I 11

“Say, Ryle.”

“What is it, Alina?”

“Do you know how to find the Artifacts?”

“I don’t know.”

“…”

“…”

“You don’t know how to find the Artifacts, and yet you tell me to go on a journey with you?!”

“How am I supposed to know?! I thought I could just find them the same way that Ackie did!”

“So, how did that Ackie of your do that?”

“He’s already dead, don’t call him like that.” Which is already a weird way to call somebody who killed at least 20 innocent people (and guards).

But she’s right, I’m not even sure how he even manages to detect those Artifacts. What gave him an advantage in his search for Artifacts was his speed and only his speed.

“The sky is clear isn’t it?” Alina gazes upward.

“Yeah…” Without our talking voices, it would really be quiet. There are not many passengers here.

There’s also Regina, gazing into the distant horizon from the side of the ship.

“…”

She notices me looking at her, and flashes a smile, waving her hand.

“Come to think of it, you haven’t talked to her much ever since the start of the journey.”

“I did during meals.”

“You did not, those were mostly me and her talking, you only responded to her questions with mm’s and yeah’s.”

A silence.

“Did something happen between you two?”

“Not really.”

“Not to mention yesterday’s request too. But who am I to refuse you though?”

If I may be honest to myself, I have been feeling anxious lately.

“Are you two talking about me?” Regina approached us before I noticed it.

“Not much.” Alina shakes her head, then suddenly makes some surprised noises, “Oh wow! I forgot to take care of my plant so… I will leave you two alone here.”

“Hey, wait.” I swear I caught a glimpse of Alina’s grin before she leaves for the cabin.

“…it’s been a while. We haven’t had a lot of free time together, haven’t we?” Regina gently says.

“Yeah.”

Regina purses her lips slightly.

“How was your graduation?” She continues.

“It was okay. I didn’t know you also graduate early as well.”

“…you should have told me you were intending to graduate a year earlier yourself.”

“We didn’t have a lot of chances to talk.”

“That isn’t even an excuse!” she grits her teeth. “You always had all the chances to talk to me at home.”

I wanted to say ‘I thought you were busy studying all the time and didn’t want to talk to me’, but I doubt that would cut it.

“Did something happen some years ago?”

“…do you know anything about Acki-, I mean… the serial killer of the incidents many years ago?”

“Wasn’t that our school student? …I remembered now, he’s your classmate.”

“And Claude?”

“I don’t think I can remember him well, what is it with him?”

“Say… Regina… do you by any chance, was reincarnated into this world?”

“Hah?”

Her face looks completely surprised.

“Say, maybe you are not originally from this world, and maybe you have memories from the past world, perhaps?”

Regina gasps, her face looks completely shaken.

“Ahaha what you are talking about I definitely cannot understand at all. Not from this world? Memories from the past world? What are you talking about, I cannot understand at all!”

“I’m just asking…”

“Why do you have this kind of question by the way? Anyway, I’m going to bed…”

Well, I guess that’s it for today. I return to the cabin and go to sleep too.

Hours later, the ship finally arrived at the Kingdom of Hope!

“So magnificent!” Alina’s eyes widen before the sight of the beautiful houses and buildings that situate one next to another in some line to no end. On some high lands, on some low lands. The better thing being the lack of walls surrounding them. I don’t know why, but the lack of orderly planning makes me feel very comfortable, something I have never seen in my entire life even in the past world.

“So, how do we even search for the Artifacts?” Alina asks.

“I don’t know… maybe we should garner some rumors around this place? To see if some place is rumored to have some Artifacts.”

“That’s sensible, but are you sure other Artifact hunters haven’t done that already?” Alina narrows her eyes.

“I don’t know… Maybe Regina does have some good ideas?” I turned to her.

“Huh? Oh well… wait me a little bit…” Regina rummages through the belongings she carries with her (that’s a lot), and brings out a map.

“There’s even a map? Where did you get it from?” Alina looks at the map.

“Erm… yeah. Basically I got this from the Security Ministry.”

