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My childhood, Rain Hagwell's, can be summed up in one phrase: absolute self-centeredness.
Born into the Hagwell family, a prominent house in the magical nation of the Hitia Duchy, I apparently possessed greater magical talent than my older sister Telshe.
Upon learning this, my parents enrolled me in the academy at an early age.
As for Telshe, around the time I entered the academy she became the attendant and bodyguard for the daughter of a certain family.
The difference in how our parents treated Telshe and me, the fact that I was a unique magic user of the highest-ranked spell called Space Leap, and the days of being constantly called a genius naturally made me arrogant.
At that time, I seriously believed, without any joke, that the world revolved around me.
I think the turning point for me came when the girl Telshe served, Shion Nastachium, enrolled in the academy.
Her magical talent easily surpassed even mine as a unique magic user.
Naturally, the title of genius within the academy gradually began shifting from me to Shion.
As could be seen from the fact that a member of the Hagwell family served the Nastachium family, the Nastachium house was clearly superior in terms of family status.
My parents had warned me to avoid any actions that might incur Shion's anger.
However, in my ignorance, I ended up picking a fight with her.
The reason was simple.
The situation was not amusing to me.
One day at the academy, I called out to Shion.
"I heard you are a genius. In that case, teach me magic."
Although the words sounded like a request for instruction, in reality I was picking a fight.
I intended to show not only Shion but everyone around that I was superior.
"Um, are you Telshe's younger sister?"
Shion showed a bewildered expression at my sudden challenge but maintained a gentle atmosphere.
"Shion-sama, there is no need to lend an ear to my foolish sister's nonsense. There is not much time until the next lecture, so let us head to the lecture room."
Telshe, who had been walking behind Shion, stepped between us.
Looking back now, I understand it was an action to protect both me from my own foolishness and the family.
But the me at that time could not possibly have understood such a thing.
"Inferior students should stay quiet. I am talking to Shion right now, the one everyone calls a genius."
Right after I said that, the atmosphere around Shion grew heavy.
"Are you calling Telshe an inferior student?"
"Who else would it be? After all, my older sister is an inferior student with less talent than me, which is why she is serving as your attendant, right?"
"Take that back. In terms of magical talent, you may indeed be above Telshe. But a person's worth cannot be measured by magical talent alone. In fact, Telshe is very talented in many ways, and I am always learning a lot from her."
The air around Shion grew colder and colder.
If the current me had been there, I would have wanted to leave immediately, but the me at that time was simply pleased inside that she had taken the bait and could not grasp the seriousness of the situation.
"Ehh, what should I do~? Oh, I know! Then let us have a magic contest! If you lose to me, I will take back what I said."
"Shion-sama—"
"—It is fine. Let us have the contest."
Telshe tried to intervene again, but her efforts were in vain, and the match proceeded as I had wished.
And the result was a crushing defeat.
It was a complete loss so obvious that anyone watching would think Shion was clearly superior.
This was my first... mistake.
As mentioned earlier, my parents had warned me to avoid actions that might anger Shion.
Yet because I had picked a fight with her, it apparently caused a bit of a commotion.
At the time I was still a child, and now there is no one left to tell me exactly what happened then, so I do not know the details.
Even so, I understood as a child that my parents had received some form of punishment.
Some time after that, on October 20th of the year 619 of the Four Saints Calendar.
I do not think I will ever forget this date.
When I responded to my parents' summons and visited them, besides my parents there was a young man with an eyepatch over his right eye.
What my parents asked of me was to teleport the people led by the eyepatch young man to a certain location.
"It is not that far away. I think there is no need to go to the trouble of teleporting."
"The security is strict. That is why we want to break in using your Space Leap. Human experiments are being conducted at that location, and we want to rescue the people undergoing those experiments as soon as possible. Please lend us your power."
I still clearly remember the eyepatch young man answering my question that way.
On top of having lost my sense of identity after the crushing defeat to Shion, the fact that it would help people made me agree to the request.
And so I teleported them to the designated location, the Dawn Village.
This was my greatest... mistake.
I would soon learn what it had brought about.
A few days later, when I returned home as usual, the inside of the house was dyed bright red.
Not only the furniture and walls, but my parents and the servants as well, everything.
As my head went blank from the sudden event, a woman's voice said, "You are back."
When I turned my gaze toward the voice, there stood Telshe, with blood splattered in places on her.
"What is this... Did you do this, older sister...?"
"..."
"Answer me!"
"If you can still come at me with that much energy, that is good enough. Rain, teleport me and yourself to the Dawn Village right now. You did it a few days ago, so you can do it, right?"
Telshe's cold gaze was more frightening than the unreal blood-soaked scene, and I immediately teleported together with Telshe to the place where I had sent the eyepatch young man and the others.
"What is this..."
The scene before my eyes changed from the blood-soaked one to a place where most of the buildings had collapsed.
I had heard it was a human settlement, but there was no one there except Telshe and me. A short distance away, several crude graves had been made.
The stench that had filled the house still lingered in my nose, and I smelled something similar there as well.
"Look properly at what you have caused."
Telshe directed a cold voice at me as I stood bewildered.
"...What I caused?"
"Until a few days ago, many people lived here. The ones who turned it into this were the group you teleported."
