result of numerous surveys, we believe that the core of the ‘spatial discontinuity’ lies inside.”
“Hmm. That makes sense. A vast amount of mana is pulsing in there.”
Ihelm said. Epherene agreed as well, but she kept feeling as though she had forgotten something.
“Then we will enter.”
Just as Hesrock was about to open the door.
“Wait! Stop!”
From somewhere, a restraining voice came rushing in. Everyone looked in that direction with wary eyes.
Four unidentified silhouettes were slowly approaching.
“Who...... Ah?!”
Epherene, who had been preparing for a possible fight, widened her eyes the moment she saw them.
A beautiful woman with red hair and two children standing beside her.
Epherene knew who they were.
“The Red Garnet Adventurers?!”
* * *
While 「Understanding」 Epherene’s dream, I searched the interior of the castle with Woodsteel. At first, I intended to find and kill that ‘demon’ bastard.
Regrettably, I could not track him down, but instead, I was able to grasp exactly how extensive the space of this castle was. I calculated the number of rooms by mana concentration.
The space of this Ghost Castle is discontinuous, but the mana concentration of each space is independent. For instance, if the mana concentration of one space is 3.1503%, and the mana concentration of another space is 2.9825%, then the two spaces can be called ‘different spaces.’
By repeatedly identifying mana concentrations with Woodsteel in that manner, the number of spaces in this castle, as derived through calculation, was a total of ‘3,663.’
For some reason, it was a familiar number.
I looked at a sentence in the [Incident Log].
—At the time of the disappearance, there were 3,535 people, but afterward, another hundred or so vanished.
3,535 people and 3,663 spaces. Coincidentally, the numbers were similar.
I placed my hand on the wall of this room.
“So you hadn’t disappeared.”
The reason the space was discontinuous was nothing special.
It was because this space itself was alive and moving. Because each and every space was a ‘living being.’
“You became part of the castle.”
“Deculein.”
At that moment, a gentle voice called my name.
I turned toward it.
“It feels like it’s been a while.”
The robed Named—Carla the Authority.
As befitted the owner of the trait 「Authority」, that one also seemed not to be trapped in a dream.
“Do you intend to fight?”
“I don’t think so.”
Carla shook her head. Then she asked again.
“Deculein. Did you see that child?”
Her soft voice and sentences ending in questions were that one’s greatest characteristics. You could call it her ‘personality’ as well.
“......Are you talking about the demon?”
“It seems he is not a demon, but half-human, half-demon.”
Half-human, half-demon. The moment I heard that information, a single Named came to mind.
“Carlos?”
“Yes. You already know his name?”
Carlos was somewhat complicated. Depending on quest progression, he could become a villain, a madman, or an ordinary human, an unpredictable Named.
I had not known he would be that young.
“What will you do with that child?”
Carla asked.
However, for me, there was not even anything to consider.
“Naturally, I will only kill him.”
There is a fairly high probability that he will become a demon, so killing him is better. Therefore, no matter who is beside Carlos, and no matter who tries to stop me, I will not give him a second chance.
There will be no more foolishness like last time, no more hesitation or openings.
He merely resembles her; that strange child is not Yu Ara.
* * *
......The Red Garnet Adventurers dissuaded the Imperial team from entering rashly.
“Just a moment. It won’t do you any good to go in there right now, you know? It seems demonic energy is boiling over in there at the moment~ Please wait just a little.”
“Shall we?”
Epherene quickly agreed. Because it was none other than Ganesha who had said it.
“Hmph. Long time no see, Ganesha.”
Ihelm twisted the corner of his mouth as he looked at her. Ganesha answered briefly, “It really has been~,” and plopped down.
“Since we’re waiting, shall we eat together? We have quite a lot of preserved food~”
“Yes! Yes!”
At Ganesha’s words, Epherene immediately sat down on the floor. Following her, Allen, Ihelm, and Hesrock with his team members also sat.
“Now. Here’s some food~”
Ganesha took pork out of her backpack, and a child named Lia deftly skewered the meat. Epherene lit a campfire.
Into the flames went the pork skewers!
“Cook quickly. Cook quickly......”
“Be quiet, Leafy.”
The meat they had been waiting for while swallowing their saliva finally finished cooking.
“We have ssam leaves too.”
Lia took out some leaves. Ihelm naturally looked at Epherene. It seemed the word “leaves” made him think of Epherene.
Epherene replied curtly.
“What are you looking at?”
“No. I just thought it was interesting. Hey, what is that? You brought leaves?”
When Ihelm asked with a snicker, Lia answered.
“They’re called ssam. Like this, like this, you wrap meat in the leaves and eat it.”
Lia put pork and various vegetables into the ‘ssam,’ wrapped it up, and stuffed it into her mouth.
It was quite a curious method. Epherene nodded with a face full of curiosity.
“Ah~ so you put meat and other things on top of that leaf and eat it together?”
“Mmm-hm. Ish good.”
Watching the child chew, Epherene also attempted to ‘make ssam.’
She placed three pieces of meat and a button mushroom on the leaf, seasoned it with herbs and salt, then took one big bite.
“Whoa!”
“Ish good, right?!”
“Yeah!”
Epherene and Lia, their cheeks puffed full, looked at each other and giggled.
At that moment.
Allen, who had been quietly eating meat, asked.
“But, you know. How do you distinguish between people and ghosts? There are definitely ghosts in there......”
