It felt as if a bat had been swung hard at the back of the adventurer's head. The moment he woke up, he felt a headache like he'd never felt before. But accompanying that headache was a soft sensation on his back.
When he came to, he found himself laying down on a bed in a familiar location. This time though, the place was lit up quite nicely.
When he tried standing up, he felt a sting coming from his right arm, which was strange. The pain felt like it was something that would happen if he strained his body too much, but the last time he did that was around a year ago.
It's not just the pain either, though. When he took a look, he saw someone holding his right hand as he laid down on the bed. It was the girl from the cave-like basement. When he saw her, he felt an incredible fear and immediately pulled his hand away. The girl let go with little to no resistance at all.
At the same time, another person came inside the room.
"Ah, I see you're awake, Adventurer," Poppy said as he entered the room holding a tray of food and a slime clinging onto her, which was just Sylvie. "Good morning—is what I would say, but it's currently afternoon, so good afternoon."
The adventurer just nodded his head in both fear and confusion.
The person that had caused him a great deal of pain the last time he was awake was in this room, and the person he had been helping with thus far was in the same room as that other person with no caution whatsoever. What's even more confusing is the pain that he felt on his back in question.
It was gone.
Poppy went to the other side of the bed opposite of the girl and placed the tray next to a table that had a blue vase with a flower on top of it.
"…What is she doing here?" the adventurer asked.
The girl didn't give out a reaction and instead just stayed sat down. She was normal unlike the times when she was down in the basement. She also had her clothes changed to a white lab coat instead of the ragged ones she wore.
Her expression still remained the same, though.
"It's complicated," Poppy said. "I can't explain it easily, but I can safely assume that she can explain it for you. However, ever since she's been by your side, she's never spoken a word."
"…I see."
The adventurer already knew of her tendency of not responding to other people—or anyone in general—so it didn't come as a surprise for him.
"What happened to Sylvie?"
When the adventurer took a closer look towards Sylvie, he noticed that her face was sweating a lot, almost as if she was melting. It's not just that, either; her right hand looked light green and transparent with the rest of her arm looking normal, and her fingers looked shorter than the other hand.
Poppy didn't respond for a few seconds. All she did was set up the food that was in the tray. It was a bowlful of porridge and a single spoon, as well as a cup of water.
After doing so, she responded.
"…It's because of her."
Poppy looked directly at the girl who was with them in this room. The girl didn't response and just simply looked down.
"I still haven't forgiven you for this," Poppy said to the girl as she glared at her.
The girl didn't respond to Poppy and instead just looked down.
The adventurer could tell that there was tension between the two of them. He refrained from asking about Sylvie any further.
"Here you go."
Poppy lightly blew the spoonful of porridge and offered it to Sylvie.
"Thanks, Master…," Sylvie responded quite unenergetically.
Her usual cheerful demeanor was nowhere to be found. She looked limp and lifeless, something that the adventurer had never before seen from her. It was a strange sight, to say the least.
She ate the porridge, and Poppy served her some more.
Poppy was the master, and Sylvie was the familiar. Even so, Poppy still cared about Sylvie as if she was her sister. She even went as far as resenting the person who did this to Sylvie, which was the girl.
"Ah, you're awake now, eh?" Sylvie said as soon as she spotted the adventurer. "How're your wounds?"
"What wounds?"
"The ones on your back," Poppy answered for Sylvie. "You were incredibly hurt last time we saw you, especially your back. When we carried you back up to the lab, we could hear cracks coming from it."
That sounds so gory I don't even want to imagine it, the adventurer thought.
But what they were saying was true. When the adventurer got knocked out by the girl, he felt a pang of pain coming from his back before his consciousness faded. The fact that his whole body was wrapped around in bandages was proof of that.
"I…guess I'm fine? I don't really know how to explain it…"
In fact, he felt like he could take on a monster. His wounds have healed, his bones didn't feel all broken, and he could move his body just fine.
"Are you sure you're not pushing yourself?" Poppy asked. "Broken bones don't tend to heal within a day or two, you know."
"No, I'm sure I'm fine."
He pulled back both of his arms for demonstration. He could even move his arms just fine, as well. He could probably manage a swing of a sword or two.
"…You're actually being serious?" Poppy asked. She even stopped feeding Sylvie to look the adventurer directly in the eyes to make sure he wasn't deceiving her, which he wasn't.
"Yeah. I don't think it's that bad of a wound."
Poppy stood up and then went to the side of the bed with Sylvie still clinging onto her.
"Let me see," she said as she started to lift up the back of the adventurer's shirt.
The adventurer offered no resistance. She was the only person who was close to be qualified as a doctor, so he wasn't against the idea.
She could be a little less fierce, though.
After she lifted up his shirt, she started to gently tap on the adventurer's back.
"Do you feel any pain?"
"None."
She tapped on another part of his back.
"How about this?"
"Nope."
She started applying more force to her taps.
"This?"
"Don't feel anything."
"Strange…"
Poppy pulled the adventurer's bandages, ripping it all apart. After doing so, she was shocked by what she saw.
"T-This is…!"
"Huh? What's wrong?"
"The wounds…"
"Their gone," Sylvie said, continuing Poppy's words. "That sure is strange, isn't it, Master?"
"'Strange' would be an understatement to his…"
"Meh, can't be bothered."
Sylvie got off Poppy's back and went to the table to continue eating her porridge.
"Isn't that a good thing?" the adventurer asked.
"It would be, under normal circumstances," Poppy said as she cleared out the bandages from the adventurer's back. "Adventurer, do you know how long you've been out for?"
