Chapter 224 –  Ancient Dragon, Sirinias (9)

[Law]’s eyes turned toward the blind girl.

Even with eyes capable of observing everything, the girl appeared hazy, as though hidden behind a veil.

Just like the [End].

But one thing was certain.

That blind girl was not me.

Unlike me, who came to my senses in Alrba, that girl was somewhere I had seen countless times in the game, 

The Lunaria Bell Tower, where the tutorial begins after creating a character.

I slowly approached the golden sphere illuminating the world, recalling the Black Sun’s tutorial.

Yes, the knights who killed the infected, 

[Stop.]

Thwak.

In that instant, a voice both familiar and foreign rang out, and my vision flipped.

* * *

“…Huh?”

The scenery changed.

It was my first time seeing the place, yet Sirin’s memories told me where it was.

Hablon.

Gulp, dry saliva slid down my throat as I cautiously walked forward.

Unlike when I walked as Sirin, my footsteps made no sound.

I bent down to pick up a small stone rolling on the ground. But just like when I tried to touch Sirin, my hand passed right through it.

So, I could only watch again this time.

Of course I could. I was just an intruder stealing Sirin’s memories.

Shaking my head, I shoved those pointless thoughts to the back of my mind.

I walked for quite some time.

And then I found a young man and a slightly younger girl.

I didn’t recognize them, but Sirin’s memories told me who they were.

Luchi and Lux.

Luchi wasn’t missing an eye. He wasn’t solemn.

He wore a mischievous grin, laughing joyfully with his more reserved younger sister.

That smile was identical to the one he wore just before he died.

The sword at his waist, was the very sword he wielded when he cut down the world.

I took a step toward Luchi.

And at the same time, 

* * *

Everything changed.

A desolate ruin, littered with ashes.

Gone was the laughter, only despairing cries echoed in the air.

There stood Carpeng in the center of the wreckage, and Luchi, clutching his dead sister in his arms.

And, 

Sirin.

Choking back sobs that leaked through clenched teeth, I staggered toward her.

As I got closer, I saw a long trail of blood. Blood caked to her hands. The flesh of beasts stuck to her greatsword.

And beside her, 

Lay countless shattered chains of [Law].

Did that mean Sirin caused all this?

Had she once again brought about despair to complete the world?

Not Erden.

Not the Nameless One.

Sirin?

“Ah… ngh…”

I couldn’t hold it in. A sob escaped.

* * *

The scenery changed.

Through tear-blurred vision, I saw a small village destroyed by beasts.

Once again, Sirin’s memories told me where I was.

The hunter’s village, Rochester.

Memories I didn’t want came flooding into my mind. I turned my gaze, following them.

There was a gaunt man who had lost everything. With his bare hands, he was tearing beasts apart. He picked up their weapons and bashed their skulls in. He wielded a machete and sliced through their limbs.

“Ha… Uncle Heinzel.”

My trembling knees finally gave out.

And the moment they hit the ground, I saw Sirin hiding in the woods.

And then, 

* * *

My vision flipped.

I saw Hermilla’s life, taken in by her master, Aaron, after losing her family to beasts.

I saw Yuria’s life, her parents falsely accused and executed by knights of Erden.

I saw Alex’s life, watching his parents be executed for having a noble child despite working in a brothel.

I saw Delia’s life, forced to witness her sister being assaulted by beasts, powerless to intervene.

I saw Mia’s life, who had to kill her own parents during a famine because they tried to eat her.

* * *

And then, Serr.

I saw Sirin reach out her hand to Serr, who had lost everything to the spirits and was dying.

When Serr grasped her hand, one of the chains binding Sirin snapped.

When Serr became Sirin’s pupil, countless chains began to form around her.

When Serr became the Master of the Mage Tower, the chains on Sirin’s body fell away in heaps.

Looking down at them, Sirin smiled.

With that smile, 

* * *

I found myself seated somewhere entirely different.

A small village on the empire’s outskirts.

A village so small, neither guards nor adventurers had reason to visit.

Where a girl, soon to be a priestess, lived.

The moment that knowledge entered my mind, I forced my trembling legs to rise.

Stumbling and falling again and again, I finally managed to move.

To find the maiden, Rubia.

I didn’t know exactly where she was, but that wasn’t a problem. The village was small enough for even my short legs to cover in no time.

And so, not even ten minutes later, I found her. A blond girl, her hair a different shade than I knew.

“Ru… bia.”

Rubia was standing in front of a quiet graveyard, smiling with her younger sister, who shared the same hair color.

Rubia’s smile was nothing like it was now.

It was mischievous, like a playful troublemaker.

Her sister wore the same smile.

The two looked incredibly happy.

As if they had no worries about the future, simply enjoying the present.

* * *

A flash of light burst before my eyes.

It was a night when a slightly misshapen moon hung in the sky.

The chirping of grasshoppers filled the air, and the crackling of firewood from a burning torch echoed gently.

On a night when everyone in the village should have been asleep, hopeful for tomorrow, 

[KRUU…]

The beasts came.

There weren’t many, maybe fifteen at most. Just two decent adventurers would’ve been enough to deal with them. But in this village, even that small number was a calamity.

In a village deemed not worth protecting, there were no guards, no adventurers left behind.

Soon, the beasts began slaughtering the villagers.

Shrieks, loud enough to rip throats apart, rang out.

The sound of human skin tearing and bones snapping drowned out the screams, spreading despair through the tiny village.

Watching the carnage, I moved instinctively.

I didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to see it. But my legs refused to listen, moving faster and faster.

And when I arrived, 

Rubia’s face was blank.

Her sister, who once smiled so happily beside her, now lay in pieces, slaughtered.

Then, everything moved in fast-forward.

Night turned to morning.

The beasts turned into Erden’s knights.

The golden hair turned silver.

And the once-ordinary girl had become a priestess.

With a stiff neck that creaked, I turned my head.

Sirin was there.

Her hands were soaked in the blood of beasts.

A droplet of blood, hanging from her fingertip, fell, 

* * *

A village I had never seen before, yet was all too familiar, came into view.

Alrba.

Forcing down my shaky breath, I stepped forward.

I opened the creaky door typical of guild buildings.

I looked around the room, thick with the smell of adventurers.

Faces I had never seen before filled the guild.

But I knew every one of them.

The blue-haired girl seated in the corner adjusting her bowstring, Mia.

The two men laughing loudly over beer mugs, Luchi and Heinzel.

The man chatting in front of Hermilla, Alex.

The woman quietly filling out paperwork beside her, Yuria.

And the twin-tailed girl watching Heinzel from afar, Delia.

And beyond them, 

Everyone here had once gathered in Cartia under the name Liberation Army.

I traced Sirin’s memories, now rushing into my mind all at once.

They were all people who had lost something precious.

They had all come to Alrba with the same purpose.

They had all miraculously survived and discovered the truth of Erden, of the world.

How they all came together in Alrba, I didn’t know. A dense fog-like veil blocked me from delving deeper.

Just as I was clutching my throbbing head, trying to piece the memories together, 

A figure, blurry even to my own eyes, approached Hermilla.

That person handed her a small note. As soon as she took it, Hermilla released violet [Magic] and stared into the air.

Moments later, Hermilla rushed out of the guild.

She ran toward a plain not far from Alrba.

Once she arrived, she beat down all the beasts swarming the area and picked up a small person they had surrounded. She also retrieved the greatsword that had fallen beside them.

The figure held in Hermilla’s arms was still too blurry, the details unclear, but I knew who it was.

That person was me, newly arrived in this world.

Not the ‘me’ from the very beginning.

But the me right now.     

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