In the room Sariel had left behind.
Yuto sat alone and examined his Status Window.
[Void Storage Lv.1]
An unfamiliar name appeared. It was the screen he had seen when he took the girl's hand in the darkness.
‘The quest reward......’
He did not know what it was, but it appeared to be a Void Skill. Pondering would not give him an answer, so Yuto activated Void Storage.
FLASH.
A pitch-black screen appeared before him.
Item 1: Unknown Egg.
Item 2: Bond from a Past Life.
“...?”
Yuto tilted his head at the words upon the screen and focused on the text reading ‘Unknown Egg.’
Rank: Unmeasurable.
Description: An egg born in the deepest reaches of the Void. A faint pulse of life can be felt within. Special qualifications are required for it to hatch.
The explanation still shed little light on the matter. Yuto glared at it and reached toward the Unknown Egg. The ‘Unknown Egg’ inside Void Storage emerged into the room.
WHOOSH!
The egg appeared from violet mist. Intricate patterns covered its pitch-black shell, and Yuto could faintly feel it pulsing.
“This is...”
The moment Yuto cried out in surprise.
[Quest generated: The Stirring of Life.]
[Objective: Reach Level 10 and ???]
[Reward: The egg hatches, ???]
‘A quest...?’
Yuto's eyes narrowed. He now roughly understood what Void Storage was. It seemed to be a kind of subspace that held objects related to the Void.
‘Level 10...’
Reaching Level 10 was not the only condition. Yuto stared at the incompletely displayed ‘???’, but no matter how hard he looked, the question marks revealed nothing.
‘I will learn once I reach Level 10.’
Yuto returned the Unknown Egg to Void Storage. It was an object connected to the Void. The Void itself might be unknowable, but now that the Void had sent him back and dwelled within this body―Yuto had no choice but to use it.
‘The Void may betray me someday, just as the Broken Star did......’
With the Void already residing in his body, he could not cast it aside. Yuto steeled himself and continued thinking.
‘My current Level is 1. This Status Window must also be a power of the Void.’
Over the past month, he had experienced firsthand how greatly the Status Window's attributes could change his body. In that case, how could he raise his Level? Yuto glanced at the Status Window.
His Level remained ‘1.’
‘First, I must determine how to raise its Level.’
With Sariel's help, he had joined the Adventurers' Guild, so he could test it while conquering Dungeons. Having made that decision, Yuto turned his attention to the second item in Void Storage.
Item 2: Bond from a Past Life.
‘I have no idea what this is.’
Bond from a Past Life. Yuto studied the words, but unlike the Unknown Egg, they produced no explanation. Without hesitation, Yuto reached toward the second item.
―WHOOSH!
Black mist surged up just as it had when the Unknown Egg appeared. Yet nothing emerged from the mist. Instead, the mist plunged into Yuto's chest.
“...?!”
The mist entered Flokiro's Evostone. Before the startled Yuto could even seize it, the mist-wrapped Evostone floated into the air.
FWOOSH!
The black mist around the Evostone became flame. Then the Evostone collapsed into light.
The light began to take shape. The particles floating in the air spiraled together. Four legs, a long tail, and two upright ears. Fire blazed along the outline and formed a familiar shape.
A small fox.
“Ah...”
Yuto rose. His chair toppled behind him, but he had no attention to spare. The flames faded, and when the light cleared, a small fox with orange fur landed lightly where it had been.
It was not the mangled creature Yuto had seen in the colosseum. Its shredded back and blood-soaked fur were gone. Whole and uninjured, Flokiro stood before him.
“Flokiro...”
Yuto called its name in a trembling voice. Flokiro's ears twitched. Its closed eyes slowly opened. Yellow eyes swept across the room, reached Yuto―and stopped.
The madness Yuto had seen in the colosseum was gone. Only longing filled Flokiro's eyes now. It stared at Yuto in disbelief, tears brimming in its eyes.
“Yu-to!”