"Uh, maybe an hour or twelve?"
He got that rough estimation from his previous wounds. If it was that bad, then it should've depleted a lot of his stamina and cause him to rest for a long time.
"You were asleep for two days," Poppy said.
"…Oh."
He didn't expect that answer, but nevertheless, he didn't find it all that surprising. He's been asleep from longer adventures, and this one was no exception.
"Isn't that a good thing, though?" the adventurer asked.
"Like I said, it would be, under normal circumstances," Poppy said, pulling his shirt down after clearing out the bandages. "You had received your wounds well over two days ago. And in that span of time, your wounds, though extremely severe, managed to heal themselves rapidly."
"…"
Now that he thought about it, it was actually pretty strange. He's come back from a lot of quests which caused him to get a broken body part or two, and he always needed to take a break from the quest hunting for around a week if he wanted to earn money efficiently. However, this one was different.
It only took him two days.
All the wounds he had received, all the broken bones on his back, they were all healed. Not a scratch nor a crack. He was perfectly fine.
"…You didn't use healing magic on me just to prank me, right?" the adventurer asked.
"Healing magic? No, I haven't learned a spell pertaining that yet. I will keep it in mind next time, though."
"Then how…?"
The only thing that could only do this to his body was healing magic. Any severe wounds could instantly be healed if someone from your party knew about that spell. There are also other forms of healing, such as places that had high abundance of magic energy. That option was also out, since they were just between the border of Salis and Cogitatio. They needed to be inside Cogitatio in order to heal faster.
But even then, it would still take a few days for it to fully close. Two days was too fast, and the only thing that can match that rapid healing is a healing spell.
All of the possibilities were thrown out of the window, and he was left with questions than answers.
"You did it," another voice said.
When they both went to look, the voice came from the girl who had been unresponsive until now. The adventurer was just plain surprised since this is the first time he's ever heard her voice, but Poppy remained cautious of her.
When the adventurer heard her voice, he suddenly got hit by nostalgia. He hadn't heard it before in his entire life, but for some reason, it occurred to his mind that he's longed to once again hear her voice.
Seeing as just getting surprised would get them nowhere, Poppy decided to be the first one to break the silence.
"What do you mean by that?"
"His body healed itself."
"That doesn't explain anything."
Poppy didn't even try to hide her anger towards the girl. It wasn't because of this, but the girl had stopped responding after leaving them with that answer. Poppy just clicked her tongue at her non-response.
If were talking about the normal healing process of the human body, then it would take at least a month or two before the adventurer would be completely healed. If the girl assumed that the adventurer's body healed itself in a process that would take a long time cut into a few days, then there must be something wrong with his body.
They still haven't found any proof if what the girl's saying is true, so it wasn't necessary for them to lean in on that possibility yet.
"…By the way," the adventurer started speaking. "What happened while I was out, anyway? Why did she decide to be here?"
While the adventurer was still intrigued by the fast healing of his body, what intrigues him the most is why the girl was here in the first place. The person who he had deemed to be an enemy just a few days earlier had now gotten their position unidentified. Poppy wasn't sure if the girl was on their side, either.
"I'm not sure about it myself," Poppy answered. "I, too, fell unconscious after a few seconds down there."
"I can remember bits and pieces of it," Sylvie said as she ate a spoonful of porridge. "Just very faint, though."
"That's still clear up some things, thanks."
And so Sylvie started explaining while the two patiently listened to her.
The girl had Poppy by her neck, and Sylvie's right hand was melting. There was no escaping their situation, especially against someone as powerful as her. Even as a slime, Sylvie knew this.
As if some saving grace, a light suddenly came from Poppy's body. The moment it came out of her, Poppy fell unconscious at the same time. Sylvie, however, could still hold on. The girl had let go of Poppy around this time as well as Sylvie. The damage towards the slime were severe, though; the girl had managed to melt the entire right hand of Sylvie.
The girl paid attention to the light for a few seconds and paid no attention to the people whom she had just tried to kill. This was the time Sylvie's consciousness started to slip away from her.
After her mind completely slipped away to the world of slumber, she saw the light entering the adventurer's body. At the same time, Sylvie had went to sleep.
That's the end of Sylvie's story.
"A light…," the adventurer muttered.
Now that Sylvie's mentioned it, the adventurer had seen a light in his sleep before. The question is whether they had any relation to Sylvie's story. As far as the adventurer could tell, he was asleep when that happened, so it could just be a dream that had coincidentally similar to the one in reality.
But if that were the case, then it was strange. The time the adventurer spent in that dream—that white void—felt real to him. Even now, he could still see that white space at the back of his mind, and he could remember it clearly despite it being a dream. It was just white though, so he couldn't exactly be accurate about it. But he could still feel it all clearly; the emptiness, the silence, everything.
"It's him," the girl said after Sylvie finished with her story.
They were surprised when the girl spoke again. Sylvie kept eating her porridge.
"Him?"
This time, the adventurer decided to ask the question. He had a feeling Poppy wouldn't be that kind to her statements.
"…Go back to the white void."
"Huh?"
The adventurer got surprised when the girl mentioned that place. He hadn't mentioned it to anyone yet, so he was puzzled as to how the girl knew about it. But even so, he was more confused as to how she knows about that void.
"Go back? How do I do that?"
"More importantly, what do you mean by that?" Poppy interjected.
She didn't respond to Poppy.
"Don't worry," the adventurer said to Poppy. "I've experienced it before."
"You know what she's talking about?"
"Yeah, more or less."
It was just from a dream and nothing else, though.
