Confession Necklace (1)
Confession Necklace (1)
News that I had returned to Siyoram spread.
Thanks to that, my hologram was flooded with messages of concern from cadets I didn't even know.
It was through a hologram projector, not a smartwatch, but since the account was the same, my contacts and settings stayed unchanged.
'Hm?'
I was perched on the bed, sifting through the mountain of messages.
▶Ellia Srade (Just Now)
There was a cautious message from Ellia asking if I could spare some time when I was free.
I didn't know what it was about, but I replied I'd come and left the dormitory.
I had plenty to do.
Moving around roughly on the sly was something I refrained from, fearing Professor Atra's retaliation, but I still had to catch up on the lectures I'd missed.
'This is rough...'
I'd fallen far too behind. I was already worried about the written exams for the midterms...
'I need to get used to moving with one arm, too.'
With one arm gone, my whole body had slowed down. A large part of it was because my balance was thrown off.
And now that the arm I used to wear my smartwatch on had been blown off, I was carrying around a portable hologram projector.
Should I contact the Association later and have them modify a smartwatch to hang around my neck?
I let out a deep sigh at the random thought and felt at the empty space where my left arm used to be.
All I felt was the sleeve of my clothes, fluttering limply in the occasional breeze.
The Sky Wing Feather, which had been reduced to a rag alongside its owner, was retrieved from the scene.
Now it was feeding on my mana, restored and fluttering from my back alongside the empty sleeve.
Before leaving the dormitory, I'd debated just lopping off the left sleeve or tying it up, but I figured it would just look like I was being dramatic, so I stopped.
'......'
But now, feeling the gazes fixed on me, especially those following my fluttering empty sleeve, I regretted not cutting it off.
They say people are animals of adaptation.
Amazingly, even I, a reclusive loner, managed to adapt to being the center of attention.
I'd adjusted to the insane amount of interest that came after my status as a special admission cadet was revealed. By now, I could walk around fairly nonchalantly.
That sort of attention mostly consisted of curious, jealous, bewildered, and greedy looks.
Right now, it was a very ambiguous feeling.
Admiration? Envy? Pity?
Gazes that were so prickly and made me want to run away kept boring into me...
With belated regret, I forced my feet to move faster.
It wasn't long before I arrived at the cafe at the address Ellia had sent.
Ellia was already waiting in a private booth she'd reserved.
Inside the private booth of the cafe.
"Ha, Ha-yul..."
Seeing my empty left sleeve, Ellia's eyes trembled.
Soon, her eyes grew moist, and thick, heavy tears began to fall.
'Gah.'
Flustered by the situation, I waved my arm around frantically.
It took a little time to calm Ellia down.
.
.
.
No matter what anyone said, the curse that had to be lifted first was the Curse of Short Life.
Honestly, at a point where even lifting a single curse was uncertain, trying to break the Curse of Sensory Sealing was too hopeful a goal.
Entering the Unconquered Tower, let alone conquering it, was practically suicidal.
Even the dungeon where the Curse-Lifting Jewel was located had a danger level equivalent to Grade 1.
A Grade 1 Dungeon typically spawns monsters around 5th Rank.
They might be weaker than the Aerus that turned me into a corpse in Sipnaha, but it's a place where similar creatures wander around like trash mobs.
Grade 1 Dungeons are hard to find even in the Demon Realm, cut off from human touch, or in regions where the Association's influence barely reaches.
Finding the Curse-Lifting Jewel in such a dungeon is an immensely difficult task.
Because of that, lifting the Curse of Silence, which had been pushed further down the priority list, was practically impossible.
Curse of Silence.
One of the three curses placed on me, the one that took my voice.
From the start, the Curse of Silence had the lowest priority for being broken.
The Curse of Short Life, which drastically shortens my lifespan.
The Curse of Sensory Sealing, which seals my sight, smell, and taste, stripping away convenience and joy in life.
Compared to those two, the Curse of Silence, which just blocks my voice, wasn't a serious matter.
But living with it proved to be full of inconveniences.
When I was holed up in my room, it was no problem, but attending Siyoram brought many moments where I had to communicate with others.
My poor social skills aside, if I didn't even have the hologram function, it would be completely dark in front of me.
Also, if I occasionally let a word slip by mistake, immediate pain and retaliation would follow.
So, I had sought to obtain the Confession Necklace as a way to bypass the Curse of Silence, but... failed miserably.
Hong Yeon-hwa or Professor Atra...
I had a small desire to let the people around me hear my voice, but thinking about the reality where even lifting the Curse of Short Life was too much, I'd been resigned.