Flokiro shrieked and leaped into Yuto's arms. With tears in his own eyes, Yuto hugged Flokiro tightly.
“You... You came back with me.”
On the night of the regression, the instant Yuto drove the tentacle of the Void into his chest, the dying Flokiro had been dragged back to this time with him. They had fallen into the same forest, lost their memories, and reached toward one another―without recognizing each other.
“I do not... really know what happened...”
Flokiro spoke haltingly.
“The last thing... I remember is sending you away in Belkain's banquet hall. After that...”
Flokiro's eyes trembled.
“The colos... seum. Running wild there. And then...”
“You do not have to force yourself to remember. It must be painful.”
Yuto smiled bitterly and held Flokiro close.
“I will explain... in time. Though I do not understand everything either.”
Flokiro stared at Yuto for a moment, then extended a fist. Knowing what it meant, Yuto smiled bitterly.
“It will be a difficult road. Are you willing to come with me?”
“Of course I am coming. I am your partner.”
Flokiro stubbornly declared as it rubbed away its tears with one paw.
“...Thank you.”
Yuto smiled and extended his own fist. BUMP. The instant their fists met, aether light flared between them. CRACKLE! The crest of an Evomon Contract appeared on the back of Yuto's hand.
It was a contract between a human and an Evomon. The contract itself required no complicated procedure, but once formed, it could not be broken unless the partner died or the Evomon became an Evostone.
For that reason, a contract carried great weight for both human and Evomon. In a sense, it deprived an Evomon of its ‘freedom.’ A contracted Evomon could no longer live in the world entirely by its own will. An uncontracted Evomon could roam freely, but once it formed a contract, acting upon that free will required its partner's consent.
Unless its partner consented and summoned it, the Evomon could not even manifest physically. The reason Evomon entered contracts with humans despite such restrictions was―evolution.
An uncontracted Evomon's form is fixed, and it cannot grow in any exceptional way. Only by forming a contract and deepening its bond with a partner can an Evomon achieve evolution.
Thus, humans gained dependable companions through contracts with Evomon, but continually expended aether to maintain those contracts and manifest their Evomon.
A contract was a double-edged sword in many ways, yet Flokiro asked Yuto to form one as though it were obvious. That also meant Flokiro intended to devote the life it had gained through regression to Yuto.
“I...”
Yuto met Flokiro's gaze and began to speak.
“I intend to take revenge.”
“Against whom?”
Flokiro's eyes flashed as it asked.
“Shiro Listal.”
Flokiro ground its teeth at Yuto's answer. Yuto recalled the Shiro he had seen earlier―the twelve-year-old who underwent the constellation ceremony before the watching crowd.
“The Shiro of this time is different from the one we remember.”
“So you are not going to take revenge?”
“I do not know.”
Yuto murmured with a bitter smile. The past to which he had returned differed greatly from the world he once lived in. In this world, Belkain had already fallen.
“I still do not know why Shiro betrayed me. But... he brought Balistera's army and destroyed Belkain. That betrayal had been prepared over a long time.”
Yuto released a long sigh and shook his head.
“When I attacked Shiro, the Broken Star... sided with him instead of me. I do not know why.”
Even if he sought out the present Shiro, he would be unable to learn all the secrets of what happened in his previous life.
“But the constellations are the same.”
Flokiro's eyes flashed as it spoke. Yuto quietly nodded and stroked the obsidian dagger Sariel had left as a parting gift.
“I am not sure about Shiro yet, but the constellations... I will take revenge on them.”
“Ri...”
GRRRR.
Flokiro froze just as it clenched a fist to answer. Looking embarrassed, it clutched its stomach.
“I-I was just resurrected. That is all.”
Yuto could not help smiling.
“I have none of the sweets you enjoy right now.”
Yuto turned and approached his pack in one corner of the room. There was probably food inside.
“...?”
Yuto froze after opening the pack. A roughly folded letter rested on top. He hurriedly unfolded it.
