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Anastasia Kingdom

"Ahh, is it not done yet?" spoke an innocent voice with a hint of curiosity.

Antaeus Labyrinth.

A place teeming with fearsome creatures, where the further you venture, the mightier they grow.

"It has to be done by now," said a heavy but gentle voice that sounded as if there was a smugness to it.

To further illustrate its brutality, this is a land where death is certain by a nondescript mistake, a territory that few would dare to enter, even with the promise of tantalizing riches.

In such a mysterious place, at an uncharted depth, in a cavern so vast that the collective heat of bright teal luminescent ore was enough to counteract the cold floor, a certain boy warms the flesh of a creature.

The boy, seemingly about 5 years old due to his height, has short black hair and a slender frame. His pajamas are nearly tattered, but what truly catches the eye are the deep dark circles beneath his eyes, a clear sign of sleepless nights.

Before him flickers a poorly lit campfire, and next to it are several chunks of meat skewered on a bone.

It sure is endearing to weave a beautiful tale, but for now, let them tell their own story.

PS: In future, when you see this '⚫' special symbol, please interpret it as a narration from a third party.

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The meat better be cooked through.

With that in mind, I took the brown bag that was lying next to me, which looked inappropriately large for a child like me, and put it on my lap. I took the bone with the sizzling meat and used another bone to remove the stuck sizzling meat off the bone and put it on top of my bag.

Holding the meat and the bag close to my mouth, I blew on it to cool it down. However, my hunger got the best of me, so I said "Bon appetit." and took a bite.

The heat did not seem to care about my hunger at all. It even made me blow on the meat while it was in my mouth.

Blowing out air, I watched as the steamy vapor escaped my lips. And as soon as I chewed it because of the unbearable heat, the bitter taste spread across my tongue, making me want to spit it out. However, I quickly covered my mouth with my hand and swallowed it all in a single gulp.

As soon as I had swallowed the meat, I let out a small cough to rid my mouth of the unpleasant flavor.

"Calm down. You do not have to behave like a caveman just because we are in a cave," said a smug voice from a distance.

When I turned to my left, a knight stood far behind me, leaning against a large rock, with his arms folded and legs crossed, taking a moment to rest.

"Mr Knight, would you like to eat with me?"

"Ew, no way. I'm a vegetarian," he replied with a slightly disgusted tone.

His full-plated suit of armor was adorned with a painting of a black rose within the yellow thorns on a corner of the breastplate. He has moderately long, dark blue hair, which was partially tied back in a knot, while the remaining falls over the sides of his ears and the back of his head.

Even though he was wearing armor he does not look that huge. Is it because of the diet or is he always like this is the question I always ask myself when I look at him.

"You are saying the same thing as yesterday. Aren't you tired of not eating anything?"

"Who said I don't eat anything? The air in here is delicious enough..."

"..."

I fell silent after his stupid joke and chose to focus on my meal instead. The bitterness was still a problem, bringing me to tears with every bite. I pushed myself to swallow the meat again, but a small, or rather a large, piece remained stuck in my throat, causing me to choke.

Pounding my chest repeatedly, I quickly grabbed a water bottle and drank it in a go.

These bottles were not made for water, but for potions. Although Mr Knight said that these are the smallest of all, they sure are huge in my hands, making them perfect for holding a considerable amount of water. Plus, when it comes time to purify the water, I simply toss them into the fire.

They're made of glass, so there's no need to fret about them getting damaged. Right?

As soon as I finished the water and put the bottle down, Mr Knight, watching me eat the tasteless meat, tried to make fun of me as usual.

"Hu~h? Are you crying because I haven't eaten anything for days? How kind of you, Kiddo..."

"It's not for your sake. I just… I just chewed on the chili part of the meat."

"That's why I'm a vegetarian."

"..."

"What am I even doing? Competing in a lame-a** joke-exchange contest?" he muttered to himself.

I ate what was left, giving him a piercing look of silence.

"I wish there was at least one more adult around," he muttered again.

"Me too."

"What was it, Kiddo?"

Once I had finished eating, I got up, moved around to look at the state of my body. Just a few glances were enough for me to notice that so many scars had formed after the wounds had healed.

"Looks like my body is in good shape for now..."

