By now, Gawain had long grown accustomed to the many gaps in the memories he had inherited.
A considerable portion of those mysteriously vanished memories had been erased by Selina Gelvin back then, while the reason for the rest remained unknown to this day.
Yet all of those missing memories had one thing in common: they more or less pointed toward the gods, belonging to things that would be detected the moment they were mentioned.
With that commonality established, the moment Gawain realized there was a gap in his memories related to the Guardian's Shield, he could already connect it to many things.
He slowly let out a breath, set aside his many guesses and associations for the moment, and looked again at the two senior agents before him. "What else do you want to know about the Guardian's Shield?"
"We want to know whether, after obtaining it, you..." Melita spoke, with a trace of hesitation in her voice, as if carefully choosing her words. "Whether you underwent some kind of 'change' under its influence?"
"Change?" Gawain frowned slightly. "What do you mean? 'Change' is a very broad term."
"For instance, seeing or hearing things, or suddenly acquiring perceptual abilities you did not possess before," Noreta said. "You may even have seen complete visions, received memories that did not belong to you..."
Gawain's expression immediately turned serious—Noreta's words had practically confirmed a suspicion that had just arisen in his mind, one related to Gawain Cecil from seven hundred years ago!
"Since you are directly involved, we shall be frank," Melita said candidly as she noticed the change in Gawain's expression and stepped half a step forward. "We know something about the secrets behind the shield in your possession and God Metal—as you know, God Metal is the Eternal Stone Tablet.