Chapter 278

It was a female elf. But there was something different. There was…an air of purity perhaps. The hair was blonde and close to white. A lot like Daniela’s. Maybe she was a light elf?

“No…that is an ancient elf…”

I thought back on the time Adlus had approached Daniela, and I had gotten angry. We had then had a conversation about how light elves were related to the ancient elves. If that was true, this woman in front of us was likely an ancient elf. After all, why would a light elf come out here and now?

‘Elf detected among the intruders in the center. Switching from attack mode to conversation mode.’

“Huh…?”

It was the voice of a human but was also machine-like.

I had heard it before.

‘This is the Facility Number 125. Reserentrible. State your business.’

The woman in the light said. While I could hear her, my mind was thinking of other things.

“This dungeon…facility. The structure has been altered, resulting in monsters rising to the surface. We wish to stop it.”

‘I have currently detected the invaders in the center and the interception mechanism has been activated. After it has been running for one-hundred and sixty-eight hours, the facility will be reset.’

“Can you not do something about the monsters that are getting out?”

‘After investigating the matter, it appears that the management systems for the laboratory animals have malfunctioned. It will take twelve hours to repair them.’

The words ‘laboratory animals’ brought me back. So, those monsters were the results of their experiments?

‘Indeed. The mixing of species was an attempt at solving food shortages.’

“So, you really are an ancient elf?”

‘Incorrect. I am an elf, but I never claimed to be ancient.’

“We are people who live a thousand years after your people. To us, you are someone from the past.”

‘…I see. The passage of time has been confirmed. It is currently AD 1425. A thousand years have passed since the creation of this facility.’

I wasn’t sure what ‘AD’ meant, but she was now aware of how much time had passed.

‘Very well. I will allow you to call me an ancient elf. Your purpose here has been confirmed. The facility will be reset. This will occur automatically in one-hundred and sixty-eight hours. During the reset, the interior structure of this facility will change. I advise you to leave before then.’

“I understand. We will leave immediately.”

I had things I wanted to ask. However, now was not the time. We had one-hundred and sixty-eight hours. That was seven days. A week. We had to get everyone out of the dungeon in the meantime.

‘The tower will sink into the ground, and none of the facility will be visible from the surface. Furthermore, security will be tightened. All intruders will be henceforth rejected.’

“What…?”

“Is it shutting down…?”

‘Incorrect. It will just be vacant.’

That sounded even worse…! What would happen to the town?

“But there’s nothing we can do.”

“That’s true…”

“We should prioritize helping people escape. Am I wrong?”

“…You aren’t. We should rush back to the capital. It will take many more men to go and find everyone.”

That being said, I wasn’t sure the military would move. After all, those who entered were responsible for their own safety. Even if you went in to save someone.

“I’ll handle that matter.”

“You, Manager?”

“Why are you looking at me like that? Are you doubting me?”

“No, not exactly…”

“I have many acquaintances in the army who are former Adventurers. It won’t hurt to try and take advantage of that.”

If that’s what she meant, I knew people as well.

“Well, I’d like to ask you a favor then. I’m going to write a letter that I want you to deliver. It should reach him.”

“Hmm. Very well. Leave it to me.”

The captain of the shadows. Mister Tames. Surely, he would help us.

We decided to leave the center for now. It didn’t feel right to stay there. And I wasn’t the only one who felt like we were intruding on their sacred territory. When we had first entered, the voice said something about a ‘communication mode.’ That suggested that a trap would have been activated had Daniela not been there. As for the hologram, it seemed to be coming from the stone monument. But there was so much I didn’t know.

“First, Rindo will return to the capital. And Lemon will go with her, just in case something happens. Do you mind?”

“I don’t mind.”

“Neither do I.”

“Good. Then wait just one moment.”

Daniela said as she stretched a hand towards me. What? I looked at the palm of her hand, but it was empty.

“Hmm?”

“I am going to call Rachel. Lend me the key.”

“Ah, right. Yeah, I guess that would be faster.”

They would be able to return to the Empire in the blink of an eye. I took the key out of the hollow bag. Manager and Lemon looked at it curiously, but Daniela didn’t bother to explain. Instead, she pushed it into the air and turned it. The space before us distorted as the familiar alley came into view.

“Woah!”

“What is this?”

“It is a tool for dimension magic. It connects to a place where an acquaintance of ours lives. Follow me.”

Daniela and I entered. The others followed very hesitantly. I remembered feeling like that when it was my first time. It was all very confusing.

Now that we were in, I opened the window to the side.

“It’s a Japanese style room…”

Manager muttered. Her reaction was amusing, but this was no time to laugh.

“Rachel? Are you in there?”

“Hmm? Ah, it’s just you.”

“Hey, master. I have a little favor to ask.”

“I am very busy. I cannot help you all of the time… Oh? So you’ve created a harem, after all, have you? Haha. What an idiot you are!”

