Chapter 146
Chapter 146
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 146
Chapter Title: Room of Dreams (3)
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It was an item found on the roof of the old castle.
[Halved Bow of the Royal Family]
A dot image matching the description appeared.
Character Hilde snatched it up. Ricardo watched the character descend the castle wall, hands stuffed in his pockets.
Hilde, hood pulled low, returned to the starting point of the game.
The usually emotionless Sugar God spoke up excitedly.
"If you take this to the statue and pray in front of it, the statue moves."
Was this really something to get so thrilled about?
Ricardo apathetically watched the character head toward the statue.
Doubt began to creep in. What the hell was he doing in this rookie's house? He was supposed to be home, sprawled out, chain-smoking.
Ignoring his inner thoughts, the character moved briskly. A statue of a woman with eyes covered by cloth, hands clasped in prayer.
Character Hilde set the bow down beneath it and prayed.
The dot screen shifted up and down.
"Whoa."
Shu let out an exclamation as the ground beneath the statue opened.
"It's real."
An entrance appeared in the floor.
The character descended through the open passage.
The background changed to ashen stairs. The light, upbeat BGM turned somber and grand.
The stairs ended quickly, leading to a temple. Inside were countless statues of unknown figures. At the end of the statues stood an altar with an open book on it.
Ricardo stared at the screen, wondering what any of this meant.
Shu moved the character toward the altar.
Character Hilde clicked on the book.
The book zoomed in.
A sentence in the upper left of the worn book caught his eye.
[When your successor aimed at your blood brother]
"I couldn't solve this."
Shu muttered to herself, staring at the screen.
"It looks like something appears if you input it, but no one's solved it."
"Where do you enter it?"
Ricardo knelt on one knee beside Shu.
"Where's the input spot?"
"You know the answer?"
Shu looked up at Ricardo with wide eyes.
"How did you know?"
Because the rookie said so.
He swallowed the answer rising in his throat.
Ricardo silently took the controller from Shu. Ignoring her sharp gaze, he punched in the numbers. No need to search online. He knew exactly the day it happened.
The day Ye-hyeon ended the first war.
The day Hilde's sword killed one of his own kind.
Inputting that day as numbers beside the sentence, text began to appear on the book.
Shu let out a gasp.
"Awesome."
Ricardo read along with the emerging text.
Probably some trivial nonsense.
That apathetic thought vanished with the first line. He forgot everything else as he read the descending words. Incoming calls, texts from the HR Director asking for a meeting time, his phone call with Ska.
Intense sentences captured his attention.
[Hilde. When you came back alive, honestly, I wasn't happy.]
Someone's handwriting.
[I thought you'd finally sided with your own kind. I prayed in the corner of the lab, thinking it was over. But you pulled the grenade shard from your arm and showed us a way to escape.
Even when we looked at you with suspicious eyes...
You lifted the collapsed researchers and opened the emergency exit, saying,
"I'll hold them off, so run."
Those who never doubted you for a second, and those indifferent to whatever choice you made, fled through the emergency exit.
I stayed until the end. You pulled me to my feet, lost in shock. With a weary smile. Clutching your cherished sword, soaked in blood.
I still can't believe that was the last I saw of you.]
Ricardo realized the game developer made this game to deliver this message.
He didn't know who this was. But this game was a letter to Hilde, as the title suggested. And the sender seemed human, not a Creature.
One Hildebert had saved.
[I was so stupid.
I didn't know reality, just like people said. They feared you and prepared for the coming disaster. I didn't agree with them, so I couldn't understand even you, whom even the sharp-edged rulers feared at times.
"We've lived peacefully until now, what's the problem? You're too worried."]
Shu muttered beside him, "What's all this mean?"
But Ricardo had no energy to reply.
He read the letter without moving a finger. He didn't miss a single word.
He couldn't tear his eyes from the screen.
[People say you're dead...
That even your body couldn't be found, like theirs. That you turned to ash and scattered in the wind.
He died four months ago. The only one who believed you'd return alive.
Hilde. If you've truly scattered into the wind as they say, at least take your loyal kin with you.
Wherever you go, take him. He waited for you until his dying breath.
I'll keep waiting for you too.
If you knew how much I want to atone to you, come back alive. Come back and spit your resentment at me on my knees.
If that's not allowed, then at least live happily with your kin there.
Now I know how much you loved them, how much you suffered...
I only learned after everything ended that you cried endlessly the night before the disaster.]
Intense emotion struck Ricardo's heart.
Before he could name it, a few short lines appeared.
[The world will cover your name.
That's too horrific, so I made this game from memory.
Sorry if the details are wrong.
Can't ask you now.
So many questions I still want to ask...
I thought I'd have forever to ask you.
I'm really sorry, Hildebert.
Sorry.]
The letter ended there.
No more text appeared on the screen.
