I ran away.
Successfully escaped from Eliya, who was trying to kill me.
After the war with the Empire ended, she tried to kill me.
I still vividly recall the memory of her hurling golden fireballs at me.
Moreover, before that, she strangled my throat while I was sleeping.
At that time, we acted as if nothing happened, but in the end, Eliya tried to kill me again.
The tragedy I had seen before unfolded just as it was.
It’s worth the preparation I made in advance.
Complete immunity to magic, among other things.
Thanks to that, I was able to flee without getting roasted.
I only managed to escape after the war ended, but honestly, I was almost caught in the end.
I must have collapsed during the battle, and by the time I regained consciousness, Eliya was by my side.
Fortunately, Eliya seemed to be exhausted as well and was unconscious, so I quickly took my chance and escaped.
I didn’t have time to inspect my surroundings.
I had to flee before she woke up.
Instead, I took off the strange necklace around my neck.
I left it behind because I felt uneasy about it, sensing it had magical energy that I didn’t understand.
Anyway, after fleeing, I arrived in a city.
A place with a refuge set up through the information guild.
Jericho.
This city, located at the entrance to the demon realm, is where I will reside.
‘I clearly heard that Yurideke and Orpha live next door…’
But for some reason, they are nowhere to be seen.
Perhaps they had been away for a while, as the yard was overgrown with weeds.
‘I didn’t give them advance notice before coming, so it might be understandable if I can’t see them.’
Thus, I entered the mansion, my refuge.
A spacious house, more than enough for a single person.
From being a slave to living in a decent city, such a mansion is a success.
‘Hmm… Why does this feel somewhat familiar?’
Even though this was my first time here today, it felt strange.
I know this place.
So, it is indeed my refuge and home acquired through the information guild.
I received a pretty detailed description of what the house looks like from Hermis.
‘But it feels a bit… different in a familiar way. As if I had lived here for a short while before… what’s with that doghouse?’
There’s a doghouse in the yard.
It looks somewhat shabby, as if it hadn’t been used for quite some time.
‘Who used to live here?’
I entered the house, feeling unnecessarily tense and wary.
But there was no one inside.
The first floor had a spacious living room, a dining room, and a kitchen.
The second floor had one bedroom and two other rooms.
The rooms that didn’t seem to have a special purpose could be used freely.
All the minimum furniture necessary for a person to live was prepared.
It’s a house where all I need to do is move in.
‘But one of the rooms… has signs of someone using it. Were they doing some magical research?’
There are books mainly about healing serious injuries with magic.
I am not a wizard.
There shouldn’t be any reason for these to be here.
‘What is this? Is there a wizard secretly using it while I’m not around?’
Fortunately, it seems that it hadn’t been used recently.
‘It’s okay to live here, right…?’
The bed in the bedroom was quite large.
Dust was thickly piled up in various places.
‘First, I need to clean up.’
After opening the windows for ventilation, I headed to the storage.
‘Just as I suspected…’
I paused when I reached for the broom.
‘…How did I know that?’
I had just arrived here for the first time today.
But I instinctively thought of the empty room as ‘storage.’
And naturally, there was a broom prepared there.
‘What’s going on? This is a bit unsettling.’
I peeked around the house, but no one was in sight.
‘It’s probably nothing…?’
Even if it felt eerie, I decided to start cleaning anyway.
Using the broom, I swept the floor, and wrung out a rag from the storage to wipe the furniture.
The house was large, but there weren’t many pieces of furniture, so the cleaning finished quickly.
‘Now, this feels a bit more like a lived-in house.’
After confirming the tidied-up house, I went out to familiarize myself with the surroundings.
But then.
‘What is this…? This feels really familiar too?’
Jericho.
This is a city I had visited a few times before I was reincarnated.
So, just because it feels familiar doesn’t mean it’s entirely misplaced.
Even so, what’s confusing is that it feels entirely different from that kind of familiarity.
It feels like I lived here and experienced life.
‘Is this also a memory of this body called Judas?’
If that’s the case, it would make sense, but it doesn’t add up.
This Jericho only became a livable city relatively recently.
It was a harsh environment for the young boy named Judas before I reincarnated.
‘This is strange….’
As I walked, puzzled by all this.
“…Huh? Judas?”
Someone crossed my path on the street.
That person recognized me.
“Yeah?”
Who are they?
Four guys.
All their faces look familiar.
Though they’ve grown, I can still see their childhood selves…
“Leon?”
And Cooper, Connor, Brown.
They are the guys I encountered in the training camp back when we were younger.
Though we didn’t have the best of relationships…
“Judas!”
“What are you doing here?”
“Hey, why are you here?”
…What’s with these guys?
They act like we are close friends.
Moreover, they react as if it’s unusual for me to be here.
Not just surprised or flustered, but as if they’ve seen someone who shouldn’t be here.
“Uh, um… to explain in detail, it’s a long story…”
Eliya tried to kill me to completely absorb my magic.
It’s a bit awkward to spread that information around.
Besides, I need to live in hiding.
Eliya might still be looking for me, not willing to give up my power.
