Chapter 451

At his word, Lucia's gaze snapped toward him in surprise.

"S-Sir Ian!" she stammered, staring at him with wide eyes. Relief, joy, and utter confusion warred on her face. The black horse, which had also turned sharply toward him, snorted and pawed the ground impatiently.

Blinking, Ian added, "You recognized me right away,

huh

?"

Lucia tilted her head as she strode confidently toward his table. "What do you mean? Why wouldn't I recognize you, Sir Ian?"

"Why? Because my original..." He trailed off, hesitating.

Picking up the cell phone lying beside him, he glanced at his reflection on the dark screen. His eyes narrowed slightly. Reflected was the face of Ian Hope.

"Right," Ian murmured. "No way you wouldn't recognize me."

Perhaps even his subconscious now considered this face his own. Come to think of it, he couldn't clearly picture his actual original face anymore, even though he'd lived with it for much longer.

"I'm so glad we met again, Sir Ian. Even if it's inside this strange illusion," Lucia said, stopping beside the table with a sigh of relief.

Setting down his phone, which displayed a missed call notification, Ian looked up at her.

"Yeah. Good to see you again. Moro, you too," he added, glancing at the horse behind her.

The black horse that had followed Lucia snorted lightly. When Ian reached out a hand, it even nudged its muzzle against his palm.

"Is this your original form?" Ian asked.

Moro huffed as if answering.

While Ian patted its muzzle, Lucia spoke again. "You look comfortable. Your clothes have changed strangely, too. Just as I thought... You know what this place is, don't you?"

"I know it well," Ian replied. He told Moro to find a comfortable spot to rest, then turned back to Lucia. "Because this is my dream."

"A dream? You're saying this is a dream?" Lucia asked again, her eyebrows shooting up.

Ian nodded. "Yeah. Or something very much like it."

"No. Then normally—" Her head tilted as she processed this. "You have dreams like this?"

"Not every day. Often enough."

"But how?" Lucia asked slowly, her gaze drifting around the cafe in bewilderment. "This place seems like a completely different world... the buildings, the furniture. The people's clothes and language, even the magic."

Magic? Is she talking about the lights and music?

Ian glanced around the room. The customers who had been staring curiously at the entrance just moments ago were now calmly facing each other again, absorbed in their trivial conversations as if nothing unusual had happened.

This subtle sense of dissonance, Ian realized, was itself proof that this world was a dream.

"So," he asked, ignoring Lucia's comment about magic, "How did you get here? Like I said, this is my dream."

Lucia blinked rapidly, her gaze snapping back to him. "Well, when I groggily came to, we were already walking on a path. It was a winding and strange path. As we walked, my head cleared, and the surroundings became sharper. And then we saw this building."

"So you decided to come in."

"Yes. Someone suggested we should."

"Moro? Or was it Diana?"

"

Ah

! Good grief, Diana! Diana was there too, wasn't she? Right. I'd completely forgotten...." Lucia murmured, shaking her head as if just remembering. "Anyway, it wasn't either of them. Yog suggested it."

"Yog?" Ian's brow furrowed instantly. "Is that thing here too?"

"Of course, I am. Friend." A voice spoke up from right behind Ian as if it had been waiting. The moment Ian's brow tightened further, the nonchalant voice drew closer.

𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"Actually, I was curious. I knew you were special, Friend. But I wanted to know the real reason my original self took enough interest to create me and bind me to you."

Ian turned his head the other way. A pale-skinned boy with medium-length black hair and purple eyes was approaching.

Watching it with narrowed eyes, Ian retorted, "You must have already seen it when you were born."

"Did I? Unfortunately, I wasn't really in a situation to see much back then." Yog replied without pausing its stride, one corner of its mouth curling up.

It stopped across the table from Lucia, tilting its head. "Anyway, now I understand. To think you held a secret like this... Amazing, Friend."

"Yeah," Ian finally replied with a soft chuckle. "Seeing you here answers a question for me, too."

"And what question is that?"

