Zero

"Zero?!"

The name gave Maria a big shock.

"...What does he look like?", but she didn't believe that was the person that she was thinking of, so to make sure, she asked another question.

"He has white hair like mine and seems to always wear his armor at all time."

"!!!" This time she was sure.

Zero.

The personal guard of princess Krimrose, Karmeson's older sister, and at the same time the greatest swordsman of Blume.

He had also created his own set of special sword skills, a line of <<Arts>> which is named <<Blooming Daisy>>.

He did not pass on his <<Arts>> to anyone, until now.

"I need to go back to my room for a bit." She quickly ran outside, her mind still filled with thoughts.

"Ah...Eh...She's gone. Still, what's with her?"

----

As she returned to her room, she took out the country map and looked at it closely.

Suddenly, she noticed.

At the place where "they" had disappeared, she saw a river.

As she slowly traced the path of it, she found out that it led to the same village where she met Hildagea.

At that time, she stopped at the village to rest while investigating, but the state the village was in at that time was terrible.

"Nayari did say that he also came from that village..." she thought.

What does this mean?

As she tried to piece them together, she suddenly remembered one thing.

After her visit to the village, she had to go home because her sister's condition had gone worse.

Her sister...

Her sister!!

"!!! I completely forgot about my sister!! How could I?!" She screamed at herself.

Even if she wanted to, she couldn't do anything now as she had already given Nayari his win.

"...I need to think of something, quick."

----

Later, in the afternoon.

"I'm back." Nayari entered his room.

"Welcome back. Are you feeling better now?" Lilith was lazing around in her bed.

"Well, somewhat. So, what's the thing you wanted to talk about?"

Lilith climbed down from her bed.

"Erm...About that move you did back then...Who did you learn it from?"

"Again? Seriously, though...Why does everyone want to know about it?"

""Again"? Did someone ask the same thing?"

"Maria did. I'll say this, my father taught me and his name is Zero."

"Teacher?!" Lilith was shocked upon hearing the name.

"Yes, Teache- Wait, what?!" Nayari was also shocked upon knowing that Lilith's teacher was his father.

"You aren't kidding, right?! Right?!" He grabbed her shoulders and started shaking her.

"O-O-Of course I'm not! Stop shaking me!"

"Ah, sorry. Still, what does this mean? He's still alive? Who exactly is he? Who exactly...am I? Argh! My head...!" Nayari suddenly had a headache.

"Nayari?!"

"I'm...going...to rest...for a bit......." He said as he collapsed on the floor.

"Hey! Nayari! HEY!"

----

"I'm... back here?"

He looked around himself to find that he had returned to his memory lane.

He walked along the hall of memories, filled with doors that contain his experience over the years.

At the end of the line, right next to the locked ones, one door lit up.

He grabbed its knob and slowly opened it.

----

"...He's awake!" A familiar voice of a woman entered his ears.

"Mother?!" Nayari thought to himself.

He tried to move around, but failed, realizing that this was only a replay of his past.

"Who...are you?" He at that time spoke up.

Past Nayari turned his head to see a knight sitting next to her.

"Are you ok, young master?" The knight spoke up.

"Young master?" Present Nayari thought.

"Who...am I? Why...can't I remember anything? My head hurts..."

P.Nayari grabbed his head to find a bandage wrapping around it.

"Well...we found you by the riverside, your head was bleeding very badly so I quickly treated you. The injury must have damaged your memory. Do you remember your name?" The woman asked.

"My...name? I can't remember anything..."

"How about a new name then? Let's see...how about...Nayari?" The knight said.

"My name...Nayari..."

"Hey, Nayari, do you want to become our child?"

"Ehh?!" The woman was surprised at his words.

"Eh? ...You guys seem to not be bad guys, so I guess?"

"Then, welcome to our family, Nayari."

The memory ended there.

Living with them for so long, he had forgotten the fact that he was adopted by them.

There was something that caught his attention, though.

"Young master? Who was I? Some kind of noble?"

He couldn't think anything beyond it, so he decided to shelter it for later.

"...yari."

He then heard a voice.

"...ayari."

"This voice...Lilith?"

"NAYARI!"

----

"Guah!?" He was forcefully awoken by a scream to the ears.

"Thank god! You woke up!" Lilith's expression changed from worried to happy.

"Did I pass out or something?"

"You did! And you were crying too. Did you have a bad dream or something?"

"No...not exactly. Ah, it's time for your treatment."

"Ah...Right." Her face slightly reddened.

And another day slowly ended.