Vol. 2 Chapter 1.1 – Prologue

Perhaps it could be called the sky at the break of dawn.

The distant sky, just beginning to brighten, burned red.

Stars were still twinkling overhead, while a single streak of vivid red light cut across the sky.

I stood in a wetland where reed-like grass grew thickly up to my chest.

Countless things resembling particles of light floated around me, enough to be mistaken for fireflies at a glance, and a fantastical scene stretched out before my eyes.

“Where am I…?”

Could I be dreaming?

It was several days after Ermia had departed from Bangwall Fortress.

At night, while I was doing some writing, Nicoletta told me,『Perhaps it is about time you got some rest』and I went to bed. That was the last thing I remembered.

For a dream, my consciousness was remarkably clear.

The wind brushed against my cheeks, and the aquatic plants swayed.

When I hopped up with a pyon, I heard a bisha as droplets of water splashed beneath my feet.

Everything conveyed through my five senses felt completely real.

『been waiting』

Suddenly, words with an unfamiliar cadence flowed directly into my mind.

And yet, somehow, I could understand their meaning.

Been waiting? Waiting for what? Just as that thought crossed my mind—

A black haze appeared before me.

It looked eerie, but it floated around with an oddly comical,drifting motion.

“What are you?”

When I called out to it, the black haze puffed itself up as though delighted.

Maybe it wasn’t a bad creature after all.

Before long, the black haze began to move.

Almost as if it were telling me to follow it.

“Hey, where are you going?”

I hesitated for a moment, but since the thing somehow looked happy, I decided to follow it.

After walking for a while, we arrived at a place with a rather unusual atmosphere.

“What is this place…?”

The first thing that came to mind was the Parthenon.

Several enormous stone pillars stood side by side, with other pillars lying horizontally across their tops as though reinforcing them.

The structure itself had fallen into ruin, and perhaps because the ceiling had collapsed, the starlight shone strangely bright, pouring all the way down to my feet.

Cautiously, I passed between the pillars and stepped inside.

Something resembling a gigantic magic circle had been drawn across the stone floor.

“…Were they practicing alchemy or something?”

First, there was a circle that looked to have a radius of at least twenty meters.

Connecting nine points within it was a regular nine-pointed star.

Inside the regular nine-pointed star was another, smaller circle, and within that was an inscribed equilateral triangle.

Although parts of the floor had crumbled away, it was densely engraved with mysterious ancient characters.

A total of twelve points—the vertices of the regular nine-pointed star and the equilateral triangle—glowed faintly.

The black haze floated over to one of the nine-pointed star’s vertices and stopped.

Guided by the black haze, I simply followed its lead and stood on top of that vertex.

Then, the black haze before me began to change.

First, seven pitch-black arms sprouted out with a nyokki.

Then, a huge eyeball opened wide stare.

“Whoa, a monster!”

Startled, I fell flat on my backside and hurriedly searched my pocket for a gold coin.

Perhaps amused by my reaction, the eyeball wriggled all seven of its arms excitedly.

『Shikaku, amazing, qualification, give』

Another message flowed into my mind.

…Shikaku. Qualification?

Before I even had time to consider what it meant, the eyeball monster came floating toward me.

“Huh? Hey, don’t come over here.”

I couldn’t even dodge it.

The eyeball monster flew straight into my chest—and vanished.

Apparently, the eyeball monster had entered my body.

Panicking, I patted and checked various parts of myself, but nothing seemed particularly different.

“…What the hell was that?”

Unable to make any sense of what had just happened, I stood there in a daze.

After a while, I heard footsteps approaching.

When I looked in that direction, I saw a pitch-black, humanoid haze with blurred outlines walking toward me.

‘…A person?’

It was about my height, with the silhouette of a long-haired girl.

Was she a resident of this strange world?

In any case, because she was completely black from head to toe, she looked extremely eerie from an outside perspective.

“Oh? There’s one more person here.”

The girl-shaped silhouette looked toward me as she spoke.

Her voice was that of a girl, with a strangely languid quality to it.

“So the owner of Itakarna has appeared. I knew the original object was still lingering here, but I never imagined its owner would show up at a time like this…”

The pitch-black silhouette of the girl turned toward me and began talking.

Apparently, she wasn’t actually speaking to me.

Perhaps she thought I was some kind of statue, because she was muttering away to herself.

What should I do?

Making up my mind, I decided to speak to her.

“Who are you?”

“Eh!? You talked?”

The pitch-black silhouette of the girl cried out in surprise.

For some reason, I felt like I had successfully pulled off one of those『statue suddenly starts moving』pranks.

“Um…”

“…I’m surprised. You’re actually able to remain conscious in this world?”

“?”

