Memories of the Future
"Did memories of the future come back to you?"
Adelaide asked.
Where was I even supposed to begin?
I had never once spoken about the future. Even I barely understood that era. Everything I knew was surface-level at best — a shallow scrape across the skin of this world.
I couldn't give Adelaide or Pina the full picture, but I could still offer them an answer of my own.
"I remember. Just a little."
Of course, I had to sell the line that the memories had returned.
My karma. I'll take it gladly…
"What kind of memories?"
"That dragon destroyed Cartadia. The wasteland is its handiwork. I fought until the very end… and because of that dragon, I ended up in this world."
"Alice… you were the anomaly itself. No — you are our Cartadia's future itself."
Adelaide spoke in a low voice.
I nodded.
I, too, was an anomaly. No different from Neveumano or Neveterde, really.
But I wasn't a monster. I was human. The last human of Cartadia — and the one who would resolve the anomalies.
Adelaide pressed a hand to her forehead.
"What a dreadful future. But even more dreadful is your situation. To lose everything, and then be unable even to return to the place you once lived… I can scarcely imagine it."
"It's fine. I met good people here, after all."
Pina asked carefully.
"Don't you want to go back?"
That was a question only the original owner of this body should answer.
"I don't know… I still don't know myself."
We talked about this and that regarding Miteraos. That was as much as I could say.
Miteraos hadn't appeared without reason, either. The people of the future had hunted and exploited monsters without restraint. Miteraos had been trying to turn back the time of a world that had collapsed that way.
A kind of self-correction, in its own right.
Pina clasped her hands together.
"If it can destroy an entire kingdom alone… just how strong is it? I can't even begin to measure it. It's terrifying."
"What's certain is that it's Supreme-grade — maybe even beyond that. Manipulating time is something outside the range of what we can comprehend."
Adelaide pressed a finger hard against her brow, thinking.
"Then all these distortions of time must be because of that monster's appearance after all."
Pina agreed.
"There's no other way to see it."
"I thought exploring the five regions would turn up some kind of clue. I never expected a trial like this to be waiting."
Adelaide spoke with exhaustion in her voice.
"Now it truly feels hopeless. Time… are we supposed to fight against time itself?"
Put that way, it really did feel like an opponent with no answer.
But it wasn't time itself — it was a monster that knew how to wield the power of time. There was no immortal monster. There were only ones strong enough that you couldn't kill them yet.
If it was a monster, it could be killed. Dozens, hundreds of attempts could break it. That was the unchanging truth of this world — of Hunter Land.
That all of this fell to me was only natural.
If I — who had died over and over in the game, ramming my head against the wall until I learned the patterns — didn't do it, then people who knew nothing would die dozens or hundreds of times instead.
This whole incident had been the same.
General Gero and the royal army had attacked without knowing anything about Neveterde and Neveumano. Whatever mission those creatures carried, they should never have done it without me.
My shoulders felt heavy.
The thought that everyone's deaths were because of me settled in. Because of my careless belief that all I had to do was kill them. I remembered the final moments of those who had fallen to Neveumano. They were not people who should have died on that snowfield.
Then it struck me — I still didn't know how the fight had ended.
"…What happened to Neveumano and Neveterde?"
Pina's expression was not good. The regret in her eyes was strong.
"They died."
Pina answered.
"Both of them."
"Both…"
Even Neveterde was dead.
I felt a strange, unnameable sorrow. The truth was, neither Neveterde nor Neveumano had wanted things to go this way. They had only acted to survive.
People had died. The yeti and the snow woman had died. All of it was because time had twisted. I had thought this before, but standing in front of it made the truth hit harder than ever.
"Neveterde… she wasn't such a bad child."
"Yeah."
I spoke weakly.
"She wasn't bad. What was bad was…"
Pina said nothing more to that.
It was a regrettable fight — kill first or be killed. Getting swept up in personal feelings was the mark of an amateur. If your heart wavered and your attacks went soft even a little, you could die at any moment.
"What about the bodies?"
"After confirming the deaths, the hunters set out separately. From here on, they'll thoroughly investigate what kind of creatures they were."
"And the royal army?"
"The royal army remained in Lacrima. The losses were no small matter, and no one is in any condition to move. The soldiers are exhausted not in body, but in spirit. They'll likely rotate soon with the units standing by in the capital. General Gero as well."
I blinked at that and looked at Adelaide.
"…Why the general?"
"You still have the map I gave you, don't you? It was a document General Gero deliberately hid from me. Given the circumstances, even he couldn't simply brush something like that aside."
"I see."
It wasn't particularly surprising. I had already figured Gero must have pulled some kind of stunt. In the end, he had brought it on himself, and now he would bear all of it. He must have realized something, too.
"Much has happened, but the matter of Lacrima is finished."
Adelaide said gently.
"Once your condition improves, move as you see fit. There's nothing urgent for now."
"I feel fine already…"
"Tsk!"
"Alice-nim, you can rest now."
"…"
Unable to refuse Adelaide and Pina's fretting, I only managed to rise from the bed after a full day had passed.
This tent was a private sickroom prepared just for me, set up beside the outpost lodging. I offered Adelaide a small word of thanks for the consideration.
While I lay there, I heard all sorts of things from Pina and learned what had happened while I was out.
