Hairi stood blocking the path ahead.
However, her face was pale and her body swayed. It was clear at a glance that she was not feeling well.
Even so, Hairi’s fighting spirit surged through her body as she gazed at me.
She wore two swords at her waist and was adorned with many magic tools, starting with rings. Her clothes had also changed to high-class ones, and she wore armor that did not hinder her movements but offered solid defensive power.
Unlike the skirmish we had some time ago, she appeared to be in perfect condition.
Hairi spoke from atop her horse.
“I was waiting for you… You shall not pass from here, boy.”
She declared that the path was blocked.
From her demeanor, I knew Hairi was serious. But I also understood that it was her kindness.
Hairi’s fighting spirit remained, but she spoke with concern.
“If you rush in there where those three are now, I can’t predict what will happen. Please wait until after Aid-sensei leaves—”
I couldn’t accept her proposal, so I shook my head.
“—I can’t do that. I need to go as fast as possible. I have business with Palinkron, but my main objective is Apostle Sis. I have to go before she escapes, or I can’t save my companion.”
I couldn’t waste a single second.
For example, the longer time passed, the more the possibility that Dia’s personality would be eroded by Apostle Sis.
“Even so, you mustn’t go. Boy, you shouldn’t get mixed up in that. If you go—you won’t be able to return.”
“I don’t know about that. In any case, I have to save Dia. Please, move aside, Hairi. I don’t want to take anything else from Dia anymore, so—”
As I spoke, I realized the truth behind the obsession that was driving me.
It was my guilt towards Dia.
I had once lured Dia into a labyrinth and stolen her dreams and her arm.
This time, I felt like I was about to steal everything she had left.
That’s why I was so anxious.
I felt a longing so strong that I couldn’t even understand my own emotions.
I didn’t want to repeat it—not again.
“You’re clearly running out of patience… You’re starting to go mad…”
Seeing me tremble, Hairi said with pity.
Her eyes reflected me like mirrors.
Like me, she possessed observational abilities through Dimensional Magic. Her eyes, which seemed to see through everything, were fixed on me.
As if she understood all the circumstances, Hairi admonished me.
“Because of Aid-sensei’s magic, the Apostle has been consumed by memories… She is no longer the girl named Dia, but an apostle named Sis. Are you still going to try and save her?”
“…I don’t know yet! Dia is there! I can’t give up until I’ve done everything I can!”
I retorted without thinking, my voice rising.
At my thoughtless, immediate reply, Hairi’s face contorted.
“Boy, calm down and listen to me. If you go, you will surely lose yourself just like the Apostle. You already know, don’t you? You’ve been affected by the same magic, and you’re showing the same symptoms as the girl Dia… It’s the same. your body is also being invaded—no, it should have been invaded quite a bit by now.”
Her words accurately described my situation.
Therefore, I couldn’t immediately reply this time.
I felt this abnormality shortly after leaving Laura Via.
After overcoming my battle with Rowen, I had gained new power.
However, I had been vaguely aware that this power was pressing down on me. I felt as though I was strangling myself by being unable to handle all my skills—Parallel Thinking, Sensation, ???, Dimensional Magic.
I felt I was being tossed about by power unsuited for me, as if I were borrowing the power of someone far greater than myself.
It solidified into certainty when my level increased and I acquired more skills.
The stronger I became, the more an indescribable sense of unease grew. I felt like something much more “evil” was accumulating in my body, rather than something as pleasant-sounding as “Experience Points.”
And then, I started having dreams.
Memories I didn’t recognize.
Once, I had recalled similar memories.
It was when I withstood Rowen’s “Ghostly Flash.” At that time, I lacked the skill to endure that technique. Yet, with memories and experience I didn’t possess, I managed to defend against it. Now, I understood the meaning of that.
When I crossed a certain limit, the memories of that “masked man” were flowing into me.
Judging by the trend, the higher my level and status went above the human limit of level 20, the more intense this influx would become.
And with each dream, new memories would flood me. My memories would be filled, my emotions would be filled, and my body would be filled.
Hairi was worried that, in the end, I would cease to be myself.
Yes, she was worried…
But…
“—I know that.”
I shook my head, thinking it was unnecessary concern.
Then, I met Hairi’s gaze directly.
“I don’t care.”
In other words, I was fine with being either the Uzunami of now or the Uzunami of the past.
Rather, I was relieved that if the current me broke down, there was a successor.
Judging by the “memories” I saw, the “Uzunami” of the past also had the conviction to save his sister, “Hidaki.”
His personality also seemed not to differ much from mine now. Knowing that was enough to put me at ease.
It wouldn’t make much difference either way.
“…!? You, you mustn’t go. You’re underestimating it, boy.”
Hairi was flustered by my answer.
And she quickly spoke of its horror.
“Imagine, two memories mixing together?”
“I know. That’s what’s happening to me now.”
“The degree is different! Yours is still shallow, but from here on, it’s a different level. The sensation of two people living in one body—it’s not something a human can endure.”
“…It’s going to get more painful from here, isn’t it? But I won’t know until I try.”
“That’s why I’m telling you, because I tried it and couldn’t endure it!”
