[Frederick is invited to the Embers Barren by his old friend "Justs the Shield of Immortality", intending to use the Finding Spell to help his friend complete a difficult mission]

[——The development of the original story should be like this]

[Frederick always felt that Justes seemed to be hiding something from him.] He chooses to trust the instincts of the idol wizard, drinks the magic wine that causes him to fall unconscious, and uses the power of alcohol to steal Justus's mission contract from his dreams.

[But Frederick, I'd rather never read the contract-]

[The initiator of this contract is called "Trisino."] If it's just a name, then it can only be judged to be from the United Kingdom. But if you add the quill mark on the contract...... As the future heir to the Mervin family, Frederick was already able to recognize this man.]

[No one knows the true identity of "Trisino".] But through the ceremony, it can be learned that he is the Pope of the "Tragic Writer", the god of murder and conspiracy.

[The contract specifies that Justus should take an idol wizard to the Ember Barrens.] When the stars reach the correct position, the idol wizard who stays here will sense the "gap between dreams". From it you can get the essence of unfinished dreams]

[According to the contract, when the sun sets today, it is the moment when the stars reach the right position. Frederick didn't know what a "dream gap" was, or what the "marrow of dreams" was. But he knew that the pact initiated by "Trisino" must be ill-intentioned.

[Although Frederick had a big fight with him over another person when he parted ways.] But Frederick still hopes that he can protect his impulsive and stupid friend in the conspiracy hatched by the tragic writer.

[Or rather, former friends]

This introduced the plot, which made Annan blink in surprise.

…… It seemed to be a little different from what he knew.

In Annan's previous perception, it seemed that Frederick had deceived Justes. He sacrificed his friend Justus to the tragic poet.

It can be seen from the hints of this nightmare...... It seems that Frederick did not know anything about it.

He even wanted to save Justus from the tragedy writer.

It's Justes......

This man looked different from what Annan had heard from Nefertari at first.

In Nefertari's mouth, Justus is a calm and extremely reliable guardian.

According to what Annan had just seen with his own eyes, a rather palpable sense of arrogance and self-centeredness could be heard in Justes's words. He is also not as calm and reliable as rumored to be, and even a little impatient...... as well as some swelling.

And......

What is the "marrow of dreams"?

And who is "Trisino"?

Why has this name, Annan never heard?

"—what's going on?"

Annan saw that everything in the nightmare did not match the information he had gathered in advance...... This confused him a little.

He got up from the couch and followed Justes's previous words to investigate Justes' home.

He noticed that the most thing in Justes's room was newspapers.

On the wall, on the table, in the cupboard. Justes has a collection of newspapers from almost all newspapers of almost all years, and can be said to be a loyal fan of the newspaper......

After all, in this day and age, newspapers are far from cheap. If you want to collect it all, the cost is obviously huge. I'm afraid that a considerable part of Justes's income is used to buy newspapers in various countries.

It's like obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Or is he a collector of newspapers?

“…… Hey? ”

Annan sighed softly.

Relying on his keen observation, he soon discovered that the newspapers posted on the wall all had some kind of commonality.

Justers was either mentioned in these newspapers—and whenever he was mentioned, he was complied with praising his great contributions; Either that or the "Grey Professor" Seti was mentioned, as well as the situation of his other students.

As far as the eye can see, Annan can even see more than 20 "portraits of Justus". It is usually on the front page of the newspaper and is drawn by an artist hired by the newspaper.

…… Although what he has done is indeed remarkable.

But that's too narcissistic, isn't it?

It was so abnormal that Annan couldn't help but wonder if this strange behavior had something to do with his spell.

- But what kind of spell will make people keep buying newspapers? Do you want to post all the news related to yourself on the bedroom wall so that you can see it at any time?

Don't wait for Annan to see more.

Justes suddenly rushed back.

“…… Something's wrong, Frerell. ”

The strong "Unfalling Shield" looked a little solemn.

It was only when his face was solemn that Annan could faintly see a shadow of Nefertari.

Annan also hurriedly straightened his face and continued to play the role of Freljord, trying to see if he could get more words out of Justus: "What's wrong? Could it be...... Lost that contract of yours?

"Speaking of which, where's my lunch?"

Mimicking Frederick's tone, he glanced at Justers and asked leisurely.

"—If nothing else, you'll never get lunch."

Justes said, grabbing Frederick's right forearm and whispering in a non-oblivatory voice, "Come and see—"

With that, he dragged Annan outside the house.

The house looked like a doughnut – they were on the second floor, and in the middle of the circle of houses you could see the rest area on the first floor.

At the moment, the rest area was empty. The chairs and tables were messy.

Annan and Justes looked at each other, said nothing, and walked briskly down the spiral staircase.

On closer inspection, Annan noticed that six round tables in the lounge area were scattered around, and two to five chairs were clustered around the round tables.

Some of the round tables still have untouched tea, and it is still a little warm when touched with your hands; There are also some cards on the round table. But Annan glanced at the cards and quickly counted the numbers, only to realize that it was about half less.

It's like someone just poured a cup of tea and left.

It's like a group of people playing cards halfway through and running away with their "hand".

Annan walked over and touched the seat. There's no temperature anymore.

"Look here, Frerell."

Justes gestured to the front desk.

Annan looked over and subconsciously took a few steps forward.

His gaze suddenly sharpened.

Because the drawer at the front desk was opened, it was full of money. No one has touched it...... The ledger was laid out in front of the table, opened, and even halfway down to the letter.

[201, Smoked Salmon——]

This is the last line left on the ledger.

It seems that the guest in room 201 ordered the smoked salmon and then the front desk kept the account while collecting the money. Then, before the account was finished, the person suddenly disappeared - even the pen was gone.

The...... Hotel? It doesn't seem to count, Justes has obviously lived here for a long time.

In short, the people here suddenly disappeared and disappeared from the world not long ago, maybe just an hour or half an hour ago.