Chapter 70
Chapter 70
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 70
Chapter Title: Reverse Dream
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Crackle...
High in the sky, a massive magic circle slowly rotated, scattering snowflakes like frost needles.
Beneath it, where even the light of the heavens had been blotted out, the corrupted spirits brushed by the snowflakes froze solid, shattered, and then swarmed back to life as if reborn, wriggling into motion.
“…….”
At the center of that magic circle.
A man wearing a crown of ice on his head.
Duke Delbar stood silently atop the mansion, gazing down below.
“Your Grace.”
An elderly voice called from behind.
It was Tanatos, the old butler who had served at his side for decades.
Traces of spirits still clung, un-dried, to his cheeks, and his white gloves above those hands were charred black.
“…This is no ordinary matter.”
Tanatos took his place behind the duke.
At the edge of his gaze, along the boundary between the forest and the mansion, corrupted spirits were pouring in without respite.
Even when shattered, even reduced to ash, these impure beings awakened like from a dream and stood once more in the same spot.
“It’s different from before. The numbers… they’re overwhelming.”
“…….”
The assault of corrupted spirits.
The uproar caused by the witch Bellamy, the Calamity of Lust, was nothing new.
She had always unleashed corrupted spirits to sow chaos in the empire and strife among countless houses.
But this time was different.
“…They’re being far too persistent.”
“They’re also far too deliberate.”
The spirits were avoiding the center.
The chaos was mere camouflage, and beyond it lay a clear objective.
“A diversion, then.”
“That seems likely.”
“Meaning the chaos isn’t the point.”
Think.
The Delbar ducal house, called a sanctuary.
There could only be one reason to invade this place: they had an objective.
But that ‘objective’ couldn’t possibly break through head-on.
The mansion’s inhabitants were each on another level of power.
Unless the witch herself appeared in the flesh, a frontal clash was pointless.
And yet, they chose this timing, this sheer volume, for the attack—for one reason alone.
To draw attention.
“…….”
The duke’s eyes slowly shifted toward the boundary line.
At the edge where white snow settled, spirits beyond it shattered and stirred back to motion like awakening from a dream.
“…Don’t forget.”
The enemy was a calamity.
The word ‘common sense’ could never pair with it.
Predictions ended in failure, logic rendered utterly powerless before it.
Thus, the duke was certain.
“…They’re already inside.”
The witch… that calamity had already sown its seeds within Delbar.
Invisible to the eye, but undoubtedly… it had already burrowed deep within, and one day, it would surely bloom.
And the moment that seed bloomed, what would be revealed was one thing alone.
A rift.
The duke’s gaze sank.
Beyond the cold snowscape, he spoke in a chill voice.
“Where are you….”
…The rift that would tear Delbar apart.
Who was that rift?
“…My life?”
The duke closed his eyes briefly.
He knew better than anyone that his death equated to Delbar’s downfall.
But that was impossible by force alone.
It would only lead to meaningless battles of attrition against the mana-blessed Duke Delbar.
“Or perhaps….”
The duke lowered his gaze to his daughter.
Amid the snowfield, hair white as fresh snow flickered.
Karnel.
But… she was stronger than the duke.
She, too, could not be harmed by direct force.
“Then….”
The one who could create a rift piercing through all of Delbar.
The weakest in terms of force, with no means to resist an attack.
The one whose collapse from within could crumble Delbar’s very foundation.
“…….”
There was only one answer.
“Tanatos.”
“Your orders.”
At the duke’s call, Tanatos knelt without hesitation.
He did not question.
He did not probe for reasons.
He awaited only the command.
“Go to Amelia at once, with Karnel.”
Too late.
The seeds sown by the calamity had already fully bloomed.
Those flowers were even now, in this very moment, cracking the land called Delbar.
***
“Mask….”
I unconsciously touched my cheek.
No cold texture, nothing… it felt unfamiliar.
“Did I… wear a mask?”
I think I did.
At some point, I’d always had it on, and I couldn’t remember how to take it off—or if I ever had.
‘…Why?’
Whenever I spoke, pain would surge.
My organs twisting, blood pouring from my lips, agony so brutal I’d lose consciousness.
Was that…
Just natural?
“…Why didn’t I speak?”
Did someone tell me not to?
…Or.
Did I decide that myself?
‘…No way.’
