A dining table was surrounded by a cozy warmth. The dishes being served were an ordinary loaf of bread, some homemade soup, thick strips of bacon, and fried eggs. Steamed or baked potatoes were piled up in a separate basket.
“Ah,” Eugene let out a sigh.
As he was putting some bacon and a fried egg onto a slice of bread, he suddenly realized something.
“So this is just a dream,” he muttered to himself.
He turned to look in the direction that a rattling sound was coming from. A woman wearing loose house clothes with an apron pulled on top was standing in the kitchen. He knew what she was doing. She was grinding her coffee beans to make herself some coffee.
Eugene didn’t enjoy drinking coffee enough to have the patience for such an onerous task. He knew that she should also feel the same way. However, as part of a quiet and leisurely daily life, even cumbersome tasks like those could become a pleasure.
Eugene silently laid down the fork he was holding.
Then he tilted his chair backward and was lost in thought for a few moments.
How long had this dream been going on for? It seemed to have lasted quite a long time. He wondered just what he had been doing before finally realizing that this was all a dream. Just what kind of life had he been living out in this dream?
He was able to recall the answers to these questions very quickly. It seemed that he had just… lived a normal and peaceful life. And for quite some time at that. With a wry grin, Eugene got to his feet. Thud.
The chair fell backward.
“You’re not the one showing me this dream, right?” Eugene asked, even though he already knew the answer to that.
He didn’t receive any response. The rattling sound had also stopped at some point.
“Like I thought,” Eugene shook his head as he walked to the kitchen.
The figure of the woman with her back turned towards him grew blurry. Without any hesitation, Eugene stretched out his hand.
As with all lucid dreams that aren’t controlled by someone else, Eugene’s dream followed his wishes. The woman turned and looked at Eugene.
“I have to say, I really didn’t want to dream about this,” Eugene muttered to himself while staring at Noir’s face, which had a faint smile on it.
This wasn’t a dream that Noir had created for him. The remaining fragments of emotions that he felt towards her had shaped this dream all on their own. Just like the dream Noir, Eugene smiled faintly as he stretched out his other hand as well.
He could see a ring on his ring finger. Noir, who was just standing there blankly with a smile, was also wearing an identical ring on her ring finger. This was just that sort of dream.
Without a pause, Eugene clenched his outstretched hand.
The scene laid out in front of him crumpled up around his grip like a piece of paper. It kept shrinking smaller and smaller until it completely disappeared. In the blackness left by the dream’s departure, Eugene closed his eyes.
~
When he opened his eyes again, the dream space was no longer in complete darkness. Countless small lights were illuminating his dream. Eugene could hear voices coming from each of these small lights. They were calling out his name. While sensing all of these voices and the different sources of faith that were connected to him, Eugene let out a wry smile.
“Was I really still dreaming even though they were being this noisy and distracting?” Eugene muttered to himself as he walked towards the light. “It seems that her curse worked all too well.”
A bright light engulfed Eugene.
~
“Kyaaah!”
Until just now, all that Eugene could see was a dazzling white light, but when he actually opened his eyes, the light he saw was very dim, washed-out, and gentle. A pale, orange-colored light that wasn’t all that bright. It was the light that could only come from a night lamp placed next to a bed.
“Kyaaaaaaaaah!”
Another thing that Eugene noticed was that it was extremely, extremely noisy. This sound wasn’t coming from just one person. This was the sound of two people screaming at the tops of their lungs. It was so loud that, for a moment, Eugene missed the quiet and peaceful dream he had just been having, and he felt like he wanted to go back there. It felt as if he had suddenly woken up in the middle of a battlefield, and all of the noise was so loud that it was making his eardrums numb.
Soon, Eugene came to his full senses. Even though the light was already so faint, it was still causing his eyes to hurt. They felt sore and hot as if a beam of light was being shone directly onto his corneas. He reflexively tried to close his eyes once more, but even doing that was so uncomfortable that his body wasn’t able to obey his thoughts. He had only opened his eyes for a few moments, but his eyeballs seemed to have instantly dried up, and his eyelids felt stiff.
“Ah…,” Eugene groaned.
His lips and the inside of his mouth didn’t feel too dry to speak, but the voice that emerged sounded cracked and stuffy. His body's responsiveness was also very slow. As Eugene tried speaking a few more times, turning his body, and rolling his dry eyes, the loud screaming coming from next to him continued with intermittent pauses.
“Hey, hey,” Eugene let out a deep groan as he turned his head toward the source of the two different screams.
