Someone's answers

Chapter 24

The wooden floor. The brightly lit surroundings of the Great Hall. The sound of someone’s footsteps thundering toward him.

These are the only details his senses register as a million thoughts race through his mind, threatening to be overtaken by memories.

Someone grabs him, and he quickly looks up to see Ori pulling his arm.

Without warning, as if time was abruptly cut, their surroundings shift. The

Great Hall disappears, replaced by a cold and quiet forest. The moonlight is brighter than usual, passing through the canopy and illuminating everything.

Naoya looks around as Ori leans on a tree, trying to catch her breath.

“What? Where are we…?” he asks in a weak voice.

“I teleported us away from everyone,” she says, squatting down beside Naoya. “Things looked really dangerous, so I had to get us out. And you looked like you needed it.”

Naoya breathes a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank you… I couldn’t think at all with everyone screaming at me.” He walks over and sits down at a nearby tree, leaning back against its trunk.

“Just… give me a moment, Ori. I need some time to clear my mind…”

“Alright then. Call me if you need me.” She stands up and walks into the forest.

Naoya is already deep in thought, examining the memories that have appeared in his brain.

Where do they come from?

How does he have them?

And why are they so vivid?

He could piece them together into a series of events. All of the knowledge he recalls is consistent with what he has learned for the past two years.

Most of them are about magic and the world. Some of them he understands, some of them amaze him, as if he is reading an encyclopedia about the aether in his mind.

But there is also knowledge that sends shivers down his spine. Knowledge that could not have been discovered through humane methods, with equally inhumane effects and purposes.

How do I know all this? Where did this come from?

As he searches for an answer, more memories resurface.

Unpleasant ones—and they explain how he gained this knowledge.

Naoya pulls his hair as tears fall from his eyes. He is horrified, and even more so as he recalls his involvement.

He remembers almost every detail, down to the words he spoke.

“Those aren’t useful anymore. Dispose of them.”

“No challenge at all. They did tell me to take it over their dead bodies.”

“I said that I will spare your kingdom. But I didn’t mention anything about its people.”

“So… thank you for every cruelty you’ve given me. And now, I shall pay everything back, a thousand times over.”

…

Ori walks through the forest, gathering materials they can use for kindling.

She takes a deep breath, enjoying the sweet, familiar air she has not experienced for a long time now, ever since she and Naoya were brought to Valebryn that one fateful night.

She has teleported them to the most memorable place in her mind: where she first gained memories, and where she first met her best friend.

The events at Jaruna confuse her, as she was observing almost from Naoya’s point of view. Everyone’s attitudes shifted in the blink of an eye, as if nothing that came before mattered. The fox lady went from mild interest to sudden obsession, and his longtime friends—the few people he saw as family in this new, unfamiliar world—turned their weapons on him.

She cannot understand their immediate hostility, not even giving Naoya a chance to talk. But maybe it’s because she has always been the closest one to him that, even after the dark revelation, she is the only one who understands one thing: Naoya is not who they think he is.

Ori notices a perfectly dry branch on the ground, and as she bends down to pick it up, she fails to notice the presence behind her.

…

His mind goes back to the moment that started everything: the kiss.

It feels warm, ethereal, and very real—Hisora’s lips on his. He never realized how soft they feel, but somehow, the moment feels very familiar, as if their lips have met countless times already.

It was that exact moment that opened the floodgates.

At first, he just thought it was his mind being overly excited at his first kiss, conjuring all sorts of happy futures and scenarios with the lady before him. But then he finds a very familiar memory, one he has seen before in his recurring dreams. Only now, with even more detail. And it was then that he realized these are not visions of the future. They are echoes of the past, and they are not just about her.

He feels lost in his own mind. Slowly losing himself. Unable to reconcile with memories of his past deeds—of who he once was.

Or maybe, he thinks, who he still is.

“There you are, Naoya.”

The gentle voice of a woman—one he recognizes from his time at the Academy.

He looks up to see Miss Camelline, his former homeroom teacher,

observing him with a worried smile. And behind her is Ori, carrying a bunch of sticks and dry leaves.

“I can hear the noise in your head from over here. How are you feeling right now?”

“Miss Camelline,” he mutters, his throat dry. “I… I don’t know who I am anymore.”

His words make him burst into tears, and the lady pulls him into an embrace, caressing his head to offer what little reassurance she can provide.

Ori drops everything in her arms and hugs him from behind, aslo tearing up at the sight of her best friend in so much turmoil and suffering.

The moon watches over them, and the wind blows a gentle breeze of comfort.

She stands up and takes Naoya’s hand. “Come with me. There’s someone who wants to meet you.”

Naoya wipes his tears with his Knight’s mantle. “Who?”

