I have become stronger, but also shorter [comprehensive]

"A long time ago, there was a man who came from afar..."

"This opening is too clichéd, it has nothing new, and people don't want to listen to it at all."

"Oh, don't be so picky. After all, it is indeed a story from quite a long time ago. There is no way to use an old-fashioned opening line. Just be patient and listen to it."

The white-haired man who claimed to be a passing flower magician not only broke into other people's dreams without authorization, but also told the very old-fashioned story at the beginning.

The boy didn't want to hear it at first, but he was too busy waking up to clean up the mess he had made for himself.

But very strange.

He couldn't wake up.

The world of dreams didn't collapse anymore, it just became uncontrollable, forming a stalemate, it was clear that the owner of the dream was to be blocked here, unable to get out, and could only stay.

There are enough clues to reasonably speculate that this situation is definitely related to the flower magician who appeared here inexplicably, maybe it was his hands and feet.

What is this fancy guy up to?

What is Flower Magician?A magician who can make flowers?

If you happened to be passing by, you couldn't believe it. It took a lot of trouble. Is it just to tell him a story?

Since the first impression of this person was not very good, Saiki Kusuo had reservations about all of this.

In the dream, his superpowers temporarily began to fail again, and he couldn't hear the magician's inner voice, let alone see through the other party's origin.

At this time, he still doesn't know for the time being that this "magician" is not that magician, and the other party is not a "person", but a nightmare that has lived for thousands of years and is still alive today.

Although he didn't have a good impression of the magician, Saiki Kusuo felt that this guy should have no malicious intentions.

Therefore, if you can't get out anyway, it's better to wait and see how it gets better.

"Come on, come on, don't be polite when you sit here." The magician waved enthusiastically, signaling the boy to come over and sit in a position to listen to the story.

"Don't make it look like you are the master, it's very rude." The boy complained, he didn't sit, it's fine to just stand like this, as long as you keep your ears open to listen.

"Well, it's okay."

The magician didn't force him, and gave up the greeting indifferently - he himself was just pretending to be polite.

"Where did we talk about just now? Oh, it's just the beginning. Then just be straightforward and skip the unnecessary opening remarks."

Skipping over the unimportant content, the white-haired magician raised his cheeks again, the corners of his lips curled into faint arcs, and his impenetrable purple eyes looked at the blank distance where no one was there.

He resumed his narration as if on a whim.

"No one knows where that man came from. They only know that one day, there will be more of him in a certain world."

"When he came, he was alone. Coincidentally, when he subdued the giant beast he encountered, he also met two other brave men who were going to subdue Humbaba."

"Ah, I can't say they are brave men, because those two people are actually the current king of the country where the man went, and the king's good friend."

"The three of them met in the cedar forest. This was the initial fate. And the man had a different mind with one of the two at the beginning, and this was the entanglement that made them entangled later."

"Wait a minute, let me be clear first, what kind of other thoughts are you thinking?"

The boy couldn't help but interrupt here, because his intuition came online at this moment, and somehow felt that if he started listening from here, he would open the door to a new world—is it an illusion?

Unfortunately, however.

It's not an illusion.

Magician: "A man has feelings for a puppet that has no gender but a beautiful body, beyond appreciation and below love—"

Boy: "Is this long series of incomprehensible descriptions serious?"

Maybe it was an illusion this time.

From this string of content, he heard personal feelings that were similar to some kind of sour emotions.

Well, it must be an illusion.

The boy did not allow himself to think deeply in any direction that could easily fall into the abyss and never return.

Magician: "Ah."

Boy: "Huh?"

Magician: "In short words, yes."

"A man falls in love at first sight with one of the two he meets. He likes him, that's all."

"..."

The young man looked strange and stopped interjecting, while the magician continued to talk.

"It is a doll with a beautiful body that is indistinguishable in gender. Although it has self-awareness, it is still blank at that time."

"The man fell in love with the doll at first sight, so he proposed to him passionately, and pursued him. Perhaps the pursuit was too fierce, completely ignoring the third person, which caused the third person, the king who I personally think is irrelevant. dissatisfaction."

"It is said that they used this little incident as an opportunity to fight with all their strength. In the end, the man who is an outsider won slightly."

