“Hey Moona! How did you find me, peko?” Pekora asked the purple-haired girl.

“I tracked you down until Pekoria. While I was following your trail, I met a girl who said that a group of people was trying to attack a bandit hideout. I would’ve ignored it but I found out a rabbit girl with carrots on her hair was part of that group”, she answered.

“It’s great that you guys reunited but we still have bandit problems”, Amelia reminded them.

The bandits were ready to attack us. With the element of surprise gone, this would be a tough battle.

“Then let’s give them hell, peko!” Pekora charged as she swung her two swords.

It was a chaotic fight. Amelia fired her gun, Pekora chaotically swung her two swords, the purple-haired girl shot silver rays, and I slashed at the bandits using my sword. One by one, the bandits fell. When it was over, there were many bandits lying on the ground. The purple-haired girl covered us and defeated any bandit that came close to hurting any of us so we got off without having any injuries.

“Mikage... You have no problems with killing?” Amelia asked.

“Why would I? It’s a kill-or-be-killed situation”, I answered.

“I guess this is an effect of your amnesia”, she muttered.

Did I have problems with killing? I really didn’t feel anything when I ended those bandits’ lives. Besides, they probably dirtied their hands with blood already. If they kill people, then they should be prepared to be killed too.

“That’s over, peko. Are you guys alright?” Pekora freed the prisoners.

“T-Thank you very much”, one of the prisoners said.

“The girl who escaped is waiting in Pekoria. Go”, the purple-haired girl told them and they left.

“Thanks for the rescue, Moona”, Pekora said.

“Pekora... Who is she? And why did she call you a princess?” I asked.

“I am Moona Hoshinova, the chief of the Peko Royal Guards. This troublemaker is the princess of Pekoland, Pekora Francoise Ru... Belolicht?” Moona asked Pekora.

“My real name doesn’t matter. Besides, Pekora Usada sounds more friendly, peko. Moona, I order you to call me by that name too”, Pekora said.

“Anyway, it’s time to return to the castle.”

“No! I’m going on an adventure with Mikage and Amelia to find the Hall of Memories!”

“Hall of Memories? Why would you need the Primordial Memory?” she turned her attention to me.

“I actually lost my memories so I’m hoping that the Primordial Memory could help me out”, I answered.

Moona stared at me like she was looking at a weird creature.

“You bastard... Don’t think you can get away with this!” a bandit rose up and charged at Amelia while holding a dagger.

Amelia was too far from us and I couldn’t possibly reach her in time. Even if I were to use my shadow, it wouldn’t be fast enough. However, I had one desire inside me and that was to save Amelia from the bandit.

An eerie feeling entered my body and the bandit’s shadow turned into a huge spike and stabbed him. The bandit groaned and died. His shadow returned to the ground as he fell down.

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“Excuse me for a bit”, Moona walked towards me and started patting my body.

She grabbed my hands and stared at the palms. After that, she went to Pekora.

“You won’t change your mind in trying to find the Hall of Memories?” Moona asked her.

“Nope. I owe them a debt, peko”, Pekora answered.

“What kind of debt?”

“They gave me food when I was really hungry. Gotta repay that favor, peko.”

“Why didn’t you just buy food? You took some money before you ran away.”

“Umm.... About that...” Pekora started fumbling with her fingers.

“She lost all her money while gambling”, Amelia answered Moona’s question.

“Wait until Her Highness hears about this”, Moona said.

“Please don’t! Mama is scary when she’s angry, peko”, Pekora pleaded.

We left the bandits’ hideout while Pekora was trying hard to convince Moona to keep her mistake a secret.

“So? What are your plans, Moona? Pekora doesn’t want to go back unless we find the Hall of Memories”, Amelia asked her.

“My role as the chief of the Peko Royal Guards is to make sure that the royal family is safe. If this is the princess’ desire, then I have no choice but to accompany her”, she answered.

“You’re coming along, peko? Hooray! We have a strong fighter!” Pekora cheered.

“Well. It’s great we have the chief of the Peko Royal Guards on our side”, I agreed.

With Moona joining us, we continued on our way to Krev Valley after burying the dead bandits. It was already late in the afternoon when we continued our journey again.

We didn’t encounter any more problems as we were getting nearer to our destination. If all went well, we could arrive at the Peafowl Kingdom in a week. We really didn’t have to worry about monsters or bandits. Moona already showed us her strength and Pekora said that Moona was really strong. If she felt like it, she could have taken out all of the bandits by herself.

Night came and we camped out again. Amelia and Pekora tended the fire while I sat down on the ground and stared at the stars again.

“Do you have a moment?” Moona approached me.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Are you a normal human? Or are you just like me?”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s a reason why I am this strong. I am actually a vessel of the Primordial Moon.”

“A vessel?”

“It’s more like a medium actually. The Primordial Beings all reside in a different plane than us. I could tap on the powers of the Primordial Moon and use its powers. The silver rays of light I shoot out are condensed moonlight. Also, I’m more powerful at night.”

“I see... And you’re saying I’m like you?”

“Dark Magic only allows you to control your own darkness. From earlier, you made a bandit’s shadow go against him. There was no way a regular human could control another person’s shadow. That’s why I thought you were not using magic to control the darkness but instead, you were controlling it by your own will.”

“So you’re saying that....”

“Yes. You might be a vessel for the Primordial Dark.”

That was when some things made sense. Shiroe was in charge of their organization’s greatest ambition which was summoning the Primordial Dark. But instead, I got summoned. The only explanation that I could think of was that I was summoned as a vessel for the Primordial Dark.

“That’s interesting”, my sword transformed into a little girl.

Despite seeing a sword turn into a girl, Moona didn’t look surprised.

“Now that I thought about it, the strange thing inside Mikage was similar to the energy used by the enemies we encountered during the Dark Times. I see. It’s the Primordial Dark”, Anya said.

“Wait... If you’re a vessel, does that mean that you could interact with it?” I asked.

“Why yes. I talk with the Primordial Moon every now and then”, Moona answered.

“Then how come the Primordial Dark never talked to me?”

Moona thought for a while.

“Maybe it’s because the Primordial Dark had no will of its own? It existed before free will was created so I guess that’s why”, she answered.

“The food’s ready!” Amelia shouted at us and Moona went to the campfire.

Wait a minute... If they just needed a vessel for the Primordial Dark, wouldn’t anyone do? I mean, why was I summoned just to become a vessel? It would benefit them better if they used someone from their organization. Why me?

I decided to push that question back to my mind since I couldn’t arrive at an answer no matter how much I thought. I have to get my memories back first.