There's a voice.
I can hear it.
"Wof!"
Someone's calling me. Who is it?
"Oh, he's up!"
"Hey, hey. You alright?"
"...? Where am I?"
Blue sky. A white landscape I recognize.
Mineha, perched on Pakira's shoulder, speaks up.
"We're outside the great temple. You collapsed the second you walked in. See? Just like I told you. That pressure is dangerous."
"Indeed. Even at the Edda Megadia, I was feeling rather unwell."
Megadia-san slumps against a pillar, wine bottle in hand, and grumbles.
"The Return statue. That thing's legendary on its own. No wonder it was rough."
The great temple. Its colossal doors stand open.
Beyond them lies a worship hall bathed in the glow of stained glass.
And deeper still, the faint outline of a girl's statue — Generous's Return.
"Child. Here's some water. Drink."
"Oh, thank you very much."
Lupinus hands me a cup.
It really is water. I drink it like I was told. Lukewarm.
"I've felt sick too. The last time I felt this sick was... my eleventh sister's cooking — that knocked me out cold. Oh wait, no. It was when I ate my thirteenth sister's rotting meat pudding."
"No wonder you got sick from that."
"Actually, Rel. You're no better either."
"What do you mean?"
Everyone's here. Bid is here too. They're alive!
Thank goodness. Really, thank goodness.
"Oh, that clown..."
"Clown?"
"What's that?"
"It's from The Fool's... an undead dungeon monster. A jester type."
"There was one like that?"
Lupinus prefaced her words with that.
"When I was young, I saw one at a circus in the royal capital."
"Speaking of clowns — I saw one on the street once, ages ago. Balancing on a ball, clenching a bottle in their teeth, juggling knives. It was incredible. They even breathed fire."
"That's pretty amazing regardless of whether they're a clown or not."
"I'd like to see one at least once."
"That dungeon anomaly..."
"You mean the giant salamander?"
"Huh?"
"That one."
In the direction Pakira was pointing, there was a huge black something near the campsite.
Oh—that was the thing that fell into the Grand Temple that time.
"The giant land catfish."
"—Wof. You've got it wrong. That's a giant salamander. It's different from us land catfish, it is. Because the giant salamander is a dungeon monster, see."
Alexander came over together with Riv and explained.
No, wait, hold on. That thing—the giant land catfish—was a giant salamander?!
Huh? Those exist in this world? Giant salamanders...?
That thing?
"Oh, are you done setting it up?"
"Yes, sir. We can head back now."
"Inside the temple... treasure... there was nothing..."
Same sleepy face as always, but there was something vaguely dejected about him.
Bid looked exasperated.
"Riv. You were supposed to be on guard duty, and that's what you were doing?"
"Oh my. Riv. You sinner. Edda's curse will fall upon you, you know."
Megadia said, sipping her wine.
Not the slightest bit convincing.
"...Hmm. It's unscientific, but... it really does seem possible."
"Riv. You're hopeless, aren't you?"
"...Mm. My apologies.»
What's going on here?
Is this the result of the converging inductive reasoning that erased the Crown?
Inductive reasoning.
From my memories of my past life, it was a method of deriving general laws and conclusions from various events, facts, and data.
It seemed like a form of logical inference.
In short, it was making things fit together based on the events, facts, and data remaining after removing the Crown.
Did the current situation result from a world constructed by removing the Crown and forcing everything else to align?
So, the anomaly in the dungeon was the giant land catfish, or rather, the giant salamander.
And I was supposed to have fought the giant salamander right here.
The giant salamander that's right here... did it become a monster with [Earthquake] and [Teleport] abilities?
That way, the giant salamander wasn't killed, but everyone was teleported, a decisive battle was fought, and it was defeated.
It seems to be something like that.
It's become quite the story.
"Wof. Are you alright?"
"Y-Yes. I'm sorry. I'm always causing trouble."
"No trouble at all."
"That's right. Child."
"Wof, seriously. Being overly humble isn't a good thing."
"Wof-kun, you were amazing out there, weren't you!"
"Huh."
"I thought you were done for when the giant salamander sent you flying, but then you rode the giant salamander and nailed the core dead-on. Impressive."
Axe says proudly. Wait, did I really do something that impressive?
"That's a huge accomplishment, that is."
"Hm?"
"Nice assist. I'd love to let my fourteenth sister hear about this."
"Th-that's—"
"It's thanks to you that I was able to take it down with my Mausoleum of Light."
"R-really?"
"But I haven't forgotten what you did to me. Wof."
"H-hey!"
"Ho. That's something I'd like to hear about too. Very much so."
"P-Pakira. Your eyes are scary..."
It's because they're cat pupils, so they're freaking terrifying!
"Child. You. What did you do to Bid?"
"W-wait, no—"
"I'll never forget that... *pop*"
"Huh?"
"What the heck? That's just the worst."
"Mmm... teenage boys are such perverts..."
"Wha...?"
I had no memory of this, but Bid was laughing.