"The result of the duel can be regarded as a happy one, because these two people, together with the puppet who did not participate in the duel, appreciate and recognize each other, and become inseparable friendship, regardless of you and my best friend - besides men, they also want to pursue people Except for the special case that the puppet rejected his pursuit again."

"These three are the strongest existence in the world. After becoming close friends, they always go in and out together. Wherever they go, the three of them are together. They conquered the disturbing monsters together, drank and had fun together, and achieved a lot. A good story that has been passed around.”

"..."

"..."

"No more? Is this the story you want to tell?"

"Ahem, I'm sorry." The magician didn't know what was going on, and stopped for a while while talking, and when he spoke again, there was a perfect smile like a spring breeze on his face.

"This story is only halfway through. However, the follow-up is completely different from the previous tone. Even I, who is used to telling the past from the perspective of a bystander, can't help but remain silent...Okay, let's continue."

"Those three people who became close friends, their ending is—"

"A certain greedy and evil goddess fell in love with the king, but was rejected and humiliated by the king. Angry and angry, the goddess got in the way and found an excuse to let the man's favorite doll be taken back by the god who made him. Broken into clay."

"The man was devastated, and he found the goddess alone in an attempt to take revenge. He tried to kill the god with a human body, and there is no need to say what the outcome will be. He died."

"The king didn't go with the man. He stayed and governed the country alone during the time when his two best friends left him, making his country richer and stronger. Hey, it's still a bit enlightening to say that. The feeling of a happy ending?"

"..."

"..."

"It's gone again?"

"No more. Why, I thought you didn't have any interest and wanted to continue listening?"

"Then don't—"

"Oh, oh, for the sake of your support, young man, I don't mind saying a little more."

"Ah, I remembered. The man who was pierced by the goddess's spear and half of his body was broken. He fell from the peak in such a state, but he didn't actually die."

"..."

Without the awareness of what an incredible plot reversal he had pulled out, the magician was still holding his chin, but his smile faded a little unconsciously.

He seemed to sigh with a very soft voice, but it seemed that there was no such thing. It was just the wind that quietly appeared in the dream by moving the sea of ​​flowers and the tower out of nothing.

"If this is really an old-fashioned story, with colors of joy, sadness, unavoidable loss, and final awakening, although it will feel regretful, it will generally not make people so unforgiving."

"Unfortunately, the most unsuitable color was added, which allowed this 'story' to develop uncontrollably in a direction that no one could have imagined beforehand."

"Let me use the most concise language that will not confuse you. The details here are really not suitable for expansion."

The magician really puts it succinctly:

"The man is not dead. If he is not voluntary, he will not die no matter how seriously injured he is. He returned to Uruk—well, it is the country of the king, and together with the king resisted the Goddess who was still angry. fine."

"Then, Wang wooed him and asked him to stay. That's right, this Wang has long had a crush on his friend, but he didn't find out before."

"And Wang's directness did not impress the man, but made him deeply disappointed. At the same time, he felt that he had been humiliated."

"In the end, the man left and parted ways with the king. What these three 'best friends' got was this ironic ending that had nothing to do with good gathering and good separation, and was purely inextricably entangled."

"--All right."

The sound of this sentence is still light and irrelevant, as a sign of the end of the story, it quickly draws the attention of the only listener back.

The magician straightened up, with a friendly attitude: "How about it, what do you think about this story that I also find extremely funny?"

juvenile:"…………"

The young man wanted to say that he was already desperate for the emotional disputes in this story, which turned around and ended up being unavoidable, and he completely gave up thinking about it.

Don't ask him what he thinks, the answer is no.

But—well, but!

There is a problem that the young man really can't bear, he must speak it out, and make complaints about it in order to feel at ease.

"May I ask?"

"Ah, you ask?"

"If you're not mistaken, you shouldn't be one of the parties involved." The young man said: "Retelling this story as a bystander, why do you have to add such rich personal feelings, obviously it has nothing to do with you."

This is very abnormal behavior.

Tell a story as an outsider, bystander, and posterity, because the story has nothing to do with you, and when you tell it, you don't mix too much of your own emotions.

If the protagonist of the story is too far away from you, you should be more objective and calm, and you can add your own evaluation afterwards, but in the process of telling the story, it is just a plain narration of the past.

But the teenager with superpowers discovered that the magician was not like this.

At least, when telling this "story", he did not act completely objective and calm, and his opinions on "certain people" were quite obvious.