The most surprising fact was that Evan had picked up my collapsed body and carried me all the way here.
He had been so snappish at first — quite the leap forward.
As it happened, Evan was by the central brazier, maintaining his gear alongside the soldiers.
"Evan."
Whether he was too focused to hear, he kept polishing his helmet without looking up.
Only after the soldier beside him gave him a few taps did Evan look my way.
"…Ah, Alice. You're awake."
I nodded.
Evan looked a little excited as he regarded me.
"You were incredible. Fighting those monsters as an equal — no, more than that… Watching you had me gripping my hands the whole time."
"…It's all just effort."
"Right. Effort, is it. I've still got a long way to go. It almost felt like I was seeing the place our knights ought to be heading toward. Protecting people… that's what it means, isn't it. Right now, I feel like I can go further."
"Yeah. Do your best."
Evan seemed to have gained some kind of insight from this whole affair. What he was aiming for, I didn't know.
I asked him.
"I heard you carried me all the way here?"
"Ah, well, I did, but… Pina worked hard too. She took care of your greatsword for you."
"I see."
I gave a small smile to the sheepish Evan.
"Thanks for saving me."
"…Saving you? You're the one who saved us."
Evan scratched his head and avoided my eyes.
"Without you, a lot more soldiers would have died. We're the ones who should be thanking you."
The soldiers beside him nodded in agreement.
"Truly, thank you."
Evan bowed his head as he spoke. The soldiers followed his lead and offered their thanks as well.
I hadn't expected this much gratitude. I waved a hand and answered.
"Heads up. People who are still alive helping each other is only natural."
"…Yeah. You're right."
Evan's mouth curved into a faint smile.
"By the way, Alice… were you from the future?"
"…Huh?"
"We all heard what that dragon said. We even spent the whole time debating it together."
Evan's eyes sparkled.
"Is it true?"
"…Yeah. It's true."
With Miteraos having appeared and spoken, there was no way to hide it anymore. I admitted the truth cleanly.
Evan's eyes went wide, and he nodded toward the soldiers. They looked just as startled by my answer.
Then Evan asked in a low voice.
"Then… is our future one of destruction?"
I shook my head at that question.
"The future can be changed. That's why I'm going to take down that dragon."
"A fight we have to win, then. For our future."
Evan glanced down for a moment, then looked back up into my eyes with firm resolve.
"When that time comes, I'll help too. I don't know if I'll be of any use, but."
I let out a short laugh at Evan's confident words. The thought alone was appreciated.
"Yeah. I'll count on you then."
I left the soldiers behind and moved on.
The next place I headed was the tent where General Gero was.
Just as Adelaide had said, he seemed to be genuinely preparing to leave Lacrima — sorting documents and packing his things.
"…General."
Gero answered without even turning around at the sound of my voice.
"What is it — I wondered who it was… the Master Hunter, is it."
It was strange that he recognized me from my voice alone.
Gero stuffed papers into a crate as he spoke offhandedly.
"Come to think of it, you never much liked me, did you. Always sticking out that tongue of yours."
So he remembered that.
I flinched at Gero's words.
"Did you come all this way just to mock me?"
"No, not really. I just wanted to see your face since you're leaving."
"I don't believe there's anything personal for us to discuss. Or were you hoping I'd praise you?"
Gero was still curt. But the venom had drained out of him. It was closer to petty sulking than anything else.
I asked him a question.
"Why did you tell me Neveumano's location?"
"Because I thought that if anything unexpected happened, you of all people would show us something."
Gero said it casually.
"In the end, my prediction was correct. Something unexpected did happen, and you who appeared afterward showed us a great deal indeed."
Closing the crate, Gero sighed and patted his lower back.
"You showed us a miracle, all right. Deflecting the monsters' attacks, dodging everything. And at the end — using the Thermal Powder like that. How did you even come up with that?"
For someone who claimed he wouldn't praise me, Gero was quietly elevating me as he asked.
I answered simply.
"I just tried it. Thought, what if I did it this way."
A free way of thinking that didn't fit inside the game's framework — the kind of thinking a hunter of this world could do — had given me the victory.
Gero muttered.
"Is that so…"
He fell silent for a moment, then spoke again.
"Freedom — that is what hunters are. Not moving according to fixed systems and fixed rules… Yes. My thinking was truly wrong. Her Highness the Princess was right."
Gero looked a little freer for it.
"That dragon recognized you, didn't it?"
"Yeah."
"It would be a complicated story. As I said, there's nothing personal for us to discuss, so I won't hear it. As long as you continue to be a great strength to our fellow people of Cartadia, it doesn't matter whether your true identity is a person from the future or anything else."
Having said that, Gero issued his dismissal.
"Now get out. I have to finish packing. These are all classified kingdom documents. You're welcome to stay if you want to get punished and go to prison like me, though."
"Ugh, no thanks."
I made a face and hurried out of the tent. Then I turned back for a moment and looked at Gero still sorting papers inside. He was smiling, faintly.
So the way someone appeared in the game wasn't the whole of them, was it.
Gero hadn't been quite as purely bad a person as I'd thought.
There was one last place I needed to go.
The site where I had fought the yeti and the snow woman. I intended to see their end there.