"Nyahaha! I mean, something definitely happened, but Pakira's trump card... that's too strong. The giant salamander! Half his face was gone, wasn't it?"
"That's for me to hear... But on another note, Wof. We have to talk later."
"O-of course."
What on earth did I do?
"Indeed, a bit more restraint would have been appreciated in that situation."
"So don't say things like that to me."
"Hmm... but Riv... likes Pakira's singing and dancing..."
"Riv?"
"I like it too."
"Wof!?"
"Oh my, what a different reaction~"
"That's... that's not possible! You fool!"
"Ow! Don't hit me! That actually hurt!"
"Alright, alright. That's enough. Everyone's here now."
After speaking like she was herding us, Megadia stood up, wine glass in hand.
"Don't forget anything. Let's return."
Everyone murmured their assent. Was this a school trip or something?
It felt kind of anticlimactic. But maybe that was for the best.
That was the best option. Axe asked.
"Alexander. Come to think of it, where did you put it?"
"That thing's in a place called the Chamber of Fate over in the East Chapel, I think."
"Huh."
Fate, huh.
What only I remember is probably meant as a caution.
That statue of the girl who was the reincarnation of Generous.
Did the model for that statue ever use the Banishment Line?
And if I got close to that statue, I'd probably be able to obtain it again.
Right now, I don't have the Banishment Line.
And I was relieved about that.
Still, it got me thinking.
What if I hadn't had the Banishment Line this time?
Even if we'd won, Bid and Axe would have died.
The others might not have made it out alive, either.
"..."
It's a stupid thought, but...
What if the Banishment Line wasn't there by coincidence?
What if it was there because I needed it?
Meaning — what if obtaining the Banishment Line was fated to happen?
What for? That crown — so that's what it means?
Then who would do something like that... but, well, I guess that figures.
"...Playing right into their hands, huh."
I let out a bitter laugh.
This was the feeling of being summoned as a hero and defeating the Demon Lord.
But the fact that [Generous] still exists — did that mean this time was just a coincidence?
Or was everything a coincidence, and everything I'd been thinking was nothing more than speculation?
That statue of the girl tied to Generous's return... it was too far away to make out clearly.
"Wof. What are ye doing?"
"I'm leaving you behind, you know—"
"What are you doing?"
"...Sorry. I'm coming."
I hurried to catch up with the others.
I didn't look back.
This was fine.
Humans shouldn't become gods.
Walking alongside Pakira with an inexplicably light heart, I suddenly noticed something.
"...Ah."
"Hm? What is it?"
"Come to think of it, I... my knife..."
Huh, it's gone. That's strange.
If Crown didn't erase it, it should still be here.
But it's not. Oh, there it is!
The elixir knife... is... here.
Huh? What about my other knives?
The knives that got erased by Banish when I first encountered Crown...?
The knives that were cut and erased during the time-stop battle...?
Hello? Inductive reasoning?
"What are you doing?"
"Um, my knives...?"
"What? Your knives? They broke when you stabbed the giant salamander, remember?"
Inductive reasoning!?
Huh? The knives... and so we returned.
Hydrangea. I'm home.
Four days after our return.
Once things had calmed down, I sat down to reconsider everything.
This was a world where Crown had been completely erased from past to future, and inductive reasoning had converged on it.
In other words, it was a world that had been altered to paper over the gap where Crown used to be.
Normally, shouldn't something like that cause forgotten memories to suddenly resurface?
But absolutely nothing of the sort had happened, so... what exactly had gone on?
I decided to do some digging.
First up — the tragedy at the Junkyard.
It turned out that several lizardmen had appeared instead of mimics.
Apparently there was some minor damage.
Agaro defeated the Lizardman General, and that was that.
It seemed I'd been there too, just like before.
After that, nothing had really changed.
Obtained the [Relic Plate].
Axe's grudge and the reconciliation with Mineha — exactly the same.
Up to the deepest reaches of the dungeon — Edda's Sanctuary — the flow hadn't changed at all.
This is where things started to diverge.
The massive double doors of the Grand Temple had remained shut.
So Mineha and I never went to the Grand Temple.
Hydrangea. The Cider Stand. Our table.
Axe spoke while sipping his cider.
"The doors were still shut, so we searched the area, found nothing, and had no choice but to come back with Alexander."
"You were just sitting there sipping tea and staring off into space. Like some old man."
With that, Mineha started eating from a heaping plate of meat dumplings.
Each one was roughly the same size as Mineha herself, and she polished them off, one after another.
A voracious eater, as always.
No, it wasn't even that level.
"I can kind of imagine it."
"Things were peaceful, then suddenly an earthquake hit."
"That was something else. It reminded me of the third sister's snoring."
"What kind of snoring was it?"
Rel and Hoss went back and forth as usual.
But what kind of snoring could it have been?
"At that time, together with the subjugation team… the giant salamander appeared, didn't it?"
"That's right. That was surprising."
"The location was pretty much on the opposite side, though."
"It was to the southwest, wasn't it?"
