“Theoretically, we’re currently in a dream, our bodies are fine. We just need to find the caster and defeat him to return to the real world,” Selene walked with Alice through the cathedral, listening to her explanation of their situation. She couldn’t help but ask, “Can I use magic here… I mean, can I make contact with the elements without any negative consequences?”
Alice, having heard about Selene’s amnesia and her status as a Regressor, and mentally adding this to her assessment of the Church of True Light cultists, replied,
“No.”
Selene’s face visibly fell, but she quickly perked up again.
“Then can you teach me a quick meditation technique? If you can’t win, I can at least help… Don’t worry, I can handle elemental assimilation. It’s not like I’ll die.”
Alice suddenly stopped and turned, meeting Selene’s gaze—those eyes that, when she looked at them, seemed to know everything, full of wisdom that belied her age. She saw the crimson flames dancing within the light blue eyes, but the flames vanished in an instant. She saw a hint of anxiety and discomfort in them.
She wasn’t comfortable with her identity, nor with this world.
But she could also see that Selene was trying to find her place in this world… and that learning magic was a crucial step for her.
Selene, slightly unnerved by Alice’s gaze, said,
“Then, never mind.”
“Fine,” Alice nodded impassively, then forced a smile onto her stiff face. “Also, you said something to me on the day of your investiture as Saintess. I think I should tell you.”
“What?”
“You said, ‘Alice, I left a letter for myself in Alorn. If I forget, remind me.’”
...
Delight poured a large glass of murky liquid down his throat, then looked boredly at the numerous adventurers in the tavern. They were all unemployed because of the curfew in Alorn, and were using alcohol to numb themselves.
Conveniently, this tavern belonged to the Adventurer’s Guild.
He watched them use their guild-provided wages to buy guild-produced alcohol for a while, then slowly made his way to the bar, which doubled as a place for accepting commissions, exchanging information, and posting announcements.
The bartender immediately noticed him and plastered a practiced smile on her face.
“What can I get for you, sir?”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Delight didn’t speak but gestured mysteriously for the bartender to lean closer, whispering,
“Do you know how long an adventurer’s certification is valid?”
“Um…” The bartender’s eyes widened. She hesitated before answering, “I think it’s unlimited, unless the adventurer cancels it themselves, or is confirmed dead.”
She muttered to herself. Adventurers were a high-risk profession. Their average lifespan was only about thirty years. The validity of a certificate… what was the point?
Delight nodded, satisfied. The Adventurer’s Guild had thought about the needs of a minority, like him, who had lived for fourteen hundred years and had assumed many different identities, but had no way to prove it.
He took a badge, carved from mithril, from his chest and placed it on the counter.
“Theoretically, this badge should still be valid…”
The bartender looked at the badge, her expression shifting from puzzled to surprised, to shocked, then to serious.
“The owner of this badge is…” she took a deep breath, then recited the title, each word weighing heavily, “The gravedigger of the old church, the nameless Duke of Goose Mountain, the thirteenth master swordsman, a secret member of Mittal’s defense force, the king crowned with the Celestial Star, the most adventurous adventurer… You are…?”
Several adventurers overheard her and whispered among themselves. Delight could feel many eyes on him.
Delight was very certain that, when he was a magic apprentice, he had done the right thing by persistently convincing his master to register him as an adventurer. He listened to the bartender reciting his titles, each one well-known in the adventurer community, and even throughout the Divine Construct, and smiled,
“That’s right, it’s me…”
“Did you dig up his grave?” The bartender blurted out. Perhaps because she couldn’t control her emotions, her voice was rather loud, loud enough for everyone in the tavern to hear.
Huh?
Delight was startled and saw a group of adventurers charging towards him, their faces grim. Some of the more aggressive ones even drew their weapons, while others whispered to each other.
“This old guy dug up Delight’s grave?”
“We can’t let this slide. Let’s teach him a lesson!”
“Is that badge really Delight’s legendary artifact?”
“We can’t let this slide. Let’s teach him a lesson!”
“He disrespected the remains of our most respected Delight! We can’t let this slide!”
He felt something was wrong.
...
Alice quickly taught Selene a method for quickly calming down and entering a meditative state. Then, under Selene’s questioning, she described the events of the night Selene was invested as Saintess.
“…Then, His Holiness, before the altar, bestowed upon you the title ‘Shinten,’ and the investiture ceremony was complete,” Alice recounted calmly. “After the ceremony, you found me and said this.”
Selene pondered. With her current knowledge, she couldn’t find any clues in Alice’s description, so she asked another question,
“Did I do anything unusual the day before or the day after the ceremony?”
“Unusual?” Alice didn’t seem to understand what constituted “unusual.” After thinking for a while, she said, “His Holiness spent more time with you in the corona than with me. Does that count?”
“The corona?” Selene had heard that term before. “Is that…”
Alice nodded subtly, glancing at Selene’s expression.
“It seems you remember the corona.”
Selene paused, wanting to ask if the corona was the crashed spaceship from the beginning of the Fifth Era, when a sharp cry suddenly cut her off.
Alice immediately tensed, and a bright holy light surrounded them both.
“It seems we’re close to the caster.”
Selene anxiously hugged herself and followed behind Alice.
Before them should have been the cathedral doors, surrounded by statues of saints. But in this dream world, instead of the doors described by Alice, there was only a dark, narrow tunnel.