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After saying my farewells to "The Raven" and Mephistopheles, I went back to the inn, ready to go to sleep. The sun is almost ready to set, making my drowsiness intensify. My eyes feel droopy and heavy already due to the fatigue I accumulated. Even the mana circulation failed to lessen the fatigue I felt.

"Are you alright there, Kazuma? You look pale," Blue asked me while I exit the Mercenary Building.

"I am fine. Just a little bit tired, nothing too bad after a few hours of rest, and this fatigue will disappear like nothing. Nothing too serious."

"...You say that but your complexion tells me otherwise. You cannot just lie to me like that Kazuma. Remember that I can scan your body easily so lying about your condition is not a good thing for you. I will scold you whenever I wanted to!"

"Tch, I don't really have any idea what this is but the fatigue has accumulated too much in my body. More like I needed to sleep as soon as possible."

Without bothering to keep bantering with Blue, I returned to the inn as quick as I can and go to the bed. Lucky for me, I managed to return to the room and reach the bed before I feel things going really bad.

"Welcome back, Kazuma. How are things?" Maple asked.

"It is fine... I got the info. However, I need to hit the sack... good night..."

"Huh? W-wait Kazuma, don't just drift off to sleep yet! You haven't eaten dinner at all! Hey!"

And that was the last thing I heard before I drifted to sleep and arrived in the land of slumber.

...

"Huh? You are back again?"

I slowly opened my eyes and once again, I found myself in the world of my consciousness. And the guy who keeps on calling himself my "alter ego" appeared in front of me once again.

"What the hell, did I overexert myself again this time around for me to arrive back in the depths of my consciousness?!"

"You are reckless aren't ya? I don't know if I should have to praise you on that or ridicule you to some extent. This is too much even for an average person ya' know? How many screw-ups did you perform these days eh?"

"Shut up, you are a blabbermouth aren't you? Why do you keep on summoning here as always?"

"The heck? Why are you blaming me? I don't have the slightest idea why you keep on intruding on my domain. I didn't even bother you so why are you angry at me? I should be the one going to be angry at you as you have breached my property!"

I shook my head and stood upon the ground. Unlike before, I can now stand up without any difficulty.

"Oh, now you can get up and move around here without any problem. That means you have gotten stronger than before. That is commendable for someone who is a complete mess of a person."

This guy keeps on mocking me but I decided to just let it go for now since he isn't really doing much on me except the mockery. Looking around my surroundings, I noticed that the walls seems like made from jelly matter and some sort of foreign material. The ceiling also looked like it came from alien craft. Did I just got abducted by aliens?

"You are mocking the inside of your consciousness you know?" the alter ego said grinning.

"How did you know what I was thinking?"

"Because we share the same mind. The only thing is that I can hear what you are thinking clearly while you have no similar rights to do so on hearing mine."

"That is a little bit unfair..."

"Hahaha, that is the law of this world. If you get frustrated, you can't do sh*t about it, hahaha!"

I am close to getting pissed by this guy but I am holding it in.

"Hahaha, try and hit me and you will feel the pain I felt twice the amount. Don't worry too much, you can hit me as much as you like unless you are a masochist."

"..."

"Now, what are you going to do? Surely, you won't be going back to reality soon since you are still here and not yet fading. How about you walk around with me? I know this place like the back of my hand. You won't worry about getting lost around here with me guiding you until you awaken. What do you think? Is that good enough? If you wanted to explore around here all alone, you will have the bigger risk of getting lost and if you got entangled to something unexpected, you might be tied up in here and you will have no more chance to return."

"...Fine. Lead the way. Don't you dare do tricks on me or I will screw you up."

"Hahaha, screw who? Don't you remember? If you hit me, you will feel the pain, more like screw yourself!"

There is no other choice. As much as I want to beat up this guy, if I can feel double the pain he felt, I am still screwed up. Also, even if I wanted to explore this place around all by myself, it cannot beat the one with the guide. I still wanted to return to my body rather than get stuck here.

"Shall we go?" the alter ego asked.

"Yes, lead the way."

