"System, summon my new subordinate!" Himaru commanded the System with a voice full of hope.
In that instant, a strange phenomenon recurred. Just like when Touma was summoned before, a dark portal shaped like a human-sized black hole appeared in front of Himaru.
The portal rotated slowly, emitting a mysterious aura that made one wonder about its underlying principles.
From within the dark portal, a beautiful woman with a unique and captivating appearance emerged. Her slender legs stepped gracefully onto the basement floor.
The woman possessed pointed ears, typical of the elf race, and silvery-white hair tied into elegant twin tails. Her hair shimmered under the dungeon's lamplight, adding to her mysterious yet enchanting impression.
In her right hand, she held a magic staff that appeared intricately carved, enhancing the magical aura of her presence.
Although not as tall as Touma, this elven woman had ideal body proportions, neither too short nor too tall. Her curves were perfectly defined, enveloped in white and light blue garments that resembled a mage's robes.
Her expression was remarkably calm and graceful. She surveyed her surroundings with curiosity radiating from her blue eyes. Those eyes appeared clear as crystals, yet also held unfathomable depths of mystery.
When her gaze fell upon Himaru, her reaction remained composed, showing no surprise or confusion whatsoever. It was a stark contrast to Touma's reaction upon being summoned for the first time, who immediately embraced Himaru while weeping profusely.
The white-haired woman gracefully approached Himaru, her steps light and silent as a gentle breeze.
She looked straight at Himaru and inquired in a soft yet seemingly emotionless voice, "Himaru-sama, is it not? It has been a while." Her tone was flat, without any intonation indicating familiarity or warmth.
"Oh, hello! I'm sorry, but… what is your name?" Himaru asked politely, attempting to inquire about her name.
The woman tilted her head slightly, gazing at Himaru with a blank expression, "Is Himaru-sama suffering from amnesia?" she asked in a questioning tone. The question left Himaru momentarily speechless. He pondered this situation and sought a way to explain his condition.
"Hmm, you could say that. How should I explain it? Ah, just like this… are you acquainted with Makishima Touma?" Himaru had an idea to explain this situation.
"Of course I know her, Himaru-sama. Why do you ask this?" the woman replied, slightly puzzled by Himaru's question. Her tone was still flat, yet there was a hint of curiosity within it.
"Since you know her… that's good. Rather than me explaining, let her explain it to you," Himaru replied while sending a message to Touma to come to the dungeon immediately.
He felt Touma would be better at explaining this complicated situation.
Not long after waiting, Touma, who received Himaru's message, promptly arrived at the dungeon with hurried steps.
From a distance, Touma saw Himaru standing with a woman she had never seen before in this world.
She frowned, wondering who that woman was.
The woman's attire appeared foreign, different from the fashion style of modern people in this world.
However, as she got closer, her eyes widened and she recognized the figure.
"Oh… Frienma, were you also summoned by Himaru-sama?" Touma asked in a slightly surprised tone. Her eyes radiated astonishment and a hint of excitement.
The summoned woman, Frienma, turned her head to Touma, "What do you mean, Touma?" she asked back with a blank expression. She seemed not to understand why Touma appeared so surprised.
Touma looked at Himaru with a questioning gaze, "Has Himaru-sama not explained the situation yet?" She felt something was amiss if Himaru had not explained anything to Frienma.
Himaru shook his head, "Not yet, I also don't know and don't have any memory of her different from when we first met, I only know her name when you called her earlier. So I called you, because I felt you could explain it better than me." Himaru explained the reason why he had not explained the situation to Frienma as well as the reason he called Touma here.
"Oh, I see," Touma replied briefly, understanding the situation at hand. She nodded, then turned back to Frienma.
Frienma looked at Touma calmly, "Could you explain the situation to me, Touma?" she asked politely, but her tone remained flat as usual.
Touma nodded and began to explain at length about the situation they were facing.
She explained that Himaru had reincarnated into another world, which was the world they were in now.
"Unfortunately, Himaru-sama seems to have no memory of his previous life back when we were together, Frienma," Touma explained.
Touma also explained that they both managed to be summoned to this world by Himaru with a reward obtained from defeating a dungeon boss.
This was the essence of Touma's explanation.
She tried to explain as clearly as possible so that Frienma could understand the actual situation.
Frienma listened to Touma's explanation attentively, without altering her calm facial expression.
Her eyes occasionally blinked, but her gaze remained focused on Touma.
After Touma finished speaking, Frienma asked in a curious tone, "Why does Himaru-sama seem to still have memories of you, Touma? What is the difference between us?" She seemed confused as to why Himaru could remember Touma but not remember her.
"Maybe I know this," Himaru suddenly interjected their conversation with a confident tone.
He felt he had gained enlightenment on why his memories had not fully returned.
Touma and Frienma turned to Himaru, awaiting his explanation.
They were both curious about what Himaru was about to say.
"The difference between you and Touma is that since your appearance just now, you haven't made any physical contact with me at all," Himaru continued his explanation.
He pointed to the fact that Touma had immediately hugged him upon their first meeting, while Frienma had kept her distance.
Frienma looked at Himaru with a puzzled expression, "Oh, Himaru-sama… how did Touma make physical contact with you before?" she asked curiously, even though her face remained expressionless.
She seemed to want to understand the difference between herself and Touma in this context.
"She hugged me while crying," Himaru explained jokingly, making Touma's beautiful face blush slightly in embarrassment.