But the adventurer wondered about what the girl was talking about. "Go back to that white void." She's basically saying to him that he should get unconscious or fall asleep; one of the two things.
"Close your eyes."
"…Huh?"
Without a warning, he suddenly heard someone speak to him.
"Hey, did you say something?" the adventurer asked Poppy.
"No, I don't think so. I'm curious about that white void this girl is talking about and its relations to you, though."
"Uh, it's nothing special, really…"
He wasn't interested in the white void. Instead, he was drawn in to that voice that had spoken to him earlier.
Who was that…?
The voice that he heard felt somewhat familiar to the one that he had heard when he was asleep—in other words, when he was in the white void.
He could just be having flashbacks of what happened, but as far as his memories provided him, that voice never said anything about closing his eyes. That voice only encouraged him to wake up, which is how he actually did so.
Because of this, it sparked the curiosity inside him.
Earlier, he listened to that voice, which helped him wake up. If he listened to it again, would something happen?
"Listen to him," the girl spoke to the adventurer yet again.
"…Huh?"
It's as if the girl knew what the adventurer was thinking about.
"Okay, this is starting to confuse me," Poppy said. "What is with both of your exchanges? You talk to each other as if you both know something about each other."
"…This doesn't concern you, girl."
For the first time, the girl actually talked back to Poppy. And while Poppy obviously felt angered by it, she didn't do anything to the girl provocation. She just clicked her tongue and went out of the room.
That's… Huh.
For someone as calm and collected as Poppy, the adventurer didn't expect to see her act that way. It felt like he shouldn't have seen that side of her.
"…Who is he?" the adventurer asked the girl after Poppy left.
His fear was now slightly alleviated, and he could speak to the girl properly.
"She's talkin' about the legendary hero," Sylvie said sluggishly. For some reason, she didn't follow Poppy.
"What are you talking about?"
"Y'know, the first hero to ever set foot in this world, the first hero to bring hope to this world, the first hero who's become a global image to this world… Itsuki?"
The girl flinched when she heard that name, but both the adventurer and Sylvie didn't see it.
"Him?" The adventurer turned to the girl as he asked.
The girl nodded.
"…How did you know that?" The adventurer turned to Sylvie this time.
Sylvie paused her eating of porridge for a second to think about it. After a few seconds, she reached a proper conclusion.
"No idea," she said as she shrugged and continued eating her porridge. It was about a quarter-full now.
"…Huh."
Of course, he was confused by her answer. However, if she didn't know, then there was no helping it. At least, that's what the adventurer thought.
For now, he shifted his focus to the voice at hand. He decided to listen to that voice, although somewhat hesitantly, and closed his eyes. After doing so for a few seconds, the voice once again spoke to him.
"Focus."
It was brief, but he could hear it. Now that he's gotten a good listen to that voice, he decided to analyze it.
It was a voice of a guy, and a young man at that, probably around the age of the adventurer. It didn't sound to him like the voice had some sort of "hero vibe" to it, so he was a bit confused as to whether or now this voice was actually the legendary hero Sylvie and the girl is speaking about.
Focus on what, though? the adventurer thought.
He could focus, but he needed to focus on something specific to do so.
"White," the voice said as if responding to him.
"…"
Without questioning the timing of the voice, he decided to listen to it again. He projected a white bright light surrounding him, and focused on that one image. After a few seconds, that projection started to become more and more like the white void that that he was in earlier.
In fact, it felt real. A little too real for the adventurer, but nevertheless, it felt like it. He felt the emptiness, the silence, and the loneliness of the white void. Now that he thought about, he didn't know how he managed to actually survive in that void all alone for a few days—if it was even that long.
But he ignored that fact for now, and just stayed focused on that emptiness.
After a few seconds, the voice answered to him again.
"Open your eyes."
This time, the adventurer just followed the order without much thought.
When he did, the first thing that entered his vision was a bright white light, much like the void that he was previously in. However, as the seconds went by, it started to gradually take a more proper form.
After a bit, the light vanished, and now he was back in the room he was currently in. However, something felt off about it.
It felt like everything had stopped.
It's not like everything stopped moving, but it kind of felt like that. It's actually more accurate to say that time suddenly stopped.
"…Sylvie?" he called out.
However, she didn't respond. She held her spoon right in her mouth, but she never did try to eat it. Even the girl, who's breathing could clearly be seen through the movement of her chest, was had now stopped.
What the heck is happening…?
The sounds, which there already pretty drowned out with nothing since they were far from the outside, was now just replaced with the silence of the white void.
It seems like everything really did stop. The adventurer wasn't sure how, but everything just stopped.
"Hello," a voice called out to him.
When he turned his head towards the voice, he just saw Sylvie holding the spoon in her mouth.
"Weird… I'm pretty sure I heard it…"
"And that, you are right."
This time, he got surprised. Her mouth was speaking despite her whole body not moving. He could clearly hear the voice of Sylvie coming from that mouth.
But it also felt to him that it wasn't Sylvie who was talking.
"…Who are you?" the adventurer asked.
He wasn't getting any dangerous vibes from whoever was controlling Sylvie's bod, but nonetheless, he didn't let his guard down. He's learned his lesson the last time he did so, and it was painful
Sylvie—or rather, someone—put her spoon down on the porridge and faced the adventurer.
"There's no need to get all worked up, friend," the person said as they flashed Sylvie's smile onto him. It was a strange sight, to say the least. "I'm simply here to give you advice."
"Advice?"
"Yes."
