It felt like nothing. Despite Poppy's mind not being clouded as much as it did back then, she somehow couldn't feel much of anything.
When she opened her eyes, her vision was attacked by some sort of light. It was incredibly bright, one that you wouldn't imagine being sighted in a dark, abandoned lab; which was where she was previously were, by the way.
Now that I think about it, where am I…?
The last things she remembered was that she came with her familiar and an adventurer she hired in an abandoned laboratory. After sending out the adventurer to do a cleanup job, she started cleaning up the place. When that was done, she suddenly heard a really loud sound.
After that, she fell unconscious.
Other than the things that led to before all of this happened, she couldn't say for sure what caused her to do so. She wasn't feeling tired back then, so that wouldn't have been able to cause her falling asleep.
Which only meant that the sound was the one that made her fall asleep.
And if it were the sound, then who was the one responsible for that?
Suddenly, she could hear a faint voice. When she looked in the direction of where the voice came from, she saw a familiar face and one that is not so familiar.
It was the adventurer, the person that she's been travelling around with for the last four months. There was something off about him though, because it looked to Poppy like it wasn't the adventurer. As for the other person, she couldn't quite tell.
She looked like a small girl, but her eyes indicated that she was the oldest in the room. She wore clothes that seem to befit that of royal status. Her hair was strangely black, which was incredibly rare in this world. It was darker than what she had imagined one's hair could be. She knew that she had seen this girl somewhere before, but she didn't know where or when.
It looked like the both of them were having a conversation. The adventurer was happily talking with the girl, which Poppy had never seen before other than when the adventurer was with the old man.
Their conversation was cut short afterwards when the adventurer's expression changed. He had a worried look on his face, one that might indicate the end of the world was already near. And Poppy's observation wasn't off the point.
The adventurer and the girl said their farewells to each other. And when the adventurer turned his back to the girl, a tear fell down the girl's cheek.
After that, the light that was once reigning the entire place got engulfed by the darkness that surrounded the girl.
It all went by in a flash. Poppy couldn't understand the events that just unfolded in front of her, but for some reason, she couldn't help herself feeling bad for the girl. Not just for the girl, too. The adventurer, although not exactly him, saw herself growing sympathetic for him. But along with that feeling, she also felt hatred.
It only came from within, and she didn't understand why.
Steps echoes throughout the stairs of the narrow hallway made of bricks. At first, the sounds were both filled with worry and anger, but as time went on, it eventually calmed down. It was going to be that way for a bit.
Each time the adventurer descended the stairs, the cold feeling which he once felt was now lessened to a comfortable degree. He's been here for a few times now, and he's gotten accustomed to the temperature. He still didn't get used to going down the ominous normal-looking room. But even so, he still needed to go down.
There was also another reason why he went down; for some reason, the throbbing pain that appeared in his neck seemed to sooth off for a bit. However, it was only when he went downstairs. The moment he leaves, it starts getting painful.
He's also been doing a bit of his improvements around the parts of this abandoned lab, though it's just minor.
He's lit up a few of the torches down at the basement that led towards the secret door. The ones up on the lab itself were powered by magic, and he didn't learn any of it, so it was kept dark. Sylvie was still keeping herself lit up with her body, but the brightness wasn't that high to light up the whole place.
The debris that were in front of the secret door were now cleared out. The adventurer still wondered where his incredible strength of him came from.
He opened the door and was met with the same view that he got last time. This time, the lamp on top of the table was lit up. There were also a few more of the torches hanging on walls, making the room look bright.
He headed straight to the door and opened it, where the cave-like room was located.
Ever since he arrived here and left and back a few times, he still saw the same view over and over.
He saw the girl sitting down on the same spot like the first time he woke up from falling unconscious. Her eyes still looked lifeless, looking expressionlessly at the ground while leaning on a wall and hugging her knees.
The cave was also pretty dark compared to last time, since Sylvie still had her bright light. The only source of light were the torches on the other room.
He approached the girl. Before, he was incredibly cautious of her, but due to how she hasn't been plotting anything bad to him, he just dismissed the fact that she was going to be any danger to his party.
"Hey," he called out.
The girl didn't respond. She still kept this behavior.
"I know you did something. I just want you to fix it."
Ever since Poppy fell unconscious, he decided to dig deeper into it. And he concluded that the person responsible for it was the girl sitting in front of him.