He himself didn't seem to want to hide his emotions.

As for the allegations presented above, the magician had this to say:

"Really, as the narrator of the story, I failed to remain objective... Well, I was seen out, and I apologize for my dereliction of duty. It was obvious that I deliberately controlled it, but it still showed up, so there is nothing I can do about it."

"It's a bystander. This story is nearly 2000 years away from me. However, due to some personal reasons that are not convenient to disclose, I have considerable opinions on everyone in the story."

"..." The young man sized up the smiling white-haired man, and the premonition in his heart that if he continued to ask, the situation would become more and more wrong, unfortunately deepened again.

But he had already been dragged to the edge of the cliff, and his escape route was also cut off. At this point, he had to take another step.

He asked with dissatisfaction: "So, what is your opinion on this story?"

"Haha~"

The magician smiled heartily.

"—That's it, I think it's so ridiculous that I can't help but laugh out loud now."

juvenile:"……???"

"Omitting the story itself first, and, sorry to say, my homage to individual characters."

"What a happy ending it should have been, like I said, with all the ups and downs and the final peaceful end, what a story it would be."

"However, because of the entanglement of love and the jealousy of women, it has been made like this. No one can be satisfied, no one can get benefits, and the dead and the dead are scattered, and it all ends in a mess..."

The magician perfunctorily added something that others couldn't understand at all, and then let out an audible sigh: "Oh."

"The first time...ah, it happened to be that time."

"It's too stupid, especially someone I can't get used to anyway. And...he is too...envious."

This time the boy heard clearly.

In the magician's speech, there was indeed some kind of unexplained unhappiness.

He also made a series of more personal comments about the three protagonists in "The Story."

To one of the three kings:

"Arrogance, arrogance, and no emotion. He is a fearless passerby who can be defined as the most classic failure case of pursuing a lover. Let's stop talking about him."

To one of the three puppet:

"Well... I have respect and subtle gratitude to him. However, it is still due to personal reasons that are not convenient to disclose, and I don't want to talk about it."

For the last of the three:

"..."

"..."

"Have you noticed that there is no comment at all?"

"Haha, what a sharp boy."

The smile of the white-haired magician is bright and colorful, and there is no trace of embarrassment at all.

"I suddenly realized that it might not be a good idea to choose you as the breakthrough... It's nothing, it's all here, and I still have to finish my talk."

"Oh, it's okay not to finish, I'm leaving."

"Hahaha, come back, come back—"

The boy is back.

Although he didn't intend to leave (and he couldn't walk away).

In the case of vague guesses, the boy felt that there were still some things he couldn't sort out.

"Looking at the whole story, if you insist on who caused the subsequent tragedy first, it must be that man."

The young man is the one who speaks out his thoughts calmly: "It was he who first proposed to the puppet whom he met for the first time, which caused the subsequent involvement. Otherwise, they might not have such a deep connection at all."

It's hard to say why, but the boy somehow had such an idea.

"Who knows." The magician smiled softly, "I was surprised when I found out about this kind of thing. I never thought that he would be so impulsive at that time..."

"I actually think that as long as the three of them meet, they are doomed to avoid this result."

Speaking of this, the magician really put aside those "inconvenient to disclose" personal feelings in his heart and made a serious evaluation.

"A man is the son of man and god, the lord of a country, born with dignity, and his arrogance is rooted in his heart. He can give respect to the friends he agrees with, but he doesn't know how to treat the people he likes equally. Well, it should be said that there is no such thing at all. Consciousness is right."

"A puppet is a weapon made by the gods. It is said that it has no human emotions, but his heart is still warmed by that man. The only loss is his arrogance. His arrogance is no less than his friend."

"The last man...how should I describe it? After all, I don't know what he was like back then. He is proud. This characteristic will definitely not change. He has always been a person who will not bow his head for anyone."

The magician was silent again during the narration.

The boy didn't urge him, but was thoughtful.

Now, he was even more certain that the magician must have hidden quite a few details.

Why does the magician, who is just a bystander, have an obvious dislike for the king?Why do you say the puppet is arrogant?From the previous description, there is no trace of arrogance at all.

Thinking of it this way makes it much clearer.

In this story, everyone's personality is blurred, and the faces are not clear. It is very difficult to outline a general appearance.

