< 123. Butterfly’s Dream (1) >
*
The sunlight touched the corner of his eyes. Before opening his eyes, Fernandez checked his condition. It was a survival tactic he had learned during his long escape. The kind where you don’t let anyone else know you’re awake first.
‘No strength.’
Neither the divine energy that once pulsed vigorously through his body nor his physical strength could be felt. His slackened ligaments and dried-up muscles twitched weakly.
‘How much time has passed?’
The last thing he remembered was… jumping off a massive cliff leading to the Soul Realm. If that was the case, he should be in the Soul Realm now.
‘Faijashi. Can you hear me? Faijashi!’
There was no voice answering him. Unless someone had destroyed the soul split by Vaitas’s power, this was—
“Teacher, hehe. You’re awake?”
“…?!”
Fernandez’s eyes shot open. It was a crude bed made of straw in an old hut. He propped himself up with one arm on the creaky bed and squinted at the silhouette tidying up the table in the distance.
“You’re always like this. When you wake up, you should get up right away. Why do you always squirm around first?”
“…What is this…?”
Fernandez tried to speak with a cracked voice, then startled and grabbed his own neck. Wrinkled skin touched his fingertips. The voice. It wasn’t his voice.
No, it was a voice he knew.
No, rather, it was a voice he was painfully familiar with.
A voice he had spent eighty years with…
“Ah, right. Water? Just a moment!”
The silhouette chattered cheerfully and soon brought over a cup of water. His vision was still blurry. His dry eyes needed time to adjust to the sunlight. He took a sip of water from the simple ceramic cup…
And then he noticed the white hand holding it.
‘Arazelmone…!’
The tips of the slender, white fingers were tinged with a faint purple under the nails. Arazelmone. A symptom often found in mages, apothecaries, or alchemists who handle rare drugs.
And he remembered a woman who spoke in this voice. A woman who treated him like this. Or rather, a woman whose fingertips were always stained with Arazelmone.
The faded, old picture frame regains its color. As his blurry vision gradually focuses, he sees the interior of the hut where he lay.
Crowded alchemical reagents and experimental tools. A simple pump drawing water and small cages holding tiny animals. The scenery outside the window beyond the door. The land where wheat fields stretch under the autumn sky.
Beyond that, farmers harvesting the autumn crops. Women handing out snacks to them. Children playing with kites, and the sounds of chickens and dogs.
And a familiar scent. The fragrance of freesia flowers. A perfume she made and refined herself.
-Click.
The old picture frame in his mind regains its color. His memories of this scene, the painting of it. The scent brought by the cool autumn breeze.
“Aria…”
“Yes, Teacher?”
Her black hair swayed. And beneath it, a warm-faced woman smiled at him.
*
‘What is going on?’
-Clink.
Fernandez absentmindedly dipped bread into the soup and fell into thought. The last moment he remembered was the gateway to the Soul Realm. Therefore, the most plausible hypothesis was that all of this was an illusion and Mumto was toying with him…
“Um… Teacher? Do you not have an appetite? I made your favorite.”
In the countryside, meat is a much rarer ingredient than one might think. Yet, this thick soup was generously filled with shredded chicken. It was delicious. A nostalgic taste. Fernandez chewed on the soaked bread and shook his head.
“It’s very good.”
“…Is it…?”
Aria rolled her eyes uneasily. Fernandez sighed as he watched her. There was no way to be sure.
‘Come to think of it, it was like this even when I turned sixteen.’
Whether he had truly returned, whether all of this was just an illusion, whether it was a dream shown by a demon, or a delusion seen in the final moments of life.
He couldn’t be sure of anything. All assumptions were miserable, and the method to confirm them was distant. Fernandez felt the flow of hellish magic boiling within him, and the vast, densely woven magic circuits.
If he wanted to, he could effortlessly cast any spell from this era without feeling any backlash. He had the experience, knowledge, and sense.
But he wasn’t satisfied. He carefully watched Aria dipping bread into the soup. She was still beautiful, and his heart still raced every time he saw her.
‘I can’t relax and enjoy this.’
If this is reality, was the past year a dream? If this is an illusion, should he break free from this sweet illusion?
‘Suicide…?’
Should he try suicide? It was the worst of the worst options. If by any chance this moment was real, he would be kicking away the opportunity that had come to him.
He slightly bent his fingers. The familiar beastman techniques ingrained in his body surfaced one by one, and the magic circuits instinctively activated. Spells began to weave in his grasp. The delicate flow of magic formed a single strand…
I could even feel it at my fingertips.
“Aria.”
“Yes, Teacher?”
“The church. Where is the church?”
“Huh…?”
Aria’s eyes widened in surprise. She stared blankly at Fernandez for a moment, then reached out and touched his forehead.
Her cold, slender fingers rested pleasantly on his forehead. Aria kept her hand on his forehead for a while, then suddenly spoke.
