## Chapter 1294 – Capital

The flashing light was silver, as if containing moonlight.

What the hell is this?

I tried to recover my senses, doing my best to return my still-unstable vision to normal. But goddamn it, it wasn’t working.

I’d hardly felt anything like this since transcending, but my body, imbued with omnipotent power, was too unstable here to maintain my balance.

No.

I couldn’t even tell if I was standing or looking up at the sky. A pressure-like sensation on my mind was hindering my senses.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.”

This is like what I experienced briefly after killing that Colossus last time. Remembering that time, I clung to the memories and mind that were threatening to scatter.

And then, gritting my teeth.

With a renewed desire to check above, I lifted my head… A feeling that my mind would constantly scatter enveloped my whole body. Maybe if I let go here, I’d wake up from the dream.

This is the Celestial Realm.

This disturbance of the senses was proof that I still couldn’t properly observe the Celestial Realm with my own power.

And.

“…”

I somehow managed to see the sky again.

An infinitely vast space unfolded. The holes everywhere were all rifts in dimensions. Among them, somewhere over there. A silver flash was erupting from that place.

—Patzatzatzatzat!

The intense light continued to pour out for quite a while. No. To be precise, it felt like it was getting stronger and stronger.

Is the Lich up to something again? Those crazy bastards enjoy doing weird things. Is that why I’m having this experience again by some chance?

I kept thinking about the questions and trying to recall what I had thought before, clinging to my mind.

It’s not like the Lich tearing holes in dimensions is a new thing. It’s not like crazy bastards having seizures is a new thing, it’s as commonplace as little kids wailing for no reason. So there’s a chance that he did this too.

But that silver flash.

That is.

I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere before.
More than anything, I’m experiencing déjà vu.

For some reason, the power I feel from that silver flash. It was definitely in my memory. I thought. About that silver flash.

How long had it been?

—Paaht.

The silver flash subsided. However, all that remained in its place was a huge hole. A hole that looked damn big decorated a part of the Celestial Realm.

The silver flash.

Was it fired to create that huge hole?

I felt a question. I don’t know well, but a hole being torn in a dimension is not a good thing. Because that passage means that some powerful external being wandering through the dimensions can flow into this world.

The soul eaters from other dimensions mostly flowed in through such routes.

“The size of that hole…”

Not good.

—Thud.

I collapsed with a sensation that my mind was being crushed. I couldn’t move my body anymore. It was difficult even to think… Maintaining myself in this space itself was very difficult. Just as I closed my eyes as if falling asleep.

—Paaht!

I opened my eyes on the bed.

“Oh.”

—Hwaaaak!

Power was erupting from my whole body. Seeing that my vision was bright, it seemed like my eyes were glowing too.

“I see.”

I fell asleep and moved my mind to the Celestial Realm again, just like last time.

Was it because I touched the World Tree’s crystal ball yesterday? No. I didn’t feel any of the World Tree’s energy there. In other words, it seems that my mind was moved by chance or some similar reason… But what was that silver flash?

Within the vivid but partially unclear memories, I retraced the events I had just experienced and awakened my mind.

That place called the Celestial Realm can be assumed to be a kind of dimensional interchange station. Isn’t that right. Because I can see the dimension with holes all over it there.

“Ugh…”

As I raised my upper body, Risha, who was lying next to me in a disheveled posture, made a noise and wriggled her body. I chuckled and reached out to touch Risha’s hair.

Truly beautiful silver hair.

Oh.

“Oh?”

Silver hair?

In an instant, memories swirled.

Right. Surely what I felt from that silver flash was a power that was in my memory. Being in my memory means that I have experienced it, so what is its identity.

“The Demon Realm.”

Last time.

So it was when I went somewhere with Claudia and Risha. It was definitely where the paladin exploration team was. They discovered an ancient dungeon, and we headed to the excavation site. Elise was there too.

And there, I discovered traces of the Demon Realm. I defeated the minotaurs and fought against the Demon Realm General Dorr.

At that time.

It’s the power I felt there.

When I activated a certain altar in that underground dungeon, a silver flash erupted. As I blankly watched it, Risha explained that it was the light of the Demon Realm.

That’s when I learned about Risha’s true identity.

“I see.”

When my memory reached that point, I came up with one possibility.

“That silver flash was the light of the Demon Realm.”

For now, let’s put aside the possibility that the event I just experienced was something I witnessed through a dream when my mind reached the Celestial Realm, so it’s hard to distinguish whether it’s a fantasy, a dream, or real. Assuming it’s real, let’s think about it.

This time, the Lich didn’t do it.

It’s the work of the demons of the Demon Realm.

“Risha.”

I immediately stroked Risha’s cheek and woke her up.

“Wake up.”
“Ugh, ugh…”
“Let’s wake up, our Risha princess.”
“From the morning… that’s too much…”

Risha rubbed her body and tried to find the blanket with her hand.

“What’s too much? You have to wake up.”
“I can’t wake up…”

Why is she so cute?

“Hehehe, you’re usually diligent. I can’t let this happen.”

I immediately picked up Risha and held her in my arms as I left the bedroom.

* * *

I washed the sleepy Risha and came out to the living room together. Risha washed herself from the middle, as if she had come to her senses when the water touched her body.

After coming out, I simply put on shorts and made tea, then took a tray, a teapot, and cups and went down to the basement together.

