episode_0049

Two pairs of men and women wore bewildered expressions. The woman in front of them was clearly someone they knew, but her demeanor was entirely different.

Though Arina had recently shown more feminine traits, she was still a woman with a predominantly masculine disposition. She was absolutely not the type to furrow her brows in such a delicate, feminine way like the woman before them now. The porter, the first to regain his composure, scratched his head vigorously and approached Arina.

“…What’s with the tone? Acting like we’ve never met?”

“That’s correct. You are a stranger.”

Hah. Unbelievable. Is she joking?

The porter forced a laugh and spoke again.

“Hey, Riel. What are you playing at?”

“That’s my line. And I’m not Riel—I’m Arina. Are you perhaps mistaking me for someone else?”

For a moment, he suspected that Arina was feigning ignorance because she knew she couldn’t win against him. But the porter quickly dismissed the thought. The sincerity in Arina’s expression as she looked at him—genuine confusion—eradicated all doubt.

That face held a purity unlike the real Arina, something Riel Frost could never possess.

If this had been the Arina he knew, even if her hands were incapacitated, she would have lunged at him with her teeth bared, determined to kill him.

“Uh… So it’s true? You don’t remember me?”

“Have we met somewhere?”

“…No. You’re right. I must’ve mistaken you for someone else. Now that I look closer, your eye color is different.”

With that, the porter took Yuria and retreated to a corner of the restaurant, whispering amongst themselves.

“What do we do? Seems like actual memory loss?”

“Why are you asking me? Didn’t you say you could handle everything?”

“No, it’s just… I’ve never seen this kind of situation before.”

“Are you kidding? Then what the hell do we do?!”

Watching the two muttering in voices too low to hear, Arina tilted her head in confusion.

“Arina.”

She turned to face Ian.

Ian considered himself Arina’s friend—Arina, not Riel Frost. And, currently, the person closest to her. Not that it mattered. After all, he was likely the only one who would ever receive a kiss from her unprompted.

“Don’t act so familiar. If you want to talk, could you at least put that dangerous thing away first?”

But the gaze Arina fixed on him was cold. Of course, it was nothing compared to the glacial stare Riel Frost was known for.

Regardless of the details, Ian had been the one brandishing a sword and causing chaos in the restaurant. Understandably, Arina held no goodwill toward him.

“Ah, this. Sorry.”

Belatedly, Ian sheathed his sword. It hadn’t even crossed his mind that Arina would perceive the weapon as a threat. The real her wouldn’t have batted an eye at dozens of blades like this.

Once the sword was safely stored, Arina approached the housewives who had been watching the scene unfold. One woman in particular, who had been conversing with the porter earlier, looked utterly terrified. Gently, Arina patted her back.

“Are you okay, ma’am?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah… I’m fine now.”

Though she tried to hide it, Arina’s hand trembled slightly as she comforted the woman, who was visibly older than her. Without her identity as the Archmage, facing a man wielding a sword now required more courage than she could muster.

Still, Arina stepped forward for the sake of the women hiding in the kitchen. Perhaps her righteous nature remained intact despite everything. Ian pondered the thought.

“So. Since none of you are familiar faces, may I ask why you’ve come here, to this remote village?”

Arina glanced between the porter, Ian, and the women accompanying them.

Nadizan was not well-known to the general public—a village nestled in rugged terrain, unlikely to be stumbled upon by chance. Outsiders visiting were an extreme rarity.

Regaining his composure, Ian replied instead.

“Arina, I think they’re here for you.”

“For me?”

Arina blinked, pointing a finger at herself. In response, Yuria unsheathed the Holy Sword and presented it to her.

“Yes. I’m Yuria, the Hero. I’ve come to retrieve you, my comrade.”

Though an amnesiac Arina wouldn’t recognize the Holy Sword’s form, its radiant, divine glow was unmistakable even without further verification.

“The… Hero? And I’m your comrade?”

Arina’s lips twitched with disbelief. No matter how venerable the Hero was, being called a comrade by a complete stranger was naturally suspicious.

Of course, Arina was aware she had lost her memories. She understood she might have connections she couldn’t recall.

“Riel—no, Arina. You might not remember, but you’re an incredible mage. Won’t you join me once more as my ally?”

