Franz sat still in his seat, looking back into his past.
That day.
The day he first fell into the depths of Dreamland, the day his father went mad—it was an unforgettable memory.
The very sight before him now was that memory.
No matter how much he wished to forget, he could not. What had been driven deep into his soul remained painfully vivid.
Whenever he closed his eyes, it rose up on its own.
A foolish brat had stumbled and fallen into the depths of Dreamland.
And there, he faced the one existence he should never have encountered.
—Oh dear. Child, did you lose your way?
Even if he had met a shark in the pitch-black abyss of the sea, it would not have been like this.
—It is not yet the time for me to awaken, yet you made me open my eyes. And on top of that, to think it would be a human trespassing on the Goddess’s domain. You truly are a wicked child.
Nirva’s voice was gentle.
It was like listening to a lullaby, his ears melting just by hearing it.
And when he smiled, he looked like a kind grandfather doting on his grandchild.
But Franz was not deceived by such appearances.
The sweeter Nirva’s voice sounded, the more goosebumps erupted over his entire body.
That thing was no human.
And it had no intention of ever letting him live.
As if sensing that Franz realized it, Nirva paused for a moment and then sneered.
—The child is quick-witted. Too bad you’re not enough to play with until I fall asleep again.
As Nirva said that, he slowly reached out his hand.
Franz, frozen in place, could do nothing but watch that palm draw nearer.
That was when warmth enveloped him from behind.
—I am sorry.
—Fa... ther?
A familiar voice.
Maybe because the situation was so hopeless, that voice struck him even more deeply.
—I should have paid you more attention. This is my fault.
—N-no, Father. It’s because I... I was worthless...
Nirva frowned at the appearance of an unexpected guest.
—Not just one human, but two? Guests barging in through my door uninvited. No, this is nothing short of thievery.
—I have one request for you. It is true we trespassed of our own accord, but could you not overlook it and simply let us go?
Nathanael asked Nirva politely.
Nirva burst into laughter, as if he had just heard the funniest thing.
—Kuhahaha! To think I would live long enough to hear a human politely beg me!
The expression carved onto Nirva’s face vanished in an instant.
It happened so fast, it was as if he were wearing a mask.
—How dare you spout such insolence before me?
—So, it cannot be done after all.
Nathanael let out a quiet sigh.
From the moment he had seen Nirva, he had already prepared himself.
The instant Nirva moved to act, Nathanael acted first.
The figure holding Franz in his arms vanished from the spot like a mirage.
Nirva hesitated for a moment, then twisted his face at the realization that Nathanael had fled.
—Not only did you dare to wake me, you think to escape? I will never let you go peacefully.
While Nirva vowed that, Nathanael appeared at a distance away, facing Franz.
—Franz.
—F-Father?
—Originally, this was supposed to be my duty. So do not burden your heart.
As he said this, Nathanael took from Franz’s tightly clenched hands “that thing,” lifting it away.
—Perhaps this was my true fate all along.
—Father, what do you mean...
—Listen well. There is no way to run from that existence here. And since we have fallen into these depths, there is no way to escape safely. At least not for the two of us.
—The two of us...
Quick to grasp things, Franz’s eyes widened at what Nathanael was implying.
—All I can say is that I am sorry to you.
—Father! What do you mean by that!
—If we had just a little more time, perhaps we could have made more memories.
Franz felt a sense of dread at those words.
Nathanael pulled something from his belt and hung it around Franz’s neck.
—Tell Clara that I am sorry for being such a useless husband. And tell her not to grieve too much. This was something bound to happen eventually.
—Why? Why? It was my fault! I didn’t listen properly to your words...
Franz’s voice grew thick with moisture.
Nathanael only shook his head with a smiling face, gently brushing aside his son’s faltering cry.
—It is not your fault. This has been a kind of destiny laid down long ago. It was my failing to try and ignore it.
—I don’t understand what you mean.
—You don’t need to. In fact, it is better that you don’t.