The person held Sylvie's hand out, which made the adventurer even more on guard, and then a bright light came from those hands. After a few seconds, that bright light turned into something big and rectangular and transparent. It looked like a window, but instead of displaying the contents of the other side, it displayed something else entirely.
It displayed a map of some sort. More specifically, it displayed a map of the whole world. In that map were seven different points all separated between a great distance, and the only points that were near each other were the ones that were between the border of Cogitatio and Salis.
"…What this?" the adventurer asked.
"It's a map that displays the entire world—"
"Yeah, I know that much," the adventurer interrupted. "What I'm asking is what is it supposed to tell me?"
He didn't need to know anything about the other places, and he wasn't interested as well. The moment he leaves this place to go back to Furian, he'll forget about it.
"I'm going to be frank," Itsuki said. "I need your help."
This time, the person had sincerity in his voice.
"Help? With what—no, why should I do that?"
"Because…it's all for the best."
"'For the best'? Do you even know what you're talking about—"
"The girl that is currently in this room," the person interrupted the adventurer. "She is very dangerous. Which is why I need your help in order to stop her."
"Dangerous how? She hasn't made a move, and if she does, I sure I can stop it."
"No, you can't."
"And why the hell can't I?"
The adventurer was getting pissed off as the conversation went by. He hasn't felt this way in a long time.
"She's the demon lord," the voice said with a straight face.
"…!"
This time, the adventurer was too shocked to even make a comeback.
"No, it's more accurate to say that she has a power equivalent of a demon lord."
"…What in the hell are you talking about?"
"I will explain."
The person turned that window-like magic off and stood up, and this time, the adventurer let his guard down. It was a bit too sudden for the adventurer to hear something like that.
"My name is Itsuki," they said. "I am, what people say, the hero to ever set foot in this world, and the first to bring hope into it."
"…"
"I know this is abrupt, but—"
"Just get on with it," the adventurer said.
"…Understood. The girl that I said to have the power equivalent to a demon lord is Victoria. To make it more simple as to why she has that grand of a power, she's the first demon that came from another world. She's a vampire. I don't associate demons with vampires, but in this world, both of them are pretty much the same."
"Vampire?"
"Yes, I know they're very dangerous creatures, but—"
"The heck is that?"
"…Huh?"
As far the adventurer as the adventurer's concerned, he's never heard of a creature like that. Not a demon, nor a monster, heck, not even someone named "Vampire".
"Y-You don't have that in this world?"
"What are they supposed to be?"
"U-Um, how do I explain this…?"
Itsuki thought for a bit. It felt weird, seeing as they were using the body of Sylvie. While it was amusing for the adventurer to watch, it wasn't the time for that.
"Uh, for starters, they feed off the blood of the living…"
Pretty much like any other demon.
"They only appear at night…"
Pretty much like how wars are always broken out in that particular time.
"They're an immortal being…."
Pretty much like elves, who are technically immortal.
"And they can create offsprings of the people who they've fed off from."
"Okay, you lost me there," the adventurer said. "There is not a single creature who creates offsprings from the people they eat."
Creating offsprings required completely different way of doing so. The only thing closest to what Itsuki is describing is a necromancer, but they don't eat the people they revive, and they most certainly don't create offsprings from them.
"Weird, I thought for sure there were some…," Itsuki muttered. "Well, no matter. What's important is that they're very powerful creatures that not an average adventurer can handle them."
"…Okay," the adventurer said. "And what's that got to do with you?"
"I need your help in order to help Vic."
"And why does she need help?"
"At the rate this is going, I don't think calling her 'a creature that has the equivalent power of a demon lord' would befit her. She'll become a demon lord of a completely different race."
"And what makes you think that the hero wouldn't be able to handle that?"
"Perhaps I wasn't clear with my explanation," Itsuki said. "Vic is a vampire. If we left the way things currently are, then she might become the next demon lord of a different race."
"That doesn't explain—"
"With the power equivalent to the first demon lord."
Once the adventurer heard that, he immediately shut his mouth.
"…Do you get what I'm saying now?"
The adventurer just nodded his head in agreement. He understood well what Itsuki meant.
It was said that the first demon lord had the power of all the six generations of the demon lord that had been born in this world. It was also said that Itsuki also had that same amount of power, and thus won.
If the first demon lord, even if not them, was brought back, then this world would fall to ruin for the final time.
…Not unless the first hero was here.
"…But even so," the adventurer said. "How would you even help? Aren't you dead?"
A thousand years was no joke. The only thing that can last that long are elves, and since he was a human hero, his body wouldn't be able to last that long.
Itsuki once again raised his hand and made that window-like magic appear again. It once again showed the map and the points displayed in it.
"My essence is separated between seven different people. I need you to gather all seven of these people in order to revive me. As of right now, you only have two in your possession: your other companion, and you."
"Me? How in the hell did your essence get inside of me?"
"It's a little complicated, but it basically just means my blood resides within you. And not just you either; it resides in different people as well. As to why it's within you, I'm not too sure. I haven't been keeping myself in check for the last thousand years, after all."
"Are you saying that I'm one of the descendants of the legendary hero?"
"Um, that's taking it a bit too far, but I guess you can call it that."
"…"
For one thing, the adventurer was bewildered. Someone that saved the world was somehow connected to him. The adventurer was supposed to feel honored, but he didn't. The reason for that is the life that he's been living up until now. If the blood of the legendary hero was residing within him, then why was he living such a crappy life? That's what the adventurer thought of it, at least.
"You are currently here," Itsuki said as he pointed to the two points that were between the border of Cogitatio and Salis. "I suggest that you go further into Cogitatio in order to reach the piece of me."
