Ch.96Unexpected Visit (1)

Vrrrrrrm─

The familiar sound of an engine turning. The vehicle’s wheels moved busily, and the murky city air tickled my throat as always.

I see people with their heads bowed, staring at something. Rectangular panels held in each of their hands.

Smartphones.

Ortes moved along a path that had become unfamiliar, yet still felt natural to his body. It was the way home.

After entering the password and opening the door.

“You’re late?”

I saw a familiar face, yet one that shouldn’t be there.

***

A sigh escapes me. From the moment I saw the car and people holding smartphones, I suspected something was off.

But this is just too lazy.

“What kind of dream is this supposed to be?”

I pulled over a chair and sat down. I had an intuitive feeling that this Charisia—or rather, “someone” who looked like Charisia—was showing me a dream of Earth.

“Oh my. I wonder what went wrong. It should have been composed of only the most familiar and comfortable scenery for you.”

“You’ve misunderstood something quite thoroughly. When you come home from work and find your boss there, that’s not an auspicious dream but an ominous one.”

“Is that so?” Charisia tilted her head. The resemblance is uncanny and somewhat chilling.

In truth, the clearest sign that this was a dream was something else.

My eyes felt light.

There was no suffocating feeling of being forcibly suppressed and shackled. No pain like thorny vines entangling and rupturing my brain that I feel when unlocking the performance limitations of my eyes.

My daily life could never be this refreshing.

Realizing it was a dream because my eyes weren’t cloudy—thinking about it, that’s quite an absurd reason.

“So. Who are you? A spirit dwelling in a sacred relic?”

The person who looked like Charisia nodded readily.

“That’s correct. I am a priest of ancient Hestia.”

Hestia. One of the twelve deities before Bacchus. Goddess of the hearth. Though “hearth” is just a word. She was also a deity symbolizing the home, and by extension, peace and tranquility, including the image of kitchen fireplaces.

Was there a sacred relic of Hestia among those I brought from the Pluto Grand Temple?

After arriving at Hydra Company, I collapsed before I could properly gather my wits. There were so many relics they looked like a pile of junk, making it difficult to guess which one had a ghost attached to it.

But knowing the deity’s nature, one can generally guess the form of their relic. I recalled several objects with flame-related shapes.

“There was that lamp I set aside to use as indirect lighting because it resembled a mood lamp…”

“Pardon?”

“Nothing. Just talking to myself.”

I organized my thoughts. The spirit dwelling in Phoebus’s relic had looked at me and said I was “qualified.”

“Are you here to evaluate my qualifications as well?”

The priest of Hestia shook her head.

“Strictly speaking, you are not subject to evaluation. The ancient priests have been waiting because you already possess the qualifications.”

That gentle, soft-spoken voice. Looking like Charisia makes it quite unsettling.

“Is it possible to change your appearance? Seeing my boss’s face even in a dream is making me somewhat queasy.”

“That depends on your will, not mine.”

Sounds like a Zen riddle. I sighed.

“The old man from the Phoebus order was saying he couldn’t acknowledge Charisia and whatnot. You don’t seem to share that sentiment.”

“The twelve sacred relics were reserved for you. You are the rightful and only successor. I have no intention of challenging that right.”

“Then you could have just passed it on silently and left. Why come all the way into my dream?”

Charisia—no, the priest of Hestia who looked like Charisia—turned her head to look out the window. The scenery of Earth. The city lights illuminating the settled night like a sleepless town.

A red dot circling across the starless night sky. Judging by the blinking lights, probably an airplane or satellite.

From somewhere comes a clattering noise. The echo of train wheels racing along the tracks.

“I wanted to see the world you came from. The other world across the extra-dimensional boundary. And I have a message to—”

The world I came from, huh. My suspicions grow stronger.

Did the ancient priests summon me to this world? Come to think of it, the priest guarding Phoebus’s crystal did refer to me as “the one we called.”

The mythical era when ancient priests were active must have been thousands of years ago at minimum, so how did I end up awakening some dozen years before the original story began? That question remained.

