It was a dream. That was the first thought that came to mind.
Was this what they called a lucid dream? For some reason, I was certain this was a dream.
"This dream is..."
It was an old dream. A dream I'd been having for a long time.
■■■■■■■■■■■■!!!!!!
"Ugh..."
A nightmarish sound echoed through the air.
It was a horrible nightmare. A truly awful nightmare.
What made it even more painful was that to escape this nightmare, I had to watch the scene to the very end.
"■-sama! Please, come to your senses!"
"You have to run... There's nothing a human can do against that...!"
"Don't be ridiculous... Are you kidding me...!!"
Screams, shouts, and sobs filled everything. I remembered broken swords, torn-off arms, blinded eyes, and those who had fallen away.
A scene so devastating it felt hollow. A memory I couldn't forget, no matter how much I wanted to.
The day calamity descended.
And the day I lost everything.
Someone asked me,
"Are you all right?"
I'm fine. I'm strong.
I can endure this on my own. Don't worry.
Who had said that? Who had I said it to?
After answering, I thought about it. But nothing came to mind.
What was I fighting for? What was that battle for?
Why am I like thi—
"■■■■■"
What? I can't hear you very well.
Come a little closer... just a little closer...
Someone with a face so blurred I couldn't even make it out. And yet, the longing I felt was so intense that I reached out without thinking.
But no matter how far I stretched my hand, it only grew more distant.
As if telling me I wasn't worthy of it.
"Ah..."
"You're awake."
My eyes flew open.
It had been a nightmare. One I hadn't had in a long time.
I'd known it was a dream, but somewhere along the way, it felt like I'd forgotten that.
"What's with that blank look?"
"Ah, no. It's nothing."
Before I knew it, I answered Arphia without thinking.
Was that dream really nothing?
"I don't know."
Still, there was no need to be honest about it. To change the subject—and to satisfy my curiosity—I brought up something else.
"By the way, where are we?"
"Melhen. We succeeded in slaying Leviathan, and we're treating the wounded."
You were the last one to wake up, she added, but I let that pass through one ear and out the other.
Right. We'd been hunting Leviathan. As I slowly pieced it together, the memories started coming back clearly.
Fighting Leviathan, shedding its skin, diving into the sea, and then...
"Ahem..."
There had been some rather indecent things too, but in the end, I'd joined forces with the mermaid and managed to drive Leviathan upward. Unfortunately, my memory ended there, but it seemed we'd somehow finished safely.
Well, that's good. That's good.
As I tried to convince myself with exaggerated seriousness so I could forget the embarrassing things that had surfaced in my head, I suddenly felt a sharp gaze.
Startled, I turned my eyes and met a pair of two-colored pupils looking at me—
"...Arphia?"
"Did you enjoy it?"
Her tone was calm, but I could tell. Arphia was extremely displeased right now.
In fact, just looking at her face made it impossible not to know. More importantly, how did Arphia even know about that?
"That fishwoman has been drunkenly spilling heroic tales every night. She said you clung to her like a leech..."
It was a sudden remark, but calling Chianslope a puppy or a dog was a serious insult. There were plenty of rude people around me, but that was still something that plainly fell into the category of things you should not say.
In that sense, Arphia's choice of words was brutally harsh. Why was she so angry...?
"So you really were from Zeus Familia. Like god, like familia."
I'm very fond of Grandpa, but somehow, that didn't sound very flattering.
"Tch."
Arphia clicked her tongue at the rising displeasure inside her.
Ten days had already passed since the slaying. And yet the irritation that had begun that day hadn't lessened with time—it had only grown larger.
She didn't know why. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say there was no reason.
There was no reason for her to feel irritated. And yet...
"Annoying."
"Eh..."
The rabbit's awkward expression only fueled her anger further.
And it was similar to the pained look she had seen just a moment ago.
Smack—
"Kyaeek?!"
"Ah."
Driven by the surging irritation, she found herself moving her hand before she knew it.
"Oh dear."
The witch, suddenly looking flustered, lifted the rabbit up. Was that bad habit of hers still not gone?
Even she hadn't expected to strike him, but then again, he'd been hit, so he must have let his guard down too.
"...Was he really off guard?"
But doubt began to rise between those thoughts.
It was certainly an unexpected ambush. But if it was the rabbit she knew, he should have been able to dodge it easily enough.
"Strange."
Once she started thinking about it, she couldn't shake the odd feeling.
She had thought the same thing before during that scuffle over the gr... in any case, considering their first meeting, this situation was hard to accept.
Wasn't it strange? A rabbit specialized in speed not dodging an attack like that.
Once, maybe. But twice?
At first, she had thought it was simply because he trusted her, but what if that wasn't it?
"No, that's impossible."
Arphia forced the thought away.
It wasn't baseless denial. On the contrary, she knew better than anyone.
Falna was the power of the gods. It opened the way for children's potential, but divine power was immutable. One could advance, but never regress.
The reason she herself had been weak wasn't because of any weakening of her Falna, but because of something other than numbers.
If you put it in the RPG terms the gods liked to use, it was easy to understand. HP and the other stats never changed no matter what state I was in.
It was simply that my body in the past couldn't keep up with those stats. In other words, if I could do it now, it wouldn't be any different from then.
But this?
"He definitely tried to use a technique and failed..."
She recalled a scene from the battle with Leviathan. Back then, she'd simply let it pass, but did that even make sense?
If he had [not] used it, she could understand.
But at that moment, he had [been unable] to use it.
A similar but entirely different matter. What that meant was...
"No way..."
Had there ever been a day she hated her own sharp mind more than today? At the conclusion she reached, Arphia's face sank heavily.
"Uu..."
Then came a faint groan.
"You're awake?"
"Ugh... ugh..."
There was no answer, only more groaning.
And it was a very painful groan at that.
The body curled up, face twisted in discomfort. To Arphia, that expression looked almost like a child searching for its parents.
"...Are you having a nightmare too?"
There was no answer. There couldn't be.
Arphia gently pulled the rabbit into her arms and laid him across her lap. Regrettably, unlike the rabbit, she didn't know how to end a nightmare.
She only hoped her warmth would bring him even a little comfort.
Tap, tap. Something struck the window. A cold wind slipped through the slightly open gap.
White particles were falling from the sky.
"Snow..."
Snowflakes as white as her younger brother's hair, and as the head of the man now resting on her lap. The fantastical sight somehow felt to Arphia like a warning of new hardship to come.
"It's still winter..."
It felt as if a great deal of time had passed, and yet the season still hadn't changed.
Would spring come? The thought came to her naturally. But Arphia found herself thinking that spring might never come at all.
When she exhaled, a small white mist bloomed and scattered. Watching it disperse so futilely, Arphia did her best to ignore the small unease blossoming in her chest.
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