“They don’t mind you going on a hunt for Artifacts?” I ask

“Well, there’s no law that bans Artifact hunting in our kingdom, just the possession and deciphering of it.” Alina responds.

“Besides, this isn’t even a map of our kingdom, but this kingdom’s,” Regina hands it to me. “The yellow spots are places with a high probability of having Artifacts. The red dashes areas are places you definitely shouldn’t go, and definitely have no Artifacts.”

“Seems to be a straightforward map,” I comment.

“Speaking by the way, if the Artifacts happen to belong to somebody, then what will you do?” Alina asks.

“…” Come to think of it, I haven’t even thought of that. My aim when I decided on this journey was to get rid of them, since they don’t seem to be of any use. But what if those Artifacts already have owners? “Then we will spare those Artifacts, let’s just get rid of the ones nobody has possessed yet.”

Although, this is far from a way to reduce the amount of potential incidents that could happen just like the ones with Ackie, I mean crimson armor serial killer.

But as I said, this journey in the first place has always been an excuse for me to have an objective, not to purely get rid of them.

And besides, I want to see if there’s anybody who happens to be an ‘alien’ as well – somebody who reincarnated I mean.

“And what if the Artifacts are totally harmless, say it creates rainbow or make you a better singer?” Alina continues asking.

“We will spare them as well.” I respond.

“Such Artifacts don’t exist,” Regina says, “Um… I mean as far as I know, usually the Artifacts tend to be imbued with combat effects, or something like that.”

“In any case we should determine what to do with them then, there’s no way we can be sure if we haven’t even known their effects,” I say. “Now let’s find an inn first.”

Each of us has a room. I get to the hall and see Alina wandering as well.

“Good afternoon, captain!” Not sure if she’s making any reference.

“Nice place this inn is.”

“Yup. The bed feels pretty soft. Although I wish I could share a room with Regina, she and I are fellow females aren’t we? Imagine squeezing her soft and squishy cheeks, ehehe~!” Alina makes some gropey gestures with a blissful expression.

Then somebody comes to the hall, somebody I didn’t expect to see. It’s Paul.

“How coincidental, didn’t know you are here too,” Paul says with a disdainful tone.

“Why are you here?”

“Why am I here? Is it even your business? Maybe keep your nose to yourself,” he enters his room then shuts it.

“Your acquaintance? Is it the Ackie you have been talking about?” Alina asks.

“Well, first off Ackie is dead, but yeah, he was my classmate.”

“Ahaha I’m just kidding. He sure has a face that makes it hard to be friendly to.”

Night. As people are all sleeping, a sudden voice comes up, “Are you an idiot? Booking a room right in the same hall my team is at, what if they know what we are doing?!”

I come to the hall, and see it coming from Paul’s room. Somebody who came in last certainly didn’t shut the door tight. Through the door gap, I can see Paul and Regina talking to each other.

“Come on, you make it like it’s the end of the world.”

“It is!”

“Alright alright. Let’s just get to our business…” They proceed to move toward where the bed should be, I can’t see anything from here.

What I can see are a male jacket and Regina’s coat, being thrown to the floor.

…well, I shouldn’t be here anymore. It’s none of my business anyway. Although I can still hear them in a smaller volume.

“It’s gonna take us the entire night,” Paul gasps.

The next morning, I wake up. I wanted to knock on Regina’s room first, but given last night… Well, there’s a chance she may still need a lot of sleep. I turn to Alina’s room. Knock knock. She opens the door, hand wearing a puppet. Her eyes still look drowsy, but she raises the puppet to my face, and lets it speak on her behalf, “Who do you think you are that dares to intrude the sleep of my master?!”

I pinch the bridge of Alina’s nose.

“Ah! Meanie,” she rubs her nose.

“How was your sleep?”

“It was nice. I was having a dream of saving you from being swallowed by some mimic chest. I wonder if something like that would happen in the future, that would be interesting.”

Not sure I wanna ask her what a mimic chest is. She raises the puppet again and says, “This little guy of mine is a new friend I brought with me on this trip. He’s like an alternate person of mine who tends to think the same as I do, but is very blunt and direct, sometimes you may find his words a little bit curt… but still please treat him well from now on.”

