One month after the journey began, Yuto and Sariel arrived in the Kingdom of Listal.
The walls of Listal, the only kingdom never conquered by the Balistera Empire, were indeed lofty, and blue flags flew proudly above them. Yuto stared blankly at the walls for a moment before Sariel took his hand and led him toward the gate.
A long line of people waiting to enter the country stretched before the gate. Merchants' wagons, tourists, adventurers, and others waited while the gate guards inspected the line reserved for foreigners.
As Yuto watched them verify identification, search luggage, and pull suspicious figures aside, he could not help growing nervous. The inspection was thorough, as befitted the gate of a kingdom.
“There is no need to worry. This One will handle it.”
Reading Yuto's tension, Sariel spoke with a smirk. Their turn soon arrived, and a spear-wielding guard approached and looked them over.
“Present your identification. And your purpose for entering is...”
“Tourism.”
Sariel spoke while looking at the guard.
That was all. Unlike everyone else, she did not produce any identification. She merely stared and spoke. Yet the moment the guard met Sariel's lone eye, his gaze grew hazy.
“...Confirmed. You may pass.”
The guard spoke as though half asleep and stepped aside. The guard beside him and the military clerk holding the ledger did the same. Blinking unfocused eyes, they opened the way as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
Yuto passed through the gate in a daze. When he looked back, the guards he had just passed were inspecting the next travelers with a businesslike manner.
“What did you just do?”
“Nothing.”
Sariel answered glibly.
“They must have been captivated by This One's beauty. Quite a common occurrence.”
It was an obvious lie, but Yuto did not press her. He had traveled with Sariel for a month now. He knew perfectly well that she possessed many secrets and abilities.
Their business in the border city proceeded just as smoothly. Sariel led Yuto straight to the Adventurers' Guild. The hall was crowded, and a line stretched before the reception desk. Yet Sariel took Yuto by the wrist and cut straight to the front without waiting at all.
“This One is here to register this child as an adventurer.”
The rough-tempered adventurers should have protested her cutting in line, yet for some reason every one of them remained silent. Yuto could not help finding it strange once again.
“Registration... I see. His name?”
The employee behind the desk looked at Sariel and Yuto through hazy eyes.
“Yuto.”
“His family name...?”
“He has none.”
“A guarantor, or proof of his birthplace...”
“This One is his guarantor. As for proof of birthplace, hmm, make it the Kingdom of Listal.”
Sariel answered carelessly, produced a gold coin, and set it on the desk. The employee looked back and forth between Sariel and the coin before slowly nodding.
“Confirmed... Please wait a moment.”
That was the end of it. There was no investigation into the guarantor's identity and no proof of birthplace. The employee merely had Yuto place his hand on a crystal sphere to verify his aether response, then handed him an iron-plated rank tag.
[Adventurer Registration Card.]
[Name: Yuto.]
[Rank: Bronze.]
“As of today, you are a Bronze-rank adventurer. This registration tag may serve as identification, and a Bronze rank permits entry into D-rank Dungeons...”
The employee spoke in a dazed voice. As Yuto accepted the registration tag with an equally dazed expression, Sariel placed a hand atop his head. She tousled his hair as usual and chuckled.
“Congratulations, boy.”
As he left the guild with Sariel, Yuto looked down at the iron tag in his hand. The boy who had possessed nothing but the name Yuto since returning to the past had gained an ‘identity’ for the first time.
“You possessed an ability like that too?”
Yuto glanced up at Sariel as he asked.
“Hmm? Whatever do you mean?”
“Do not play innocent. From entering the country to registering as an adventurer, was everything not far too easy?”
“You would not have been able to enter the country at all if we had followed the proper procedure.”
Sariel shrugged and smiled.
“The same applies to your adventurer registration. Boy, even if you claimed to be a survivor of Belkain, you have no way to prove it, do you? So This One employed a minor trick. Claiming Listal as your birthplace will also cause less trouble than claiming Belkain.”
As he listened, Yuto recalled the hazy eyes of the guards and the employee at the reception desk. Then something occurred to him. Come to think of it, there was more than one thing he had found strange.
‘Why is no one looking at Sariel?’
