Time, back to the night before.

The deep valley outside Xingmu Village, where Ann discovered the rift four years ago. A spatial rift spreads out in the same location.

There was no sound of insects and birds singing near the rift except for the wind, and there was some eerie silence in the deep valley......

The crack stood quietly like this, but after a while, wisps of ripples rippled on the plane of the crack, and an ancestor dressed in the costume of an ordinary priest walked out of it, his face was full of stubble, he was middle-aged, and he looked like an ordinary middle-aged uncle of the ancestors.

But when he came out of the rift, he dragged a large but mutilated alien corpse that didn't fit his size, showing that he wasn't the one who would disappear if he was thrown into a pile.

He was the only priest in town, Asso.

"It's so wrong, how can there be a monster like the Memory Eater in the small rift, and it's almost transformed into a Time Eater. ”

"Although according to the squire, they have been seriously injured when they encounter this monster, even if this monster has only half of its body left, it is not something they can solve. Asso quietly looked at the corpse of the monster in front of him, frowning and thinking about something.

"I don't want to waste it, but I'm on the safe side. ”

Asso took out a milky white translucent crystal shard from a small plain linen bag around his waist and threw it into the crack.

The crystal fragment did not enter the crack with a throwing arc, and stopped in front of the rift, and then a trace of the crystal appeared, and the crack emitted a milky white light, and the crack slowly spread to the whole crystal, and then shattered, and the cracked small fragment did not lose its light but swirled and flew around the crack like a firefly.

"Can't be closed, is there a residue?" said Atho, frowning, and then pulled out a triangular green crystal cylinder from the small cloth bag around his waist.

The length of the crystal cylinder far exceeded that small cloth bag, almost the length of a normal person's arm, and it was not at all what the small cloth bag could hold, but it was taken out of it. Aso's humble linen bag looked like the product of a space spell.

Aso inserted the long pillar into the ground, and a strange pattern of light appeared inside the long cylinder, and then the long cylinder began to disintegrate, and the fragments attached to the surrounding of the base, arranging a three-dimensional light curtain, and then a projection of a figure with a closed mask appeared inside.

"Aso, where have you been? I haven't been able to contact you for four years. The voice was a calm female voice, and even the inquiry was spoken in a gentle tone.

"What? wait... Four years? I felt a little wrong. Ah Suo suddenly remembered something when he heard the other party's words, but he still subconsciously answered the other party's question: "I'm in a place called Xingmu Village." ”

"Wait a minute, High Priest, I know something is wrong. ”

Asso carefully recalls how he came to this village, and one day four years ago he dreamed that this small village would be plagued by nightmares, and then came to this place, but he could not remember how he came here.

After solving the problem of solving that nightmare here, I have never thought about leaving, I have not thought about contacting colleagues, I have not even visited a neighboring town, and my life here is very stable, even said that it is very stable.

Although the small village is rarely disturbed by rifts, there are indeed some cracks around the village under normal circumstances, although ordinary people don't know, but the upper echelons of the sect know that the mechanism of ordinary cracks is related to the desires of people's hearts, as long as there are people, there will be cracks, luring those people to realize the dreams of wealth and fame, but generally speaking, there are no particularly dangerous existence in small and medium-sized rifts, let alone the memory eaters of the overlord in the nest.

The appearance of large rifts and nest-level rifts "may have been attracted by other 'things'......

Or...... There's something 'stuff'... I want to go home.

But he hadn't had a crack in the four years he's been here! The place was like a paradise, and while that was a good thing, it was unusual or strange to think about it now!

It's as if the people in this village don't have any desires at all. Asso carefully recalled each of the villagers in the village, and he felt that everyone here seemed to be happy.

Everyone doesn't have anything in particular to want, and he is obviously an apostle, why didn't he notice the existence of 'weirdness' in this place before?!

Aso Senses...... It was as if he was being manipulated by some invisible force.

What is it that affects you? If you can control your mind, why don't you solve the nightmare anomaly yourself, but control it yourself? and purify that level of anomaly so that the other mid-level clergy in the town can do the same......

He's an apostle, and he's a fighting apostle in charge of fighting against the high-ranking creatures in the Chaos Hive, so what would bother to control himself to do what ordinary priests can do?

Asso thought so, but it turned out that he had been kept in the dark until now.

Asso felt very incomprehensible, he should not have stayed in a stable place for so long, but it was unbelievable that he had been an ordinary priest in this small village for four years......

