The Mind Behind the Flames
Risa flailed her arms wildly as she gave me a quick rundown of everything that had happened.
After hearing the full explanation, I put on a serious expression.
'Why is this different from the original story?'
Just thirty minutes ago, Luden had been gathering the subjugation force exactly as the original plot dictated. Under normal circumstances, they should have cleared the scenario without any issues. But according to Risa, the protagonist's party had been stopped by none other than Sherry in her Phase 2 form.
“Miss Risa.”
“Yes?”
“For now, could you guide me to where the subjugation force is?”
“Ah, of course!”
With those words, we followed after Risa.
A short while later.
“Whoa!”
We finally reached our destination.
Kanya jumped in surprise at the sight before her. I, too, could only click my tongue inwardly.
It was because the protagonist's party was in absolutely terrible shape.
'I heard a rough summary, but it's worse than I imagined.'
Shannon, a child of the Gloucester family and one of the Four Great Elemental Houses, had deep burn scars covering his sturdy body. In his current condition, he could hardly be considered combat effective.
Lillia, the second daughter of the Eldorado Merchant Guild, looked relatively better compared to Shannon. Still, her entire body was covered in minor wounds.
'In the original story, she was never injured this badly.'
I shifted my gaze to Luden next.
The moment I saw her condition, I frowned deeply.
'She's the worst off.'
Scars and burns dotted her body everywhere. On top of that, her ankle was swollen like a balloon—probably a torn ligament. There was no way she could fight in that state. She'd only be a hindrance.
“Is everyone alright?”
At my question, the subjugation force members turned their eyes toward me.
Edin's face—the one who always asked questions in Class A—brightened instantly.
“Baran!”
“Baran's here!”
“We're saved!”
The students' expressions lit up at my arrival. It seemed they thought I could somehow fix everything.
'Come on, I'm just an extra.'
I tried to ignore their burdensome stares and approached the main cast.
The priest who had been tending to them looked up at me. I asked her directly.
“How are the three of them?”
“Sigh… Lillia is relatively fine since her injuries aren't severe, but the other two cannot fight in their current condition.”
She answered in a gloomy voice. Well, it was obvious just by looking at them.
To get more detailed information, I needed to wake the three of them up. Strategy could come later—information had to come first.
'This is exactly why I've been saving up points.'
Without hesitation, I opened the cash shop.
I purchased three of the potions listed in the bottom row.
A vibration came from my subspace pouch.
I pulled out the three potions.
Risa spoke up with a gloomy expression.
“We already tried using potions, but they didn’t work…”
“Still, it’s worth a try. You never know.”
I poured the potions over the three of them.
-Fssssshhh.
In an instant, the wounds on their bodies healed at a visible rate.
Risa and the priest stared with wide eyes. They clearly hadn’t expected such immediate results.
“““Ugh…”””
The three slowly opened their eyes.
At the same time, Risa’s eyes sparkled as she asked,
“What kind of potion is that?! Baran!”
-Disciple. You carry quite the rare potion with you.
Even Miroel looked at the potion with a slightly surprised expression, as if fascinated.
Well, of course. It was a potion from the cash shop, after all. It was only natural for the two of them to be so curious.
“It’s a potion I obtained from a dungeon before.”
“Ah, then you probably don’t know the recipe.”
“You could say that.”
“Ugh. What a shame. It would’ve been great to research.”
“We can find more later.”
“Ahahaha. Something this high-grade won’t just pop up easily, you know.”
Risa laughed as if what I said was ridiculous.
Hmm. I could get as many as I wanted right now.
Well, I was planning to leave it to her to mass-produce them anyway.
But it was still too early. With her current abilities, producing this potion was impossible.
Anyway, that was for later.
“Are the three of you alright?”
“You’re…?”
“Mister Baran?”
“Baran?”
All three of them looked at me with puzzled expressions.
As if asking why I was even here.
The moment I was about to answer, Risa spoke up on my behalf.
“I went and brought him here!”
“Ah, I see. By the way, why is our bodies completely fine? I’m pretty sure we were hit by Miss Sherry…”
Lillia, who had quickly grasped the situation, asked the question.
I answered her.
“I treated you with potions.”
“With potions? Our wounds?”
Lillia’s eyes sparkled at that.
Typical merchant—more interested in something valuable than the state of her own body.
I inwardly found it absurd, but asked the three of them,
“More importantly, could you explain exactly what happened? I haven’t heard the details yet.”
“I’ll explain that.”
Luden stepped forward with a serious face.
She then recounted everything that had happened so far.
***
After hearing the full story, I felt a sense of doubt.
'Wait, it all went exactly like the original?'
I had assumed some new variable must have caused their defeat. But the progression had followed the original story to the letter.
'Risa also evacuated and then came looking for me.'
Just to be sure, I used Mind's Eye on Luden.
It was exactly the same as the original.
I wondered if the protagonist had somehow become weaker than in the original, but there was hardly any difference.
At this point, I had no idea what the problem was.
'Wait a second… could it be…'
I used Mind's Eye once more.
The next moment, the entire island came into view.