First, there was the sound. It happened because he provoked the girl by calling out the legendary hero's name. He didn't know why that provoked her, but due to it, that loud sound played out inside his head. He also knows that she's the one who caused it due to how she wasn't affected by it. It might be Sylvie who caused that sound since she wasn't affected as well, but since she was asleep, the adventurer removed her from the equation. Besides, there was no way for her to do that.
Now the second was Poppy. She fell unconscious the moment that sound played out. But what was his basis on this?
It was Sylvie. When the loud sound finished, the light inside the cave started to dim, with the source of that light being Sylvie. She started melting afterwards, which he couldn't explain, but since it stopped and she start solidifying afterwards, he had no worries about it. Afterwards, Sylvie woke up with a dim light and said that she couldn't feel Poppy's presence.
This all happened when the loud sound stopped, which leads to the only culprit being the girl in front of the adventurer.
"Is there really no way for you to try to help us?" he asked.
He was still met with no response. At this point, it was useless.
The adventurer was trying to find a way to help Poppy wake up. He wanted the reward and leave this place as soon as possible, but it was mostly because he wanted to make sure that his employer was in good shape when he left.
The adventurer sighed; an attempt yet again failed.
"…I'll be back," he said, turning his back to the girl.
If there was no way for him to get her to talk, then he'll just have to try again later. Even if she's just a stranger, she still looked like a small child. It would be unkind of him to force the answer out of her.
"Don't worry."
Just when he was about to grab the handle, he heard a faint voice.
He looked behind him. However, he still saw the same view of the girl staring down on the ground with no expression.
Must've been my imagination, he thought.
With the voice still ringing in his head, despite already ignoring it, he exited the cave-like room and the normal-looking room and ascended the stairs. The throbbing pain in his neck came rushing back to him, but he decided to ignore it.
"Itsuki…"
The adventurer wondered as to why that word made the girl mad. Sure, if he was badmouthing the legendary hero's name, her anger can be justified. However, just mentioning it is enough to actually get to her nerves. He didn't have to worry that much, though. If she doesn't want that name to be mentioned, then he won't.
As he exited the cave-like basement, the vast place of this abandoned lab stretched out before him—well, it was more like the darkness, really. Due to how dark it is, he couldn't see the end of the place.
He walked towards the path that he's memorized now, and after passing through a door, he spotted a dim light behind a curtain. He went to check on it, and saw Sylvie sitting down beside a bed, laying her head on top of it. The person occupying the bed was Poppy, still in her peaceful slumber.
With nothing else better to do, he took a nearby chair and sat next to Sylvie.
This room was a resting place of some sort. He found it when he was trying to get Poppy to lay down on something comfortable. There were other rooms that he traversed in his free times, but he didn't recognize most of the stuff around or even the place in general.
Poppy was still breathing as usual, her pulse is stable like before, and her body isn't dropping to an abnormal temperature. At the very least, she didn't seem like she was sick or anything. Her body is functioning just as normal.
The only thing differing to all of it was her mind.
Strangely enough, when Sylvie said that she couldn't sense Poppy's presence anywhere, it meant that she couldn't form a connection with her; she can't connect to someone who isn't there. And that's pretty much a problem for Sylvie.
So how does one lose connection with their familiar?
Connections toward familiars are simple; they're tied together with a pact. If that pact were to be broken, then and only then could the connection between the master and the familiars would get cut off. There are other things besides a pact that can make a creature their familiar, though.
Some can forcefully create a pact with other creatures, but this type of pact is unsecure than most. The only thing that can hold these are the master's magic. That pretty much means that the moment they create a pact with other creatures, they're bound to that master until the day one of them dies.
But to Poppy and Sylvie, that doesn't seem to be the case. Poppy made a pact to Sylvie, which meant that their connection didn't rely on a medium. But with the way Sylvie's been acting, it's safe to assume that she was forcefully made to create a pact with Poppy. And if so, how did the connection get cut off?
There are only two types of pacts in this world: one that is agreed, and one that is forced. The former doesn't need any connection between the two; the only thing that needs to be followed is that the familiar obeys its master.
The latter is mostly the same, the only difference is that their connection needs to be held together by the master's magic. But that's where things get real confusing.
