Rita Carlstedt 

There are those who yearn for something.
In other words, one could say they are “those who don’t have”.
Wealth, fame, love. Or perhaps something even more noble than that.
They call it a “dream,” hold it close to their hearts, and pursue it relentlessly.
Single-mindedly, recklessly.
At times, fueled by a frenzied passion.
That is precisely why humans can, at times, become both hope and despair…

A nondescript town nestled at the foot of a mountain, neither too prosperous nor too desolate, of a size common in this country.
I was born and raised there.
I wasn’t particularly interested in play or study enough to get deeply absorbed, so I just did the bare minimum.
That’s because I had something I could become far, far more passionate about.

That was “creating something with my own hands.”
That feeling began with something as simple as building a house out of building blocks, and it grew as I learned about science and theory. It eventually led me to create tools that amazed everyone in town.
Before I knew it, I had become an alchemist… Though the townspeople called me an inventor.

I combined materials my father, a merchant, brought back from various places to create new inventions time and again. My work as an alchemist had become second nature, and I lived a life of complete comfort.
But I had hit a wall.
Even though I called them inventions, they were all just improvements or evolutions of everyday items, and I could already see a future where I’d reach my limit.
I knew I was capable of so much more.
I had that confidence, but as the days passed, no heart-pounding flashes of inspiration came to me.

My father didn’t just bring home raw materials. He collected books from unknown parts of the world and crammed them into a room far too large to be called a study.
One day, in that study, I picked up a book.
It was written by an archaeologist who studied the lives of ancient people.
As I read about their way of life, including clothing, food, and shelter, I came across a particularly intriguing passage that caught my eye.
It was the concept of “performance.”
According to the text, it was a form of entertainment involving combining instruments, layering sounds, and enjoying the result.

Layering sounds? And enjoying it?

I’d never heard of or seen such entertainment in this world.
Strangely enough, I found myself captivated by that description, which I couldn’t even begin to imagine just from reading the text.
From that day on, my new research began.
Believing that something wonderful would emerge from that research.

This is the story surrounding the “Sound Power” that a certain witch and I ended up creating…

For Rita, research isn’t just about staying cooped up indoors.
She explores all over, finding lessons in everyday life.
The skin of a large fruit, a taut clothesline, a voice echoing inside a cave. Rita draws inspiration from everything around her, bringing those insights home to conduct repeated experiments.
She pursued her research even at the cost of largely neglecting her work as an alchemist, and it began to bear fruit after several years. She eventually succeeded in creating a tool known as a “musical instrument.”
But her research was far from over. After all, a “musical instrument” is merely a tool for “performance.”
Sounds have varying pitches, and she sought to produce them in complex ways.
To keep time and become one with the sound.
To adjust the tempo and manipulate the nuances of the sound.
Relying on the scant descriptions left in the book she found that day, Rita experimented through trial and error, incorporating her own interpretations.

“Um, something like this… I guess?”

In the workshop attached to her home, Rita lets the sounds of her handmade instrument resonate.
What began as a simple, primitive collection of “thump-thump” sounds gradually evolved into a finished piece that could be called a “song.”
By then, townspeople intrigued by the nature of these mysterious sounds had begun gathering around the workshop.

“Hey, Rita. What exactly is that thing you’ve been playing nonstop lately?”
“Oh, are you interested? If you’d like, please stay and listen!”

Holding her newly finished “instrument”, Rita stepped forward to perform for the gathered crowd.
It was a simple instrument: a wooden box strung with braided cords, with holes drilled into it to amplify the sound.
As soon as Rita began plucking and tapping it, a cheerful melody filled the air.
It might not have been exactly as described in the ancient texts. It was unclear whether Rita’s interpretation was right or wrong.
But there was no doubt that it was worthy of being called a “performance.”

“W-what is this…? My body… is moving all on its own!”
“Yes, how mysterious! I’m starting to feel so happy!”

Everyone broke into smiles and began dancing freely as they pleased; some even started humming the melody.
Watching this scene while she played, Rita became certain.
This truly was something that brought people happiness.
It was a wonderful invention that would never, ever make anyone unhappy…

On a particularly sunny day…
Rita made her way deeper and deeper into the forest beyond the town.
Deep within, there were dangerous animals, and it was said that all manner of supernatural creatures and beings beyond human understanding lurked there, so the townspeople generally stayed away.
Rita, had also been forbidden from entering since childhood, but as an alchemist, she had reached a limit relying solely on her father for materials; so she would occasionally sneak in like this to gather various items that might be useful for her research.