The nearest point to them was somewhere between the continent of Cogitatio; in other words, somewhere in the capital of the continent.
"…I want to ask a few questions."
"So long as I know that you're going to help me with this."
"I am."
Now that the adventurer knew how dire the situation called for, he knew what he had to do. He knew that, but he still had his doubts.
"It's just, you said that my other companion was involved… Poppy."
"And you heard me right."
"Why?"
For one thing, the only person that ever got him into this mess was Poppy. If he hadn't accepted this quest of hers, then he'd still be living a normal life in Furian, doing C ranked quests for the rest of his days.
But he didn't understand why she was even involved in it.
"…As I said, I haven't been keeping myself in check for the last thousand years. I'm not sure where my essence ends up in, nor can I control it, but I do know for sure that one of my essence resides within her."
"…"
"I can also say this for certain," Itsuki added. "The same magic flows within the both of you. For some reason, you two are connected to each other in some way, but I can't say for certain what it is."
"Magic…?"
The adventurer knew that every single living being on this world has some form of magic within them; a magical energy. While nature does provide this type of energy, it also resides within living creatures. This was, in a way, their soul; therefore, their life. If someone or something were to take it, they would perish.
Magical energy within living beings are also unique compared to nature. For starters, other people can only draw magic from within the air; this was the normal way of casting spells and such.
Another alternative is the magical energy within them: they can use it to do pretty much the same thing as the other one. The only difference is that they take magic directly from their life. Overuse of this can be incredibly dangerous and may cause them to die. There are some ways to replenish it, and that's by just resting or using some sort of artifact to restore the magical energy.
Magical energy is also how pacts are formed within familiars; at least on Poppy and Sylvie's case. Normally, there aren't any connection needed to be made, but because Poppy gave a piece of her mind to Sylvie, Sylvie has a fair share of Poppy's own magical energy. Because of this, Poppy could just control Sylvie in whatever way she wants to. However, she doesn't do so, because she cares about her and her freedom of choosing.
"…One more thing. Why don't you just appear in your natural form?"
Although a different person, it felt weird that the body that was speaking to him was the body of Sylvie. She was shorter than him, even if he's just sitting in his bed, so he couldn't take much of it seriously.
"That's also what I'm wondering, actually," Itsuki said. "This girl also has my essence within her."
"Wait, that doesn't make sense. Sylvie is created by Poppy, so it's not possible for your blood to reside within her as well. She's just a slime, after all."
"Well, that too. However, my essence isn't exactly just blood; it's also my mind. A piece of my soul, if you will. As I am right now, I cannot manifest into my own form due to how weak I am without my other pieces. I can control hers for some reason, since she also has my essence. I think I've figured it out, as well."
"How?"
"You already know how this body was formed, but how will you make this body move by itself?"
"You add a mind to it."
He heard this from Poppy a few months ago, so he knew the answer.
"Exactly. I believe that the girl shared a piece of her mind with this body, thus placing a fragment from the piece of my essence within her. It's a simple concept, really. I do feel bad about how much the girl had to suffer, though…"
"Suffer? What are you talking about?"
"I assume the girl hadn't said anything to you. I'm afraid I can't share you these details anymore; you're going to have to ask the girl directly."
"Why should I do that?"
"This is a matter of privacy. I don't want you knowing everything about your companion; just know that you need her on your journey."
"…"
After hearing that, he decided to stop. He didn't want to intrude in it any longer, especially if it was going to be Poppy they were talking about.
Even from before, Poppy felt hesitant when the adventurer asked details about Sylvie's creation. That's why she stopped when Sylvie was near them. Not only would it be a breach of privacy to Poppy, it would also make the adventurer feel as though she betrayed her and Sylvie.
"One last thing," the adventurer said. "How will I know if I'm near someone with that essence?"
"That one is simple, actually. Just hold out your hands and imagine a map of the world. However, that's only for large-scale location. If you want to narrow down the map, then think of a continent of a region of that continent. Like so."
He demonstrated what that would look like. Since he already had the map out, he only demonstrated it with just narrowing down on their position. The adventurer more or less knew what he was supposed to do with it now, though.
"Do you have any more question?"
"…No."
"Then I believe this is over, then. I'm going to teach you how to get out this place, now."
This was all bizarre for the adventurer. He was lying when he said he no longer had any more questions, but it also felt to him that continuing any longer would be bad. That's why he stopped.
"Close your eyes," Itsuki started. "Then, I want you to focus on the place you were in before and keep it there for a few seconds. To make things easier, you can correlate that place with a color. Just like how you got here with the color white, you can also correlate the other place with some other color."
He did as he was told. He closed his eyes and focused on a color. However, he didn't know what color he was supposed to focus in.
"One more thing before you go," Itsuki said. "Please take Victoria with you, and to keep her safe from any danger."
"…Why should I do that when she could potentially become a demon lord?"
"It won't stop her, but it will at least delay the inevitable. Well, it's not just that, either."
The adventurer felt a hint of sadness in his voice.
"I want you to think of this as a favor of mine," Itsuki said as he stared at the girl. "A thousand years is a long time for someone like her to spend time with in solitude. I want her to know what it felt like having a company of someone after a long time.'
"Why would you want this?"
"…I have a lot to compensate for over the past thousand years. Even you do know what it feels like to truly be alone, being like that for a thousand years isn't going to hold someone."
"…"
Once again, he closed his eyes. It felt to him that it's not something he should just simply ask about it.
He focused on the one color that stuck to him and correlated it to the place he was in earlier. It was the color green, much like the bright-green color of Sylvie's hair.