Scrawled handwriting greeted him.
[Boy, if you are reading this, then you have likely recovered your memories and This One has left you.]
It was a letter from Sariel.
[Much of what follows is This One's conjecture. However, This One is truly wise and therefore believes her conjecture to be the truth.]
[Boy, you told This One that you desired revenge―revenge upon those who made your past painful. This One believes you are a survivor of Belkain. If so, your revenge must be directed at the constellations that destroyed Belkain.]
[―Or so This One thought. Boy, before you lost consciousness today, you stared at Listal's prince as though you desperately wanted to kill him.]
[Why could that be? What connection does Listal's prince have to Belkain's destruction? Even This One, in all her wisdom, does not know that much. But it was clear that your hostility and hatred were directed at Listal's prince.]
[This One pondered the matter at length beside you as you lay unconscious, but no answer came. There is, however, one thing she felt she must tell you.]
[Boy, taking revenge upon Listal's prince―that is, killing him―will be extremely difficult.]
[Because the boy is Listal's prince? No. That is not the only reason. A monster in the truest sense dwells within that boy.]
[Would you believe that Crimson Ringmistress, the creature you saw, follows the prince of Listal?]
“...What?”
Yuto's eyes widened as he read the letter.
[Not only Crimson Ringmistress. All seven members of the Eclipse who exist in Callisto are the prince of Listal's hands and feet.]
[You wonder how This One knows this? Because she is exceedingly wise and knows a great many things. So boy, heed this warning. No matter how much power you possess, killing Listal's prince is impossible for you now.]
[Then what must you do? There is only one answer. Boy, you must grow so strong that you are no longer a boy.]
[Remember This One's warning, and do not die like a dog before repaying your debt to her.]
Yuto's hand trembled around the letter. Sariel's message was so shocking that it was difficult to believe.
‘The Eclipse... are Shiro's servants?’
It sounded impossible, but Sariel had no reason to leave such a lie behind. To begin with, why would Sariel have any reason to frame Shiro? Yuto sank to the floor as a throb began in his head.
‘......’
Pieces of a puzzle began fitting together inside his confusion. In both his previous life and the present, the Eclipse were monsters beyond the power of kingdoms to control. Partly, that was because each possessed formidable strength, but with the exception of Crimson Ringmistress, most also operated in secret throughout Callisto.
Yuto and Shiro had defeated those members of the Eclipse one at a time. Even when no one could identify where they were, Shiro had located them precisely and hunted them alongside Yuto.
‘If Shiro was connected to the Eclipse... even in my previous life...’
A terrible possibility took shape.
Yuto and Shiro had become heroes of Callisto because they defeated the Eclipse.
What if Shiro had arranged those very hunts?
What if Shiro was the one who made Yuto a hero?
And who was it that took everything from that hero, plunged him into despair, and brought him to his knees?
‘Shiro.’
The words the constellations had laughed and chattered before Yuto's death echoed in his mind. The constellations had written and directed Yuto's life, his heroic tale, that wretched play. Yuto had been a foolish lead actor who mistook everything for his own will without ever realizing he was a character in a script.
‘The constellations were not the only ones who wrote and directed that play.’
Yuto clenched his teeth. Shiro's betrayal opened the climax of the tragedy in which Yuto starred. The betrayal had come at the happiest summit of Yuto's life, making it all the more devastating, and it was Shiro who had walked beside him until that very moment.
‘Shiro, Shiro Listal. Just... what were you?’
Why did the Eclipse follow Shiro, and why had the Broken Star taken Shiro's side?
And then.
‘Sariel.’
Yuto looked down at the letter he had crumpled in his hand.
‘Just... who are you, to know a truth like this?’
The question circled suffocatingly in Yuto's chest. Sariel was no longer in the room to answer it. She had left, promising to return someday to collect his debt.
Everything was confusing, but one thing was clear.
Yuto believed the contents of the letter.
*
Throughout the night.
Yuto brought his emotions under control.
