Re;Kingdom, Starting a Life with Amnesia from Zero

Arc 2 – “Week of Pain” – Mansion Arc

Chapter 13 – “The Forest of Never Returning”

While following Emilia and walking the stairs, Jens thoughts were filled with questions about the events that just happened. The biggest question was still—

“Who is Masquerade? Why did he erase my memories? Who am I?”

Jens knew that joining him would make no sense, however, as he would grow, he would gain from their knowledge but his heart would still know that it was wrong. As he only wants to protect the ones near him and the ones he loves.

Emilia : “Is… everything okay, Jens?”

She was looking at Jens and noticed how tense he was.

Jens : “Uh…”

While looking at her beautiful amethyst eyes, he figured out what he should ask.

Jens : “Emilia, please tell me… why did Masquerade and Raven invade this mansion?”

Asking this, Emilia put her hand on her mouth and started thinking.

Emilia : “I’m… not really sure, as a lot happened. I mean, Raven even didn’t know who that Masquerade guy was. Right? I think this was Raven’s attack, but Masquerade had some plans within this infiltration.”

Jens : “That sounds correct, but still… Why was I targeted for this infiltration? I don’t remember anything about them in my past–”

Emilia put her finger on Jens mouth and said—

Emilia : “Shh! It doesn’t matter, relax a little bit please. The most important thing is that were all safe now, right?”

Jens : “Y..Yeah, you’re right. Sorry for being so stressed.”

Emilia : “I know that you’re going through a lot, but you should really relax. If someone knows about your Amnesia, it can be found in the Corridor of Memories.”

Jens : “The Corridor of Memories? What is that?”

Emilia : “It’s a Library filled with books that contain memories of deceased people. We might be able to find someone who knew you. We could also go to the City of Ionia, there are plants in the western part of the city that consume sad memories of people, and when you return, you regain them.”

Jens : “Lia… I… I’m not even sure if I’m from Lugnica.”

Emilia : “What… do you mean?”

Jens : “Don’t you remember what Angel said? I was found in the middle of the Capital of Lugnica with no memories of my past. What if someone brought me there?”

Emilia : “Hmm… Let’s ask Roswaal! He’s smart after all.”

Emilia ran towards the end of the hall way and opened the door. Jens followed Lia and trusted her of her actions.

Entering the room, it was the place where Jens lost his consciousness and fell into the abyss. There was no light except candles that were lighten up to show the end of the bridge.

Jens : “Li…Lia…EMILIA!”

Emilia : “Hmph? What is it?”

Jens : “I… What kind of place is this? Isn’t this that anvil room? I… Last time I touched that thing the whole thing collapsed and I nearly died!”

Emilia : “Calm Jens, follow me!”

Emilia ran towards the Anvil and touched it.

Jens was scared that something would happen to her and ran towards her.

When she touched the anvil, she started whispering words, and right then–

??? : “Who dares summon me?”

Emilia : “Roswaal L Mathers-sama, Raven and another individual attacked the mansion.”

??? : “Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh—”

Hearing a scary weird voice, Roswaal L Mathers appeared in front of Emilia and gave her a crystal.

Roswaal : “You really did protect the mansion, Emilia?”

Emilia : “Technically, no, Jens somehow destroyed the one of the most powerful Yang Magic spells existing and saved both me and Yang Xiao Long.”

Roswaal : “What? Are you serious? Then my source was right… after all.”

Looking at Roswaal, his yellow and blue eyes started looking at Jens and right then, Jens head started to ache slightly.

Jens : “N…Nice to see you again, Roswaal-‘sama’.”

Roswaal : “You see, it is no problem the mansion is quite defected. I’m glad you saved my staff. Could you, Nathan and Rem please go to the Arlam Village, if you may. Could you, please?”

Emilia : “Roswaal-sama, what are you saying? We just survived an attack against Raven!”

Roswaal : “Emilia. We need to have a talk about the Royal Election.”

Roswaal grabbed Jens arm and pulled him with him.

Roswaal : “Jens. Please, go with Nathan and Rem to that village and say to Rem that I ordered you three to buy some Mana Stones. Rem knows what to do.”

Jens : “Ah.. Ah.. Okay..”

It hurted a little bit, Roswaal’s muscular arm pulling Jens. Arriving at the normal hallway, Nathan and Rem were already there waiting for him.

Nathan : “Roswaal-sama, what’s going on? Who is the guy in the mask? I’m sure you know more than we do.”

Roswaal : “Ahh… You see, I may be the Head of this mansion, but I don’t really care about you whelps. I only care about Emilia, Ram… and Jens.”

Rem : “…”

Rem was looking at Roswaal while feeling quite sad. Hearing those words that Roswaal sad, it truly meant a lot to her.