"I'll see you next time," Itsuki said as a farewell.
After a few seconds, he opened his eyes. When he looked around, he didn't see any changes to the place. Everything was left just as they were when he closed his eyes. There was one noticeable difference, however.
"Master, could I have some more?" Sylvie shouted to the door. It seems like she's finished eating her porridge.
It looked like he was now back. It was evident by how time was moving normally now; the girl—Victoria—stared at the ground while breathing normally, and Sylvie was just happily eating her porridge.
Poppy entered the room with another bowl of porridge in a tray. She placed the tray on top of the other tray and grabbed the empty bowl.
"…Hm? What's wrong, adventurer?" Poppy said after she saw him staring at her.
"Oh, uh… it's nothing."
He averted his gaze after she asked her.
For some reason, the adventurer could see a light within Poppy's body; more specifically, her head. It was glowing quite brightly, as well.
Is that one of his essence…?
When he left the previous place, aside from the map, Itsuki granted him a power that would be able to for him to track the other pieces when he's near them.
That was only more proof that Poppy indeed held the blood of the legendary hero just as well as the adventurer does. The fact that both of them managed to meet and arrive at this place was a coincidence beyond understanding.
But now he knew for a fact that Poppy was carrying an essence. Itsuki wasn't lying when he said she carried an essence.
And when the adventurer looked at Sylvie, she was emitting the same light as Poppy; the only difference is that hers much more weaker.
"…Poppy," the adventurer called out to her in a somewhat serious tone.
"Y-Yes?"
Poppy felt rather flustered when the adventurer called out to her. Not because she was still suspicious of him staring at her (which she wasn't in the first place), but because this was the first time the adventurer had ever said her name in the months of their journey. In fact, she hasn't heard that name spoken in a while.
The adventurer didn't see this at all, though.
"Is it fine we talk outside for a bit?"
"It's fine, but… Are you sure? Your back may be healed, but can you walk or even stand right now?"
"Now that you mention it…"
The adventurer hadn't tried standing up yet, so he didn't know if he was okay.
Nevertheless, he took that risk and tried standing up. He could move his legs just fine, so he got out of bed. Once that was done, he tried taking a step, which was also just as successful. His body is functioning just as normal.
"I think I'll be fine," the adventurer concluded.
"Well… That's good," Poppy said. "Sylvie, keep that girl in watch while I talk with the adventurer, okay?"
"You're asking the slime to watch at someone who could easily melt me?" Sylvie asked, somewhat a little defiant.
"Um, please?"
"…Fine."
Sylvie went back to eating her porridge as she did that her master had asked her to do, albeit a little reluctant to do so. It was a strange sight, especially since the adventurer had gotten used to her always listening to Poppy's requests without once complaining about it.
Poppy and the adventurer exited the room without much going on. After a bit of walking, they reached what looked to be the main part of the laboratory. The adventurer wasn't able to tell much about the place, especially since most of them either looked futuristic or just straight up out of this world.
The place was quite cleaned up as well. The glass shards were nowhere to be found, the metal and plastic hunks around and about were just about the same, and the place looked as bright as ever. It was as if it had been like this in the first place.
"So what do you want to talk about?" Sylvie asked as soon as she stopped in her tracks. "If it's about the reward money of this quest, then I can give it to you now if you want—"
"No," the adventurer interrupted. "It would actually be really helpful for me, but…it's not reward money that I want to talk about."
"Really? I've caused you a lot of trouble over the past couple of months, so I assumed you'd be thrilled by the news…"
"Trust me, I am. There's nothing more that I want in the world but to receive it right now. But if you're that troubled by it, then I've got a favor to ask of you."
The reward for completing this quest was five gold coins. That was more than enough to help him get by a few years.
"Well, if that's your proposal, the ask away. I'd be more than happy to help."
"…Okay."
The adventurer took a deep breath.
"To get straight to the point, I want to bring Sylvie with me."
"…What?"
"Look, I understand if you think I have an ulterior motive for asking you such a question, but in all honesty, I need to bring her with me."
That was true. The adventurer wasn't lying one bit about how he needed Sylvie with her. The reason for that is because she carried a piece of Poppy's essence; her mind. And if he were to take Itsuki's words seriously, then that meant he could only manifest himself within Sylvie's body in that strange world.
"…Adventurer," Poppy said, her voice suddenly sounding serious.
"Y-Yes?"
"Sylvie has been my companion over the last five years. Up to the moment of her creation, I treated her as one of my family, and she treated me the same. We're not just a master and familiar, we're both family. So to answer your question, I am not going to let you bring Sylvie."
"…"
"…That is," Poppy continued. "If you give me a valid reason as to why you would need her, then I might just reconsider."
"Oh, uh…"
This one was going to be tough for the adventurer. Although his reasoning was simple, he didn't know if Poppy was going to believe it or not. Heck, even he had a hard time believing it himself, so it wasn't a complete guarantee.
"…Okay."
But nevertheless, he decided to be honest with Poppy. If he wanted to gain her trust, then he shouldn't lie about something, especially if Poppy was being considerate about it herself.
He explained everything, all from start to finish. About how he woke up from a white void, how he spoke with the legendary hero, how the girl was going to be the next demon lord. All of it, he left not a single detail behind.
After he finished explaining, the adventurer waited for Poppy's response.
"…Listen, it's not like I don't want to believe you, but this story of yours sounds absurd," Poppy started. "For starters, the legendary hero has been dead for over a thousand years now, so suddenly getting the news of his blood being within me is a little hard to believe, and it's too much of a coincidence if it also resides within you as well."