Alina is still quite childish at this age isn’t she? Unlike… Regina.

“…what does he have to say about my hair right now?”

“It looks absolutely stupid right now!” her puppet voice loudly exclaims.

“…do you want to have breakfast now?”

“Oh yes! Absolutely!” “Hell yeah! I couldn’t wait to have some chomps…” Alina and her ‘friend’ respond. “Let’s call Regina too.”

“About that, I think we may let her sleep for a bit more. She can have breakfast, or lunch, later.”

“But why though? And isn’t it already late now?”

“...she slept late last night.”

I have a late breakfast with Alina. “The food is good, the taste is something I have never had before,” she sounds so happy. As we are eating, we see Regina coming down to our table…

“…why did you two not wait for me?” she seems to have run here pretty hastily judging by her breath, or just due to the previous all-nighter.”

“We are just afraid you still need some more sleep. You stayed up late last night didn’t you?”

“Huh… hah?!” Regina gets flustered. “How do you know?”

“Just a guess, your disheveled hair is an indicator…”

“Ah!” she holds her hair.

“That looks cute though Regina, I’m sure guys would definitely find this sight of you attractive in a new way. Right?” Alina turns to me. Regina turns her eyes to me too.

“Yeah.”

In any case, Regina sits down with us. I feel like she’s mumbling something like, “…that rogue Paul. I hope he didn’t let anything stick to my hair.”

“Hey, Ryle,” Alina asks while munching a chicken wing, “can I visit some libraries now? We are not in a rush to search for the Artifacts right?”

“Hmm? Of course. We are not rushing at all. Just take your time.”

Alina sprints outside the door, “See you this afternoon!” Well, I guess I should figure out something to do as well, while we are not hunting for Artifacts.

“Seems like we have some time for ourselves…” Regina mumbles.

“What are you going to do today?” I ask

“Hmm…” she taps her lips. “I do know a windmill about a short distance away from here.”

We reached that place with a green meadow.

“Really refreshing.”

“Yeah,” Regina agrees, smilingly. We laid down on the meadow, looking at the blue sky. A truly beautiful place.

“Say, Ryle… How long do you estimate our journey shall last?”

“Maybe 3 years.”

“3 years?”

“Is there a problem with it?”

“Nothing. What are you gonna do afterwards?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I shall return to our kingdom and find some jobs I could use with my Academician diploma.”

My words seem to suddenly make her eyes widen. “Academician diploma?”

“I haven’t told you I chose the discipline of Academician haven’t I?” come to think of which, I don’t think she has ever asked me about that.

“…”

“What is it?”

“Nothing,” her voice gets smaller, “mission fails, successfully.”

“? …by the way, why did you decide to join my journey though?” I ask.

“Huh? Wasn’t that my suggestion in the first place? If I wasn’t supposed to go with you, then… Speaking of which, why didn’t you tell me you were gonna go on the journey?”

“? It was your suggestion… but it’s not like the reasons for going aren’t my own. Besides, I thought you would graduate later than I did.”

Judging by how studious Regina is, I expected her to stay at school even after getting the diploma, since there are just way too many things to study there.

“Even if so, couldn’t you just wait?”

“Sorry.” I don’t know what to answer.

Regina and I return to the inn. Alina is already there, her eyes beam with delight and her hands hold a stack of obvious things anybody can guess (she is still wearing the puppet while taking with her the books huh?).

“I guess it’s time for our exciting intense mind-blowing epic journey isn’t it? Let’s go now!” Alina is in such high spirits that she can’t help but narrow her eyes.

“She doesn’t seem that meek once she gets to know us,” Regina quips.

We reach an abandoned church, by now the sun is setting.

“Surely the map marks it here… but exactly where?”

To be fair to this map: in the past world, the cartography ratio wasn’t really that much better. Still, there’s a lot to be asked about the ratio of this map she got from the Security Ministry.

“Can you have your puppet sniff it?” I look at the little guy Alina refuses to take off.

“I’m not a hound!” ‘he’ responds.

