Episode 101
Translator: RaidenTL
Episode 101
Because of me.
It was something she had never considered before. Elysia stared blankly at the passive skill fixed in a corner of her vision.
Detective's Aptitude (Passive): Increases crime occurrence rate by 5% within a 1km radius.
She’d lived with the same skill in <Panic in the City>, but the thought that she was the cause of everyone’s misfortune had only begun after she arrived here.
Here, after meeting people, after letting someone she felt she could trade her own life for into the fold of her daily life, that thought became a chronic anxiety that crushed her.
What if something happens to him because of me?
Stumbling into a small prayer room in a deserted corner of the shrine, Elysia collapsed to the floor.
It didn’t take long for anxiety to turn into worry, and worry into terror. The memory of the blood Evan had shed was still vivid.
“I want to… stop.”
The moment she pressed her eyes shut to suppress a throbbing headache, the door she had closed creaked open. Recognizing that distinctive scent, Elysia lifted her weary face.
A pair of inscrutable green eyes were gazing down at her. It seems he came looking for me as soon as his treatment was finished… Seeing that he was properly bandaged, she smiled bitterly. The words tumbled out before she could stop them.
“Senior, I think I’ve said something similar before.”
“What’s that?”
“If you want to back out, now’s the time.”
Evan’s expression hardened for a moment as he pulled her to her feet. He looked at her with calm, green eyes and asked.
“What’s wrong?”
“You got hurt because of me.”
“It wasn’t because of you.”
“Then whose fault was it?”
“It was the fault of the person who swung the knife.”
A wave of tears nearly overcame her. Squeezing her eyes shut to avoid making a scene, Elysia answered, her voice steady.
“These things happen around me. I’m not originally from this world, and I must have dragged something strange with me in the process of coming over.”
Drugs were being distributed, and people were dying. The fact that there had been strange signs even before her arrival didn’t even register in her mind. She wasn’t in the right state for it. It just felt like she was the cause of everything.
“If things like this happen at the school where I’m staying, what about you, who’s always by my side? I think I must have lost my mind for a moment. I just… I think I’m meant to be alone. I was greedy for something I didn’t deserve—”
“Think rationally. Don’t be shaken.”
Cutting her off, Evan grabbed Elysia’s arms, which had been trembling without her even realizing it.
The moment he held her, the chaotic thoughts that had been pouring out of her in a panic instantly settled. It was strange. Whenever she touched him, it felt like all her turmoil subsided.
Evan leaned down to meet her eyes and asked.
“Are these things really happening because of you?”
“What do you mean…?”
“Someone dying in Minerva only started after you arrived, but as you know, the drug market began to form in earnest two years ago. The people here didn’t even know what drugs were. Because they were ignorant, they accepted them helplessly, and they couldn’t even crack down on them properly.”
She didn’t know what he was trying to say. Elysia stared at Evan blankly, her eyes wide. He hesitated for a moment before continuing.
“As soon as you arrived in this world, you started tracking the drugs based on the knowledge you had. And right after that, as if to make a point, someone died right before your eyes.”
“…Then, it’s not because of me, but…”
“It’s more natural to assume that your existence provoked the person who brought the drugs in two years ago, and that’s what caused this to happen.”
As she tried to follow his words with her muddled thoughts, she felt the complexity in her mind clear up in an instant.
Evan gently stroked the hair of a visibly calmer Elysia and said firmly.
“So don’t jump to conclusions. You question everything until the very end. You’ve done well so far. Just keep doing that.”
The woman bit her lip, barely holding back tears, and slowly raised a hand to brush his injured arm. Evan winced with a soft “Oof,” then grinned, his expression playful.
“…Is your arm okay?”
“I’ve had worse injuries.”
Ah, right. He had been on the battlefield. She could easily imagine injuries far worse than this one. Her job was looking at corpses, so how could she not know?
But the thought that the wounds she had seen carved into the bodies of the dead could have been inflicted on this man’s body filled her with an indescribable rage.
What she had seen that made her freeze under his rain-soaked, transparent shirt were the scars etched into his skin. The memory of it made her feel like crying. Noticing her somber expression, Evan joked.
“To think you’d worry about me this much. I was just thinking it was worth getting hurt, so what’s with that face?”
Letting out a watery sigh, Elysia shook her head. Soon, her expression soured as the anger set in, and she looked up indignantly.
Evan was grinning, pleased by the clear anger that stemmed from her concern. Tears shimmered in her emotionally wrought, silver-gray eyes.
“What kind of bull— Ha, I can’t seem to say anything nice. I wasn’t asking you to brag! Do you have any idea… how scared I was? Don’t you ever do that again—”
Before she could say more, her mouth was covered. Having her lips stolen so helplessly, Elysia stared at him, her eyes wide as if to say, ‘What do you think you’re doing?’
“What was that?”
“Affection.”