'She said they were outside the shelter, right?'
I quickly scanned the area near the shelter.
There she was—Sherry, with her red hair blazing with flames.
Her expression was completely devoid of emotion.
I focused on her intently.
I muttered in a daze as I looked at her status window.
“What the…”
-What’s wrong, Disciple?
Miroel grabbed my face with a deeply worried expression.
I wanted to answer her, but the status window floating in my vision left me speechless.
Because.
'She’s way stronger than in the original.'
In the original story, the brainwashed Sherry had only been around level 40 at most. Her talents had also been one level lower than what I was seeing now.
For some reason, she had become even stronger than before. No wonder the protagonist’s party had been defeated.
'And from what I heard, it seems like she was trying not to kill them.'
But why had she become this strong?
I had my doubts, but thinking about it now wouldn’t change anything. It would be far more helpful to come up with a way to resolve this situation.
“We have no choice. We have to kill Sherry.”
At that moment, Luden bit her lower lip tightly and voiced her opinion.
Shannon nodded in agreement.
“Luden is right. We don’t have the luxury to save her right now.”
“Haa… I guess that’s how it has to be.”
Lillia let out a small sigh, looking disappointed at the two’s decision.
From her perspective, Sherry was a necessary asset in her fight against Highrun, so this must have felt like a loss.
“……”
“……”
The rest of the students didn’t object either.
They all knew. If they tried to save Sherry, one of their friends standing right beside them might die.
But there was one person who did object.
“W-what are you saying?! She’s our classmate! How can you talk about killing her!”
It was Risa, of course.
After all, the one who had helped her when she was being bullied was none other than Sherry. From Risa’s perspective, she could never abandon her.
“Then do you have any other solution?”
Shannon asked with a cold face.
Risa fell silent at his question.
“……”
“See? You don’t. Do you think we don’t want to save her? But if there’s no way to…”
“There is.”
I cut him off, and everyone’s eyes turned to me.
I ignored their gazes and continued.
“Let’s split the subjugation force into two groups.”
“Two groups?”
Luden looked at me with a puzzled expression.
She followed up immediately.
“We’re barely able to win even if we all rush her at once, and you want to split the force in two? What are you talking about?”
“There’s no need to worry. The demon controlling Sherry is probably not that strong. If he were, he would have stepped forward himself long ago.”
-As expected of my disciple. Your insight is excellent.
Miroel patted my head as if praising me.
I continued while feeling her touch.
“Sherry will be handled by just the three of us—me, Miss Risa, and Miss Kanya. The rest of the subjugation force should focus on taking down the demon inside the shelter.”
“?!”
The entire subjugation force widened their eyes in shock.
They clearly hadn’t expected me to suggest clearing it with only three people.
“You’re planning to sacrifice yourself…”
“It’s not like that, so please don’t worry.”
I firmly cut off Luden’s words.
It seemed the subjugation force had misunderstood and thought I was planning to throw my life away.
“But how can only three people possibly…”
“Sherry’s magic is outstanding in terms of firepower, but it has one clear weakness.”
“A weakness?”
“Speed. It takes her quite a long time to prepare her spells. So both I and Miss Kanya can easily deal with it.”
The subjugation force nodded in understanding.
After all, both Kanya and I possessed high-speed movement.
“Then why do we need her?”
At that moment, one of the students tilted their head while looking at Risa.
The others also looked puzzled.
Instead of answering, I turned to Risa.
“Miss Risa has a separate task. Before that, do you happen to have any doping potions?”
“Ah, yes! I do have potions that temporarily boost mana or physical abilities. But…”
“There are side effects, right?”
“Yes. You won’t die, but it will hurt quite a lot.”
“That’s fine. As long as it doesn’t kill me.”
At my words, Miroel let out a small sigh beside me.
-Haa, the situation is what it is, so I can’t even scold you properly.
“Ugh. Alright.”
She handed me a potion filled with a pure white liquid.
After discussing the plan a little more, we headed toward the shelter.
***
After my mother passed away, my father grew cold.
To earn his approval, I worked endlessly.
I trained the Patrick family’s signature orb until my hands bled.
I even suppressed my original personality and acted like a proper noble lady.
I thought that if I did all that, my father’s old warm expression would return.
But contrary to my expectations, he remained the same.
While I was feeling depressed, someone invaded my mind.
It was none other than Baran.
The advice and recognition he had given me.
To others, it might have seemed trivial.
But to her, it was like an oasis in the middle of a desert.
Because it felt like all the effort she had put in until now had finally been rewarded.
That was why she wanted to repay his recognition.
This time, she had planned to defeat Luden in the spar no matter what.
She wanted to be acknowledged by both Baran and her father.
However, just like before, she lost again.
On top of that, she was falling behind Luden in the practical evaluation.
Just as her heart was growing more and more exhausted.
-Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you win.
A sticky voice echoed in her head.
She kept trying to resist, but her will slowly sank into a deep abyss.
Just as she was about to give up.
-I will rescue you right away, Miss Sherry.
A familiar, warm voice rang in her mind.
Tears began to flow from her eyes.