Most elves in Callisto lived in the forests of Vermira. Sariel might be half elf, but in appearance she barely differed from a full-blooded elf. Yet no one in the city showed surprise or paid her any attention.
Nor had it happened only here. During the journey from the forest outside Oltea, neither the people in the villages they visited nor the travelers they met on the road had found Sariel unusual. It was not that they failed to perceive her altogether. They simply regarded her as an ordinary human.
‘What... are you?’
A being who boasted of being stronger than Crimson Ringmistress without contracting with a constellation and could manipulate people's perceptions at will. Yuto swallowed without realizing it. Sariel had shown him great kindness and offered him considerable help over the past month―but he still knew very little about her.
Now he could not even tell whether the Sariel he saw was her ‘true’ appearance. Perhaps sensing his gaze, Sariel glanced back at him.
“Have you been bewitched by This One's appearance again? Or are questions about her drifting through your mind?”
“The person... I see before me now―is this your true appearance?”
Yuto asked directly. Sariel chuckled at the question, slowed her pace, and moved alongside him to tousle his hair.
“The face This One shows you is real.”
“Why do you not show me a different appearance?”
“Hmm, how should This One answer that...... Because there is no reason to deceive you?”
Sariel answered with a smile and cocked her head.
“In any case, boy, we have entered Listal. Have you remembered anything?”
Yuto fell silent for a moment. Nothing had returned to him. However―just as when he first heard Listal's name, something had continued to seethe deep in his chest from the instant he set foot upon this land.
It was anger. A different kind from what he felt when he first saw Crimson. Cold rather than hot, and deep rather than violent.
‘Betrayal.’
That word came closest. But why? What had Listal done to Yuto? No matter how he searched, he could not yet remember the reason. Over the past month, he had dreamed and recalled his past countless times. Even so, many gaps remained in Yuto's memory.
“...Nothing.”
Yuto answered quietly. He now knew how to govern and suppress his emotions. Even as he thought of betrayal, he showed no trembling, nor did uncontrolled aether leak from him.
Sariel had taught him all of it. At Yuto's answer, her lone eye narrowed. Her gaze seemed to peer into his innermost thoughts.
“Hmm.”
After watching Yuto for a moment, Sariel nodded.
“If nothing comes to mind, let us visit the capital.”
“The capital...?”
“Yes. If this rural corner of the border stirs nothing, then we must visit the heart of the nation. Listal's capital, Lisgar. As it happens, This One hears that many carriages are traveling there now.”
Sariel grinned and pointed toward the main road.
“There is a festival in the capital.”
True to her words, a long line of carriages filled the main road.
*
Every carriage bound for the capital of Lisgar was full, yet even here, no one paid Sariel any attention. As Yuto sat beside Sariel, who gazed languidly out the window, the other passengers' voices reached him.
“To think Their Highnesses are already twelve. Time truly flies.”
“The real question is which constellations will choose them. They are the royal twins, so high-ranking constellations will surely select them.”
Apparently, the festival marked the twelfth birthday of Listal's royal twins in several days. Yuto listened to the passengers' conversation with keen interest.
At the age of twelve, Callisto's nobles were chosen by constellations. Priests of the orders that worshiped the constellations presided over the selection ceremony, and the twins' ceremony on their birthday tomorrow would be held with great splendor in Lisgar's central square.
‘Twins......’
THUMP, THUMP, THUMP.
Yuto's heart began pounding rapidly. An inexplicable unpleasant taste filled his mouth.
“Still, is it not fortunate? It has been three years since Belkain met its end...... To be honest, I wondered what might become of Listal.”
“Shh, man. Why mention that name and invite bad luck on the way to a festival?”
“Am I not allowed to worry? Belkain was our ally, and after what happened there, what if the anger of the great constellations spreads to Listal as well.......”
“Shh, shh! Do not say it aloud. Do not even think it. If you spoke that way in Lisgar, the guards would arrest you on the spot!”
“Ahem, ahem. I only meant that we should be grateful... Their Highnesses have grown up safely and will now be chosen by the great constellations. I merely meant that Listal's future is bright.”
At the mention of Belkain, Yuto quietly clenched his fist.