He assumed that Shiro Listal was the master of the Eclipse.
Under that assumption, many things fit neatly together. The battles in his previous life, difficult but never ending in defeat. The betrayal. The constellations' mockery.
If Shiro had caused all of it by joining hands with the constellations―
‘Questions remain.’
What did Shiro gain from it? What did Shiro desire that drove him to betray Yuto? Yuto recalled that dreadful night.
[You struggle too much, my friend.]
The words Shiro had whispered to Yuto as he vomited blood and attacked despite the wound through his chest.
[All of this is for our promise. A world without hierarchy. An equal world with neither gods nor kings. My friend, have you forgotten our promise?]
They had made such a promise: to overthrow the rule of the constellations that brought misery to the world, and to make the world―free.
‘An equal world with neither gods nor kings......’
But Yuto had never spoken those words himself. Had those words revealed what Shiro truly believed? Yuto could not yet know the truth.
‘Your betrayal was prepared over many years, and you... deceived me.’
Yuto looked out the window.
Listal's royal castle stood in the distance. Shiro would be inside.
Yuto had wondered whether he should take revenge on Shiro in this world after his regression.
Now there was no reason to entertain such doubts. If Shiro was connected to the Eclipse and the constellations, then by Yuto's standards, he was unquestionably an ‘enemy.’
‘But I cannot kill Shiro as I am now.’
Breaking through the heavy defenses of Listal's royal castle was impossible. Even if he somehow succeeded, killing Shiro would remain impossible. If the Eclipse followed him, then Shiro must possess some unknown power Yuto knew nothing about.
‘In the end, I need strength.’
Yuto quietly clenched his fist.
As he calmed his emotions, he also considered what he should do next.
‘My goal is Level 10. I will conquer Dungeons to reach it.’
Killing a Dungeon's Beasts produced aetheric crystals known as Crystals. They were commodities that could be exchanged for money, and absorbing them also increased the aether within one's body.
Whether Dungeon Crystals would raise his Level remained uncertain, but it was worth testing.
‘Next... I need a patron.’
A patron who would stand behind Yuto in place of fallen Belkain. Yuto narrowed his eyes and clenched his fist.
‘Two years from now?’
With those two years in mind, Yuto began adding detail to the plan in his head.
*
―SQUAWK, SQUAWK.
Gulls cried, and the wind carried the briny scent of the sea. The hot sun beat down upon cliffs battered by rough waves.
Buildings packed the sheer coastal cliffs in tiers. This was Callisto's wealthiest port city, ancient and stately yet full of life.
Merchant City. Callisto's largest trading port, where the world's money, goods, and desires flowed.
“We have arrived.”
A boy with a black hood pulled low murmured as he gazed at Merchant City in the distance.
It was Yuto.
Two years had greatly changed the small, frail boy. He had grown a handspan taller, and firm muscle now filled his once-thin frame. His jawline had begun to shed its childish softness and grow sharp, while the eyes beneath his hood were far deeper and calmer than a boy's should be.
Now fourteen, Yuto carried a dangerous air as he stood on the boundary between boyhood and youth.
“The smell of the sea.”
Flokiro spoke at Yuto's side, its tail swaying. An Evomon contracted with a human did not grow except through evolution. Flokiro therefore looked no different from the adorable fox it had been two years earlier, but like Yuto's, its eyes held the hard-won experience of a warrior who had survived countless brushes with death.
“It brings back memories.”
Flokiro grinned. This was their first visit to Merchant City in this world, but before the regression, Yuto and Flokiro had visited it many times.
ROOOOOAR......
A great cry sounded in the distance. Yuto glanced at the sea stretching beneath the nearby cliffs. One of Merchant City's most famous sights unfolded there.
Turtle-shaped Evomon as large as houses. ‘Titan Shells’ cruised serenely through the sea with enormous cargo―even entire ships―loaded atop their shells. At the harbor nearby, huge cranes moved without pause, unloading the cargo the Titan Shells had carried.