It was all thanks to the potions I had in my bag. I don't know whose bag it was, but there were several potions, some food rations and a lot of paper. As I had no use for the papers, I used them to fuel the campfire, saved some potions for future use and ate all the food a day ago.

While I was looking at the state of my body, I also noticed that the clothes on my body were almost torn. I dropped my arms and took a handkerchief from my pocket. As I dusted the handkerchief, I turned my eyes to a dark place away from the ore-filled cave.

"Then, shall I have a look at that?"

Where I'm standing is the campfire and the camp I made a day ago were, and even without looking around, anyone could say that the land around me is flat. But just a little further away, not so close but not so far, there's an uneven surface.

I covered my nose and mouth with the handkerchief and started–

"Now now, Kiddo."

"Huh? Anything unusual? I was just going to–"

"The problem is not at the destination, but at the starting point."

"..."

"Change that look. Don't look at me blandly. You are the one who forgot the rule."

"To check if I'm carrying everything I 'had' with me now?"

"That hit the mark. But always remember, or I will be the one to eat you alive."

"Giving up the vegetarian act already?"

"Not in a bad way, but someone as careless and undisciplined as you is sure to be considered a vegetable."

"Don't mention it if it's considered bad!"

"And vegetables like you sure do taste delicious!"

"Listen here! I got it, alright! Don't change your character anymore than that!"

The sca– weird talk made me go through my only possession and check if the remaining three potions, a sharp tool and a handkerchief…

Huh? Handkerchief, handkerchief, handkerchief… Is missing! What should…

When I tried to pull my hair, my panic ended as soon as it started. And that was followed by a sigh of relief, knowing that Mr Knight wouldn't make fun of me again.

"You moved rather strangely, like a cat on a brain freeze. Am I missing something interesting, Kiddo?"

I-I covered my nose and mouth with the handkerchief and decided to walk towards the place that looked uneven.

The place where my camp is full of light because of the ores, but as I walked further away from the camp, it got darker and darker. Even though I say it is dark, it is not completely dark, because there were some ores here and there along the way, which made it possible for me to see where I was going.

With just a few steps, I got closer to the uneven land. Close enough to realize that the uneven land was rather a horde of various creature corpses and some very badly injured creatures.

The reason why I can approach these deadly creatures is that they are unable to move. Their injuries are so severe that all they can do is pray for a quick death. But they are still the creatures of the <>, the more cautious the better.

I took a sharp tool from my bag and held it with both hands. Being cautious of the injured creatures, I approached the horde. When I reached the corpses, a strong stench hit my nose.

"Ugh! If I have a magical lamp, my wish would be to have the ability to control my nose."

"And my wish would be to go home…"

Wow! My eyes widened and the wishlist got updated. That was really dumb of me. Well, let's focus on the current task.

Currently in front of me is a giant corpse. Mr Knight said it was called a <>.

<>, a low depth creature, a creature with strong, bright red scales on its long body and two sharp teeth on its jaw. It resembles the normal centipede that can be found outside the labyrinth, but it's super huge and super scary.

Mr Knight said that it takes at least ten strong individuals to defeat an adult <>.

Such a being is in front of me, but dead. Even though it's not an adult, it's width is almost half my body size. Thanks to this corpse, I was able to get hold of this survival tool, the sharp tool in my hand, the <> tooth.

Before this, I used to use the blunt tooth of another creature.

I climbed on its head, spread my hands to the sides to balance myself as I started walking on its half severed body. Just after a few steps, the body was twisted in the middle, so I jumped down and continued to walk on the ground with my arms still spread. And after walking a few more steps, I reached my destination.

Here it is, the skin I've skinned off the <>'s stomach, and the cleaned intestines.

Even though the back of <> is covered with tough scales, its bottom is made up of not-so-tough skin. However, with the help of its own tooth and Mr Knight's instructions, I was able to make some material from his belly skin that could be used as clothing and a blanket.

"Hehe, I think I can sleep without the cold bothering me from now on. What do you think Mr Knight, I can hold out until the rescue team comes, right?"

"It's still not dry, but it looks like it's stopped stinking. Let's take it back and put it closer to the fire."

"Roger!"

"But maggots may spring up. Do you know about maggots? They look really scary–"

"Are they like, alive?"

"Yes, but they are–"

"Then I can eat them!"

