The quiet training hall where all sounds had vanished.
The man slowly lowered his raised arm.
“…Though it’s said to be necessary for dramatic effect, this is truly a foolish act.”
The man’s gaze drifted across the vast training hall, landing on the dozens of students sprawled out on the floor.
All the students lay in various positions, each with their eyes tightly shut.
Their regularly rising chests indicated they were still alive.
“Good thing they all fell for it. Every semester, there were always one or two who remained unaffected.”
At that moment, a voice echoed in his mind.
– There was one student who put up quite the fight.
“Who? Ah, this student?”
His gaze turned to a frail-looking boy with gray hair.
The man glanced at the purring cat nestled in the student’s arms.
“That cat.”
– As you suspected. It’s not a creature from this galaxy.
“…An Outsider?”
-Hmm… It’s a bit ambiguous. It doesn’t seem to be an Outer God, though. The power it possesses is too weak.
The man winced, realizing his guess was slightly off but still roughly correct.
“Hmph, if they were Outer Gods, they wouldn’t have fallen for such a shoddy trick.”
– Hey, it’s my domain of influence. You always seem to downplay me. Without me, you’d still be trapped in the belly of the Great Old Ones…
The man easily ignored the grumbling voice and glanced at the cat before sitting down on a chair.
“Hmph… Now, all we need to do is wait, right?”
– You never know. There might be students who fail within a day.
“Tch. Doubtful. This batch is above average… except for one.”
-But that one may turn out to be the biggest variable… or already has.
Realizing what the voice implied, the man’s expression twisted into a grimace.
With a sigh, he lamented his bitter mistake.
“What are the odds that a student with no magical power enters, and this student not only enters the forbidden area but also ‘that library’? At this point, we might call coincidence ‘inevitability’.”
– Heh heh heh, barriers that grow stronger with magical power. Even Outer Gods are briefly halted by it, yet they were broken by an ordinary human.
“…No magic power at all? I never imagined such a person could exist.”
– Our so-called perfect Chancellor is actually riddled with flaws? The students would be shocked if they knew.
The man called Chancellor stared up at the sky, though the ceiling blocked his view. He knew the owner of the voice was watching him from above.
“You’ve had your say. Go check on the students, Hypnos. Even if it’s just a dream, the experience of death leaves scars on the soul.”
Reflecting on it, this was certainly an ingenious method. Dropping the students into real space-time ruptures would have been too unpredictable, and if a student were to die before realizing their situation, it would be catastrophic.
But what if all students were placed in a single dream and tricked into thinking it was a space-time rupture? A perfectly safe test where death was only illusory.
-Yep, I was just about to check anyway……
Suddenly, the voice grew silent, and the Chancellor tilted his head in confusion.
“Hypnos?”
-Um… well……uh, what?
“Is something wrong?”
……-Omens.
“?”
-Your students are missing from my dream.
The Chancellor, hearing this, looked perplexed at the upside-down chair as he rose.
“What?! Where are they then?”
-Let me check… just a second.
And after a moment,
-…Oh damn.
“Where are they?”
…-Dreamland.
“…What?”
-Hard to believe, but true. They’re in Dreamland.
“What the heck happened!!”
The Chancellor, gripping a fistful of his blonde hair, recalled the face of one person.
“There’s only one person capable of this nonsense.”
-Oh no… could it be…
The Chancellor’s expression contorted like a demon as he remembered the insufferable face.
“NYARLATHOTEP!!”
Thinking the accursed connection stretched from the galaxy all the way here made his stomach churn.
But there was something more pressing than his anger now.
Struggling to calm the turmoil within, the Chancellor painfully opened his mouth.
“…First, we have to confirm the students’ safety.”
-Um, they seem to be fine for now…
“Can you retrieve them?”
-…Impossible right now. The students in there must find me if they’re to leave Dreamland.
“Can’t you go to them?”
-Sorry, but with Nyarlathotep stepping in, I can’t intervene further. And besides…
“Same here. Dammit…”
At that moment, the Chancellor thought of his rival and nemesis.
“Nodens! If I ask Nodens—”
-Sorry, but Nodens hasn’t been to Dreamland recently. Apparently, the reason to come here is gone.
“But this involves Nyarlathotep. There’s no way Nodens would pass this up.”
-True, but Nodens is not answering his communication. Something seems amiss.
“…Damn it. So there’s no way to get them out at all?”
The Chancellor looked worriedly at the students.
‘If they die in Dreamland…’
His gaze rested on one spot.
“Seems like you’ll have to be the wildcard. Nameless creature disguised as a cat.”
—
“Lily! Wake up, come on!!”
