The Traveling Hero Won’t Let the Innkeeper’s Son Escape

I felt a swing of consciousness as I walked. It feels like something's been pulled out of my head, and I feel sick. I accidentally crouched into the ground.

"Ruth!"

When I was called up and looked up, Ed was about to run from the front.

I'm only a little wondering why you came from the front when you were supposed to be holding hands next door until earlier, but that thought is undone by Ed's voice.

"Good. You're safe! After that, the darkness closed and I was the only one trapped in that place... wondering what would happen!

"Darkness closes?

The arrow successor speaks to me, and I don't know what it means.

Ed and I just came to this place earlier. What are we talking about when darkness closes?

(What... talk? Is that it? I don't know, something...)

It's supposed to be a story I don't remember at all, but I found it strangely uncomfortable. Like you're putting your hands in an empty box, nothing comes to mind.

However, Ruth recognized that she had an empty box in her.

"Apparently, the surroundings are the same as before. Did nothing change after all that strange happened...... Ruth, what's up? Did you have a problem with that earlier?

Ed peeks into Ruth's face as he sits. The first time Ruth sees that face, he learns that he doesn't recognize the person he thought was Ed.

"Who are you…………………………?

"What…………?

The person peering into Ruth had the color of his hair and eyes like Ed, and a pattern of his forehead on it, but he didn't look like a five- or six-year-old boy, but a beautiful young man the same age as Ruth. Of course I don't remember Ruth right now.

The young man opened his eyes wide to Ruth's question.

"Who, what are you talking about? It's me, Ed!

"What, Ed!? Are you Ed?

"... No way, Ruth................ Remember, you're not here, are you?

His body got smaller at once when the young man Ed, who turned his complexion bright blue, shrugged like that. What appeared in Ruth's eyes when the change was over was what Ed knew.

"Did Ed change the size of his body? Since when? Or what's going on with the clothes?

"... 'Since when', I mean it!? Did you forget about the last time!? Everything I've told you, everything that's going on here, everything we've both done, everything!?

"E, Ed, what's wrong? What? Last time?

"Oh, no! Ruth! Because if you defeat the Shadow Demon, you should be able to keep your memory...!

When Ruth was confused, Ed looked very sorry.

I don't know what he's so upset about, but I could understand Ruth causing it.

"I'm sorry, Ed, I don't understand what you're saying. I forgot something, remember..."

Ruth felt uncomfortable as she stood up in a hurry and said it that far. Something catches on.

As Ruth solidifies into a strange sensation, Ed growls small.

"No, me. Not if you're grieving.... You told me that I was the only one who remembered. Yes, I have to move on!

He raised his face even as he looked spicy.

There was pain in that face, but there was no more confusion like earlier. I feel a strong will in my eyes. Would Ed have been such a strong looking kid?

"Ruth, I've been keeping a message from you the other day."

"Message from me last time? Hmm? What do you mean?

"We'll talk more about it later, just listen to me for a second - 'There's a loop phenomenon going on, it's a situation where Ed is the only one who can keep his memory. Hurry up and find a way out of this passage of time."

"The loop phenomenon? …………"

Hearing words that could not have emanated from Ed, I got zowari and goosebumps.

(I can't believe that's the loop phenomenon, but...)

I have feelings that I don't believe in stories like novels. But this world is like witchcraft or spirits, I can't say enough that there will never be.

Besides, considering how surprised Ed was, I'm pretty sure something happened to Ruth. I couldn't ignore the message that it was from me either. Those are the only words and expressions Ruth can make.

"This is your last chance."

Words that I don't know who said came to mind. The seemingly calm sound of emotion tells Ruth that he is not lost in judgment.

(Yes, don't get lost......!

Ruth grips herself over the slightly budding confusion, thinking again of a message from herself. Organized the situation being placed and what had to be done.

The idea is that I guess it's not time to doubt Ed's words now that he came out of it. Like my own words, Ed, who remembers everything, should hold the key to solving the problem. We need to fully believe his words.

(Plus, if there's actually a loop phenomenon going on and I'm forgetting, it explains this feeling too)

Another thing Ruth has noticed. That's why I learned to catch on to Ed's words earlier.

I certainly can't remember anything about "what I told you", "what's happening here" or "what we did together" that Ed says. I guess that's what Ruth said before, "during the loop phenomenon." But every time they talk, I feel strange discomfort surrounding me.

(There's a blank in me)

The identity of discomfort is a blank place that is pompous and empty inside the memory. Whenever Ed tells us what's happened, Ruth somehow feels it. There's no "there” that should have been.

If Ruth had forgotten everything, as Ed said, he wouldn't be able to recognize what he had forgotten.

"No, Ed, no, I remember. I remember what I forgot………………………"

"Eh... what do you mean?

Ed looked up, apparently uncomfortable with Ruth's words. Ruth confidently tells.