"Thanks to that, the pot of miscellaneous meat stew spilled over."
"And then they attacked. The lizardmen."
So the stand-in for mimics really was lizardmen.
There had been lizardmen where we got teleported, too.
Could that have been how it was originally?
"We drove them off, but the campsite was an utter mess."
"There were concerns about the defense, too."
"None of that was even considered beforehand."
"Well, after that, all we had to do was go home."
"That wouldn't have happened otherwise."
"That's why we thought about the defense and made the temple district into the encampment."
"The temple district?"
That was true — if it was there, there were walls.
There was plenty of food, and we didn't even need to set up tents.
So the Mimic's puppet box had become the temple district.
"During the relocation, we encountered Torquetam from the anomaly subjugation team. And Bid, too."
"I see. And what about Megadia?"
"When I asked later, apparently she was fighting an Octopus Queen."
"Hmm? Not a Lizardman Queen?"
"An Octopus Queen."
Monsters like that existed?
Around here too — it wasn't any different from how Agaro and the others had been left behind.
"But what's the sudden rush?"
"Talking about all that back then — well, I'm happy you're treating me, though."
"Are you planning to write a memoir or something?"
"That sort of thing is what my eighth sister excels at."
"Your sisters really seem like they can do anything."
"Heh, yeah. Except for marriage."
"Cut it out with jokes that aren't funny."
"Hey, you, that's—you know..."
"Rel. Don't say that in front of the people involved. You'll definitely get killed for real."
"I know. I don't want to end up like the seventh sister."
"Whoa..."
"That sister really never learns, huh."
"So, Wof. Why are you looking into something like this all of a sudden?"
"Ah, well, that witch asked me to."
"I see."
"I see."
"I see."
"I see."
Everyone accepted it without question. That's how much trust the witch had earned.
After that, we arrived at the Temple District, where Megadia had also set up camp.
And then it was time to subjugate the giant salamander—the anomaly within the dungeon.
After the subjugation, before heading home with a one-night stay in between.
Megadia was able to open the great temple's massive double doors, so she did, and the moment we went inside, I collapsed.
Megadia collapsed too, and the rest couldn't even enter—their pressure was too overwhelming.
I could feel their firm will to absolutely not go in there.
I'd gotten the general picture now.
What still bothered me was... yeah. It was still that.
I steeled myself and headed to where she was.
The ruins of a watchtower overlooking the town.
There were scattered remnants of the tower here and there, but the view from up here was really nice.
"So, what is it? Asking me to talk in a place like this."
Pakira looked puzzled.
Her cat ears were twitching, and her tail was swaying back and forth in a restless little wiggle.
Plus, since she was off-duty, she was wearing a white cape over a yellow dress.
Um, hmm. How should I bring this up?
"So, just to confirm — the night before we took on that disturbance. Did you do the watch shift with me?"
"............You fool. What's the point of asking something like that?"
Pakira's face turned bright red and she put on a sulky expression.
Ah, so she did. Phew — I'm glad.
For some reason, the thought that I hadn't experienced that night was really unpleasant.
And the showdown with Crown was gone.
Because nobody had died... there was no longer any need to give it to Pakira.
So the sacred egg of the elixir was still sitting deep in my pouch.
Then Pakira shot me a sidelong glance — a half-lidded, knowing look.
What, was she angry? Either way, there was something I wanted to tell her.
"Ah, thank you. Thanks to you, Pakira, I was able to get my energy back."
I'd found my courage, too. In some ways, it felt like a weight had been lifted.
Right now, I was in a cheerful mood.
"......You're just a child, aren't you."
"Huh?"
Pakira sighed.
Well, that was fair. I was a child.
"———Wof. Buy me a meal. You've got money, right?"
"I do, but..."
The commission fee for the dungeon exploration hadn't come in yet, though.
"Treat me."
As she said that, Pakira flicked her ears and swished her two tails—one long, one short—in a sinuous little wave.
Something about Pakira just now was... cat-like.
Well, she was a cat-beastkin, so that made sense.
But she was being especially cat-like right now.
"O-Okay. Sure."
Well, buying a meal wasn't a big deal.
Besides, I wanted to hear the details about the dungeon anomaly subjugation too.
With that, I had a pretty good understanding of what had been altered.
Just having the Crown gone made things surprisingly easier to grasp.
That Crown had been the worst.
And it had been wrong. That was how it felt.
How should I put it — was it an error? Was that what it was?
So to correct it, of course — Pakira looked at me and opened her mouth.
"That's right. There was something I wanted to ask you about."
"What is it?"
"I never did ask what happened with Bid."
"Oh."
I'd forgotten.
That was the first thing I should have asked about.
This is bad. For some reason, it feels really bad.
I smiled to cover it up.
"That was her idea of a joke, you know."
"Was it now?"
"Well, let's go. The Cedol Teahouse is fine, right?"
"Mm. I suppose I'll let it slide for now, then."
Pakira gave a wry smile.
I'm feeling surprisingly okay today, all things considered.
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