A mysterious white space, blanketed in mysterious white fog.
"............"
I stood frozen in that space.
I know this place. I come here every time I fall asleep.
Every time I fall asleep... Right. I collapsed.
I collapsed. Ah, I... lost to Alverd von Rootbelt.
That guy surpassed me in everything.
His overwhelming power left me completely helpless. Frustrating. Maddening. I hated it.
This was the first time I'd felt such helpless frustration and hatred welling up inside me.
It was so deeply unfair — his power had destroyed everything.
Frustrating. Maddening. Frustrating. Maddening.
No. I can't cry. But... but...
"Wof."
A supernatural, peerless beauty with the glint of a blade appeared.
She approached, and upon seeing my tear-streaked face, she gasped.
"Wh-What's wrong— *!*"
Before I knew it, I had thrown myself into the arms of the beautiful knife goddess.
And I cried. Out of frustration, embarrassment, helplessness, and sorrow.
I buried my face in the goddess's ample chest and cried and cried and cried to my heart's content.
I kept crying, grumbling, raising my voice and screaming. I poured out everything inside me.
Ugly, pathetic, filthy, horrible, utterly repulsive—I vomited every last bit of it onto the goddess.
The goddess silently listened, gently stroked my head, and stayed like that until I stopped crying.
Eventually, I exhausted myself and stopped crying, then slowly pulled away from the goddess.
"Are you feeling better now, Wof?"
"Y-yes. Um, I'm sorry... for that unsightly display..."
I had impulsively burst into tears right there in the knife goddess's chest.
And on top of that... all those things and more... how embarrassing. My face flushed red.
"No. It's perfectly fine. This is how boys grow stronger, you know."
The goddess smiled. An archaic smile, through and through.
That smile made me realize... I had to say something.
"...Um, why am I here?"
"Good question. I didn't summon you here to comfort you. But your resolve came through loud and clear. Wof—do you want to become stronger?"
"Yes. I want to become stronger."
"Do you want to beat Alverd von Lutberuto?"
"I want to beat him!"
"With where you stand now, you wouldn't even make it onto the stage to fight him."
"That's... yes."
"And before we even get to strong or weak—Wof, you simply don't know enough."
The knife goddess picked something up in her hand.
That was the knife goddess's guardian knife.
"Goddess?"
"Pick up the same knife. I'm going to have you acquire a Relic now."
"A Relic?"
"The Relic is called [Knife Magic]."
"Acquire?"
"There are three commonly known methods of acquiring a Relic. Being born with one. Using a Relic Plate. Or compatibility with an OOPArt. But there's actually one more method. It's acquiring one by practicing and mastering an action or behavior that has already become a Relic."
"There's a method like that...!"
"It's not commonly known, and there's no need to make it known going forward. So please don't go sharing it carelessly. It would put you in danger as well."
The goddess issued a warning.
"O-Okay."
"From now, I'm going to have you acquire the Relic [Knife Magic] through practical combat. Don't worry—with the cooperation of the Dream Phantom Goddess, I've compressed the time in this dream world. One minute outside is roughly one hour in here."
"Huh?"
One minute was one hour?
"Also, since this is a dream, you won't die no matter what injuries you take. You won't get hungry, and your throat won't get dry. However, you will feel pain and fatigue."
"...Practical combat means the opponent is you, Goddess?"
"That's right. You have a problem with that?"
"No."
"I am the knife goddess. So I've mastered the knife inside and out. I will absolutely make you acquire it."
The goddess said that, then elegantly rolled the knife across her fingers, spun it once through the air, and caught it.
Fancy technique, but it feels like the kind of move some knife-licking punk would pull.
"N-nice and easy, please."
I readied my knife.
In that instant, an invisible blade tore through me.
I want to become stronger. For the first time, I truly felt that.
I open my eyes. Pitch black. So it's nighttime.
That's the first thing I can't believe.
I must have spent months in that space, but I can accept now that it was a dream.
It really was a dream, but I did firmly acquire the Relic [Knife Magic].
After acquiring it while nearly dying, the goddess explained things to me.
Apparently she went way too far this time.
[Knife Magic] was supposed to be unlocked when I'd broken 30 knives.
But Arveld's surprise attack pushed the whole schedule up, or something like that.