"Our family isn't that prestigious, so this is all I can give you, hehe... But still, I think it will definitely help Ha-yul!"
...That's what I'd been thinking.
My mind seemed to come to a complete standstill.
I slowly replayed the previous situation in my head.
I'd calmed Ellia down after she burst into tears, overcome with emotion looking at where my left arm used to be.
Just as she seemed to compose herself, she'd thanked me profusely and abruptly held something out.
A crude silver necklace resting on her palm.
It wasn't the kind of necklace that caught the eye due to its rough exterior, but the design brought out its simple charm nicely.
If I had to point out a feature, it was the ornament strung on it, refined from a quartz-like mineral.
It was a necklace from my memory.
'The Confession Necklace.'
My mouth hung open in a daze and wouldn't close. I couldn't wrap my head around the situation.
'Why is this here?'
I don't know. The Echoes of the Ghost Valley dungeon had been cleared out decades ago.
'Why does Ellia have this?'
I don't...
'Ah?'
In that moment, an old memory surfaced in a corner of my mind.
The site where Echoes of the Ghost Valley once was. The inscription on the monument that stood tall there.
───────
On one dark night, may these traces become a ray of light
Georok Grass
Dennis Bearden
Richard Carlyle
Artovan Maxwell
Trian Slade
───────
It was a culture of leaving behind traces of those who conquered the dungeon. Among the names written on the monument, there was a familiar-sounding surname.
'Trian Slade.'
Trian Slade.
Ellia Srade.
The remark about 'our family'...
Those three things connected.
Ellia's family were the ones who conquered Echoes of the Ghost Valley. The Confession Necklace acquired there had been kept by the family.
That solved that part of the mystery.
There were still unanswered questions.
I fiddled with my hologram projector with difficulty.
[Why are you giving this to me?]
"Ah, sorry. I didn't explain enough."
Wiping the tears clinging to the corners of her eyes, Ellia explained the situation.
[Your younger sister? In Sipnaha of all places?]
"Yes... At the time, my heart really sank. I thought I was going mad."
Ellia's family... her younger sister, who was born late in their parents' lives, had visited Sipnaha for a field trip and got caught up in the dungeon rampage.
That younger sister had been saved thanks to my help at the scene.
Having received such a grace, it was only right to return the favor.
While Ellia's family pondered how to repay me.
It so happened that an artifact perfectly suited to my current situation had been left as a memento by her grandfather, so Ellia had brought it over right away.
By sheer coincidence, that artifact was precisely the Confession Necklace.
I blankly wiggled my fingers. The cool surface of the necklace against them seemed to tell me this wasn't a dream.
'Ah...'
I hadn't managed to get any of the artifacts I was looking for, and had failed to get the most important Confession Necklace, too.
I'd thought I'd just been kicking at the air, that I'd gone through pointless hardship and gained little.
I'd saved a great many people, but still, a part of me definitely regretted it.
Now, that regret had lessened.
Because I hadn't run away and fought there, because I'd saved Ellia's sister.
It felt as if that repayment had come back to me in the form of this necklace.
Just like the letters, it seemed to prove that my actions hadn't been wrong.
Maybe I was reading too much into it... but what did it matter? In the end, it's a matter of how I take it.
I was overwhelmed with emotion.
My body moved on its own, following the surging feeling.
"The function is just as I said, and if you don't need it, even if you sell i— Eek, ah... Ha-yul?"
I pulled Ellia into a tight embrace.
"Uh, uung?"
Blinking her eyes in bewilderment, Ellia looked at my expression, then calmly patted my back.
It was an action that had become close to a habit recently. Whenever my emotions surged, Professor Atra would hold me tight.
I'd been held in Professor Atra's arms the entire time in the healing room, and so like this...
Like this... uh...
'Uh...'
I had done that with Professor Atra. She'd always open her arms and tell me to come into them so my emotions wouldn't spiral to strange places.
'But who am I hugging right now?'
My body froze stiff.
The hand patting my back now felt unfamiliar and awkward instead of comforting...
.
.
.
Thud— I dropped my head onto the table. The embarrassment that flared up belatedly spread through my whole body.
I'd done something crazy. I'd thought my reason had returned to its proper place, but it seemed my mind still hadn't fully recovered.
Professor Atra had been completely right. Leaving my body aside, my mind had clearly not come back yet...
"Don't be so embarrassed, it's fine. You were so cute, like a little brother."
Sitting across from me, Ellia fidgeted with her coffee cup awkwardly as she said it.
I was grateful she was trying to comfort me by calling me a little brother, but the embarrassment wouldn't disappear at all.
Still, I couldn't keep my head buried in the table forever.