Nathan : “Wha.. What the hell do you mean with that?”

Roswaal : “Exactly how I sad it. I’ll explain everything tomorrow morning. You’re right though, I do know more about what happened today. It’s all according to my master plan.”

Jens : “What the…”

Roswaal : “Now, enough talking. Follow me subordinates.”

He walked in the hall way while summoning small sparks of lights. It was Mana. Blue for Water Mana, Green for Wind Mana, Yellow for Earth Mana, Red for Fire Mana, White for Yang Mana and Black for Yin Mana.

He looked outside through the window and so did the others. However, Jens saw the garden and started thinking of one thing.

“Right… That girl… That girl in white clothes… White hair… I remember her, she was standing over there.”

Jens : “Roswaal-sama, I… I saw a girl standing right there.”

He pointed to the middle of the grass field near a small lake.

Jens : “She was wearing only white clothes, white hair, blue eyes.”

Roswaal : “Is that so? I assume the Schnee Family already arrived at Lugnica. That means the Royal Ceremony will start in a few days.”

Jens : “Who was that girl? I… I think I remember her somehow.”

Roswaal : “That was probably Weiss Schnee. However, its impossible for her to be somewhere here around. After all, everyone who enters the Kremaldy Forest will get lost and will never return. This mansion is surrounded by that forest.”

Nathan : “What kind of magic is that?”

Roswaal : “It’s not Magic you fool. I’m done with these questions, Nyoooow, be gone!”

Roswaal fired all the black sparkling orbs towards Rem, Nathan and Jens and they disappeared.

Roswaal sighs out of relief, looking at the sky again through the window. Suddenly, someone walks towards him through the hallway.

Ram : “Roswaal-sama, you seem troubled. What is wrong?”

Roswaal : “I… this boy is special. We need to protect him. He will make my plan become reality.”

Ram : “I tried to analyze his actions as much as possible. He isn’t lying. His memories are truly gone. His gate is quite collapsed but his Aura is ridiculously powerful.”

Roswaal : “I see. The Royal Ceremony is only in a few days. After that, I will kill Volcanica and I will save Echidna.”

Ram : “Understood Roswaal-sama.”

Opening his eyes, Jens realized that he was in the middle of a village. He was lying in a bed made of flowers and grass. Nathan was standing near him and so was Rem.

Rem : “Jens? Are you awake?”

Jens : “Yes, my head hurts a bit, what happened?”

Nathan : “Roswaal send us to this village for some reason.”

Jens : “Ah! Right. He told me to tell you this Rem, we need to buy Mana Stones.”

Rem : “Ah. Thanks for telling me Jens.”

Jens stood up and followed Rem. Nathan was walking behind Jens and both of them were looking around. They were fascinated on how many people are outside at this time.

They’re in the Arlam Village. It is a village located near Roswaal’s mansion with a population of around 300 people. The name of the village changes based on the surname of the current head. There is also a youth group created by the young people in the village.

??? : “Ah…”

??? (2) : “That’s Nathan and Rem!”

Suddenly, two kids ran towards them. One has olive green eyes and hair that is braided on one side. She has blue hair and she wears a blue dress with a light blue collar.

The second kid has blue eyes and long, dark indigo colored hair which is braided around her head. She wears an extravagant dress similar to Beatrice but the decorations are much plainer.

Nathan : “Hey Annerosa! Who is your little friend there?”

The girl with dark indigo hair was named Annerosa Miload. Miload is quite a name, as its a branch family of the Roswaal family that specializes in magic. However, Annerosa is the only survivor of the Miload family.

Annerosa : “I… don’t know her, I only met her today but she doesn’t speak so much.

Rem : “No problem. Annerosa-sama, we were ordered to buy some Mana Stones here, do you know where to go?”

Jens : “Wait, Roswaal said that you would know what to do, but you don’t?”

Rem : “Haha… I’m not as smart as Ram, I just know that I should go to Annerosa.”

Rem smiled while looking at Jens. Jens started to blush and Nathan kicked Jens.

Jens : “OUCH! What was that good for?”

Nathan : “You’re disgusting Jens! You’re with Emilia, stay with her!”

Jens : “IT WASN’T LIKE THAT IDIOT!”

??? : “Ha…Hahahaha.”

The small girl started to laugh as she looked at the two idiots arguing.

Annerosa : “So you do have a voice after all!”

??? : “Hm…”

The girl was shy, started crying and ran towards the forest. Ram’s, Annerosa’s and Jens’ eyes widened as they watched the girl just meet the fate of her life.

Nathan : “Hey kid! Don’t go! You’ll get lost!”