“No fever… Why are you acting like this all of a sudden? It’s scary.”
“I need the Vaitas Church.”
When he woke up in the 16-year-old coniferous forest, it was Vaitas who told him about his past life. So if he needed certainty, he had to go to Vaitas.
Aria chewed on the remaining bread and swallowed it. She soon smiled brightly.
“Let’s go together. I also have something to deliver to the priest.”
*
Fernandez dressed and left the house. A small, old house. He stood silently for a moment, looking at the door with a crooked sign that read “[Page’s Pharmacy].”
“Did you forget something?”
“No. Let’s go.”
“Okay!”
At Fernandez’s words, Aria smiled brightly and walked briskly ahead of him. Through the village to the modest church on a small hill.
The scenery of the village covered in dirt paths unfolded before his eyes. Children ran by, bowing their heads in greeting when they saw him. A woman shaking out laundry greeted him warmly.
“Oh, Teacher from the pharmacy! Good day!”
“Ah, yes. Good day, ma’am.”
“Do you happen to have any cold medicine? I think our Jack has caught an autumn cold.”
“…Yes. I’ll take a look. But first, I have somewhere to be.”
“Ah, yes. Please stop by later! And here, I have some leftover fresh potatoes…”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
This was how it went. Fernandez was the only pharmacist in the village, and the rural villagers held him in high regard, knowing he had studied in the city. Whenever this happened, Aria would straighten her back and let out a proud, fake cough.
Fernandez tried his best to remain calm. No matter how he looked now, it was still ridiculous. There was no point in showing confusion.
Finally, the church appeared. Looking at the modest wooden door, Fernandez swallowed hard.
‘Sigh…’
Knocking on the church door to ask God for answers in my lifetime. Fernandez smirked and pushed the wooden door with all his might.
*
In his previous life, he had never set foot in a church. The moment he stepped into a church would be his last day—the day he would face inquisition.
Therefore, he maintained a cold relationship with the priest of this church. They knew of each other’s existence but made no effort to be friendly. The local priest, a native of the area, found his attitude distasteful, and Aria, quick-witted as ever, took the priest somewhere as soon as they entered the church.
‘Good kid.’
She was sharp. She knew that his purpose for coming to the church was not the priest. Fernandez headed to the prayer room.
The prayer room of the Vaitas Church was modest to the point of being barren. A large stone statue engraved with a Keyblade stood on the podium, with chairs arranged around it.
He walked straight to the front row and sat down. He glared at the sacred object of Vaitas. At the base of the statue, there was a small relief. Ancient Gaelic was inscribed there.
-Macto. Praise.
-Superlauda. Do your best.
‘What do these rural villagers know about ancient Gaelic? Arrogant bunch.’
Fernandez smirked and clasped his hands toward the statue. According to modern magical theory, prayer is a raven sent to the gods, and all gods can perceive prayers directed at them at every moment.
Summoning demons and petitioning them is not structurally different from praying to gods. And Fernandez was a mage well-versed in magic and demonology.
‘Answer me, Vaitas. Aren’t you watching me?’
The same time, the same situation as in the past. If this is not a dream, delusion, or demonic illusion, Vaitas will respond to me. If the god hears my prayer, he will have no choice but to pay attention to me.
‘I was your saint. Was this a dream? Or is this moment the dream? If not, answer me, Vaitas. In return, I will give you the answer you most desire.’
Prayer to a god is a kind of transaction. The reason gods do not answer their followers is, bluntly, because it is not a beneficial transaction for the god.
Most followers beg their gods. Do this, do that. Gods are not servants or fairies. If you want to hear their answers, you must make them an attractive offer.
‘If this era is real, the Temple of the Gods has not yet been sealed.’
The moment the Temple of the Gods is sealed is just before the collapse of the Material World. If the communication between the Temple of the Gods and the Material World is still intact—
‘So answer me, Vaitas. Did I foresee the future? Or is this my vision now?’
Please. Answer me. So I can look at Aria’s smile and laugh with ease. Or at least. So I can ignore their smiles and goodwill with ease.
At that moment, the base of the statue Fernandez was glaring at. The Gaelic inscription began to twist. The stone carving couldn’t change on its own. This was a kind of miracle.
-What do you wish to be true?
‘Are you Vaitas?’
-Who do you wish me to be?
‘Damn it. Don’t answer a question with a question.’
At his prayer, the text paused for a moment. Then, new text appeared.
-Flee. As far as you can. For the sake of your name.
‘What?’
Soon, a thunderous voice echoed in his head.
[I have found you, Mage.]
‘…Vai…tas…?’
*
![[TS] Obsessed Gamer: The Ultimate Return](https://i3.wp.com/novelhitam.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/TS-Obsessed-Gamer-The-Ultimate-Return2.png?resize=85,105 "[TS] Obsessed Gamer: The Ultimate Return")