"I was wondering why you always act so unnecessarily cryptic and profound," Ian said dryly. "Especially since you don't actually know anything. You look exactly the age to be into that pretentious act."

"Do I?"

"Yeah. You look like you wouldn't listen to a damn thing anyone says."

Yog smiled, looking satisfied. It was clear it hadn't caught the deeper meaning behind Ian's words—or if it had, it simply didn't care.

"As you might already know, this is Yog," Lucia chimed in, looking it up and down slowly before adding, "Though it wasn't wearing clothes like that just a moment ago."

Yog wore a loose black t-shirt, shorts, and even slippers.

It just shrugged nonchalantly. "I tend to adapt pretty quickly."

"So...." Ian looked back and forth between Lucia and Yog. "Is it just you two? Or is there anyone else left to make a surprise appearance?"

"It's just us. As you know, Moro and I are connected to you, my friend. And Lucy is...."

It paused, looking directly at Lucia, who stood before it. "I think she was pulled in with me, probably. Anyway, she's connected to you through me."

"So you don't know the exact reason," Ian stated flatly.

"Right. It's likely a side effect, close to pure coincidence, created when a few very tricky conditions overlapped. Probably." Yog gave a careless shrug of one shoulder. It was its characteristic irresponsible attitude.

Seeing it right here in front of me really makes me want to punch it

, Ian thought, realizing with some satisfaction that, in this dream, he actually could. He subtly clenched his fist.

"So," Lucia interrupted, looking at Yog, "what is Sir Ian's secret then?"

Grinning, Yog spread its arms slightly. "Good grief, Lucy. You still don't get it after seeing all this? The answer is right here."

"... A different world?" Lucia asked after a beat, blinking.

Yog, arms still slightly raised, just shrugged again and looked back at Ian, as if to say answering that wasn't its role. Lucia's blank gaze also drifted back to Ian.

You've already said everything, so what's the point now?

Ian thought, clicking his tongue and unclenching his fist.

He finally turned back to Lucia. "Yeah," he said simply. "This is my hometown. A different world."

It was one of his biggest secrets, but now that the words were out, they felt surprisingly insignificant.

Of course, Lucia didn't feel the same. She froze, seemingly holding her breath, before finally moving her lips. "No way."

Judging by her expression, she'd need time to process this.

Ian didn't add anything more, just turned back to Yog.

At Ian's cold stare, Yog gave a slight nod. "Don't worry, friend. Lucy will forget most of this when she wakes up. Maybe everything. Dreams are like that, right?"

"And you?"

"

Hm?"

"It doesn't matter if Lucy remembers. I trust her. But not you."

"

Ah

, right. You still don't trust me..." Yog nodded, crossing its arms over its chest, showing no particular sign of being hurt or disappointed.

"I understand how you feel, but it was bound to be discovered eventually, my friend. Because we're connected, after all. Of course, it's not like I can always peek into your dreams, but special situations like this can happen anytime."

"Even when you're in my pocket dimension?" asked Ian.

Yog hesitated for a moment.

Ah, so this is the face it makes whenever I catch it off guard,

thought Ian.

"Maybe not then... B-But really, don't worry. I have no intention of blabbing your secret. Not even to my original self." Contrary to its nonchalant tone, it subtly uncrossed its arms.

"Once I become a complete being, there won't be any problem. I'll be able to completely escape my original self's shadow then."

"

Hmm

...."

"And of course, I won't be a threat to you either," Yog continued earnestly. "Because I probably can't erase the bond with you etched onto my soul. So, going forward, just keep doing things as you are now..."

"How on earth?" It was Lucia who cut off Yog's rambling explanation.

When Ian looked back at her, she added in a trembling voice, "How on earth... did you cross the walls between worlds... between dimensions?"

Regardless of her shock, it seemed she had accepted the fact that he was indeed from another world.

Well, even if it was just a dream, he was standing right in the middle of that world—it would've been hard not to believe it.

Ian glanced briefly at Lucia, who was trying to steady herself, her eyes tense with effort, before finally speaking. "I don't really know either."

