Ren was seeing a strange dream.
He dreamed he was in a giant castle, with a kind mother who loved music. A father he had never seen, but who would always send him musical instruments and gift cards on his birthday every year.
By his side, there was a little Sarkaz maid whom he loved like his own sister, and a female knight who always wore a full suit of black armor. She didn't say much when they were together, but he knew she was a gentle person who loved music. That was why they were so close.
They were both always by his side in the castle while his mother was away working. This made him, in his dream, see them as his older and younger sisters.
The dream proceeded peacefully, making Ren feel that this dream life of his was truly enviable.
Until... the scene suddenly changed, as if being rewound by a video player.
The image of the giant castle, once beautiful, was switched to a giant castle that was now burning. All the servants were slaughtered by the sharp blades of the knights who had betrayed them.
The Sarkaz girl was mercilessly crushed by the scorched castle gate. His mother was brutally murdered by a noble she thought was loyal to her.
He himself was targeted by that group but managed to survive thanks to the help of a loyal knight who had received his mother's last words to protect him with her life.
That knight fought bravely against the enemy, managing to defeat several knights, but she slipped up and lost her left arm to the strange magic of a clown-masked man, whom Ren remembered well as the 'Troupe Master.'
Ren watched himself in the dream, unable to do anything. And the young boy, hugging the body of the knight who protected him with tears in his eyes, suddenly unleashed a mysterious power from his body. The light enveloped both of them like a holy light and destroyed everything around them, including their entire mobile city.
After the explosion... they appeared in a desolate land full of sand, with his knight companion still unconscious. Even though the boy was in despair... he was still able to carry the injured body of the knight, which was several times his own weight, forward endlessly. Amidst the desolate land outside, even though every second the boy's feet stepped on the sand felt like treading on the fires of hell, there was never a moment he decided to abandon the body of the knight by his side, because this person was like the last remaining family he had.
Until finally... the young boy encountered the arrival of a mobile city from 'Leithania'. He saw a large group of knights wearing deer helmets traveling there. But with some instinct, the boy chose to hide after seeing them, before learning that their real target was him, who was reported as missing.
The boy, knowing that no matter how much he hid, they would find him sooner or later... and when that happened, the knight by his side would surely be killed. Not wanting the knight who served him to get into trouble, the young boy decided to hide her body in a safe place and walked out to surrender to those deer-helmeted soldiers.
Strangely... instead of being killed immediately, those deer-helmeted knights took him to a person dressed like a noble in the city. Then they talked about something and decided to take him to a place that would become like his hell in the future.
The 'Experimental Institute'. There, the boy made friends with several other test subjects, but that was only for a short time before all of the boy's memories were gradually distorted by the torture he faced every day from the experiments.
Finally, after an unknown amount of time had passed... the experiment stopped because of the arrival of a mysterious man wearing a black deer helmet. The man's aura was filled with such terror that even Ren, watching from afar, could feel it. When that man arrived, he slaughtered all the deer-horned people in that research institute. Ren had no idea who he was... but everyone there called that man with fear, the 'Witch King.'
The man called the 'Witch King' took him to a place, underground in that mobile city, which had a place similar to his laboratory but was much larger. And at the center of that room was a strange, coffin-like square box, connected by dangling wires, as if it were a pump filling that machine with energy.
Ren watched his body, which was staring blankly and senselessly, being led into that box by the Witch King. And the last image he saw was the face of the man called the 'Witch King', who took off his own mask, revealing the face of a gentle-looking middle-aged man, looking at him and saying something he couldn't hear.
Before everything started to go dark, and the young boy's body woke up in an unknown place. It wasn't the original laboratory located underground, but inside an abandoned house with a coffin-like box in it.
He couldn't remember who he was... and didn't even know where he was. And at some point, he walked out of that coffin and wandered the streets, before being captured by strangely dressed people and taken into a heavily guarded car.
Even though he was amnesiac at that time, when he saw the face of the deer-helmeted man inside that car... and heard the word "experiment," the boy began to lose control and unleashed the same golden power as before. When the explosion subsided, the image Ren saw was one he remembered... That was the moment he was standing alone in the middle of a road in a desolate land and met Texas and Exusiai.
….
After the dream ended, Ren opened his eyes and saw a familiar ceiling, as if he had returned to his room in the safe house once again.
"Was it just a dream?" Ren muttered. He felt that this dream must have something to do with him, and perhaps... it was the old memories of the body's owner. As for the reason he lost his memory, it must have been because of that strange box in the basement.
"The Sarcophagus."