“I’m not kidding, don’t just jump in recklessly—”
His lips descended once more. A series of soft pecks traveled from her lips to her cold cheek, and then to her eyes. As Elysia let out a disbelieving chuckle, he said.
“I want to jump in next time, too. So what?”
“Ugh, stop being so foolish.”
“You foolishly took a bullet for me. Let’s just say we’re an equally foolish pair.”
She had no comeback for that. The sun had set, and the prayer room, which had no other lights on, was now pitch-black.
He looked down at Elysia’s face, bathed in darkness as if admiring it, and whispered with a suggestive smile.
“Hold me.”
“How?”
“However you’re comfortable.”
She hesitantly raised her arms, gently cupping Evan’s cheeks before slowly wrapping her hands around the nape of his neck to pull him into an embrace. In an instant, her body was lifted off the ground.
With a small yelp, she flailed her legs for a moment before Evan gently set her down on a desk, his eyes crinkling with a smile. Without unwrapping her arms from his neck, Elysia smirked.
“What’s this?”
“Just picking up where we left off.”
Their lips met again. When she let out a soft moan from the back of her throat from being kissed too intensely, the one pushing her would laugh as if he found it amusing.
Her face flushed, and she habitually punched Evan’s shoulder. He leisurely caught her fist and whispered.
“Put things like this down and focus.”
“This isn’t studying, what is there to focus on—”
“Shh.”
She had momentarily forgotten that this man was more mischievous than he looked… Elysia closed her eyes and smiled.
Right. When you can love, when you can throw everything away, you should love like crazy. Today will never come again.
So, as he said, she should focus.
The sound of their tongues tangling seeped into the quiet air of the prayer room. As the wet sounds echoed, the two slowly opened their eyes, looked at each other, and smiled.
Their arms wrapped around each other’s waists and shoulders, pulling closer instead of apart.
Perhaps it was because it was summer, but the breaths they exchanged were hot.
*
Waking earlier than usual, Elysia pulled the covers up to the chin of a clearly exhausted Siene, who had returned to the room not long ago, and stepped outside.
Today was the last day in Dovre, the day they would return to Minerva. The thought that several days of hard labor were over was a relief, but she also felt a pang of sadness at leaving the village she had grown fond of.
After a slow walk around the village, Elysia returned to the shrine and found a young boy hesitating to enter the prayer room.
She glanced at the clock on the shrine wall. Perfect timing. As if she had been waiting, she stood next to Ted and glanced down at him. The boy’s mouth opened and closed before he asked.
“What do you want?”
“I’m going in, too.”
“You don’t look very devout.”
“I’m not, so shouldn’t I at least frequent the prayer room?”
The boy, who had been glaring up at Elysia with irritation, turned his head away coldly, his intention to ignore her blatant. Still feisty, I see. She touched her lips with one hand and smirked.
When the prayer room door opened, Ted immediately ran to the front seat. Elysia slowly took a seat behind the child.
Since it wasn’t a Sunday morning, they were the only two in the room. Ted, who had placed a paper with transcribed scriptures on the desk, bowed his head and began to whisper something. It wasn’t a proper prayer, but the wish within it was desperate.
“I’ll obey my father, I won’t cause trouble, and I won’t cry and throw tantrums. So please, make it so my mother isn’t sick anymore.”
Scratches were clearly visible on his small, clasped hands. With a blank expression, Elysia listened to the child’s prayer as she rummaged through her inner jacket pocket, took out the ointment Cain had given her, and applied it to the back of her hand to check if it was some strange drug. The child’s prayer continued.
“I’ll forgive my father, just as the scriptures say. I can do it. I’ll try. So please, save us… If you tell me to come to the shrine every day, I will. I’ll offer a lot of money later, too, when I earn a lot. So please, save us. Me, and my mom…”
“Stop.”
Elysia, frowning, cut the child’s prayer short and spoke in a stern tone.
“Come here.”
The child, his face soaked with tears, whipped his head around to glare at her with a fierce expression. Unfazed, Elysia patted the seat next to her and gestured with her eyes.
“I said, come here.”
“No.”
“Then I’ll come to you.”
With a nonchalant expression, Elysia stood up and plopped down in the seat next to the boy. Holding out her right hand, she spoke as if coaxing a puppy.
“Hand.”
“I don’t want—”
“I just happen to have some extra medicine.”
Overpowering the child’s struggle to hide his hands was a piece of cake for Elysia. Spreading the ointment over the marks of punishment that lined his palm, she asked.
“Do you mean that prayer?”
“…”
“Are you going to forgive your father? Really?”
The boy remained silent, his lips pressed tightly together. As Elysia expressionlessly took his other hand, she heard a small, hate-filled voice and raised an eyebrow.
“I don’t want to…!!! The truth is, I wish my father were dead. I wish he’d drop dead outside so I’d never even have to see his corpse…! But still, if I can be saved, then… I’ll try.”