Nathanael wiped away the tears streaming down Franz’s face with his hand.
—My son. It’s all right. When you leave, I will follow soon after. So do not worry.
—...Truly?
When Franz asked, Nathanael smiled brightly and nodded.
—Of course. Have you forgotten who your father is?
At that moment, a sandstorm raged in the distance.
The massive sands carried will, surging like a tidal wave toward where Franz and Nathanael stood.
—It seems it has already found us.
—F-Father, I...!
—Shh. That’s enough. We’ll finish the rest of this talk another time.
Nathanael activated the artifact hanging from Franz’s neck.
It was an emergency escape device, created in case its user ever sank too deep into Dreamland and was swallowed by the massive dream pressure.
It required the highest-grade magic stone to make; only Nathanael and Clara possessed one.
—Go.
Nathanael gave Franz’s shoulder a light push.
Franz’s body floated upward, rising like an ascension into the sky.
He stretched his hand toward his father.
But that hand never reached him.
Through falling tears, what Franz saw was the sandstorm wearing the face of a gigantic old man, and the back of Nathanael standing firmly against it.
That was the last memory Franz carried.
The end of the dream he always had.
Franz opened his eyes.
With a blank face, he rose to his feet. What he saw were Dreamwalkers staring at him with wary eyes.
Wariness, hostility, suspicion.
There was not a single favorable emotion directed at him.
Whether they knew him or not, everyone reacted the same way.
Franz let out a faint laugh.
His gaze fell upon an old woman being supported by other Dreamwalkers.
Even Franz, who paid no mind to the others, could not tear his eyes away from her.
“Why did you come?”
The old woman, Clara Cowen, scolded him.
“It is none of your concern.”
“That is...”
Clara was at a loss for words.
It was the other Dreamwalkers who burst out in anger instead.
“You insolent wretch! How dare you speak that way to the Master!”
“You detestable bastard! Think of what you have done! You should be groveling in apology!”
They were people who knew Franz from before.
Franz replied to them with cold indifference.
“So what.”
“W-what?”
“Even if I said I was sorry, what would change?”
Those who had shouted in rage fell silent, mouths gaping in disbelief at his brazen words.
“Even if I shed tears and begged forgiveness, what would change?”
“Silence!”
Zantman, unable to bear it any longer, thundered in anger.
“At the very least, the Master! Even after losing the one she loved and even her child left her, she remained steadfast in the School and fulfilled her duty! She who must have suffered more than anyone else! She is not like you, who turned away from reality!”
To those words, Franz answered with a sneer.
“Turned away from reality? Isn’t the Dream School itself nothing more than a gathering of those who turn their eyes from reality?”
“What did you say!”
“I, on the contrary, faced reality. To fight against the demon that might awaken again one day.”
Franz drew out the dagger he had kept at his side.
“At least I took one of its arms. But what did you do? You were trampled on without resistance, were you not?”
“Y-you mad bastard...!”
Zantman’s beard quivered with fury.
Franz ignored him completely and spoke to Clara.
“With your power, it is impossible to face that monster. Take the hindrances and leave.”
“You dare...!”
The Dreamwalkers were about to shout in anger, but a {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} small wave of Clara’s hand silenced them.
They all pressed their lips tightly shut, waiting for her to speak.
Franz stared at Clara with a cold and frigid gaze.
It was not the gaze of a son looking at the mother who once cared for him, but of someone seeing an obstacle standing in the way of his revenge.
And what Clara said to her long-absent son, under such a gaze, was completely unexpected.
“Have you been eating well?”
“...!”
The Dreamwalkers widened their eyes in shock at the utterly unforeseen words.
The one who reacted even more strongly was Franz.
“You’ve grown thin since I last saw you. My son. How much you must have suffered.”
“What nonsense are you...!”
Franz bit his lip in silence.
The hand gripping his dagger trembled violently.
“I know. No matter how coldly you speak, no matter what face you put on, you’re still worrying about me.”