To my thoughtless responses, Hairi’s voice finally grew rough.
The calm Hairi was no longer there.
And she began to put into words the suffering that awaited me.
“I can’t stand it! I’m so anxious, so anxious, so anxious! It’s so painful I want to die!?”
Her elegant composure, reminiscent of Mr. Hein, was lost.
Though her body was unharmed, she was a girl who was crippled.
From her desperation, I realized.
It was the suffering that awaited me—but it was also the suffering Hairi was experiencing now.
“The memories in my head get jumbled, but they don’t mix at all, they repel each other, and it becomes unbearable!”
She opened her mouth to its limit, screaming so hard that saliva flew.
I could see all the veneer Hairi had maintained falling away. Her calm pose was all an act; it was clear the real Hairi was this utterly overwhelmed.
I listened in silence to the words of the transformed Hairi.
“That’s what it means for memories to mix! Having multiple selves in your head, and not being able to believe any of them are you! Your body is here, but you don’t know who you are or where you are! Two people can’t possibly live in one body! Even breathing becomes difficult! Your unstable heart feels like it could shatter at any moment! This patchwork body feels like it could crumble apart at any moment, and I’m scared! Everything is so fragile, so fragile, I feel crushed by anxiety!!”
The veins in her throat bulged, looking like they might burst.
Seeing that, I thought, “Ah, this girl is the same.”
“I don’t even know if I can live properly or die properly! Because it’s painful, ‘She’ tells ‘Me’ that I want to be relieved soon! And ‘I’ want to relieve ‘Her’ soon too! That’s why ‘I’ was always looking for a place to die!”
It was no longer a conversation.
It was all first-person pronouns, and it was unclear who was saying what to whom.
But I understood. —It was because I was the same.
Now, within Hairi, different personalities and memories coexisted. I understood that the ‘I’ and the ‘She’ were different people.
Though only glimpsing it, I felt the anguish of her emotions.
And I also felt her kindness in not wanting anyone else to experience that suffering. Hairi was exposing her entire self to convince me.
She was gathering courage and conveying her feelings, even if it looked ridiculous.
“So that’s why you were so reckless, Hairi.”
“Yes…”
“…No, can I even call you Hairi in the first place? Is the Hairi here, actually Hairi?”
Just as I couldn’t call the current Sis ‘Dia,’ I couldn’t be sure if calling her ‘Hairi’ was correct, so I asked for confirmation.
“We call the mixed us ‘Hairi,’ so please continue to do so. In my case, both the girl who became the material and Knight Hein are yielding their bodies to each other…”
Conversely, in Dia’s case, they were fighting over her body. Dia lost that struggle. That’s why Apostle Sis was doing as she pleased now.
And even in that state, Dia was still worried about me.
Hairi, even on the verge of her mind breaking, was worried about me.
“I understand that Hairi is worried about me. But don’t worry. I will surely overcome this…”
So I pretended to be brave. I insisted that I didn’t need to worry.
However, Hairi did not accept my bravado.
“You’re not alright. If you go ahead, you will definitely not be able to return. You’re up against Palinkron. You will definitely break. There is still enough truth remaining for that.”
“Truth…?”
Hairi did not underestimate Palinkron.
And with a solemn expression, Hairi spoke.
“So, before you go any further, listen to me. This is my speculation. But I now have certainty.”
Each movement of her lips seemed to be in slow motion.
“Perhaps, the boy here now is not ‘Aikawa Uzunami.’ Just like ‘Saint Tiara’ was a vessel, and Dia-chan, who was the vessel for ‘Apostle Sis’— you, boy, are a ‘Magic Stone Human’ prepared to ‘recreate’ the progenitor, ‘Aikawa Uzunami.’ That’s why you absolutely cannot overcome it…”
It was a speculation that overturned everything from the ground up.
“I… a ‘Magic Stone Human’…?’ Not ‘Kanami,’ the progenitor from a thousand years ago…?”
I believed I was “Kanami,” the progenitor from a thousand years ago, and that I had lost my memories. That’s why, as my level increased, I was recalling those memories.
Until a moment ago, I thought that.
But reality was worse, Hairi said.
It meant that “Aikawa Hidaki,” whom I desperately wanted to meet, was a complete stranger to me.
“Yes. You are not ‘Kanami’ himself from a thousand years ago, but a ‘Magic Stone Human’ prepared by ‘Kanami.’ I will explain why now.”
She began to recount the circumstances that led to her speculation.
“To create the ‘vessel’ of a boy, they must have kneaded many people. Therefore, when I, who was supplied with that boy’s blood, became corrupted, various things went wrong. Gender is the most prominent example. If the boy’s body were ‘Kanami,’ it would be strange if his gender was influenced towards being female.”
Hairi explained, puffing out her chest, a symbol of her femininity.
“If you are a ‘Magic Stone Human,’ it explains why you were Level 1, and why you possessed various skills even at Level 1. Level resets are a typical characteristic of ‘Magic Stone Humans.’ And that extraordinarily high ‘aptitude’ must have come at the cost of your own lifespan.”
As an afterthought, she mentioned that my lifespan was short.