On this particular day, Rita’s gathering didn’t go as smoothly as she’d hoped, so she crossed the line she’d drawn for herself, thinking, “I’d better stop here.”
Deep within the forest grew plants she’d never seen before, and, completely absorbed, Rita found herself venturing deeper and deeper without even realizing it.
Before she knew it, she emerged into a meadow so open it seemed unnatural for a forest, and there she came to her senses.

“Wow… I didn’t know a place like this existed… Oh, the breeze feels so nice…”

A vast meadow overgrown with short grass.
As she took in the scenery with her whole being, she spotted something on the far side of her field of vision.

“Huh? Is someone… sleeping over there?”

There’s no way anyone should be here.
Feeling suspicious, Rita crept forward on tiptoe.
As she drew close enough to make out the figure clearly, she felt her heart begin to race.
Clothing unlike the style of this country, a hat so large it covered their petite frame, and above all, a childlike appearance that seemed out of place in the dangerous forest.

(…I-it’s a witch!)

A witch was a creature straight out of a fairy tale.
Yet Rita was strangely certain that the girl lying on the grass was indeed a witch.
Having always lived by her curiosity, Rita cast all possible reasons for caution far into oblivion at that very moment.

“You’re a witch, aren’t you!? Wow! A real witch!”

Startled by the sudden outburst, the girl who appeared to be a witch jumped to her feet. As Rita crept closer, her eyes brimming with curiosity, the girl instead backed away, her wariness evident.
And before they could exchange more than a few words, she fled deep into the forest.

“Wait, Miss Witch!”

A despicable being who uses questionable magic to harm humans. That is a witch.
Rita had been told all that, but she didn’t feel even a shred of fear.
While her outfit and hat matched the fairy tales, there was one thing different about this witch.
She wasn’t some eerie, grinning old woman, but a small, adorable little girl.

“I’m sure we can be friends.”

Muttering that to herself, Rita set off in pursuit of the witch.

The place Rita arrived at after chasing the girl was a surprisingly grand mansion, one you’d never expect to find deep in the forest.
The girl dashed into the mansion as if fleeing, but Rita knocked gently on the door and called out to her.

“Miss Witch!”

When she called out like that, the girl replied that she wasn’t a witch and rejected her, asking her to go home.
But Rita wouldn’t give up.
Believing the girl would eventually open her heart to her, she began visiting the mansion literally every single day.
Day after day, she made frequent visits, talking one-sidedly through the door.
There was no response from the girl, but she could definitely sense someone’s presence inside the mansion.
That alone was enough to convince her that the witch she’d met in the meadow that day wasn’t just a daydream.

One day, when Rita arrived at the mansion as usual, she found the girl collapsed with the door wide open.
She rushed over in a panic and cradled the girl in her arms.

“…Yeah. She’s okay. She’s breathing. She doesn’t have a fever either.”

Just then, a loud sound came from the girl’s stomach.
Rita smiled and nodded as if it all made sense. She hoisted the surprisingly light girl onto her back and carried her to a bed inside the mansion.
It seemed the girl had simply fainted from hunger. In that case, she had to feed her something.
With that in mind, Rita looked around the girl’s mansion, which she was entering for the first time, in search of the kitchen.
And then she noticed it: the eerie nature of the place.
There was a small kitchen, but it contained only the bare minimum of cooking utensils and seasonings, and they didn’t look like they’d been used much.
She found almost nothing else that suggested daily life; instead, unfamiliar machine-like devices and chemicals were scattered haphazardly about.
It was by no means an environment suitable for a girl to live in.

“You’ve been here… all alone…?”

Rita blurted out without thinking.
Everyone has their own values. She understood that, but Rita was a researcher herself, after all.
There was a faint sense of loneliness in this room, and not a single trace of “joy” could be felt.

When the girl finally woke up, Rita handed her the soup she’d prepared while she was asleep.
She reassured the girl, who was looking at her suspiciously, and then slowly took a sip herself.

“I couldn’t find anything to eat at all. It was a good thing I picked a bunch of wild vegetables on the way here! Your stomach might be a little shocked, so drink it slowly.”

The girl didn’t respond to Rita’s words.
However, she didn’t stop sipping the soup, and she finished it in the blink of an eye.
Perhaps having opened up a little to the person who had saved her, the girl began to have her first proper conversation with Rita.
She mentioned that she lived here alone.
And that she was researching “Sound Power”.
After hearing the girl’s story, Rita jumped to her feet in surprise.

“Sound Power! What a wonderful coincidence!”

