The Great Mage Returns After 4000 Years

Translator: Alpha0210

Strange things had been happening one after another since he came here, but if pure bizarreness were the measure, the scene unfolding before his eyes right now would take first place.

Because the Blue Knight was looking his way with an expression that didn't suit her at all.

If he had to put a precise word to the emotion on her face, it would be "gladness", which, as mentioned, was not something she should be showing Residue.

How to put it. His guard shot straight up.

"What are you doing, standing over there? Come here. We must have a lot to talk about."

Pale patted the spot beside her, which was really just bare ground, as she spoke.

Residue, of course, didn't move. Instead, he leaned against a nearby wall and tilted his head at an angle.

"Talk about what?"

"This and that?"

"Blue Knight Pale."

At those words, the Blue Knight's expression turned subtly strange.

That reaction only made her seem more suspicious, so he pressed on.

"Am I right?"

"What are you on about?"

"I am asking whether you are a fake."

"You're spouting nonsense. Did you hit your head or something?"

"No. I didn't."

"I see."

A brief exchange of pointless words passed, and it was Pale who spoke again first.

"Fine, don't come over if you don't want to. So, how are things looking right now?"

"Things?"

"You're Residue, aren't you? You must have a better read on the situation than I do."

The way she kept addressing him so familiarly felt deeply off.

Could something have happened with the Blue Knight in his missing memories? No. The window of time was far too short for that.

"There is nothing I have grasped with any certainty. This body finds it maddening as well. I have no idea whatsoever why I was suddenly dropped into a place like this."

"How can you not know that?"

There was an oddly accusing note in her voice, but Residue had nothing more to say on the matter.

Pale shrugged.

"Well, fine. So the current situation caught even Residue off guard, then."

"You could say that. But you seem strangely calm about it."

"Compared to before, this is nothing... Food's easy to come by here, for one."

As she said this, Pale pulled something out from her clothes. It turned out to be an apple. He had no idea how she'd gotten one in the middle of this desert, but she took a big bite of the vivid red, fresh fruit and chewed away.

"Have you met anyone besides me?"

"Anyone else?"

"You're being unusually slow on the uptake today."

Even Residue had to agree with that.

All day today. Strangely, his head just hadn't been working right.

"The Black Thorn Demon King, the Lightning God, and Agolet. That's who I mean."

"No. I haven't seen a single one of them."

"...Really? Hmm."

Pale then pulled out a canteen, gulped down some water, and wiped her mouth.

"Still, they can't be far off. There's a good chance they're somewhere in this area, so let's be careful."

"What are you talking about? Why would we need to be careful of them?"

If anything demanded caution, it was the woman in front of him.

But at this remark, Pale's face visibly scrunched up.

"You're the one acting weird today, Residue. Did you actually take a hit to the head? Come here."

"Why."

"I've heard that in cases like this, one more similar impact puts everything back to normal."

Clank. Pale said this while shaking the sword bound in its chains.

Residue shook his head.

"I refuse. And you are not the only one frustrated right now. Tell me, are you missing any memories?"

"Memories?"

"Yes. This body has the feeling it has forgotten something very important. Whether this is the past or the Outside... I woke up in this world where nothing makes sense only a short while ago. What about you? Do you know anything about this situation? How long have you been here? Similar to this body's..."

"No, wait. Hold on."

Pale finally spoke, her voice flustered.

"What are you even saying, no. You lost your memories? Wow. Good grief. If that's true......"

She rambled on to herself as if babbling, then looked at Residue again.

"What did you forget?"

"...Did this body hear that correctly? I doubt a question that stupid will ever be asked twice."

"Hm. Right. Then how should I even ask......"

The Blue Knight, sinking back into her groaning deliberations.

Residue looked her up and down.

She wasn't wearing her knight's attire. She was dressed in light clothes that made her look passably like a drifter, and seeing that, Residue spoke.

"When did you arrive here?"

"Three, four days ago?"

About the same as Residue.

Lukas had said that the time he first spotted Residue was around then, too.

"For someone who just arrived, you seem awfully settled into life here."

"It's not that different from before....... Ugh. Stop talking to me. I'm thinking."

But Residue did not shut his mouth. He kept talking.

"Then this body will explain first. The last thing I remember is the moment all of you gathered together and ambushed me. My memories after that are... almost entirely gone."

He had a vague sense of having met Lukas in some hazy white place and exchanged words with him, but Residue made no mention of that.

He couldn't tell whether it had actually happened or whether he'd simply dreamed it.

"The time we gathered and ambushed you? You mean before we went to the 'Center'?"

"What is the Center?"

"Right before we fell here, I mean."

"Was 'Center' the name of that cave?"

"...Cave?"

He could feel the conversation slipping further and further out of joint.

That was because Residue's head was foggy right now, and the Blue Knight was not exactly quick-witted herself. They were each just saying whatever they wanted to say, and at this rate the conversation would never end, so Residue made a declaration to draw a clear line.

"I am speaking of the moment just before departing for the 'Outside'. You lot conspired to steal the ticket and closed in on this body. Or don't tell me you've forgotten that too? Perhaps your memories have gaps as well."

