In a Civilized Manner

Amidst the raging chaos, war would descend upon the world. Spreading its claws, it would be the judge of peace and violence, good and evil, and of course, life and death. The shadows of this event would extend until the very edges of the world, through the grassy plains, down the tranquil waters, and beyond the vast skies. One would ask—for what reasons? Obliteration? Revenge?

Surely not.

Like all aspects of the universe, this phenomenon, too, was a simple result of give-and-take.

***

"I'll have the sweetest drink here."

It took one glance from the average citizen of Nolmes to acknowledge that the young man—leaning against the counter with a gentle smile—was not from around here. Was he a scholar from the bordering kingdoms? A foreign noble? The latter seemed to not be the case, since he knew of different vernaculars and conversed freely with citizens.

"Where did you come from? Are you a merchant? Adventurer?" One of the customers at the pub scooted beside his seat, eyes flickering with curiosity. "What brings you to Nolmes?"

Her words were easily inundated by the liveliness around them. As always, the mercenary streets were bustling with people.

Under the sunlight, the young man's dark hair was even more conspicuous than usual as he turned towards the customer.

"I've travelled here from Adalan.” He smiled.

The young man spoke in a way that was eloquent but casual, and his voice was soothing to the ear. It matched the calmness in his eyes, which moved in a way that made it easy for even strangers to open up their thoughts.

"Wow. That is far." She eyed him impressively. "I bet you're looking for Alan's, then. Everyone in Nolmes... No. More like the whole Zacriya Kingdom knows his store. You're going to find yourself looking at a lot of good stuff here."

The dark-haired man continued to nod in response to the surge of information pouring out of the person's mouth like a leaking dam.

"Here's your Limberry Two-in-One, our sweetest drink." The waitress slid the cocktail glass towards him, her tiger teeth showing through a grin. “Consider it on the house.”

Glancing at the drink fizzing with a tint of pink, he glanced up through his lashes. "You're too kind."

"Don't worry about it."

His slender fingers hooked onto the cup's glass stem, pulling it towards him. The man took a small sip, then grimaced.

Brows furrowed, he scrutinized the pink liquid. It was quite disappointing for the “sweetest drink on the house,” but it would suffice. As the man was about to take another sip, he paused.

Bzzt.

Something buzzed in his ears. The man glanced around his surroundings, dazed for a moment after hearing a sound that no one else seemed to notice.

"Is the drink too sweet?" The waitress chuckled after seeing his blank expression.

No, it was not too sweet. In fact, it was not sweet enough. He didn't have a chance to respond, though, because there was a voice echoing in his head.

— ...Can you hear me?

This time, his eyes visibly widened as he ascertained its existence. It was deep and stoic. Perhaps too deep, since despite being amidst a pub filled with voices, it boomed in his ears with elucidating clarity.

He quickly finished his cocktail, not forgetting to leave the waitress with two copper yones as a tip as he got up to leave. Hopefully, this wasn't a sign of insanity. After all, it had only been less than a few hours since he stepped foot into the capital of the Zacriya Kingdom.

The streets were packed with people, but the man had no problem making his way through thanks to his nimbleness. He dodged the seas of bodies as he stopped by some unnoticeable corner in an alleyway, away from city center. Pausing to sneak a few glances around him, the man made sure that no one was listening before speaking into thin air.

"Hello?"

Immediately, the voice responded.

— You can hear me?

This was quite something. The response that manifested out of nowhere was indeed coming from his own mind. Baffled at his current situation, the man subconsciously touched his head. Was it some sort of Nolmes-exclusive communication system?

"Who are you?" He felt like a fool as he directed his voice into the air.

— I don't know.

"What?"

— I can't remember.

The response brought a frown to his face. It was one thing if he had no idea of the speaker's identity, but a whole other problem if the speaker didn't know himself.

"Is it amnesia? Some sort of memory loss?" The man was muttering to himself, but the voice ended up responding to the rhetorical question.

— Perhaps so. It's been like this for a while now.

The man raised an eyebrow at the unexpected turn of events. Silently, he evaluated the situation of the unknown speaker, who was, to a certain extent, similar to his own.

Thirteen years ago, the young man had found himself in a boy's body. Call it intuition, but despite having no recollection of his past, he was certain that this body he had somehow occupied didn't belong to him. The air, the people, the surroundings—everything just seemed off, even himself included. With no family, relatives, or connections, he then spent years wandering between regions, even across kingdoms, taking up different jobs in order to survive in this foreign environment.