What a mess.
Next time we meet will be when I've broken my 20th knife.
She said we'd meet again soon, but like I'm going to let that happen.
But I went and broke two in a row. And one of them I'd only just gotten!
Damn you, Arveld.
"............?"
Weird. Something's wrong. I recognize this ceiling. Actually, there's nothing *but* recognition here.
And these sheets and the down comforter. Don't tell me...
"Am I... at home?"
Wasn't I supposed to have been captured? I'd lost to Arveld and been kidnapped.
So I'd naturally assumed I'd wake up in some unfamiliar cell.
"Well, well, you're finally awake."
"Huh?"
I looked up toward the voice.
A woman was sitting on the edge of the bed, angled slightly away from me.
Elongated animal ears. Long hair with a dull silver sheen. Three tails beneath it.
Despite the dark clothing, her sensual silhouette was plain for anyone to see.
Wait, can I really make out this much? She's wearing clothes, right?
Up close, she wore a gentle, doting smile bathed in the dim light.
"...The Witch?"
Yeah. It was the Witch.
"Mm-hm. Doesn't seem like you have a fever."
The Witch gently touched my forehead, then stroked my hair.
For some reason, the Witch felt absurdly close—closer than usual.
Not just physically. There was a closeness on a mental level, too.
Her three tails were swaying as well.
"Witch. I... lost. To Arveld von Rautvelt..."
"Oh my. So you fought him, did you?"
"It wasn't even a fight. Not even that..."
"I see, I see. Well now, that man. He's a Rank One delver, they call him the 'Ruiner of Destruction,' and he serves as Kuun Hunt's clan master. The real deal, he is."
"I-I see."
That guy was Kuun Hunt's boss.
He was the enemy's leader. That guy.
"Even so, even so... you still want to defeat him, young Wof?"
The witch asked gently, shifting her body onto the bed.
Then she gently took hold of my head and placed it on her thigh.
"Witch. What are you—?"
"Fufu. Fufu. Just every now and then."
She stroked my head. Her fingers brushed my cheek.
The witch's hands were cool, small, and smooth.
My heart raced in surprise at the sudden lap pillow.
But the thought of her realizing that made me feel vaguely embarrassed.
So I answered the witch's question.
"I want to win. No — next time, I will win. I'll beat him. So, witch. I have a favor to ask. Please... make me stronger. I want to become strong. No matter what... I want to beat him. Beat him. This time for sure."
I looked up at the witch's face — not at her chest above me, but at the face visible through the gap.
For the first time in my life, I wanted to become this strong.
Why hadn't I tried to become strong until now?
I knew the reason.
In my heart, I'd been deluding myself that I was strong.
And that strength came from the very Relic I despised.
How foolish. Arveld made me realize that.
The witch was looking down at me at an angle.
Her cheeks were faintly flushed, and she let out a sweet sigh.
"Not bad, not bad. Young Wof never had any interest in strength before. Normally you'd have none at all. It's only natural you'd lose. That's the Arveld von Lutberth for you. But now you're burning with fighting spirit, wanting a rematch because you want to win. I can finally see young Wof's true nature."
"My true nature... Perhaps so."
I spoke with resolve.
The witch stroked my cheek. She cupped it gently with one hand. It felt nice.
"Hehehe, hehehe, I find that brave attitude very endearing indeed. Of course, of course. Young Wof, as your master, I too will spare no effort in cooperating."
"Thank you. Ah, um, by the way, how did I end up here? Arveld said she'd been hired to kidnap me, so I assumed..."
I'd been taken away, and I figured it was some kind of prison — but it turned out to be my own home.
"My my, well now. That's thanks to the Sword of Swords."
"The Sword of Swords...?"
I was surprised by an unexpected name.
Why would a First-Class Delver like the Sword of Swords be involved?
"Come now, young Wof. You helped find the dog, didn't you?"
"Yes. I helped Miss Celeste and we found it."
"As it turns out, she's a disciple of the Sword of Swords."
"S-So that's what happened..."
Half-convinced, half-surprised.
"And so, and so, the Sword of Swords was the repayment — she went and rescued young Wof from Alverd's clutches. Even he wouldn't want to seriously tangle with the Sword of Swords; too risky. And then Mineha and the others happened upon the Sword of Swords carrying young Wof on her shoulder. So that's more or less how things ended up."