“The appearance of your world differs from the landscape of my era, but resembles our world in your current time. Whether it’s the Demon King’s influence or an inevitable architectural trend resulting from population-dense cities, I cannot say.”

The Demon King mentioned here?

“Since your curiosity seems satisfied, let me ask something as well.”

The priest of Hestia silently gazed beyond the window. Watching the moving people, she murmured softly.

“A world without magic…”

“Why did you summon me? What exactly do you want?”

Hearing my question, the priest of Hestia finally turned to look at me. The chair I was sitting in and the desk beyond it. The bleak appearance of the simple room where I lived alone.

After mumbling something, the priest of Hestia finally closed her eyes.

“I’m sorry.”

“No, forget sorry. If you summon someone, shouldn’t you at least provide some instructions?”

If you call someone over, shouldn’t there be a manual explaining what needs to be done to return? The priest of Hestia expressed confusion with an “Eh?”

“It should certainly remain in your memory…”

“All I remember is the content of a novel where the Demon King wreaks havoc.”

Come to think of it, this was also puzzling. If the priests of the mythical era were responsible for summoning me to this world, then what about the novel I read? What is the connection between this magical world and the novel?

“What exactly is the relationship between that novel and this world?”

“Novel…?”

Her expression showed she truly knew nothing.

“Damn it. So you don’t know all the facts either?”

“We each remember different parts according to our assigned roles. The one who knew the most facts would be the priest of Phoebus.”

Ah, damn. That guy left after saying some strange things.

Seeing my contorted expression, the priest of Hestia spoke in a whisper.

“…You are a soul from a world where no magic or special abilities remain anymore. Such a soul was necessary for our plan. This is all I know.”

There was something concerning in her words. “No longer remain”?

Does that mean Earth originally had magic too?

If I had known this would happen, I would have properly opened my eyes and looked at that ghost priest when we met. What exactly were they planning?

I pressed my forehead. There seemed little point in tormenting someone who claimed not to know.

I recalled what I had said to the priest of Phoebus.

“You have completed your task. Rest in peace.”

The priest of Hestia nodded and left her final message.

“Someone other than you is collecting the sacred relics. I can feel the screams of five souls. One of them seems precarious, about to disappear.”

Wait, hold on.

“Those who guard the hearth have completed their task. May peace be in your future.”

“Tell me more about what you just said!”

***

Damn it. I woke up feeling the unnecessarily warm morning sunlight.

I should have told her not to rest and to spill everything she knew like Charisia would have…!

I see the lamp placed by my head. My slightly opened eyes confirmed that this lamp was Hestia’s relic.

Its function…

‘It grants peaceful sleep to those who doze off by the fire? Quite unsuitable for combat use.’

Now I understand why the Demon King in the original story didn’t particularly care about sacred relics other than Phoebus’s. At best, it’s a relic for good sleep, which would be meaningless to the Demon King.

Well, Hestia wasn’t originally a deity revered for battle prowess. It would be a futile expectation to seek combat abilities from the goddess of home and hearth.

‘Five souls…’

They must have been mixed among the relics that the Divine Order took from the Pluto Grand Temple. Perhaps that’s why the Pope readily agreed to my excavation plan—to find those relics.

I should look into it when I get the chance. I manipulate my gauntlet to access the Ether Network and check the emails that arrived while I was unconscious.

The first thing I do upon waking is checking work communications. Somehow that makes me feel melancholic.

Two notable emails from the L13 account: news of an urgent meeting for all Panoptes from Niobe, and confirmation of safe return from Demos. And the Grand Temple…

Wait. How did the entire Grand Temple end up there?

I felt incredulous frustration. Even after all that hardship, I could only salvage a limited number of relics, but the Divine Order swallowed the entire Grand Temple?

Deliberately ignoring my envy, I checked the emails under my title as Head of Sacred Investigation at Hydra Company. Most were spam.

But there was one welcome name mixed in.

Lampades. A brief message saying he would visit soon.