In truth, I had wondered about it once before.
If this place wasn't a dream, but truly the past of the era I had lived in.
What would happen to me if my actions twisted that past.
A vague question. But also one I quickly forgot, because there was nothing I could reasonably expect to happen.
And now that question had been answered. In the worst possible way.
"Khk..."
After I brought down the monster that had devoured a god, a major change came over my body.
At first, I thought it was the backlash from my technique. After using [Great Bell], I always ended up like this.
The sensation of every last bit of energy being drained away. Since I usually collapsed for days after using it once, I naturally assumed that was all it was this time too.
But I realized quickly that it wasn't. This sensation was something I could never mistake.
"I'm... weakening?"
My power. More than that, my very existence. It was weakening.
As if my existence itself was about to vanish.
The rabbit had come to the past and changed many things.
It changed the girl who would have become a vengeful spirit into an ordinary girl.
It showed a witch with no way to live a way to survive.
And beyond that, little by little, the future kept changing, and the price was gradually surfacing through the rabbit's body.
The condition I had recently dismissed as simply feeling unwell was, in truth, my body's warning.
A desperate scream that if I went any further, there would be no turning back.
But today, the rabbit had finally crossed the line.
Evilus, the organization of evil that would have continued all the way into the future. Its presiding god had lost his divinity today, and Evilus had met its end.
The malice that would have lasted into the distant future had been uprooted here and now.
It was surely a good thing for the world. A future tragedy had lost even the possibility of happening because of this moment.
But... then what would become of that future of nothing but tragedy?
What would become of the rabbit that had endured that future of nothing but tragedy and come through it?
"Ah..."
Every action comes with a price.
Then this was the price the rabbit had to pay.
The punishment for daring to dream of a better future. For being so arrogantly human as to harbor such a dream. For the foolish rabbit who had been foolish beyond all measure.
Sunlight squeezed in between my eyelids.
My sinking consciousness slowly began to rise. I frowned at the brightness for no good reason and sat up.
"Where... am I?"
Rubbing my dry, gritty eyes, I looked around and was greeted by an unfamiliar place I had never seen before.
Where was this? Why was I in a place like this?
"What did I do yesterday...?"
My thoughts were hazy, as if fog had settled over my head. I couldn't remember what day it was, or what I had been doing before I fell asleep.
A cool breeze drifted in through the wide-open window and wrapped around me. As I watched the curtains flutter, I heard a door open beside me.
"Hm? You're awake?"
"...Arphia?"
"You were asleep for a whole week, you know?!"
"Yes. You slept quite long."
Arphia's complaint didn't really reach my ears.
"A week..."
Until now, after using [Great Bell], I had usually been asleep for about two or three days. This was clearly much longer than usual.
And on top of that, my current condition...
"..."
"..."
When I fell silent, Arphia, who had been saying a few things, also closed her mouth.
Was she being considerate of my condition? I appreciated the thought, but if Arphia was going out of her way to be considerate, then I had no idea how serious my expression must have been.
I forced my expression back into place. Surprisingly, it returned to normal quickly.
Maybe it wasn't so much that I had composed myself as that this wasn't actually such a shocking story to begin with.
"May I ask what happened?"
"...What do you mean, what happened?"
"I mean why you suddenly collapsed."
She asked in a calm tone, but she couldn't hide the faint curiosity in her expression. No, maybe she had no intention of hiding it in the first place.
I felt bad for Arphia, but telling her the real reason would have been foolish. So I gave her a rough explanation about the price of [Great Bell], and Arphia seemed to accept it in broad strokes.
She probably thought that was the reason to begin with. It was a technique that did leave me collapsed for quite a while, even if not this long.
"What happened after I passed out?"
"Don't even ask. It was a complete mess."
According to Arphia, Ais, Fels, and even the Xenos had all been in an uproar, doing everything they could to save me.
"At first, your pulse was practically nonexistent, so I thought you were dead. The little blonde girl was bawling her eyes out, the monsters were screaming, and that weird skeleton was chanting something that sounded like a spell."
...Fels. He didn't try to cast resurrection magic, did he?
I hadn't realized it was that serious. Did this affect my body too?
Just in case, I clenched my hand tightly. I put as much strength into it as I could, but the power I felt in my fist wasn't what it used to be.
Was it because I'd been unconscious for so long? Or maybe...
Either way, I understood that the situation had been bad.
Still, they really managed to take care of me through all that chaos.
"What's the big deal? I just had to knock everyone out."
"..."
Correction. The others really did survive, huh.
...They're alive, right?
"How rude."
"Kuhk?!"
Before I could even react, the witch's hammer rang against the top of my head.
Can you believe it? Faster than a quick-cast spell?
"Your nonsense makes it look like you're fine."
