It has been two years since Lucifer brought me to Saint Veronica. From the initial painful days, I slowly learned to be calm.

Although I found it difficult to control my emotions when I returned to the original world, a bunch of data made my eyes hallucinate.

A fierce white light shot into my eye sockets, piercing my eyes!

In the overlapping and flickering illusions, I returned to the small courtyard where Nana and I often played together...

There was a lawn, a swing, and birds often rested here.

The boy and the girl played under the swing for a while, and then climbed up and down the tree.

The boy climbed up the tree and teased the girl below the tree.

"It's your turn, Nana!"

"Hmph, Paroni, I want to play too!"

"Hehe, climb up before saying that!"

When I was eight, my younger sister often played with me. I started to like her at that time, thinking that was the innocence of a girl.

"Paroni, why are you leaving me behind? I want to go out and play with you too!"

I shifted my gaze to the white-painted wooden house, where the girl's roar came from the room.

The boy's tone, however, was unusually firm.

"Stop messing around, Nana... It's not good to bring little sister along when I go out with friends!"

"Then don't treat me as your little sister!"

The boy found the words quite funny after hearing this.

He grinned, rubbed the girl's hair, and teased her.

"Don't say silly things. I'll bring you your favorite steak when I come back tonight!"

"..."

"Come on, don't frown like that. Wait for me to come..."

"You stupid Paroni... Stupid!!"

"Hey hey hey, get this straight. If you curse at me again, I won't bring you Uncle Ram's steak!"

The girl left the boy and ran away without saying a word, but the boy didn't pay any attention. He turned around and angrily pushed the door open...

When I was twelve, I had my first big fight with my sister. After that, my sister ignored me, even the steak I brought back that day... she didn't touch it at all...

"Get lost! Don't touch me with your dirty hands!"

The beautiful girl with dark red hair grabbed my wrist and threw it aside.

Not only that, she also...

"Hmph, use the downstairs bathroom, not the one upstairs!"

"Why?"

"If I say no, you can't!"

"…Oh."

Although I was annoyed by my sister's arrogant attitude, she was still the jewel of the family, so I had to accommodate her.

I quickly apologized to my sister.

"Yes... yes, from now on, I'll use the downstairs bathroom, okay?"

Saying that, she took everything related to me out of the bathroom and threw them all at me!

"You... do you really have to be so ruthless?"

I was surprised and picked up the toothpaste and toothbrush scattered on the floor, ready to put them back in a distance, but my sister spread her arms and blocked the bathroom door.

She was very stubborn and demanding.

"Use the downstairs one! You are not allowed to use the one upstairs!"

"Fine, as you wish."

Agreeing to her overly demanding condition made me feel angry, but also at a loss. I knew I owed her, and now I can only slowly repay her.

When I was fifteen, my sister became more and more domineering at home. Whenever friends came to visit, she would either chase me out of the house or lock me in the room and tell me not to come out.

Every time, I swallow my anger, but I can't scold her because... I've done the same thing to her too.

"Paroni, wake up, big brother!"

"Um... where am I?"

The raging fire engulfed the starry sky, and in the dark night, a figure as black as ink appeared at the window.

Then, the room was filled with roaring flames, and the fire climbed up the house...

"Ah...!!"

I woke up from the illusion, opening my eyes.

My sister and Lanjie were both by my side, staring at me with concerned eyes.

I was lying on a cold stone, surrounded by snow that made me bitter.

"Sigh... Hehe, should I be grateful or blame myself?"

Slowly getting up from the stone, I stood on the ground and smiled at everyone.

"It's okay, I was just thinking about some unpleasant memories, don't mind me."

To demonstrate, I jumped up and down a few times.

This made them disperse.

"What's up with scaring us like that? The situation is already grim."

Lanjie tried to summon the Magic Sword while pouting, venting her dissatisfaction.

"You're just a sidekick, don't always make us worry about you!"

"What did you say?"

"...Hmph, nothing!"

Lanjie's words were somewhat ambiguous. I wanted her to repeat, but she turned her head away and continued forward.

We followed the path and arrived at the entrance of a city.

Everyone was unfamiliar with this place, except for me and my sister...

"This is where Paroni went to school when he was young, right?"

"Uh!"

Lanjie unexpectedly answered correctly, but how did she know?

She said with a wry smile: "This place holds many memories, it seems difficult to forget."

My heart skipped a beat.

Because Lanjie revealed the same look as Nana, that look that only my sister Nana should have!

