"Ah—let me properly introduce myself again. I'm Jirou Ayase. Thank you very much for coming all this way."

"Don't be so stiff. We're both people who know that world; let's get along."

"Ah, y-yes. Well..."

I grabbed Mugen-san as he came through the ticket gate, made him take off his cloak, and dragged him to a café. It was a swift operation that took barely three minutes.

Even without the cloak, Mugen-san still stood out—he was a foreigner, and handsome on top of that. People kept staring at me too just because I was with him. It was extremely uncomfortable.

"Well, anyway, I'm glad we could meet safely. My name is... come to think of it, I hadn't told you. It's Jean. Just Jean. Over here, I go by Jean Pallet. Like the 'Pallete' in Emes-Palette. But hey, you can keep calling me Mugen-san like before."

It was a surprisingly normal name.

And Mugen-san was fine? I guess he liked it. It was probably like a handle name to him. Today is basically an offline meetup in a sense. Just the two of us, though.

The waitress came, and I ordered two coffees. Mugen-san must have been hungry; he ordered a pizza as well.

Without that cloak, he was just a straight-up handsome guy. Sitting in a café like this, he looked like he belonged in a picture. I could've sworn the waitress's eyes had little heart marks in them.

"...So, um... can the mirror really be fixed?"

I didn't even wait for the coffee to arrive before cutting straight to the chase.

There were so many things I wanted to ask. A mountain of things, really. But I wanted to get the most important part cleared up first.

"Whoa, straight to it, huh... Well, it can be fixed—but the conditions are strict. It depends on how much you earned over there."

"Earn? Oh, you mean money? If it's gold coins, I have a decent amount—"

Is Mugen-san unexpectedly struggling financially?

Well, I suppose that makes sense. He wouldn't do this as a charity project. Normally, I should at least be covering his travel expenses.

If I sold them, the gold coins from the other world would go for about 150,000 yen each. I didn't know how many he'd ask for, but since he was the only one who could fix that mirror, I'd just have to accept whatever price he set—

"No, no, no, that's not what I meant. To fix that mirror... well, it's still slightly connected, right? If the magic had shattered completely, there would be nothing I could do, but if it's just a matter of expanding the connection again, it's no problem. However... for that, I need Spirit Stones and Magic Crystals. You know what those are, right?"

"I know them, but... how many do you need?"

I could manage Magic Crystals. I had a pile of them I'd gathered in Lucraela recently, currently stacked in a corner of Shamash-san's shack. Unless Shamash-san had been wasting them, the stock should still be plentiful. It might be tough if he needed massive ones, though.

I should still have a fair number of Spirit Stones too. Some in my room, some in the clan inventory, and a few back at the mansion. I'm pretty sure I let Marina hold onto one.

"In terms of numbers, I'd want ten Spirit Stones. I'll need an equivalent amount of stored magical energy in Magic Crystals. Can you provide that?"

"Ah, only about 10 are enough? I can provide that! I can!"

Ten Spirit Stones would be worth about 30 million yen, but I was sure I had that many. I'd been terrified because he said there were "conditions," but I could actually make this work!

"Whoa, hold on. Ten Spirit Stones shouldn't be something you can produce that easily... Well, I guess if you're selling things from this world over there, it becomes simple. But because of that, there's one more troublesome problem."

"Eh... what is it?"

I knew it wouldn't be that easy...

"You know there are different types of Spirit Stones, right?"

"Yes. They're like raw gemstones. I think the value changes depending on the color."

"Exactly. The higher the saturation, the more high-grade the stone is considered. For example, that High Elf with you—she was wearing a red Spirit Stone necklace, wasn't she? That was made from a top-tier Spirit Stone."

"Oh, she does wear a red coral-like necklace, yeah."

So Diana's necklace was that expensive? I hadn't really thought about it since I see her every day, but she is an Elven princess, after all.

"Red and blue Spirit Stones are particularly prized. Dark red ones are called 'Ake-Kougiyoku' (Heavenly Crimson Jade), and deep blue ones are called 'Ruri-Gunjou' (Heavenly Ultramarine Lapis)."

Those names sounded familiar.

"So, out of those... I need the blue one. To fix that mirror, I need a stone to act as a catalyst for the spirit energy. Well, theoretically, I could do without it, but to attach a 'tether' to the mirror, I want the same type of stone I used as a pass when I first made it. That's the blue Spirit Stone, the 'Ruri-Gunjou.' It's not the kind of thing you can just find whenever you want, though if you put enough money down, you might—"

Mugen-san said, making a troubled face.