I somehow managed to suppress the embarrassment and raise my upper body.
Even while floundering in shame, I lifted the Confession Necklace I'd kept a firm grip on.
'The Confession Necklace.'
I knew its function. I had the knowledge from the original, and Ellia had explained it.
It reads the wearer's mind and expresses it in voice. It also has a brand function that prevents anyone else from using it until the wearer dies.
Ellia knew the function of the Confession Necklace.
So I was puzzled.
[Wouldn't it be better to give it to your sister?]
Truthfully, I wanted to put it on immediately, but I remembered her telling me that Ellia's sister was mute like me.
Also, among the people I met in Sipnaha, there was a child I guessed to be Ellia's sister.
The girl who had seemed worried about me as I sat dejected in the park, lingering nearby.
Since she too communicated via hologram like me, she'd stuck strongly in my memory.
That part made me tilt my head in confusion.
Instead of giving it to me, wouldn't it be better for her sister to wear it?
"Until recently, our grandfather had been wearing it, so there was no choice, and now my sister herself doesn't want to use it. She said she has no major problem living without the artifact, and she doesn't want to recklessly use something that could be useful for something else later..."
'Ah.'
With her saying that, I felt awkward wearing it too. I thought maybe it'd be better to just give it back.
"There's absolutely no need for Ha-yul to hesitate."
As I hesitated with those thoughts, Ellia took my hand and spoke.
"This is the bare minimum repayment given to the benefactor who saved my family. So, do you need to feel sorry? Not in the slightest."
I could feel the sincerity overflowing from her emphatic words.
However you looked at it, this was a gift with only upsides for me.
And with her going that far, hesitating any longer might actually make Ellia feel bad instead.
As I nodded, Ellia let go of my hand with a warm smile.
So, to wear it, I lifted the necklace.
'Uh, uh...'
But come to think of it, I'd never properly worn a necklace in my life.
'...Do I open this clasp and put it on? Loop it around the back? Or from the front to the back?'
"Shall I put it on for you?"
As I was struggling with the necklace, Ellia, who'd instantly grasped why I was struggling, asked.
When I nodded cautiously, Ellia let out a chuckle and suddenly leaned in.
I handed her the Confession Necklace; Ellia undid the clasp and stepped behind me.
"Now, stay still..."
Her soft voice tapped against my ears.
With careful hands, she tidied my hair for a moment, then her slender arms wrapped around my neck as if in an embrace.
My body flinched as her arm brushed against the skin of my nape.
- Click
Putting it on was over in an instant. The sound of the clasp engaging felt especially loud.
- Whir...
The necklace let out a vibration.
My body trembled at the sensation of connecting with the artifact.
It was the same phenomenon as with the Sky Wing Feather. The difference was that the density felt a bit lower?
Unlike the Sky Wing Feather, which had good compatibility with me, it seemed the Confession Necklace didn't have any particular compatibility to speak of.
The vibration stopped. Clunk, I heard a locking sound inside my body.
The branding was complete. My heart pounded. A strange sense of unity was felt.
I tilted my head back. A few steps away after putting the necklace on me, Ellia was looking at me with a warm smile.
She was someone I was truly grateful for.
Helping me at the gate terminal was one thing,
and I'd received a lot of help from her for various little things in Siyoram since then, too.
The Confession Necklace I'd just received was no different.
Ellia and her family called it repayment to a benefactor, but someday I wanted to return the favor in kind.
Now, to test the Confession Necklace.
It expresses the mind in voice. So it works by thinking to myself, right?
'Thank you.'
I said it inwardly. At the same time, the Confession Necklace quivered, consuming a tiny amount of mana.
[Thank you.]
A voice came from the necklace. The tone was blunter than the smartwatch's voice.
'Oh.'
It really works. Right as I was marveling at it, the necklace fed on my mana again. However, the amount was a bit more than before.
[It's amazing.]
[I'm hungry.]
[I want milk.]
[It hurts.]
[I'm scared.]
[I'm sleepy.]
[I hate studying.]
[Conquering the Tower.]
[Curse-Lifting Jewel.]
[My arm hurts.]
[I'm cold.]
[Strangulation.]
[I like Ellia.]
[I like you.]
'?'
"Huh?"
I was gaping blankly, and Ellia was blinking.
[What is this.]
* * *
[Player Correction System: Affection]
Lee Ha-yul→Ellia Srade
●●●●●●●○○○(67▷71/100)
｢Affection｣ ｢Gratitude｣ ｢Chick｣
[｢Curse of Silence｣ lifting conditions not satisfied.]
[｢Curse of Solitude｣ lifting conditions not satisfied.]