＜Infinite Dendrogram＞

□ Ray Sterling

The hammer was ringing.

◇

When I realized, I was there.

An ambiguous situation, even my own senses.

I knew immediately that this was my dream.

The ambiguity of the senses transmitted is slightly similar to when they were once drawn to Gardranda.

But at the same time...... it was also clear that it was not by Gardranda.

I'm in a strange space.

It's not the dark, it's not the landscape of my memory.

Really, it was an unknown space.

The sight that spreads around me is not even certain.

It looks like some blacksmith's workshop, or it feels like he was thrown out alive in space.

The shape of the space is uncertain, but only a definite presence and use is visible.

That's because... there was one furnace in the center of the space.

It was a furnace a little bigger than a human, but for some reason to me... it looked like something bigger than the sun.

There was a gold floor in front of the furnace, and someone kept waving the hammer down there.

Only the sound of a hammer leads to a wooden spirit in space.

I didn't see the person waving the hammer.

It could be a man, it could be a woman.

It could be an old man, it could be a boy.

The statue is blurred and invisible.

The appearance remains invisible, but conveys an overflowing presence.

Above all, only the power and skill put in the waving hammer can be felt by even me, the amateur.

That's what I can believe when they say this person is creating the world.

But now it wasn't the world being hit on the gold floor...... it was a single-edged axe.

There was no pattern, and this person was tapping the part of the ax blade.

The brilliance of red-hot metal is not like that of iron or steel.

It would also be different from the misrills in < Infinite Dendrogram > and the mythical metals.

The metal is only slightly clear.

As if one day I saw Azrite's Ethereal Sword...... [Alter].

The sole, red-hot by the heat of the sun-like furnace, is probably the original color more different.

I'm sure that's a beautiful color... I could have had a hunch at this point as well.

As such, the process of work proceeds.

I don't know how much time has passed.

Or maybe you're looking at it early.

As the work progressed, the shape of the axe became clearer, and the pattern was also mounted to reveal that it was a war axe...... a large one-handed axe.

It was so beautiful - it was a white axe.

Hiddenly clear... it was a weapon but an axe like a festival.

But I felt like I saw that axe somewhere with an unfamiliar color...

…………

When the axe took some form, the person who was creating the axe stopped the hand.

Done, it won't be.

It looks perfect, but I don't feel like something's missing.

It reminds me of the phrase "lack of dragon eyes."

"... troubled"

A person who was silently creating an axe uttered words for the first time.

Although the words were conveyed, I could not discern age or gender from that voice.

…………

The person holds his hand against the axe.

Then the axe rose and rested in the air.

And the person who was creating the axe held hands again... and there appeared a weapon other than the axe.

That was a pale sword - I found out too [Original Holy Sword Alter].

But no.

I can't say where... but that [Alter] is not what I know [Alter].

Something is missing and incomplete.

That, after all, lacks the Dragon Dot.

I'm a blacksmith.

The man named himself a blacksmith.

That seemed like the name of the job but... no.

There was a similar but different dimensional atmosphere in the words.

'I am troubled. There is only one weapon to assume the role.

I am troubled. There's only one weapon I can pour all over me. "

Before the white axe and pale sword, < blacksmith > continues to speak to himself.

Or was that a word against a weapon made by itself?

"But here are two masterpieces"

< Blacksmith > is troubled, as he himself said, comparing the axe to the sword.

That's so much so that you can see it even though you're not sure of your face.

"One is for the greatest masterpiece. One can be a waste of time."

It is also understandable to others that they are pressed to make a bitter decision as producers.

Which of the following weapons should I create with my compatriots?

That's how the blacksmith kept bothering.

I don't know how much time has passed in this dream as I did when I was creating the axe.

But I'm sure it's not too short. At the end of the thought, the Blacksmith...

"- Decided."

- I took a pale sword in my hand.

The dream broke down there.

◇ ◇ ◇

□ [Saint Knight] Ray Sterling

"... eh"

If you noticed, the view that spreads before me had turned into something you could see.

I could see the audience surrounding the sky with the view looking up on my back, so I understand that I am the home of the Eighth Arena… on that stage.

"Ray? Are you up?

"... nemesis?

Out of the crest, I can speak to Nemesis.

'Totally. I'm surprised you're suddenly falling asleep. Were you tired?

"... I guess it's because I woke up early for sparring"

I've been sparring with Luke since early this morning.

Luke played my opponent in a variety of combat styles to counter the ”tournament".

As a result, we have lost in total.

He stayed on stage thinking alone to sort out the challenges he saw in sparring... but he was unconscious along the way.

"Well, I was going to wake you up by the“ tournament. "I woke up earlier than I thought."

When you look at the time display, time is barely running out.

I felt like a long time had passed in my dreams, but it hasn't actually been five minutes.

"Dreams..."

I wonder what that dream was.