“Do not speak such nonsense. I have changed.”
“A mother knows. When I look into your eyes, they are the same now as they were then. That too...”
“This unchanging face, you mean?”
Franz forced a mocking smile, as if trying to shatter the mood.
“That day, when my foolishness made me fall into the depths of Dreamland, this is what became of me. Even after so many years, I hardly age at all. As though I can never forget my past, my reality has stopped changing.”
The reason Franz retained his youthful appearance after so long was not a blessing.
It was a curse.
A scar branded by the depths themselves, forcing him never to forget his mistake.
Though his body had grown larger, his pale skin and boyish face still resembled that child of the past— the self who had caused his father’s death.
“Because my appearance hasn’t changed, do you think I haven’t changed either?”
“I wasn’t speaking of your appearance, child. I meant that kind heart of yours, that even while pretending otherwise still thinks of others—it has not changed either.”
Clara said that and then broke into a dry cough.
“Master!”
“Old woman!”
Everyone turned toward her with worry written on their faces.
She had burned her life force to regain a youthful form and now returned to her old self, but the aftereffects still lingered.
Franz’s eyes shook violently.
“Do not worry. I am not dying this instant. It is merely the backlash of what I forced myself to do just now.”
Color returned to Clara’s face for a moment, and she looked at Franz with gentle eyes.
“It is not your fault.”
“...Which is why it must be corrected.”
For that, Franz had left the Dream School and continued his research alone to kill Nirva.
And in that process, he encountered Zero Order.
—Recently, I heard of someone obsessively prying into demons. And what do I find? A child.
—Who are you.
—Would it be enough if I said I am the demon you seek?
From the very moment he appeared, he was unusual.
He made no attempt to hide his identity, and openly called himself a demon.
—But I am not the demon you are looking for, I should tell you that.
—What is your goal.
—Oh. Quick-witted, aren’t you? You don’t even doubt me.
A crescent smile hung on Zero Order’s lips.
—I will let you kill that demon.
A demon whispering so that another demon might be killed.
Anyone with a normal mind would have coldly rejected such a proposal.
But back then, Franz was desperate enough to cling to any rope.
If it was to kill Nirva, he did not care even if the hand he grasped was that of a demon.
—The price. My soul?
—Hahaha. Amusing. So that’s how young ones these days think of demons? Sorry, but I have no need for your soul. Instead, I want you to teach me the abilities the Dreamwalkers use.
—That’s all?
—Hm? You call that all? Mages froth at the mouth when asked to share their specialty spells. So, what do you say?
—It doesn’t matter. If you can only teach me how to kill that demon.
—Good. Then our contract is sealed.
Under a starlit moonlit night.
Zero Order held out his hand to Franz.
—I will tell you my name, especially for you. My name is Suruna.
—Su... runa?
Franz’s eyes widened.
In the writings about demons, he had encountered that name many times.
In the past, the great demon known to have fought Saintess Arkenis of the Lumenis Church and perished with her— that was Suruna.
By the tales, he was like a vast darkness that could engulf the world. But the Suruna before his eyes was nothing like that.
Not so different from a human, was he?
But Franz believed it.
He was even grateful.
For it was not the hand of just any demon he grasped, but the hand of a great demon.
With that, he was certain he could fulfill his purpose.
—Your name?
—Franz Cowen.
Franz spoke, then shook his head.
—No. Just call me Franz.
That was their first meeting.
“For my father’s revenge, I took the hand of a demon.”
Franz had crossed a river from which there was no return.
Clara looked at him with a face full of sorrow.
She understood his heart.
His life until now had been soaked in vengeance and guilt.
Even Clara herself had once thought such thoughts.
But still.
It could not be allowed.
“Franz. There is something I have not told you. And it is something you all, of the Dream School, must hear.”
At Clara’s sudden words, everyone’s eyes turned to her.
“This is the truth passed down only to the Master of the Dream School. And it is something connected to Nathanael, who left us.”