Having unknowingly spewed out the dregs of resentment festering in his heart, Ted flinched in surprise and clasped his hands together again. His eyes, from which tears streamed, were swollen. Elysia grabbed the child’s hands as he tried to pray again and leaned down to meet his eyes.
“Then don’t forgive him.”
“But—”
“Listen to me very carefully.”
The boy’s eyes widened as he stared at her. The sunlight rising over the dawn sky fell upon their heads. The light passing through the stained glass created colorful patches, dyeing the space in a brilliant array of colors. She briefly lowered her gaze before looking straight at him again and speaking to the boy in a soft voice.
“God doesn’t care much about you. Only you can save yourself. Forgiveness? If you don’t want to do it, then don’t. You’re the one who was hurt, so why do you have to walk on eggshells about forgiving someone? Do whatever you want.”
In that moment, Elysia felt an intense gaze boring into her and flinched. It was a gaze so sharp it sent a chill down her spine, as if it were picking her bones clean.
She wanted to turn around immediately, but she couldn’t bring herself to look away from the small child whose eyes were fixed on her, relying on her. Clasping the boy’s hand, which was slick with thick ointment, she said.
“Your life is yours to decide. Don’t wait for salvation. Nothing will change until you make a move.”
Thump. At that moment, an ominous, heavy sensation pressed down on her heart.
Startled by the heavy presence she felt, Elysia shot up and looked around. There it was again. That persistent, sticky gaze that had been following her. From where? Who? Her tense mind was stretched taut.
Elysia swallowed hard and searched the prayer room frantically. Just then, with a clatter, she heard the side door of the prayer room at the back closing.
“…What was that?”
She rushed over and threw the door open, only to find the outside empty, with no trace of anyone. She wore a bewildered expression.
*
His vision swam. He staggered as if drunk on a drug more potent than any liquor. After leaving the prayer room, Cain leaned against the wall with a languid expression.
The sky darkened as if sensing the ominous turn of events. Thump, thump. His heart pounded heavily, as if someone were stomping on his chest.
When he came to his senses, he was standing behind Elysia. At first, he thought he was doing it to mock her. He was curious about the world seen by this woman who pretended to be righteous, so he followed her to find her flaws and scoff at them. And in that moment, he realized.
“It’s not for me to decide!!!”
“Then who is it that decides?”
I wasn’t standing here to laugh at you. I was curious. I wanted to know the source of the words you toss out so carelessly and your actions that are never quite cruel enough.
The chase, which had started as a simple stroll, gradually began to change its purpose. Unconsciously, like a shadow, he followed her, placing his own footsteps over the marks she left behind. And he realized.
“God doesn’t care much about you. Only you can save yourself.”
You are like me.
The shadow, realizing his and her outlines were the same, stretched out long and black behind Elysia.
The blood in his veins boiled. An uncontrollable laugh escaped him in a hiss. He clamped a trembling hand over his jaw to stifle the burst of laughter, but he couldn’t stop the choked sounds from escaping.
His heart was pounding, crazily, as if having a seizure. Ah, Elysia Hemming. To say such a thing?
“Your life is yours to decide. Don’t wait for salvation. Nothing will change until you make a move.”
“How interesting.”
You, who defies all my expectations, and at the same time, you, who recites the same story as me. You, who takes a step back suspiciously when I approach you to play, yet follows me all the same.
You, who has caused such a storm in my world, a world I had personally destroyed and locked away into silence.
“That’s right. I decide my own life.”
♥ error: ‘Cain’ feels ‘obsession’ towards the player. ♥
♥ errorunknown ♥
♥ Route change detected! Commencing search for a new route! ♥
♥ error;notfound ♥
The status windows that appeared with the chime of a bell distorted and vanished in an instant with a simple raise of Cain’s hand. An emotion as dark as a mire, one that even the system couldn’t define, overwhelmed him.
Elysia, you’ll chase me again, won’t you? He chuckled, his red eyes flashing.
“Nothing changed until I made a move.”
♥ error;initialize_unavailable ♥
♥ Forcibly shutting down the game for data recovery. ♥
♥ error;shutdown_unavailable ♥
A drizzling rain began to fall. He let the rain soak him without reservation, closing his eyes to cover the heat-filled orbs. CRACKLE. Thunder rolled. Rainwater streamed down his pale face.
Even though he was being drenched by a rain so cold it made one shudder, his expression was languid. But how could it be otherwise, when the object of his thoughts was a woman who burned like fire?
With a dreamy expression, he recalled the boy who had entrusted his hand to Elysia. And with it, the face of the woman who wept under the weight of violence.
Elysia’s words, ‘Salvation won’t come if you don’t make a move,’ had somehow transformed into words meant for him. He smiled and muttered.
Then shall I make a move this time, too?