"I see..."
I owe everyone my thanks. Especially the Sword of Swords — I'm deeply grateful.
The witch pressed a finger to my lips, squishing gently.
"Well now, well now — here's the real story. Just the other day, Kon went and stormed straight into Kuun Hunt headquarters."
"...Stormed in?"
"Of course she did. They tried to kidnap her beloved disciple, after all. No way she'd let that slide. She and Shiro and the others reduced the headquarters to half-ruins, but the big shots — Forkat and that one — weren't there."
Half-ruins... So Alverd wasn't there after all.
Partly a relief. Partly a shame.
"Honestly, honestly — what were they thinking? The Great Browns are right around the corner, and they go and do something like this. When Kon first ran into them, she was ready to 'thank' them right then and there, but she figured young Wof would want his revenge, so she decided to step back and watch."
"Thank you... come to think of it, Narcissus was saying something about that."
In my fading consciousness, it was clear that guy had been grumbling.
The witch grinned. Ah, that witch's grin.
A smile from the witch that puts you at ease in precisely the way that shouldn't put you at ease.
"My my, young Wof. Quite the achievement. Narcissus — Narcissus-Utopia is the second coming of Generous."
"Wait... so that means... the person who ordered my kidnapping was the second coming of Generous...?"
In other words, they knew I could become [Generous].
I don't know how they found out. But they know.
The witch narrowed her eyes and stared at me.
"Well, well, well. This year's festival is shaping up to be quite the dramatic affair, isn't it?"
"Witch. I'm sorry."
"Oh my, oh my, there's no need for little Wof to apologize. Now then, just keep resting for a while longer, dear."
"...Yes. But my gauntlets... the gauntlets the witch made for me..."
They had been smashed to pieces by Alverd.
No amount of regret could undo it. The witch then tilted her head with a puzzled look.
"Hm? Hm? The gauntlets are right over there, dear."
"Huh... oh, they really are... huh?"
Unscathed, the Gauntlets of the Quiet Saint lay by my pillow.
Not a single scratch. How?
"Could it be that the witch brought them and repaired them?"
"No, no. When Kon saw little Wof sleeping here..."
"It..."
"...was..."
"...al-"
"...ready..."
"...just..."
"...like..."
"...this."
Left in That State, You Know
...I
left
it
in
that
state
for
you,
you
know,
right?"
...
"Huh?"
"So, so, I was sure young Wof had just forgotten about it, you know."
"No, I had it on properly..."
Huh? I did have it on, didn't I? It fell apart, right?
Then why is it lying here like nothing happened? Huh?
"Ah, ah, that, you know. Maybe the self-repair and tracking instincts kicked in, you know."
"Huh?"
"Actually, actually, figuring something like this might happen, I used materials with self-repair and a special trait that tracks the owner wherever they go, you know. So even if it got torn to pieces, it'd repair itself and find its way back, you know. And it actually worked, you know."
"R-Right, is that so..."
Convenient, but terrifying.
"Well well, young Wof. If you want to get stronger, that means training, dearie."
"Y-Yes..."
"Besides, besides, you never know when you'll be attacked again. This place is dangerous with the lab and all, dearie."
"Y-Yes."
"So, so, so. For the time being... you'll be staying at Kon's house, dearie. For your safety, dearie."
"I-I see, that's how it'll be."
The witch poked at my eyelids with her finger, pressing from the outer corner of my eye to the tip of my nose. I had no idea what she found so entertaining.
Her green eyes gleamed with an eerie, jewel-like light, like jade.
"Well, well. Anyhow, regardless. Tonight, just take it nice and easy, dearie."
"I'm tired too. My body is just... completely exhausted."
She had said dreams wouldn't affect the body, yet I felt strangely heavy.
I was quite sluggish indeed.
"Of course, of course you would be. After all, after all, you were sleeping for a full four days, dearie."
"...Eh? ...Four days?"
"Mhm, mhm. You were asleep that whole time, dearie."
The witch gave my forehead a little poke with her fingertip as I stood there, stunned.
No wonder I felt so lethargic I could barely move.
Man... I want to get stronger.