"What are you doing?" The angered voice protested, "Living a cushy life in Simpleton of all places, abandoning your duty...! How can you even stand to look yourself in the mirror!?"
"I do not understand what else you want me to do." I shot back, "Is it not the most difficult to attain position? The rank of Onum is within arm's reach, and Nelly is doing just well with her own studies!"
"Yes, the girl..." The voice circled around me, "Is she the reason? The reason you no longer call yourself by your true name."
"My true name is Meil Deram." I replied, "Son of Joseph Deram, born in Oden. It seems you are confusing me with someone else."
"I see you've adopted our kind's sense of humor as well." The voice shouted, "How much longer is this escapist fantasy going to last!? Will the day ever come when you return to your rightful duties of protecting the land of the Raamans!?"
"Raamans?" I heard a familiar term, "Who are you, exactly?"
"We call for you, plead for your warmth." The shapeless voice sounded like it was walking around me in a circular pattern, "Each and every one of us wishes to be blessed just once more by your scalding wrath, to get branded by your Red-hot insignia. Please, if not for me, then do it for the rest of them!"
"Voice, you are not making any sense!" I shouted, "What do you mean the Raamans need me!? Who am I to them! Who are you!?"
"Ouroboras!" Thousands of voices thundered, "Come back to us! Free us! Save us from this eternal Heavenly damnation!"
"Ouroboras!" The first voice begged, "You must recall! Recollect your identity, and rise again to your position as the Sun God!"
"The Sun God, where is he!?" I inquired through the storm.
"He is...!"
Ah, I woke up. What a scary nightmare. How odd, I have been taking my meds reguarly, so the night terrors should have ceased fully by now. I guess I should talk to the doctors and have my dosage upped, but I wonder how safe that would be. Now, where am I?
"Sir? Sir!" An older lady asked me as she stood in front of the counter, "Here is your ticket."
"Ticket?" I tilted my head, "What for? Where am I?"
"Sir, are you serious?" She groaned, "You're in Cardina, obviously."
Hold on, what part of me being in Cardina should be obvious? I was in my bed in Simpleton just last night! This reeks of some of Lune's older pranks, but it makes no sense how he could pull it off. Unless, hmm... Hypothetically speaking, he does possess the Blue Iro Ability—Materialize. If by any chance he knows the chemical composition of a human being, he might have Materialized even me with such a power. Then, where is he? And again, what is this ticket for?"
"A tour near the outer islands of Schnell's Archipelago?" I checked what it said on the ticket, "Why did you give me this?"
"Because you paid for it, sir." She looked like she was conversing with an idiot, "What, experiencing good ol' buyer's remorse now? Too bad, enjoy the trip."
"I have no business on the Archipelago." I returned the ticket to the counter.
"You're not going ON the Archipelago." She accented that part in particular, "No one can. It's only reserved for Schnell's descendants and a select few who were invited by them. You, I assume, fit neither criteria, so just like the rest of the people taking this tour, you're only allowed to go around the perimeter."
"I see, quite fascinating, but my question is how I managed to get here in the first place?" I asked, slightly aggravated by this point, "I live in Simpleton, not Cardina."
"Bah! So you really were sleepwalking the entire time!?" She fell back on her chair laughing, "This can't be real! I thought you were muttering while you were talking to the staff, but I thought you were just quiet as hell! Hahahahaha!"
"Ma'am, this is a serious issue." I tried to remain calm from her mockery, "I have a little girl all alone in our home. I need to find a way back quickly."
"Aww, poor thing." She shrugged, "Well, good thing you're at the right place—This is Meridia's dock, the oldest in the world."
I see, during that odd dream, I must have waded through the night, rode a transport wagon to the eastern dock in Simpleton, and arrived here to get a ticket to Schnell's Archipelago for some reason. How has no one woken me up? How did I myself not wake up? I am still wearing my regular clothes, in spite of changing into leisurely wear before going to bed. No, my clothes are not important right now. Nelly's safety is. I need to get on the return ship to Simpleton immediately.
"Then, give me a ticket to Simpleton, please!" I explained, "I do not need this ticket you gave me, you can keep it. Just give me the one I need."
"Ooh, treating me to a nice little luxury cruise? Don't mind if I do~!" The booth lady selfishly took it for herself, "Ah, but bad news, bud. The last ship to Simpleton for today just left."
"What!?" I jolted.
"Yeeeep, I can get you one for tomorrow. Ah." She realized, "No ships are coming to Simpleton tomorrow, actually. Best I can do is after that, on Wednesday."
"But what will Nelly do then? She is going to be worried, and more importantly, all alone!" I panicked.
"How old did you say she was?" The booth lady raised an Eyebrow.
"Ah, she's fifteen."
"Eh!? You're worried about leaving a 15 year old home alone for 2 days!?" She chewed me out, "That's the least you could do for a girl her age, come on! Overprotective much? Seriously, she'll probably enjoy some peace and quiet!"
