After bringing all the newly added luggage into the living room, Heidi came to the dining table and stared blankly at Morris, who was seated across from her.
She had not seen her father for a very long time—though they could still occasionally keep in touch, even their intermittent contact seemed to have last happened ages ago.
Her father had suddenly returned home just like that, and it felt almost dreamlike and unreal to her.
Morris sat at the dining table, unhurriedly eating the freshly fried sausage and bread, chewing every bite carefully for a long while. After some time, he looked up at his wife beside him and his daughter across the table, smiling. "It's been a long time since I've eaten food from home."
"There's more if that isn't enough, but we'll have to head out after this meal," his wife said with a smile, as if they were back in the old days discussing a walk in the park after lunch. "We need to report to the nearest shelter—the neighborhood is becoming more and more unstable. Those muddleheaded people... are becoming less and less human."
"They've lost their awareness of themselves, and this world is gradually forgetting what 'human' looks like. That is the result," Morris said calmly. "The foundations and Anchor Points laid by the gods are rapidly failing. Those who have not awakened will drift further and further from 'normal' as time passes... though from their own perspective, nothing has ever changed."
A trace of sorrow appeared on Heidi's face. "...Can they not be saved?"
"Don't worry about them, Heidi." Her father across the table merely smiled and shook his head. "It's all temporary. Everything will get better. The captain is working on a solution—I returned to the city-state early as part of his grand