But she was right, everything now has been destroyed, and you can barely tell that humans used to live here. Some places have even turned into slopes.

"It's not good for any of us to stay here for too long, let's go quickly."

Yukari, who was walking in front of me, urged me to walk faster, but I still moved slowly.

She scratched her head, troubled, and then sighed.

Then she slowly approached me, holding my hand.

"Are you scared? If you are, hold my hand. Remember, you're not alone."

"Thank you..."

Awakened by an intense warmth, I finally snapped out of it.

"How are you feeling? Better now?"

"Ah...! Um... yes, much better."

For some reason, every time I see Yukari, my heart can't help but flutter.

Lanjie, not far ahead, made a disdainful sound and gave me a fierce glare, making me confused about the current situation...

"Tsk, the ground is too slippery!"

Lanjie ran her hand over the ground, which was smooth everywhere.

Although there was a layer of snow about one centimeter thick, it couldn't stop the silky smoothness of the ground.

Due to the blizzard, the roads on the ground had already changed beyond recognition. We could only continue forward through the gaps in the ruins.

Suddenly, a faint bell rang from a distance.

Ding... Ding...!

In the snow-covered streets of the city, the collapsed bell tower continued to ring the time on schedule, but the sound was so faint!

"Hoo~ Hoo~ Hoo!"

"We're running out of energy. If we can't find a place to rest soon, we'll die here!"

Yukari was already out of breath, but she continued to command everyone (me, Chiyori, and Shinobi) to carefully feel their way forward.

Lan calmly explored the path on the side.

Even if she accidentally slipped, she could perfectly cling to the rock wall to escape.

Houldos was at the front, using his innate eagle eyes to watch out for potential dangers in the distance.

Everyone was getting tired; Yukari, Lan, and Houldos were the only older ones in the group. Now they were the true leaders of the whole team.

"We found it!!"

Houldos' voice suddenly caught everyone's attention.

"There's a building resembling a sentinel supply station about a kilometer ahead. We can take a rest there."

"Really? That's great!"

Lan cheerfully patted Houldos on the shoulder and praised him with a smile.

"Seems like recruiting you into the team was the right choice!"

"Hmph, let me advise you first..."

"What is it?"

Lan put on an expression of eagerly listening, but Houldos pushed her away with disdain in his tone.

"Human, stay away from me!"

Just as Lan approached Houldos, she received a cold shoulder. I was relieved by that...

Oh, wait, why am I feeling relieved?

When Lan approached Houldos just now, I felt my heart tremble, as though there was an instant sense of being deprived!

"Oh, we're here!"

"..." (me and Yukari)

"Well, it's not too bad. Let's go inside..."

Everyone remained silent...

Except for Lan, who had never been to the original world and was quite excited.

"What's going on? This is clearly a gas station."

Yukari and I almost shouted simultaneously. The "sentinel station" in front of us turned out to be just a gas station.

Looking at Lan who had already rushed in, and Houldos who was still dazed.

There was a hint of apology in Houldos' eyes, but he made no attempt to speak.

So, I went up to him, patted his back, and extended my hand to comfort him.

"It's alright, it's not your fault. After all, there's a big difference compared to your world... Let's go!"

After taking a few steps forward while holding his wrist, he suddenly stopped.

"Human boy!"

"What?"

"Nothing, I'm just curious why you're comforting me."

"Well..."

I couldn't answer him for a moment, but I could at least tell him all my thoughts.

"We're comrades, and besides... You're the only male companion I have, right?"

"..."

I didn't know if my words offended him, but he showed a trace of disdainful smile.

"...Hmph, you're right. I'll reluctantly cooperate with you then!"

On his numb and expressionless face, there was unexpectedly a smile for the first time, and then he followed me into the abandoned gas station building where Lanjie had already gone in ahead to find something to start a fire with.

Yukari and the others have poor physical condition, and even worse, they have lost their energy and magic equipment, so now they are almost indistinguishable from ordinary people.

"Brother, if they use up the last bit of their energy, they will die."

My sister suddenly appeared in front of me, and after looking at Yukari's extremely weak face, she shook her head and sighed.

Indeed, even though I have the Magic Sword to lean on, I can still feel the temperature dropping!

"Yeah, this is not a solution if it continues like this."

"Paroni, come see if these things can start a fire."

Lan brought over a large bundle of firewood excitedly, and then threw it all in front of me.

Putting our hopes on this firewood...