This is not the date I wanted.

This is Goetia - Alan Mathers's personal ship.

Although it was damaged by Ratatoskr's airship in the previous battle, it was finally repaired after a month.

——I found Almi!

At this moment, "Nibelcol" poked his head out from the hull like a ghost, pointed at Artemisia and shouted.

——What is Almi doing here?

"I'm here to see Director Westcott."

——Oh. Are you here to see your dad?

—A tryst? Was it a tryst?

——Armi is Dad’s lover?

——Ah~ The Shura Field is here!

"That's not the case. I have something to ask the director. So, Armi is..."

Artemisia replied helplessly. Then, she noticed that "Nibelcol" addressed her and felt a little confused.

——Your nickname!

——The name Artemisia is too annoying to pronounce. So I call her Almi for short.

"I see."

Artemisia nodded in understanding. She didn't mind being called by a nickname, so she gladly accepted it.

"Oh, Ashcroft, you're here at Gnarcang too."

At this moment, Westcott was teleported down from Goetia. After noticing Artemisia, he couldn't help but ask curiously.

"Hello, Director Westcott."

Artemisia bowed politely before asking.

"Director, what are you doing here?"

"Ah, I'm here to make some final adjustments to the rituals inside the airship."

Westcott replied, tapping the bottom shelf of Goetia.

"Adjust?" Artemisia was puzzled. "Isn't that the job of a technical engineer?"

"Don't look at me like this, I used to be a researcher. I've been itching to do something recently... so I tried to add some new features."

"That's it."

After all, he was the inventor of the manifestation device, so Artemisia believed him without any doubt.

"So, what do you want from me?"

"Oh, by the way, Director, actually I..."

Artemisia briefly explained the situation.

"I see. I understand your difficulties. Although I personally want to agree to your request, but in a few days we will have to fight the elves. I can't let important combat forces be absent?"

Seeing that Westcott refused her to return to the country, she was not surprised and continued.

"Then can you please contact DEM headquarters and have them confirm the safety of my friend. Also, after the battle is over, I would like to ask for leave to return home."

——Yeah, death flag.

——Almi can never go back now.

——A moment of silence.

Ignoring the chattering Nibelcol, Artemisia looked at Westcott, waiting for his answer.

"Well, that's fine. I'll contact headquarters and get back to you if your friend has any news."

"...Thank you very much, Director Westcott. Well, I'll take my leave now."

After thanking Westcott, Artemisia quietly left the underground hangar.

(…Is this all right?)

Artemisia thought to herself. She didn't know why, even though Westcott agreed to her request, the uneasiness in her heart did not ease, but became even stronger.

To be honest, Westcott's first impression was not very good. Although he could be classified as a handsome man, his eerie atmosphere always made people feel cold. When she came here just now, she heard some employees gossiping that "the director is not actually a human being."

Of course, Artemisia didn't intend to judge a person by his appearance. In fact, at first, she felt that this new boss was very easy to talk to, much easier to get along with than her instructor in the SSS.

but……

(That's... too easy to talk to.)

From the conversation just now, everything went too smoothly. Whether it was the initial rejection or the agreement, Westcott's voice never fluctuated much. The feelings of embarrassment and regret were so weak that it seemed like acting, light and unreal.

Suddenly, Artemisia couldn't help but think of the battle a few days ago, in which bombs were set in the city's air-raid shelters, and the citizens who hid in because of the space quake alarm were taken hostage.

Although it was a joke, the person who could calmly bring up such a thing as a joke in a formal setting has something wrong with him.

Just as Artemisia was worried, the phone in her clothes suddenly vibrated with a text message.

"Could it be a reply from Ashley and the others?"

Artemisia quickly turned on her cell phone, but when she saw the sender and the content of the message, she couldn't help but frown.

PS: From now on, Artemisia will be replaced by Almi, as it is too troublesome to type the full name.

10 The World in Memory (Part )

==============================

"Aha--"

In a certain school, quiet time flows slowly. Students sit in the classroom. Some of them listen to the teacher carefully and take notes, while others are absent-mindedly playing.

Teenagers belong to the latter category. It is obvious that most of the knowledge taught in high school will not be useful when they grow up, so why do they study hard? Before they figure out this problem, teenagers will not have the motivation to study.

The boy stared out the window absentmindedly.

Neatly arranged buildings, neatly paved roads, pedestrians and vehicles coming and going. The sight extends to the distance along the commonplace scenery. When reaching a dividing line, the scenery suddenly changes, and the bustling streets become a wasteland of nothingness.