The magician seemed to want to let him know the general situation, but he didn't want him to know too much.

It seems that there is a treasure that he wants to hide and not share with outsiders, but he has no choice but to show it reluctantly and stingily.

"...There should be a follow-up."

"Huh? What follow-up are you referring to?"

"The situation after the man." The boy said: "After leaving Uruk from that country, he will not die? Then it must have taken a lot of time and went to another place."

Magician: "Well..."

Boy: "For example, later I went to a country full of yellow sand and took in a pharaoh's apprentice. After that, did more things happen?"

The magician and the boy met their eyes.

If you observe carefully at this moment, you can see inhuman features in the gentle and friendly magician at this moment.

Most of his smiles are only on the surface, as if he is already accustomed to imitating the phenomenon, but only at this time is a little softer.

The white hair was swaying in the breeze that came from nowhere, and in the purple pupils that were not covered by the forehead hair, the irises that looked at others were almost transparent.

It is also only at this time that someone or something is talked about.

The Flower Magician chuckled just now, restraining the emotions that were only leaked slightly: "Haha, that's another story beyond the scope of the story, I can only tell these at a time, please forgive me."

It was summed up lightly.

The boy wasn't disappointed, and he didn't intend to get the answer from the magician. It was enough for his guess to be confirmed.

"In the final analysis, you came here on purpose to say so much. It is impossible to just find someone randomly and tell a story without thinking. Moreover, there are things in the dream that I have never seen, and there is no subconscious copy. Those who should It's your handwriting."

There is only this question, and it will never be placed lightly.

Therefore, Saiki Kusuo asked: "What do you want to tell me after going around such a big circle? Avoid what you don't want to tell me, leave the main content, and just say it."

"Hahaha."

Probably the magician himself also felt that the circle was really big, and he responded with a smile: "If you say there is no purpose, you won't believe it. Well, then I'll just say it."

The background is a tall tower whose shape cannot be seen clearly, and a sea of ​​flowers that is gradually fading.

In just a split second, even the magician's robe, which was hidden in the flowers, softened, making it gradually unrecognizable.

Is this the "dream" about to shatter -- or is it a sign of separation?

"Well, you can think of me as a meddlesome idler, because I don't want to see certain things happen again, so I ran over worriedly and quietly."

"There are three of them."

"You... well, I don't know if it's a coincidence, or if this 'fate' is destined to reappear..."

"...Because of this... Anyway."

"Let me rest assured."

A lot of voices seemed to be ripped away by the distant space, and I don't know how many of them reached Saiki Kusuo's ears.

Maybe he actually heard it clearly, but he just forgot after waking up from the dream.

Because the inexplicable emotion remained in my heart, it hadn't dissipated until I woke up.

……

Saiki Kusuo woke up.

There is no need to doubt that he really woke up from the dream, and even repaired the messed up world when he woke up.

"Hmm...headache."

He remembered that he had a rather long and complicated dream.

I still vaguely remember that there were many familiar faces in the dream, and there were also many things whose origins were completely unknown.

"..."

"strangeness."

Sitting up from the bed, the psychic frowned slightly, looking at his empty palm, suddenly a little puzzled.

It seems that the content of the dream is more than that.

When he was about to wake up, he had another dream that had nothing to do with the former.

The time should be quite short, but inexplicably, it gives people the illusion that a thousand years have passed.

The person in the dream is not him, but another... man.

——"He" left the distant hometown that he could never return to, and the first place he came to was here.

——"He" wants to find a wife he likes, who is pleasing to the eye and beautiful.There is no reason, I just feel that I should have such a wife.

——Although "he" has nothing now, he is so proud that he will not be afraid of any troubles.

——In addition to his wife, "he" thought about it and felt that he still lacked two, three, four or five friends.

——"He" likes to be lively, and "he" is a person who doesn't like loneliness at all.

【oh?Found it right away?so easy!I love this... what's it called... Uruk?Well, I like it here. 】

[Enkidu!Jill is waiting for us ahead, come on! 】

——So saying.

Only the figure from the back strode forward.

You can see his silver hair thrown behind him, his side face with a big smile, and his eyes that are as bright as tomorrow.

【Gilgamesh. 】

[Enkidu. 】

【Eh...】

——And the boy's dream also came to an abrupt end here.