The dream that the brain sees is said to be a reconstruction of memory, but I don't remember myself too much.

Whatever [Alter] is, the others...

……

Unexpectedly, my hand touched something.

Turning his gaze to you...... there was a large one-handed axe wrapped with a blade in a black cloth.

"... why are you out?

An unnamed axe that just blew my arm off with the first sparring.

I can't use it, so it should have been in the item box.

"Nemesis. Did you take this out?

'No, I don't.... or how long have you been out there?

Does that mean you came out of the item box all by yourself?

... Well, the equipment that moves on its own is known in Gardranda's dwelling ["armor"].

…………

Zip, look at the unnamed axe.

Although the shape is uncertain because the blade is wrapped in an indelible cloth... I'm starting to feel similar to the axe I dreamed of.

That way, having already gained similar experiences, I get to one answer.

"You dreamed like you did when you were Gardranda?

Ask the axe, but there is no answer to return.

"What's going on, Ray?

"No, it's nothing"

Nemesis calls out worryingly, but sometimes that tells.

Same as when Gardranda, including the fact that her memories are not shared with her.

Because after all, this axe is that axe of dreams... that must be what happened when this was created.

Think about it a little bit.

"... nemesis. I'm sorry, but I want to keep things in my belly a little bit. Can you bring me something to pinch properly and a drink from the storage item box in the dining room? 'Cause I want to think a little bit more here."

"I don't have a choice. I'll wait."

So Nemesis went out of the crest and rushed indoors.

I'll turn back to the axe.

"We're the only ones left, but you're a weapon to talk to?

Again, though I ask the axe...... there is no answer.

The look of it also looks like it's just a weapon.

When I do, it has nothing to do with my previous dream, and I think it might be too much of my thinking.

But if... if it was this axe that made me dream, it couldn't be just a weapon.

If the dream is correct, it will mean that this axe is at the hands of the same producer as [Alter].

Holy Sword at the beginning of carving all things, [Alter].

If the dream is correct, this axe would mean a substitute alongside it......

"... I guess it didn't"

In his dreams, the person he named < blacksmith > said.

"One is for the greatest masterpiece. One can be a waste of time."

And in my dreams < blacksmith > had...... [Alter] in my hand.

I'm sure that's the answer.

The producer chose [Alter], and it was also [Alter] who became the greatest masterpiece.

This axe, which was not chosen, must have gone to waste for the Blacksmith.

That's why it was left unmarked.

…………

I also felt a little irresponsible.

Even if it can't be a masterpiece, I think it should at least have been branded.

If my earlier dreams are not my fantasy/delusion, then this axe will have enough willingness to show my past.

If so, maybe there's also anger that I couldn't even name my birth parents.

Besides, this axe... is not the same color as my dreams.

The axe I dreamed of was blade and pattern white and clear.

But now the axe pattern is... stained with blood color (...).

I'm sure the blade hidden in the black cloth is the same color.

What the hell has changed so far?

I couldn't mark it either, but is it late?

Even now [Purple Grievance Runaway A] absorbs the resentment accumulated by the axe, but will this go back to white when it's done?

... I don't know that.

There is no fine dust on the signs that I have been smoking and the colour changes.

"Phew..."

To this axe...... I don't know if sympathy for the cursed weapon is a good idea.

But I had that dream, and I saw the axe now, and... I really remember a little bad aftertaste, too.

"... well, is this also like a kind of quest"

I tapped an unnamed axe pattern with my fingers.

"Follow up, I'll find out how to get your colors back. And I'm sorry it wasn't the producer himself, but let's just think about a temporary name."

Quest, start.

It's voluntary, though.

…………

Even after my words, the axe never responded to a word.

Is that the kind of weapon, or was the dream itself the fantasy/delusion my brain gave birth to?

Well, either way.

It's only because I want to change the color back and mark it.

As for the name, it's a corner, so I just want to think about it for a few days.

"Ray, I brought you some sandwiches and some tea. Mogmog......"

And just at that time, Nemesis brought me breakfast.

"Thanks. But stop eating and walking. I'll have to clean it later."

"Mmmm. Fighting ground really makes me feel like watching an event game eating and walking...... mogmog"

You're saying more like dough than flowers.

Well, that sounds like a nemesis, too.

"Now, when you've finished breakfast, you're moving to the Central Grand Arena. World War I to World War IV is in the morning."

"Mm-hmm. Heh heh, my arm rings. I'm starving for blood tonight!

"It's still morning."

After some visionary exchange, we had breakfast with the two of us (and the subpoenaed little gal).

◇ ◇ ◇

That's how the first day of the tournament begins.

The first day of the tournament, which opens for ten days in this time.

A major event in the kingdom that is expected to produce numerous encounters and dramas.

But I didn't know that at this point.

That the biggest battle for me is waiting outside my expectations.

To be continued