The carriage traveled for three days. At night, all the carriages in the group stopped together. The passengers shared food, gathered before a great fire, introduced themselves, laughed, and talked.
Yuto and Sariel did not join the commotion. They sat apart and conversed as usual, and not one of the passengers approached them.
“Every Dungeon in Callisto was created by the constellations.”
Sariel began to speak as she tilted her bottle.
“A Dungeon is a space isolated from the world, and monsters called ‘Beasts’ dwell within it. Pass through the Dungeon's chambers by killing Beasts, then slay the boss in the final chamber―and a constellation will bestow a gift.”
Sariel smirked at Yuto.
“As a result, nobles enter Dungeons almost as often as adventurers do. They wish to win the constellations' favor. Now that you are an adventurer, you should enter one someday.”
“Will I enter with you, Lady Sariel?”
“If This One is still beside you then, hmm, perhaps we might enter together. But with your present skill, you should encounter little difficulty in a D-rank Dungeon.”
Yuto had changed considerably over the past month. Thought and finesse had entered the sword that once moved by instinct alone, and he had become adept at using his Void Skills in actual combat.
It was all thanks to Sariel's instruction. How to fight, how to control aether, how to govern his emotions, and much more. Strictly speaking, Sariel had drawn out things he already knew but could not remember, yet Yuto felt genuine gratitude toward her.
“Is it not about time you told me?”
“Told you what?”
“What price you actually want from me.”
“Hmph. The more you wonder, the less This One wishes to tell you.”
Sariel chuckled and tilted her head.
“Do not worry. This One will not ask a price you cannot pay.”
“I own nothing, so I cannot give you money.”
“Do you think a great figure like This One would go to such trouble for mere money?”
“Do you find it troublesome?”
“Hmm, in truth, it is not difficult enough to call trouble. It is rather entertaining as well. Boy, what of you?”
“I am grateful to you, Lady Sariel.”
“What a commendable thing to say.”
Once again, Sariel reached out and tousled Yuto's hair.
“We will arrive in Lisgar tomorrow. This One hopes your memories return there.”
“......”
Yuto remained silent. The closer they came to Lisgar, the clearer his nightmares became and the more often his heart pounded.
‘Betrayal.’
The emotion that had surfaced several days ago. Yuto sensed it instinctively. Once he reached Lisgar―the gaps in his mind would be filled.
The prospect frightened him more than it excited him.
His earlier conversation with Sariel drifted through his mind. She had asked whether there was any need to recall such painful memories.
If he did not go to Lisgar. If he turned away from his past―
‘I cannot.’
Even if he turned away now, the memories would not disappear. His forgotten past and these clinging emotions would rot within his chest until they ultimately destroyed him. Yuto gripped the Flokiro Evostone inside his clothes.
‘I have to know everything.’
Sariel silently watched Yuto's resolve.
*
Lisgar was in the midst of a festival. Flags of Listal's royal family and colorful cloth hung along every street, while fragrant aromas drifted from the rows of food stalls.
“What remarkable fervor.”
Sariel murmured as she surveyed the crowd. The royal twins' birthday. A public constellation ceremony. The capital's streets swarmed with people who had come from every corner of the Kingdom of Listal.
It showed just how much hope rested on the royal twins. The constellations in the sky would examine each child, and any constellation that found one pleasing would form a contract and bestow its blessing. Which constellation chose a noble determined that person's entire life and the rise or fall of the family. When the ceremony concerned royalty, it was no exaggeration to say that the kingdom's fate hung in the balance.
“Boy, you look roughly twelve yourself.”
Sariel giggled and raised a finger. Lisgar's central square was so packed that they could approach no farther, but the tall platform erected at its center remained clearly visible even from the rear of the crowd.
“Would you not like to stand on such a platform and be chosen by a constellation?”
“No.”
Yuto answered immediately. There was nothing to consider. He desired no blessing from a constellation. The very thought made his stomach twist.
“Ahaha, This One thought as much.”
Sariel burst out laughing.
Time passed. The kingdom's knights standing guard around the platform raised Listal's banners high. THOOM, THOOM, THOOM! Drums began to sound in the distance. The murmuring of the crowd gradually faded.
