By Zephyria 
“Originally, those called monsters were officially named Magical creatures after that incident. It is speculated that what opened in the sky of Actan that day was the Demon Realm.”
So, Magical creatures is short for monsters living in the Demon Realm?
“This place where we live is called the Human Realm, and there is also a separate dimension where spirits live. In ancient times, Magical creatures, spirits, and humans lived mixed together in the Human Realm, but at some point, they all disappeared.”
“Why?”
“We don’t know. There is too little remaining data, and even the existing data needs to be interpreted, but there are too few people. It’s like finding a needle in the desert.”
I’ve also seen data about monsters from ancient times. I was lost in thought for a moment as memories suddenly surfaced.
When I was young, I often spent time in a place where books were piled up haphazardly. There was quite a lot of interesting information in the books designated as Forbidden books.
Ancient magic and monsters, numerous misdeeds of various countries and the actions of intentionally erased great people, extinct flora and fauna, and even how to break a person’s mind or human experimentation.
As memories began to resurface one by one, the terrible and disgusting contents I had read at the time also came to mind. But what is certain is that if you give up just a little bit of humanity, there is a lot of knowledge that can be used.
“In particular, magic is a field that has been declining for a very long time, and is now almost on the verge of disappearing. Even that is mostly modified to suit the present. In order to study Ruins, we need knowledge as close to the origin as possible, so the speed is not picking up.”
“……”
“To restore it to the level used in ancient times, it would take hundreds of years. Maybe even more than a thousand years.”
His expression was serious, but I read impatience in it.
“So, five years is not enough? Spending time leisurely in Sa Dillin was also part of the mission in a broad sense?”
“You are very accurate. Hehe.”
I was about to tell him not to laugh like that, but I held back because it seemed too harsh.
But it didn’t seem like a lie. Like Zero said, it was a field that required a lot of investigation, so maybe I wouldn’t be able to uncover the truth until I died.
But I couldn’t just wait for my memories to return.
“I’ll tell you about the necklace as I remember it, so keep investigating for now.”
“I understand. Even if not, there are strange currents near Calderia, so I plan to stay here for a while.”
Strange currents? Could Aska be involved? I had a bad feeling, so I was about to ask what he meant, but Zero blurted it out on his own.
“I need to investigate further, but there is a place where the flow of Mana is greatly distorted between the Rollai Mountains and the West Sea. There is a high probability that there are undiscovered Ruins. The expected range is too wide, and the Rollai Mountains are famous for their rugged terrain, so it won’t be easy to find…”
I suddenly thought of Andrew. Thinking about what I heard back then, he said that there was an undiscovered scenic spot. Could that be the cause of the strange phenomenon Zero was talking about?
I was about to tell him without thinking, but I hesitated.
“How many types of Magical creatures have been discovered so far?”
At my sudden question, Zero raised his eyes and stammered.
“It’s hard to grasp accurately now. There are countries that are secretly investigating, and there are countries that don’t take the appearance of Magical creatures seriously… Mahir said that he will soon create a union to share information, and after that, things will be sorted out, right?”
“They seem to be very aggressive, but aren’t there any docile individuals?”
“They have an incredibly strong hostility towards humans. These days, they are captured and used for experiments or research rather than killed, but the common thing that comes out is that the intelligence of Magical creatures is lower than expected. So, of course, communication is impossible.”
“They can’t even talk?”
“Looking at the oral structure, it is impossible.”
Zero continued to speak.
“There are records that some Magical creatures were able to communicate with humans in ancient times… I still don’t know. Some scholars argue that crossing dimensions is not allowed for living things in the first place, so it caused mutations as a result.”
As I expected, Magical creatures like Aska were not common, but seemed to be completely undiscovered yet. Besides, if Magical creatures are so unable to communicate… What about Pipi, Chichi, and Popo?
“Do they kill simply because they have a strong hostility towards humans? Or to consume them?”
The three names were so similar that I still couldn’t tell who was who. I don’t know their names, but I remembered that the main diet of wolves was clean water and moonlight, so I asked.
“Most are omnivores, but they mainly eat meat. It’s more accurate to say that they don’t discriminate between types of meat rather than being cannibals.”
“Omnivores… That means what they eat is not much different from us? They eat fruits and vegetables too?”
“Yes, there are some individuals that consume minerals, but only one has been found, so it’s ambiguous to define it.”
Minerals? Is that similar to moonlight? No, but minerals have substance anyway…
I wanted to ask something more, but I just shut my mouth because it would be troublesome if I made a mistake.