Moreover, this small village and town is a mixture of three ethnic groups, and if it is a village at the junction of three ethnic groups, it is very common for three ethnic groups to live together. But the location of this Hoshiki village ...... Although it is on the border of the ancestors, it is not next to the beasts and aliens, it is in the deep realm of the territory of the ancestors!

How much effort did it take for the orcs and aliens in this village to move into such a place?

Asso hadn't felt anything unusual in his life before, but now he felt a sense of fear of being used as a marionette, and a chill crept up his spine. It's as if something invisibly controls one's thoughts, making it impossible for oneself to perceive anything unusual, and forcibly allowing oneself to live in this stability.

"Forget it. Although Asso thought about it a lot, he still reported the anomaly found here to the other party first, and he even wondered if everything he was doing now was affected by that invisible thing.

"There's a small crack here that is very abnormal, the Boundary Stone can't be forcibly closed, and there may be residue in this crack, but I didn't find it when I entered the search, and I need an 'eye' to help. ”

"The plane coordinates of the village?" The masked man did not ask more questions to Asso than the initial question, but began to communicate with the other party.

"......" Asso felt a little headache, he had never located the location of this village, and he felt the feeling of being manipulated again, as if he had forcibly forgotten something.

As a battle apostle, he even felt that he was in a cold sweat, he was not afraid of the enemy, even the time eater who had completed the transformation had the courage to fight with him, even if he was not sure of defeating this monster, but he would not turn his back on the glory of God and be a coward. But in the face of this kind of enemy that he couldn't touch at all, he felt a deep sense of powerlessness in his heart.

Asso took out a locator from his small cloth bag and reported the location of the place to the other party.

"Understood, I'll have the Abyss Condenser team come and assist you. ”

"Okay. Hmm, what......? Okay. Although Asso was a little surprised, he would not question the other party's decision, because he was in contact with the supreme ruler of the Tranquility sect, High Priest Ramir, as an apostle.

However, he was very surprised by the other party's direct dispatch of the Abyssal Condenser, after all, this was an elite team responsible for fighting against the 'residue' and high-ranking creatures in the rift of the nest level. Asso had yet to see the Abyss Condenser team deployed into an unknown environment as a vanguard.

Apparently the High Priest seemed to know something about this place, and her attitude seemed strange.

For ordinary people and the troops at the bottom, maybe the unfolding of every nest rift is a war, but for some existence......

The haze level rift is a 'foreign enemy' needed to maintain the stability of this world.

A 'foreign enemy' that requires all of us to work together.

An unnegotiable 'foreign enemy'.

Although this foreign enemy was not deliberately created by them, if there was no such external enemy, the ancestors would soon have new conflicts and even wars with the orcs and foreigners, which was a state of affairs that the top of all sects did not want to see...

Therefore, even if a nest-level rift is completely unfolded here, the sect will not deal with it in a hurry... And the attitude of the high priest ... Obviously weird.

"Ramere, do you know anything?" As if sensing something, Asso asked his own question, and there was even a hint of anger in his tone, he was willing to accept all tasks, but he was not willing to carry out them with such a concealed attitude.

"Yes, I'm sorry. But I didn't know she had chosen you this time, otherwise I wouldn't wonder why I couldn't contact a Battle Apostle for four years. I can tell you the information there, but even if I tell you now, you'll quickly forget, and I think you know what I mean. ”

Hearing the High Priest say this, Aso's cold sweat gradually faded, and it seemed that the High Priest did know something about this place. And the unknown being was not hostile to him. But I still feel angry about what the other party did......

"Well, would that at least let me know what weird thing is affecting me here, and if that ghost thing can affect me, wouldn't it be a bit inappropriate to let the Abyss Condenser team come here until we figure out this weird trait?"

"The location where you are now is Cradle Township, of course, now called Xingmu Village. And the weird thing that affects you is ████"

"What? I...?" Aso clearly heard the four words the other party said, but except for the shock he felt when he heard it at first, it was only for a moment, and now he couldn't remember what Ramil said, as if something in that passage had been erased.

"The Abyss Condenser team will be there as well, don't worry, it's safe in that place. Ramil let out a sigh.

"It's not that you won't know the truth, you also noticed, and you will quickly forget what I said. What she wants is to make the place seem 'natural', but those who know the truth will inevitably seem unnatural. But if you want to get out of that, I'll help you, but I guess you might lose the memories of those four years afterwards, and there's nothing I can do about that. ”

"And what if I stay, will I die of old age in this muddy day?"

