The Returnee Wants Peace

A firm hand that felt somehow familiar.

He interlaced his fingers with hers and strongly pulled her towards him.

The sensation of suddenly rising upwards from an endlessly sinking world.

Her vision, which had been completely dark, gradually brightened. The surroundings were spinning rapidly.

‘Ah, that’s not it.’

Now she realized it was her body that was moving.

Thud!

Her body, which had been rolling on the floor, came to a stop.

In the dark night, she could see the ceiling of the cool corridor. It was that corridor from earlier.

“…”

As silence continued, her chest warmed up dully.

She had experienced losing part of her senses or being sucked into a mental world many times. Counting roughly, it seemed to have happened more than ten times so far.

But unlike those times, there was an emotion dominating her now.

It wasn’t relief at escaping from an unknown place, nor wariness suddenly rising at someone’s appearance.

It was anticipation.

‘…Somehow I feel like I know who it is.’

The platinum ring on her finger was heating up. The same was true for the ring worn on the hand of the person holding hers.

It had been only half a year for her, but it must have been 3 years for the other side. What words should she say first?

Her feelings were complicated. It wasn’t a bad feeling.

Rather…

“…”

She suddenly felt bewildered.

‘Why am I acting like this?’

Excitement, longing, joy.

All sorts of warm emotions that filled her soul.

These were clearly a luxury in this world where trials were piling up.

The more precious things increase, the more weaknesses also increase. Hadn’t she resolved not to give her heart to anyone except family for that reason?

And yet…

“…Ah!”

Suddenly, the floor against her back whirled and lifted Rosha up, moving her.

Poof, her face was buried in soft fabric.

She reflexively tried to lift her head, but felt something cupping the back of her head, preventing her from doing so.

Now she realized she was somehow in someone’s arms.

‘W-was there this much skinship before?’

She couldn’t remember well since it was half a year ago.

Her heart fluttered slightly. Although she thought well of him, being approached so suddenly like this was very flustering.

No, where did all my composure as a magician go?

“Haah…”

A long, deep sigh was heard above her head.

As she quietly listened for what words would follow, he seemed to choose his words and muttered lowly:

“It seems you broke the promise to come as quickly as possible. What are you going to do about it?”

What can I do? It just happened that way.

But noticing his rough voice and trembling fingertips, she felt an indescribable emotion.

Why is he acting this way towards me?

Suddenly, she had a certain premonition. She deliberately erased it.

Anyway, it’s true I came late… Should I apologize first?

“I’m sorry, Froy. Did you wait long?”

“One month was somewhat bearable. I could endure up to three months. But 3 years… was much longer than I had thought.”

“…”

She had no words.

She had seen his despairing state of mind written in the notebook.

“I thought you might have died. That although your body was alive, your consciousness might have sunk down there and never return…”

“But I came back like this, didn’t I?”

“That’s… true, but.”

“I want to see your face, won’t you show me?”

She cut off his attempt to dig deeper for now.

As it was, she couldn’t move because Froy’s arms embracing her were extremely tense.

“…”

He paused at her words and slowly relaxed his grip.

Rosha lifted her head and looked at Froy. Under the night sky faintly embroidered with stars, his melancholic face was visible.

His beauty was still there, but his face looked much more haggard.

His nose bridge and jawline had sharpened, and his clear eyes emitted an even deeper color.

A man with an unapproachable atmosphere. When he smiled slightly, her heart pounded at the thought that this was an expression he would never show to others.

‘…No. It can’t be.’

Suddenly aware, she subtly averted her eyes from his.

‘Certainly… it’s different from meeting Marian or Duke Feriel.’

But it’s not similar to family either. When meeting them, she was happy, but didn’t feel this kind of excitement.

Get a grip. In this world’s situation, such warm emotions are of no help whatsoever.

…By the way.

‘The moon has been a bit strange since earlier.’

Rosha glanced at the large window behind Froy.

She had just noticed, but the color of the moon was somewhat strange.

Somehow there’s a reddish tinge… Is it my imagination?

“Rosha. You should have something to tell me by now.”

At that moment, as if noticing her thinking of something else, he subtly drew her attention.

“What?”

“You took the Emperor into the Trial of the Sacred Relic, didn’t you? Seeing that your eyes have turned golden, I need to know what happened there.”

Froy stared intently at her eyes. His request was justified.

‘He does look a bit anxious though…’

Why?

Glancing around, she saw Koko lying on his side, frozen.

The bird kept blinking his eyes. His beak moved slightly, but she couldn’t hear what he was saying at all.

What’s going on? Is he still trapped in that space?

“During this time, my ability has… developed incomparably from before. It’s the result of trying in various ways to find you. Even after that, I couldn’t resolve it and even tried borrowing the power of the god, but unfortunately there were no notable results…”

Froy spoke while slowly turning her face towards him with his finger on her chin.

He said that the god did do something, but only conveyed the message ‘It’s done’ afterwards, and nothing happened to him.

…Is that possible?

“I saw the Crystal of Life you had go out three times. That bird will come to his senses on his own after some time, so let’s leave him like that and hear your story.”

“…It’s quite long.”

“That’s fine. The night is long.”

Froy smiled. It was a beautiful smile.

Seeing it, she somehow felt that he didn’t want to be disturbed by anyone at this moment. Even by a tiny bird the size of a palm.

‘…I was going to tell the story anyway.’

After pondering for a while, Rosha softly began to speak.

* * *

The Trial of the Sacred Relic was on an even more enormous scale than she had expected.

‘…This is a trial?’

The city they arrived at after passing through the Door of Paradise and walking on the stone path neatly laid out on the green hills.

It was white and magnificent.

Faced with buildings whose ends couldn’t be seen, it was hard to even guess how large the city was.

There were no guards at the entrance of the city decorated with gold here and there, and people freely entered and exited.

Most of them, with light hair colors and wearing bright clothes, looked completely free of worries.

“…”

The assumption that this was a mental world was gradually fading.

She had heard that the Trial of the Sacred Relic takes place in a mental world, but even so, there were limits.

Even knowing this place was fictional, to unfold a trial of this scale within her own mind?

It would take far less power to simply transport her to an actually existing place.

‘…Is this sacred relic that amazing?’

Rosha silently caressed Hildor strapped to her thigh.

Well, if it’s a trial dealing with the content of ‘paradise’, maybe it could be.

Passing through the city entrance, Rosha glanced back slightly. Her body instantly froze.

“…”

The Door of Paradise, which had been so large its end couldn’t be seen, had disappeared.

She had planned to go back out through the door to find that man if she got separated from the Emperor, but now that method seemed far-fetched.

‘Oh no…’

“It’s just as I remember.”

Regardless, the Emperor quickly headed somewhere as if he had some purpose.

She followed behind the Emperor and thought:

‘How did I die last time?’

The record of her previous Trial of the Sacred Relic was only three hours.

To die so quickly in this huge city that seemed only peaceful, she was curious but couldn’t remember at all.

Doubts welled up.

This city, faithful to the title of ‘paradise’, somehow felt very unsettling.

It was at that moment.

“…Again?”

As they were passing through an alley, her ring suddenly started to heat up intensely.