Although their approaches differed, they shared a common interest in researching sounds.
Overjoyed, Rita took a handmade instrument out of her bag and played the piece she was most skilled at.
She bowed the strings, plucked them, and created sounds.
As she played, she glanced briefly at the girl, and her eyes, which had been pale just moments ago, now shone brightly as she looked back at Rita.

(Just as I thought…! “Musical instruments” and “playing music”… they really do make everyone happy!)

And so, Rita the alchemist became “friends” with Merim the witch.
It was also the moment when all the pieces fell into place for the world to be reborn.

The two shared a common interest: researching Sound Power.
Without either of them making a formal proposal, they began collaborating quite naturally.
Every day, Rita would visit Merim’s mansion, where the two would exchange words that no one else could understand and conduct experiment after experiment.
They laughed, felt down, and sometimes argued. And then they laughed again.
By sharing their knowledge and skills and pushing each other to improve, their research progressed at an astonishing pace.
Though Rita has no way of realizing it now, those were undoubtedly “the best moments of her life”…

That day, too, they finished their research happily, and before sunset, Rita left the mansion.

“B… B… C… I get it! If we make a rule like this, everyone in town might be able to play, not just me! Merim’s ideas really are amazing!”

Rita was in high spirits as she hummed a tune she’d just composed on her way home. But waiting for her were her family members, their brows furrowed.

“Rita, come here for a moment.”
“Huh? What’s wrong, Mom?”
“You… you’ve been going to the forest every day lately, haven’t you?”
“Huh!? Um… what are you talking about~?”
“You don’t have to play dumb. I know alchemy requires all sorts of things, and it’s too late to bring it up now anyway. Just make sure you stay within a distance where you can come back right away. You mustn’t go deep into the forest.”
“…Why?”
“They say there’s been a monster or a witch out there for ages, and that it eats people. Anyway, it’s dangerous, so you absolutely must not go there.”
“Okay~”

With a half-hearted reply, Rita went into her room.

There’s a witch in the forest. That’s true. After all, I already know it.
But Merim eating people?!
Ah~, that’s weird!

Even though she possesses knowledge far beyond that of her peers, Rita is still just a girl her age.
“The witch of the forest isn’t anything to be afraid of.”
That was a precious secret that only she knows. It tickles her heart and makes her feel a flutter of excitement.
Without realizing that she’s the only one who knows it.

Even though they were conducting research together, their goals weren’t exactly the same.
Rita used Merim’s knowledge and research findings as a reference to develop new instruments and performance theories.
Merim borrowed the instruments Rita developed and incorporated them into her own research.
In the process, they adopted a form of mutual support, helping each other out whenever one of them lacked something the other had.
That approach seemed to suit them both well, and they began to produce results before their very eyes.

In particular, Merim’s research was finally nearing a major milestone.
Sensing this, Rita, though she’d been curious, asked a question she’d deliberately avoided until now.

What do you plan to do once this research is wrapped up?

Merim seemed to sense her concern as well; turning to face Rita, she began to speak as if baring her very soul.
She said that she belonged to a race known as the Everlongers, different from humans.
That they had endured persecution for a long time.
And that to be freed from that suffering, they would need to cross over to another world, one different from this one.

“To that end, I began researching Sound Power, a power great enough to transcend time and space… This is my entire reason for living.”

While Rita was glad that Merim had answered her question so sincerely, one doubt remained.
Even if they could cross time and space to reach another world, would it be a place where Merim could sustain life?
Of course, no one knew that yet. Not Rita, and certainly not Merim.
So, treating it purely as a hypothetical scenario, Rita asked Merim once more.
“If the worst were to happen, what would you do?”
Merim replied.

If it means we can move forward, it doesn’t matter what happens to my life.

Rita felt her face grow hot.
How could she say such cruel words to me?
I didn’t work on this research with her for a future like that.
Her anger, born precisely from her concern for Merim, spilled from her mouth as words of reproach.
Merim, too, used harsh words toward Rita precisely because she wanted her to understand her point of view.
The argument eventually escalated beyond their usual bickering and turned into a full-blown quarrel.
And the one who ultimately brought their exchange to its worst possible conclusion… was Merim.

“You wouldn’t understand, Rita! Not you… who’s been researching Sound Power with such naive ideas!”

Those weren’t her true feelings. But they were more than enough to disappoint Rita.
Without a word, Rita ran out of the mansion.

(Naive… So that’s how you’ve always seen me… All this time, while we were researching together. Was I the only one… who thought we were friends?)