"Don't eat them!"

"If it can help me skip that horrible taste every day, I'll accept anything."

"I know you are not joking and that in itself is very scary..."

As Mr Knight scratched his head, I folded up the almost dried skin and tied it with the dried intestines.

Getting here was easy, but getting to where we wanted to go next was a little tricky. The creatures here are frightening enough to make me freeze in my tracks when I see them, but after living in this place for three days here and the help of Mr Knight, I have built up some courage.

Moving to a place with few corpses, I paused to take a deep breath. From here on, the path is... non-existent. With a gap so small that I have to become air to move, and imposing walls of the dead or living creatures, this is sure to be a dead end. But it is the only way I have to move.

Just as I was to begin this ugly journey, my ears caught a small stroke of luck. So, I looked at another part of this dark place, where a sound I heard yesterday was supposed to come from, but today it was nowhere to be found.

"Umm, shall we have a look at that grunting creature? It's really quiet today."

"Well, if it's dead, you can get more meat. We don't know, but this one might be tasty."

Filled with wonder, I glanced at Mr Knight as he mentioned enjoying something delicious. But remembering that I had never seen him eat anything, I spoke doubtfully.

"For someone who doesn't eat at all, you seem to care about how it tastes."

"I eat the air here, so it's better for the air to be filled with a delicious smell."

"By eating air, are you even considered to be a human with that?! Weren't you a vegetarian?! Wasn't that your character setting?!"

"I'm not eating with my mouth, so it's OK!"

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

As I listened to him make more stupid excuses, I sighed and shook my head gently.

Anyways, we made up our minds and started moving towards where we thought the source of the sound would be. Luckily, the path was clearer than the one I was supposed to take. After a bit of a walk, there was a huge corpse of a creature.

"It doesn't smell too bad here. Do you think it's still alive?"

"No, it doesn't have any movement at all. It should probably be dead. Still, let's move cautiously and check it out."

After getting closer to it, it definitely looks like it's dead. We both walked around it and checked it from all sides. On closer inspection, I really think this is a great find.

"Yay! This creature has a lot of fur. If I skin it, I can make a better blanket, right!"

"Yeah. This is a great find. It has fur and plenty of meat. You can feed on it for a few days."

The creature was lying face up, so I climbed onto its chest. It looked like the gorilla I had seen in picture books. Except, this creature is huge and has 4 hands. It is 5 times my size. Its fur was white. Its face, palm and feet were black.

With so many hands, I bet it would be easier to help with mother's endless demands.

"Hey Mr Knight, what's this creature called?"

"This one? I have never seen this creature before, and it has never been mentioned in any encyclopedia I have ever read."

"Never seen?"

"...Ah! This could be a new discovery!"

The <> has never been thoroughly explored. The reason for this is the powerful creatures that roam here. So there's no doubt that a new creature can be found by anyone.

"Is that so? Then we can name him right!"

"Ooo, why don't you name it then?"

"Really? Then..."

While I was trying to think of what to call it, Mr Knight sounded his opinion.

"Hey Kiddo, mind if I name it?"

"Mmm, go ahead. Be sure to make it interesting."

"How about, Geoffrey?"

"Huh? ...Why such a human-like name?"

When I asked him why he had suggested such a name, he pointed his finger to its face and said, "That face, it looks just like my friend Geoffrey. He was a strong person. So, for a strong creature like this, a strong person's name like that is good."

A strong name for a strong creature. After hearing those words, I looked at the creature's face and was convinced by the name Geoffrey. But I turned to Mr Knight and expressed my concern.

"It's awesome, but wouldn't Mr Geoffrey feel bad about it?"

"Hmm, It's alright, it's alright. He's my friend, so I know he will forgive me."

Then it's not ok huh.

Mr Knight gave a thumbs up and winked. So I think he really likes his naming sense. I looked and pointed the sharp tooth at <>'s chest while I said,

"Then, from today on your name is <>. Well then, now we are going to skin <>... Ugh!"

It feels weird to skin a creature with a human name. What does Mr Knight think?

I lifted my head and saw Mr Knight. He was currently standing on top of <>'s head and "…laughing?". He was laughing so hard that he was hugging his stomach.

"Ahahahaha! Did you hear that Geoffrey, you are getting stripped!"

