Episode 52: Keirakuden
It was the sky around dawn, perhaps.
The distant, whitening sky was burning red.
Stars still twinkled in the night sky, and a single, bright red streak cut across it.
I stood in a marsh where reed-like grasses grew chest-high.
Numerous particles of light, like fireflies mistaken for a moment, floated, and a fantastical scene unfolded before my eyes.
“Where is this…?”
Was I dreaming?
It had been several days since Elmia left Bangwall Fort.
My last memory was writing late at night, being told by Nicoletta, “Perhaps you should rest soon,” and then going to bed.
For a dream, my consciousness was too clear.
The wind caressed my cheeks, and the aquatic plants swayed.
When I jumped, I heard the sound of water droplets splashing at my feet.
All the information transmitted to my five senses was accompanied by reality.
『Waiting』
Suddenly, words of an unknown sound sensation flowed into my mind.
Only the meaning was somehow conveyed.
Waiting for what? Just as I thought that, before my eyes—a black mist was floating.
It looked eerie, but it drifted with a somewhat comical movement.
“What are you?”
The black mist seemed to be pleased to be spoken to by me.
It wasn’t a bad guy, perhaps.
The black mist soon began to move.
As if saying, follow me.
“Hey, where are you going?”
I hesitated a little, but I decided to follow it, as it seemed somehow happy.
After walking for a while, I arrived at a place with a rather unusual atmosphere.
“What is this place…?”
What immediately came to mind was the Parthenon.
Several stone pillars stood in a row, with pillars lying across the top to reinforce them.
The structure had no ceiling, perhaps because it had collapsed.
I cautiously passed through the pillars and entered.
On the stone floor, something like a magic circle was drawn.
“What is this… were they doing alchemy here?”
First, there was a circle that was probably twenty meters in radius.
Drawn connecting nine points within it was an Enneagram.
Inside the Enneagram, another smaller circle was drawn, with an equilateral triangle inscribed within it.
Although the floor was crumbling in places, it was densely engraved with mysterious ancient characters.
A total of twelve points, said to be the vertices of the Enneagram and the equilateral triangle, glowed faintly.
The black mist floated and stopped at one of the vertices of the Enneagram.
As guided by the black mist, I stood on that vertex.
Then, a change occurred in the black mist before my eyes.
First, seven jet-black arms sprouted out.
Then, a single, large eye popped open.
“Whoa, a monster!”
I was startled and fell on my rear, hurriedly searching for a Gold Coin in my pocket.
The eye seemed amused by my reaction, waving its seven arms around.
『Sharka, amazing, qualification, give』
A new, different message flowed into my head.
Before I could think about it, the eye vigorously approached.
“H-hey, d-don’t come here!”
I couldn’t avoid it, and the eye jumped into my chest—and disappeared.
Apparently, the eye monster had entered my body.
There was no way I could remain calm after such a strange experience, and for a while, I meticulously checked my body for any abnormalities.
“Oh, there’s one more person here,”
Suddenly, a girl’s voice came from outside the circle.
When I turned to look, I saw a blurry, jet-black human-shaped mist walking towards me.
A silhouette about my height, with what seemed like long hair.
“The owner of Iitakarna has appeared. So the original was defeated after all.”
The jet-black silhouette of the girl turned towards me and began to say something.
I couldn’t keep up with the situation at all, but it seemed I wasn’t being spoken to.
She seemed to be talking to herself.
I touched the Gold Coin in my right hand several times before deciding to speak.
“Who are you?”
“Eh! You spoke?”
“…Yeah.”
“…I’m surprised. You’re maintaining consciousness in this world?”
“?”
The silhouette girl had no expression, but I could sense her astonishment.
Apparently, she hadn’t expected me to speak.
“From the looks of it, is this your first time here?”
“Yeah.”
“You’ve only recently awakened your power, I suppose?”
“? More importantly, where is this place?”
“A place where stars and consciousness have been connected since ancient times, this is called the Keirakuden. It’s the first time I’ve seen a Starborn maintaining consciousness here.”
Stars and consciousness connected?
I had no idea what she was talking about.
Certainly, if this was a dream, it was strange to have consciousness.
“Starborn?”
“What you people call Stella-Class humans.”
I didn’t recognize the term.
However, the silhouette girl seemed to have determined that I was Stella-Class.
“I see… So, who are you? I don’t sense any hostility, but you don’t seem like a good guy either.”
“Me? I’m… a secret.”
“Huh?”
“It’s considered good manners not to pry here; anonymity is valued. Well, it’s almost non-existent, though…”
Apparently, the silhouette girl was secretive.
Anonymous, like a VR space, perhaps.
“So, you don’t know who I am either?”
“Hmm, I wonder. Can I guess?”
“If you can.”
“…Sharka de Ortenos, perhaps?”
“…”
You’ve got to be kidding me.
Why did she actually guess it?
“Oh dear, it seems I guessed correctly. Don’t worry, I’m not as enthusiastic as the others, so I won’t tell anyone.”
“…”
Was I that famous?
It felt like having my real name guessed by an anonymous account on social media, and a chill ran down my spine.
It was unfair that she knew about me unilaterally.
“Don’t suddenly go silent. I’m actually quite shy… So, you can call me Jill.”
“Then Jill, tell me as much as you can about you and this place.”
Jill hesitated for a moment before starting to speak.
“…Well, okay. We are a clan that values the harmony of the stars—an existence called the Astrological Cauldron.”