Wiping away her overflowing tears, she ran through the forest.
Her breathing grew heavier, but she couldn’t bring herself to stop.
Run, run, run.
Rita’s cheeks were a mess, and her eyes were red.
When she returned to town, her family was waiting for her, their expressions far more stern than ever before.

“Haa… haa… What’s going on, everyone?”
“Rita… you went to see the witch, didn’t you?”

She shuddered in shock.
Not only had her trip deep into the forest been exposed, but Rita’s mother had clearly stated that she had gone to see the witch.

“W-why…?”
“It seems you really are being manipulated…”
“Dad!? What do you mean by manipulated!?”
“You don’t need to worry anymore. Stay in the workshop for a while.”
“W-wait a minute! Hey, why? Why are you locking me up!?”

There was someone who worried about Rita, who made her way into the forest every single day without fail, more than anyone else.
It was Rita’s young, innocent little sister, who believed in the witch’s existence even more than the adults did and couldn’t laugh off fairy tales as mere stories… Meg.
One day, out of deep concern, she followed her sister as she headed into the forest, and there she saw it.
Deep in the woods, her sister was meeting secretly with a witch.
She didn’t want to believe it. It must be a bad dream.
She tried to convince herself of that, but she was too young to keep such a secret to herself.
Her parents were told the truth. It went from her parents to the town’s leaders, and from the leaders to everyone in town.
It took only a moment for the news that “a witch is targeting children” to spread.
“We’ll take the initiative before anyone gets hurt.”
The residents and guards, having made that decision, steadily moved forward with their preparations.

Meanwhile, Rita, believed to be under the witch’s control, was forced into a life of house arrest. She was unable to even open her door except when meals were occasionally brought to her.

“Now everyone knows about Merim… But if I just stay quiet, they will forget soon enough…”

Even as she tried to convince herself of this, a sense of foreboding gripped her, and Rita looked up at the moon through the skylight.
Still young and innocent, she did not know.
Of the excessive, ugly violence that humans unleash when they have a just cause.

It was the morning of the third day of Rita’s house arrest.
While inside her workshop, she noticed that it was unusually quiet outside.
The workshop was supposed to face the street, yet she couldn’t hear any sounds of the bustling crowd or people’s voices at all. It was as if the entire town had fallen silent.
This unprecedented situation made Rita anxious, but for now, all she could do was wait patiently.

A few hours may have passed since then.
The eerie silence was shattered by the frantic shouts of men in a panic.

“A monster! A monster’s coming this way! Everyone, runnnn!!”

Upon hearing the news, the women and children, who had presumably been hiding in their homes, began to panic, and the town plunged into chaos as if the silence from just moments ago had never existed.
In a panic, Rita rushed to the workshop door and pounded on it fiercely.

“Open up! Someone, please open the door!”

Before long, a man who had noticed her opened the bolt from the outside and shouted at Rita.

“Rita, you have to get out of here fast! Deep in the forest where we went on the witch hunt, a huge fiery monster appeared! It’s furious! It’s out to kill us!”
“Witch hunt!? What do you mean by that!?”
“You were targeted too, weren’t you!? That witch was trying to kidnap the town’s children!”
“She’d never do something like that!”
“Ugh, that doesn’t matter right now! Get out of here before it catches up to you!”

With that, the man hurriedly ran off.
Rita stood frozen in place, lost in thought.

(A huge fiery monster? I’ve never heard of such a thing…)

In all her conversations with Merim so far, the topic of fire monsters had never even come up. Besides, while she knew Merim had some knowledge of magic, her spells were mostly auxiliary in nature and used primarily for research. She surely didn’t possess the power to conjure something that massive.
But even so, strangely enough, Rita was certain.

It’s Merim.

She didn’t know the details, but the fire monster must surely be her.
Even though she was caught up in the witch hunt, this is proof that Merim is still alive.

As if triggered by her falling out with Merim, Rita’s entire daily life had been thrown into chaos in just a few days.
The chaos has reached this level. It will take time for the town to regain its peace, and it will likely never return to the way it was before.
And then… Merim.
Even if she’s alive, there’s no doubt that something major has happened to her.

Where did I go wrong?
When we fought? When I spoke to Merim?
Or was it much, much earlier… is it our fault, us humans’?

Rita was asking herself these questions, but suddenly she shook her head and slapped her own cheeks with both hands.

“This isn’t the time to be thinking about that, Rita Carlstedt! I have to go save Merim!!”

Shouting that, she grabbed one of the instruments from the workshop and took off running.
In the opposite direction from the townspeople fleeing in panic.

