“The fact that it’s an evil spirit is true, but I have no memories of that other world.”

As soon as I heard that, the famous saying about drinking but not driving came to mind. Why is that?

At first, it sounded ridiculous, but after a moment, a lightning bolt struck inside my head.

“Could it be... that you were resurrected by the Resurrection Stone?”

If that were the case, it would explain everything.

Using the Resurrection Stone requires several conditions, but the biggest penalty is, of course, the ‘erasure of memories.’

I’ve even experienced this myself—I revived a comrade only for the intimacy level to drop to zero, causing them to leave the team and the Resurrection Stone to go to waste—.

“The Resurrection Stone...?”

But what’s with that reaction?

“I don’t know what you mean by that, but it has absolutely nothing to do with the Resurrection Stone.”

“Then why don’t you have any memories?”

Jaina’s hands clenched tightly when I asked.

“I... previously sacrificed all my memories of that world to Karui. That’s why I have no memories.”

Ah, I see.

I was dead certain it was because of the Resurrection Stone.

This is a bit embarrassing.

‘...So you can sacrifice memories too, huh?’

Thinking back to when I played as Karui’s priest, it’s not completely impossible.

Every time all attempts failed and we neared ‘game over,’ he inevitably made a proposal.

He said he would save you in exchange for a price...

That price was always random, with many different options.

Like dropping intimacy with all characters to zero.

Taking one of your held essences.

Permanent physical defects, or even demanding the life of another companion NPC.

‘The worst was when the price was to return to the city and become a wanted criminal.’

The deal with Karui is absolute.

Even if the payment is ‘postpaid,’ failing to keep promises results in divine punishment and death.

Anyway, that’s not the main point...

“You must have been in a really desperate situation to sacrifice your memories, huh?”

I muttered briefly, and Jaina made a mysterious expression.

“Yes... probably. Maybe.”

Hmm, that sounds like she’s just brushing it off.

I debated whether to press further, but surprisingly, she spoke first.

“That day, I paid the price twice. Once to move us all to a safe place... At that time, I lost my memories of the original world.”

“And?”

“The other time was... to save a dying person. But in exchange, I lost all memories of ‘that person.’”

“...Was that person precious to you?”

“I’m not sure, but surely they were. To pay such a price, they must have been.”

“What happened to that person?”

“There’s nothing to happen. They died in the labyrinth not long after.”

“......”

“You don’t ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) have to take it so seriously. Even though they died right in front of me, I didn’t feel much of anything.”

Listening to Jaina’s calm voice, it hit me strongly why the people of this world call Karui an evil god.

“Then how did you end up traveling with Ibaekho? Are you trying to return to the original world?”

“No, I’m not interested in that world. I don’t remember anything about it anyway. For me, this side is reality, and that side is like a dream.”

The circumstances were quite different, but in some ways, it was very similar to my case.

Maybe that’s why.

At first, I only intended to get information, but I gradually grew curious about Jaina’s story itself.

“There’s only one reason why I travel with Ibaekho.”

“What is it?”

“To regain my lost memories, I have to offer a huge amount of sacrifices.”

“I see...”

As Jaina said, it’s not impossible to reclaim the prices paid to Karui in [Dungeon and Stone].

Permanent physical defects can also be restored, if the sacrifice is sufficient in Karui’s judgment.

“I travel with Ibaekho because it’s easier to obtain high-quality sacrifices that way. There’s no other reason.”

Phew, I didn’t expect this kind of situation...

Since she said she has no interest in memories from the modern world, it’s clear which memories she wants to reclaim.

But there’s one question I still have.

“...Why do you want to recover your memories so badly?”

She no longer remembers ‘that person.’

She said clearly she felt no emotion when they died.

Then why is she going this far?

“Just... it feels suffocating.”

Jaina’s answer was very simple.

“When that person died that day, I couldn’t understand a single word or expression they gave me. That was so frustrating and annoying... Why? Is that strange?”

“...No, not at all.”

After that, Jaina’s detection spell sensed a monster nearby, ending the conversation. We didn’t talk about related topics anymore.

Still, the conversation kept swirling in my mind.

‘An evil spirit that lost its memories...’

The world really holds all sorts of stories.

Kraaaaaaang!

Setting aside the periodic meteor showers characteristic of the ‘Star Grave,’ the ancient land’s climate changes every time.

And it’s always harsh and cruel to humans.

“Hah... hah...”

This time it was a heatwave.

Well, I’m not sure ‘heatwave’ even properly describes it.

Fffft!

Smoke started to rise from the raw flesh of creatures that couldn’t withstand the heat, and in severe cases, they caught fire and blazed up.

Still, thanks to the Flame Orb’s fire resistance, we didn’t get burns or sustained damage, but the heat was unbearable.

If only we had a mage to turn on the air conditioning.

“...We’re surrounded.”

“What should we do?”

