The girls wake up with a start as the tremor shakes the mountains. They look at each other in confusion, swaying slightly from the vibration of the rising temple. They head to their supply backpack and each take out something to eat: Mia takes a piece of bread, Luna takes some berries, and Suri takes a banana. They begin to eat, sharing funny stories with one another.
"You know, it was once super funny—I was walking through a side alley and there was a strange boy at the end who had just caught five men. I hid, and he came down from a roof, but I never saw him again," Suri says with a giggle, while the other two just look at her in confusion.
"Okay, but why is that funny?" Mia asks with a puzzled voice. Suri looks through the air, thinking for a moment.
"Well, I don't know, it felt to me like it was important for you guys," Suri says, her voice confused by her own words, as if she briefly remembers me but not completely. They finish eating just as the sun rises. They pack everything together and head down from the mountain onto the narrow path. They line up one behind the other so they don't fall, as the cliff drops quite deep; if they fell, they would surely die. Suri cannot get the thought out of her head that she has forgotten someone, but not who, so she racks her brain over it. They keep walking until the path widens again, and they walk side by side. Suri looks into the sky to sort her thoughts, and a tear rolls down her cheek. Mia and Luna look at Suri with worried faces.
"Is everything okay, Suri?" Mia asks with a concerned look. Suri looks from the sky to Mia, who is still watching her anxiously. Suri wipes away the tears with the back of her left hand and starts to smile.
"Yes, everything is okay," Suri says with a feigned cheerfulness, as if something even deeper is weighing on her. The other two notice but do not press further. Suri stops as they keep walking. She looks at the ground, debating whether to tell them her concerns.
"Hey, I'll tell you both what's bothering me. That red-haired boy... it's strange, but he seems familiar to me," Suri says, faltering at the end as Mia interrupts her with a clear of her throat, taking a breath.
"What are you trying to say?" Luna asks with a questioning voice, seemingly confused by Suri's thoughts. Her eyes wander up slowly; she nods briefly, and Suri takes a breath to put her thoughts into words.
"In my memories, there are gaps or illogical sequences. What I mean is that this boy might be more than just a simple stranger," Suri says with relief, as if a weight that has been pressing on her heart since our encounter is finally lifted. Luna and Mia nod understandingly as they realize what Suri means.
By the gods, things are starting to get interesting. Six gods sit at a round table; in the center is a glass orb, about the size of a shield used by one-handed swordsmen to block attacks, showing the view of the girls talking to each other.
"This Suri is interesting," says a goddess with fire-red hair and dark blue eyes—the Goddess of Flames, Ignis. Her power is said to be at 2,100,000, meaning she is much stronger than I am.
"Yes, she is, Ignis, but this Min... he is much more interesting, though also a danger. We must hurry with the plan," says a man with black hair and yellow eyes. He is the God of Lightning, Thor. With a power value of 1,950,500, he is the weakest god, yet the most strategically dangerous. The other four just watch as if they don't want to act yet. In the glass orb, they see Milo and me fighting the Reaper; I have no idea they are watching us.
"How is our newcomer doing?" Ignis asks with a soft and playful voice. Thor starts to grin and opens the status window, looking at Milo's values and noting his large level increase after the fight against the Reaper. His eyes look at the status with impression, showing it to Ignis and then the rest of the gods.
Back with the girls, the thoughts of me have not vanished. They decide to keep walking while the gods observe them through the glass orb. The three reach the forest where Milo and I just defeated the Reaper, though I don't know that they are heading to my homeland first—of course, without them knowing they are going to my home.
"Let's stop in Kanratonia first to rest; from there, it's not many hours to Lagoon," Luna says with a relaxed voice. Coincidentally, my goal is also my homeland, as I want to see the rebuilt civilization. The girls walk through the forest without noticing that intelligent monsters are spying on them, waiting for a good moment to attack. The three sit down briefly for a break, each eating an apple that is sour and sweet at the same time. The monsters look like goblins, but these are called Battle-Class Goblins. They are B-Rank or perhaps higher; they attack humans from ambush, unlike normal goblins who are too stupid for that. Suri and Luna notice the goblins, who are covered in fur clothing and hold real swords in their right hands. Suri pushes Mia away and is hit by the goblins' attack herself, while Luna simply dodged backward.