But it was indeed an “afterthought.” It wasn’t something that shocked me.
I needed to confirm something more important.
“Then, what about these memories…?”
The thousand-year-old memories I saw in my dreams. And the memories of living in my original world.
I certainly had sixteen years of memories.
“It’s highly probable they are prepared memories. They were ‘adjusted’ so you wouldn’t find it strange to become ‘Aikawa Uzunami.’ For a progenitor from a thousand years ago, something like that should be easy.”
They were easily dismissed as fake.
Hearing those cold words, I felt a tightening in my chest.
More than my lifespan, this was what shocked me.
“You are not ‘Aikawa Uzunami.’ You are just a ‘boy’ without a name. Probably, like the young lady—no, even younger, a ‘Magic Stone Human’ born in the labyrinth just a few weeks ago.”
My agitation only deepened.
I retorted, as if to resist.
“B-but, compared to other ‘Magic Stone Humans,’ I’m completely different…”
“Of course, you’re not just any ‘Magic Stone Human.’ You are the one and only ‘Magic Stone Human’ in this world, created in a legend from a thousand years ago. It’s natural that you surpass modern ‘Magic Stone Humans.'”
“A-are you really a ‘Magic Stone Human’? Not ‘Kanami’…?”
“Indeed, that was the possibility I considered first. If that were the case, there are too many things that can’t be explained. The symptoms you’re experiencing now are simply because the ‘blood’ of ‘Kanami’ in the ‘vessel’ is gradually becoming familiar.”
I still wasn’t convinced.
My “Parallel Thinking,” which operated on its own, also indicated a flaw in her argument.
I brought up the differences while recalling the other Magic Stone Humans.
“But there’s no ‘Body’… ”
“No ‘Body’?”
“No, all Magic Stone Humans have the skill ‘Body.’ Isn’t that proof of being a ‘Magic Stone Human’… ? I don’t have that… !”
With this, the “Magic Stone Human” theory should collapse.
Therefore, I wasn’t all alone.
I had a sister to save, and a place to return to—
“—W-what are you saying? It’s clearly written there… ‘Body’… Under the skills you can’t see clearly, there’s the skill ‘Body’…”
—However, that hope was crushed by Hairi’s astonished face.
For a moment, I didn’t understand what she was saying.
I made the same face as Hairi.
“W-wait. Isn’t that written as ‘Foreigner’ there…?”
I looked closely at my skills.
—Skill Status
Innate Skills: Swordsmanship 4.89, Ice Magic 2.58+1.10
Acquired Skills: Martial Arts 1.56, Dimensional Magic 5.25+0.10, Sensation 3.56, Parallel Thinking 1.48
Knitting 1.07, Deception 1.34, Magic Combat 0.73, Blacksmithing 0.69
???, ???
???, ???—
The skill “???” always brought trouble.
And below it, hidden, was the skill “???”. I was sure that was the skill “Foreigner”—or it should have been.
“What are you talking about? Boy has the skill ‘Body.’ That’s why I’m talking about Magic Stone Humans.”
“B-but…”
—Rustiara said so.
I couldn’t say the rest.
It wasn’t me who confirmed it. There was indeed room for error.
My breathing became shallow and difficult.
So, one of us was lying?
But Hairi, standing before me, didn’t seem like a liar.
Then did Rustiara lie? To avoid hurting me?
If so, that would be understandable.
Conversely, the Hairi before me didn’t seem like someone who would lie to hurt others.
The “Magic Stone Human” theory began to gain a sense of truth.
“It’s no wonder the boy got confused. The person who created you—well, most likely the progenitor ‘Aikawa Uzunami’—is quite skilled. They probably ‘adjusted’ you subtly so you wouldn’t doubt yourself.”
“Subtly, ‘adjusted’…?”
I had a feeling about that.
The effect of the skill “???” was precisely “adjustment.”
To prevent me from dying, from breaking, but to push me forward.
In other words, I was being guided to become stronger as a vessel?
“Boy, **you are not ‘Aikawa Uzunami.’** Palinkron intended to inform you of this truth during battle, in a way that would further wound your heart. They intended to exploit that opening to accelerate the mixing of memories. That’s why I chose to tell you first. To minimize the damage, and to prevent you from stepping into a realm from which there is no return.”
To analyze this absurd story, my brain spun reflexively. And when “Parallel Thinking” determined that it was realistically possible, my body froze.
If I had been told this during combat, it would have undoubtedly created a significant opening.
That’s why Hairi was telling me in advance. For my sake.
“If you don’t get involved with those from a thousand years ago, you can still turn back! Without falling into despair, without being invaded by Kanami, there is still a possibility for you to live as just a boy! That’s why you mustn’t go!!”
Hairi spread her arms wide, making her small body appear larger, and blocked the path.
Her face was contorted.
Seeing that face, I couldn’t believe she was lying.
“I’m not ‘Kanami’…? I… didn’t have a sister…?”
It really seemed like I had the skill “Body” among my skills.
At the same time, one of my predictions, which had been stalled due to lack of information, took a step forward.
It moved forward—and I arrived at an answer.
It meant that I was “adjusted” to save someone else’s sister.
Facing that answer, I—
