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“Hair…? Whoa!? It’s incredibly pink!”
“You’re a bit late to notice.”

Finally realizing after being pointed out, Momo let out a scream as she checked her own hair. Has she not noticed her own change? I’m pretty sure her hair has been pink since we met.

“Oh nooo… I’ve turned into a delinquent girl…”
“It’s not that bad, it’s a beautiful peach color.”
“Huh, really? Hehe… Wait, no! I used to have black hair, you know!?”
“Now now. It’s a common story that Outlanders, when exposed to magic, have their hair and eye colors changed.”
“Oh, is that so… Wait, did I say I was an Outlander?”

I lost the will to even retort at this point. She seems to have forgotten even the clothes she’s wearing. Her attire stood out quite a bit in this world, and the Saint most likely guessed her identity based on that.

“If that’s the case… Miss Momose, could you do a little jump for me?”
“Huh? Sure… Here goes.”

As Momo leaped on the spot—her figure vanished from my view, leaving a spray of snow behind.

No, she didn’t disappear. Momo had simply jumped straight up at an unbelievable speed.

“W-what is this!?”
“What in the world…?”

Looking up at the noisy voice coming from above, I saw Momo descending from a height far beyond the roofs of the houses.

She landed on the snow on her buttocks, a height that would surely cause injury to an ordinary person, yet she stood up as if nothing had happened.

“U-um, Laika… did you do something?”
“I haven’t done anything, and neither has Lady Saint over there.”
“Yes, Outlanders like you can sometimes awaken to new abilities in this world.”
“I-I see…?”

Come to think of it, even though I looked like a child, she effortlessly lifted my body, entangled in chains, and closed the distance from the bow’s range to the villager in a single breath.

When we neutralized the boss of the bandits, she dodged most of the incoming fireballs by herself.

I only intercepted about 20% of them.

“We refer to this as the Gift. Perhaps the fever was a result of the body being surprised by magic power.”
“So she fully awakened along with her recovery, huh? What else besides leg strength?”
“It’s amazing, Laika, I’m so strong!!”
“Hum! It’s quite an uncommon experience to be lifted up!”

While I glanced away for a moment, Momo was playfully lifting the armored golem.

A body that likely weighed several hundred kilograms, if not over a ton, was not something easily carried, even with magecraft buffs.

There’s strength, leg power, and endurance to withstand such physical abilities. Perhaps that bandit group could have been obliterated by Momo alone.

“Buf if it’s like this, I’m worried I might accidentally crush you, Laika.”
“Stop, that’s not even funny when you say it!”
“Lady Saint! The welcoming feast is ready, please join us!”
“Oh my, I keep saying you don’t need to do that…”

As Momo struggled to adjust to her newfound strength, villagers who I thought had retreated, called out from a distance. It seemed like their way of repaying the saint, who treated the villagers for free, even though she didn’t seem to desire it much herself.

“It’d be a shame for the prepared food to go to waste. How about you girls join us too?”
“Laika, Laika, looks like we can eat too!”
“Hey, outsiders like us shouldn’t… actually, whatever. There are still things I want to ask anyway.”
“Oh, what could that be?”

“And let me tell you, Lady Saint is an amazing person. We can’t even repay her but whenever we’re in trouble, she always rushes here and…”
“Grandpa, you’ve told that story five times already!”
“He’s drunk, give him some water and put him to bed.”

Despite being called a welcoming feast for Lady Saint, it wasn’t that grand of an affair.

Preserved food and meat processed from slaughtered livestock were laid out, accompanied by grape wine and milk, resembling more of a simple dinner party. For a village of this size, it was actually quite extravagant, and even Momo next to me was digging into the food without hesitation.

“You’re called a ‘Saint’. Does that mean you’re a big-shot?”
“Well, I am a famous sorcerer of Aldebaran… the largest nation in this region.”
“Wow, that’s really impressive!”
“Aldebaran, huh? Another unfamiliar name…”

My memories from a thousand years ago were already hazy, but I still didn’t recall a country named Aldebaran. I suppose with such an immense passage of time, countries and lands do change. But still…

“Miss Laika, was it? You seem to have a troubled expression.”
“Yeah, lately there have been many things I can’t quite understand. It’s been days of headaches that just won’t go away.”
“That’s troublesome indeed. Since I can’t completely eliminate stress-induced pains either… would you like to talk with me about it?”

Lady Saint had somehow arrived at Momo’s side, perhaps dodging her way through the drunken elders. She was really unpredictable. If I let my guard down, she might easily catch me off guard from behind.

“I appreciate it, there are plenty of things I want to ask. First off, what’s the deal with the mural I saw on the outskirts of this village?”
“Ah yes, that has been there since before this village was even established. It is said to depict… the destruction of the world that occurred in the past.”
“…What?”

“It’s a tale from a thousand years ago. Humanity is said to have sparked a great war, resulting in the loss of many lives and the civilizations they had built.”
“A-A thousand years… so during Laika’s…”
“Humanity nearly faced extinction once, and then went on to build a new era that continues to this day, known as the ‘Age of Sun.’”
“…And the previous civilization was naturally referred to as the ‘Age of Earth.’¹”
“My, you seem quite knowledgeable.”

Of course I knew. There’s no way I wouldn’t. The Age of Earth was the era I lived in, after all. But it ended a thousand years ago? After I was imprisoned? And there was a world war… that’s absurd… but if it’s true…

“And it’s said that the surviving humanity engraved their misdeeds as a warning on that mural. It’s important for us to love our neighbors and care for others, so as not to repeat the same mistakes.”
“Oh, truly wise words, Lady Saint. We are grateful for your profound insights.”

The already tipsy old men enthusiastically cheered in response to the saint’s speech, as if it were a sermon. I was almost moved to tears by the beneficial info she provided, but setting that aside, if it was true that civilization perished in the past, then I had one question.

“…Momo, did you see the massive tower visible from outside?”
“Huh? Oh, yes. It was a really huge tower.”
“Then try asking Lady Saint about it subtly. It’ll probably come across more naturally if you ask.”
“…? Okay… Um, Miss Roche! Um, what’s that big tower in the distance?”

I whispered to Momo in a small voice, and she did as asked, albeit with confusion.

That really helped me out now, but why isn’t she doubting or questioning anything?

“The tower… Ah, you mean the ‘Babel.’”
“Babel…?”
“Yes, it’s said to be an entity that has been gazing at the stars since the beginning of this world.”
“Wow, that’s really amazing right, Laika! …Laika?”

Momo has done an invaluable job; getting this information out of her was quite important to me.

A tower existing since the beginning of the world? That was quite strange. I don’t remember such a gigantic tower standing during the era I lived in.

1. This is a reference to the seven luminaries (the moon, mars, mercury, jupiter, venus, saturn, the sun) which the weekdays of most languages are named after. In Japanese/Chinese, the five planets are named after the elements (so the order goes as: Moon -> Fire -> Water -> Wood -> Metal -> Earth -> Sun).