Still, everyone else is sleeping, so if we talk too much in the living room, they might wake up.

The wide basement was cool, and I sat facing Risha. Risha was wearing only a black see-through negligee, so it felt quite nice.

“Do you have something to say?”

Risha, who picked up a teacup, said with a smile.

“It’s a pretty important story. That’s why I woke you up. Sorry for waking you while you were sleeping.”
“Hehe, it’s okay. I’m not that tired.”

I also took a sip of tea and brought up the main point.

“Risha. I just had a dream.”
“A dream?”
“Yeah. But it wasn’t an ordinary dream.”

I saw the Celestial Realm in my dream. To be exact, my mind somehow moved there. Thus, I observed the Celestial Realm with my vision, although it was unclear, I explained, unfolding my eye light.

“As proof, when I woke up, power was unfolding from my body. My eyes were glowing like this too.”
“That’s amazing every time I see it… Still. The story you just told is just a hypothesis, but it seems likely that your interpretation is correct. Observing the Celestial Realm through a dream. It makes enough sense.”
“Right. So let’s assume it’s true. What I saw there was.”
“…”

Risha looked at my face and concentrated.

“In the middle of a dimension with countless holes… I saw a silver flash.”
“Silver.”

Risha reacted to that word.

“And from that silver flash. I felt a power that I had felt before.”
“Could it be…”

Risha, who is quick-witted, seemed to have already remembered everything.

“Yeah. The flash that erupted when I discovered the altar of the Demon Realm back then. It was similar to that.”

When I touched the altar, the machinery and the embedded magic activated and fired a silver flash to the other side. The power I felt earlier was the same as the power I felt then.

“…Ah.”

She seemed quite surprised.

“The light of the Demon Realm… you saw that.”
“Yeah.”
“…”

Risha, with a serious face, continued to speak. She gently stroked her chin and lips with her hand and closed her eyes.

—Swish.

And Risha, who got up, came towards me. Then, she knelt down in front of me and hugged my waist, putting her cheek on my thigh.

“…”

I stroked Risha’s hair.

“I think I saw the light of the Demon Realm, Risha.”
“In the Celestial Realm where the rifts of dimensions gather… you saw that.”
“Yes.”

I recall the events of that time again.

Demon Realm General Dorr.

Awakened from the seal, he showed a powerful level of force and fought fiercely with us. And the words he said at that time. He said that there was an arrangement by the Demon King Pelerer, and that he would defeat us and build a fortress on this land to wait for the Demon King of the Demon Realm to return.

There are several things that can be inferred from that statement.

Perhaps the Demon King Pelerer, the king of the Demon Realm, did not die. But he foresaw defeat and prepared something and disappeared, leaving his trusted subordinate Dorr on this land.

I made such a guess last time.

And now.
That thought seemed to take concrete shape.

“This humble one also… heard Dorr’s words and had similar thoughts. Perhaps my father, the Demon King Pelerer, was not defeated, but suddenly disappeared. I wonder if he avoided it, leaving Dorr behind… such thoughts.”

Risha’s voice felt slightly gloomy.

It’s a natural thing. Risha was a young princess who lived in the Demon Realm. Her father led the army and went on an expedition, but a rebellion broke out and her life was threatened, so she escaped to this land. But she couldn’t find her father. She just hid and lived in the land engulfed in war, and at some point the war was over and the demons had disappeared.

It’s almost like a separation, so she must miss him.

“Come up. Don’t kneel on the floor.”
“…”

Risha, who got up, sat next to me.

“Well, I made similar guesses. That monster Dorr said it in that nuance. He even tried to open the Gate of the Infernal and summon Leviathan? It’s proof that they can handle dimensional magic. So there is a possibility.”

Perhaps by activating the altar and the flash erupting.

The Demon King’s forces who fled to another world may be returning. What I saw in the Celestial Realm earlier may be a sign of that. The light of the altar became a beacon, and they may have torn a hole to find it.

Hundreds of years have passed.

“…There is a possibility.”
“I think so too.”

This may just be a ridiculous speculation, but what I felt in the Celestial Realm earlier was definitely the power of the Demon Realm. That silver flash is also in my memory.

So I was able to create a scenario up to this point.

“If the Demon King of the Demon Realm returns to this land, I wonder what will happen. Risha.”
“It won’t be good. They… staked the fate of the Demon Realm, which was running out of resources, during the Idol War.”
“What is the state of the Demon Realm now?”
“Hundreds of years have passed since then. Even the king of the race could not solve the resource problem of the Demon Realm and tried to invade this land. Perhaps… in this humble one’s opinion, it seems to have been destroyed.”
“I see.”

It’s a reasonable guess.

“It’s okay, Risha. Whatever happens, you have me.”
“Heh… hehe. Of course, I know that. As long as this humble one has you, I don’t care about anything else.”

Risha, who was sitting next to me, turned her body towards me. And then she came up on top of me and sat facing me.

Risha hugged my neck, and I stroked the back of her head.

“First of all, I recognized the phenomenon itself. Let’s think about other things slowly from now on.”
“…I understand.”

I thought while holding Risha in my arms.

If all the hypotheses I just thought of come true, and the Demon King Pelerer of the Demon Realm, who fled to another world, comes to this land… we will never be able to avoid a conflict. It’s an era about 500 years after the end of the Idol War… The demons who have been drifting from other dimensions during that time can’t be sane…