This was why he couldn't help but become intrigued after seeing an entity that was in a situation comparable to his own.

Fascination, however, was not equivalent to involvement. He had no plans of getting involved in these unnecessary complications.

There was a reason why he decided to set foot on the Zacriya Kingdom. It was a kingdom of opportunities.

Compared to Adalan, which was known for its emphasis on adventures and thrills of the untamed wilderness, the Zacriya Kingdom was flourishing with connections and pathways towards affluence.

Liberty and prosperity.

Those were his most important values.

Perhaps it was because of the accumulated experiences throughout his life, but the man's goal was simple. He wanted to make enough money to buy a house by the coastlines as his permanent dwelling. Then, he would travel around the world with the leftover abundance of cash, knowing that there was a home he could always come back to.

Indeed, that was Edris's dream.

— I just remembered something.

The speaker's deep tone, reverberating against his eardrums, brought Edris out of his trance. "What is it?"

The voice had paused for a moment at his prompting, but the latter was not prepared for his next words.

— The world will soon be welcomed with war.

"...What?"

Edris let out a dry laugh at the statement, dismissing it on the spot as nonsense. The reason was simple.

The ruling kingdoms on the Eastern Continent, although formally under the Derion Empire, were all autonomous sovereignties. The only things bonding them together were their proximal geographic regions and occasional trade interactions. There was no point for unacquainted neighbours to wage war against one another.

In that case, the only other possibility would be the Western Continent, on the other side of the world. The Thyrone Empire on the Western Continent always maintained a sense of superiority towards everyone else. As a result, the two parts of the world barely interacted with each other.

However, Edris couldn't help but frown at the voice's ominous statement, because it would be troublesome if it was the truth. As if to confirm his judgement, the voice spoke again.

— I have to stop it.

Edris's frown dragged deeper.

Despite not even being able to recall anything about himself, the voice had a weird sense of righteousness to act for others.

Unlike him, Edris was not the type to pursue things in order to satisfy his curiosity; abstract pursuits were nothing in front of concrete benefits.

"Come to think of it, how are you speaking to me?"

— I've tried to talk to people by using mana to enter their minds, but you were the only one who actually heard me.

"Getting into people's minds?"

That sounded quite dangerous.

— ...Only travelling. I can not affect them in any way.

So he's like a powerless spirling.

Edris fell into deep thought. He didn't know how the voice was able to communicate through his consciousness. According to the speaker, his voice couldn't be heard by others nor could he do anything to make them notice his presence.

Frankly, Edris didn't want to be stuck with a voice in his head.

How was this any different from having a domestic pet fly that harmlessly buzzed around your ears all day?

With these thoughts in mind, he decided to peacefully put an end to this strange encounter. Edris smiled into the air.

"Let's go to the Healing Faction. I think they may have a way to communicate with you. Maybe they'll even know how to retrieve your memories."

The Healing Faction—one of the five factions in the kingdom. There, they dealt with all types of health issues and magic dysfunctions.

Naturally, Edris didn’t plan to become further involved with the voice after hearing all he had to say. He would, kindly, pass the voice on to the healing mages. He couldn't be sure whether they’d actually find a solution to the speaker's problems, but that's none of his concerns. Right now, the wise decision was to get rid of this voice in his head before he could get caught up in some troublesome events.

Giving his own decision a mental nod, Edris was about to be on his way when the voice's casual comment echoed in his head.

— You might want to move.

"...What?" Despite his confusion, Edris subconsciously took a step back.

The next thing he knew, an object blurred in front of his eyes. A few strands of his dark hair flew up at the breeze formed by the flower pot as it smashed onto the ground, shattering into pieces.

Dazed, Edris stared at the scattered clay that sprawled before his feet, covering the ground in a messy layer of brown. All the hairs on the back of his neck shot up as he was hit with a realization:

If he hadn't stepped back, instead of the floor taking on the impact of the falling pot, it would be his head.

Edris shuddered at how close he was to being injured, and even worse—at how his dream could have gone unfulfilled. Just like that. He then thought about the voice in his head, who had somehow foreseen the event before its unfolding.

Edris cast his gaze upwards, as if looking directly at the invisible entity.

"…Just what are you?"