Chapter 109

[YOU DIED]

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[No Name (No Name)]

[World of Arseria – Priest Nightmare 10/10/10]

[Broadcast time – 5:22:41]

[Number of viewers – 19,407]

“Remember.”

“Recall.”

“Don’t forget.”

* * *

“Adella?”

“Hmm?”

Adella turned her head at the words that dug into her thoughts.

“Are you okay?”

“Ah… um… yeah. I’m fine.”

“Your hand… it’s bleeding.”

No Name reminded her that she wasn’t holding the handle, but gripping the blade instead.

Only then did Adella feel the sharp pain in her palm and drop the dagger in shock.

“Do you want to take a break?”

“No. We don’t have time. We need to go straight to the academy.”

“There’s still a long wait until we get a signal from the target. We need to hide in one place to shake off the tail anyway.”

Corpses were strewn all around.

Most of the corpses looked gruesome at first glance, owing to Adella having ripped their organs apart with her scythe.

Thanks to the automatic mosaic feature of the Woroa AI system, Name was able to keep broadcasting, but the brutal smell wafting from the scene could not be concealed.

It was when they passed through the northern forest and reached the narrow alley of the castle city at No Name’s suggestion.

“The sky is beautiful today.”

It was something she said while looking at the black silk stretched between tightly packed buildings, dotted with jewels.

Whenever they passed through the city’s back alleys, Adella had a habit of looking up at the sky.

Part of it was because she found it unbearable to endure the foul stench rising from the ground, but more than that, she couldn’t accept that she had to be stuck in such a place.

What began as a small escape from reality had gradually turned into her hobby.

“Forest Guardian, Forest Guardian.”

“What?”

“Do you know how to boost one’s self-esteem?”

Name, taken aback by the sudden question, mulled over it for a while.

“There are easy ways and hard ways.”

“What’s the easy way?”

“Just live by looking at people who are worse off than you.”

Since there’s nothing to be proud of, there was no drop in self-esteem. It was a clear yet uncomfortable answer.

“What about the hard way then?”

“It’s about striving to be better than those who are doing well.”

“Just as I thought.”

Adella, feeling deflated after the straightforward answer, was about to lie down only to bang her head on a rock sticking out of the ground and spoke irritably.

“Ugh, why is there a rock here! Haah… you know what? The slave kids we saved from the material warehouse earlier.”

“The ones released from Balram’s study?”

“Yeah. I was almost sold off as a slave when I was young because my mom didn’t have money.”

Name nodded slightly.

It was a case she had seen countless times in her previous life.

She had realized that maternal instincts don’t arise naturally, so it didn’t shock her anymore.

“I always thought that looking at the slaves in the castle city made me better than them. They had their futures stolen. But what did that mean in the end?”

“It means nothing.”

“Right. In the end, I was just in the same place.”

The sound of the dagger scraping against the stone floor was enough to wrinkle one’s brow, but Name didn’t seem to care.

The engraved letters she placed were ‘No Name’ and ‘Adella.’

“Is this how you write your name?”

“Yeah. You spelled it correctly this time.”

“What are you saying? The common writing of the continent is a piece of cake! Anyway… so I’ve made up my mind starting today.”

Name rested her chin in her hand and watched her intently.

“I will build my skills without relying on Bayleaf and pass the academy for sure.”

In a slightly bashful and excited tone, Adella slowly explained her aspirations.

“Didn’t you say that you only get one shot at the academy?”

“Please, someone like me with no connections can easily forge my identity. And don’t I look young?”

Adella shrugged her shoulders.

“Kids who were old for their age when they were younger often end up looking younger as they grow.”

“What!? What did you mean by that, Forest Guardian?!”

As they were bickering over the stars, Name suddenly sighed deeply and said.

“There’s no guarantee that the academy is a good place.”

“Have you ever been to the academy?”

“Yeah. I dropped out though.”

“Why did you leave such a good place?”

Name bit her lip and rolled her eyes.

“For the academy to be someone’s paradise, it ultimately has to be someone else’s hell to maintain balance, right?”

“Hm…”

“There are people who will torment you, the classes might not suit you, and professors may discriminate against you based on your background.”

“That seems to make sense. I’ll have to think it over again. But still, going to the academy is my lifelong wish. It feels too much like defeat to declare it hell without even trying.”

“You’ve always had that kind of personality. Unlike me, I think you’ll adapt well even when you get there.”

“I feel like I’ve never heard that kind of thing from you in my life.”

Adella scratched the back of her head awkwardly.

[Move to the North Gate of the Academy and join ‘Abyss.’]

With the story progress message that only Name could see, fireworks suddenly exploded in the sky.

“If Alphalion and Sisiella fail… what will you do?” Name asked Adella, who was ready to join. Adella frowned, wondering what kind of nonsense that was.

“Of course, I’d go to rescue them!”

