The beast tamer exiled from the hero’s party and the cat eared girl from the strongest race meet
“Alright, let’s begin. If it hurts, please raise your right hand.”
“There’s nothing painful about this, so just relax.”
Sora and Luna stood on either side of Nokia, who was seated on the sofa.
They were about to use magic to search through Nokia’s memories.
“Y-Yes… Please, take care of me.”
“Here we go!”
“Memory Search.”
A soft light emerged from the palms of Sora and Luna, gently enveloping Nokia.
Nokia flinched slightly, her back twitching.
“Mmm… fuu.”
From time to time, small sounds escaped from Nokia.
It wasn’t that she was in pain…
Rather, it sounded more like she was feeling ticklish.
“…Alright, it's done. Good job.”
After about five minutes, Sora and Luna ended the magic.
The soft light faded, and at the same time, Nokia let out a breath.
She had been tense, and there was a bit of sweat on her forehead.
“Here, using this to wipe your face feels real nice.”
“Thank you very much.”
Tina handed a wet towel to Nokia.
Nokia pressed the cool towel to her face, her fox ears twitching contentedly.
“Feels good?”
“Yes, very much so. To prepare something like this for me… you’re so kind.”
“Not at all. I’m always getting help from Nina’s head, so this is just a thank-you.”
“From her head…?”
She was probably referring to the fact that Nokia often sits on Nina’s head.
However, from Nokia’s perspective, she didn’t quite understand what was meant.
She tilted her head curiously.
“Sora, Luna. What did you find? Were you able to uncover any clues?”
“Yes, we were able to find something.”
“However… hmm.”
Sora and Luna both had troubled expressions.
“Could it be that… it's something hard to talk about?”
“No, it’s not like that.”
“It’s just… it’s something extremely difficult to judge or make sense of.”
“Um… for now, could you just tell us? Then we can all talk it over.”
“You’re right. Nothing can start unless we talk about it… Alright. We’ll tell you about the memory we saw in Nokia’s mind.”
――――――――――
The first scene that appeared was a desolate wasteland.
On the barren land, where no grass or trees grew, stood Nokia, all alone.
Her entire body was so wounded that it was difficult to find a single uninjured spot.
She was bleeding… and crying.
In her arms, she held a male of the same divine race.
The next scene that appeared was a very peaceful one.
Nokia was cradling a divine infant in both arms.
She looked nervous and unsure…
But at the same time, there was a strong, gentle determination—she would never let go.
When the baby smiled, Nokia smiled too. It was a moment of pure peace.
The scene after that showed her running through the mountains.
Nokia, holding the baby in her arms, was desperately fleeing from something.
Branches scratched her, leaving scrapes and cuts, but she didn’t care.
She just kept running, completely absorbed in escape.
The baby was crying.
Nokia looked apologetic… but even so, she never stopped running.
The final scene was one of complete darkness.
There was no light at all—no sense of up or down, left or right.
It was a blackness as if the night had been carved out and condensed.
And within it… was Nokia.
She floated, curled up like a fetus.
But her face was twisted in pain.
The darkness around her stretched out tendrils, like tentacles, as if trying to consume her…
Nokia could do nothing—she simply continued to suffer.
――――――――――
“…That’s what it was like.”
“…”
After hearing the whole story, all of us were left with expressions we couldn’t quite define.
The second memory was probably from when Nina was born.
But everything else was a mystery—and what’s more, incredibly ominous.
The first and third memories carried a sense of unease.
And more than anything, it was the fourth memory that gave off the worst feeling.
Being swallowed by darkness… what could that possibly mean?
“Nyaa… Do you think Nokia-san got caught up in some kind of incident?”
“Yeah, I think so too,” Tina agreed with Kanade’s words.
“But we have no idea what kind of incident it might have been.”
“In the third memory, she looked like she was running from something. That would mean there was an enemy capable of harming a Divine Being?”
“Or maybe she was being pursued by multiple humans.”
“It’s possible that something like what happened with Iris occurred elsewhere too.”
If possible, we didn’t want to consider that possibility…
But at the same time, we couldn’t completely rule it out either.
“Excuse me… may I say something?”
While we were all deep in thought, Von raised a hand.
When we signaled for him to go ahead, he cleared his throat and began to speak.
“It’s about the final memory… I might have an idea.”
“Eh? Really?”
The last memory was the most incomprehensible of all…
But Von was a merchant who had traveled far and wide—perhaps he had picked up a lot of knowledge along the way.
“However, I can’t say for sure. It’s more of a guess based on what I’ve heard…”
“That’s fine. Right now, we need every possible lead.”
“Understood. Just please keep in mind that what I’m about to say might be wrong.”
Von straightened his posture and began to speak, his face serious.
“Before I came to Horizon, I traveled to many different places. During that time, I gathered a lot of information.”
“Nyan, information too?”
“Information is incredibly valuable, after all. There are merchants who deal in intangible goods too. Especially me—I’m the type who dabbles in everything. Ah… sorry, I got off-topic.”
“Don’t worry about it. The talking cat interrupted you.”
“Another weird nickname! It’s been a while!”
“Ahem… Anyway, while I was gathering all kinds of information, I came across a certain rumor that stood out to me.”
“A rumor?”
“Yes. The name of that rumor was… the Curse of Darkness.”
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