It’s like traveling to another world, a world with clear boundaries.

This is the world the boy lives in. Although the city affected by the space earthquake is still in a panic, people have to eat to survive, and they have to work to eat. In order to accomplish this, they have to find the cornerstone of their daily lives, even if there is a huge crater not far away.

No matter which channel I turned on, I could hear the news about the space earthquake. The tragedy that the disaster had caused was also repeatedly broadcast. However, the residents nearby were surprisingly calm and continued their lives.

What is this? Thinking of this, the boy felt a little overwhelmed by the vague sense of illusion.

Finally, the bell rang for the end of get out of class.

"Hey, do you want to go to the game hall together?"

The boy's friend, Ryuo Gokawa, who was sitting at the table next to him, spoke to him.

"Sorry, Ryuo. I'm going straight home today."

The boy rejected Long Xiong's invitation with a wry smile, hurriedly packed his schoolbag and stood up from his seat.

"It looks urgent, what's going on?"

When asked this question, the boy was stunned at first, and then gave a vague answer.

"Ah... well, a distant relative came to visit. So I need to buy some more food."

"Is that so? That can't be helped. See you tomorrow then!"

"Well, see you tomorrow."

After saying goodbye to Long Xiong, the boy left the classroom and ran towards his home eagerly.

"I am back."

"Brother! You are awesome! You are awesome!"

As soon as I opened the door, my sister ran to me excitedly.

"Mana... should I say 'welcome back' now?"

"That kind of trifle doesn't matter! Compared to that, this is amazing!"

"Calm down. What's so great?"

After calming down the flustered Mana, the boy sighed and asked helplessly.

"That girl that my brother picked up yesterday—"

Mana swallowed and said very seriously.

"I can speak human language now."

"...What? That's it."

The boy didn't know whether to laugh or cry, not understanding his sister's boiling point.

"B-but—she couldn't even speak yesterday."

"It's not because he's just a newborn baby. Maybe he can't speak, but he's just temporarily unable to speak due to stimulation. Is it necessary to make such a fuss?"

The boy replied with a confident look on his face.

At this moment, a sound of light footsteps came from the depths of the room, and the silver-haired girl walked out of the study. After seeing the boy, she spoke with a smile.

"Welcome back."

"Ohhhhhh! That's awesome!!!"

I didn't expect to hear a silver-haired beautiful girl greet me besides my sister. The boy couldn't help but cheered with emotion.

"Have you recovered your memory?"

"memory?"

The girl tilted her head in confusion.

"If I understand correctly, I shouldn't have recovered my memory."

"Eh?"

Hearing the girl's words, the boy couldn't help but be a little stunned.

"But haven't you already remembered how to speak?"

“It’s not ‘remembered’, it’s ‘mastered’.”

The girl shook her head slightly and pointed in the direction of the study.

"That room has a lot of information about text and sound. It's not difficult to infer the language system from the common elements."

"real or fake……"

The boy was so surprised that he couldn't close his mouth.

She walked into the study room with a somewhat certain mood. All the books that were originally placed in the bookcase had been taken out and neatly stacked aside after the girl finished reading. The computer on the desk was also playing audio and video similar to broadcasts and Rakugo, which seemed to be used to correct pronunciation.

And if you look closely, in addition to books related to Japanese, there are also various reference books in English, French, Nandoka (a foreign language mentioned in the original work of Reiinkai, I don’t know if it exists in reality.), world history, chemistry, physics, biology, society, etc.

"You finished reading these books in just one day?"

The boy swallowed in disbelief.

"Yeah." The girl nodded, as if she had just completed a trivial task.

"However, since a lot of the information is still in the inference stage, it cannot be denied that there are some errors in the details. Especially in this book, events that can be described in one sentence are deliberately expressed in many long and difficult sentences. Many of the grammars used are completely different from those recorded in the dictionary, and are very profound."

"No, no, it's not that complicated."

Seeing the girl looking at the light novel he had placed here with a serious expression, the boy explained awkwardly.

"And you're already amazing enough."

When he thought about how the other party had learned so much complicated knowledge in just a few days, he couldn't help but feel that he had been feeding dogs all those years of schooling.

"Honestly, your Japanese is more authentic than Mana's."

"At least my Japanese is more authentic than that of my brother who can only say 'ah...' and 'uuuu...'"

"Slow down, calm down. I like you with your own personality."