Yuria intended to leverage Arina’s amnesia. With her hostility toward the Hero’s party completely erased, bringing her along would be far easier than before.

“Please. The world needs you for peace.”

She assumed appealing to Arina’s sense of justice would make her compliance simple. But the response she got was unexpected.

“Um… I still think you’ve mistaken me for someone else. A mage? I can’t even feel mana.”

“What?”

Even with lost memories, her abilities couldn’t have vanished. Stunned by the impossible claim, Yuria’s sympathetic nerves flared—her pupils dilated.

In that instant, her heightened perception caught something around Arina’s neck.

“A… mana-sealing necklace?”

Ian recognized it too. The item the porter had used to forcibly restrain Arina before. At Yuria’s murmur, both Ian and Millen turned to glare at the porter.

Even Yuria, unconsciously, glanced his way.

Suddenly under everyone’s scrutiny, the porter shrugged and spread his hands defensively.

“What? Why—how? We just met. When would I have gotten the chance to put that on her?”

His words were so reasonable no one could refute them.

“But if not him… then who?”

Muttering to herself, Yuria abruptly grabbed Arina’s wrist.

“Excuse me.”

She channeled her mana into Arina’s body, scanning her thoroughly. After a moment, Yuria opened her eyes.

“As I thought—her body is saturated with miasma. It seems she’s been prevented from gathering mana to keep it from spreading further.”

“Miasma? But unlike Marika, her condition seems stable…”

“Right. I don’t know what trick was used, but the miasma isn’t draining her life force.”

At this, the porter’s eyes gleamed as he snapped his fingers.

“Meaning Riel figured out how to control miasma?”

Another reason to secure Arina. To heal their two injured comrades, they first needed to resolve the miasma consuming Marika’s life.

“Probably not. If she had, she wouldn’t have lost her memories.”

The miasma was the most plausible culprit behind Arina’s current state.

“Hey, who put that necklace on you?”

“This? Ms. Marin did. She told me never to take it off, so I’ve been wearing it all day.”

“Ms. Marin?”

Ian repeated the unfamiliar name. Yuria and the porter, however, had heard of her before.

“Ms. Marin is my savior. She brought me here, though she’s away now for some business.”

“That strangely powerful martial artist Leonah mentioned?”

“Yeah. So there really was someone else from another world besides me.”

Grinning sharply, the porter wiped a bead of sweat from his brow. An uncontrollable variable existing in this world unnerved him.

Ahem.

Unable to follow the conversation, Arina cleared her throat awkwardly.

“Anyway, even if you are the Hero, I can’t go with you. I can’t use magic, and I have to wait until Ms. Marin returns.”

“That’s a problem. We need you.”

Determined to take her by force, the porter stepped toward her. Ian tensed, ready to draw his sword again—but it wasn’t necessary.

“Hold on—”

“Why? Huh? Hey—Yuria?!”

Yuria yanked the porter’s wrist and dragged him out of the restaurant. Seizing the opportunity, Ian approached Arina.

“Arina.”

“You’re awfully casual with me too. Did you also know me in the past?”

“Yeah. I’m your friend. Ian Felix. You called me Ian.”

“I see… Mr. Ian—no, Ian? Anyway, Mr. Ian, did you also come here to take me away?”

After repeating his name a few times, Arina asked cautiously.

“Yes. Those guys are dangerous. We should leave before they try anything. I’ll take you.”

“Dangerous? The Hero is dangerous?”

Heroes couldn’t be evil—commonsense in this world. Yet the words would have infuriated the pre-amnesiac Arina. Ironically, she was now the one saying them.

Ian faltered. Should he really explain to her what they had done? Would it even be right to shatter the peace of her forgotten past?

“Besides… No matter how dangerous they are, surely they’re less threatening than someone swinging a sword around in a restaurant…”

Unfortunately, Ian’s first impression had been irreparably tarnished.

“That—listen, I’m on your side.”

“Really? Then will you do me a favor?”

“Name it.”

“Hmmm~?”

Arina’s lips curled into a sly smirk. A sudden sense of foreboding made Ian’s mouth twitch.

“W-What is it?”

“Come with me first.”