Just by looking at Zero coming here, I knew that I had a deep relationship of trust with him before I lost my memory. He doesn’t seem to betray me easily, and he seems to owe me a debt, so he will be on my side if possible.
But the problem with people who seek knowledge is always their curiosity. This was a separate issue from loyalty. If my orders and his own curiosity were on the scales, which way would it lean?
That’s why I was reluctant to talk about Aska and the three Magical creatures. There is an unknown existence in front of me that no one in the world knows about, so would he see anything else?
The promise that he would never set foot in Actan again was ultimately to solve that curiosity…
“……”
I frowned at the sudden thought.
“I’m sure I promised not to set foot in Actan again when I left the Harem.”
“Yes?”
Was it because of the sudden memory? The headache was getting worse. Zero’s eyes widened as he looked at me pressing my temples.
“I was half joking earlier, but have you really regained your memory now?”
My head was already killing me, but Zero was just talking nonsense instead of answering the question. I frowned and stared at him, and his face gradually turned white before he stood up from his chair hesitantly.
Then he knelt down in front of me. What was strange was that Abyss also knelt down next to him in the same way. Hmm, so it wasn’t Zero’s solo act.
After all, Abyss and Sakira are mostly in charge of the personnel who left the Harem, so they couldn’t enter the country without their permission.
“I will explain everything.”
Abyss said next to Zero, who was sweating profusely even though I didn’t say anything.
“Theodore’s condition was serious at the time. The famous doctors and High-level Wizards couldn’t even find the cause, let alone treat him. At that time, everyone said something similar, that they didn’t understand how he was still alive in this state…”
A stiff and heavy voice flowed in without stopping. But because of the light that burst sporadically in front of my eyes and the scenes that I couldn’t understand, I was having a hard time just trying not to lose consciousness.
The sunset that spread red over the river, the wild animals that were on fire and rushing somewhere, the smell of burning flesh and the smoke of the burning forest, the red lumps of flesh with the skin peeled off, the red puddles created by blood vessels, the girl laughing with red flowers in her ears, the boy climbing a tree wearing a red hood, the grandmother wearing a red apron, the grandfather holding a red axe, someone’s mother and father…
Every time scenes that had nothing to do with each other burst like water droplets and disappeared, my brain shook. Just as my stomach was turning upside down and I was about to throw up, a cool hand touched my forehead.
Without even opening my eyes, I desperately opened my mouth.
“My head hurts so much.”
My ears were ringing.
Hundreds of swarms of bees were flapping their wings and going crazy inside my skull to escape. Every time I was stung by a sting, I felt a pain that made me dizzy, and the remains of corpses that had collided and reached their limit and exploded were piled up, blocking my breathing holes.
“My head hurts.”
I don’t know if I’m standing, lying down, or sitting. Would it be okay if I just lost consciousness? But if I let go like this, even the memories that were barely surfacing would disappear.
“Jia……”
I need to find my memories as soon as possible. But at this rate, hundreds of gnats might end up smashing my head.
“Jia! Call a Wizard! My head hurts!”
The pain grew more and more every time I waved my arms and shouted.
Let’s break it before it gets smashed. It would be much better to smash my head, take out all the bugs, burn them to death, and then call a Wizard to put it back together.
As the pain did not subside, anger and annoyance were also growing.
I reached out to find something to smash my head with, but someone grabbed my wrist. And I felt a soft sensation on my lips.
“……”
Each time the soft lump that had pushed into my open lips slowly licked inside, my vision became clearer little by little. I slowly blinked my eyes and pulled my head back.
Aska, wearing a hood, put his hand on my cheek and whispered softly.
“Breathe.”
At those words, I breathed in and out. After repeating it a few times, the pain and dizziness noticeably subsided. The nausea that made me want to throw up also subsided.
As I slowly regained my senses, I became uncomfortable with the feeling of my clothes sticking to my back, soaked in cold sweat.
“Are you feeling better?”
“……”
I kept breathing and stared blankly inside the hood. But I couldn’t see his face properly. I unknowingly reached out and pulled down the hood.
I quickly regained my composure as I saw his face full of worry, his reddened eyes, and his gaze still only looking at me. I no longer smelled the flesh cooking, and my eyes didn’t sting because of the smoky smoke.
But Aska’s appearance was so funny that tears came to my eyes.
“Hahaha.”
It was because he was still wearing the pigtails that I had tied up earlier. I laughed out loud, but the surroundings were still chillingly quiet.