"Hey! Wait up-aru!"
As we were walking, Tao came running toward us.
"Phew, finally caught up."
"Is something wrong, Tao?"
"I've finished selling all my medicine, so I thought I'd join you. I've been here plenty of times, so I'm a pretty reliable guide-aru!" Tao said, giving me a wink.
In that case, there was no reason to refuse.
"All right. Let's look around together."
"Yay! Thanks-aru!" Tao hopped up and down, looking delighted. "Now then, let's start from the edge and work our way around. It shouldn't be too crowded this way at this hour. Come on, hurry!"
Following Tao’s lead, we wove through the dense crowds. Aside from the food stalls, the festival was littered with suspicious items—stones that supposedly produced an infinite supply of water, or lucky charms that claimed to boost your fortune just by touching them.
"Man, there's a lot of phony-looking crap here-ssu. It's all so cluttered and unrefined-ssu."
"Yeah, but I don't exactly hate it."
Trial and error is the path to evolution. I could see the marks of that process everywhere, including plenty of shady experiments that would never find their way into a textbook. It was fascinating in its own way.
"To seek only the finished product is to narrow one's vision and overlook the essence... As expected of Master Lloyd, you truly understand."
"Hah, look at you playing the sycophant-ssu. ...Oh, Master Lloyd, look up! There's something flying-ssu!"
Following Grimo's gaze, I saw small objects soaring through the air.
"Hmm, those are some strange-looking birds-ssu."
"Those aren't birds. They're golems."
A formation of golems flew overhead, kept aloft by the lift from their high-speed propellers. As I wondered what they were up to, the golems' undersides clicked open, dropping something into the air.
"Something's falling-aru!"
"Are those... seeds?"
"Everyone, watch closely-aru!"
As Tao spoke, sprouts suddenly burst from the seeds scattered across the sky. They bloomed into massive flowers in the blink of an eye, drifting down like a colorful canopy that blanketed the heavens.
"Wow! It's beautiful!"
"Incredible... to think scattered seeds could bloom so instantly. How deeply intriguing."
"That's the Flower Blizzard. It's one of the main attractions of the Alchemi-fest. It’s so pretty-aru."
Ren and the others were captivated by the dancing flowers. They had likely treated the seeds with high-quality fertilizer and Growth Potion, timed to scatter them just as they were on the verge of blooming. A few seeds failed to time it right and hit the ground before opening, but the vast majority bloomed in mid-air. Achieving that kind of precision must require an enormous amount of experience.
"I have to hand it to them, that's true craftsmanship... Hmm?"
Amidst my admiration, I suddenly felt a gaze from the shadows. In this massive crowd, the look was unmistakably directed at me alone. I turned around and saw a small figure.
It was a child. He looked to be about my height. He wore a mask under his hood, and a faint smile played across his lips.
"Who are you...?"
The moment I turned my attention to the boy, a wave of magic power swept over the area, and my vision was engulfed in white.
This was the Spatial System Magic 'Void Canopy'—a spell that isolates the target within a separate dimension. It was impossible to break through with physical force, and because it existed on a different plane of existence, dispelling it with magic was no simple feat.
"Dammit! We're trapped-ssu!"
"This barrier... the density is incredible! I can't move...!"
The two of them tried to break out, but the barrier didn't even twitch. To manifest such high-level Spatial System Magic with this kind of output... this boy was an exceptionally skilled mage.
As I watched with fascination, the boy slowly walked toward me.
"—It has been a long time, Lloyd."
He knew my name?
I had spent most of my time inside the castle until recently, so I had very few acquaintances outside. Furthermore, this wasn't even the Kingdom of Saloom. If I had met someone this powerful before, there was no way I would have forgotten him. And yet, I had no memory of him whatsoever. Who was he?
"Who are you?"
"...Hah. I had a feeling, but it seems you really don't remember." The boy let out a disappointed sigh. Based on his tone, he seemed to think we'd met in the past, but it still wasn't ringing any bells. "Well, you were always the type to immediately forget anything you weren't interested in, Lloyd. I thought this might happen."
I nodded in agreement. That sounded like me.
"This kid seems to know Master Lloyd pretty well-ssu."
"Indeed. Perhaps this is a vendetta? Did you happen to defeat him unconsciously when you were younger, Master Lloyd?"
A vendetta, huh? I didn't have any memory of that, either. When I was little, I was always cooped up doing magic research. I hardly ever went outside, let alone used magic on people.
Seeing my confusion, the boy simply smiled.
"Well, it doesn't matter. You'll remember eventually. I only came to say hello today."
"Hey! You think you can just trap people in a place like this and walk away-ssu?! We can't let this slide, right?! Right, Master Lloyd?!"
