0 – Prologue
Life is a journey of accumulating regrets.
It is because there is no save-load function in life.
Since we cannot go back to the moment we made a choice,
Since we cannot reverse the decisions we made,
Since we do not know what scenery would unfold on the path we did not choose,
We can never know which choice was right.
We can only imagine what it would have been like if we had made a different choice, looking back at that moment of decision.
Ultimately, the past is immutable, and the future is unknown.
Once a relationship is broken, it cannot be repaired,
And a person buried in the ground will not come back.
Beneath that cowardly truth, we can only live with regrets.
However, humans are truly deceitful creatures, or rather rebellious beasts, and they are reluctant to acknowledge that fact.
They try to reverse what cannot be reversed and restore what cannot be restored.
And for that purpose, they come up with all sorts of unconventional methods.
From developing magic that transcends space and time to pretending to lose their memory.
However, in the end, what we can realize is simply the fact that truth is not just truth for no reason.
And, like all realizations, this one comes with a hefty price.
… Just like me right now.
I suppressed the expression of distortion and looked at the sumptuous feast laid out before me.
Each dish was an expensive item that someone like me, with a measly salary, could not afford.
These are things that I would have devoured without any hesitation in normal circumstances.
However, because of the woman blushing shyly beside me, I could not possibly reach out for the food.
One of the candidates for sainthood in the church, Clara.
She was my childhood friend whom I hadn’t seen in almost 13 years.
“I specially prepared dishes that remind us of our childhood memories… How about it? Do the memories come back a little?”
Don’t lie.
The only things I ate while being with her were hard rye bread and tasteless soup.
And, you brought this, didn’t you?
“… Try this too.”
A woman in a robe approached, adding more food to the feast.
It wasn’t as luxurious as the food Clara had brought, but it exuded the sincerity of the maker.
Parsley, a disciple of Matop doctrine.
She was a friend who always bunked together in the academy.
Wearing a blue hat, she concealed her bandaged hands behind her back.
“…We tried making the official academy dish once. You used to like it. Here.”
It was true that I liked it.
More precisely, I liked the smell. I had never actually tasted it before.
During my time at the academy, all I had eaten were hard bread and mana potions. By the way, the latter tasted like water soaked in a rag.
Suppressing a sigh, I raised my fork.
Yeah, they could do that.
Actually, it didn’t make sense, and I couldn’t understand it, but let’s assume they could.
“Rem, do you remember this dish?”
But you shouldn’t.
I looked at the blonde woman offering me a delicious-looking pie.
Amy, the nationally recognized hero.
My only childhood friend whom I met in the 18th year.
“It’s the pie that Miss Flang used to make for us all the time. I got the recipe and tried making it.”
The only thing I remember about Miss Flang is constantly being scolded.
As the owner of a butcher shop, she really beat me like a dog.
So, in the end, that’s how it was.
I gazed at the three women in turn, feeling a complex mix of emotions.
The woman who raised me like a mother.
The woman I studied math with at the same academy.
The woman I grew up with in the same hometown.
Women who shared my past but whom I hadn’t met in a long time.
They were all trying to be kind to me.
…Ever since I pretended to lose my memory.
What on earth is this?