Alon stared blankly ahead.

The world he was looking at remained unchanged.

All he could see was a gray sky filled with nothing but dust. The ground beneath him cracked and crumbled into dust with every step, as if to declare that new life could never be born in this place.

………It was a scene that perfectly suited the term “a world in ruin.”

“Hoo—”

Alon forcibly steadied his mind, suppressing the confusion creeping in, and took a moment to observe his surroundings in an attempt to assess the situation.

“Where… is this place?”

As Alon looked around, Rine furrowed her brow in confusion and reached toward the ground.

The dirt in her hand scattered like ashes, and seeing this, Alon continued his thoughts.

‘Is this the place where we were attacked by Agu just moments ago?’

Alon quickly shook his head.

Clearly, it was not.

The place where he had encountered the Agu was in the middle of a sun-scorched desert, not this devastated wasteland where a single step could turn everything to nothingness.

So, had the world changed so drastically in just the short time Alon, Rine, and Penia spent inside the strange gate to deal with the Agu?

That, too, was an unlikely possibility.

Unless a comet the size of Earth had crashed into the Psychedelia continent, or something of even greater magnitude had occurred, the chance of an entire world perishing in such a short span was essentially nonexistent.

And as far as Alon knew, nothing like this had ever happened in Psychedelia before.

“Hoo—”

Thinking this far, Alon let out a deep sigh before calmly surveying his surroundings once more.

‘It’s a little different from the inner world I saw when I met Kylrus.’

At first glance, this landscape bore such a striking resemblance to the inner world that he had momentarily wondered if that was where they had ended up.

But upon closer inspection, there was something subtly different.

‘Though, its fundamental appearance does seem similar.’

Alon turned to his side.

Penia was mumbling incoherently as if she were experiencing lag, and Rine had a twisted expression on her face.

“Rine.”

“Yes, godfather.”

“Do you have any idea what’s going on here?”

“……”

Rine slowly shook her head in response to Alon’s question.

“……I’m sorry, godfather. There’s nothing like this in the library, and I have no immediate way of understanding this phenomenon either.”

Hearing her somber tone, Alon easily realized that knowledge regarding this strange gate phenomenon must have been sealed away.

“It can’t be helped. Don’t worry too much about it.”

“Yes…….”

Alon then turned his gaze to Penia.

She was clutching her head, groaning as if it were spinning uncontrollably.

Her brow was deeply furrowed, lost in thought.

“Do you have any guesses as to what might have happened?”

Penia let out a strained groan in response to Alon’s question.

“It’s not that I have no guesses—it’s that I have too many….”

“……Too many?”

“Yes… ha—”

After murmuring, “Give me a moment to organize my thoughts,” Penia fell into deep contemplation.

After some time, she finally spoke again.

“To put it simply, this is not the desert we were in.”

“I had already suspected as much. So where are we, then?”

“There are many possibilities for that.”

Penia paused for a moment before continuing.

“As you know, we broke down the space-time structure of the strange gate to push the Agu beyond it, right?”

“That’s right.”

“And you executed that using your magic.”

“Correct.”

“……I suspect that something went wrong in that process. Collapsing space-time and pushing the Agu in was successful, but—”

“We were also affected because we were inside the gate?”

Penia nodded.

“At the moment, that’s the most reasonable assumption I can make. We were definitely affected, but it’s difficult to determine exactly how that impact has manifested.”

“So that’s why you said you had too many guesses.”

“Yes. Since space-time itself was disrupted.”

“If your assumption is correct, then does that mean we might be in an entirely different dimension?”

Penia hesitated, letting out a troubled hum before cautiously shaking her head.

“…No, I don’t think so. That might be possible for the Agu, whose body has already been torn apart into thousands of pieces.”

“Then what?”

“If I had to consider another possibility, we may have been displaced to a different point in time. But even that seems highly unlikely.”

Penia cleared her throat and explained further.

“According to the Magic Tower’s research, strange gates form due to a distortion in space-time caused by a specific anomaly. In other words, though they are unnatural, they are still ‘created spaces.'”

“……So?”

“If the strange gate had been left unstable after being broken, then maybe. But since it was already a formed space, the likelihood of us being thrown into a different time is very low.”

She added that this was assuming the Magic Tower’s research was correct, but at the moment, it seemed plausible.

“……So what you’re saying is, the most likely scenario is that we’re in a different place, not a different time.”

“Exactly. Even though this wasn’t our intention, it’s possible the strange gate functioned as a sort of passageway and—hmm?”

Mid-conversation, Penia suddenly seemed to recall something, stroking her chin thoughtfully.

“A passageway… If studied properly, this could contribute to teleportation research…? If that works out, not only would the achievement be groundbreaking, but the money… at least—”

Muttering to herself, her eyes soon widened as if she had stumbled upon a revelation.

“If that happens, hehe, I could become the pioneer of spatial magic that even Azir couldn’t…!”

Penia started giggling ominously, clearly indulging in a rather delightful fantasy.

And then—

“Lord Marquis! For now, we need to figure out where we are as soon as possible.”

Her eyes burned with enthusiasm as she urged Alon forward.

“………Can’t we just return through the strange gate?”

Alon, about to move, unconsciously murmured the question.