I look around, left and right.

“Does anybody have magic abilities… say… something that can allow your own vision to see if something is an Artifact at all?”

“You make it like it’s that easy,” I’m surprised Alina doesn’t use the puppet to let out her remark, “there are infinite elements a single object can be composed of. To apply magic on your own vision for a single dominant group of elements is already tough enough, let alone the Artifacts which exist in varieties. If anything, it’s absolutely hard to determine what the Artifacts have in common, more so than each of them have with other objects.”

“I know, I know. No need to repeat ‘Elements of Magic’ 101.”

“Although this sure is a topic worth pursuing as research, or at least as a thesis. Still, what a pity the laws against Artifacts in our kingdom don’t make it any easier.”

We keep looking around until Regina notices something. “Something is buried here, it seems.”

“How do we dig it out?”

“There’s a shovel here.” She points.

How convenient. If I hid my Artifacts I would never leave it right by the means I use to hide. Is the thing buried under the soils there even an Artifact though?

We dug out a sword.

“Try to decipher it,” Regina looks at Alina, who then hovers her palm above the sword. Some lights are illuminated from her palm. Then she says, “Oh hey! This sword does have some very special effects. Say you wield it much faster than you typically do.”

I try to hold it and wield it out, seems faster than usual, is this speed improvement a significant effect though?

“Speaking of which, how do you even know if it’s an Artifact, or just some objects with enhancements from permanent magic or something?”

“Well,” Alina poises up her index finger, “we can feel the reaction from it to the magic we apply on it to know if it’s an Artifact or not. And besides, it’s not typically easy to apply permanent magic on an object at all, otherwise they would be called sacred objects or even legendary objects.”

Oh right. Why did I even forget this knowledge I certainly did read somewhere?

“The sun is setting now,” Regina looks up to the sky, “let’s go back to the inn.”

Evening, I come to Regina’s room to

“Oh, Ryle, do you need anything here?”

“No, just pass by for a bit. You just had a bath?” I look at the silky hair of her.

“Yeah. I’m doing make ups now.”

“Anything special?”

“I just want to make myself feel special even on normal days,” she applies some lip gloss, “for a certain somebody.”

…I guess Regina is truly an adult now.

“Did you really mean it, when you agreed with Alina that men would still like me regardless of the state of my hair?” she continues.

“Yeah. I truly meant it. You looked cute back then.”

That makes her let out a bashful giggle, which she covers with her knuckles.

“Thank you. Tonight is gonna be memorable.” Regina smiles.

I leave her room thinking of how mature she truly has gotten during the last years that I didn’t even notice.

I turn to Alina’s room. Taking a short nap isn’t she? I sneakily approach her, hand reaches toward the puppet she refuses to take off during sleep. Then as my fingers almost reach it, the puppet wakes up and chomps on my hand. “I’m still awake, you scoundrel!” ‘he’ says. I turn to look at Alina who is glaring at me.

Done with my antics, I return to my room (so as not to bother Regina who will pay some visit to another room at any given time - I wouldn’t want her to stay up that late, so the sooner I sleep the better). Then I hear some knocks. I guess it’s time. Then I hear some knocks again, which… seem to actually belong to my own door. I open the door and see Alina.

“Hello, or if I may say… ‘good night’. What do you need here?”

“Oh Ryle, I just want to have some talks… I can’t really sleep now.”

“Because of the nap right?”

“…yep.”

“Please come in.”

I close the door. “Something you want to chat about?”

“The truth is, I did eavesdrop your conversation with Regina before we reached this kingdom.”

“Oh, that’s okay. What’s with it?”

“You used some words like reincarnation or past worlds…”

…it’s not that I feel like she caught me red-handed or something. But… I’m not sure how to explain all this to her. I wonder what she thought when she heard those words. Can I explain to her about the past world and all that stuff?

But before I can speak, she says, “I think… I happen to be that person who came from a past world myself.”

Hah?