“Running away at our speed is impossible, so we have no choice but to fight.”

Despite trying to avoid battles with monsters while moving, we inevitably had to fight sometimes.

A tank and a priest.

Not the best combination for hunting monsters, but somehow, it worked.

Because...

「Jaina Flier casts [Rotten Wind].」

「It deals continuous dark attribute damage within range and lowers physical resistance.」

Jaina wasn’t a typical priest.

「Character uses [Swing].」

I’m not exactly a normal tank either.

Crack!

We could handle monsters up to grade 4 between the two of us.

Well, slowly, but still.

Boom!

“There’s Bartanus!”

“Get on my back!”

Anyway, when monsters above grade 3 appeared, we hurriedly fled.

As a priest-tank combo, fighting for hours wouldn’t be impossible, but that’s only one-on-one.

There’s no point in spending hours to kill one monster.

‘...Huh?’

I suddenly stopped while leading the way. Jaina asked anxiously why.

Instead of answering, I pointed with my hand.

A roughly torn cloth was hanging on a tree.

Signs of humans we hadn’t noticed on our previous pass.

Swish.

I reached out and unfolded the tied cloth. There was writing inside.

[If you see this... ..., ......to the monument.]

The middle was blackened and burnt by the heatwave, making it unreadable, but it was easy to understand what it meant.

“They want us to go to the monument in the center of the ancient forest.”

Ibaekho, the Old Doom Grandpa, the archer, the GM.

It seemed one of the four left this message on the path to the central monument...

“Why four people...?”

“Do you think Aures left this?”

“Oh, I get it.”

“Anyway, if we go to the central monument, we can meet one more person.”

Good news at last.

Because except for Aures, the other three are all dealers.

Whoever is there among the four completes a damage, tank, and heal combo.

Then our safety and movement speed will greatly improve.

“Let’s move quickly.”

“Yes.”

Worried about possibly missing each other’s path, I moved as fast as possible.

And...

One hour, two hours, three hours...

We pressed on without even a short break.

Suddenly, a familiar man’s voice came from the empty air.

“...My lord, the Baron?”

Damn, I was startled.

I almost swung my hammer without thinking.

“...Havelion?”

I looked toward where the voice came from, and the GM appeared as if the invisibility spell was lifted.

Surprisingly, we met a companion even before reaching the destination...

“Baaaron!!!!”

I lightly sidestepped the clingy GM and asked,

“Did you hang the cloth on the tree?”

“Ah, no. I found it recently and was following it!”

Hmm, so that’s how it is.

Things are somehow falling into place.

This means someone else who hung the cloth is waiting at the monument.

In an instant, the number of people went from two to four.

“What happened to the Baron—.”

“We’re almost there; let’s talk when we arrive.”

I was curious about GM’s situation, but since the distance was short, I focused on moving with heightened senses.

About thirty minutes later...

“What is this...?”

We pushed through the bushes and saw the familiar monument buried in a crater in the distance.

But the problem was...

“Was that always here?”

“No way.”

The place where only the monument should have been had a strange structure that was hard to identify.

It looked like the door of a temple entrance had been removed and placed on bare ground.

There was a staircase going down, but it was too dark inside to see clearly.

Also...

“The letters there are red... That wasn’t like this before, right?”

“Yes! From my investigation, I’m certain. This phenomenon didn’t exist.”

The top line of the monument, which had undecipherable hieroglyphs, was glowing red.

What on earth was happening?

I was confused, but the biggest question was different.

“...So why is no one here?”

We followed the message on the cloth to this place, but the person who was supposed to be waiting wasn’t here.

“Let’s wait a bit. Maybe they went to hang more cloth nearby.”

“Yes... I’ll investigate the monument. I’m detecting magical flows different from before...”

“I’ll check that structure. It feels very familiar.”

“Familiar feeling?”

“It’s hard to explain in words, but just think of it as an aura related to an ancient existence.”

“...Got it.”

While two of them started investigating, I kept watch and observed their progress.

And...

‘Why isn’t anyone coming?’

After three whole days of waiting here, I started to think this was pointless.

“Luckily, it’s not too late.”

The Old Doom Grandpa appeared leisurely from afar.

It was hard to believe a mage had been wandering the ninth floor alone for over three days looking this intact.

‘...So he’s somewhat experienced at soloing as a mage?’

It was amazing, but before talking about his skills, I had to ask.

“Did you hang the cloth?”

“...Cloth?”

He acted like he didn’t know anything about it. When I told him about the cloth on the tree, the Old Doom Grandpa said he never saw anything like that.

“I just came here thinking someone might show up at the center.”

“So you don’t know who hung the cloth either?”

“No, I think Ibaekho did it.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Aures wouldn’t have done it, so there’s only one person left.”

“Huh? But couldn’t it have been Briot who left it?”

When the GM asked with a puzzled look, the Old Doom Grandpa said firmly,

“Briot is dead.”