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“That mark looks different from Ms. Roche’s or Mr. Kamase’s, don’t they? What god are they tied to?”
“For you, that’s a good memory. That holy Symbol belongs to Nykros, the god of the Old Ledger.”
“Nykros… I’d bite my tongue trying to say that.”
“In nature, he governs sleep and night. It’s said he gives people rest and keeps the peace of the night.”

As expected of Master — ask one thing and she gives an immediate answer.

I’d studied a little about the gods of this world myself, but I’d never heard the name Nykros. I’d have to look it up properly once we got back to the castle.

“I see, so because he’s a Saint serving that god, you’d fall asleep if you got too close… wait, why would you fall asleep?”
“Nykros’s magic. I’ve heard it shows its targets nightmares. For that kind of lingering strength after death, he must’ve been a deeply devout sorcerer.”

Even while talking, Master approached the mummified person with careful steps.

One step, two steps, drawing closer — and on the third step she suddenly staggered as if about to collapse…

“Whoa, whoa! What are you doing, Master?!”
“Mm. Was I asleep for a moment? This is the boundary.”
“Geez, if you’re going to pull stunts like that, warn me first! You could’ve cracked your head!”

Apparently she’d been testing the area where her own body would automatically fall asleep.

I wished she wouldn’t do things that gave me a heart attack — if I hadn’t yanked her back by the collar, she would’ve fallen headfirst.

“If the range spreads out in a circle from that mummy… then if we stick to the edge of the room we can just barely skirt around it. We could even check the passage in the back.”
“You put your body on the line just to find that out?”
“It’s important. Besides, you could catch me if I fell, couldn’t you?”
“Geez… geeez, Master, you’re impossible!”

I did feel like scolding her for the reckless stunt, but if she trusted me enough to count on me like that, I couldn’t feel too bad about it.

This was one of those moments where, as a grown-up high school girl, I ought to let it slide. Yeah.

“Simple-minded…”
“Did you say something?”
“No, nothing. More importantly, Momo, do you know why he set up such a powerful spell?”
“Nope, not a clue!!”
“Don’t answer so confidently when you don’t know.”
“Then do you know, Master? I’m completely lost here.”
“I can at least make a guess.”

Master carefully circled the area, making sure not to step into the mummy’s sleep range, searching for something.

What she picked up were two bones, their colors just slightly different.

“Don’t look away, Momo. These are lucky bones that survived both Theo’s assault and the downpour. Tell me the difference between them.”
“Ugh, umm… the colors are different? Maybe one turned to bone sooner and the other later?”
“Correct. This discolored one is so brittle I can crush it with my grip. By contrast, this one is relatively recent, so it still has its strength.”

She demonstrated by breaking the bone with one hand, and I almost had to avert my eyes.

But what did the difference between the two really mean? If the times they became bone didn’t match, then…

“…Wait. Isn’t it strange that the ages are all over the place?”
“Exactly. Most of the bodies were washed away, but even among the ones that remained, the degrees of decay are noticeably different.”
“So, um, that means everyone gathered here in separate groups over time and… died, right?”
“Or they might have intruded like we did, and ended up sleeping forever — unable to escape Nykros’s nightmares.”
“F-forever…? But wasn’t this ruin being guarded by Mr. Valka?”
“If it was before he made his lair in this desert, then entering would have been easy. Which, in turn, means the ruins are that much older.”

I remembered that dragons lived several times longer than humans. If this place predated even Mr. Valka, who had lived out his natural life, then we were talking about hundreds of years ago.

Had that man really been guarding this ruin all that time, all alone, until he turned into a mummy?

“The spell’s power had weakened over the years, but it wouldn’t have been strange if we’d ended up sleeping here forever like these bones.”
“Don’t say something so scary! …So this person was guarding the ruins, right?”
“That’s only fifty points. Do you remember what the room looked like when we first came in?”
“It was all bones.”

That sight had been so shocking it was hard to forget, no matter how much I wanted to. Bones upon bones with nowhere to step.

I didn’t remember the exact colors, but surrounding the mummified saint in a circle…

“…Huh? Master, if you get too close to that saint, you immediately fall asleep, right?”
“Correct. Incidentally, the current limit of how close we can approach is about here. In the past, the entire room would likely have been within its range.”
“Then something’s wrong. The bones were so tightly packed there wasn’t anywhere to step.”

When we’d first entered this great hall, the bones encircling the saint had filled the entire room.

If just approaching caused sleep, the people who became bones should’ve drifted to the outer edges. It didn’t make sense for them to be scattered evenly right up close to the saint.

“He had two jobs. The first, as you guessed, was to protect these ruins from intruders. Combined with the other defenses, we’re probably the only ones who ever survived.”
“Eek… a-and the second job?”
“Euthanasia.”
“…What?”
“Nykros is a dual-faced god. Some say he gives people good dreams to give them strength for tomorrow, and others call him a dark god who saves them from harsh reality by casting them into eternal slumber.”
“So he gathered people up and put them to sleep?”
“Maybe what awaited them was a reality so horrific they couldn’t help but wish for death… in the thousand years I know nothing about.”

Master’s gaze wasn’t on the saint but beyond him — toward the passage we still hadn’t explored.

Beyond the gaping doorway was only darkness, and right now the fact that nothing could be seen felt terrifying.

“Let’s go, Momo. The answer to those thousand years of emptiness should be ahead.”

Despite the hot wind constantly blowing from my staff, my spine felt cold.

Were we really ready to learn what lay beyond?