Himaru smiled at Touma's reaction which was a contrast to her usual cool demeanor.
"Oh… should I do the same thing?" Frienma asked while glancing at Touma whose face was already slightly flushed.
She seemed to consider whether she should also hug Himaru.
"If you don't want to do that, we can just shake hands, that will also help me to confirm whether it's just physical contact or something specific like a hug that is needed to restore my memories…" Himaru said, but his words were cut short as Frienma suddenly hugged him.
Himaru was slightly surprised by Frienma's sudden action.
At the moment of that physical contact, at that very moment, Himaru regained the 'previous life' memories from the System.
A flood of information and sensations suddenly assaulted his brain.
In the memory that suddenly flooded his mind, Himaru saw himself lying inside a futuristic machine equipped with a helmet in an apartment. The apartment looked modern and minimalist, with a dominance of white and gray colors.
The design of the machine was very futuristic, clearly looking like a machine for entering a virtual reality (VR Game) world.
Blue and green LED lights flickered across the machine.
In his memory vision, a very familiar game name was listed in the selection menu on the helmet he was wearing.
The game's name was YGGDRASIL.
Isn't this the original game name from the OVERLORD series? Himaru thought in surprise.
He did not expect to see that game name in his memory.
However, he in that memory did not seem to choose the YGGDRASIL game, but instead chose another game called "Arcane Horizons".
The game menu looked full of choices of characters, classes, and different world settings.
He in that memory created a character with a face similar to his current face, complete with distinctive sky-blue hair.
The character creation process looked detailed and complex, allowing players to customize every aspect of the character's appearance.
After that, the memory changed scenes to when he was about to carry out a mission to destroy a cruel slave auction house.
When the character in the game successfully defeated the enemies and destroyed the auction house, he received a reward from the game system.
A reward notification appeared on the virtual game screen, complete with stunning sound and visual effects.
Among the rewards was an NPC (Non-Player Character) recruitment card.
And he in that memory used the card to recruit an NPC named Makishima Touma who was one of the NPCs he rescued from the slave auction place.
Touma's description in the game appeared on the screen, complete with character images, stats, and story background.
In the background displayed by the game system, Touma was a reincarnator from modern Japan.
Touma's background story explained how she could have the identity of a reincarnator, it turned out she was an NPC in the game world "Arcane Horizons".
Then the memory scene changed again.
Now he in the memory was on a mission to eradicate demons attacking an elf village.
The elf village was described as a beautiful and peaceful place, with tall trees and clear waterfalls.
But when he arrived at the mission location, it seemed that the elf village had been destroyed, no NPCs survived except for the village ruins. Village buildings were in ruins, and fires were still burning in some places.
After his character in the game successfully defeated the demons attacking the elf village, he again received a reward from the game system.
Among the rewards was an NPC recruitment card again.
He was guided to find his NPC towards a well in the destroyed elf village.
This time, he was led to search for his NPC towards the well in the destroyed elf village.
A virtual arrow appeared in front of his vision, indicating the direction to the well.
After he peeked into the well in the game, it turned out there was an elf girl who survived the demon attack, this was one of the rewards from this mission.
The elf girl looked frightened, exhausted, and sadness mixed in her facial expression.
In the background that appeared in the virtual game system, the NPC was named Frienma Weissdom, the only elf girl who survived the demon clan's attack that destroyed the village.
Frienma's background story explained how she was able to survive the demon attack and become trapped inside the well.
The memory ended, leaving Himaru with a new understanding of his past and the relationships he had with Touma and Frienma in the game world "Arcane Horizons".
He now realized (guessed) that he seemed to have reincarnated at least twice from his known first life.
His first life was a life on earth where My Hero Academia anime and also OVERLORD existed.
His second life seemed to be in the real world in the OVERLORD anime (the world before Suzuki Satoru or Momonga or Ainz-sama traveled to another world).
And his third life was in this world, the world of My Hero Academia.
His brain felt full of new information.
"So… I used to be a gamer?" Himaru muttered softly, still a little dazed by the memories that had just returned.
He released Frienma's hug, gazing at the two women in front of him with a different gaze. There was warmth and familiarity that now radiated from his eyes.
"Himaru-sama?" Touma asked cautiously, seeing the change in Himaru's expression. She felt something was different about Himaru now.
Himaru smiled gently at Touma and Frienma, "Yes, I almost remember everything now. Touma, Frienma… it's good to meet you again in this world," he said in a tone that was much warmer than before.
His tone of voice was now full of emotion and familiarity.
"Himaru-sama remembers us?" Frienma asked, although her expression was still blank, but there was a slight tone of curiosity mixed with happiness in her voice.
Her eyes stared at Himaru more intently.
"Of course. You two are the first and second subordinates I recruited in Arcane Horizons, right?" Himaru replied with a light chuckle.
(Arcane Horizons besides being a game name, this is also the designation of the world itself when in the game)
He felt relieved and happy that his memories had returned.
But he also would not tell them that they were actually just NPCs, this would make an already complicated situation even more chaotic.
Touma's face beamed upon hearing Himaru's answer.
"Hooray! Himaru-sama's memories have started to return! I'm so happy!" she exclaimed in a cheerful tone, then without hesitation she hugged Himaru tightly again.
This time, Himaru returned Touma's hug warmly.
Frienma just observed the two with a calm gaze.
Although she did not show a joyful expression like Touma, but in her heart, she also felt relieved and happy that Himaru had remembered them.