"Can you get up?"
Bellf, having deployed [Rho Aias], asked Lefiya, who had collapsed behind him.
"Huh? Ah, yes!"
"Then get back."
Lefiya immediately took a few steps back after hearing Bellf's words.
She didn't know what Bellf was planning, but it was definitely dangerous, so she needed to keep her distance.
"Trace on..."
Bellf projected a magic sword.
Caladbolg, the magic sword he had made a few days ago.
Then he hooked the sword onto the bow slung across his back and drew the string.
"I haven't tested it yet, so I can't guarantee the power... but it should be strong enough."
Bellf aimed the bow at the writhing man-eating flower monster.
[Rho Aias] was still holding, so the man-eating flower couldn't attack Bellf.
"Aiz! Tione! Tiona! Get out of the way!"
Bellf shouted at the three who were fighting the man-eating flower, and they immediately pulled away from it.
Once they had retreated a fair distance, Bellf released the taut bowstring.
Caladbolg, projected and therefore slightly weakened, shattered [Rho Aias] and flew toward the man-eating flower.
Twisting through space as it flew, Caladbolg—
Boom
—exploded in a spectacular blast and erased the man-eating flower.
"The power's not bad."
The man-eating flower, having taken the explosion head-on, vanished and left behind a strange magic stone, unlike other monsters.
"Bellf. You made that too?"
"Ah, yeah. I projected something I made a few days ago."
Aiz approached Bellf as he admired the power of the attack. Her expression didn't show it, but unlike before, she seemed pleased.
"Let's head back."
"I'm coming too, with the captain..."
"E-eh, w-wait!"
Tione and Tiona collected the magic stone left behind by the man-eating flower for Aiz, then dragged the dazed Lefiya away with them.
After the situation was more or less settled, I returned to the workshop and opened the grimoire.
My original plan had been to turn the grimoire into a magic sword, but Lenoa had been fiercely against it, so I decided to just read it instead.
If I was lucky, maybe I'd gain another spell.
I opened the thick book.
I skimmed past the table of contents, and although the text that caught my eye looked like hurried scribbles, it was still readable.
"What is magic?"
"Magic is greed."
"Magic is a means to achieve one's goals."
"Magic is a shortcut to one's dreams."
"What do you desire?"
The moment I pinched the edge of the page to turn it,
"Th...is..."
I lost consciousness.
"This is..."
When I opened my eyes, I saw a wasteland with hundreds of swords thrust into the ground.
"It's similar to when I chanted [Sword Emperor of Nothingness]... no, it's exactly the same wasteland."
The wasteland was filled with the magic swords I had made.
"But... why did I end up here?"
There was nothing around me except swords and magic swords.
Was I supposed to find something?
"This place is ridiculously huge..."
Finding something in this endless wasteland of swords was almost impossible.
"...Already... no, am I late?"
"?"
I was about to get up and search the area when a very familiar voice suddenly reached me.
"...That's... my voice?"
"Correct."
When I reflexively looked back, I saw a red-haired man approaching.
"I am you."
"...Huh?"
"Well, more precisely, I'd say I'm your former self."
"What are you talking about?"
"You don't need to know. You only need to answer the question."
"..."
Before I knew it, the man—me—had come close enough that I could reach out and touch him.
"What do you desire?"
"A magic sword that won't break."
"And after that, the ultimate sword, I assume?"
"Yeah."
"Hmm... then you'll need to handle magic tools well too, won't you?"
"I suppose so."
After all, a magic sword is ultimately a kind of magic tool.
"If it's the you of now... you should be able to use this."
The man—me—pointed downward.
"Use what? This wasteland?"
"Yes. You surely..."
[You will be able to reach it again.]
As the man's words ended, I woke up looking at the familiar ceiling of my workshop.