"You don't know?" The forced calm immediately vanished from Lucia's eyes.

Ian nodded and continued, "I did something illegal. And when I came to my senses, I was in your world."

"Illegal...." Lucia held her breath for a second, then exhaled slowly. "Then are you saying you're serving some kind of sentence, a punishment?"

"Maybe. Perhaps," Ian shrugged. "Like I said, I don't really know."

"Just what kind of terrible crime did you...."

Although what he'd done didn't warrant a punishment this harsh, Ian didn't bother denying it. He had done something wrong, after all.

Besides, he had no desire to plant the seed of doubt in Lucia's mind that her world might just be some entity's plaything. Whether true or not, the thought itself felt cruel.

"But no matter what, t-this is impossible!" Lucia finally added, shaking her head, apparently abandoning her attempt at composure.

"Or, at least, it was always believed to be impossible. It's known that other worlds and other dimensions exist... but as long as the fundamental laws of a world hold true, crossing between them is impossible. Even for the gods themselves."

"I didn't realize you knew about dimensional theory," Ian remarked, looking at her with genuine surprise this time.

"It's the domain of the gods," Lucia explained earnestly. "And studying such forbidden knowledge is part of a priest's duty. If what I know is true... even if you did somehow cross the barrier, it should be impossible for you to continue existing in our world, Sir Ian."

Murmuring as if thinking aloud, she looked back at him directly.

"The principles and the laws are different here. It's the same reason why the creatures of the void can't survive unless they twist or overturn the rules. Your soul should've either been rejected and thrown out or destroyed altogether. How in the world—"

"Ian's soul is special, Lucy." It was Yog who interjected. Receiving Lucia's blank stare, it gave a pointed shrug.

"It's protected by something that even your gods cannot interfere with at will. Probably the transcendents of the void can't either. Unless, perhaps, they could inflict a shock severe enough to shatter the soul beyond that protection itself."

"That something is protecting Sir Ian from the laws of our world?" Lucia asked.

"Or tricking them. Whatever," Yog added.

Lucia's gaze returned to Ian once more.

Ian gave a slight nod. "It's true that others who've interacted with my soul have said similar things."

"And what that something is you don't know, of course."

Ian simply nodded again.

It's probably the status window

, he thought.

But he truly had no idea about its underlying principles or secrets. Like the phone sitting on the table, he just used it because he could. Besides, explaining the status window might require delving into details he'd rather avoid.

Seeing Lucia's utterly lost expression, Ian finally let a small smirk touch his lips. "Anyway, I guess now you know for sure I'm not that legendary White Mage you were looking for."

"What?" Lucia exclaimed, her eyes wide with disbelief. "Is that really important right now?"

"You came from a completely different world," Lucia murmured, still processing. "Much more special than a White Mage; no, incomparably special. Oh my..." She pressed her palm to her forehead.

"I finally understand now. I always wondered why, even as a mage, you never served any god... but it was simply because they weren't beings worth serving..."

"Well, being a mage is part of it too," Ian interjected, but Lucia didn't seem to hear him.

"And the fact that transcendent beings show interest in Sir Ian—it's because Sir Ian exists outside the laws. A unique existence, unbound by anything. Perhaps even more so than the goddesses." Lucia momentarily staggered.

Ian reflexively stood and caught her arm. It seemed the flood of overwhelming thoughts had made her dizzy—something Ian was just now realizing could happen even within a dream.

"Let's rest for a moment.

Hmm...

" Ian said, looking down at the panting Lucia.

He added, "Right. You look like you need some sugar. We should probably get something sweet."

"Something Sweet?" Lucia's eyes slowly opened.

Ian continued nonchalantly, "It might not work well since this is a dream, but I'll give it a try. You've come all the way to my world; I should at least treat you like guests."

"I'm included in those guests, right, Friend?" Yog quickly interjected.

"Yeah, sure. You too," Ian replied without taking his eyes off Lucia, nodding toward the empty chairs at the table. "Both of you sit down and wait. I'll show you the sweetness of this world."