A thin voice called out as my hands shook Lily’s shoulders.
“Ugh… Dizzy… stop shaking me…”
Wait, wasn’t it a cat? How could a cat get motion sickness?!
As I thought of ways to snap Lily back to reality, I came to a decision.
“Huff!”
Filling my lungs with air, I pressed my face into Lily’s soft abdomen.
And launched!
“Ruruuuuuu!”
“Meow-what?!”
“Ah, it worked.”
“What, what did you just do?!”
“Abdominal fart.”
“…What?”
“I released air onto Lily’s tummy.”
Lily screamed in shock.
“What on earth made you do that?!”
“I figured this would wake you.”
It was effective, alright.
“Fine, let’s put that aside for now. Lily, do you know where we are?”
Lily looked around at that moment.
“…Dreamland?! Why are we here?”
“Exactly as I suspected.”
Lily immediately closed her eyes and concentrated.
“Mmm…”
Her trembling eyelids indicated her focus. When she reopened them, her expression had completely changed.
“…Why does this aura feel so… familiar?”
Confusion, astonishment, and most prominently… fear.
“What’s wrong?”
“…”
After pondering deeply, Lily spoke.
“For some reason, we are asleep right now.”
Now that I think about it, it’s right. Dreamland is a place you enter through dreams, isn’t it?
But we were in the middle of the practical exam, weren’t we? When did I fall asleep?
“And we’re sharing the same dream. We arrived in Dreamland, not because the dreams connected us, but because we shared the same dream from the start.”
“Can you even share the same dream?”
“There are many deities who make things like this possible. Judging from the residual divine energies here, two kinds of deities are present—one forced us into the same dream, and the other hijacked the dream and threw us into Dreamland.”
So two Outsiders are involved.
It’s rare to see even one during a lifetime, and they’re said to drive anyone who encounters them insane. And two of them are involved… What are they trying to do?
“Still, these two are not acting together. The one who sent us to Dreamland was likely acting alone.”
“Why?”
“I’m familiar with the divine energies I feel. And these two would never cooperate. They’re sworn enemies.”
“Then why did they send us here?”
After a brief silence, Lily answered with a troubled tone:
“…This being has always been like that. It enjoys toying with humans. Once it gets bored, it crushes them. If we count indirect actions, it might even be the Outer God responsible for the most deaths.”
…This alien being just threw us here?
This… This must mean we’re screwed, right?
“…Is there a way to leave?”
“There is.”
Although she provided an immediate answer, Lily seemed to hesitate and added:
“But it’s difficult.”
“Difficult or not, we have to.”
“…It’ll be dangerous though. We might as well wait here for the deity who made us dream this.”
“But what if they don’t come? The one who’s supposedly in charge has already lost control. How can we trust that?”
After pondering deeply, Lily finally agreed.
“…Alright. Let’s head to Kadath first.”
“Kadath?”
“It’s the city where Dreamland deities dwell. I used to live there too. We might find someone there who can help us leave.”
A city in this place? People live here?
Lily was about to set off, but I hastily grabbed the nape of her neck.
“Why? We should hurry—”
“—I’m not the only one who ended up here. We need to help the other students—”
“Asher, the most common cause of death in Dreamland is getting stranded in isolated areas.”
“If it weren’t for such isolated areas, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation now.”
“……”
I’m sorry, Lily. But I can’t let this one pass.
Seeing my determined expression, Lily sighed deeply.
“Ugh… how do you even stop someone like you? Fine, we’ll help the other humans. But if you assess a situation as dangerous, we move immediately to escape.”
“That’s good enough. Thank you for understanding, Lily.”
“Don’t thank me; I don’t understand.”
“How about this?”
I pulled Lily into my arms as she turned away, grumbling.
“Thanks for helping me, Lily.”
“……You’re welcome.”
A small sensation of Lily rubbing her face in my chest made me chuckle.
“We should find the others first.”
“No, it’s unnecessary.”
“What?”
“Did you forget who I am?”
“Ah! Lily was also a deity of Dreamland!”
“Give me a moment to pinpoint them.”
Closing her eyes and focusing, Lily opened them sometime later… her pupils wobbling.
“…About ten meters away, one person.”
Ten meters? That close?
I turned my head and met someone’s gaze.
“…”
“…”
“…”
The eyes we locked onto were red. Thick eyebrows seemed to hint at his disposition, while his flame-like red hair, cut short, resembled candles.
There’s no mistaking this person with those iconic features.
“…Hey, Luke.”
Luke Blaze, the top student of our year, and also…
“WOW!! A talking cat!! SO COOL!!!”
…The universally recognized enthusiast of our year.