"Why did you do tha—" Mia falters as she sees that Suri just saved her life. Suri's hand is cut off. A loud, pain-filled scream escapes her. Masses of blood spray from her arm. The goblins grin because their plan has somewhat worked—they didn't kill everyone, but they at least rendered the archer, the most dangerous one to them, unfit for battle. Suri screams continuously; her severed hand falls to the ground a bit further away. She collapses. One of the goblins is about to split her into two clean halves when Mia jumps in between. She draws her katana and parries the goblin's strike with a clean angle. In that moment, a precious memory comes to Suri, leading her to something.
"He is..." she says, stopping mid-sentence. Mia doesn't hear the words because of the sound of the metal blades. Suri crawls away with one hand to find someone. Through the fight against the goblins, she realizes he is nearby. The other two don't notice; Suri leaves no trail of blood because she tore fabric from her clothes beforehand and wrapped it around her arm to bind it. Mia splits a goblin into two pieces. Luna pierces her goblin with a five-hit thrust combo. The two handle the rest of the goblins with the exact same tactic. Meanwhile, Suri runs through the dense forest. Small animals run past her; peaceful monsters run past her too. She has an idea where she could look, because she feels the magical presence of this person.
"I am coming to help you," she sounds a bit strained but full of joy. Milo and I are just coming out of the temple as it slowly gets dark. Milo lies down. I look at his status, then I open mine as well, where it says: "Get someone to remember you and see what happens." A smile appears on my face without me noticing. I also go to sleep with a smile. Suri arrives at the clearing and breaks through my barrier since she is not a monster. She lies down on the ground near us and falls asleep as well.
The next morning, the sun rises. While I am sleeping, Suri wakes up. She walks toward me and, with a smiling cry, sits down beside me. Her tears roll down her cheeks and drip down. Her crying brings only a sob with it. Milo wakes up from the sobbing; he is startled by Suri because her magical aura is playing completely crazy. I am no longer asleep, but I don't open my eyes, enjoying this closeness. After three days, I was completely finished, thinking only about killing monsters, but now I could cry for joy just as Suri is doing. I slowly open my eyes. Suri turns red but isn't startled as she otherwise would have been. I start to smile; this time I notice it.
"Y... you can remember me," I say with emotions that sound like a joyful cry, causing her to be unable to stop as well. I look at Milo, who is watching me in confusion.
"Hey Min, come on, let's go to the others," she says with a joyful voice. I look at her, nod, and then stand up. I put the sleeping bags into the swirling dimension hole while Suri receives a forest map from me where the entire forest and Lagoon are depicted. I give her a stone covered in ink so she can draw the route on the map with it. She draws a path to Lagoon that will take 15 hours. My hometown isn't on that path, but she probably took a long way on purpose; the shortest would have been 9 hours, but it is much more exhausting than the 15-hour one, which can easily turn 9 hours into 23. I take the map and put it in my pocket. We all look at each other. I take out three rolls for the three of us from the swirling dimension hole, which disappears immediately afterward. While eating, I look at the route.
"So this is our route. That's not bad," I say with a smile on my face.
With the gods, all hell is breaking loose because this magic was supposed to only bring emotionlessness and a strength boost, but the "being forgotten" was decreed by the Goddess of Being and Life.
"How is this possible? How could she—"
"Love. That is the power of love, my dear Freyja," interrupts a beautiful goddess with revealing clothes, pink hair, and rose-colored eyes, speaking with a lovely voice. Freyja, the goddess who commands Being and Life, peeks out from behind her silver hair, her golden eyes shimmering angrily at Suri.
"Mina, that is not funny." Freyja sounds angry at these words, as if she has a hatred for me. Well, after all, she is the so-called author of this world. She writes everything as she wants, but there are three things she cannot write or rewrite: The power of love, friendship, and the power one gets when killing 5 gods. The other gods just watch and amuse themselves. Fortunately, she isn't smart; as soon as I kill just one monster of the god-level—divine monsters excluded—she won't be able to do anything to me anymore. So it is said in another legend about a fight between the Nightmare and the gods. But who is this "Nightmare"? If he is so bad, why don't they kill him back?
Back with us, Milo, Suri, and I are about to set off when I remember that Milo is the natural arch-enemy of a bow due to his reaction time. I get the idea to let them fight against each other.
"Hey, you two fight each other," I say with a determined voice. Both stand frozen for a moment, but they don't find the idea bad at all, so they don't hesitate long and nod in agreement to my statement. I point to two positions about 20 meters apart. Milo takes his newly acquired daggers and Suri takes the bow she got from me. I raise my hand; a fireball forms at my fingertips. I fire it, and it explodes with a small blast in the air. Milo runs directly at Suri, who is already nocking her first arrow. I wonder what all Suri has learned.