Ruri-Gunjou, huh...

"Um... I have one. In fact, that was the very first Spirit Stone I got over there. Priestess-sama said the same thing."

It was the Lapis Lazuli Spirit Stone I'd kept in my room ever since I was told it was a custom to treasure your first stone.

I remembered taking it to the temple once, thinking I'd use it if Aurica's eyes needed more power to be healed, and Priestess-chan was shocked.

"You had such a fine stone!?" she said.

She told me it would be a waste to use it, so I kept it stored away afterward.

When I said I had it, Mugen-san let out a dumbfounded, "Huh?"

"You got a blue one as your first stone!? That's incredible... No, perhaps it's guidance. Everything is within the palm of God's hand..."

Mugen-san took a sip of his coffee and looked off into the distance.

'The palm of God's hand', huh... In that world where "guidance" is real, God really does have a high involvement rate in people's lives.

"Well, anyway, if you have that, the materials shouldn't be an issue. However, it's been a long time since my wife and I have used magic. I'll just say now... there is a possibility of failure."

"Right. Speaking of which, your wife is an elf. An elf... no, first of all, who are you exactly, Mugen-san?"

It might have been rude, but I couldn't help asking.

I had simply found the mirror and crossed over. But Mugen-san had "made" the mirror itself. And apparently, he'd used magic to do it.

What is that world in the first place? Where did Mugen-san come from? Is he an "other-worlder"? I thought neither elves nor people from that world could cross over.

Mugen-san looked slightly troubled for a moment, then smiled.

"Of course, I came here intending to tell you. Everything... It's a story that requires a bit of resolve to hear. You ready?"

* * *

"First... let's see... where should I start? For now, I'll tell you this: I am a pure Emes-Palletian. I'm a human being who originally had absolutely no connection to this world."

I see.

Well, looking at his features, he clearly isn't Japanese, so I had a hunch.

"At the time, I was hailed as a genius the likes of which history rarely sees. This was back when Erishe wasn't the name of a city yet, but just a place on a map. A holder of a Unique Vocation that hadn't appeared in a thousand years. I was pampered as a prodigy who received the love of God."

"Once in a thousand years... that's incredible."

"Yeah, and because of that, I was completely full of myself back then. Then one day, a strange Guidance appeared. It was full of nothing but question marks: '? · ????????'."

"Hm? I have that too. At first it was question marks, but now it says 'Great Wheel of Fate.' It's still a mystery, but I think it has something to do with the elf at my place."

The progress of the Great Wheel of Fate was 9/10.

It should be completed soon, but I haven't heard a peep from it in a while.

"I see. So what exactly is that Guidance? Do you know, Mugen-san?"

Mugen-san's wife is an elf.

Or perhaps even a High Elf.

"I know... but strictly speaking, it's probably different for you than it was for me. Though in practice, they're almost the same. That Guidance is—"

"That Guidance is...?"

"—The gathering of a high elf's original sin, or dream, or hope. All those emotions and prayers collected together to create a miracle. The single greatest magic in that world. That's what a high elf's 'special guidance' really is."

It was far grander than I imagined.

In a world already overflowing with magic, the single greatest magic... What on earth could it even do...?

"Did you... achieve yours, Mugen-san?"

Achieve it, or rather, witness its achievement...?

"Sort of... Well... changing the subject, what do you think a High Elf is?"

Mugen-san abruptly changed the subject.

Perhaps he didn't want to linger on the details.

But, a High Elf, huh?

I only know Diana, so I'm not that well-versed.

Their ears are a bit longer than a normal elf's, and their hair is white.

If an elf's hair is blonde, a High Elf's is platinum blonde.

Diana's face is covered with tattoos, so I can't really tell, but her real face should be beautiful... probably.

"Royalty among elves... right?"

Generally speaking, "royalty" would be the standard answer.

"They are certainly royalty. But don't you think they're far too different from normal elves? Surely you can tell that as biological organisms, High Elves are abnormal?"

"Are they?"

Diana is abnormal...? I'd never thought of her that way...

"They never die. Normal elves, Nightmares, Undines—they die normally. They have lifespans. But only High Elves live forever."

Eh? Really?

Diana said she was only 21. I thought that even if her lifespan was long, she'd live and die like anyone else.

What does "don't die" even mean?

"Coming to this world, I realized there's a creature quite similar to them—the phoenix. You know, the imaginary bird that flies into the fire when its life ends and is reborn. High Elves are almost exactly the same."

