The One Who Remembers
After Aria’s rampage at the cultural festival, people began complaining of a strange sense of déjà vu.
“What the…? I feel like something happened during the festival……”
“Aren’t you just imagining things?”
“Maybe. Whatever.”
Kyle realized just how broken Aria’s ability truly was when even Sera, who he suspected was a player character, had lost her memories. The fact that she could erase memories tied to Earth meant Sera had effectively already experienced a game over once. And that wasn’t even the worst of it. Right now her power couldn’t affect anyone above Master rank, but in just two years she would become a cheat character capable of controlling even Masters.
‘At least she went berserk now instead of later.’
Letting out a sigh of relief, Kyle threw himself back into his usual routine. Having rested during the festival, the Knight Department instructors began driving the cadets even harder. The training had grown more than ten percent harsher, and the cadets who had only just started getting used to it were now sticking out their tongues and panting for breath. In the middle of it all, Arthur cautiously approached.
“Um, Kyle……”
“Yeah? What’s up?”
“There’s something I wanted to ask……”
She glanced around at the others, then leaned in close and whispered into his ear.
“—Do you remember what happened during the festival?”
Kyle stared at her blankly. How the hell did she know about that? Everyone in the Academy except the Masters had been under Aria’s control and lost their memories. There might have been torn clothes or a bit of blood here and there, but since no one had died or been seriously injured, the whole thing could have been quietly swept under the rug.
“Arthur.”
“Hm?”
“Let’s talk later. The instructor’s looking over here.”
“Ah……”
Realizing that Kyle also remembered, Arthur smiled in relief and stepped back to prepare for the next drill. Watching her retreating figure, Kyle caught the faint scent she left behind and sniffed.
After class, I met Arthur alone at a café and let her speak first. I had mentioned the festival, but there was always the chance she was talking about a different incident.
“So? What exactly do you think happened at the festival?”
“Umm…… I don’t know if you’ll believe me, but—people suddenly started attacking each other……”
“Okay, that’s enough.”
After two confirmations, I was certain that the incident Arthur knew about was the same one we had covered up. The real question was how she had remembered it at all. Had she already reached Master rank? Impossible. She hadn’t even reached Expert yet, which meant she couldn’t even channel Aura into objects.
‘Ah, right.’
Then I understood why she had escaped Aria’s mind control. She possessed the Dragon’s Heart. Every minute, every second, it produced an unimaginable amount of energy, which she converted into Aura. That allowed her to wield Aura far beyond what any ordinary Aura User could manage—on a level that even I, a Master, couldn’t look down on.
“First, how much do you actually know?”
“Huh?”
“I’m going to explain, but I don’t want to repeat myself. How much do you remember?”
“Just that on the last day of the festival everyone suddenly went crazy…… and that afterward, no one remembers any of it?”
She hadn’t learned that others had lost their memories by asking around. Her half-dragon instincts, granted by the Dragon’s Heart, had told her something was off about people’s reactions, and from there she had deduced that their memories were gone.
“Your deduction is correct.”
“Then……!”
“We decided to cover up the incident for certain reasons. You understand what that means, Arthur? We’re covering it up.”
Arthur flinched and began studying my face carefully. I met her gaze without a word.
“Wait, that’s not…… Kyle……”
“But I never expected my ability to fail on you. In that case, there’s only one option left.”
“W-wait. There are people around—”
“Arthur, you—”
Arthur squeezed her eyes shut and curled up as if bracing for something. I tilted my head, wondering what on earth she was doing. When I poked her, she let out a tiny, adorable shriek I had never heard from her when she was pretending to be a boy.
“……Arthur? What are you doing?”
“Y-you’re not going to kill me to shut me up……?”
“Kill you? Where the hell did you get that idea?”
We had gone through hell to make sure no one died. Why would we start killing people now just to cover things up? Arthur had clearly picked up some strange ideas about nobles somewhere. I let out a long sigh.
“Do you know why we erased everyone’s memories?”
“W-what do you mean?”
“Because no one died. Some people got hurt, but the priests could handle that.”
Death was a problem that couldn’t be solved by simply erasing memories. When someone was born, it was recorded and processed administratively, and taxes were collected accordingly. To kill someone and make sure no one ever found out, you would have to erase the memories of everyone connected to them, falsify documents deep in the imperial archives, and then alter the memories of everyone who had ever glanced at those documents. It would almost be easier to just kill everyone involved.
“I just meant that you should watch what you say in front of other people. Don’t go around saying unnecessary things. Act like nothing happened.”
“O-oh, I see. Haha— I guess I got scared for no reason.”
“Yeah. You did. Honestly, you were way too tense earlier.”
I gave her a dry laugh while she still looked at me with worried eyes. I already told her I wasn’t going to kill her.
‘That aside—’
Just like Arthur, there might be others whose Force abilities had nullified Aria’s power. Information about which cadets possessed Force abilities was classified, but there was one person I already knew about: Countess Hela. A member of the Noblesse Club and the one who had tried to use an unknown ability on me. She was still here.
Kyle immediately reported the possibility to the headmaster—that there might be other Force users among the cadets who had resisted Aria’s ability. He left Arthur’s name out of it. The headmaster didn’t share the list of Force users, but he also didn’t stop Kyle from seeking them out on his own. With the headmaster’s tacit approval, Kyle headed straight for Countess Hela’s residence. If she had lived in the dorms it would have been difficult, but fortunately she stayed in one of the mansions prepared within Academy grounds.
“This should be it.”
Arriving at the mansion, Kyle boldly rang the doorbell. The servants who rushed out took one look at his uniform and immediately realized he was their young lady’s guest. After guiding him inside, the maids seated him in the parlor, poured tea, and asked cautiously.
“—The young lady doesn’t have any appointments today…… May I ask your name?”
“Just tell her it’s Kyle, the one she met at the party.”
“Please wait a moment.”
The maids left the parlor. Alone, Kyle sipped his tea and waited for Hela to come down. A short while later, the door opened and a small girl peeked inside.
“……Why are you here?”
“I came to see you.”
“W-what are you planning to do to me?”
“Nothing at all.”
Kyle looked at her like he couldn’t understand why she was acting this way. When their eyes met, Hela let out a small shriek and hid behind the door. Only after her face was out of sight did she finally let out a shaky breath and speak.
“I-I’ll talk like this.”
“Suit yourself. The last day of the festival, three days ago. Where were you and what were you doing?”
“……I was at home.”
“You didn’t leave the house at all?”
“Yeah. Got a problem with that?”
Kyle nodded. From the way she spoke, it seemed she really had stayed holed up inside the entire three days. In that case, there was no need to check whether her memories had been erased—she hadn’t witnessed anything to begin with. Setting his teacup down with a clink, Kyle stood up.
“Ah, this is just personal curiosity. What exactly is your ability?”
“D-do I have to tell you……?”
“No. It’s just curiosity, so you don’t have to. Though that means I’ll probably take a lot more interest in you from now on.”
“I-if I tell you, promise you’ll never come near me again……”
Hela swallowed hard.
“M-my ability lets me see information about the other person. I call it a status window……”
And then she told him something rather interesting.