"If you stay there, maybe when the cradle stops, you can remember everything and leave. It's up to you to choose freedom or truth. But have you felt aging in the last few years?"

Hearing Ramiel's rhetorical question, Asso was stunned for a moment, he did feel that he had not changed much in the past few years.

"But I don't age, don't I look unnatural in this kind of place? ”

"It's not simple, you just say that you are a person favored by God, the chosen one, the guardian of Xingmu Village, and an old bachelor who guards innocence. Isn't it normal to age slower?"

“... I don't remember any of the teachings of the Anning sect that forbade marriage and childbearing. ”

"There is no necessary connection between being able to get married and have children and being a single, Asso's age should have been twenty years old, but in order to fight against the Chaos Rift, he didn't even talk about a partner, I think he should be there now... Have a good relationship. ”

"......?" Asso felt offended, but how could he feel that the other party was saying something as if he cared about him?emmm......

"Why do you look at me like that, I helped your subordinates solve a big problem. I'm not very smart. Ramil wore a mask, but the owner of the voice seemed to be able to notice Ramiel's expression through the mask.

“... Ignore her and tell me your decision. If you're leaving, I'll help you. Ramiel's voice had been speaking calmly in a even, slow tone.

"Oh, can I go over there, I also want to rest, I don't want to go to the nest all day to find the residue, I don't want to go to the abyss to find Ithaca, I should have slipped away with Anna when she left, anyway, if I gave me a copy of her management system, my ideal township would be able to keep running. Hearing this, Asso probably knew the identity of the owner of the voice.

"I... Choosing to stay doesn't sound like a bad thing to stay here, and I want to know the truth more than freedom. But I wondered why I was chosen, and I chose to vaguely remember that I was quite far away from here. And it's inexplicable to ask me to do a job that an ordinary pastor can do. ”

"Maybe she needs a strong fighting power as insurance here, and you're the most ordinary-looking of the Apostles of the Peaceful Sect. The lively voice interjected.

"Ignore her, Aso. On behalf of ████, I would like to express my gratitude to you, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Ramil in front of the influence greeted Asso with a courtesy of thanks.

"This... It's too grand, Lord Ramiel. The other party's attitude made Asso feel flattered.

"To be born as mortal, to all beings. Asso couldn't see the face under the mask, but Asso could sense a grateful and kind smile from Lamir at him.

"Well, then, I wish you Ning'an, Aso. "Ramil gives a salute in the video.

"May I be at peace with you, Lord Ramiel. Asso echoed in the same way.

..................

Asso walked alone on the way back to the village, as a strong man who could be an apostle, he was naturally unwilling to be manipulated by the memory of being at the mercy of that, he tried his best to remember everything in the conversation just now, but he could feel that his memory was rapidly disappearing and being modified, because there were many places where the conversation could not be connected.

"Damn, what the hell is manipulating my memory, even though I know it has no ill will towards me, but it's horrible. Aso stopped and walked all the way, and when he came to the outside of the village, there was only the endgame of the party here, and there was no one present, let alone standing, not even awake.

"Uh, did I miss a party today?" Aso sighed as he looked at the endgame.

"But no matter what the party, dealing with the rift is the first priority, fortunately it's only a small rift, and there is no danger inside, but why do I contact Lord Ramiel?" Aso looked at the mess on the wine table, and casually took some uneaten fruits and meat from his plate and ate them.

The energy fluctuations of that small rift were very strange, he originally thought that he would be able to find and deal with it in the morning, but the result was that he searched for a long time and did not find it until the evening, and the result was that he ate some wild fruits from the tree in one day today.

"Why did Lord Ramil leave me idle in such a small village? Although I really don't hate the laid-back life..."

"It's a bit of a problem here, it's only been four years since a crack has appeared. This situation does need to be monitored and studied, but I am the only one who is a little at a loss for now, and she said that she will send an expedition team to take a closer look at it after a while, and hopefully she will find something. While eating Aso, he walked towards the church, which was his home.

............

Asso lay on his bed and was about to fall asleep, but suddenly remembered something and opened his eyes.

"Anyway...... Have I done anything in the past that upset Lord Ramier?"

"Why did she say I was the ugliest of the apostles?"

"I'm better looking than that guy from Root, am I?"

In this way, Asso lay in bed thinking and remembering his life.