"You said you lost your memory?"
"That's right."
"You lost your memory, but you still managed to come this far alone?"
"That's right."
"And the wild beasts and monsters... none of them attacked you?" Colin's eyes widened as he looked at Pan Long with suspicion and irritation. "Are you joking with me?"
Pan Long answered by punching a hole at least half a foot deep in the ground.
"I'd actually welcome a wild beast looking for trouble with me," he said with a smile. "But they seem a little too clever for that. Otherwise, I'd have meat to eat."
Colin looked at the hole in the ground and frowned, but asked no more questions.
He decided that this young man, who had forgotten everything from his name to where he lived, was an awakened one. Something must have gone wrong during his awakening, costing him part of his memory.
Colin had never seen that happen, but he supposed it was possible.
Things going wrong during an Awakening were commonplace. Some people gained an extra eye, some lost a few fingers, some fell gravely ill, and some went mad for a while... Compared with all that, what was a little lost memory?
At least the kid was in one piece and did not look sick.
So Colin spent some time telling Pan Long about this world.
This country was called the Ameli Kingdom. It had once been a decent place, but it was finished now. What had brought it down was the "Calamity."
Calamity was a general term for all kinds of creatures that had grown twisted and strange. No one knew why, but many living things in the Ameli Kingdom had suddenly mutated. Animals, plants, and humans alike had become grotesque, gaining terrifying strength and an even more terrifying urge