"Acheron?"
A rare trace of confusion appeared on Albedo's face.
"Oh… I know her, but Lord Ainz… is there something strange about her?"
"…"
This sentence caused Ainz's thoughts to short-circuit for a moment.
…What do you mean "is there something strange about her"? Even a blind person could see that Acheron was suspicious, right? They had also seen the dance between Acheron and Black Swan. If after that they still hadn't raised twelve levels of vigilance toward Acheron, then their wariness was truly worrisome.
But Albedo, as the Head Guardian, clearly did not belong to that category.
Ainz's silence instantly made the atmosphere in the Throne Hall grow heavy. Although Albedo didn't know what offense she had committed, the Supreme One's reaction and attitude definitely meant that her recent words and actions had disappointed him.
"Lord Ainz! I-I'm extremely sorry! Please forgive me!"
Albedo knelt on one knee and respectfully lowered her head, like a child who had done something wrong and was waiting for punishment.
"No, you don't need to apologize—"
Ainz turned his gaze toward the other Guardians. He struck the ground with his staff, producing a resounding sound: "Demiurge, tell me your thoughts?"
"I… Lord Ainz…"
Even the usually eloquent Demiurge could not come up with anything to say about this.
Ainz, gradually realizing something was wrong, began questioning the other Guardians. The result was the same without exception—they either didn't remember what Acheron had said, or had completely forgotten, only remembering recent events involving Acheron.
"How could this be?"
Ainz took out his note scroll, which contained detailed records of all information about every character since the Celestial Screen appeared. Acheron was no exception. But the moment the human-skin scroll was fully unfurled, Ainz's finger bones suddenly froze in mid-air.
The section recording Acheron's information now only contained a few charred black burn marks. Those words seemed to have been forcibly erased by some indescribable force, and even the burn marks were disappearing at a visible speed.
"This… this is impossible… What exactly is this…"
His voice caught in his throat.
A bone-chilling cold crawled up his spine. It was not the cold brought by magic, but a more primitive tremor from the depths of the soul. It felt as if some enormous, undetectable behemoth was rolling over his world. Not only did it leave no traces, but it counter-intuitively erased all records about Acheron.
It wandered freely through the Great Tomb of Nazarick, with the boundless darkness serving as the ocean for its free movement.
They were observing Acheron, while in the dark, that behemoth was also observing them.
"L-Lord Ainz…"
Albedo looked up with concern, gazing at the Supreme One on the throne who had almost lost all strength.
"…That's enough for today. Meeting adjourned."
Ainz, breathing heavily, gripped his staff firmly. He could somewhat understand Black Swan's disheveled and panicked state after the dance ended that day…
——
[The voices in the memories brought more blanks.]
["…It's as if they were erased by someone? Who did this…"]
[Suddenly, a faint female voice sounded in Black Swan's mind.]
["▅▅▅ You ▅▅ ▅▅▅ Are ▅▅▅ Who ▅▅▅▅▅▅"]
["—Who are you?"]
[Black Swan furrowed her brows: "…This is? …No, this isn't a memory?"]
[The voice seemed to carry a hint of playfulness: "Oh… A Memokeeper. You serve the Garden of Recollection… or the Garden of Hearth?" The voice introduced itself generously, "My name is Constance… Nice to meet you. We were supposed to meet in Penacony and spend a… 'unforgettable' period of time together."]
["But that seems impossible now. The star of the banquet does not welcome dahlias, and I don't need a coming-of-age ceremony… As for you, I know what you're looking for…"]
["Want 'her' secret? I can give it to you, and then… enjoy that banquet for me." Constance laughed softly, "I wish you 'unforgettable' memories."]
["Ring ring ring—"]
[The phone on Acheron's table suddenly rang.]
——
KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!
In the Adventurer's Guild, Kazuma sat with his legs crossed, eating grilled meat while pointing at the Celestial Screen.
"Huh? A dangerous individual of [Destruction] like Constance is still alive? Isn't Acheron too sloppy in handling things…" He tilted his head back and took a swig of beer, lamenting that although Miss Acheron was an Emanator, she didn't understand the valuable principles of "cutting the weeds and pulling out the roots" or "this child must not be left alive."
"However, she doesn't seem like the type who likes killing, right? Last time she even wanted to let that whatever Duke go…" Aqua said with a drunken face while hugging her wine cup.
Hearing the two of them chatting so enthusiastically, Darkness beside them looked completely confused and tilted her head: "Acheron… Do you two know her very well?"
"Of course, she's an Emanator, you know? It'd be hard not to know her, right?" Kazuma didn't know why Darkness was making that expression. "Hey hey, you haven't been infected by Aqua's idiot virus, have you?"
"Who are you calling an idiot!" Aqua jumped up in anger, but the next second she also looked a bit dazed. She carefully recalled and realized that even she couldn't remember what Acheron actually looked like.
"Strange, she was just chatting with Mr. Welt…"
Vaguely, Aqua felt like she was looking at flowers in the fog. Although the name and experiences were still clear, they were starting to blur like a dampened photo.
Kazuma also sensed something was wrong. Considering the previous influence of the [Propagation] Path during the Simulated Universe Swarm Disaster, he wasn't sure if they had been affected by some Path or if this Emanator herself had some special ability that invisibly applied a negative effect similar to "memory fading" on them.
He immediately had Aqua cast Purification on everyone present. The next second, an extreme burst of dazzling light erupted in the guild, but as the goddess's spell dissipated… nothing had changed.
"It seems useless, Kazuma." Aqua discovered that Acheron in her memories was still just as blurry.
"So it really doesn't work…" Kazuma pondered. "Influence from the Celestial Screen. I wonder if Eris from the heavenly realm can help repair it?"
"That's simple. Next time you die and see her, you can ask her to dispel it for you. If you resurrect again, the negative effects the Celestial Screen placed on you might disappear?"
"…Does it really have to wait until I die?" Kazuma sighed. "What if she can't do it?"
"Then you pull out her breast pads! Threaten her with that!"
"…Hey, keep your voice down! She can hear everything clearly from the heavenly realm!"