“Someone who night have some answers for you,” she tells him.

Driven by desperation, Naoya quickly stands up. Ori stayes beside him and holds his hand, and when they are ready, a glyph appears under them, gradually glowing brighter and forcing Naoya to close his eyes.

After a while, he opens them, and their surroundings had changed once again. It is daytime, and the forest is denser than before, the trees taller. Around them, countless wisps float about—more than any that Naoya has ever seen.

He turns around to find a large throne, built in the middle of a shallow pool of water, made entirely of greenery and decorated with colorful flowers. The throne looks like it could seat three people, almost big enough to be a bed.

Miss Camelline walks to the throne, unbothered by the water around her feet, as Naoya and Ori follow her lead.

Everyone goes silent. The only sounds are the distant chirp of birds and the shimmer of wisps floating about. After waiting longer than he expected, Naoya asks his teacher.

“Ummm… what exactly are we waiting for, Miss Camelline? And where are we?”

Before she could explain, someone else speaks first.

“You’re all here already? Welcome to the Court of Flowers, visitors.”

They hear a girl’s voice from behind, and they turn around to see a girl holding a steaming mug, slowly flying toward them. She looks like she just got out of bed, wearing light green pajamas with cute animal patterns, a light blue nightcap, and very long, messy dark hair fluttering behind her, almost reaching her legs.

She flies past them and lounges on the throne, sipping coffee like it is no one’s business.

“Ahhh, that’s better.” She puts down her mug and stretches her arms. “Thanks for bringing them here, Line. So you must be Ori then!”

Her expression brightens as she spots Ori, and she flies toward her to give her a hug.

“Look how much you’ve grown! Welcome back to our forest, sweetie.”

Ori looks confused at first, but eventually smiles and hugs the girl back.

“And you,” she says as she turns to Naoya. “Great job taking care of her.”

“Y-you’re welcome but… who are you?” he replies, still confused.

“I’m known as the Will of the Wisps, queen of the forest and mother of all wisps. But just call me ‘Willow.’ That was the name I used in the past, back when I was a part of the Hero Party.”

Naoya’s mouth opens in surprise, having learned all about her in his History classes. And apart from what he learned, he recalls the older memories of four warriors that faced him before his defeat.

“You… you were there… I saw you in the Demon Lord’s memories!”

“Yes, we have met before—but not this peacefully.”

“But we never did. I’m not the Demon Lord, I just got his memories after I kissed his queen.”

“Yeah, your queen.”

“No, she can’t be my queen, I just recognized her from the Demon Lord’s memories!”

“Yeah, your memories.”

“No! I’m Shiranui Naoya! I came into this world after I died in my previous life! I’m not some power-hungry maniac like him!” he shouts, exploding in a fit of rage.

“You aren’t like that now, but in the past, you were.”

Naoya deflates.

“Maybe it’s just fake memories planted into my brain?” he asks, hoping for the possibility.

“What’s the name of the Archmage from the Hero’s Party?”

“Huh?” He is taken aback by the question, but a name surfaces in his mind. “Aurelia… Famis.”

Willow smiles. “That was her original name, before she denounced her family and took the name Solenne. There are only a handful of people in the world who know that fact, and that includes… the Demon Lord.”

Naoya looks down, defeated. Willow lifts his head and looks into his eyes.

“Allow me to give you more details.”

He stares back into her gentle blue irises, and before he notices it, the scene around them changed yet again.

The two of them are now in dark ruins, surrounded by smoking rubble and a dark purple sky above.

A few steps away, he spots four people: a valiant hero resting his sword’s tip on the ground. A man with the ears and tail of a panther, holding his bow and wearing a trench coat. A lady with long, flowery braids and a cape. And lastly, a young woman with wavy blue hair, wearing a large hat and elegant robes.

They all stood around something with their eyes closed, each holding out a hand toward the ground, where the lifeless body of a man lies. His dark clothes were torn, and he was missing his left arm. The blue-haired lady begins reciting a ritual, and all of them start glowing with prismatic light—the same color as pure Aether. And after reciting a long incantation, a beam of yellow light shoots out of the body, towards the sky, and disappears, along with the man’s corpse.

“After we defeated you,” Willow begins, and Naoya turns his attention to her. “We were supposed to bring your corpse to the kingdoms as proof of your defeat. But one of us, Solenne, gave us a different plan. All of us agreed, and we performed a ritual to reincarnate your soul into a different world, with all of your memories wiped out.”

Naoya’s eyes widen as he immediately realizes what this means.

“So, this means…”

She gives him a small smile.

“Exactly. You are the Demon Lord Alcestrus, reincarnated into another world after your defeat. And now, you’ve been reincarnated back. Welcome home, Naoya.”