The lighting might be dim, but it was still enough to make out their faces.
Right next to his bed, Eugene saw Mer and Raimira screaming while hugging each other. And they weren’t just screaming. He didn’t know the reason for it, but both of them were shedding thick streams of tears.
“Sir Eugene has opened his eyes!”
“B-benefactor is alive!”
It seemed that they weren’t crying out of sorrow or grief but because they were feeling so joyful. For now, Eugene felt that he needed to calm them down, but the moment he opened his lips to say those words, the two kids leaped onto Eugene’s bed at the same time.
“Sir Eugene!”
“Benefactor!”
“Cough—!”
Right at the moment when he was about to speak, Mer’s head slammed into his solar plexus. It was such an effective and damaging blow that it was difficult to determine whether it was truly an act done out of concern and affection, or whether it was actually an attack aimed with clear hostile intent. The timing was certainly accurate, but it had been able to strike so painfully and heavily because most of Eugene’s senses felt strangely awkward and dull.
His arm was also hurting him. Raimira, who had horns on her head, thankfully hadn’t slammed headfirst into him as Mer had, but she was instead holding onto Eugene’s arm and eagerly rubbing her forehead against him.
Eugene felt like he knew why his body felt so heavy and sore.
Barely managing to catch his faltering breath, Eugene slowly squeezed out a question, “How many days has it been since I fell asleep?”
Mer, who had driven her head into his solar plexus and was now violently drilling her head into him, finally raised her head.
“How many… how many days?” Mer slowly repeated herself. “Just now, did you really ask how many days it’s been?”
“Ah…,” Eugene took a deep breath before continuing. “Ahem, well, it seems like it hasn’t just been a few days. It looks like I might have been asleep for quite some time—”
“It’s been three months!” Mer let out a shout. “Three months! Three whole months! If we just count it by the days, you’ve been lying there asleep for almost a hundred days now!”
“M-Mer, to be more precise, Benefactor has finally opened his eyes after only ninety-three days,” Raimira gently corrected her.
“What’s the difference between ninety-three and a hundred!” Mer angrily roared back.
“It’s a difference of a week,” Raimira pointed out. “Also, I don’t think that it’s a good idea to shout so loudly at Benefactor, who has miraculously woken up after being asleep for ninety-three days.”
Mer hissed back at her, “You vile thing! I’ve told you before, don’t take advantage of moments like these to win over Sir Eugene! Right now, Sir Eugene needs to be scolded!”
Then, just like they usually did, Mer and Raimira both grabbed onto each other’s hair and started squabbling. But Eugene couldn’t spare even a single thought towards mediating their argument. His lips half-parted as he blinked his eyes in shock.
“Three… three months? I was actually asleep for ninety-three days?” Eugene mumbled in disbelief.
He had gotten the feeling that he had been in the dream for quite a long time. However, the passage of time in a dream flowed differently from the way time did in reality. Eugene could never have even imagined that he would be asleep for so long.
~
—I’m just fainting. I might be out for a few days... maybe even a week.
—Don’t try to wake me if I sleep for too long. If you're really worried, tell my Holy Knights and Kristina and Anise to pray. That should do it.
~
“Why didn’t you wake me up?!” Eugene shouted in his hoarse voice.
He definitely remembered what he had said to Sienna before passing out in Giabella City, but there was no way she would pay attention to something like that.
And there were degrees to everything. If someone had been unconscious for three months, wasn’t it necessary to do whatever it took to wake him up? Regardless of whether he had said not to wake him, if he had been unconscious for that long, shouldn’t they have resorted to other measures by now?
“We did try to wake you up,” a dull, subdued voice was heard from the other side of his bed.
Eugene found this gloomy voice so frightening, even for him, that his shoulders couldn’t help but shudder in shock.
“We tried to wake you up over and over again,” the voice explained. “Every day, we spoke into your ear, Sir Eugene. We’ve also tried several times to shake you as hard as we could without doing any damage to your body.”
Eugene held his tongue.
The voice continued, “Naturally, we also prayed to you every day. It wasn’t just us either, all of the Holy Knights ordained by you, Sir Eugene, joined in our prayers. Since even that didn’t seem to be enough, we even requested all of the people of the continent who believed in you to pray for you despite not having been baptized by you.”
“Well… ahem,” Eugene awkwardly cleared his throat.
“We even tried using several more proactive measures. Lady Sienna created several new magic spells in order to wake you up, and we also attempted to delve into your mind, Sir Eugene. Perhaps in an attempt to recreate what happened in the South Seas, Ciel would hold on tightly to your hand while repeatedly groaning in effort. And apart from her, all the other Lionhearts have also spent time lingering by your side,” the voice sighed.