"B-but, human experiments were being conducted here, and those people said they were going to save them..."
"It is true that you simply followed instructions and may not have known the real situation. However, there are things that cannot be excused with 'I did not know.' ...Inside this are some money, several days' worth of food, and a few sets of clothes. Take these and leave this country as quickly as possible."
As she spoke, Telshe handed me a storage magical tool.
"What do you mean...?"
"Exactly what it sounds like. Normally there might be room for leniency, but in this incident that is impossible. If you stay in this country, you will be killed sooner or later. So leave now while you still can."
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"...It has been a while since I saw that..."
When I woke up, those were the first words I muttered.
What I had just seen was a dream, but it was an undeniable part of my childhood.
Now I live peaceful days, one could say, as an explorer of the Night Sky Silver Rabbit.
Those days are enjoyable, and recently I had been thinking less about the past.
Perhaps because of that, I had this dream as if to admonish myself not to forget my sins.
"...Eh!? It is already this late!?"
After sitting up and checking the time, I realized it was already past the usual time when I would have left the room.
I hurriedly stood up and changed from my sleepwear into my clan uniform.
After quickly tidying my appearance, I left the room.
"Sorry for being late!"
As soon as I entered the strategy room of the first squad at the Night Sky Silver Rabbit headquarters, I apologized.
"Good morning~, Rain-san!"
"Morning. Were you stopping somewhere?"
Lucre and Will, who were already in the room, greeted me with their usual unchanged expressions.
Perhaps because I had seen that dream, their attitudes felt very warm to me.
"S-sorry. Um, I was still sleeping until just a little while ago..."
No matter the reason, being embarrassed about oversleeping at my age made me stumble over my words.
"See, I told you it was oversleeping!"
Lucre raised a delighted voice.
"Seriously? I thought you were late because of some errand..."
Listening to their conversation made my face grow hotter.
(Ugh... Oversleeping at this age is way too embarrassing...!)
"Fufufu~. Then the bet is my win, so lunch today is on Will!"
"Tch, can't be helped."
"No way! It is my fault for oversleeping, so I will pay for lunch!"
When I said that out of guilt, the two looked at me blankly.
"Why? Even if you were late for the meeting, it was only about five minutes, and we were not particularly inconvenienced."
"Yeah. Besides, Rain-san has been handling all the clerical work to fill in for Selma-san and Orun every day. You must be tired, right? If you want, you can take today off without any problem. We may not be as good as you, but we can handle clerical work too."
"That's right! I will help too!"
Their consideration warmed my heart.
I realized once again what wonderful comrades Lucre and Will were, far more than I deserved.
"...Thank you, both of you. But I am fine. After all, I have been leaving all the dungeon investigations and such completely to you two."
"Oh? You suddenly seem energetic!"
"I am glad you cheered up! When Rain-san looks down, it affects our mood too~!"
"... Fufu. Leave it to me! As your older sister, I will continue to lead you two from now on! Well then, let us do our best today as well!"
""Yeah!!""
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Deepest part of the explorers guild in Tsutrail.
In a small room that originally only the guild master was permitted to enter, two men were present.
One was the elderly man Leon Conti, the guild master entrusted by the explorers guild with the management of the southern continent including the great southern labyrinth.
The other was the old man Cavadel Evans, whom Orun called "Gramps" and adored.
"Should be about here."
Cavadel removed his hand from the magic circle drawn on the room's floor.
"Is the alteration of the spell complete? It was quicker than I expected."
"Even if we call it alteration, I only tinkered with the bare minimum. More importantly, thank you for your cooperation, Leon-dono."
"Given that you have revealed your true identity, predicted the empire's first invasion and the king's assassination, and accurately foreseen many other things, I had no choice but to cooperate. I do not want to die, but I am prepared."
The first invasion referred to the Hero's invasion of the Reglif territory that had occurred while Orun and the others were on a business trip there.
Cavadel had contacted Leon around July of last year, revealed his true identity at the time, and prophesied what would happen next.
And every one of those prophecies had come true.
At first Leon had been half in doubt, but with so many accurate predictions, he could not help but believe.
Because there was still one prophecy left that Leon could not overlook.
"However, is this truly the only method? Is there no way to avoid the future in which Tsutrail is trampled by the Cyclamen Cult?"
"If it were only to avoid the attack on Tsutrail, there would be other ways. However, that would not solve the root problem. Eventually everything would still be trampled."
"So you are taking a gamble? Betting the lives of the people living here."
"To gain something, a price is necessary. This time that price simply happens to be the lives of Tsutrail's residents. But rest assured. As I said before, this price is, in a sense, a facade. The real thing to be paid is something else."
"..."
Leon's face clouded with sadness as he understood the true meaning behind Cavadel's words.
"I will give you this."
What Cavadel handed over was a bracelet-type magical tool.
"What is this?"
"It is a magical tool that can send telepathic messages to any chosen person. It can only be used once, and only for a few seconds, but I managed to make it. Using this will be your final task."
"...Are you truly all right with this ending?"
"Hoh hoh hoh. Of course I am."
Cavadel laughed off Leon's words and gazed into the distance.
"...I could do nothing for my son. In fact, I only took from him. This is my atonement. Because I closed off my son's future, at the very least I want to give my grandson an infinite future."