“That’s not what this is. And this is quite serious.”

“Hmph. You’re a boring one. Well, come in then. That gray elf and Japanese woman might as well come too. Damn it. So many people all at once… No one ever visited me when I was younger…”

Manager was surprised to be referred to as Japanese. I followed after Daniela, who entered first. Manager and Lemon were full of caution as they made their way through the window.

“Uh, sorry for the intrusion.”

“Excuse me…”

As the five of us sat around the table, cups were brought out. Lehaty had come with a tray.

“Hello.”

“Hello. It has been a while.”

Lehaty said with a smile. She seemed a lot more comfortable around people now. Perhaps life with Rachel had made her more confident. Her wolf ears were sticking straight up now and looked cute.

“So?”

Rachel asked as she sipped her tea with an irritated expression.

“The thing is…”

And then I told her about what had happened today. The labyrinth disaster. Ancient elves. The time limit. After I was finished, Rachel sighed and waved her hand. Nothing happened.

“I have set a door near the Empire, so you can go through there. However, it is a one-way door. So you’ll have to run your fastest back to Reserentrible.”

“Thank you. Miss Rachel.”

“Hmph. It’s the least I can do for someone from my old home.”

“…So, you really are from Japan then?”

“I was once. But now I am just a monster.”

“A monster…”

“Rachel is a wolf that lived for eight hundred years. She was Japanese before she reincarnated.”

As Rachel was doing a poor job of explaining herself, I did it for her. But perhaps it was deliberate because she seemed rather unhappy as she looked away.

“Thank you… I’m glad to have met you. Maybe we can talk some other time.”

“Perhaps. Now hurry up and go.”

Rachel said as she waved her hand. Manger nodded with satisfaction and then led Lemon out of the window.

“Wa…ahhhhhh…”

“Ahhhhhhh…”

…Their screams faded into the sky. I sighed. Rachel was chuckling to herself.

“They’ll hate you for that.”

“Hmph. As if I care. So? You still have business with me then?”

Rachel said as she looked at us. She seemed very bored.

“We do. Well, I’m not sure about it yet. But I want you to come with us.”

“How troublesome… To Reserentrible?”

“Yeah.”

I still had questions I wanted to ask the ancient elf. It related to me. But it also related to Rachel. And Manager. And also that other guy.

And so we went out of the window in order to return to the dungeon with Rachel. Lehaty would stay behind.

“Alright, I have to go for a short while.”

“Yes… You’ll come back as soon as you can, won’t you?”

“You get lonely too easily, Lehaty… Don’t do anything foolish while I’m gone.”

Rachel said as she climbed out of the window. Then we walked down the alley and returned to the dungeon. Daniela and I moved towards the door immediately, but Rachel started to wander around. She seemed quite curious about the place.

“Hmm…hmm. We are quite close to a dragon vein.”

“You can tell?”

“I’m sure you can too?”

“Uh… I’ve only ever sensed it once.”

“What a sad person you are.”

“Asagi. Rachel. Are we going in? We do not have much time.”

While Rachel had saved us a lot of time, we still had to hurry. Daniela and I pushed the doors open. And then just like before, Daniela stepped into the room first.

‘What is it now?’

The stone monument shone again and the holographic ancient elf appeared. ‘Ahh,’ Rachel muttered. Even she had never met an ancient elf before.

“I have something I want to ask.”

‘What?’

“Was it you that called me to this world?”

I could see Daniela looking at me with a worried expression. But I forced myself to look at the ancient elf.

“Are there records of summoning people from other worlds?”

Yes, when I first heard her voice, I realized that it was the same voice I heard in the convenience store. The voice that said, ‘Confirmation of subject who wishes to be summoned. Unique Skill ‘Jack of all Trades and Master of None’ granted…’

‘Correct. Ancient elves have experimented with summoning people from other worlds.’

“…!!”

It replied as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

So, the magic that had summoned me, Matsumoto, and Manager were all from ancient elves. As for Rachel…she was the only one who had been reincarnated. Perhaps it was part of their experiment. I didn’t know.

However, there was something more important that I had to ask now.

“About these experiments…were there any experiments for sending people back?”

‘Yes. However, they all ended in failure. Summoning can only occur in one direction.’

“…I…see…”

The strength left my legs. My knees hit the floor. I didn’t know what to say after that. It’s not as if I had been traveling all of this time in hopes of returning. I had been on the brink of death when I was summoned. And so I thought that I might as well see the world. It wasn’t something I put much thought into when starting. Of course, Daniela’s encouragement helped.

Still, I’d be lying if I said that the hope of eventually finding a way to return didn’t remain in me. Even if the world was filled with wonder and the person I loved was here, it wasn’t where I was born and raised.

And so there were times when I would look back and be drawn to it.

Those were the times I wanted to go back. And take Daniela with me.

