-16- [ Miracle]

"Chi..."

Under the sound of a faint whistle, the automatic door of the room closed again, sending away the visitor who had come.

Rozen stared at the screen of his laptop in a daze, not touching the keyboard or even focusing his eyes, allowing his carefully cultivated character to be killed by a nearly defeated boss, forcing him to respawn at the town. His agile fingers remained motionless.

After a while, this scene was interrupted by a soft voice.

"Even though you usually appear weak, why do you suddenly become so persuasive when giving a lecture?" Rozen complained.

And indeed, Rozen's impression of his elder brother, Romani, was that he was someone easy to be taken advantage of, especially when he appeared weak in front of Olga Marie.

However, in such moments, Romani would reveal an unexpected mature side, as if he were a wise sage who had seen through all the perplexities of the world. He would utter words with convincing power to Rozen.

"If you could be like this all the time, you wouldn't be seen as a pushover in Chaldea, useless brother..."

Rozen continued to complain to his absent elder brother and vented his frustration by tossing the laptop aside and lying on his bed.

Just then...

"Fou!"

Accompanied by a cute call, a white creature emerged from somewhere and jumped onto Rozen lying on the bed.

"Fou?" Rozen raised his eyebrows, as if wanting to scold it, and said, "You've been hiding and watching my all this time, huh?"

"Fou!" Fou completely ignored Rozen's venting and scratched its fur around its neck with its front paws.

"Fine!" Rozen acted as if he were even angrier and exclaimed, "Even you look down on me, huh?"

"Fou!" Fou raised its eyes, innocently looking at Rozen.

"Don't give me that look!" Rozen reprimanded Fou, "Don't think I won't dare to mess with you just because you act cute. Now that Mash isn't here, there's no one to help you. Even if I cook you right now, you can only accept it and surrender if you know what's good for you!"

"Fou!" Fou seemed to be fed up with Rozen's irrational behavior and simply laid down on his abdomen, seemingly ready to go to sleep.

"You..." Rozen angrily reached out a hand towards Fou, as if he wanted to scold it.

However, as soon as his hand was about to reach, Rozen stopped and instead focused on the hand that stretched out in front of him.

Upon closer inspection, Rozen's right hand was wearing a dark gold-colored glove.

Looking at the glove, a complex emotion flashed in Rozen's eyes for a moment. Then he reached out and took off the glove.

Underneath the glove was a fair-skinned hand.

And on that hand, there was a ring.

A ring that exuded a brilliant golden glow, appearing both ancient and mysterious.

Rozen reached out and touched the ring, feeling the cold sensation against his skin as he murmured softly, "So, has it been fourteen years since then?"

With that, Rozen's memories returned to fourteen years ago.

That was the year when Rozen faced both despair and hope.

At that time, Rozen was merely two years old.

Lying on a sickbed, he should have succumbed to his extremely weakened body and eventually died.

However, that outcome was eventually reversed.

By an unknown miracle.

"If this is what you lack, and if the gods won't grant it to you, then let me give it to you."

Recalling that voice, Rozen closed his eyes.

Back then, with the help of the owner of that voice, Rozen received a miracle, surviving and miraculously recovering his body at an astonishing speed. Instead of lying on the sickbed waiting for death, he could live as a "human."

Yet even now, Rozen still hadn't figured out the reason and cause behind it all.

Who was the owner of that voice at that time?

What exactly was the miracle that saved him?

How was he saved?

All of these, Rozen still didn't know.

It felt like it was just a dream, and upon waking up, Rozen naturally recovered and left the isolation ward. Even though his constitution had been weak since childhood, now Rozen had a body that could fully support his life.

And after that, two changes happened.

One was the appearance of Romani.

Rozen still remembered the words spoken by the man who appeared in front of him when he walked out of the isolation ward.

"I am Romani Archaman. Although this may sound sudden, I must tell you that I am your blood relative, someone like your 'brother.' This much is certain, and I hope you can accept me."

Saying those words, Romani's face expressed a gentleness and joy that Rozen had never seen before.

It was precisely because of that expression that Rozen accepted this man who suddenly appeared and claimed to be his brother-like figure.

At that time, Romani also presented a DNA test report that clearly stated the fact that they were blood-related brothers. If it weren't for the fact that Rozen and Romani had never met before Rozen turned two years old, their surnames might have been exactly the same.

This was the first change that Rozen encountered after coming out of the isolation ward.

The second change was the ring in Rozen's hand.

Since Rozen miraculously recovered, this ring appeared on his finger as if it were a part of his flesh. No matter what he tried, he couldn't take it off. Rozen even had a feeling that even if he cut off his finger or even his arm, the ring would find its way back to him and never leave him.

This made Rozen understand one thing.

"This ring is definitely related to that miracle back then."

So, Rozen called the ring by this name.

———〈Miracle〉.

The ring, named after the most important thing to Rozen, accompanied him for a whole fourteen years.

Within these fourteen years, the ring called 〈Miracle〉gradually revealed inexplicable information, granting Rozen a wealth of knowledge.

This knowledge mainly fell into two categories.

One: Knowledge about summoning magic.

Two: The ring's own miraculous power.

The former provided Rozen with various knowledge about "summoning arts," enabling him to master impressive summoning magic within a short three years, combined with his astounding talent.

The latter informed Rozen that the ring possessed a special function.

It could open the gate to the 〈Otherworld〉.