Then Lia, who was making another ssam, answered.
“In the old days, there was a saying. Ghosts do everything backward.”
“Everything backward? Do you mean they walk on their hands?”
Epherene also asked while making ssam. Lia gave a small smile.
“Nooo~ They don’t do it that obviously. They unconsciously do actions they haven’t learned backward. Like when they clap, they hit with the backs of their hands without realizing it...... Here, Leo?”
Lia gave the ssam she had worked hard to make to the child beside her, named Leo. Leo ate it like a baby bird, and Epherene chuckled.
“They do things backward...... You know a lot, huh? That’s interesting. Well, legends like that are usually something you hear a lot as a child.”
As Epherene was stuffing the finished ssam into her mouth, she suddenly looked at Hesrock. Hesrock was also making ssam, but she pretended not to see and quickly turned her head away.
“......Gulp.”
She swallowed the ssam without chewing. It felt as though something had caught in her throat, but she could not bring herself to make any sound.
That was how shocking Hesrock’s ssam had just been.
He had not placed meat on top of the leaf, but had placed the leaf on top of the meat.
In other words, he had made the ssam backward......
“......Um, Mr. West?”
“Yes?”
A little belatedly, Epherene recalled a certain scene.
The last time Mr. West had opened the refrigerator.
The refrigerator had definitely been a closed space, and it too had applied to the ‘spatial discontinuity,’ but when West opened the door, it returned to normal.
At the time, she had not thought it very strange......
“What is it?”
West asked back. Epherene pretended to scratch her temple and wiped away her cold sweat.
“It’s nothing.”
“Come on. It doesn’t seem like nothing.”
West said so with a bright smile. To Epherene, that face overlapped with the ghost she had met in last night’s nightmare.
“Tell me. Why—”
Just as West was asking persistently—
“Ueeeee——————!”
A tremendous roar came hurtling from far, far away. Ganesha immediately took a combat stance, and Epherene warmed up her mana as she turned to look in that direction.
“Who’s that now?”
……There was a warrior. A martial artist in a training robe, with a long blade slung over his shoulder.
Tsk— Ganesha clicked her tongue and called out his name in a somewhat displeased tone.
“He’s called Jackal. A bit of a troublesome guy has shown up~”
He grinned and said,
“Troublesome? Aw, now that’s hurtful. Never mind that—let me have some of that food with you, eh?”
* * *
Meanwhile, I was sitting across from Carla.
“……”
“……”
For thirty minutes, neither of us said a word to the other. It was a kind of battle of nerves, and perhaps around thirty-seven minutes had passed.
At last, Carla was the first to open her mouth.
“I heard you met Idnik.”
Feeling a small sense of accomplishment, I looked at Carla. She made a teacup with magic. Coffee filled it.
“I did.”
“What did you talk about?”
Carla asked as she sipped her coffee. I did not answer.
Carla spoke again.
“Idnik seems to be raising Sylvia these days.”
“I know.”
Carla nodded as though surprised.
“Wouldn’t that be an uncomfortable situation for Deculein?”
“……Hmm.”
I don’t know how much this one knows about Deculein.
But judging by her actions and attitude, they certainly know each other.
“What is uncomfortable about it?”
“Once Sylvia grows, the one in the most danger will be Deculein.”
“……”
“Should I kill her for you?”
At that moment, I raised my head and glared at Carla. Her eyes, hidden beneath her robe, were not visible.
Carla tilted her head and asked again.
“You don’t want that?”
“……Don’t touch Sylvia.”
I spoke. My voice had sunk so heavily that even I found it unfamiliar.
“Why? Because you feel sorry? Or because you plan to kill her yourself?”
I closed my eyes for a moment. A cold pain throbbed at my temple.
At the same time, memories of that day rose up like fragments.
“……No.”
The moment Deculein killed Cielia.
Because it was not mine, the scene was hazy and foolish.
Yet the sight of my hands strangling the neck of Cielia, who had done nothing wrong, was vivid.
—Please…… forgive Sylvie. I beg you……
I opened my eyes. Carla tilted her face at an angle. It was a gesture demanding an answer.
“……I have no right to kill that child.”
Sylvia. A child who made me feel the faintest trace of pity.
“But that child does.”
Perhaps, in truth, Deculein had also pitied her. Perhaps he had felt at least a little sorry.
“What right?”
To Carla’s question, I answered briefly.
“The right to kill me.”
“……Huh?”
Then suddenly, a strange phenomenon occurred. A gust of wind gathered like a whirlwind and released mana.
“Was someone watching us?”
Carla muttered so, a faint smile on her lips. I narrowed my eyes and glared at the flow of that wind.
“……Deculein. It seems a demon is approaching.”
But at Carla’s words, I shifted my gaze back to her. I asked with almost instinctive anger.
“What kind of demon?”
“‘Voice.’”
Voice.
That much was enough. It wasn’t particularly surprising.
Whether in terms of the quest’s progression, or because of the bloodline called Yukline—
It was an enemy I would inevitably have to face one day.
“Wherever there is a demon, there always seems to be a Yukline. When facing this demon as well, the blood of Yukline will be needed, won’t it?”
“That’s enough chatter.”
Using 「Telekinesis」, I set down the teacup Carla was sipping from. Then I said,
“Right now, this damn island that took my disciple is the highest priority.”