Chapter 5 Unforgettable Memory

What appeared in my view after leaving the bookstore is bizarre, dreadful, and horrifying.

The sky surrounding the sun is pitch black like a handful of black ink tainting a canvas. And slowly but steadily, the sun started to get corroded by the blackness and start to turn black as well.

"Suzu! Suzu! Where are you!?"

I ran as fast as I could and circle the perimeter, desperately trying to search for Suzu's whereabouts. It doesn't matter if the sun turns black, it doesn't matter if the whole skies turn black, I need to find Suzu as fast as possible!

(Ah. She usually plays at the park near the supermarket. Maybe she's there)

I increase my pace even faster even though my chest starts to feel suffocated and out of breath. It seems that running a bookstore made me neglect my workout and training too much.

From the distance, I could see a figure of a child. I could immediately tell that it must be Suzu. Her body language and her way of running are something that had been engraved inside my brain since I've been taking care of her since she was a baby.

"Suzu!" I called out to her, but she didn't respond to my voice. It seems that she didn't hear me.

I approached the part closer and was about to start calling her again, but-

"Su-" I finally noticed something is strange.

A man covered in a black robe and black hood is slowly approaching her. His face couldn't be seen, as if darkness itself had become his veil.

But more importantly, he looks dangerous! I need to take Suzu away from here!

"Uncle!" Suzu called out my name as she run to me as fast as she could.

"Suzu!" I run as fast as I could as well.

"Uncle! I'm scared!" Suzu cried as she jumps to my chest.

"Yes, it's fine now. I'm going to talk a bit with the guy over there. You don't need to be afraid, he's my cosplayer friend I met at an anime festival. You trust me, right?"

"Yes, I trust you," Her voice is still hoarse because of the crying.

I revert my gaze towards the hooded man, and at the same time, he started to approach us even faster.

"Suzu, it seems that my friend wants to have a quiet long talk with me. Could you go back home by yourself? I'll pick you up there so we go to the game arcade and have lots of funs, okay?"

Her face immediately brightens up, "'kay! That's a promise 'kay!"

After confirming that she went in the right direction, I turned back and saw that the hooded man had gotten even closer than before. But before my fear, a nostalgic feeling enveloped my heart.

Somehow, it felt like I'd experienced the same thing before.

"W-Who are you," I asked hesitantly.

!?!?

Suddenly the man approached me at even a faster pace.

"Wait, what!?"

The man suddenly let out a huge black scythe from nowhere, and when he was about to slash me, I instinctively jump back. At that moment, several images of what the hooded man was about to do got projected inside my mind.

Ah... I've been through the same thing before, didn't I?

*Whoosh!*

Suddenly a huge red portal appeared in the sky. And then, the hooded man said.

"Because the sins, hatred, and evil that this world had accumulated are too much for this world to contain alone, those dark energies had leaked off and formed a very evil being outside this plane. For that, 'we' will start gathering the 'payment' from this world as 'compensation',"

"That girl before is one of the chosen 'payments'. Human, are you ready to take her position in her stead?"

Now I remember.

This is the start of everything.

The origin.

"Yes. No matter how many times it repeats, I'll never regret my decision. I'll go in her stead,"

******************************

---Third Person PoV---

!?!?!?!?

(W-What did I...) (Lyan)

Lyan slowly raises his body up as he scans his surroundings.

(I'm back in the forest, huh...) (Lyan)

(So you're awake, master~ You've slept for about four hours straight, but after three hours, you got teleported out of the grimoire's dimensional space since you've reached the maximum amount of time you could spend here~) (Lilith)

(I see... So I've reached the time limit, huh... Could I enter that space again tomorrow?) (Lyan)

(Yup~ You could enter here three hours every day. While you could only summon us into that world for three hours a week) (Lilith)

(So that's the current limit, huh... By the way, do all of you could hear my thoughts?) (Lyan)

(E-Eh? You're communicating with your thoughts? I-I don't know...) (Lilith)

(....) (Lyan)

(It's funny how you're suck at lying even though you're a succubus) (Griselda)

(S-Shut up! You just told me just now that we shouldn't let him know that we could hear what he's thinking and see what he's seeing from the magical glass! I didn't have any time to prepare!) (Lilith)

(The magical glass?) (Lyan)

Lyan attempts to recall the view inside the space, and remembered that inside the living room, there is certainly a television inside it.