After passing through the town and rushing along the highway for a few minutes, Rita spotted Merim.
Despite still being quite a distance away, the giant was clearly visible.
The flames that continued to consume its body blurred the surrounding scenery.
In front of it, as if it were the heart of that colossal form, Merim’s body floated in midair.

Even Rita, who had done all sorts of things beyond common sense alongside Merim, couldn’t help but gasp at the sight before her.
This wasn’t some monster. It was the realm of the gods.
The moment she realized this, Rita recalled her own words.

“Even if you can go to another world, you don’t know what kind of place it is, do you? What if it’s incredibly dangerous? What if it’s a place where humans can’t even survive…”

“That thing” must have come from a world other than this one.
That’s amazing, Merim.
You made your experiments a success…

Regardless of the outcome, Merim had taken the first step toward fulfilling her dream.
Despite the critical situation, a smile of emotion spread across Rita’s face.

Soon, Merim and the flame giant appeared before Rita, who was standing in the middle of the road.
The flames on the giant’s body roared and blazed, scorching the skin on her face.
Overwhelmed by the intensity, Rita nevertheless spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“Merim…”
“…Move out of the way, Rita. Do you want to die?”
“I won’t die. Besides, I’m taking Merim back.”
“…What!? Who do you think you are…!!”

Just as the giant’s body seemed to move for an instant, before Rita could even process what was happening, her body was blown backward.
She flew through the air long enough to feel a strange sensation in her stomach, then crashed down with a thud onto the stone-strewn road.

“Gah…!?”

The air was forcibly forced out of her lungs, and she couldn’t breathe.
But after enduring the pain for just a few moments, Rita forced herself to get back on her feet.

This isn’t an opponent I can handle…
But I’m not going to let myself be defeated.
It would be easy to just give up… but that would mean I’m giving up on everything…
I… won’t give up on Merim…!!

Just like Merim, who said she wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice her life for her comrades.
Rita would stake her life for Merim’s sake.
She had made up her mind… And it was at that very moment.

Just as a flash of light suddenly exploded right before her eyes, Rita lost all sense of gravity.
When she cautiously opened her eyes, she found herself in an unfamiliar world where a vast, pure-white landscape stretched out as far as the eye could see.
A voice drifted into Rita’s bewildered ears from somewhere.

“I was supposed to be tracking his presence… but for some reason, I was drawn to you… Who are you…?”
“I-I’m Rita… Rita Carlstedt…”
“So your name is Rita. Hmm… I see. That instrument…”
“Y-You mean this?”

Glancing around nervously at the voice of her unseen companion, Rita held up the object in her hand and showed it to him.
It was the instrument Rita had made. The very one she’d used when she first played for Merim that day.

“It’s well-made. I sense a soothing power. I suppose I was drawn to that instrument and to the power you used to create it.”
“Drawn…? U-um! I’m in big trouble right now! I have to… get my friend back!”
“Ah, I understand the situation. It seems our interests align. I’d like to lend you my strength, but it appears I’m too unstable to manifest in this world.”
“Is there anything I can do…?”
“I want you to serve as a vessel for my manifestation. Once that happens, I’ll grant you the power to stop that flame giant… Ozzy, and your friend.”
“The power to stop Merim… I understand. Please use my body as you see fit.”
“Very well.”

No sooner had the voice spoken than Rita found herself transported back from the world of light to the original highway.
Before she knew it, a small ball of light was floating right in front of her.
That light spoke in the same voice as before.

“I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Trismegistus. I am one of the Celestial Beings, the God of Festivals and the Guardian of all Sound Fields.”
“A god…”
“Rita, Maiden of Gentle Tones. Are you prepared to become my vessel?”
“…Yes. I will… save Merim!!”

In that instant, Rita was engulfed by a torrent of power.
This power wasn’t something bestowed upon her; it felt as if it had been within her from the very beginning.
A gentle, yet undeniably immense power.
As her consciousness as “Rita” began to dissolve into a translucent haze,
she kept murmuring the same words over and over in her mind…

After that, before I could even touch Merim, that flame giant – Ozzy, or whatever his name was – let out a scream.
A voice filled with hatred, so unpleasant it hurt my ears.
While I was startled by that voice, the giant took Merim and… vanished.
For just a moment, I saw a huge hole in the sky, like a gash.
I’m sure that was the rift in space-time Merim was trying to create.

Hey, Merim.
You found a way to travel between worlds… didn’t you?
But is this really the kind of dream you wanted to make come true?
That day… You said some harsh things to me.
But I know deep down that’s not really how you feel.

So, wait for me.
I’ll chase after you no matter where you go, and I’ll wake you up.
Because I’m… your friend, after all…