The pitch-black girl had no visible expression, but I could still tell that she was shocked.

Apparently, she had never expected me to speak.

“Judging by your reaction, is this your first time coming here?”

“Yeah. What exactly is this place?”

“This is the 『Meridian Hall』. It has existed since ancient times, a place where the stars and consciousness are connected. Normally, this is a sacred domain that even Starfolk are unable to enter, but for some reason, it seems you’ve been granted permission.”

…I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about.

I decided I might as well ask her a few questions.

“What are『Starfolk』?”

“People like you, whom you call Stellar-class. Although there aren’t many left who still use that term.”

“I see. Then who are you? I don’t sense any hostility from you, but you don’t exactly look like a good person either.”

“Me? I’m… keeping that a secret.”

Saying that, the pitch-black silhouette of the girl raised her index finger to her lips.

“A secret, huh?”

“It’s considered good manners not to pry into people here. Anonymity is highly valued. Though most of the people who come here already know one another anyway, so it’s practically anonymity in name only.”

Apparently, the pitch-black girl was rather secretive.

Anonymity… Maybe this place was something like a VR space from my previous life.

“So you don’t know who I am either?”

“Hmm, I wonder. Can I take a guess?”

Apparently, the pitch-black silhouette already had someone in mind, because she made that proposal.

Interesting.

I decided to accept the challenge.

“Sure. If you think you can guess.”

I inwardly fired myself up.

If it were Ermia, famous by the epithet《Princess White Lily》, that would be one thing, but there was no way anyone would know some noble brat who lived in her shadow.

My level of fame ought to be so insignificant that it could be blown away by the slightest breeze.

Sad as that may be.

There was no way someone I had only just met could possibly figure out who I was.

“Could you be… Shalka de Ortenos?”

“…”

You’ve got to be kidding me.

How the hell did she know?

There was absolutely no way that wasn’t cheating.

“Oh, looks like I got it right. Don’t worry, I’m not as fanatical as the others, so I won’t tell anyone.”

“……”

“Don’t suddenly go quiet on me. Believe it or not, I’m actually pretty shy around people…… Anyway, you can just call me—Jil.”

“Then, Jil, tell me as much as you can about yourself and this place. It’s unfair that you know all about me while I know nothing about you.”

I voiced my complaint.

After hesitating for a moment, Jil began to speak.

“……Well, I suppose that’s fine. We belong to a clan that places great importance on the harmony of the stars—we are beings known as the Kaname of Divination Stars. I’m one of them.”

It was becoming difficult to simply dismiss all this as a dream.

Those were the kinds of words that came out of Jil’s mouth.

“The Kaname of Divination Stars…… I’ve heard of that before.”

If I remembered correctly, Balbat and Aquila had let the name slip before.

Hadn’t it come up during a conversation about prophecies?

“Among them, I suppose you could say I’m something of an outcast. I can’t tell you the details, though.”

“So what is this outcast doing here?”

“Secret.”

“Tch.”

I clicked my tongue without thinking.

“……Don’t click your tongue at me. There are things even I’m not allowed to talk about.”

“You mentioned something called Itakarna earlier. What exactly is that?”

“Geh…… You heard that?”

Jil scratched her cheek, looking somewhat awkward.

I remembered Aquila saying that whoever defeated the magical beast would become the Demon-Extinguishing Mage.

For some reason, I had a feeling that story was connected to what was happening here.

Maybe I should press her a little further.

“Do magical beasts have names too?”

“I don’t like the term『magical beast.』It sounds too much like something a noble would say. But yes, just as you imagined, Itakarna is the name of the divine beast dwelling within you.”

“Divine beast?”

“That’s right. An undeniable god—one of the beings that preserve the harmony of the world.”

Now gods were getting involved.

This conversation was starting to head in an increasingly strange direction.

To nobles, magical beasts were simply another form of natural disaster.

Calling one a god and worshipping it as such seemed like quite a stretch.

Though perhaps it was simply a difference in religious beliefs.

“You’re saying that god is dwelling inside me? It sounds pretty suspicious, but what do you think about it?”

“……I have a lot of thoughts about that. In the old days, the very idea of an individual hosting a divine beast would have been unthinkable. That’s why my brethren were forced to take action.”

Exactly what meaning Jil intended by the words『take action』was something only she knew.

“And as a result, the situation only grew worse. You could say the circumstances you find yourself in now are proof of that. In the end—everything is the consequence of our own actions.”

Jil spoke with a self-deprecating tone.

It was almost as though she wanted to say she had grown sick of this entire world.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“……Take a look over there.”

After a moment of hesitation, Jil pointed toward a particular spot.

One of the vertices of the regular nine-pointed star within the magic circle.