Eugene coughed as he tried to defend himself, “Ah-ahem, well, in any case, I didn’t wake up isn’t because I didn’t want to—”
Before he could even finish his fumbling excuse, Kristina shook her head and cut Eugene short, saying, “I know that.”
In an unsteady gait, Kristina slowly approached Eugene. He could see that her shoulders, cheeks, and eyes were shaking with unshed tears.
Kristina admitted in a tearful voice, “Lady Anise and I were the most… no, we can’t say that we were the most concerned about you. Everyone was worried about you, Sir Eugene. Everyone sincerely wished for you to wake up in good health.”
Eugene wasn’t sure what to say.
“And thankfully, you have woken up,” Kristina sniffed as she slowly drew closer and closer.
He didn’t know if it was because she had shot them a subtle gaze or if they had chosen to show some tact all by themselves, but Mer and Raimira, who had been clinging to Eugene, quickly got off the bed.
Once she reached the side of his bed, Kristina practically threw herself into Eugene’s arms.
“We’re so very thankful that you woke up safely,” Kristina murmured into Eugene’s chest.
Eugene had been unconscious for three whole months. Although he hadn’t died, he was just lying there in a state no different from death. Moreover, as the Saints had also lost consciousness before Eugene had fainted, they must have been even more worried about Eugene when he continued to stay unconscious after they had already woken up.
“I’m sorry,” Eugene said as he raised one hand to stroke Kristina on the head. Then he grunted as he belatedly realized something, “Ah.”
His left arm, which had been severed during his battle with Noir, was perfectly reattached. Even though it had been reattached after being severed in battle, the nerves seemed to have been connected seamlessly, as his arm felt as if it had never even been cut off. Eugene didn’t feel any discomfort even as he tried to move his fingers.
“So you’ve finally noticed it, Hamel,” the Saint murmured in response to his gasp.
The way she called him had changed. Her head, which was buried into his chest, lifted as Anise looked up at him with narrowed eyes.
Anise ran her fingers down both sides of Eugene’s chest as she whispered, “Although reattaching a severed arm had become a common and familiar practice for me three hundred years ago, this was my first time doing it in this era. Perhaps due to that, I can’t help but feel a slight concern. Do you feel any discomfort when moving it?”
“My arm seems fine, but my body doesn’t feel all that well,” Eugene honestly reported. “My eyes are also sore and it’s hard for me to speak. And I’ve developed such a clear sensitivity to the movements of my internal organs that it’s giving me the creeps.”
Anise shrugged, “We did our best to care for you, but since you’re waking up after three months of constant sleep, that can’t be helped. Don’t you feel hungry?”
Eugene answered vaguely, “I do feel kind of hungry, but at the same time, not really…. My sense of hunger seems muted.”
“You were in no condition to eat. After all, it was impossible for you to swallow your food, let alone chew it. I even considered chewing your food myself, passing it into your mouth, and helping you swallow it,” Anise said thoughtfully as the fingers tracing Eugene’s ribs started tapping on his skin like she was playing the piano.
As she did this, her fingers slowly began to move upwards. Her hand movements were so subtle that Eugene didn’t even feel ticklish due to them.
Eugene swallowed a gulp as he stared at Anise with a look of fear in his eyes.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Anise huffed. “I did consider that method, but we never actually ended up using it. While you were unconscious, the nutrients that you needed were delivered directly into your body using magic. Along with all your medications. And as for your excretions….”
Eugene paled, “No way, you didn’t….”
Anise rolled her eyes, “Don’t let your imagination get out of control. No one even had to take your pants off. All of that was also, quite conveniently, handled by magic.”
When she said the word ‘conveniently,’ Anise’s brow seemed to furrow slightly. Why did it seem like she couldn’t help but feel some kind of regret…?
Eugene was reminded of that time in the past when he was left unable to move his body after using Ignition. He didn’t know if it was just her mood, but Kristina had seemed to secretly enjoy the situation of caring for Eugene while he was in pain.
“However, no matter how convenient and amazing that spell might be, it seems that it still has its limits. It might be because you haven’t been able to eat properly for the past three months, Hamel, but I can see that you’ve gotten a little thinner,” Anise observed.
“I do feel like my arms have gotten a little less thick…,” Eugene muttered in agreement.