Merchant City used Evomon not merely as battle partners but as engines of industry. Its wealth, the greatest in Callisto, had been built upon Evomon labor.
‘Nothing has changed.’
Yuto smiled bitterly. It appeared lively and prosperous, but behind that splendor hid the ruthless logic of capital and a great gulf between rich and poor.
Just as in every city Yuto had passed through during the last two years, the poor of this wealthy city starved in shadowed alleys while a handful of nobles monopolized its riches.
At the summit of that wealth stood House Marigold, the largest trading house in Merchant City.
―Yuto recalled the past two years.
They had been days of ceaseless motion. From the day he recovered his identity, parted from Sariel, and reunited with Flokiro, Yuto had thrown himself into one Dungeon after another.
Status Window:
Name: Yuto Belkain.
Level: 9
Health: 60
Aether: 60
Strength: 45
Agility: 35
Charisma: 30
Remaining Points: 0
Void Skills:
Void Step LV3.
Void Hand LV4.
After two years of roaming Dungeons and devouring Crystals, his Level had reached 9. In the process, Yuto gained a clearer understanding of the System dwelling within him.
His Level rose through experience and the absorption of Crystals. Fortunately, the aether within an absorbed Crystal was not consumed solely to raise his Level. A portion also entered his body.
Each Level granted 10 Points. Yuto distributed them according to his needs.
The stat he invested the most Points in was Health. To improve the capabilities of his immature body, he had no choice but to invest heavily in Health.
Because absorbing Crystals increased his Aether even without Points, he did not invest as many there. The Status Window displayed his Aether as 60, but his body currently contained more than the number indicated. He had conquered dozens of Dungeons with Flokiro and devoured the Crystals within, so that was only natural.
Forty-five Strength and thirty-five Agility granted him physical power and speed far beyond what suited his age and build. Even without a weapon, Yuto could already contend with a hulking man or an Evomon.
The Charisma stat proved unexpectedly useful. Without Yuto doing anything in particular, it caused others to feel ‘favorably’ toward him from their first impression. It was a form of enchantment.
It was not absolute, of course, but for Yuto, who traveled alone, Charisma was valuable enough to merit investing Points. When mixed with hostility or murderous intent, the Charisma stat could also be projected as an ‘intimidating presence.’
‘I am ready.’
For two years, Yuto had moved cautiously and tirelessly in preparation for this day. Even while conquering dozens of Dungeons, he had not reported them to the guild and had accepted as few requests as possible.
He had done so to avoid attention. Concentrated attention inevitably bred suspicion. Yuto concealed himself thoroughly.
Yuto quietly clenched his fist.
He had come to Merchant City―to make provisions for the future.
Yuto had not focused solely on raising his Level during those two years. He had also prepared for this day. He drew a glass vial from deep inside his clothes and examined its condition.
He had ventured again and again into Dungeons teeming with venomous Beasts. Even as his flesh rotted and hallucinations tormented him, he gathered poison and finally completed the antidote.
‘The Black Serpent Venom Antidote.’
Before his regression.
Surviving countless battlefields had required more than combat ability. To survive a battlefield, one also had to master the healing arts.
This antidote did not yet exist in the present era, but Yuto remembered the formulas for many medicines. This particular antidote had left him with many regrets before his regression, and he also had a connection to it.
Yuto remembered the woman who had obsessed over creating this antidote.
Before his regression, Yuto had visited Merchant City while concealing the fact that he was Belkain's prince. He wished to see and learn from Callisto's largest trading port with his own eyes.
During his visit.
The family head of House Marigold died.
The family head's health had declined several months earlier, leaving him bedridden. Numerous treatments were attempted, but every one failed, and he eventually died.
After the solemn funeral, the eldest son became the new family head of House Marigold. His younger sister left the family of her own accord, saying that there was no longer a place for her within it.
‘Levian Marigold.’
Yuto smiled bitterly as he recalled her name.