"Right…"
"And yes, I understand that I did say to you that I gave a piece of my mind to Sylvie, but that doesn't mean I gave her that 'essence' or whatever it's supposed to be. You said that it's the blood that resides within the both of us, so if that were the case, then I don't think I could've given Sylvie any."
"Yeah…"
"And also, what's this about that girl being the next demon lord? The last war ended three years ago, and if the records are correct, then the next war wouldn't come around until after two hundred years. We wouldn't be alive by that time."
"Um…"
"With your reason, I can't make myself to believe your story."
This was going to be expected. The adventurer knew about this, but he wanted to believe that Poppy would trust him. Of course, after being told of such a thing, there was no way someone would be able to trust something like that. After all, if you took the story of a comatose patient seriously, what would the people think of you?
"I believe him," someone said from the room they were previously on.
When they both turned their heads to look, they saw Sylvie standing by the door. The bowl of porridge that she was eating was nowhere to be found. Instead, the colors of her hands had now turned back to normal.
"Sylvie? What are you talking about?" Poppy asked.
"Master, I hate to be the one to say this," Sylvie said. "But I don't think the adventurer is being absurd with his assumptions."
"…Huh? Wait, I don't get what you're saying…"
"It is as she says it is," the adventurer stepped in.
He still had no idea why, but the adventurer was glad that Sylvie was backing him up for this. Still, he had no clue why she would do this.
"Although it would be preferable to do this alone, I wouldn't be getting any far without her help," the adventurer said. "I know that this is too much of a thing to ask for you, but please let me bring Sylvie with me."
The adventurer bowed his head earnestly towards Poppy. It was to start like some sort of proposal, but the adventurer didn't car how embarrassing it was. As long as he could get to have Sylvie on his journey, that's all that mattered.
"…No," Poppy answered after a few seconds. "I can't accept this."
"But—"
"No! I am not letting you take Sylvie away from me!"
The adventurer got surprised by her sudden raise in voice. He had never heard her like this; not during their first meeting, and neither on their journey here together.
Now that it's come to this, the adventurer didn't have much of a choice. He could either just forcefully take Sylvie with him, or travel on his own. Those choices themselves are pretty difficult to accomplish.
If he decided to just take Sylvie with him without Poppy's acknowledgement, then he wouldn't be able to receive the reward money from this quest since that'll be reported to the guild manager, and it'll break off anything that has happened with them over the last few months. He didn't want Poppy to feel that way.
But if he did decided to just travel all on his own, then he could do so if he wanted to. There's not much merit in bringing Sylvie with her other than the fact that he can use her to communicate with Itsuki.
"…Gotcha," the adventurer said. "It's been great traveling with you over the last few months. I wish you a good life."
That his response. In the end, he leaned towards the latter because it wasn't in him to just take a person from someone that loved them dearly.
He started to head back to the room he was in earlier with the intention of getting his stuff. Just as he did, he heard a slap coming from behind him.
When he turned his back to check, he saw Sylvie now in front of Poppy, her hand just next to Poppy's face. If he thinks what he think it means, then Sylvie had just slapped her master, and quite willingly so.
Poppy couldn't process what had just happened. No, it's more appropriate to say that she didn't want to process it.
"S-Sylvie?" Poppy said after a few seconds.
"Please stop being so selfish!" Sylvie shouted at her.
Her sudden rebuttal got Poppy to shut her mouth. She stepped backwards, fearing her own creation. As for the adventurer, he was just confused about the situation and what was going on.
"The world is going to be in danger, and if you're not going to help, then at least don't stand in the adventurer's way," Sylvie said, her tone now normal.
"…Wh-What are you saying?" Poppy asked, her voice shaking.
"He's trying to save the world from total destruction, and he's currently the only hope we have."
Sylvie approached Poppy, and Poppy just stepped back.
"I know you don't want me to leave, but you don't have a choice."
As soon as Sylvie was just in front of Poppy, she wrapped her hands around her. She gave Poppy a nice, warm hug. Poppy didn't clearly expect this, though.
"Please, if you can't bring yourself to trust the adventurer, then at least trust me."
"…But…"
Out of all of Sylvie's actions, this was the first word that Poppy ever managed to squeeze out of her.
"I don't want to be alone again…," Poppy said. "I don't want to be isolated again, I don't want everything to be silent again, I don't want anything to happen again…"
Poppy spoke from her heart. She didn't want to experience the things that she did back when Sylvie hadn't been yet created. Of course, Sylvie felt the same way. Even if it is just a little bit, they both still share the same mind. They both knew that leaving each other alone would take an incredibly amount of courage.
And for Sylvie, she found that courage. She trusted the adventurer, even going to the point of disobeying her master. No matter how absurd his story was, she knew that the adventurer was speaking the truth and only the truth.
As for Poppy, she hasn't found that courage yet. She wasn't ready yet to just let Sylvie go, and she didn't want to. Her options were being tested; either pursue her profession as a scientist and let Sylvie go, or abandon it altogether and come with her.
Poppy returned Sylvie's hug. She wrapped her hands around her familiar, and they both held themselves in a warm embrace. Although it lasted for a moment, it was a feeling that the both of them would forever cherish.
"…I'm sorry," the adventurer said, feeling a little guilty.
"It's fine," Poppy responded. "I'm not in any position to have a say in it. In the end, it's Sylvie's decision."
It was currently nighttime—or at least, that was Poppy's prediction of the time. The adventurer and her both couldn't sleep, so they were just chatting to pass the time. Well, it's more so they could shoo away the awkward silence from each other.