Suddenly, Grimo slipped out of my hand and reverted to his original form as a black sheep, confronting the boy.
"Since you picked the fight, you'd better be ready to pay the price-ssu! ...Right, Master Lloyd?!"
Grimo kept looking at me for confirmation, but I didn't really mind. Although, checking in with me after acting all tough like that made him look like a total amateur.
"If it's okay with you, Master Lloyd, I'll give this brat a taste of pain-ssu! Hehehe!"
It seemed he was itching for a fight. Well, I was curious about the boy's strength too. Since the boy was the one who initiated this, I didn't see any harm in letting Grimo have his way.
"Do as you like."
"Yes, sir-ssu! Thank you very much-ssu! ...Heh heh heh. You ready, you little brat?! I'm gonna personally blow you to bits-sama!"
Grimo cracked his knuckles as he loomed over the boy. The boy didn't look frightened at all; he just sighed in exasperation.
"...I'm surprised. To think you house a Majin within your own body. There's no telling what it might do to you... You really have very little concern for your own physical well-being, don't you?"
"Stop your yapping-ssu! Look over here! You're about to get pulverized-sama!"
Grimo crossed his arms, gathering jet-black magic power. The massive amount of energy was condensed to its absolute limit before being unleashed at the boy.
"Eat this! Black Flash Spiral Cannon!"
The flash of black magic spiraled through the air and struck the boy directly. A thunderous roar shook the space, and the shockwave reached all the way back to us.
"Hah-hah! How's that, you brat?! Had enough yet-ssu?! Now hurry up and dissolve this barrier!"
Grimo boasted triumphantly, but the barrier didn't budge an inch. As the thick black smoke cleared, the boy stepped out, completely unscathed.
"Phew. That was a shock. Attacking so suddenly like that."
Seeing the boy's calm expression, Grimo's face twisted in shock.
"I-Impossible... You took my Black Flash Spiral Cannon and didn't get a scratch-ssu...? Dammit, did I hold back without realizing it-ssu?! Fine, this time I'm going all out-ssu...!"
Grimo released another wave of magic, but it exploded far in front of the boy.
"A Magic Barrier...! And an incredibly thick one at that-ssu! Tsk! Hey, you shitty angel, help me out-ssu!"
"Hmph. I suppose it cannot be helped. I care nothing for the plight of a foolish Majin, but I cannot overlook one who opposes Master Lloyd."
With that, Jiriel emerged from my hand and spread his wings.
"Stop your rambling and do it at the same time-ssu! Sync up with me, you shitty angel-ssu!"
"Do not dare give me orders. If you wish to coordinate, then you sync with me, you idiotic Majin!"
"Fine, then do whatever you want-ssu!"
"I intend to!"
While bickering, Grimo and Jiriel released their magic simultaneously. The black and white spirals of energy entwined, racing toward the boy. Despite their constant arguing, the strike was perfectly synchronized.
However, the boy didn't even flinch. He blocked the massive impact effortlessly with his Magic Barrier.
"I-Impossible... That was definitely my full power-ssu...!"
"To think he remained unfazed by a strike backed by all of my magic power... This is inconceivable!"
While Grimo and Jiriel were paralyzed with shock, the boy looked merely troubled.
"...This is a problem. I didn't come here to fight."
"Shut your mouth-ssu! Then what the hell did you come here for-ssu?!"
In response to Grimo's shout, the boy offered a small smile.
"I've been telling you. Lloyd, I only came to see you."
His gaze from beneath the mask was fixed squarely on me.
"To see me, huh? Then you could have just spoken to me normally. Trapping me in a barrier out of nowhere is pretty rude."
"I didn't want to be interrupted by your attendants. Besides, if you'd attacked me like that out in the open, the city would have been damaged. And it's not as if this barrier could truly hold you if you actually wanted to break it, is it?"
Well, he had a point. I was mostly sticking around and talking to him because I was interested. ...Wait, was his goal simply to introduce himself to me?
As if to confirm my suspicion, the boy placed a finger to his lips and chuckled.
"It seems my goal has been achieved. I shall take my leave now."
"Wait. I didn't get your name."
The boy stopped and looked back over his shoulder.
"—Ido. That is the name I am using for now. Until next time."
The boy named Ido waved his arm, and the white world began to shatter. The next thing I knew, I was back in the middle of the crowded street, standing next to Sylpha and the others.
"Master Lloyd?! Where on earth did you go?!"
"We were so worried-aru!"
"Ah, sorry, sorry."
Answering distractedly, I searched for Ido's presence, but he was nowhere to be found. He had vanished in an instant, without leaving a single trace of magic power behind.
He was certainly skilled. ...I didn't know what was going on, but things were definitely starting to get interesting.