Published: August 10, 2026
In the drifting awareness floating through the darkness, the first thing I noticed was that my mouth tasted sweet.
As I thought that I would need to have Grethia prepare some mouthwash, I began to hear a voice calling me from somewhere. The voice, calling over and over again, was one I was familiar with.
"...Lord Ferdinand, right?"
"Too slow. Answer sooner."
The moment I answered the call, I was immediately scolded. Am I the only one who thinks that's unreasonable?
"I did answer the moment I became aware, so it's impossible for me to answer any sooner than this. ...I can't see you, though. Where are you, Lord Ferdinand?"
I looked around, but Lord Ferdinand's figure was nowhere to be seen in the blackness filling my vision. That only made me feel more uneasy.
"I am merely connecting our consciousness through a memory-viewing magic tool. Calm yourself."
"Oh, right. We were going to connect our memories once my mana was dyed. Does the fact that our consciousness is connected mean your mana has already dyed mine, Lord Ferdinand?"
"I tried pouring my mana into you, but there is almost no resistance. It cannot be called complete, but it seems you have been dyed nearly entirely by my mana."
That was a relief. So I wouldn't be swept around by the gods' divine power anymore, and my mana had returned to its original state. Only then did I finally realize that the sweetness in my mouth was from the medicine I had been forced to drink in order to dye my mana.
"Rozemyne, I will now show you the memories of those who were important to you, as far as I remember them. But I can only provide the trigger. Who your family was, what kind of people they were, how much you cherished them, how different your current self is from the you of that time... Remember."
There was a plea mixed into Ferdinand's commanding voice. His tone remained as calm as always, but I could feel an indescribable urgency, and how desperately he wanted me to regain my memories.
"Um, earlier, when we synchronized, you said that Lord Ferdinand, who saw my memories, was swept away by my emotions. Does that mean this time I'll be synchronizing with your emotions, Lord Ferdinand?"
"Unfortunately, yes."
An enormous sense of rejection, hesitation, and resignation came through to me. I could tell that Ferdinand did not want to show this if he could help it. Since Ferdinand, who usually showed so little emotion, was wondering what on earth he was thinking and what kind of memories he would show me, I couldn't help but feel a little excited despite myself.
The pitch-black view suddenly changed to the temple. It was like I had teleported into the temple itself. I could tell we were walking down the temple corridor toward the head priest's office, but the temple scenery seen from Ferdinand's exceptionally tall perspective was a little different from what I normally saw, and strangely fresh.
I wanted to look around eagerly, but Ferdinand's vision was fixed, so I couldn't see wherever I wanted.
"Lord Ferdinand, I want to look around."
"That is impossible. I am simply streaming the memory as it is."
In front of the head priest's office stood an unfamiliar gray priest, while Arnaud was asking to be shown in. Once we were ushered into the room, the former head priest's large, potbellied frame moved into view. Despite his grandfatherly expression, his sly, nasty eyes were gleaming.
"I dislike the former head priest, but seeing him like this is almost nostalgic. ...Ah, there I am!"
Through Ferdinand's vision, I saw myself in Gilberta Trading Company apprentice clothes entering the room with unfamiliar man and woman. From this viewpoint, my head in my commoner days reached about Ferdinand's waist, so I was so small my body would almost disappear behind his sleeves.
"So tiny! I was ridiculously tiny! Was that what I looked like from Lord Ferdinand's perspective? Wow, didn't you think you might accidentally step on me?"
"Your impression of yourself is that you might have stepped on it... More importantly, what you should be focusing on is not your past self, but the people with you. They are your parents. Their names are Gunther and Eva. Gunther is Ehrenfest's gate guard, and Eva is your dedicated dyer."