"Hmm? Are you dreaming about your own funeral?"
A woman's voice suddenly rang out, making Ren jump. He turned to look beside him and met the silver eyes and crazy smile of a familiar woman.
"Well, good morni—"
"Shit!!!" Ren was so shocked he accidentally kicked her off the bed.
Thud! "Ow, ow, what kind of man are you, daring to kick a woman like me off the bed..." Lappland said, rubbing her bottom as she grumbled, before slowly getting up and dusting herself off.
"H-how did you get on my bed!" Ren didn't care about that; he was just shocked to see her lying next to him. But after looking around, he realized that the place he was in was indeed his own bedroom.
"Wait a minute... then why am I in my room?" He remembered the events before and thought he would wake up in a hospital like in the movies... he had even prepared himself for it, thinking he would have to go back there for sure.
"Is that really the issue you should be concerned about?" Lappland didn't know what kind of face to make after hearing his words.
And whether it was because the commotion was too loud or not, soon, his bedroom door was slammed open, revealing the figure of Texas rushing in... before her eyes widened when she saw him, then quickly calmed down.
"Ren, you're awake."
"Miss Texas?" Ren was surprised, before turning to look at Lappland beside him.
"She—"
"Hello, Senpai!! I was so shocked when you woke up~ This must mean our fates are meant to be together!"
For some reason, Lappland suddenly pretended to be a cheerful young girl and began to interrupt, before rushing to sit next to him. She put an arm around his shoulder and used her finger to write a message on his shoulder.
'Texas doesn't know about our deal, so play along.'
"Uh... I-I was so surprised... but... who is this person..." Ren, who was already bad at lying, replied awkwardly. It was no surprise that Texas saw through it. Even so, she didn't say anything and explained briefly.
"She's a new member of Penguin Logistics. The Boss just hired her three days ago."
"Three days ago?"
"Yes. You've been unconscious for three days, Ren."
'Three days? I was out for that long...?'
"Uh... then why am I here?"
"We can talk about that on the way. Can you get up? The Boss said to call you to see him after you woke up."
"The Boss wants to talk to me?"
"He said it's important business..."
"I understand," Ren nodded before getting up from the bed. He looked at his body, which had completely healed, without even a scar left on it. It made him wonder if the medical treatment in this world was this good. After a brief check of his physical condition, he walked to the door.
"Then I'll just—" As Lappland was also getting up, Texas cut her off.
"You don't need to follow. Wait here."
"Okay, okay, but are you sure you want me to wait in this room?" Lappland looked at Texas with a smile, as if wanting to imply something.
"...Wait downstairs."
"Okay, okay," the woman replied perfunctorily before walking to the window and jumping down, leaving Ren speechless.
'There's a door, why not use it... plus, this is the 3rd floor.' But then again, she was crazy...
"Don't mind her. That woman is always like this," Texas said, before signaling him. "Follow me. I'll take you to the Boss."
"Yes."
......…
"..." "..."
As the two of them walked, Texas didn't say a word... it was like they had gone back in time to their first day together. When Texas led him to his room, she didn't say anything, just like now.
But after everything that had happened... having seen Texas from various perspectives, whether from Lappland's memories, Exusiai's, or his own, Ren knew well that Texas was not a quiet person. She was just not good with words and chose to express herself through her actions rather than words. Because of that, Ren had to try and act like Exusiai, which meant talking a lot...
"The weather is nice today, isn't it!"
"...It's 9 PM."
"The outfit you're wearing today looks great, Miss Texas!"
"I wear this every day."
"D-do you still have any Pocky, Miss Texas?"
"I left it downstairs."
"..."
'Th-this is so awkward.' Ren knew what he was doing was completely forced. Because right now, he didn't have Exusiai's personality. If he wasn't in his Sarkaz form, he couldn't do that, and he didn't want to feel that way again if he didn't have to...
Until finally, it seemed Texas realized his predicament, and she started the first sentence.
"About the girl named Nagi... you're okay now, right?"
Hearing that name, Ren was silent for a moment before sighing. "Yes... I think I'm okay now."
"Is there anything you want to talk about?"
Ren made a strange face before turning to Texas and saw that she was looking at him with concern. "You can talk to me. Even though I'm not good at that sort of thing..." "But maybe in this situation, having someone to talk to might be better. But if you don't want to talk—"
"She was like a little sister to me. At least... she was very much like her." Before Texas could finish, Ren told her his story. A story that was truly his, not someone else's...