...

I was thinking that this place is small at first since all I ever have seen so far is the room where I ended up with. How naive I was. It is indeed small but that was only a single room. Outside is a massive place with several hallways and open spaces.

"Is this really my consciousness?" I asked as I marveled at the place.

"Yes indeed. This place is your consciousness. Although most of the places here are empty, as you grow older, this place will be filled with different things based on your experiences. Call it your memory bank."

"Every wall of this place will be filled with different books that are all about your life. You can say that your consciousness is a massive library of knowledge and personal record of your life. Anything you encountered so far and everything you learned is immediately stored here."

"If that is the case, how come most of the walls here are empty?" I asked.

"Naive. Do you think during that age of yours is enough to fill up a whole room of books? Your life currently is only composed of 4 books so how do you think you can fill these shelves with books if that amount barely even consume the top shelf of a normal bookshelf?"

"4 books? That little?"

"Indeed. Since human lives are long, especially if you become a magician, there is no way you can have a lot of those books at your age. Most will only have 3 or 4 books and yours are the average amount people get."

"So, can I read them if I wanted to?"

"Your abilities are too small and too weak for you to access an akashic record like this. Since all memories of yours will be part of this massive library of books in the future, it will be treated as one of the akashic records though if it is compiled together in the shelves of the akashic records, your record will be as insignificant as a small piece of dust in the air. If you wanted to read it, be sure to increase your abilities and keep yourself worthy of accessing it. Only a few individuals gifted and blessed enough can see and read the entirety of the files the Akashic Records can give."

So much info came into my mind that I don't think I can easily catch up with what he is saying at all.

"Don't worry too much. You will get used to it and sooner or later, you will encounter this again. It is just something I advise you to do if you don't want to get troubled in accessing it in the very future."

"Just who are you?"

"I already told you to haven't I? I am your alter ego, your other-self. There is nothing much in there except I am just another being born from you."

As we continue along the way, we passed by a hallway that seemed to have a glass attached which acted as windows, allowing anyone to view what is outside. On the other side of the hallway we are walking on, a wide body of water with glittering glows of different colors catches my eyes. It was so eyecatching since I never expected a place like an ocean appears in this place.

"What is that place? Why is there a body of water here?"

"Oh, that? I call that the "Sea of consciousness". All of the ideas, choices, and many other things that provide a sort of intelligence and decision making came here. Every wave from this sea is a single action you did. The bigger your decision is, the bigger the wave it does."

The sea of consciousness is big. It is indeed a sea despite that it only exists in my mind. I wonder if this is part of my brain but I decided to just leave it at that.

We continue our tour but nothing is interesting much in here. There are occasional places where my alter ego pointed out some traps that shouldn't be triggered because it is troublesome to deal with. We returned to the last room I was in earlier after that.

"The tour is quite boring, isn't it? Because your consciousness is also boring and barren. There is nothing much for me to even give myself entertainment. So next time, be sure to make lots of memories, entertain me too so that I won't get bored. Maybe you can get some after your battle against that creature or whatsoever in your mission."

I wanted to say something but then I noticed my whole body is fading.

"Oh? You are waking up so soon? Then, until the next time you arrive here. I expect new things will appear here after all right? Don't bore me out, I am not a patient person after all."

My answer did not manage to reach the alter ego as my consciousness slowly drifted away...

...

"Aah!"

THUD!

Pain registered on my face as I realized that I fell from the sofa. I clearly remembered that I fell asleep on the bed without waiting for Maple due to fatigue but now, I am on the sofa. Did Maple carried me away from the bed and put me here on the sofa? We agreed earlier that I will be sleeping on the sofa so there are no hard feelings. However, who carried me to the sofa? There is no way for me to know since my consciousness is wandering around somewhere.

I looked into the bed and Maple is still sleeping. I can see the spirit of Masamune floating above Maple as it guards her while sleeping. He noticed my presence and he grinned at me.

"Looks like you are awake, boy. You were like a dead man last night since you did not move at all when you were being moved from the bed to the sofa."

"You carried me to the sofa?"