"Ah... So they could see what I'm seeing from there, huh..." (Lyan)

(The medium that connects us must be this grimoire, and since this grimoire is under my full command, then it could be stopped) (Lyan)

(E-Eh? Wait!) (Lilith)

After Lyan gave an order to the grimoire to stop connecting his thoughts and vision towards the spirits, Lilith's and Griselda's quarreling voices immediately appeared inside his mind.

(NO!!! Why did you turn off the magical glass!!!) (Lilith)

(Connect us again this instant!!!) (Griselda)

(I will turn it on again in ten seconds!) (Lyan)

(Hey! Please turn it on again! I want to see the outside world!!) (Lilith)

(I want to see outside too, master!) (Azelia)

(Since they didn't hear I just said that I will turn it on again in ten seconds, it means that the telepathy had been cut off one-sidedly from my side as well, huh... That's good) (Lyan)

"Television on," (Lyan)

(Ah! It turns on! Thank you, master!) (Lilith)

"What with this master, master thing?" Asked Lyan.

(Well, we're basically your summoned spirits, right? As our summoner, it's just appropriate for us to call you master, you know?) (Lilith)

"Well, that logic isn't wrong... But being called master is kind of weird..." (Lyan)

(Hee~ Do you have a fetish of being called 'master' by girls, master?) (Lilith)

"I don't," (Lyan)

(D-Don't tell me... You got turned on if you got called by a man instead-) (Lilith)

"Of course I don't! I'm perfectly normal and straight!!" (Lyan)

(Hehehehehe~) (Lilith)

(Stop it, Lilith. You're bothering master) (Arturia)

"Even you, Lady Arturia..." (Lyan)

(Isn't it fine, master. We're just going to call you master until our contract is over, after all. Please allow us to act as your summoned spirits as long as the contract duration, master) (Arturia)

"*Sigh!* Do as you want," (Lyan)

(Thank you, master) (Arturia)

(Anyway, do you have any destination, for now, master?) (Lilith)

"Hm... To be completely honest, I don't know which direction to go out of this forest... Since I still didn't know anything about this world, I didn't have any destination in mind yet," (Lyan)

"But I guess I need to find a job where I could use my fighting abilities to make money. Money is very important, after all. All of you came from this world, aren't you? Do you have any ideas?" (Lyan)

(Hm... I'm not that familiar with how the human society works, though~ How about both of you, Arturia, Lilith) (Lilith)

(If you're thinking of jobs with stable income, becoming a knight for a noble or a kingdom might be a good option, or you could also enter a kingdom's military as a new recruit and have a new start) (Arturia)

(But since you said you like to have freedom, I doubt you would want to get bounded by a noble or a kingdom. Then the remaining options are becoming an adventurer or a mercenary) (Griselda)

"A-Adventurer! A fantasy development anyone would want to get!" Lyan clenched his fist with full of excitement.

(But being an adventurer takes time to get stable and profitable. Raising through ranks need quite a damn long time, after all. The only job where you could immediately take high-paying jobs are only mercenary, I guess) (Griselda)

"I see... So if I want to gather money quickly, I need to become a mercenary first, huh... Well, then it can't be helped, it's not like being a mercenary will be bad," (Lyan)

At that moment, the nostalgic dream that he just saw when he was unconscious passed Lyan's mind for a while.

(I won't forget. Even if I unexpectedly find my happiness here, the suffering and the struggle I had in the past is not something that I may forget. I saved her life and her future, but to achieve that goal, I sacrificed lots of things. But even so, even if I need to rewind that moment, I will continue to take the same decision) (Lyan)

(Master? Why are you suddenly so silent?) (Lilith)

(A-As expected... I-I punched you a little bit too hard, didn't I... Please forgive me) (Arturia)

Arturia muttered timidly which didn't fit her image.

"Hahaha! It's fine, Arturia. Rather, I'm grateful. I remember some important things that I must not forget because of you, so thank you," (Lyan)

(Thank you?) (Arturia)

(He's thanking you for punching him out. He's a damned masochist pervert) (Griselda)

(Ah~ So you swings that way, huh~) (Lilith)

(Master is a pervert~) (Azalea)

(P-Pervert...) (Sylphia)

(So the hero master has that kind of preferences...) (Cynthia)

(Hmph! To think you love to be getting hit...) (Hestia)

(....) (Eira)

"I'm not an M!! Anyway, let's go away from this forest first. Time to start the adventure!" (Lyan)