As long as a person lives, then the magic within them does so as well. If a forced familiar's connection towards their master is cut off, that means that the master got careless and the grip on that connection grew weak. Another circumstance is that the master dies. Out of the two, the latter is the most effective.
But if that's the case, then wouldn't that mean that either Poppy has already died or her magic has grown weak to maintain their connection?
With the way Sylvie has been acting, any signs of it being the latter is already thrown off the window—if there even is one in this abandoned lab. She cares too much about Poppy to even be considered rebellious towards her. And there's also no way that it can be the former since Poppy is still evidently breathing.
In the end, the adventurer couldn't reach to a certain conclusion. He didn't know much about familiars to begin with other than the fact that they exist.
Unfortunately for now, he didn't know what's wrong with Poppy. All he can do is just wait for her to wake up.
"…"
It's just going to be another long time of silence.
It was dark.
When Poppy tried opening her eyes, she couldn't see anything. She was laying down due to how she can feel her own body weight pressing down on a bed, and she couldn't see much of anything on the wall.
She tried recollecting her memories, but ended up in failure. Whatever it was, it felt to her as if she shouldn't have forgotten. However, like a dream, they always disappear the moment you wake up.
When she tried standing up, she felt another weight forcing her down on the bed. It was Sylvie, peacefully resting her head on Poppy's lap as she snored her way through slumber. Poppy noticed that the light she casted onto her to help the adventurer traverse the basement was now gone. It was either the spell wore off, or Sylvie somehow found a way to dispel it herself.
Now that she thought about it, she couldn't actually feel much of anything about Sylvie. Sure, she could feel her head pressing down on her lap, but other than that, she couldn't feel the flow of magic that came from Sylvie, which was the sign of their connection as a familiar and a master. Instead, it was replaced with someone else's. Although the flow is distant, it's not that far from here.
Careful not to wake up Sylvie, Poppy climbed out of bed. She noticed that her clothes were switched to a different one than usual. It was a nightdress that she barely had the time to wear nowadays the moment she started researching about revival.
The crates that she had been traveling with for the last nine months were placed just on the corner of the room, where most of her stuff were.
She headed towards the crates, and then changed her clothes. A simple skirt, a black blouse, and a really long white lab coat. This is pretty much her only signature look, which makes her easily noticeable. Of course, she wore her underwear, but were not going to mention that.
After the quick change in clothes, she headed out of the room. Even outside, the darkness still engulfed the entire place. She casted a light spell, making a ball of light shine in her hands, and then floated onto her side. It wasn't as bright as last time, but seeing that she's already seen much of what the laboratory had to offer.
She headed to where that flow of magic came from. Each step she took made an echo throughout the place, which makes it more and more ominous.
After a few steps and a few turns, she spots the basement door opened with lights on the bottom of the stairs. When she descended, she saw a rough wall filled to the brim with torches and such. Extending far to the basement was another entrance.
After she turned off the light, Poppy headed straight into the entrance she spotted. It was certainly strange, though.
Poppy had anticipated that there would be a basement, but according to her knowledge, she didn't know that there was an entrance inside. And, suspiciously enough, the flow of magic came from that specific entrance.
She walked through the basement while following the trail of the torches. Strangely enough, there was another set of stairs leading down from that entrance—a basement for a basement. The flow of magic was getting strong.
She descended the stairs, albeit being cautious. The series of torches didn't just stop at the basement; it also extended far into the narrow hallway. Each step she took, the brick walls echoed it. But along with that echo, she also heard a droplet. It ran at a constant pace, and each drop became stronger and stronger each time she descended.
If there was one thing this place reeked off, it was darkness. The only thing that dispersed it were these torches.
As she drew near the bottom, the flow of magic became more and more stronger.
Finally, when she did reach the bottom, there was a door opened up. She went inside and discovered a room that looked eerily normal compared to the places she had been earlier. Of course, like the rough basement walls and the brick walls, this place also had torches. The only thing that lit up something that wasn't a torch was a lamp that was placed on top of a table. On the side of that table was a beaten-up opened door.
When she looked on the other side, she saw the adventurer. Not the one she saw when she had that dream, but rather the current adventurer that she employed for a four-month quest.
"Hello?" she called out.
However, there was no response.
When she went to take a closer look, passing through the old door, the adventurer disappeared. It was as if a sand sculpture of him had fallen down and got taken away by the wind.
