After leaving the A rank party, I aim for the deep part of the labyrinth with my former students
"Good day, young lady."
"Huh? Where… what…?"
Before I knew it, I was in an unfamiliar place.
A vast grassy plain, with a quiet breeze blowing through it, and a single table placed there all alone.
And here I was, sitting at that table, facing someone.
"Was I… sleeping? Um, and you are…?"
"How people choose to call me depends on them. How would you like to call me? Call me whatever you like."
This person’s face was impossible to make out, and their very presence felt almost fake.
I knew I shouldn’t think such things, but… there was something strange about them.
They had only an outline — no expression, nothing visible.
"I… get to decide?"
"That’s right. Everyone calls me whatever they want."
"But… I don’t even know who you are."
"Then tell me — do you know who you are?"
When they asked me that… I realized I didn’t know.
Who I was, what I was.
I couldn’t even remember my own name.
"I… don’t know."
"That’s what I thought. You’ve lost yourself right now."
Tilting their teacup, that “someone” smiled faintly.
It felt like they were mocking me a little, but it didn’t feel unpleasant.
More like… the kind of teasing you get from someone fond of you.
"Where… is this place?"
"Another Regrettia of Once Upon a Time Long Past. A place that’s nowhere, a place no one remembers. And also, the place everyone comes to at least once. Also, the place where I’ve shut myself in — or been shut away."
"That… sounds kind of familiar…?"
I thought I almost remembered something, but… nothing came back.
It felt like my head was shrouded in fog.
"This is bad. I’m pretty sure… there was something I had to do."
"Was it really something you had to do?"
"Uh… I think so. ‘Papa’ said if I didn’t—…"
The moment the word Papa left my mouth, a sharp pain shot through my head.
And at the same time… I felt like I was about to remember something.
"…What is this? I feel… weird."
"Of course you do. Your ‘Personality Record Character Sheet’ was damaged by repeated mental contamination and traumatic events, and you’re in a temporarily discarded state."
"Um… could you put that in words I can understand? …Do you know me?"
"Of course. But I won’t tell you."
Why are they being so mean, when I’m the one who’s lost and confused?
"You have to choose — who you are, and who you want to be — here and now. In order for you to stay yourself."
"But I don’t know! I don’t even know who I am!"
"Are you sure about that?"
At their quiet question, I felt as if my head became weightless.
I thought I heard someone’s voice.
A gentle, warm, comforting voice… a little deep… that made me want to lean on them.
In my memory, that voice called my name.
"Marina…! That’s my name."
"That’s right. Your name is Marina. Congratulations — you chose yourself."
Looking satisfied somehow, “someone” smiled.
Or at least, I thought they did.
"…And you are?"
"I’m the ‘someone’ you were looking for."
"…Ankelias…?"
"Call me whatever you want. That’s not wrong. Some have called me ‘R.’ Others, referring to my role, have called me E.E.L."
The God Ankelias shrugged playfully.
Turns out, God was a lot more easygoing than I expected.
"Are you the one who’s going to destroy the world?"
"Nope. The one who made you seems to want that, though."
They didn’t say I can’t.
Probably because they could if they wanted to.
"Unfortunately, I’m just someone who records stories. I can’t be the protagonist of a story."
"You’re not the true god who transforms the world?"
"That’s giving me too much credit. Please don’t misprint me like that."
Dropping their shoulders, the true god let out a sigh.
Maybe it’s just Papa and Mama who believe that… but Ankelias didn’t feel like a force of destruction.
After all, I could actually talk to them.
"I… have to go."
"Go where?"
"To Yuke. To where the ‘Clover’ is. That’s where I belong."
At my answer, Ankelias nodded, satisfied.
Somehow, they didn’t really seem like someone who’d do anything bad.
"But… are you sure? You’re not going back to the ones who made you?"
"…Yeah. Because they’re not really my Papa and Mama. They’re not my family. I know now… that I’m not human. I remembered everything."
The Cult, which had pursued a utopia since the old days of the Edright Kingdom.
And the Seventh Cult, a splinter faction of theirs — they were the ones who made me.
Using countless magic potions, magical artifacts, and men and women of special bloodlines.
Born from countless failures and sacrifices, vessels for a god —
That was what we, the Children of Ankelias, were.
But… they failed.
I knew the reason.
If you even wanted to accept a fragment of something from another world, you needed the aptitude of a Walker Between Worlds — in other words, a Stigmata of Existence.
No one had that. No one could have had that.
That’s why my brothers and sisters were used up one after another in observation and summoning experiments… and I was discarded too, my memory erased, as a failed product of the Nevinal’s Eye Activation Experiment.
But the Seventh Cult, Papa, found me again later.
They found me — the one who could move through the Inverted Labyrinth Tenebre as if nothing was wrong.
The last of the Children of Ankelias, still unharmed even after taking in the essence of another world.
That’s why they started the Festival.
To fulfill their long-cherished wish.
Even if it meant wrecking my home, Finis.
"Now I’m really getting mad…!"
They had promised.
They promised they wouldn’t lay a hand on Finis, or Yuke and the others!
"I’m going! Thank you, Ankelias!"
"I didn’t do anything. You came here on your own, and you’re leaving on your own. But… yeah. It was a nice little distraction."
"Well then, good! Goodbye, Ankelias. Um, look forward to the story of me and Yuke!"
I didn’t really know what I was saying myself, but Ankelias seemed to like stories, so through the Nevinal’s Eye that had become my own, it would surely reach them.
…The story that we’re about to weave, together.
It’s only fair, right?
I have to let them see me shine.
"Goodbye, Marina. Then, let me give you just a little parting gift."
Ankelias grinned playfully as they said that, and snapped their fingers.
In an instant, I was dressed in my familiar adventuring outfit.
The black greatsword was hanging at my waist again.
"Wow! Thank you! You really are amazing, God! …Alright then, I’m off!"
I knew how to get back.
If I used the Nevinal’s Eye, I should be able to return.
Focusing on my right eye, I reached out with my heart toward my world… toward where Yuke was.
That floating, weightless feeling rose up again, and I could tell that I was drifting away from this place.
"Take care, Marina. The ending of this story is yours to decide. —Because the heroic tale of Yuke Feldio, who ‘left the A-rank party’ and weaves a story with his former students, is a story that you started."
Those words of Ankelias quietly reached my ears… as they faded into the distance.
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