He screamed those words but it was already too late. The small child already ran into the forest.

Jens : “Don’t just stand here, we need to save her!”

Jens ran towards the forest where the small girl ran to and so did Annerosa, Rem and Nathan.

Entering the forest, everyone immediately noticed that the Mana of the forest was different. There were others near them for sure.

Nathan : “For fuck sake, I don’t want to die you know. Let’s return already.”

Rem : “Are you serious? We’ve to same that small girl.”

….

Sniff Sniff

Rem started sniffing as she smelled something disgusting.

Rem : “Ah… Oh… No… Demon Beasts… No… I smell Witch Miasma…”

Nathan : “What?!”

Nathan immediately summoned his Yang Sword and hold it steady with both of his hands. Rem grabbed her Morning star and Annerosa summoned her crystallized wand.

Jens : “What’s going on? Who is here?”

Rem : “I’m not sure, I smell something awfully disgusting.”

Jens looked everywhere and suddenly, a man fall out of the trees.

??? : “OUCH! Ne~ver climb these stuupid trees.”

Nathan : “Who the fuck are you?”

??? : “Ah! My apologies for n~ot introducing myself! My name is Elis Rose Evergarden!”

Rem : “Oh… Elis-sama, I haven’t seen you in ages.”

The man apparently an acquittance of Rem and probably the Emilia Camp in general. He had wavy yet short blackish hair and had beautiful purple eyes.

Jens : “Who is this dude?”

Nathan : “You… look familiar.”

Elis : “Well! My name is Elis Rose Evergarden, like I already said. I’m a noble merchant from the western Kingdom of Kararagi! I’m here to help you guys with the Royal Election! But I wasn’t expecting to meet you guys already. My superior is absent for some reason, I can’t find him here anywhere.”

Rem : “I don’t remember you working for someone else… who may your superior be and what are you doing in the Forest of Never Returning?”

Elis : “Ahh! That’s a scary name! My My, I’m not sure why I’m here. I was here with Alviero Juukulius, the current head of the Juukulius House.”

The Juukulius family, also known as the “Euculius Family” is a noble family in the Kingdom of Lugnica. The Juukulius family is known for their Knights. The Juukulius family is also the only family with all members being able to become Spirits Knights. Knights that are able to cooperate with Spirits.

Nathan : “Ah I see, where did you see Alviero-sama for the last time?”

Elis : “I’m not sure! I was climbing this tree until some stupid kid threw a rock at me!”

Jens : “Ah… How did the child look like?”

Elis : “My my… I remember seeing blue hair and olive green eyes. Also, it was a girl.”

Jens : “That’s the girl we’re looking for. Why did she threw the rock?”

Elis : “Why I’m not sure. However, I’m sure that I haven’t heard your name Jens young handsome man.”

Jens : “My name is Jens. Member of the Emilia Camp.”

Elis : “Jens. That’s an unique name. I heard about that name though.”

A silence fell, both Nathan and Jens looked worried at Elis.

Nathan : “Are… Are you serious?”

Elis : “Yes. Why?”

Jens : “I… lost my memories and I try to recover them.”

Elis : “Ah… I remember reading a book about a man sacrificing all he has for the best out come and that it was all useless. His name was Jens.”

Nathan : “Are you kidding me? I thought you were serious about knowing about Jens.”

Elis : “Woah! Calm there! I never said anything similar to that!”

Rem : “Guys! Stop it! Let’s find that girl and return somehow. Maybe Beatrice-sama can help us out.”

Annerosa : “I can probably detect h–”

Suddenly, everyone heard a weird sound.

??? : “RAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGG”

It was a lion. It sounded like a lion. Everyone turned to the side of the forest where the sound came from. Suddenly, a silhouette appears.

Elis : “Oh my god… That’s… A Demon Beast… The Guiltylowe!”

Jens was standing face to face with his first Demon Beast. The Guiltylowe. The Guiltylowe has the head of a lion, the torso of a horse or goat, a snake-like tail, and a large body capable of blocking a wide passageway. They are known to be a “boss” like beast, often living deep within forests with a high concentration of mana, with some preferring not to needlessly roar like other Demon Beasts.

Contrary to their large stature, they lightly move around, silently killing their prey with one blow to their vitals, and are skilled at ambush and assassination like hunting. This Demon Beast is also known as the Jet Black King of the Forest or the Shadow Lion.

However, the small girl was tied up on the back of the Guiltylowe.

Rem : “That’s… The Witch Miasma I smelled.”

Elis : “I… don’t have my sword with me…”

Rem : “Stand behind me! I’ve to protect you for Roswaal-sama.”

Annerosa : “We can’t use magic against it. We would kill the girl too.”