Of course, Poppy was obviously confused. But it was soon cut short when the door behind suddenly slammed closed. While startled by the noise, a voice came with it; the voice of a young girl.
"What did you see?" the voice asked.
"Huh?"
"I'm asking what you saw!!"
The voice suddenly shouted, making Poppy instinctively crouch down and cover her ears/ She was frightened by the loud voice of the girl.
"I-I have no idea what you're talking about…," she tried to reason.
"LIAR!!"
This time, Poppy let out a shriek. She was a scientist, and she knew that there was no possible way for this to happen. However, that logic was useless for her. In the end, like her body, she was just a little girl.
"I-I'm sorry!" she apologized despite not knowing her mistake. "I won't do it again, I'm sorry!"
The only thing that she could do was apologize.
"I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
She did so profusely. She knew she wasn't in the wrong here. She knew that it wasn't her fault. But she didn't know what she did.
And therefore, she apologized.
"I'm sorry…"
This time, her voice was drowned out by her tears. She was scared; scared that something will happen to her if she didn't stop apologizing; scared that if she chose the wrong words, something bad will happen to her. But…
"Someone, please save me…"
Despite her being scared, she tried desperately to call to someone out, even though she knew no one was going to save her.
"I-Is she going to be fine?" Sylvie whimpered.
A few minutes earlier, Sylvie felt Poppy squirming on her bed. When she looked at her face, Poppy looked as if she was suffering.
"I'm not sure," the adventurer answered. "Just a few minutes earlier, her condition was just normal…"
While the adventurer was keeping watch to the familiar and the master, he also felt the sudden change in Poppy's condition. Her pulse suddenly raced fast, her temperature spiked, and her breathing became unsteady.
Everything suddenly happened so fast.
"Don't worry," the adventurer reassured Sylvie. "While it does seem like her condition is suddenly worsening, it should stabilize."
"How long will that take?!" Sylvie suddenly shouted.
"…"
The adventurer couldn't find an answer to her question. He wasn't a doctor.
Sylvie missed Poppy. They haven't talked to each other like this for so long. And that made Sylvie anxious, scared that the time they had together was now getting cut short.
"…I'll check something out," the adventurer said as he ran out of the room. "Keep watch of her no matter what!"
After leaving those final words to Sylvie, he ran towards the basement door while trying to avoid the obstacles in the dark. He descended the stairs and ran through the torch-filled hallway of the basement.
When he reached the not-so-hidden entrance, he heard a droplet. He thought he'd fixed the faucet by now, but it echoed throughout the entire hallway leading to the normal room. He started descending the stairs. After he reached the door, he twisted it open, ran to the other door, and then twisted that one open.
There, the adventurer saw the same scene that he's been seeing the multiple times he's been here before. The girl was hugging her knees as she leaned on a wall. This time though, he saw the girl gritting her teeth while crying at the same time. She had her eyes closed, and even though she was technically crying, the tears were only flowing down her right eye.
He immediately ran and then checked on the girl.
"Hey, are you all right?" he asked.
When he went and touched her shoulder, his body was immediately launched far away from the girl. But the adventurer didn't anticipate it, and was instead clueless to what had just happened.
When his back was about to slam onto the wall, that's when mind straightened. His whole body tensed up, bracing himself. When his back met the wall, his whole body started the pain.
"Ngh—!"
When his back met the wall, his whole body started to feel the pain. Rocks started flying in all directions. He could feel his bones starting to crack. It took him a while to process what had just happened, and he did not like the result.
He fell to the ground, his face meeting the ground.
W…What the heck…just happened…?
When he realized what had happened, the pain going to his head, he couldn't even think properly now. He's never received that kind of pain his whole life, up to the point he was coughing up blood, so he didn't know what to do at that point. However, all he knew was it was the girl's doing.
When he tried to look in the girl's direction, he couldn't move his neck. The pain was a little too strong for him to bear. This was worse than the many swords slice he's received in his times of adventuring.
His ears were ringing. He couldn't move his body at all. He wriggled and squirmed, trying to make even the slightest movement, but to no avail. He couldn't even shout out the pain due to how much it hurt.
But even so, he still tried to move his body. Despite it already proving to be a massive failure, he didn't stop, even if the pain told him to just take a break. But he didn't listen, and even rebelled against it.