“What if we fail the mission?”

“Yeah.”

* * *

When they reached the main building of the academy, Adella couldn’t shake off the sense of déjà vu that blossomed in her heart.

There was a theory that the sense of smell of cat-people sometimes helped them avoid bad things that would occur in the near future, but at that moment, it felt more like a loud alarm ringing.

That sense of unease soon became reality as Sisiella approached, limping and covered in blood.

“Sisiella! What on earth happened?!”

“C-Crazy old man was right after all. Sadly, only half of it though…”

“Wait. Don’t pull it out.”

As Sisiella reached to pull the arrow embedded in her thigh, the Forest Guardian swiftly grabbed her hand.

“If you pull it out now, you’ll bleed too much.”

“We can’t just sit here and do nothing!”

“Fight? With this body? What the hell are you thinking?!”

Adella stomped her feet in frustration.

“I understand now why only you two were sent on a dangerous mission. All our mercenaries betrayed us. Everyone from Abyss District 15 has sided with the academy!”

“Then what about Alphalion?”

“He’s surrounded by a squad of guards and others.”

“Are you really going? No! You can’t! Absolutely not!”

“Bayleaf is here. I have to go help Alphalion again. Forest Guardian, please don’t abandon Adella. I mean it.”

Despite Adella’s pleas, the bear-people’s resolve pushed her away coldly.

With no choice but to take drastic measures at No Name’s request, they decided to take action.

Thwack-!

With a sharp chop of her hand, Name struck Sisiella’s neck hard to knock her out.

“Take her away.”

“Where to?”

“Anywhere. I’ll ensure Alphalion’s safety myself.”

“What kind of nonsense are you talking about—”

“This time, I’ll definitely come back alive.”

Equipped with the life-giving Bayleaf, Name abruptly left those words behind.

Adella felt her head grow hot as she realized she was at a crossroads of choice.

No, there was no choice to begin with.

No Name had ensured she fainted Sisiella out of worry that she might join.

It meant that if she wanted to save her, she needed to leave immediately.

[Remember.]

“What exactly do you want me to remember?!”

Adella felt a sensation as if the Bayleaf crown was tightening around her head.

[Recall.]

“What are you telling me to recall?!”

[Don’t forget.]

Adella ran with all her might.

Leaving behind the city engulfed in flames, ignoring the drunken people screaming and scattering everywhere, she fled while carrying a companion who weighed at least twice her own body weight.

Her thighs felt like they were about to burst. Her heart raced madly.

Her soles must be all bloodied and shredded by now.

Her physical limits were catching up, and Adella’s body gradually began to slow down.

“Haah… haah… Damn it…!”

She eventually stopped, turned her head, and was compelled for the first time to look back.

The majestic clock tower of the academy was no longer visible.

Having run while only looking forward, she realized she had unwittingly ended up in an unfamiliar place without considering the direction.

‘If it’s north, this must be District 18? It could be District 20 though.’

The areas above District 16 in the capital all looked very similar, making it impossible to determine their location by the appearance of the buildings alone.

Sisiella’s bleeding had stopped, but she had lost too much blood and was still unconscious. It was almost fortunate that she was still breathing.

Adella leaned against a stone wall with the plan to take a short break.

The cold night chill prickled up her back.

Drip-

A single raindrop fell on her nose.

When she reached forward with her palm, a downpour began, drenching her sleeves.

“What a pain, even rain…”

The brilliant starlight began to gradually disappear. Although they could not be seen, dark clouds were surely obscuring them.

As if her expectations were met, lightning flashed, illuminating the previously dark world for a brief moment.

“Wha…?”

Adella’s eyes widened as she looked at the opposite stone wall.

Gripping the dagger she had hidden close, she stepped slowly towards the wall, one step at a time.

“There’s no way…”

Boom-!

The earth-shaking thunder reflexively made her fur bristle.

Although she was desperate to escape, she had to confirm what she saw.

And when the next flash of lightning lit the area,

“No way…”

[No Name] [Adella]

[No Name] [Adella]

[No Name] [Adella]

[No Name] [Adella]

[No Name] [Adella]

Names were engraved in relief, lined up.

Boom-!

“Haah!”

Adella’s mind was filled with confusion.

In disbelief, she tried wedging her dagger between the letters, and it fit perfectly in width and depth. It was undoubtedly her blade that had engraved this.

“I’ve never been here before…”

Who on earth could have done such a thing?

It was an inconceivable act unless a doppelganger existed in the world.

But the letters illuminated by the relentless lightning were undeniably written in the same handwriting she had carved into the ground while chatting with No Name.

Adella used the power of the Bayleaf to activate a spell that the Forest Guardian had informed her about.

[Cast: Light]

And at the bottom of the stone wall, she discovered a shallow and faintly engraved phrase that she hadn’t seen before.

[Go back]