Dim yellow light swayed through the old tavern, and the battered furnishings in the hall gave off the fresh scent of wood.
Hilde sighed.
This dream again...
How many times has this been now?
The third, or the fourth?
Hilde still clearly remembered what had happened before she lost consciousness. She had asked Kalman II if she could witness the true strength of the North God, and Kalman II had readily agreed.
She had expected some earth-shattering ultimate move.
Instead, there had been nothing.
He had simply held up his staff and walked over to her.
Then he knocked her unconscious with a single blow.
If that was supposed to be a return to simplicity, it was a little too plain.
No, that was not quite right.
It should be said that the gap in their strength had been so vast that she could not even comprehend his technique.
That was how Hilde consoled herself.
"Hey, Sis? Are you all right?"
Aisha, who was also seated at the bar, reached out and waved a hand in front of Hilde's face, concern written across her expression.
Hilde had seemed to suddenly space out just now.
"Are you senile?"
"You should worry about that yourself. I'm fine. I just remembered something from the past."
Hilde refocused and turned her gaze back to Aisha.
After thinking back for a moment, she remembered that the last time this dream had been interrupted was when she asked about Rudeus's whereabouts, only to unexpectedly learn that he had died more than twenty years ago. The shock had jolted her awake from the dream.
And according to Aisha,
the current timeline was the year 510 of the Armored Dragon Calendar.
In reality, it was the year 415 of the Armored Dragon Calendar—a gap of over ninety years.