“Asagi…”

Daniela slowly put an arm on my shoulder and pulled me towards her. The warmth of her touch helped bring me back a little.

‘Do you have any other questions?’

“Wa-wait… Where is the facility now? Where were the experiments conducted?”

But the sense of loss was still there. And so I had to ask that question.

‘There were four main facilities. They were in centers of ancient elven cities.’

She moved her arm to the left and a square-shaped hologram appeared. Then she moved her arm to the right, and the hologram slid towards us.

It was a world map. My eyes scanned it viciously until I found our current location. Then I compared its position to that of the facilities. One of them was on an island I had never heard of before. I hadn’t been to the sea yet. There was one that was to the far south. The third was up north. The last was close to the center of the map. The forest would have been much larger back then. I had heard that the ancient elves lived in forests. However, the position of the mountains did not change. The Alexia mountain ranges ran through the continent. The facility was located slightly to the north of those mountains.

“…The hill of mist.”

It was the place I had been summoned.

“This one…is in Erdiares.”

Daniela said as she pointed at the one to the far north. Yes, Manager said she had awoken in a town on the outskirts of that country.

“I was also born close to that place.”

Rachel said. In other words, it was all related to the experiments of the ancient elves. No one said anything. Maybe we couldn’t. Two of us now knew we could never return. We didn’t know what to do.

“Well, I have no reason to return, anyway.”

“Huh…?”

“Have you forgotten? I am no longer human. I am a monster. I have been a monster for eight-hundred years. I have devoured beasts and attacked humans. Yes, I even ate people to stay alive. I may look like a human now, but I am still a beast by nature. It is only because I have lived so long that I developed intellectually.

A wolf that has lived for eight-hundred years. Even if she had been a human once, if her true nature had changed, there was no going back.

“Besides, I never held any kind of hope, to begin with. …I had other things to think about…”

She had cut off her ties to the old world very easily. Perhaps it was something that time did. I didn’t quite know how that felt yet.

“I…”

“You want to return?”

Daniela sat next to me and squeezed my shoulder. It was as if she were willing me to stay.

“You would do that. Even though I am here?”

“Of course, I would never…”

“Then what is wrong?”

She asked plainly. But I had dreams of us going together.

“But, Asagi. This is the world that I was born in. You would have me abandon it?”

“I…”

“I would not want to tell you to abandon yours. But if you cannot return, then you should give up…no… No, that is not it…”

Daniela suddenly fell silent and shook her head with a wry laugh.

“I do not want you to spend the rest of your life searching for a means that may not exist. The remainder of your life should be dedicated to me.”

“Daniela…”

“You can call me selfish. I do not mind. But I do not intend on releasing you. I am sorry.”

She said as she held me tightly. Why was she always so…dashing? She felt so strongly about it… I needed to be like that. I wanted to see things in the same way as the person I was with.

Family and friends. It wasn’t easy to abandon all hope. However, what was easy was living with someone you loved. Side-by-side, in sickness and in health, we walked together. It would be an extension of what we’ve been doing. Our roads may not be the same length, but we would still be together. Yes, it felt like a long time ago now when I made that decision.

“Have you decided?”

“…Yeah. This is my home now. I’ll live here with Daniela.”

“Oh, how sweet and passionate. I didn’t know a user of water magic could get so steamy!”

Rachel said mockingly. But I had the potential to use fire magic too. In any case, I could give as good as I got.

“And you have your new life with your wife now. You can’t go back even if you wanted to.”

“Shu-shut up!”

Rachel turned red as she fumed. Daniela and I chuckled. The ancient elf looked a little bewildered. Still, we had our answer. The summoning was a result of their experiments.

However, that was just for me and Rachel.

“I’m not sure how Manager and Matsumoto will take it… What should we do?”

“Indeed… Regardless of how they take it, it would be a terrible thing to keep the information from them. She may continue to search for a way to return. She may continue to have hope. How do you think she will feel when she nears the end of her life and realizes the truth? It would be better for them to feel despair now, while there is still time to heal. And people who can help heal it. It was the same with me. It was time and you that saved me.”

“Daniela…”

“Rindo and Yasushi seem like strong-hearted people to me. She, at least, will get over it.”

Matsumoto was still a high school student. He might have had many friends. It wasn’t the age to separate from your parents either. Sure, he may be popular with girls, but that didn’t replace familial love.

“But, what if they don’t get over it?”

“Can we really be restrained by such uncertainties? They should know, regardless of the cost. I think it is what all of you need.”

Right… It was reality, after all. They should know. It was information that everyone who came here should know.

“I suppose you brought me here in the hopes that I could bring Yasushi as well?”

“Sorry… But I had a feeling about this.”

“Very well. I will bring him.”

So saying, Rachel disappeared through the door in space. Being able to drag in the Hero of the Republic was one of the perks of being a Lambrusen court magician.