"I do forget, I don't remember anything, but I am aware of what I“ have forgotten ”. I haven't forgotten everything. That something is going on here, that I have forgotten about it, and that this is my“ last chance ”. That's all I remember for some reason."

Not in Ruth's memory, but that was all conveyed by the light that appeared before him.

"Last chance? What is it?

"…… I'm not sure either. But someone told me that."

"This is your last chance."

"Kill all of you, but you will have to destroy this world."

"What is it, what's that word? Kill or something, why, who...?

"Ed heard these words, don't you remember?

"Not at all"

"Is that so...... so is it my delusion...... ha"

As Ruth thought in, Ed shook his head small.

"A lot has happened since I've been here...... I can't even prove that word is true, but I also wonder if Ruth's paranoia will clean it up"

"Ed......"

"Above all, I'm concerned about the expression 'it's my last chance' or 'even if I kill all of you' in this situation. It's like watching us, isn't it? I don't think Ruth, who is losing repeated memories, can create such delusions. I think you should be aware of that word."

It was a slight memory that was too vague for me to be confident, but Ed gave me the possibility to be true considering Ruth's situation without denying it from my head.

When I was happy about it and thanked him, Ed's face was easily dyed red.

The grin spills unexpectedly on Ed's initial expression, which Ruth doesn't remember as far as he can remember now.

(Ed, you're a little softer, I'm sure there was a lot going on...)

There may have been something in this loop world that Ed could look like this just because Ruth doesn't remember. I thought it was a little regrettable that I didn't remember.

"Gohon...... So, don't you know what kind of person has told you that word?

"Unfortunately, I have no idea. On the contrary, Ed, does anyone who might say this come within the context of what I've forgotten?

"No, those people aren't coming out. They're all normal people."

"What kind of people are there?

"…… just Dickhout, the lord of the mansion, his daughter Tiana, Benno the butler, Dorte the maid, Chester the cook, Iban the gardener, and me and Ruth"

Ruth breaks his fingers and counts.

"Are there six of us except us...... and Chester and Iban are from the village?

"Yes. These are the two people Ruth knows are missing. But Ruth said they don't have any memories in the village. We both work as servants of this mansion. I also thought about the possibility of someone else, but Ruth assured me that he was the one."

"I don't remember... does that happen? Besides, Mr. Chester is still the cook, and Grandpa Iban is the gardener? I can't imagine that bloody old man loving the grass. Why are you two supposed to be working in that position?

"I'm not sure about that area, but as long as I'm listening to Ruth and his conversation, neither of us have any doubts about where we stand. Mr. Iban said to himself," Forty years of service to the house. "

"A gardener of forty years…… sounds like a gardener………………"

I didn't think of it as an Iban line that I had been hunting in the village since I was a young girl. They do completely forget about what happened in the village and accept the position of a gardener who doesn't.

"Can it be…? That's really how it is. I feel like we're both proper cooks and gardeners in this mansion."

"Is that what the others are like?

"The others... don't know much about it. Everyone seems to be just strangers to Ruth and me, and you all have no doubts about your being in this mansion. But Ruth seemed to think that the rest of us, Mr. Chester and Mr. Iban, were forced to be here just like us."

"Can you force me to exist? Hmm? Existence, what do you mean? Kidnapping?

"Oh well. You needed to explain from there. Ruth had guessed last time that the world around this mansion would be a dream place, not the real world. I push hard on that idea, too."

"Oh, isn't it real here?

It's incredible, but when I heard Ed's consolidated explanation, Ruth now found that this was a world that was hard to say was real.

I can't imagine a dead man being out in this situation, but if that means he's resurrected when he returns to the starting point of the loop, it's still “more realistic” to think he's not in the real world. The same goes for the unbroken mansion and the unbleeding. Impossible.

"Let me get back to the original story, other than Mr. Chester and the others, when I ask certain questions, things go wrong. If it's Mr. Chester, it's his wife's name, if it's Iban, it's his grandson's name, and like that, the others are a couple, a Hashi village, a Spirit King, etc. Somehow it's a word that shouldn't have anything to do with this mansion, but it reacts in a way that I remember. And yet I deny it with my mouth. That contradiction is why we all assume that the positions are the same."

"I mean, I suspected they weren't from the Mansion either, but they were supposed to live another way."

"Everyone is gathered from somewhere in the mansion into a world that is not real."... maybe we do too?

"Role… Have…?"

A musty sensation hurts my chest. It feels like you've heard something important and you haven't noticed the key yet.

(I need more information. Anyway, you might find out if you met someone else)

"Ed, what can I do to see them, stay here?

"Ah, that's right. Let's go to the mansion! If we don't get inside, we can't face the others."

With Ed's hand drawn, Ruth and the others rushed to the mansion in front of them.