"Her family took care of me since I was in the orphanage, until they decided to adopt me when I was 7. They were like my real family, giving me both love and care as if I were their own child." "But... because of some accident, they were all reported as dead when I was 12, while I was lying sick in the hospital."
Hearing this, Texas didn't probe deeper into the matter, simply asking about something else. "And your real family?"
Ren shrugged slightly. "I don't know who they are. I was born in a private hospital in the city. The tag of the person who delivered me was pulled off, and all the delivery information on that day was mysteriously deleted. So the hospital couldn't identify my mother. They had to put the name of a woman who died on that day, who had no other relatives, as my deliverer. So I was registered as an orphan and had to be sent to an orphanage when I turned 5."
"The doctor who delivered me... volunteered to take care of me until I reached the required age. And he was the one who told me the truth, that my real mother paid off the nurses to pull the name tag and delete all the delivery records on that day so that the hospital couldn't sue or trace her." "I heard she was a famous actress at the time, who was having a scandal with some rich guy... and maybe that man was my father."
"I'm sorry..." Texas said. She seemed to feel guilty for making him remember bad things. But Ren didn't mind at all.
"You don't have to apologize, Miss Texas. I don't care about them anyway. At least I should thank them for giving me life and letting me meet a new family who truly loved me. Even though... what came after was like a long nightmare, because I'm still alive, I'm here now."
"You told me before, didn't you, Miss Texas? That you wanted to find the meaning of the word 'family' and your new 'home'? Actually... I believe you can do it, Miss Texas. Because I've found that home before, so I can't help but feel a little envious that you were able to find it."
"Unlike me... who just clung to that house and didn't go anywhere. But now... after seeing the girl who looked like my little sister die in front of me, that old home in my heart seems to have finally crumbled."
Texas looked at the side of the young man's face, which looked both sad and strangely calm, as if he had been freed from the bonds that held him back. Texas then believed that he had truly moved on from his sadness.
"So what do you want to do next... get revenge on the 'Crimson Troupe'?"
Ren shook his head. Of course, he really wanted to get revenge on that Troupe Master. Because he knew that as long as that person was alive, he would never be able to live in peace. The man's hatred for him was too immense to be stopped by reason alone. But he also knew that his own power was still too weak right now. The other was an evil god of Gaul... at the very least, he would need to have power comparable or close to Zhongli's before he could even think about revenge.
Seeing him shake his head, Texas asked again. "Then... rebuilding the country of Gaul?"
Hearing that, Ren jumped. "Huh? Why would I have to do something like that?!"
"Well, I saw you talking big before, and Exusiai said that guys like you, the 'last of the royal line' type from Laterano, are usually into restoring their nations... aren't they?"
'Do you see me as the hero of that kind of novel... plus, fundamentally, I was a commoner before.'
"That's all nonsense! Besides... there's no royalty in Laterano! You've been fooled by that woman, Miss Texas!" "As for what I said before, it was because those bastards were provoking me... plus, that old man Wei probably already knew about it. He must have been forcing me to say my real name, hoping to use that name to support Lungmen and take back power from the Yan Empire, seeing that I had the treasure of Gaul in my hands." "And my destroying that box must have been far beyond his expectations..." Ren laughed. He still remembered Wei Yenwu's shocked face when he destroyed the box. Thinking about it, he regretted not taking a picture.
"You seem to hate him a lot."
"I just don't like cunning people who like to lie..."
"Me neither," Texas nodded in agreement, before turning her eyes to him. "So... Ren, did you know Lappland before?"
"!!..." Ren froze. He didn't dare to look Texas straight in the eye, afraid of being caught. "I hate liars... remember?"
Hearing that, Ren fell to his knees before Texas and told her everything. "I-I've really met Lappland before!! And we have some kind of agreement together! B-but that agreement is definitely not harmful to you, Miss Texas! I promised her I wouldn't tell anyone! So I really can't talk about the details! So please, believe me!"
After hearing that, Texas's previously cold expression relaxed. "I believe you... because Lappland said the same thing."
Fortunately, Texas didn't seem angry. In fact, she seemed to be in a better mood, seeing that he was willing to tell her the truth, as evidenced by the Lupo girl's tail starting to wag back and forth.
"Wait a minute... did you just say Lappland told you?"
"Yes. She said you and her have some kind of agreement together... and her working here is related to that."
'Oh... then why did she signal me to play along back then? Could it be—' 'That crazy woman!'
Ren clenched his fists tightly in anger. So that woman just wanted to mess with his head and wanted to see him fight with Texas for hiding things from her. Damn... that scheming woman, she really never stops harassing me!
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