"Of course. It would be unprofessional of me as familiar to let his master do the work."

It looks like Masamune is quite a workaholic since he even volunteered to do some work. Even now, he seems eager to work on something as he keeps on tinkering with a knife that seems to be broken. Maybe it is one of the throwing knives of Maple.

Since Maple is still asleep and my body feels groggy since I didn't take a bath last night, I asked Masamune to tell Maple that the bathroom is occupied. While taking a dip in the bathtub, I asked Blue to replay the battle that was recorded when I fought against the Creature that Mephistopheles created. The video indeed contained lots of info that the mock battle against the monster made clear. The only problem is that I was too haggard in the video that I feel like smacking myself in embarrassment.

...

Morning, 10:00 A.M

Maple is already awake and ready to start the investigation. On the other hand, I retrieve the thing that "The Raven" told me to fetch from her once we begin the investigation. The receptionist did not stop me from going up to the office of "The Raven". Maybe she already got the go signal for me to climb up.

"You are no longer scared from knocking on the door of "The Raven" huh..." Blue said with some mocking tone in her voice.

"Why would I be scared? "The Raven" is not that scary in terms of personality.m Yes, she is scary in terms of fighting power but why would I be scared if she isn't an enemy?"

"Hmmm, you have a good point. Now, let's get inside!"

I knocked on the door first before entering. As usual, "The Raven" is busy with her paperwork. I still can't believe she is already blind but she can still do things a person who can see can still do due to her third eye-opening. I should recommend Yaya to also open her third eye so that she can still properly see.

"Good morning, I came here just like what you told me, Miss "Raven".

"Good morning Kazuma, please wait a moment, I am preparing it right now. I can't afford to mess it up since your lives might be at risk if I managed to make a wrong move here," she said as she writes something on an object I can't quite see due to the clutter on her desk but I am quite sure it isn't paper.

A few movements on her hand and another which ended up with a mana transfusion on the object ended up with something glowing on her hands.

"It's done!"

She stood up from her chair and held the items she keeps on fiddling earlier.

"What is that?"

"This is the obsidian stone imbued with pure mana from me. Although it is not designed for offensive purposes, its main purpose is for defensive against the curse. Just by simply having this with you, the disorder can be prevented a little bit though that is not enough to ensure your survival against it. It was to lessen the effects it might inflict on you so still be careful and do not be confident about taking that thing head-on. Also don't forget all the things I have taught you, so relay it to your partner, understand?"

"Yes, Maam!"

"Also, one last thing. Come back safe. That is all it is for me to wish."

From her words alone, I can feel the pain she is experiencing. I think she has suffered a lot due to this creature. If I can defeat it, then I will do it without fail.

After saying goodbye, I went back to the inn but I didn't get back inside since Maple is already waiting for me outside.

"Are you done with the guild?" she asked.

"Yes. We are set to go," I nodded.

She pulls out a little stone from her pocket and puts it on the ground.

"What is that?" I asked as I looked at the stone she placed. It doesn't look any particular. The only difference it has with a normal stone is that this stone is currently emitting a faint amount of mana.

"This is a teleport stone. I made it before we started the mission so that we can fast travel from one place to another to avoid wasting time. Are you ready? This is instantaneous so be a little bit prepared."

And before I can react, she steps on the stone and destroyed it, which in turn glow and swallowed us.

...

Back at the office of "The Raven," she was currently drinking tea while facing away from her table, just looking outside the wide transparent glass that shows the high skyscrapers made by other individuals for the Other Realm. Her appearance is calm but she shows a little bit of nervousness in her body language.

"Are you sure to entrust the obsidian to that boy? I know that your sister also entrusted that to you but you failed on the task which ended up at the cost of the lives of countless people. Are you planning on passing the token to him?" Mephistopheles appeared behind "The Raven".

"I am not even sure about my actions either. It has been a while since the last appearance of that Creature but the faces of my comrades and my sister after they died in my hands are all as clear as day. There is no way I will forget their faces and their sacrifices just to ensure the creature will no longer cause disaster once again."