"But if someone was to harm her, I wouldn't be there to protect her." I refuted.
"Boohoo, is she a celebrity on a hitlist or something? Are trained assassins coming to take her away?"
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Unable to refute her logic on that one, I had to sadly accept that I'll be spending the next two days here in Cardina. It is what it is, and there is nothing else to be done.
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***
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After buying the overpriced ticket to sail across the Cardina-Simpleton seaway, I thanked the lady and walked out of the dock. Now, unsure of what to do and where exactly to go, I briefly humored the idea of visiting Lune and company, but that would just be unrealistic.
"It takes over an entire day by transport wagon to make it to Cardina City, and that is without any stops." I calculated, "Judging by the Sun's position, it is noon right now. Which means even if I immediately come back here the second I reach them, I will only make it to the dock at noon of Wednesday. That is 6 hours past the take off time. In other words, I will be late."
What then? Do I just buy a hotel room and stay there until then? No, I am close to the dock, I do not know the language, so both factors will greatly increase the difficulty of fetching a fair price. Besides, just sitting there dawdling while Nelly is all alone does not sound fun. I also forgot to bring my meds...
"Was this all because of that stupid dream...?" I wondered, when that very voices entered earshot.
"Ouroboras, follow." The voices beckoned.
"What to do..."
"Ouroboras~"
"Hmm, maybe...?"
"Ouroboras, with all due respect to the Sun God, you are being annoying by ignoring the voices of your damned followers." They grunted.
"Voices, I do not mean to interrupt your prayers." I addressed them, "But if you are looking for the Sun God, could I follow you as well? I would like to meet him."
"You!" The voices raged, "You are him! And you are supposed to go to the Archipelago!"
What the...? Such strength, it is as if their very vocals blew the horrid wind that just hit me. But it is not the intonation nor the volume that piqued my attention, but rather the contents. Of course, this has been on my mind for a long time now, and even I am not dense enough to not understand what this message means...
"So the booth lady is Ouroboras..." I opened my Eyes wide in realization.
"Oh my God..."
The voices didn't have a shape nor a body, but I could tell half of them facepalmed, and the other half rolled their Eyes. It seems my guess was wrong, but right now that does not matter.
"If I may ask, why did you enter my dreams and lead me here?" I figured I had nothing better to do, so I found a nearby bench to talk to them one-on-thousands.
"Are you stu-!? N-No, one must not say that to the Lord." They held in their rage to answer me honestly, "Okay, it seems Ouroboras is not in the right headspace, so we shall explain it in layman's terms."
"If that is easier for you, sure." I nodded.
"Nghhh! Not for us, for...! Rargh!" They gave up, "Okay, whatever! Here goes—Something bad is about to happen in the Archipelago! Like, really bad. Universe-shatteringly bad. Yeah, and we need your help!"
"I see. But why did you not explain this to me while I was awake and conscious?" I frowned, "Right now, it is quite difficult to trust the words of those who have led me astray."
"Geez, is this what he felt like when he was converting us into his believers?" One of the voices muttered, "Look man, you invaded our dreams centuries ago, so now we're just returning the favor to help you!"
"I do not recall such an event ever occurring." I got up, "Besides, right now—Protecting Nelly is top priority."
"Again with the girl! Is she all you can think of!?" The voices raged, "Forget about her! If you don't do your task in that bastard's Archipelago, then you, her and everyone else in this world will CEASE to exist!"
"...Go on."
"All will be explained in due time." The voices calmed down once they saw I was interested in hearing them out, "As long as you have faith in us."
"Okay, so this is just my head playing tricks on me after all." I left the voices alone on the bench, "This is how it goes, right? I hear a voice or two, they lure me in, warning me of an impending doom, and then I end up on the other side of the map."
"What!? No! Why would you think that, my Lord!?"
"Because, you do not want to give me a concrete explanation of what I must do, who is this dangerous adversary, not to mention why all this is supposedly going on in the first place." I replied coldly, "Why would I believe in someone who I don't even know exists?"
"BUT YOU'RE THE SUN GOD!"
"Ah, headache..." I heard my ears buzzing, "Apologies, I have to go find something to eat. These two days in Cardina are going to be a pain..."
Well, I said that to them, but the voices were not apparently capable of reading the room. They followed me everywhere, and at times I could not even properly hear the real people I was talking to, like the cashier lady working at the Arthur's, or the kind police man asking me why I was eating on public property when I sat at the nearby park. In the end, it seems the voices really are just part of another schizophrenic attack, but if that is the case—I am afraid Abyssus Solis will freeze over before I find a doctor willing to hand me unprescribed medicine to shoo them away.
"...My Lord, you have some honey mustard on your cheek." The voices sounded deflated.
"Ah, thank you." I wiped my mouth with the napkin that came with the meal, "Did I get it."
"A little on the right still."
"Now?"
"Yeah, you're good." The voices paused before crying, "What the fuck has become of our God~~?"
"Language."
"A-Ah, apologies, my Lord!"