Chapter 52: Nightmare 5
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 52: Nightmare 5
I had killed the girl with my own two hands.
But the nightmare wasn't over yet.
"Uuugh... aaah..."
The boy stumbled toward me, a grotesque, guttural rasp escaping his throat.
"...So, you wanted to be a knight."
My monologue drifted quietly through the narrow back alley. There was no one left to hear me, let alone answer.
"You were always swinging a sword, always maintaining it. Back then, I thought you were only doing it to protect her."
But I didn't stop talking to myself.
"I didn't even know your dreams, or your names... I knew nothing."
"How pathetic," I whispered.
"Would you have been happy if I’d given you this sword? No, if it were you, you would have been shy about it, but you would have thanked me. You would have cherished it."
I picked up the blade stained with the girl’s blood. My hands were trembling violently.
"This was the sword I originally bought as a gift for you."
I gently stroked the girl’s hair one last time and stood up. My legs were shaking.
"To think I’d end up killing you both with the very sword I bought to give to you."
Yet, my resolve did not waver. From the moment I killed the girl, I was already a sinner in their eyes.
"Aaaagh!"
The boy lunged at me, sword in hand. It was a mindless, clumsy charge. Avoiding it would have been easy.
Thuck.
But I didn't avoid it. I let the boy’s sword pierce my flesh.
I pulled him into a tight embrace.
"Gaaah! Urgh!"
The boy struggled wildly to break free, but I held him fast.
"I'm sorry."
Holding him close, I drove my sword through his back.
"Aaaaaaaagh!"
"You know, I was planning to take off this mask and enter the Academy as an ordinary student, as long as I had the skills to get in."
"Uuugh... aah..."
"Because I knew the future, I thought I could reach the ending I wanted just by saying the right words. Truly pathetic, wasn't it?"
"Ugh... aaah..."
"I've decided to throw away those idiotic thoughts. The Necromancers who turned you into this... I'm going to kill every last one of them."
"Ugh... ugh."
"You can curse me from heaven if you want. Just bear with me until I’ve brutally slaughtered the ones who did this to you."
"........."
The sound stopped.
Clang!
The dagger the boy had been holding fell to the ground.
I picked up the boy’s lifeless body and carefully laid him down next to the girl.
"With this money, you could have escaped the back alleys."
I clutched the pouch of coins in my hand.
"With this money, you could have bought a normal house in town."
I spoke to the children who no longer moved.
"With this money, you could have gone to school. You could have learned real swordsmanship."
I spoke to the children who no longer held any warmth.
"With this money, you could have worried about your future instead of just surviving the present."
Even though I knew they couldn't hear me, I kept talking.
"But... it's useless now."
I knew it was a pointless gesture, but I couldn't stop the words from pouring out.
"You, coming home after finishing classes... and you, after finishing your sword practice... in a real house instead of a back alley, at a real table instead of on this dirt, eating dinner together..."
A single tear fell onto the children's faces.
"Even if you fought as you got older, I know you two would have made up quickly. And I would have watched you both grow up so diligently..."
Another tear fell.
"That was the future I dreamed of."
Children I could no longer see. A future I could never dream of again.
"If I ever took off this mask, I wanted to show you two first."
I didn't take off the mask. Tears continued to fall.
I clutched the corpses of the dead children and screamed in agony.
Crackle. Static.
Suddenly, with a strange sound, everything began to vanish. From the trash on the alley floor to the sun in the sky, everything was collapsing.
"Ah."
As the children finally disappeared, I realized. I was in a dream.
I had known it was a dream at first, but at some point, I had lost track of reality.
"Haah..."
How long had I been asleep this time?
Whenever I woke up from a nightmare, the time that had passed was always different. Sometimes an hour had gone by; sometimes it hadn't even been five minutes.
Still, I hoped a lot of time had passed. It was impossible to go back to sleep anyway.
I couldn't sleep peacefully after a nightmare like that. I couldn't sleep knowing that even while I rested, Mordor was out there, breathing.
.
.
.
.
Johanna couldn't understand the current situation.
How did Loki know where the information guild was? How did he know the name of the old man who seemed to be a member? She didn't understand any of it.
And what happened next was just as baffling.
Thud!
The amount of money in the pouch Loki pulled out was significant, even to someone from a Ducal Family like her. She wondered where he had gotten such a sum, but she didn't ask.
In the first place, Loki didn't even seem to see her right now. He was looking straight ahead, as if being chased by something—or perhaps terrified of it.
She wanted to help, but there was nothing she could do. She didn't know what to say, so she stayed silent. She didn't know what action would be helpful, so she stayed still.
"Hmm, with this much money..."
However, the old man didn't waver at the sight of the money. They were merchants, after all—merchants who bought and sold information.
"That's enough."
In an instant, the killing intent Loki had been radiating vanished. Yet, for some reason, the old man bowed his head.
"What information do you seek?"
The old man's face was trembling with fear.
"Last night, a child was sold to people with a skull emblem. I want information on their location."
"Please wait a moment."
The old man asked for Loki's patience and went into the kitchen. After a very short while, he emerged.
"We don't know much about those with the skull emblem, but we have received information that children in the slums have been disappearing recently."
"Their location."
Loki pressed for the information he wanted.
"There are three suspected locations."
The old man pulled out a map and pointed to three spots. Loki stared at the map before speaking.
"Which of those could hide dozens of people and remain undetected even if there's a loud noise?"
"Then there is only one place left."
The old man pointed to one of the three locations.
"Good work."
Leaving those words behind, Loki walked out of the information guild. Johanna followed him out.
Swish, swish.
As expected, Loki was sprinting toward the location the old man had indicated. Johanna took to the rooftops again to follow him.
".............."
Loki stopped once they reached the designated spot. Johanna instinctively covered her nose. A revolting stench assaulted her senses.
The place the old man had pointed out was the Imperial sewers.
Contrary to her expectation that he would dive straight in without hesitation, Loki turned around and looked at her before entering.
"Johanna."
He called her name. It was different from usual. He didn't call her 'Senior'; he called her 'Johanna.'
His voice was different, too. It wasn't his usual playful tone, but a low, heavy voice.
The atmosphere was different. It wasn't a comfortable presence, but one overflowing with killing intent.
"Yes."
But the person in front of her was Loki. That alone was reason enough to stay by his side.
"I hope I'm wrong. But if—just if—I'm right, this place is going to be filled with horrific things."
"Who exactly are the people inside?"
Who could they be to make the usually confident Loki look so haunted?
"........Necromancers."
Johanna gasped at his words.
"But they were wiped out a long time ago, weren't they?"
Necromancers were beings so evil that they were even taught about at the Academy. But that was a story of the past. They had been destroyed and vanished long ago.
"There will be Necromancers inside. If you get caught, terrible things will happen to you. So, Johanna, wait here or go back to the Academy."
Johanna realized why Loki had told her everything. He wanted to stop her from going in. He hoped that by telling her about the Necromancers, she would be too scared to follow.
"Then what about you?"
If getting caught meant terrible things, that wouldn't just apply to her.
"I... have something I must do with my own hands."
I must do it myself. His voice was quiet, but Johanna heard him clearly.
"You know what I'm going to say, right?"
For some reason, Loki seemed to know her well. He probably knew exactly what her response would be.
"Haah... Of course you won't go back. Well, I suppose I fell for that side of you, though."
"...........Huh?"
What did he just say?
Loki spoke as if his last comment was nothing significant.
"If you're coming in, promise me just two things."
"...................."
Her head was spinning, perhaps because of what she had just heard.
"First, never leave my side."
But the second condition snapped her back to reality.
"Second, if your life is in danger, leave me behind and run."