“I’m not sure how do I even explain this, but please listen to me. When I was born I wasn’t Alina, but another girl with a different name. My life was nothing special, I went to school, which was kinda like the one in this world, which isn’t saying a lot, but anyway... I had always been prone to illness since young, couldn’t go to school much, so I didn’t have a lot of friends. During my high school years I think I must have had my last breaths on a hospital bed. Typically there’s nothing more to that, when you die you just die… but when I open my eyes, I find myself being a baby in this world already.”

“That sounds… just like me,” I say.

“You too?” Her eyes widen for a bit. “You also have your memories carried to this world with you, right?”

I nod. Her face seems to be making an unsure expression of excitement.

“So… what do we make of this now?” she asks.

“I don’t know. It’s not like it changes anything… although, I guess it does feel comforting to know somebody is a fellow ‘alien’ to me… to borrow a word somebody said.”

Alina lets out some helpless chuckles, “I guess… What was your background by the way?”

“I was a working man in my past world. Married a woman. Died during an earthquake. Speaking of me, of course, I don’t know how my wife was.”

“Oh wow, so you must be older than me.”

“That was in the past world. We all restart afresh in this world anyway.”

“So… what do we do now?” she asks?

“Just live the same as usual? I mean… you don’t exactly have a problem with this world, don’t you?”

“Yeah…” she nods. “You?”

“It has been okay so far. No matter where I live, I still have to fulfill my obligation in that world anyway.”

“I think this world feels easier to live in than my past world. And even cute!” Alina makes a bright smile.

“Speaking of which, I wonder how much do our worlds overlap… What was your world like?”

Alina taps her lips, “What my world was like… I’m not sure I can even describe it. I haven’t even experienced many things in life anyway. I only remember playing a lot with my phone on the hospital bed.”

“Phone?” Well that sounds boring. “You said you don’t have a lot of friends though. Who do you call?”

“No calling. I only played video games on my phone ehehe.”

Huh? What she said confuses me. “I’m not sure I understand what you are saying here. What are even video games?”

“You don’t know them? Say… are there something called… TVs in your world?”

“Oh yeah, there is… that black-and-white broadcasting thingy that projects on the screen actual real-life moving images, that you use to watch news right?”

“Black-and-white?! How back in the past was the world you lived in?!”

“…”

“Well, at least we have established that our worlds at the very least have a lot of similarities. Perhaps we lived in the same world, but different times – me in the future, you in the past.” She yawns. “It’s late already, I guess we shall continue our journey tomorrow, no?

I nod. “And hey Alina, just wanna tell you I have another reason for going on this journey. To find if there are also people who reincarnated as we did as well.”

“Oh. You think there are?”

“Yeah. The serial killer of several years ago, you know who I’m talking about. He used words like ‘video games’ and some others, which suggested he’s also not somebody original of this world.”

He used many other weird incomprehensible words, perhaps Alina could understand them, but I just don’t remember what they were now.

“So, at least three of us so far huh?”

“Yeah,” I nod. “Anyway, good night.”

“Good night.”

The next day, Regina wakes up sooner than I expected. “Mornin’!” She greets with an ethereal voice. Guess last night must have been great for her to look this euphoric. “Can we visit the market today? I want to buy some dresses. You are trying them out with me too, Alina.”

Alina lets out some squeaks as she gets pulled away by Regina. It’s been a while since I last saw her typical trademark behavior. Seems to be the best moments in Regina’s life right now. So happy. So bright. So dazzling.

I guess… life isn’t so bad here.

Needless to say, I answered Regina's “How do I look?” questions, as she tried out the clothes in the stores, with the repetitive Yes’s and Hmm’s.

“Hmm…?”

I noticed something fleet away as I turned my back.

Afternoon, we are prepared to tackle another Artifact now.

“I shall never get used to this map,” I mumble.

“In my world, we use a digital map on a phone, which you can zoom in and out with your fingers. Although that doesn’t make pinpointing a location easier without the exact GPS coordinates,” Alina says.

“…I think I have heard enough about all that… futuristic stuff. Let’s just focus on our hunt right now.” I narrow my eyes.

“Hmm? What are you two talking about?”

“Nothing, just explaining modern stuff to uncle Ryle.”

