Published: July 4, 2025
"Why does it always happen so suddenly..."
Ryo grumbled.
He understood the reason for the reversal.
It was because he had been enveloped in the sealed corridor.
Being caught in the sealed corridor meant that a demon was involved.
"Yeah, just as I planned, I've captured you. As expected of me."
Saying that, the person who referred to himself as "me"... no, the demon, made an appearance.
The woman had light blue hair cut to her shoulders, wore something resembling glasses, and donned a white outfit that from a distance looked like a lab coat.
And she was a demon who used the first-person pronoun "me."
"I'm sure your name is Pastra, right?"
"Did you remember me? That's intriguing. Let's dissect you!"
"Please refrain from that."
The demon, Pastra, who seemed eager to dissect Ryo, was someone he fought during the Death Dragon subjugation.
Losing his magical control was a sad memory.
But Ryo had noticed something.
In this sealed corridor, there was one more person aside from him and Pastra.
That person made their appearance.
A woman with silver hair tied into two bunches, her eye color the same shimmering silver.
She wasn’t particularly tall.
Taller than Lin, the red sword's mage, but... probably not even 160 centimeters.
"So this is the Ryo, huh?"
The silver-haired woman was staring at Ryo from head to toe.
As if evaluating him.
"I told you, didn't I? Ryo would be easy to capture in the sealed corridor."
"That's true."
Pastra puffed out her chest and said, while the silver-haired woman nodded.
"Excuse me, but we have our own circumstances here. I'd like you to return me immediately."
"Oh, it's fine, it's fine. Once the sealed corridor dissolves, you'll return to the same time as before. To be precise, about 0.1 seconds later, but humans usually don't mind such a short time."
"That's not the issue here..."
Ryo's suggestion was dismissed.
The ground beneath him was the very ground they had been walking on.
He should have been swaying on Andalusia's back, but now he was standing on the ground.
Of course, Andalusia was nowhere to be found.
Neither were Captain Ruyao and Abel, who should have been right in front of him.
"Actually, I'm measuring the durability values of the sealed corridor in combat, and I need Ryo's cooperation."
"Why me…"
"Because Jean-Jacques believes Ryo would cooperate..."
"Jean-Jacques! I’ll make him regret it the next time we meet!"
The demon who fought alongside Ryo in the Western Nations was Jean-Jacques.
Come to think of it, he remembered boarding a ship with the same demon, Leonor, before.
"This is just... acting without considering the other party’s circumstances. Is that really how a person should behave?"
"Well, we're demons after all."
"Oh, then I suppose that can't be helped."
Is that really true?
"So, could you please tell me the name of your silver-haired companion?"
"My name is Argenta Alda Morantinos. Nice to meet you, Ryo."
"Yes, nice to meet you too."
Ryo paused for a moment.
Then, he looked back at Pastra.
"You said you want to measure the sealed corridor's combat durability, couldn't you just have demons fight each other? For example, like that Argenta and Leonor?"
"We've already measured demons fighting each other. We've also measured demons versus elves. As for demons against dragons, that's a bit... a pass. So, that just leaves demons versus humans."
Pastra adjusted her glasses as if to say, "Well, what do you think?"
"No, there are plenty of other species that can fight besides humans, right? Like devils or vampires."
"Devils won't yield significant values. It's the same whether we do it or not. Vampires, probably, can't even enter this sealed corridor."
"Can't enter? Is that something that varies by species?"
"Yes, it is. Normally, humans will disappear after several dozen seconds."
"...What?"
Just now, Ryo heard something unsettling.
"Excuse me, did you just say humans disappear?"
"Humans will disappear after several dozen seconds."
"In that case, I..."
"You haven't disappeared, right? That's why I chose Ryo."
"Why am I safe...?"
"Who knows? Maybe it's because of those overflowing fairy droplets?"