"Ugh... I was fine, but now I'm not sure I am."
"Enough. Since you're awake, go to Loki Familia."
"Loki Familia?"
"The little girl has been coming by every day. It's annoying."
"Ah."
So that was it. Ais had been coming every day.
...For a whole week?
"She came every day, bawling her eyes out. I hate little girls, but I hate little girls crying even more."
At those words, my face turned pale blue.
"Oh, and come to think of it, the skeleton said that Ouranos—"
Ignoring the voice that followed, I immediately ran at full speed toward Loki Familia.
After spending several days meeting Ais and soothing the crying Ais,
"Ahem... so then..."
I was now crammed into a tavern, eating at Loki Familia's celebration feast.
And what were we celebrating...?
"To celebrate our little Ais-chan's Rank Up... cheers~!"
"""Cheers~!"""
Ais had reached Level 2.
"Why am I here?"
For the record, Arphia had come too. Since she had been there for that incident, I had invited her thinking it might be nice to drink together... I'll admit I was a little surprised she actually came.
But that wasn't the important thing right now.
"Congratulations on ranking up, Ais."
"Loki Familia really does all sorts of things. I'll at least congratulate you."
"V."
Ais drew a V sign with a face full of pride.
If her usual behavior had been because she'd fallen for Lord Loki's lie, then this V was a genuine V from the heart.
Her expression was calm, but she really did seem happy.
"Ais! That's amazing! Ranking up in just one year!"
"Exactly! And she's the Record Holder, too?! She's the fastest!"
"The future of Loki Familia is bright!"
"Hahahahaha!!"
There were still a few people missing because the expedition hadn't returned yet, but the energy in the feast was in no way lacking.
Come to think of it, Record Holder, huh... That was a nostalgic sound.
Every time I heard the words Record Holder, Ais's face twitched just a little.
She tried to act like it didn't matter, but in the end she was still a child. It was probably the age where she'd be interested in a special title.
Still, seeing her behave so properly made me a little proud. When I reached Level 2, I'd been jumping around and making a scene.
I still remembered the lukewarm look my goddess had given me back then. I didn't know any better at the time, but thinking about it now was still embarrassing...
"Ais-chan! Cute! Cool! Handsome!"
"Hmph. To think you'd make everyone worry and then throw a feast. You've got a thick skin."
"Hey, don't ruin a good day. You were the one who went looking everywhere because you were so worried."
"Shut up. ...But what on earth happened that day?"
The existence of the monster that wielded divine power had been kept secret. Apparently, if word got out, other evil gods might try to exploit it.
Thanks to that, the mysterious mass-collapse incident had proudly ranked among Orario's Seven Great Mysteries. These days, people talked about it even more than the Behemoth subjugation.
Well, what good was one of humanity's great wishes if so much of the public only cared about things they'd experienced firsthand?
Honestly, even the Behemoth subjugation might be treated less like [Humanity's Wish] and more like an idol event. This was the so-called Dungeon City, but if you weren't an adventurer, who would even care about monsters?
"Heehee..."
"..."
...Well, that wasn't something I needed to think about right now. For now, I should just focus on celebrating Ais.
Ais was grinning with her face slightly red.
Seeing her like this, I felt once again that my choice hadn't been wrong. If anything was wrong, it was only this world and my own existence.
"If I keep interfering like this..."
The future had changed greatly, but not to a fatal degree. That was because the Black Dragon was a wall that couldn't be overcome by changes of this scale.
Adventurers. Because they are adventurers, they cannot face the Black Dragon. That was a fact I knew better than anyone, having fought it once myself.
In the end, changes like this were only momentary incidents. That was why, when I got involved in events that affected the future, like Ais or Evilus, I suffered the greatest damage.
In other words, if I interfered any further from here. If I went so far as to change the outcome involving the Black Dragon.
What would happen to me?
Would I die? Disappear?
I didn't know what would happen. But whatever the result, my actions would not change.
I—
"Vesta. Vesta."
"Hm?"
At the sound of her voice, I cut off my thoughts.
Ais was tugging at my collar and looking up at me.
There was a pride in her expression she couldn't quite hide.
In short, it was the face of a daughter bragging to her father.
Finding it cute, I reached out and patted her head, and she smiled happily and rubbed her head against my hand.
Maybe she was more like a cat than a daughter.
"When did you two reach Level 2?"
It was clearly a question meant for bragging. She seemed so proud of the Record Holder achievement that she wanted to know just how impressive her own accomplishment was.
But... the people she asked were a little unfortunate.
"It took me about half a year."
"About two months for me."
Ais burst into tears and ran out of the tavern.
When she was quickly caught and brought back, she apparently sat there with her cheeks puffed out and refused to speak to anyone.
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