He placed his palms onto the ground, and desperately tried to push himself. That made the pain grow even more than before, and he could hear more cracks coming from his back, but he nevertheless continued.
He shouted internally and finally got back up to his feet. At that point, his body was already getting wobbly and his back was feeling pain like it had never felt before.
He looked in the girl's direction again, his eyes getting out of focus, and he saw her in a stance as if she had just punched somebody. Her eyes looked murderous, and her fists were bleeding from the inside. She was clenching her fists too hard.
She was also breathing quite raggedly while striking that stance. Unlike the times she was unresponsive, the pace of her breathing now matched the breathing of when the adventurer first met her.
The girl broke that stance, and then went closer to him. Each step she took was hardly heard by the adventurer, but he knew that she was getting closer and closer. And judging by the ways things currently stand, that just meant that he was getting closer and closer to more danger.
When the girl was just in front of him, she gave the adventurer a light tap on the chest. With his strength now almost gone from trying to stand up, he once again fell to the ground. His back met the floor, and a bolt of pain shot all throughout his body.
This time, along with the pain, he was now starting to feel unconscious. He sustained a lot of damages up until now, but this was the final nail in the coffin for him. There was nothing he could do except wait for the inevitable to come.
His eyes were slowly closing on him. Despite his best efforts to maintain them opened, it was futile. Eventually, he fell unconscious, not knowing what the girl's next move is.
Sylvie was worried.
When Poppy moved earlier, she assumed that she was going to wake up, so she was obviously happy about it. She hasn't spoken to her for a good amount of time, after all.
That's why when her expectations were betrayed, she just got even more worried. Even worse, she couldn't tell if Poppy was either having a bad dream or something bad was happening within her.
She was squirming about earlier, especially when the adventurer left to check something up, but Sylvie held her hand, Poppy seemed to have calmed down. Still, her face didn't look as stable as her body did.
It's already been a few minutes since the adventurer left. He still hasn't come back from whatever he was checking up on, so it was making Sylvie incredibly worried. To make matters worse, even though Poppy's face was back to normal, the lack of any movement was scaring her.
What if she didn't wake up? What if she was stuck like this forever just because she wanted to come here? Was this the consequence of leaving Eldoria just to pursue her research?
The more Sylvie thought about it, the more scared she became. She didn't want to see her master disappear. She was her familiar, and she wanted to spend time with her for as long as she can. She didn't want her master to leave just yet.
Then, as if her prayers were being answered, Sylvie felt something.
"…Ngnn…" A voice groaned.
When Sylvie looked at the direction of where the groan came from, she saw Poppy's eyes slowly starting to open.
"M-Master?" Sylvie called out.
"Good morning…," Poppy said. She had a habit of saying every time she woke up, regardless of the time.
When Sylvie heard Poppy's words, she was beyond relieved.
"Master!!"
Sylvie, without warning, threw herself towards Poppy and wrapped her entire arms around her body, giving her a hug. She was happy. Just when she thought all hope was lost, her master wakes up to assure her that everything was going to be okay. Just like what the adventurer had said.
"S-Sylvie? What's wrong?" Poppy asked, oblivious to what was currently happening.
"I missed you so much! You don't have any idea how happy I am right now!"
She was happy to the point she was tearing up.
"You missed me…? I don't think I left though…"
"Y-You don't know?"
"I fell asleep, but I think that's about it."
The last thing she remembered was that she heard a loud sound, and then suddenly fell to the ground without knowing the cause. Her memories from when she was last awake were foggy, but she could remember at least that much.
"You've been asleep for three days!"
When she heard those words, Poppy's eyes widened.
"Three days? What are you talking about?"
Poppy didn't feel like she slept for that long. It felt to her that she had just been asleep for at least half a day, not six times the amount of that.
Without warning, her head suddenly got flooded with memories that she couldn't remember.
There was a void which she was stuck for who knows how long. In that void, she could view a person's perspective, but she didn't know who that person was.
After that white void, she wakes up to the bed which she was currently sleeping on, and yet she hasn't. She decided to look around, and then she spots the basement.
After that…
It's become foggy…
The memories that were flowing inside her now stopped. The information that was being sent inside her brain came to a halt, and now she can't remember the rest of what happened. But she knew that there was something she had to do about it.
"…By the way," Sylvie spoke. "Where's the adventurer?"