There stood a human figure resembling a black haze with blurred outlines.

“That is one of the same kind of humans as you.”

“The same kind as me…?”

“That’s right. A human who, just like you, harbors a divine beast within.”

Looking around, I could see three such figures in total.

“There are three other people like me…?”

“You don’t have to sound so pessimistic. Unlike those other three, the very fact that your consciousness can come here makes it obvious that there’s an overwhelming difference in power between you and them. …Actually, how are you even able to come here in the first place?”

“Beats me.”

I casually brushed aside Jil’s probing gaze.

After all, neither of us was willing to reveal anything truly important.

“…Well, whatever. Excluding you, the most recent one was about forty-five years ago, I think. The other two have already been harboring divine beasts for over a hundred years.”

Over a hundred years was completely abnormal.

Even a Stellar-class person only lived around a hundred years at most. It was far too long a period for a single individual to remain alive.

“And that’s a problem?”

“It’s a huge problem. If divine beasts are kept in the human world for that long, of course the balance will be disrupted. Ever since we first lost track of the three gods, we’ve been playing catch-up. I also bear responsibility for leaving my brethren unattended. But…”

Jil trailed off, as though something was troubling her.

“But?”

“…No, it’s nothing. No matter what we do now, it’s already—too late.”

“…I see.”

With those ominous words, Jil brought the subject to an end.

Her way of thinking leaned heavily toward the negative.

She wasn’t exactly the type of person I wanted to become friends with.

“…Hey, I wanted to ask you something. Why don’t we try meeting in the real world too? If you agree to meet me, maybe I’d be willing to tell you a little more?”

Was she inviting me to an offline meetup?

Jil asked me with an air of slight desperation.

Her silhouette was that of a girl, and her voice was unmistakably feminine as well.

In my previous life, there had been no shortage of men pretending to be women online or middle-aged guys using beautiful virtual-girl avatars, eagerly waiting to lure people in, but surely nothing like that existed in this world.

Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something about her was suspicious.

“…I don’t know about that.”

“This is the first time I’ve ever taken an interest in a human. I usually live alone in a gloomy forest, so it gets a little lonely. Hey, Shalka, why don’t we become friends? See, if we meet in the real world, we can talk without having to worry about time…”

There was certainly a possibility that Jil really was a cute girl.

But there was a reason the term『honey trap』existed. Beautiful women like that often turned out to be after money—or something else entirely.

“Sorry, but I don’t have time for that.”

“…I wonder why. I think I’m feeling excited right now. I’ve never met you before, but every time we exchange words, I get this feeling that something new is about to happen. And when you reject me like this, it only makes my heart beat even faster. …Could this perhaps be what people call love?”

Saying that, Jil made a gesture of placing a hand over her chest.

This was bad.

It would be a problem if she turned into a stalker.

Jil already knew who I was.

It wasn’t entirely impossible that she might suddenly appear in front of me one day and say,『I came to see you♡…』before—STAB!

“It’s your imagination. Besides, I don’t trust you nearly that much.”

“If we turn out to be compatible, I wouldn’t mind having sex with you. I’m not a noble, so if you want, you can even sleep with me and toss me aside afterward. It’s not like I have much time left anyway……”

“Hmm……”

That last part bothered me, but more importantly, I felt like she had just said something outrageous.

……No, calm down.

She was probably planning to claim she’d gotten pregnant and squeeze every last thing she could out of me.

Besides, there was already a woman I had set my heart on.

“Even if I do get pregnant, it’s fine. Even if you disappear, Shalka, I’ll raise the child by myself, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

“What…… did you say?”

The offer was so ridiculously convenient that I was left speechless.

She was fine with me sleeping with her and leaving afterward, and she didn’t even care if she got pregnant.

If a woman was willing to compromise this much and I still did nothing, wouldn’t that almost make people question whether I was『mature』as a man?

Should I be more cautious about this?

But Jil apparently lived in the middle of a forest, so the risk of it causing any real problems ought to be extremely low.

She did seem a little emotionally unstable, but I could at least seriously listen to her troubles for a while.

If I gently rubbed her back, we ended up getting into a nice mood together, and things eventually went that far…… well, that would simply be unavoidable.

“I see. I suppose I could at least consider meeting up to talk……”

“Ahh, too bad. Looks like our time is already up.”

“Huh?”

Jil let the words slip out in disappointment.

When I happened to look down at my body, I saw that it was gradually becoming transparent.

Apparently, I was about to log out of this mysterious world.

“I’m glad I got to meet you, Shalka. And sorry for saying something so strange. ……What I said earlier was just a moment of weakness, so please forget about it.”

“Wait, no, hold on……! At least give me your contact information……!”

My final words were in vain as my consciousness returned to the real world.