“…” I feel the need to say, but have no words to express.

Several monsters are here, but they are not really harmless.

“Magical Fireballs!” Alina shouts at the plant-like monsters who get scorched down in some moments by her magic she pointed at them. “Phoenix Diving!” It’s the same magic as the previous one. “Holy Giga Fire!” Same as previous.

We notice a chest right at the center of the ground. “Do we need a key?” Alina mindlessly opens it before I can give her any warning. The chest is opened. Inside is a ring. Alina deciphers it. “Artifact,” she nods.

“So, what does it even do?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing? Is there an Artifact that really doesn’t do any-“ as I’m speaking, Regina falls down from behind me. “Are you okay?” I raise her up. “Mmm,” she nods.

“Well, it’s my first time ever seeing an Artifact that doesn’t really do anything. But yeah, it’s still an Artifact, judging by the magic reaction I feel. So do you want to take it or not?”

“Your choice I guess.” The point of searching for them just so we are gonna get rid of them anyway. “So now let’s-“

Again.

Another fleeting silhouette.

“What is it?” Regina asks. “It’s nothing,” I respond. “Let’s go home quickly!” Regina beams a bright smile to me and runs ahead of us.

I whisper to Alina’s ear, “Huh? What is it this time? I don’t… Oh okay, if you say so.”

Evening, somebody knocks on my door.

“Hmm? Alina, are you…”

It’s Regina. “You thought I was Alina?”

“Yeah. Anyway, please come in.”

She does just that, I close the door.

“You two have been getting really close recently,” she says.

Well, I guess that’s not wrong, me and Alina are fellows in the same boat after all.

“Do you need anything?”

“Hmm? Do I need a reason to come here?” she lies on my bed naturally, as if that’s her own bed.

“Of course not. This has been a great journey hasn’t it?”

“Yeah,” she gives me a sweet smile. “Would be nice if it lasts forever.”

Lasting forever huh? Sounds really nice… but…

I still feel like I’m missing something.

I told myself that I’m on a search for the Artifacts, so that I can get rid of them. It felt pretty disappointing how none of the Artifacts seemed to be any of a big deal, in terms of how dangerous they could pose a risk to anybody. But nevertheless, this feels like a very weak excuse I love to use to lie to myself.

“I wonder if…” I look at Regina, she’s sleeping on my bed now. Then carry her in my arms to her room, and place her on her own bed, tuck her in.

I go downstairs from the hall to the common room, then get outside of the inn.

“Argh!”

“Wow, and here I thought this trick would not work,” Alina stands up, hand releases the cord she was hanging by the inn’s door knee length.

I grab the guy on the ground and take him to a distant abandoned house, Alina follows after. Nobody should be able to see us here.

“Do we need to tie him?” She asks. I shake my head.

“So, Paul? Mind explaining what you have been doing?”

“…” Paul gives me a resentful look, then looks away.

“Paul, if you don’t answer, we are not letting you go back to your room,” I say to him again.

“I can help with that!” The puppet (Alina) raises its voice, then Alina proceeds to cast a lightning strike on him. Which seems to be more than needed, judging by the spluttering scream Paul is letting out.

“Okay okay… let me confess. Ahem… what do you want me to confess?”

“What have you been doing recently?”

“Well, I did a lot of stuff, not sure which one you want to know.”

I sigh.

“Why did you follow us in the first place?”

“Oh, okay… let me remember. A certain somebody told me to keep watching you, Ryle, specifically. Whatever you do I shall have to report to that certain somebody.”

“Who is that certain somebody?”

“I can’t tell their name. Please don’t ask me this. They will punish me!”

“Alina,” I don’t really like the sight of her lightning strike, but well. Another spluttering scream.

“Stop… stop… okay. Why does this have to happen to me though?” he starts crying.

“Who is that person?”

“It’s Regina.”

… “Hah? Regina asks you to keep watching us, are you lying?” The puppet (Alina) raises its voice again.

“I’m not lying at all. Believe me!”

“Tell me everything about her…”

“Alright, it all happened many years ago.