“It’s not just your arms; your whole body has been reduced in size. Well, since you are in good health, all of that should return soon. Your muscles, I mean. However, what about your mind?” Anise asked in concern.
Her fingers, which were tracing the sharp lines of his ribs and his slightly thinned chest muscles, suddenly came to a halt.
Clink.
Anise’s fingers had rubbed against the pair of rings that were hanging on his necklace.
“Are you truly sure that your mind is in good health?” Anise asked in concern.
“My mind?” Eugene repeated quizzically.
Anise reminded him, “Kristina should have already told you, Hamel. While you were asleep, Sienna tried to enter your mind several times. Of course, we also attempted to do the same thing. After all, awakening and healing wounded or broken minds is also within the realm of holy magic.”
Eugene listened silently.
“However, neither I, Kristina, nor Sienna could dive into your mind,” Anise revealed. “Your unconscious mind was able to strongly reject any such intrusion.”
Anise’s expression changed. She shifted between looking at Eugene and his necklace with a sorrowful look in her eyes.
“Were you in a dream?” Anise asked.
“Mhm,” Eugene grunted in confirmation.
Anise nodded, “And were you so immersed in your dream that you didn’t want to wake up?”
“That might have been the reason for it,” Eugene said with a shrug.
Anise raised an eyebrow, “What’s with that vague response?”
“It’s only recently that I realized it was a dream,” Eugene explained with a faint smile as he placed his hand over Anise’s. “I’m sure you’ve also had that kind of a dream at some point in your life. Sometimes, we dream about things that we desire, but at other times, we are forced to dream about things that we don’t want, things that we hate, and things that we don’t actually want to dream about.”
It was Anise’s turn to listen silently.
Eugene shook his head as he said, “It’s not that I didn’t want to wake up. It’s just… that it took me a while to come to my senses, and there were various factors that had left my body in a not-so-great condition.”
After some thought, Anise cleared her throat, “Ahem. Allow me to be clear, Hamel. Your physical condition wasn’t just bad; it was extremely dire. One arm was severed, you had barely any bones that weren’t broken, and the same was true of your internal organs. And then there were the problems with your mind.”
“But I’m perfectly healthy now, aren’t I?” Eugene confirmed.
“Yes, Kristina and I both worked very hard to restore your body. If you had had any divine power left within you, you would have been able to recover on your own, but three months ago, your divine power was in a sealed state. If Saints like us weren’t around, you would have missed the best chance to reattach your arm, so you would have had to go without your left arm for the rest of your life.”
“If that had happened, it would have been quite the challenge,” Eugene mused. “Could I have at least gotten a prosthetic arm…? Or perhaps I could have strapped Levantein onto the stump to serve as an arm?”
“Looking at the quality of Narisa’s[1] prosthetic leg, such a prosthetic would be somewhat serviceable for daily life, but it would be impossible for you to have fought with it,” Anise commented.
“That’s true,” Eugene agreed. “Krisitna, Anise, thanks to you two, my arm was reattached in perfect condition.”
Anise couldn’t help but smile at the way he immediately began to flatter her without any sense of shame. She gently shook off Eugene’s hand, which was still holding on to hers, and got off the bed.
“By the way,” Eugene let out a cough as he turned to look at his surroundings. “Where exactly is this? This doesn’t look like my room.”
“We are in Yuras,” Anise answered him.
“Yu… Yuras? That Yuras?” Eugen asked in disbelief.
“To be more precise, we are currently located in the Holy See, which is situated in Yurasia, the capital city of Yuras,” Anise further elaborated.
Eugene blinked in surprise, “What am I doing here?”
“It isn’t just you, Hamel. The entire command structure of your Divine Army, including all of the Holy Knights you ordained, is currently residing in the Holy See.”
“What?” Eugene yelped in shock.
Anise informed him, “The rest of your Divine Army is stationed in the border region between Yuras and Helmuth.”
Unable to think of anything to say, Eugene could only flap his lips soundlessly. He took a few moments to gather his thoughts.
“Why?” Eugene eventually asked, unable to sort out and comprehend all of the information that he had just been given.
In response, Anise just clicked her tongue and furrowed her brow impatiently, “You were unconscious for three whole months, Hamel.”
Eugene weakly protested, “To be more precise, it’s ninety-three—”
Anise spoke over him, “In those three months, Helmuth — no, Pandemonium, has gone into a full state of war.”
This was no time to be lying down.
Eugene quickly leaped up out of bed.
1. Just a reminder, this is the one-legged elf that Eugene met when he first arrived in the Samar Rainforest. ☜