"P-Phoenix...?"

"Yes. To begin with, High Elves have no capacity for cross-breeding. An aged High Elf creates their own clone. Then, after making the clone, the 'old' self lives out the remainder of its lifespan with the residual spirit energy. There is only ever one male and one female High Elf in existence, and they always form a family unit as a pseudo-father and daughter, or a mother and son. Since you have a female High Elf with you, the other High Elf is likely playing the role of her father."

"Now that you mention it, I've never heard her talk about her mother..."

I was confused.

High Elves are a different race. Different from humans.

I thought I understood that, but I didn't think they were this different.

I'd just assumed by common sense that Diana had a father and a mother and was born normally... To think they give birth to their younger selves to live eternally...

Wait, isn't that just parthenogenesis? Strictly speaking, aren't they different people?

Mugen-san continued.

"What do you think the dream of such a High Elf is? You can probably guess by now—"

I couldn't answer immediately.

Even though I should have known just by observing Diana.

"A High Elf's dream. Or hope. Or perhaps original sin... Her dream has always been only one thing. 'For those who love each other to be united and live eternally.'"

—I want you to swear eternal love, nodesu.

—Will you swear your eternal love...?

—Goshujin-sama is... my destined one.

Diana's words echoed in my mind.

Right... Diana had certainly said that.

That she wanted me to swear eternal love.

I had thought those were just words of affection, but perhaps they held a much deeper meaning.

To swear eternal love to a race that lives for eternity.

I felt like I understood the weight of it, and yet I didn't understand it at all.

"From your face, I see you're starting to get it. Now then, I received the High Elf's Guidance, and here I am now. So, here's a question. How old do you think I am?"

"Age? You look to be around 40..."

It's always hard to tell the real age of people from that world. Rejuvenation via spirit stones is common.

But the fact that he was asking meant he was either extremely young, or the opposite.

Mugen-san gave a faint smile.

"I swore it, you see. Eternal love with a High Elf. And the Guidance... was achieved."

"Ah, so you achieved it."

"Sort of."

Mugen-san grabbed a slice of the fresh pizza and brought it to his mouth.

He was huffing on it and eating as if it were delicious, but a hollow light dwelt in his eyes.

"As for my age—I came to this world a long time ago. It's been... about 150 years. Around the end of the Edo period in Japan. I've been living in this world ever since, without aging a day. Together with my eternal lover."

No way...

"Don't make that face. I chose this, and I enjoy my life here, so it's not like I regret it. But more importantly, we're getting to the core of the story—"

There's more?

I'm already reaching my limit for what I can process.

"It's about what a High Elf actually is. You have a Special Guidance, don't you? Then you ought to know."

"U-um... yes."

The true identity of a High Elf... huh.

It's not just a story about them being a mysterious race?

"I wondered if I should really say this. But after discussing it with my wife, we reached the conclusion that you should be told."

"...Yes."

"Whether or not you have the resolve to continue your relationship with a High Elf and overcome the obstacles... that is what's being tested, and has been from the start. Ever since the Guidance appeared, or even before that."

"Um, yes. I suppose so..."

He was probably talking about the compelling force of the Special Guidance.

And given Diana's spirit crests, that was certainly a type of obstacle. Our very first meeting had been quite intense, after all.

"I'm getting on in years, so I can't tell if this is just an old man's meddling or none of my business... but I couldn't bear the thought of you making a choice you'd regret just because I fixed the mirror—or becoming a plaything in the palm of God's hand. So I'm telling you."

Mugen-san seemed to be hesitating on whether to say it or not, taking his time to get to the point.

It was true that if he fixed the mirror, the [Great Wheel of Fate] would resume.

Regardless of the conditions for achievement, if it was linked to Diana's Special Guidance, that's what it meant.

And if I was going to have that kind of relationship with a High Elf, it stood to reason that I should know their true identity.

A super-organism with a different lifespan and a different biology. A race loved by God. No, a creature that only exists as a single male-female pair might not strictly be called a "race."

Even in a fantasy world, they are a particularly "fantasy" creature.

"Please tell me. So that I can face Diana properly once the mirror is fixed. If you keep it from me now, I'll just be left with half-baked doubts."

At my words, Mugen-san gave a single nod. "I suppose so."

He downed his glass of water, looked me straight in the eye, and spoke.

"The true identity of a High Elf is an automaton. They are living beings, yet they are not. Artificial Intelligence... in other words, they are organic androids equipped with AI, built to live for eternity."