"But remember that it is not your fault. As someone who personally witnessed you claim the lives of your comrades and your sister just to let them out of their suffering is already heroic enough. It is best to let it go and move on from the past."

"Letting go is not easy. And I will not just forget what I did that time. The burden they left me that time will always be carried by me and I will carry that until the day I draw my last breath."

"I don't understand you, humans, at all..." Mephisto shook his head.

"There is no need for you to understand it. After all, humans are complicated creatures."

...

Osaka: 11:00 A.M

Somewhere in between the buildings, in an empty place where trash bags were being thrown away, a large blue magic circle appeared, rapidly rotating on the ground. There was no one around the area so they have not seen the very strong surge of energy gathering in the magic circle. If any normal person has seen the spectacle, they might think it is a form of divine retribution appearing in the middle of nowhere.

...

FWOOOOOOOO!

SHUA!

It was sudden and when I blinked again, we are no longer in the other world streets. We are currently standing in a place filled with trash bags and the likes. It also has some pungent smell of some sort that I can't seem to fully organize.

"We have arrived in the coordinates I set up here in Osaka," Maple said as she wiped off the dust on her clothes.

"You planted the tools to set up the coordinates here in the dumpster? There is no other place you can do it?"

"This place is the most suitable place due to the dormant mana hovering in this place. I don't need a few catalysts like mana imbued stones to put in here to set up a waypoint for our teleportation. It's much more convenient. Aside from that, this place is quite desolate from the people so there is no need for us to immediately get out of the place to avoid the eyes of the normal people."

"I see, but why here in Osaka?" I asked.

"There was a tip that someone in here seems to be afflicted with the symptoms of the Crazed Phenomenon Disorder around the area. It is best if we check the infected person and check around the vicinity if we can find the clues about the origin of things around here."

"Where shall we begin?"

"The victim visited Hirakata Park before. It was near here in our location so we will search for some clues in that area. But we have to be always vigilant as it is crowded. We can't afford to show ourselves as magicians to the public. We must also ensure that if the enemies make a move, we immediately intervene."

"Who is this infected individual? Is this person currently in Hirakata Park right now?"

"He is somewhere else entirely. The reason I suggested here is because of some suspicious activities happening here. If these suspicious activities prove to be connected to the Crazed Phenomenon Disorder, then we need to remove them out before they grow much stronger which is why we should begin here."

With the clue on hand, we have our next stop, the Hirakata Park. We just needed to walk from our location for a few minutes before we arrive at Hirakata Park. But before we can even get out of the alley we are in, I immediately noticed the heavy bloodlust and demonic energy that suddenly arrived in our vicinity.

"We have company," I mumbled and immediately ignited my hands into flames. Maple also pulled out her two short swords from her hip that suddenly materialized after I said that we have company.

"Show yourselves!" Maple said before throwing two flying knives in every direction. I can tell that those are the flying knives she controls with mana so it is fine for her to throw it without retrieving it since they will return to her like boomerangs.

"...AAGGH!"

Oh, it looks like one is hit. As soon as a scream echoed in the alley, several cloaked men appeared from the shadows, wielding dark magic balls. Seeing them charging up to us, I grinned widely and increased the intensity of the flames in my hands.

"Let's dance!"

BOOM!

The enemies were surprised and did not expect me to cause a strong explosion all on my own while they are closing in. The unfortunate ones are those guys that closed in while targeting me. They were caught up in the explosion and they were burned badly.

"We were not informed that they are dangerous! How can those idiots mess up things like this! Retreat!"

Maple's eyes squinted. "Do you think I will let you lot escape like that? DIE!"

The flying daggers she has thrown earlier came back and it didn't just return to Maple, it passes by from the escaping enemies and slit their throats before they could react. The others who are in the range of Maple were not safe either as they were immediately sliced by Maple using her short swords.

We were assaulted but we killed them. Killing them did not invoke guilt from me even though I just killed a few guys.

"It looks like they are now watching us Kazuma. The enemies have already detected our current position. We should expect things to get rougher now. This is a "kill or be killed battle."