"Don't put it in such a weird way! We are not going to strip anyone! We are just skinning a creature!"

I don't know who this Geoffrey is… but I'm really sorry you're friends with Mr Knight.

"Excuse me, but can we please continue?"

"And that too by a five year old kid! Aahahaha!!!"

"Hey now!"

"Huh? ...Alright, alright. For a creature like this we can start from the center of the chest. Take that tooth and pierce it in the center of the chest and slowly move towards the bottom"

I immediately began to follow his instructions without wasting a second, checking each time whether what I was doing was right or not.

"Ahh... somebody help me~ A little child is–"

"Stop meddling!" I screamed, throwing rubbish flesh onto Mr Knight who was trying to make an indecent scene.

As I continued skinning <>, I noticed Mr Knight's unusual behavior. As always, he stands far away from me.

"Well, Mr Knight, why don't you show me yourself? I think this is way too much work for a 5 year old."

He made a face that seemed to say: Why are you asking something so obvious?

And when I questioned about it, he attempted to make me understand the purpose.

"Problem Solving Time! Who is this mysterious person that needs this fur?!"

"Me!" I shouted, raising my hand in excitement, to which he shut me out with "Then please do it yourself. This armor is more than comfortable enough for me."

Tch! You've been making me do all the manual labor since the beginning. It would be nice if you helped me.

"I promised Sabrina that my body is only for her. So let me be and do your work," he urged, almost as if he could sense my thoughts, while making a slight wave of his hand that clearly meant I should leave.

Looks like I won't be able to get him to come any closer. Hehe, then what if I do this?

Taking a moment to catch my breath, "Oh no, Mr Knight! Come quickly! Look at this!" I shouted as I pointed at <>.

This must have startled him, because he reacted with concern and began to run towards me.

"What happened, brat?!"

"Geoffrey doesn't have a penis!"

"You don't have to scream for such a reason! This stupid brat. …Hmm, now that you mention it..."

Even though I said a word that would make me burst out laughing, I did not laugh. I could have at least chuckled a little, but I did not. Why, you ask? Because I had failed in my mission.

It didn't help at all, he came as close as the first chest cut I made. It had been like that since we met. I even tried to chase him, but I couldn't keep up with him at my speed.

As expected of a knight.

And now he is glaring at the half-starred roof, stroking his chin, probably thinking of something stupid again.

"... Hey Kiddo, what you said sounds interesting. Do you want to give female Geoffrey a new name?"

See that?

"No, thank you. Tell me where to cut next."

"...?"

There is a rule that Mr Knight uses in the labyrinth. You have to take care of yourself.

That is why he doesn't even care about the fact that I'm a kid. Not even if I can't make a fire, not even if I want to make a camp, not even if I'm covered in blood, and not even if my patella is shattered while my tibia is sticking out, help isn't coming.

He can at least help me once in a while, right?

After skinning and gutting all the parts, I scrubbed the unnecessary fat and flesh off the skin and cleaned the intestines as much as I could with just my hands. I even took some fresh meat and cut it into small pieces so it would be easier to carry. Even though there was so much skin that I can skin from <>, I only skinned a necessary amount of it.

When it dries, I can have a warm blanket and clothes.

Earlier, before I got on <>, I put <>'s skin and intestines on the ground. And now I put <>'s intestines and flesh on top. Since I do not have a bag big enough to carry all the things I have with me, I stretched out both hands, lifted up all the things at once while saying "Yosh!" and started walking towards the pile of corpses.

Needless to say, I got no help from Mr Knight, again.

Now, with the shit I have been adorned with, there is only one place in this huge area that can help me. A serene waterfall. A beauty in this hellish place. The only clean thing, untroubled by the filth. With that decision made, I started walking towards it with all my luggage and the unbothered man following me.

To get an idea of how tiring and helpless I am to be this man, let me just add one more thing that I don't even want to talk about

Going through the path I hated, I jumped atop the creatures instead of, or unable to, become air. After a few jumps, I landed softly on one who spurted blood in reflex along with a low "Grawwww...". Scare– Startled... yes, startled, I lost my balance and was pulled into the sea of stinky-meat with only one hand outstretched.