"...I was wondering what you were going on about. How long ago do you think that was?"

"How long ago? It was mere days..."

"......"

Residue stopped mid-sentence at the look on Pale's face.

Little by little, an unnameable dread came crawling up from the tips of his toes.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten everything from right after we left for the 'Outside'?"

"That is what I have been saying. Several times now."

"That's impossible."

"Yes. It should be impossible. There should be no being capable of interfering with this body's memories."

"......"

"...Which means it is now your turn to kindly explain things, Blue Knight. Where is this place? A stage set by Destruction? Now that I've met you, at least, the odds that I alone fell into some strange place have dropped considerably. Is this stage itself the trial of the 'Second Destruction'?"

At that, the Blue Knight let out a deep sigh and said,

"No. That's already over."

For a moment he couldn't tell which question the woman had just answered, so he asked again.

"Over? What is."

"The Second Destruction."

"......"

"It's already finished. We took care of it."

Residue's mouth fell open.

*

The lights of the streets were vanishing one by one. As the town sank gradually into darkness, the chilly wind carried a faint smell of something burnt. The cold air, the smell, the atmosphere......

The city had become an entirely different place from when the night market had first formed. It should still have been the same location, yet the mere disappearance of the lights and the crowds changed its face this much.

The desert at night was silent and cold.

It probably wasn't because of that, but the conversation between Residue and Pale had also broken off, and a somewhat chilly air had settled between them.

Residue needed time to sort his thoughts, and Pale, perhaps sensing as much, kept the silence for him.

Whoosh. Around the time the streetlights had vanished completely, Residue spoke.

"Who took care of the Second Destruction?"

"We did."

"And by 'we' you mean."

"You and me."

"...Since when have you and I been on such intimate terms? Hm? Close enough to join forces and kill Destruction."

"We got as far as being comrades, at least."

That was not a word he had ever expected to hear from the Blue Knight.

Only then did Residue recognize the source of the wrongness he'd been sensing in Pale's attitude all along. It was a possibility so absurd, so impossible, that he had dismissed it outright, but...

Blue Knight Pale had been expressing familiarity toward Residue this entire time.

Which meant the missing memories ran far deeper than he'd thought. Residue shook his head as if to scatter the stray thoughts.

"Explain, Blue Knight. What happened during the 'Second Destruction'?"

"Hm. Explaining things is always so hard, you know. I'm not sure Residue will follow."

Then she said, abruptly,

"And call me Pale. We agreed on that, didn't we?"

"Agreed on what."

"To call each other by name."

"......"

Something like goosebumps prickled up all over his skin.

What on earth had happened while his memories were gone?

Residue shook his head and said,

"Don't tell me you fell for this body or some... No. That was a slip of the tongue."

"......"

Pale glared at him with a chilling look, then withdrew her gaze and shook her head.

"That joke was so unfunny I nearly killed you. Be careful."

Well, judging by that insolent mouth of hers, this was the real Blue Knight Pale, all right.

...It seemed this conversation was going to run long.

Residue felt that same ominous premonition, and in the end he plopped down near Pale. Not at the spot beside her that she'd patted, but directly across from her, at a slight distance.

"Now, where should I even start explaining......"

Pale murmured in a low voice.

She seemed to be talking to herself, organizing her thoughts. Residue watched her quietly and waited with patience.

After a moment, Pale spoke.

"So, here's the thing. Right after we went out to the 'Outside', we fell onto some island."

"An island?"

"Yes. It was shrouded in fog on all sides, a day lasted four days, there was a lighthouse sounding, and all kinds of dangerous things were crawling everywhere. Finding food was a miserable ordeal, and not a single problem could be solved with brute force, so it was maddening. We couldn't even use our full strength there in the first place. Honestly, it's the kind of place I never want to go back to."

He understood none of what she was saying.

Residue decided to untangle the questions one at a time.

"...What do you mean, a day lasted four days?"

"Once a day, the lighthouse would sound, loud, and it rang once every four days. And we were told that a day on that island passed at that moment."

So a day there was ninety-six hours, then.

"Did this body say that?"

"No."

"Then who."

"Lukas."

"......"

That made no sense either.

Residue said,

"Lukas was there?"

"Yep."

"Why."

"Who knows?"

Getting an explanation out of the Blue Knight would clearly take forever.

Residue decided to change course.

"Where are the others? The Lightning God, the Black Thorn Demon King, and Agolet?"

Agolet especially would no doubt explain things in a way Residue could actually follow. In every respect, he was a talent that put Pale to shame.

"That's what I'd like to know, actually. I asked you the same thing at the start, remember?"

Had she? She had. Damn it. His head really was in a fog.

Then Pale's expression turned slightly awkward.

"Come to think of it, if you've forgotten everything, then you've forgotten all about them too."

"...What do you mean? Don't tell me someone died?"

Residue gave voice to the worst possibility he could think of, but Pale shook her head firmly.

"No."

"Then what."

"They're enemies."

"What?"

Thinking he must have misheard, he asked again, but Pale answered in a flat tone.

"All three of them are our enemies, Residue. In the Second Destruction, they were the ones who gave us the most trouble."

*****

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