"Him? Um, he said that he had to go check up on something…"
After Sylvie's statement, they suddenly heard a loud sound coming from somewhere below this laboratory. It acted as a trigger for Poppy, as she moved swiftly to check on where that sound came from.
"M-Master! I don't think you should be moving right now!"
Despite her saying that, Sylvie stuck to her like how she stuck to her several times now.
Poppy ignored her warning and instead cast a light magic to light up her way since Sylvie's light was too dim for that. As she exited the room, she noticed that the path she was currently taking was similar to the path she took in that memory.
However, she decided to ignore that short recollection and kept walking. She hadn't realized it yet, but she was taking the same route she took in that memory of hers; the only difference being Sylvie clinging onto her.
The basement door was opened, and that made her remember her final task for the adventurer. It was to clear up any monsters around the area, with Sylvie serving as a light for that.
When she looked at the stairs that led to the basement, she could see light coming at the end. She dispelled her light spell and took the stairs downward.
When she reached the bottom, there were torches placed a meter within each other on each side of the wall. It lit up the basement quite nicely. Sylvie wasn't quite sure if she should call this place a basement or a cave—it looked to rocky.
At the end of those torches was a door once again leaving downwards even more—a basement for a basement.
"Has this always been here?" Poppy asked Sylvie.
"I-I'm not sure. I was asleep when the adventurer checked here, so I can't remember much of the things around here…"
"I see."
Unlike the rocky walls of the cave-like basement, the walls leading downwards were made of bricks. On those walls were more torches placed a meter within each other. It made the narrow hallway quite bright.
She could hear the echoes of rubble falling down at the end of the hallway. She started running downstairs, trying to get to the bottom as fast as she could. It felt to her that something bad was happening, and if she didn't reach it, then it'll all be over.
She reached the bottom and saw a strangely normal-looking room. It was a stark contrast from the previous locations she was at earlier. A bed sat at the corner of the room, a table just beside it with a lamp on top, and a chair. Torches also lit up the room along with the lamp.
It felt similar to the inns she had been staying at back when she hadn't employed the adventurer yet. It even felt a little nostalgic, even. However, that nostalgia soon passed when she saw an opened door just beside the table.
She once again casted a light magic towards that cave. Afterwards, all she could feel was fear. The moment she saw a girl standing in the middle of the cave, Poppy knew that she was bad news.
Poppy didn't know who she was, but she knew that if they didn't leave this place, then she'd soon be done for.
But there's something stopping her.
T-That's…!
The adventurer which she employed back at the adventuring down of Furian was lying down on the floor in front of the girl, unconscious. He was coughing up blood, and with the way he was breathing, Poppy could tell that the adventurer had been hit badly. The fact that he's even lying down on the floor is enough proof of that.
The adventurer said to Poppy that the moment he was finished with this quest, he'll try to become a better person. Poppy wanted him to keep that promise to himself, especially since it's just on the verge of starting out.
She felt responsible for it. Maybe, just maybe, if she hadn't given the adventurer the final talk of going down the basement, then he probably would be doing his promise right now. He could've had a life that he had changed by now.
So despite the unknown fear in her heart, Poppy tried to fight it.
"G-Get away from him…"
This was all she could muster up.
The girl heard Poppy's meek voice, and looked in her direction.
(Master, what are you doing?!) Sylvie whispered to her. (It's seriously bad for us to be here, we should run!)
(I-I know, but the adventurer…)
Sylvie had just noticed the adventurer lying down on the ground when Poppy mentioned him. Now that she did see him, there was no way she was going to leave him like this.
But even so, what could they actually do? Poppy was just your ordinary scientist with no knowledge of fighting as that wasn't included in their line of work. Sure, she could use magic, but she only learned magic that wasn't designated to violence. Sylvie was a tad bit stronger than Poppy, but in the end, she's still just a slime that can be handled by an adventurer.
They racked their brains with plans on how to save the adventurer. If he was knocked out by this girl that easily, then brute force wasn't the best solution.
"…Master," Sylvie spoke out. "Could you grab the adventurer quick?"
"Huh? Sylvie, what are you—"
Without waiting for a response, Sylvie held out both of her hands towards the girl. She then started shooting out blobs of slime from her fingers, which stuck to the girl's feet.
"Now!" Sylvie shouted.