‘I was even considering a pseudonym to live in hiding, but then I run into someone who knows my name….’
I can’t deny it to someone who recognizes me.
So I gave them a vague answer.
“Just, you know, there are various circumstances….”
“Really…?”
“But you guys, have you all been living here originally? Together?”
“…Did you get hurt somewhere?”
“Huh?”
“Are you hurt in your head or something?”
“You don’t seem to remember, which could be the case.”
“Considering you were up against the Empire, you wouldn’t have gotten away without a few injuries.”
“So, did you come here to rest and recuperate?”
They are making various speculations among themselves.
…Not sure what they are talking about.
‘Are they saying I must have lost my memory? Does that mean I’ve been here before…?’
No matter how hard I try to remember, it won’t come back.
Then suddenly, one thought emerges.
‘…Eliya.’
Eliya restored my memories with dark magic.
Among those, there’s magic that interferes with memories or the mind.
‘No way?’
Did Eliya interfere with my memories?
So she removed or distorted some of my recollections?
‘Why would she?’
Does she possess important or critical information about me?
‘That can’t be the case.’
I know nothing about Eliya.
After all, she and I weren’t that close.
The fleeting interest she showed at the entrance of the training camp passed without a second thought.
Even after that, I hardly saw Eliya.
And it was the same after I became a knight.
Our relationship was strictly business.
Master and knight.
Just a contract bound us together.
So, when she tried to kill me, I was surprised even though I knew it would be tragic.
She treated me like I didn’t exist, and then suddenly tried to kill me.
‘Anyhow, there’s no way I possess important or critical information for Eliya. Yet if she tampered with my memories….’
To easily and comfortably rob me of my power, she might have implanted suggestions or tampered with my recollections.
If it’s the Eliya I know, that’s very much within her character.
I experienced it countless times before reincarnation.
A killer and an arsonist.
An utterly unpredictable person capable of anything.
A notorious bad woman.
Eliya must have meddled with my mind in some way.
If she went to such lengths, there’s no way she would give up on me.
It’s likely she’s still after me.
Realizing this made cold sweat break out on my back.
“Judas? Why do you look so pale?”
“Aren’t you supposed to stay inside and rest?”
My nervousness seems to have shown on my face.
“No, it’s nothing. Just a little something.”
I forced a smile and evaded their questions before returning home.
Maybe they were right.
‘I do need to rest….’
I had spent five years on high alert near Eliya.
And ever since I became a knight, it felt like I’ve been walking on a razor’s edge every day.
‘…But how did I even end up as a knight? I was clearly planning to run away… And why did Eliya appoint me as her knight…?’
I don’t know.
Since I escaped, everything has been a complete mess in my head.
Especially since I came here.
After a quick wash, I collapsed onto the bed.
Thud.
The bed jostles under me.
I absentmindedly touched my chest area.
As if searching for something.
Like, perhaps a necklace.
Probably golden.
It’s really strange.
I’ve never worn anything like a necklace before…
No, right.
The one I left beside Eliya.
Could that have been something important to me?
I left it behind because it made me uneasy, but was that the wrong choice?
I feel stifled.
The sense of unease I didn’t register before now constantly weighed on my mind.
The unease I had felt right after leaving Eliya.
This strange anxiety, as if I shouldn’t be here.
‘My memories seem to be in trouble… It feels right.’
Naturally connected memories are chopped apart.
As if someone deliberately excised them.
Did Eliya do that?
I felt an emptiness beside me.
A wish that someone could be there with me.
A longing for a small, warm body next to me.
Absolutely, it shouldn’t be so.
I miss a scent I’ve never experienced before.
A faint sweet fragrance.
If I were to bury my face in that person’s embrace, it would envelop all my senses with a warmth like the sun.
The words I muttered absentmindedly must have been the effects of my drowsiness.
“Eliya….”
*
I had a dream.
Eliya appeared.
A young Eliya.
Crying.
Climbing on top of me.
I was slumped partly against the wall.
I raised my aching arm.
Eliya pressed my hand to her face.
What a nonsensical dream.
That Eliya wouldn’t cry in front of me.
The scenes faded like water, then reassembled.
A barn.
Young me and Eliya, petting Yuel together.
Eliya tilts her head slightly and says.
“This is mine.”
The scene continued to scatter and gather repeatedly.
A man named Sardis.
I stopped him from harming Eliya, and I killed him.
Eliya and I, now adults.
Eliya smiles and cries while looking at me.
Certainly, this must be a dream.
Such unrealistic scenes can’t just appear.
That Eliya would neither smile nor cry.
And then, in a garden.
In front of a gravestone, she and I embraced each other.
Eliya speaks.
In a very gentle and affectionate voice.
“I like you very much, Judas.”
To which I replied.
My voice wavered precariously.
“…I like you very much too, Miss Eliya.”
Indeed, it’s something that cannot happen.
In the dream, I was sincere.
So this must be a dream.
An exceptionally wicked dream.
A bad dream.
It must be.
*
One week after Judas ran away, Eliya secretly infiltrated Jericho.
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