And as your foresight predicted, I pulled myself out with the strength of that one hand alone, spitting out the chunks and guts I had brought with me. Oh yes... Also to see a man laughing madly at a helpless, pitiful, pathetic, shit-stained child.

Haa... While I was only a few steps away from the waterfall, I noticed a change in it.

"Ahh! The waterfall got thinner."

"So the water source above really is finite."

We walked quickly to get close to the waterfall. And as soon as we reached the waterfall, we looked up slowly along the waterfall. As we raised our heads, we saw the ceiling split in two, and as we looked down, we saw the floor in front of us split in two.

According to Mr Knight, this looked like a natural phenomenon where the labyrinth itself was split in two. So the source of this waterfall must be some kind of water body that was along the way of the split and the water in it is now flowing out because there is nothing to hold it.

Neither the crack in the ceiling nor the crack in the floor show where this split ends or begins. As amazing as it was to see, Mr Knight couldn't help but make a comment.

"It's incredible, isn't it? That something like this could happen to a labyrinth. But still, the most impressive thing is surviving that fall."

"Hehe, aren't I awesome!"

"Do not try to pass yourself off as Vesna Vulović. It's not you, it's the necklace around your neck. It's a relic, only given to the most important people in the Kingdom," he said while looking at the necklace around my neck.

-Vesna Vulović was a Serbian flight attendant who survived the highest fall without a parachute of 10.16 kilometers or 33,338 feet-

Virgin. I may not know the full meaning of this word, but when I sneak around irresponsible adults, I can say that they refer to this word as pure. And why am I mentioning this now?

I'm wearing a necklace with no special designs on it, featuring a pendant that looks like something pure... pure as a virgin's kiss. Yet, its simplicity is striking, taking the form of a delicate drop of water.

Aaaand, I somehow managed to break it, resulting in the cracks that are on it.

I held the pendant of the necklace that was resting on my chest and rolled it between my fingers. It wasn't particularly shiny, but the longer I look at it, the prettier and shinier it gets.

"Huh? Really?! But I got it from my mother."

"Hmm, well, nevermind. Wash up quickly, and let's go back to your so-called camp."

I put the luggage aside and started to clean myself. Since there was no soap or any other alternative, all I could do was just use my hands to clean myself. It was not that hard to get the blood off me, but it was hard to get that stinking smell off me. Still, I tried my best to get rid of the smell by brushing as hard as I could.

"Ugh, this smell! If I rub any harder, I might not know if it is my blood or Geoffrey's…"

Mr Knight looked around at the dead creatures while I cleaned myself and <>'s intestines. He is a bit far away, but I can see his expression and he looks kind of serious.

Perhaps to find a new creature to skin, or a new piece of meat to chop up?

As soon as I finished cleaning everything, I wore my torn pajamas and called out to Mr Knight.

"I'm done, do you want to wash up or go back together?"

"You go ahead. I'm looking to see if there is any new creature here to name."

"Isn't that the most useless thing to do now!"

Mr Knight turns towards me and closes his eyes as folds his hands in. He says, "You are still a kid, heh…" and uses his right hand to support his chin as he continues.

"…You see, humans need motivation to look forward in life, and I'm searching for mine now."

"Just how much do you hate your life to have a motivation that small?! And also, what you should be looking for is not motivation, it's probably motive, isn't it?! I know you don't want to help me, but at least don't do something so useless!"

"You fool!"

Huh?!

"Don't disturb me and just go. I'll catch up with you later."

"Explain it! Don't just stop in the middle and explain to me why I'm a fool!"

Ignoring me, he starts to look at the horde of corpses and says, "Isn't there anything new?"

I clenched my fist, while gnashing my teeth and thought 'It is alright to hit him, right?'. But I unclenched my fist, let out a sigh and looked at him.

"…Enough, I'm leaving!"

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Kiddo started walking back to camp as I assessed the situation while still at the falls.

"That Kiddo, he is really trying his best to catch me. I'll have to be on my guard."

It really is nice to have a kid around. Time flows so fast.

Watching Kiddo make his way to camp, his arms laden with items that seemed eager to escape, I couldn't help but admire how he lifted his arms to keep everything balanced. His back appeared so broad and strong. Before I knew it, a small smile crept onto my face.

Was it because I was proud of him? Heh... I can't quite put my finger on it. If there had been a breeze, my hair would have been swirling around, and I would have struck a cool pose. And...