Panicking, Poppy quickly ran towards the adventurer, casted a wind magic that she had been using on her crates to make his body float, and pulled him out of the room. Sylvie quickly followed and helped Poppy with the pulling due to how heavy the adventurer seemed.
The girl wasn't even fazed while all of that was transpiring. Her feet was stuck, but she didn't move to free them. She got out the restraints easily as soon as she moved her feet, though.
For what looked like an instant, the girl suddenly appeared in front of the exit where Poppy and Sylvie was supposed to go.
"Crap…!" Poppy panicked yet again.
Without hesitation, she grabbed Poppy's neck.
"Master!!"
Sylvie tried to punch the girl in the face with her right hand. However, as if in an instant, her hand was suddenly grabbed by the girl's other hand. Her grip on Sylvie got tighter and tighter.
And as the girl held Sylvie's hand, it started transforming into some sort of liquid like it was melting, and then it started dropping to the ground.
"S-Syl…vie…!"
There was nothing the both of them could do. The adventurer, the only fighter they had on this party, was unconscious. If they had no fighting power, then they stood no chance.
The adventurer stood in a white void. The moment he lost consciousness, this is where he ended up.
But where was this white void, exactly?
He looked around the place and saw nothing. It stretched far and wide all across the place, with seemingly no end. No sound could be heard, no actions could be made, and not a thing was seen.
With nothing to do, he sat on where there was supposed to be a floor. He can remember what had happened a while ago, but he had no way of doing anything about it. Waiting was the only thing that he could do.
This journey of his has been quite eventful. He thought that all he needed to do was to deliver something in a foreign location. He didn't expect himself to end up getting unconscious just because of a little girl.
He sat there with his thoughts alone. There wasn't any sound that could be heard in this white void, so he was left with communicating with no one, not even himself.
It didn't matter to him, though. Communication was never his thing.
Time passed by. He didn't know how long he sat there, but he knew that it had been some time. Alone with his thoughts, he's been in this white void for two days.
"Adventurer!"
It was then that he suddenly heard someone call out to him. It was someone familiar to him, and he knew who it was. He couldn't remember it well due spending too much time in the white void.
He forgot about it as soon as he heard it, though. It felt like a dream vanishing the second he woke up.
But for some reason, it felt to him that he shouldn't have forgotten. He couldn't do anything about it, but he wanted to do something. That's the thought that stuck to his mind, and now he wanted to know why. And to do that, he needed to get out of this white void.
He remembered the first thing that got him into this, which was when he fell unconscious from a girl pushing him to the ground. If that was the case, then this must be a dream that he needed to wake up to.
The first thing he did was to slap both of his cheeks with his hands. He felt the pain, but even then, he didn't wake up. He did something else, which didn't work, did something else, which didn't work as well. Just like that, a lot of time passed again without much progress.
He needed to wake up, but he didn't know how. He's tested all of the things that could make you wake up in a dream, but that was pointless as well. In the end, he was just left with his thoughts again as he laid down on the ground.
"Wake up!"
There was that voice again. As soon as he heard it, he immediately remembered the first thing the voice said to him hours ago.
The voice was calling out to him, and he needed to wake up. If he didn't, then he'd be as good as dead, considering his predicament when he was last awake. When he remembered it, he wished he could erase the memory; it hurt like hell for him.
Time passed by. Seconds became minutes, minutes became hours, and hours became a day. He's spent literally the entire day without thinking of anything. But because of that, when he went out of focus for a second, he realized that the white void that he was currently in was gradually getting darker and darker.
And then darkness soon engulfed the entire place. Not a single inch was left in this place, and the white void now turned to just void.
Just then, as if to accommodate the arrival of the darkness, light soon came from above. It looked as if some sort of angel that came from the heavens. It was a bizarre sight for him considering he's been in this void for less than a week now.
The light reached out to him, and he reached back.
I'm sorry for doing this.
…Are you really leaving me?
This is all for the sake of this world. If I stay with you…
Then just let this world go to flames! Let this world fall into doom! At least be with me until the end of it all!
You know that I can't do that. The people of this world deserve better.
Why… Why would you do this…
At the very least, to let you live on.
…
Don't worry. As soon as I've been relieved of this burden, I'll come save you.
…How long will that take?
You figure that out. You're the immortal being in our party. But all jokes aside…
I'll see you soon.
Victoria…