Poppy had decided to let the adventurer take Sylvie with him, which made the adventurer incredibly glad for it. Poppy has just been silent about it since then. They were set to leave first thing in the morning.
Sylvie is sleeping in the room where the adventurer slept at earlier, and the one keeping her watch is Victoria. Surprisingly enough, the adventurer decided that it would be best for the girl to come with them, so now he was going to be back with two companions on his journey again.
"…There's a reason why I didn't want Poppy to leave my side," Poppy spoke.
The adventurer stayed silent but intently listened to her.
"And it's not because I want her to just be by my side always. Adventurer, do you know how familiars work?"
"I think," the adventurer responded. "I know how you can form a pact with someone to make or force them to become your familiar. Other than that, I've got no clue other than the fact that they exist."
The adventurer never actually got that far into the creatures. He's met a few people back at the guild he takes quests on that has some familiars, but he never actually understood any of them. They were surprisingly friendly, though.
"If you know from that point, then it should be easy for me to explain it then," Poppy started. "The pact that both me and Sylvie formed are forced, mostly because Sylvie is artificially made and not a natural creature. Therefore, she doesn't have a lifeforce or mind of her own and can only rely on others."
"And that falls upon you, her master."
"Precisely. In order to help her fit into the world—not as an experiment, but as a person—I don't give her orders a master would usually give to their familiar. While that is the case, we are still both bound by that forced pact, and the medium it relies on is my mind, because I gave her a piece of mine. It means that her lifeforce comes from me, her master, and that connection is what's keeping her alive. If I were to suddenly die, Sylvie's body would start to melt until she became a puddle."
"…That's a little terrifying to hear, to be honest."
Imagining something like that was already a little too much for the adventurer.
"But there's also another thing that needs to be mentioned," Poppy said. "While it is true that she can only live for as long as I do thanks to our connection, it's not just bound by that."
"A pact can be severed if the master's grip on the magic is weak, right? That would mean your connection would get cut off, and then she would die."
"…Yes, certainly so. You're quite the smart man."
"I was just guessing."
Most of the time, he got his guesses right. Other times he got it wrong, something bad sometimes happened.
"There's also another one that's not included in the list, and that's because it applies only for Sylvie. That is, the distance of her from me."
"How so?"
"To keep things short, it means that if she got too far from me, then that connection would get cut off. This is the only one I'm most wary of other than the first one, so I was worried about letting her travel with you."
"Oh…"
Poppy wanted Sylvie to stay not because she didn't want to be left alone, but because she wanted to keep her alive. If the adventurer knew that was the case, then that would mean he wouldn't have asked Poppy to take Sylvie with him.
"But wait," the adventurer spoke. If that's the case, then why did you decide to let her go with me?"
"At first, I had the decision of abandoning my research of resurrection in order to go with you. But when I took a closer look at Sylvie, it seems that our connection has already been cut off quite some time ago."
"Cut off? Wouldn't that mean she's dead?"
"Not exactly. When I tried detecting the connection to try and trace where she was getting her lifeforce from, I found you at the end of it. For some reason, her connection from me got transferred to you."
"…Huh? How did that happen?"
"I'm not quite sure, but I can make a guess. If her connection got cut off, then she would have about fifteen seconds to restore it. Otherwise, she'll transform into a puddle, getting sucked up through the ground and die. The only way to restore it is if she found a new master, which would be you."
"So in an act of desperation, she decided to make me her master the moment your connection got cut off with you…"
"But that's not all, either. Like I said, a piece of my mind is within her, which means that it can only rely on that medium in order for our connection to be stable. In other words, she can only connect to me, and this is strictly speaking, only me. If she does so with anybody else, she may go berserk."
In fact, when their connection got cut off, Sylvie already showed pretty violent things back in the basement; like the time she punched the wall to get out.
"Will she be alright?"
"As far as I can observe, there's nothing else currently happening with her behavior. She has shown being defiant, but that's only because she trusts you. If she didn't, she most definitely wouldn't fight with my decision."
"Right…"
The adventurer was still feeling a little guilty about that.
"But putting aside the fact of how her connection is somehow compatible with you, I'm still wondering how you got a hold of her connection. Has there been any instances of her melting?"
"Why?"
"That's usually the first thing you'd see the moment the connection gets cut off."
"…Well, there is this one time. I think it was around the time you fell unconscious and the first time we met that girl."
He was worried at the time because he hadn't saw it happen back when they were all just walking together. It was when the girl casted some strong sound.
"That may be the reason of the cut off," Poppy said. "The basement where that girl was staying in was a little deep, so the distance between us was already pretty far; my magic probably couldn't hold on for too long. And when I fell unconscious, the grip on that connection cut off, which is why she started melting."
"I see…"
The adventurer thought of it as nothing back in the time, but when he thought about it, it was actually pretty serious. He got the life of the companion of his employer in danger, and because of his carelessness, he was now feeling a bit guilty.
"…Thank you," Poppy muttered.
"What for?"
"If you hadn't been there, I would've lost her for good. We've already had a lot of times our connection cut off—which was thankfully restored as quickly as possible—but this is different this time. You saved her, which meant saving me, so I offer my utmost gratitude to you."
"…"
"I guess what you said about changing your life was true, wasn't it?"
"…Yeah."
He replied with a smile on his face.
His actions weren't thought of as careless by Poppy. Instead, she thanked him, thankful that the adventurer managed to save the life of the slime she loved. Those words ran deep into the adventurer's heart.
And now he was the one thankful for Poppy.