The motionless screen. The halted BGM.
The Badgers, equally frozen, stared at it for a long time.
Then the green-eyed man twisted around and reached for his phone.
Ricardo checked the missed calls and dialed, but no answer.
***
No answer, as expected.
Our connection's completely severed.
Not surprised, but feeling even more down, I started calling Ska.
The AI voice immediately said, "Unable to answer, in a meeting."
I gave up calling. Climbing the stairs, I drew Nori's sword. His recovery was top-notch anyway, so I aimed for a slash that would heal quickly.
Target the ankles!
Go, little slash!
Spurt!
Blood burst out. The slash neatly cut both of Senior's ankles, successfully felling him.
Jonathan Kudo toppled forward.
I quickly sheathed the sword and rushed to the fallen senior.
"No."
But seeing him crawl away on his elbows, blood trailing, I was stunned.
"Senior."
Was he that desperate?
Crawling up, leaving a blood trail since he couldn't walk. Dragging himself with both hands, unwilling to wait for his wounds to heal.
My heart chilled as I ran toward him rising.
Those with shallow mental wounds snap out of it from physical pain.
But Senior showed no sign of coming to.
This man and this Creature were the worst match.
"How about restarting with the sword?"
The flower shop woman's voice echoed in the space.
"You've always wanted to pick it up again, right?"
His pace slowed, thankfully.
I caught up and grabbed him at the top of the stairs.
Senior rolled with me onto the third-floor landing.
Thud!
We flailed on the floor. I tried to knock him out, but it wasn't easy.
If I kicked, neither of us would be whole.
Pondering, I pinned Kudo with my elbow and rummaged in his pocket.
Maybe calling Juna or Ye-hyeon would get a reaction. Hearing the boss's voice might snap him out of it.
As I pulled out the phone, wind brushed my cheek.
Smack!
Kudo's elbow hit the phone, sending it flying.
...My phone.
Ye-hyeon bought it again after the Colosseum news. It tumbled down the stairs, the bouncing sound fading sadly.
I cherished it.
Even sadder now, I raised my hand to chop his neck.
At the same time, Kudo's right foot slammed my abdomen.
"Guh."
A heavy pain escaped me.
My body flew back. I braced the steps to avoid rolling down.
Kudo shoved me aside and started toward the fourth floor.
I rose, watching the peaceful suburbs vanish into a battlefield.
"Jonathan Kudo? Unique name."
"Half-blood~?"
Soldiers in trenches, uniforms on.
Their voices introducing themselves sounded familiar.
"Right. Japan and UK."
"Ah, from the UK? I'm American."
"Italy~."
Ska, Ricardo, and Jonathan Kudo.
"I'm Chinese. Studied long in the UK though."
"Mexico."
Two unknowns too. Their gun-holding chatter echoed amid tank engines and distant gunfire.
I gritted my teeth hearing them share "what they were doing when the first war broke out."
Next time, I'll grab him and roll down together.
Resolved, I snagged Senior's hem and we tumbled.
Thud, thud!
"Ah, got married a year ago."
Hearing Kudo's low voice, we rolled down the stairs together.
"No kids..."
"Let go."
"No way."
Down to the second floor, Senior wept, straining to climb back up.
Ignoring the pain covering my body, I focused on subduing him. Pressing his heavy legs, I raised my arm to knock him out for good.
Knock him out quick while he wasn't resisting.
Chop the neck.
As I tensed my arm, a voice froze me.
"Hide Hilde!"
Familiar voice.
"Priest Mar! Hide the child, quick! It's an attack!"
"Healers!"
"Hilde! Inside!"
"No!"
God.
Even after endless time, why did this memory always bring cold sweat?
"I can fight too!"
Stab.
Intense pain heated my leg.
Kudo had drawn my sword and stabbed my thigh. It went in deep. Without force, it wouldn't come out.
I got a wound like this back then.
Deepening pain, soaking clothes.
I smiled faintly at my blood-soaked pants.
"Thinking about it, there's another way."
Muttering to the tearful senior.
"The voice of dreams targets easy prey."
It preyed on Senior's deep trauma until now.
But now that I'm injured, things change. Like when the Creature targeted Sara Perry and we saw her desires. Like when the voice targeted Kudo and we both saw Senior's past.
Now the hunted has switched.
Act 2 ends. Kudo's past curtain falls, Act 3 will unveil mine.
Shameful regrets and desires.
I steeled myself, not wanting to show it.
"If you snap out of it, take good care of me."
Bitter smile at the shifting scene.
"With one leg like this, it'll be easier to subdue me."
And pretend you didn't glimpse the past.
I don't know if I voiced those words.
Because at some point, the abandoned building, stairs, and Senior vanished, replaced by a massive world tree.
Because I was half entranced by that intense scene.
The golden world tree.
The great tree whose roots covered the dragon corpse I just felled.