Prologue

That night, Arcus Raytheft, son to the viscount, had a peculiar dream.

He dreamed of the life of a certain man, who lived in a world unlike any

Arcus had ever seen. Unlike Arcus, this man was born to an ordinary family

and lived an ordinary life. During his teens and early twenties, he dedicated

his life to studying before dying suddenly in an accident.

In a way, it was like Arcus lived that man's life through his dream.

He learned of that world's history and culture with that man at school.

He learned of an art named "science," something which didn't exist in

Arcus's world.

He won competitions.

Made friends.

Fell in love.

The majority of Arcus's dreams were vague and nonsensical, yet this

dream in particular was so vivid and real, it almost seemed entangled with

reality itself. It even made Arcus wonder if the life he had accepted as reality

was, in fact, a dream, and the man he thought he dreamed of was his true self.

Perhaps Arcus didn't truly exist, and his entire life was nothing but a

dream the man saw in his final moments.

The only thing that was certain was that this long, long dream had a

profound effect on Arcus. He could barely believe that the bed he woke up in

was really his. It was as if the man he dreamed of had stolen his entire sense

of identity.

They did say that people were shaped by their experiences. Perhaps the

same could be said for dreams, or perhaps not, but through that vision, Arcus

had matured and grown to think like an adult, despite his young age of six.

What affected him most was the loss of that man's lover just before their

wedding. Arcus found himself weeping at the very thought of it, just as if it

was his own lover that he had lost. There was no doubt: that man was now a

part of Arcus.

That day, Arcus broke into a fever. His dream was only one of the factors

that caused it. His temperature shot up, and his condition deteriorated rapidly.

It reminded him of when the man in his dream was suffering from the flu.

As Arcus lay in bed, he was visited by a couple. The man's hair was

silver, while the woman had brown hair, a much more common color in this

world. Arcus was extremely familiar with the pair.

They were his parents: Joshua and Celine Raytheft.

"Mother... Father..." Arcus croaked. Even in his current state, he wanted

to call for his parents.

He wanted them to save him.

The expressions on their faces as they looked at him instantly twisted.

"The child certainly puts up a fight," remarked his mother, as though

Arcus were a worm she had just spotted on the ground. His father grunted in

agreement.

Despite Arcus's fever, his parents' gaze sent a chill through his spine as

memories began to resurface.

Arcus lacked a talent for magic, and so he had been denied his position as

the Raythefts' heir.

This is the story of how Arcus Raytheft, a six-year-old boy, began to work

his way back to the top with another man's memories.