―BOOOONG! The peal of a massive bell rang throughout the capital. All around him, Yuto heard people swallow hard.
The king and queen, dressed in splendid ceremonial attire, ascended the stairs leading to the platform. The king reached the top first and waved to the citizens in the square.
“Waaaaaaaah!”
The citizens roared. The king listened to their cheers with a pleased expression, then began to speak.
“People of Listal! In the name of the royal family, I offer my gratitude to all who have gathered here today!”
The king's voice thundered across the square. Amplified by magic, it reached even the farthest edge of the crowd with perfect clarity.
“As all of you know, today is the day the two stars of our royal family, born upon the same day at the same hour, receive the choice of the heavens! Today is the day our nation's future is ordained, and the day we prove that the constellations' protection shall remain with Listal in the years to come!”
The citizens cheered loudly at the king's speech. At their roar, the king thrust a clenched fist high into the air.
“The great constellations forever watch over our Listal! Through today's ceremony, their grace shall deepen, and our kingdom's prosperity shall endure forevermore!”
They were ritual words: praise for the constellations, the kingdom's prosperity, and the grace of the heavens. The citizens erupted at every phrase, and the square boiled with cheers.
At the center of that fervor, Yuto looked up at the platform with eyes gone cold. The middle-aged king's face was ruddy and healthy―yet another face overlapped it in Yuto's sight. A pallid face with sunken cheeks, wasting away from illness.
‘I know that man.’
Of course he did. Before returning to the past, Yuto had been the king of Belkain. In that case, naturally―naturally, he would also know the faces of the royal twins who were about to appear upon the platform.
“And now―allow me to present today's main figures!”
BOOOONG! The bell sounded once more. The crowd's cheers faded, and countless eyes fixed upon the platform. A suffocating stillness fell, so complete that the sound of someone swallowing might have been heard.
The twins, dressed in pure-white ceremonial robes, appeared alongside the High Priest presiding over the ceremony. The boy walked first. Blond hair like molten sunlight swayed with every step. He possessed handsome features and a straight back and composed stride uncharacteristic of a twelve-year-old. After ascending the platform, the boy slowly surveyed the square, then raised a hand in accordance with proper etiquette.
“Waaaaaaaah!”
The girl ascended the platform amid the cheers. Unlike her older brother, she wore her pale silver hair long. Perhaps embarrassed by the adulation pouring down upon her, she climbed the steps with a faint smile. When her feet briefly tangled at the top, the boy already on the platform naturally extended a hand and steadied her.
The girl beamed at her older brother, and the crowd's cheering swelled even louder at the sight.
“The first star of Listal, His Highness Prince Shiro Listal.”
The High Priest began to speak. His magically amplified voice rang across the entire square.
“The second star of Listal, Her Highness Princess Sirin Listal.”
Shiro Listal.
Sirin Listal.
The two names pierced Yuto's ears.
At that moment, the world Yuto saw came to a halt.
The square's cheers, the fluttering flags, even Sariel's presence beside him―everything receded into the distance. Yuto saw only the twins upon the platform.
The blond boy and the silver-haired girl.
‘Ah.’
Shiro Listal.
The blond man who stood holding a bloodstained sword.
‘Ahh.’
Sirin Listal.
The woman who had collapsed to the floor, drenched in blood.
―CRACK.
Something split open inside Yuto's mind. The voices that had remained blurred throughout a month of dreams. The faces he had been unable to see. The names he could never call―all of them poured through the crack at once.
The boy he first met at Listal's royal castle, whom he first crossed swords with during a lesson and befriended that very day. The companion who shared not a drop of his blood, yet whom he regarded as a brother and trusted to guard his back.
They had shared the same ideals, ridden together across battlefields, and overcome countless hardships side by side.
‘It was you.’
The boy smiling brightly at the square overlapped with the friend who had smiled at Yuto, traded jokes with him, and spoken of ideals and the future.
And with the enemy who pierced Yuto's chest on a starless night and then slaughtered his own younger sister with that bloodstained sword.
‘You.’
Yuto clenched his trembling hand.
‘You betrayed me.’
All his memories returned.