Nathan : “Got it. Then what’s the plan?”

Annerosa : “That thing… The more we move, the more aggressive it gets.”

Elis : “We need Yang Magic, we might be…”

Suddenly, a woman appears behind the Guiltylowe right after Elis starts talking. It was a familiar face, no… this was an reunion. This might be planned.

??? : “Ahhh… Jens, Nathan… You guys are still alive… That means I can keep my promise… Today is the day that the Blood Hunter will kill you!”

Elis : “Wha~t kind of sick nickname is that?”

Nathan : “E…Elsa Granhiert?”

Jens : “Oh no…”

After a few seconds, her full body is visible again. She looked exactly the same from the days at the capital. This was definitely no coincidence.

“How is this possible?“

Rem : “Jens, Nathan, do you know this woman?”

Jens : “This… This is the woman that almost killed Emilia, Me and Nathan.”

Rem : “If that’s the truth, there is no way I can let her go now.”

Elsa : “Ah… I’m indeed Elsa Granhiert, but small little Demon, what’s wrong? What is the reason you think you can’t let me go? You see, I’ve returned stronger than those stupid days in the capital. This time, I’ll be your demise.”

Rem : “I don’t care what you say Vampire.”

Rem, the short girl with blue hair just closed her eyes. Suddenly, the small pink horn appeared out of her forehead. She was a true demon.

Jens : “Rem… is a demon… what does that even mean?”

Annerosa : “The Demons are a strong race of Demi-humans known for their strong bodies and mana quality. Despite their strength, they are generally a peaceful race, and tend to live in villages in the mountains away from others. Most Demons have two horns, however those with one or no horns are known as Hornless, and any Demon born with one horn are killed soon after birth. But Rem and Ram are an exception.”

Elsa : “You’re beautiful Rem. It would be tragic for you to die.”

Rem : “I don’t care if I die. I’m not the one that should make it to the end. I’m the one that should help the one make it to the end. If me sacrificing myself means helping Elis, Jens, Emilia, Nathan and Ram, then so be it!”

Elsa : “I envy your spirit. But your attitude… not so much.”

Nathan : “FURA!”

Suddenly, a loud explosion was heard. It was Nathan’s Fura spell. it was extremely loud this time and it was fired towards Elsa, however she didn’t even move and the spell already disappeared.

Elis : “Oh no… there are more Demon Beasts coming this way…”

Jens : “Annerosa-sama, what are we supposed to do now?”

Annerosa : “It’s hard… but all we can do is fight, we can’t run away as this forest will only make us meet this crazy lady again.”

Nathan : “I’m done, I’ll slice her open! I’ll kill her, I’ll slaughter her!”

Elsa : “Those are some big words. If I remember correctly, the previous time we met you didn’t do anything. I guess you really are useless after all.”

Elis : “W…For who are you working? Why is the Emilia Camp so targeted?”

Elsa : “Who knows Evergarden, after all, you’re also on my list to kill.”

Suddenly, a bright light appears in front of Jens and his group. After the light fades away, they’re able to see the silhouette of a small girl. It was–

Beatrice : “I’m not sure why these idiots are here, I suppose. However, being attacked by various Demon Beasts isn’t the best way to let them die.”

Elsa : “Ahhh… AAWGHHH! The Spirit of Greed! You… You’re the Artificial Spirit we need.”

Beatrice : “I guess all parties against us are connected with each other after all huh… In fact, this is too disgusting. Jens, Nathan, everyone be ready. We can’t fight here.”

Elsa : “Running away? That means you wouldn’t mind me killing this girl?”

Elsa pointed with her blade towards the small girl with blue hair. However–

Beatrice : “You see, I’m the master of Yin Magic, and after I’m done here, she’s safe at our mansion.”

Elsa : “Wait… No–”

Beatrice : “Elon Shamak!”

Suddenly, in a blink of an eye, everyone was sitting at the main dinner table of the Roswaal mansion. Jens was sitting next to Nathan and Emilia. They were teleported from the Forest of Never Returning to the Roswaal mansion.

Jens : “H..huh…”

Emilia : “Roswaal-sama… what is happening? I was upstairs and now I’m here?”

Nathan : “What the…”

Elis : “Woah!”

Ram : “Master Roswaal… What’s going on?”

Rem : “Uahh…”

Beatrice : “Clown… what is the meaning of this?”

Pack : “Ah… Ro…”

??? : “Roswaaal-saaaaan! This wasn’t part of your promise!”

??? (2) : “Where am I? I’m supposed to be…”

Roswaal : “Welcome Everybody! Let’s… explain the game!”

That was the moment Jens finally realized… that the answer is always behind the mask of the clown.