A sudden rustling sound interrupted my thought process, and when I turned my gaze to the waterfall, I noticed something rushing rapidly down the stream.

"Is it another lifeless body, or another creature barely clinging to life? Hmm... Kiddo really missed another 'Once in a lifetime chance to look at something in a waterfall that was born a day ago' moment."

I chuckled to myself and turned to head back to camp. As I neared him, I noticed something unusual happening to my left arm out of the corner of my eye.

"Tch. Now of all times……"

——————————

As I approached the camp, I heard the sound of metal hitting the ground slowly increasing in intensity, and when I turned to look, it looked as if Mr Knight was muttering something.

"Hmm? Did you say something?"

"..."

He did not answer, but he had a strange expression on his face. What could it be?

I turned forward and kept walking, and soon the camp was in sight, but something was different. I dropped the luggage and ran closer to it.

"Huh? My camp... my camp's destroyed. It must be the work of that stupid octopus."

"Just putting a cover over two stones is not called a camp, stupid kid."

"The camp aside, he even spread the charcoal all over the place!"

"There is nothing you can do about it. Get to work."

I was gnashing my teeth at my inability to do anything about the situation. Stamping my feet in anger, I began to rearrange the camp. While collecting the scattered coal, I looked deep into the cave, and then, I saw my enemy.

"There you are, you stupid octopus. Today you are done for!"

I angrily walked towards it, looking for something on the ground, and just a step away I saw a bone. As I was about to throw the bone I picked, Mr Knight shouted.

"Stop it, you brat. Do you want to be melted by its acid or what? ……Ahh, it's a good thing you fell into this area"

I stopped at those words. As he said, if I had been in any other part of this labyrinth, I would have been a delicious meal for another creature.

The octopus in the same cave as me is an ore-eating creature, but not a meat-eating creature, called <>.

<>, supposedly a creature found in low depth. It's similar to an octopus out of the labyrinth. It is over 6 times my height. Its skin is deep red in color with orange spots all over, and its head is covered in multiple red-colored ores and the middle one being larger than others.

The arrangement of ores on his head looks like a crown.

Unlike the one outside, this one hovers twice my height above the ground, dragging its eight tentacles along the ground. There are many areas of ore in the labyrinth and we can find various ore-eating creatures.

They only eat ore, but if threatened they will spit stomach acid that can even melt the floor and walls of the labyrinth.

The <> raised one of its tentacles and started climbing the wall of ores.

It is heading for the big one.

After reaching the big ore, it put its head on the ore and spread all of its tentacles around it. The deep red skin turned green, mimicking the color of the ore, and the orange spots turned teal. Its body began to glow and was hidden among the ore.

I dropped the bone in my hand and went back to get my luggage. While still cursing the octopus in my mind, I started gathering the charcoal and rekindled the fire with the stones.

Next to it, I spread out the skin and intestines of the <> and wrapped <>'s meat in a package made of <>'s skin.

After finishing all the mundane work, I sat between two rocks that I called my camp and called out to Mr Knight, who was standing a bit far away from the camp.

"With this I'm all done, Mr Knight."

"Well, shall we begin then, the training?"

"No, I don't have any interest in that. You tell me to concentrate, but how can I try to feel something that I don't know? That's impossible. Let's do something interesting!"

There are several rocks here and there that can be used as small stools. Mr Knight approached and sat down on one of them, putting both hands on his knees and spoke.

"Then why don't you suggest what we should do?"

"Tell me an interesting story! Like fairy tales or..."

"Then how about ghost stories!" he said in an excited tone before I could finish my suggestion.

"You just want to make fun of me by scaring me, right?"

"Huh? I don't understand what you're saying–"

As he was about to defend himself, something fell from his left hand. Before I could see what it was, he quickly hid it by moving his left hand as fast as he could.

"Look there! You hid something! You definitely hid something!"

"I.Don't.Understand"

"Don't try to hide it by talking like a robot!"

"Tch! Sit down, I am going to tell you a fantasy-like story. A really interesting one"

"Don't divert the topic by acting like nothing happened!"

Mr Knight started to draw on the dirt of the ground with his right hand and continued the story.

"Long long ago…"

"Stop, stop! Restart!"