Because—

The strange gate, which had been shining brightly just moments ago, had vanished.

“It’s gone.”

“It was temporarily distorted due to magic.”

“That means, if we had been inside, it would have returned to normal, right?”

“That’s not the case. Once it was distorted, it most likely became unpredictable. Even if we had stayed inside, nothing good would have come of it.”

In the worst-case scenario, the twisted gate could have been sucked into space-time itself, leading them to the same fate as the Agu, Penia explained.

“……So, in the end, we need to investigate further.”

“Exactly.”

“Then, let’s move forward for now.”

Leaving behind the vanished strange gate, Alon took his first step toward the ruined world.

####

Without knowing where he was, Alon had walked southward for an entire day.

As he observed the continuous scenery, he pondered.

‘Where exactly is this place?’

All the countless theories that had occupied his mind throughout the day were discarded.

No matter how hard he searched his memory, he had never seen such a landscape in the game.

After a full day of deliberation, Alon finally arrived at the most reasonable conclusion from his perspective.

That was—

This place wasn’t in the Eastern Continent where the Allied Kingdom was, but rather, it was part of the Empire.

The Empire.

A place inaccessible in Psychedelia, the game Alon had played.

Instead, it was the setting for another game made by the same developers—Calypsophobia.

From what Alon knew, Calypsophobia had a much darker atmosphere than Psychedelia, featuring more gore and brutal narratives.

Though he had never played it himself due to being engrossed in Psychedelia, he at least had basic knowledge about it.

‘……If this world is several times darker than Psychedelia, then it wouldn’t be surprising for a place like this to exist.’

With that thought, Alon formulated a plan.

In the Psychedelia community, posts frequently appeared with titles like “Overpowered Items You Can Get in Psychedelia from Calypsophobia.”

Thanks to that, he had a rough idea of the locations of artifacts useful for mages.

‘If I can get my hands on those, they’ll definitely be helpful.’

As Alon was deep in thought—

“Marquis! Look over there!”

Penia shouted loudly.

“……That’s—”

“Smoke! There must be a village!”

Following her voice, Alon turned his gaze forward and confirmed the rising smoke.

“Let’s check it out.”

“Yes, godfather.”

Without hesitation, Alon moved toward the location Penia had pointed out, with Rine following beside him.

Soon, they arrived at the edge of a cliff overlooking the source of the smoke.

And the moment Alon looked down—

He fell into silence.

It wasn’t just him.

“……Huh?”

Even Penia, who had excitedly pulled him along, was speechless.

“……”

Rine, who had walked alongside them and looked down, also fell into stunned silence.

What they saw—

“……What is that?”

—Was a one-sided slaughter.

A mass of non-human beings, bound and desperately fleeing, only to be mercilessly skewered like mere playthings.

Humans—

No, creatures merely wearing human faces—were committing a ruthless massacre.

####

The colony, always basked in scorching sunlight, was unusually covered with dark clouds.

The reason was simple—it was the rainy season, which only came once a year.

Yet, despite the overcast sky—

“.”

Seolrang, standing with her back to the sky, paid no mind and simply swayed her tail.

Her excitement stemmed from one thing—Alon.

She had heard a few weeks ago that Alon had left the desert.

That meant he would be arriving at the colony soon.

Because of that, Seolrang had been in an exceptionally good mood lately.

‘What should I do when Master arrives?’

Her tail swayed even more energetically.

Seolrang usually didn’t enjoy thinking too much.

But this was an exception.

‘Hmm~ Should we visit the eastern restaurant this time? We’ve always been too busy with other matters to go together, but I’m sure Master would like it.’

Just the thought made Seolrang’s lips curve into a crescent smile.

‘And after that, maybe we could drop by the western ruins? They say there’s not much to observe there, but at night, the ruins align with the Milky Way, creating a stunning view. Master would love that, for sure.’

Her tail, usually still, fluttered like a spring breeze.

‘Right! We should travel together, too. Where should we go? I want to spend as much time as possible with Master, so maybe we should travel all the way to the border? Or visit the places I’ve always wanted to see? Hmm—where would be best~?’

Just thinking about Alon made her ears perk up toward the sky.

Even as the dark clouds thickened, casting shadows over the office and making it feel like night—

Seolrang’s expression brightened, her smile growing wider.

Humming a tune, lost in a happy daydream—

Knock, knock.

A sudden knock at the door caught her attention, and she instantly recognized the presence.

“L—ime?”

“Seolrang, ma’am…”

“Hmm? What is it~?”

Seolrang lazily stretched her words.

But.

“……I have news to deliver.”

Lime’s voice was stiff, unlike usual.

Thud—

Seolrang’s humming stopped as she finally turned around.

And then she saw Lime’s face.

It was filled with shadows of deep concern.

“……What’s wrong?”

Seolrang asked.

But Lime only parted her lips, unable to speak immediately.

“What happened?”

Seolrang asked again, her voice firm.

“Marquis Palatio… has…”

After hesitating, Lime finally spoke—

“Passed away.”

Then, she bowed her head.

And at that moment—

Drip—drop—drip-drip—

Through the thickening sound of raindrops—

“……?”

Seolrang’s voice trembled.

A voice so fragile, as if it might shatter at any moment.