I wore the mask, lost my voice, and that had become my everyday.
But now…
I was speaking without any pain.
Not a drop of blood from my mouth, my heart calm as could be.
Even touching my cheek, no trace of the cold white mask.
“…….”
Were all those memories true?
Or lies I’d made up myself?
[ ! ]
Then… a square something popped up in one corner of my vision.
[ You have been led into the Backside World 「Reverse Dream」. ]
[ The player’s ‘anomaly’ has become ‘truth,’ and reality has inverted. ]
“…What the hell is this.”
Swipe, swipe.
I waved my hand.
But the square window wouldn’t vanish.
It blinked away on its own before my eyes, spitting out messages.
[ ! ]
[ ! ]
[ ! ]
[ Danger detected! ]
“Shit… what’s your problem.”
The square kept flashing right in my face.
And with that damn incessant ding-ding ringing in my ears…
Irritation started to build.
[ 【Mask of Silence】 has been released! ]
[ Activating protocol! ]
[ … … … ]
[ ! ]
[ Failed! ]
“You’re fucking kidding me….”
I spat a curse and whipped my head away.
My mind, my consciousness… it felt like they were starting to slip, one by one.
It was utter shit.
“…….”
And…
I unconsciously called out someone’s name.
“Levi.”
In the quiet room.
I turned toward the bed and asked a response that would never come.
“Can you see this?”
No answer.
“……Levi?”
Silence.
No presence, no flapping sounds, no chomping noises…
Not even the steady human-like breaths from a mere fish.
It couldn’t be helped.
‘Levi’ didn’t exist.
Never had, from the start.
…And yet here I was, talking to someone who didn’t exist.
Because it felt familiar.
Or… because it felt so real.
***
Harsh breaths and pounding footsteps on the floor.
“……!”
“M-Mother…!”
Three figures entered Karnel’s field of vision.
Amelia, doubled over and coughing.
Nemesis, slumped against the wall with bloodshot tears.
And…
“…Adel?”
Adel, collapsed with a sword taking the form of the abyss gripped in his hand.
And straddling him was…
“……Mikkulebi?”
Chomp chomp chomp!
Mikkulebi had climbed atop Adel’s mask and was slapping his cheeks back and forth with its fins.
Each smack smack on the mask made Karnel’s heart jolt in sync.
“Wh-what…! What are you doing, seriously!”
Karnel rushed over in a panic and snatched up Mikkulebi.
Caught in her slender hands, Mikkulebi blinked its eyes and trembled as if deeply wronged.
“…Madam!”
Tanatos, arriving right behind, rushed straight to Amelia and supported her body.
“Cough…!”
Amelia clutched her throat, her breaths boiling hot, her body soaked in sweat.
Tanatos placed a hand on her forehead and immediately frowned.
“She’s burning up….”
Amelia’s body was hot as a volcano.
Tanatos urgently shouted toward Karnel.
“Miss…! Water and ice—now!”
“Huh? Oh, y-yes…!”
Karnel snapped to her senses, flung the Mikkulebi in her hand far away, and then.
Mana swirled, conjuring a torrent of cold water and ice.
Water and ice poured out with a clamor, and Tanatos deftly applied them to Amelia’s wrists and nape.
- Sizzle…
Steam hissed faintly.
The ice melted on contact, and the water vaporized wherever it touched.
“Cryopathy….”
Cryopathy.
A rare disease from prolonged exposure to mana or magic, or poor circulation thereof… causing extreme spikes or drops in body temperature.
And ultimately, cells unable to endure, melting or freezing, leading to inevitable death—an incurable affliction.
“Miss, I’ll handle Madam and Nemesis.”
Tanatos carefully lifted Amelia into his arms and levitated Nemesis with magic.
“…Got it.”
Karnel gave a short nod.
Tanatos vanished immediately.
And…
The remaining Karnel quietly leaned back against the wall, silently watching Adel… waiting for him to wake.
“…….”
Five minutes.
Ten minutes.
Thirty minutes passed.
An hour passed… and Adel hadn’t so much as twitched.
Then…
“Karnel!”
Violet came rushing in from afar, out of breath.
Her hands were caked in remnants of corrupted spirits, and panic was clear on her disheveled face beyond her tousled hair.
“What’s wrong with little bro now?”
“No idea.”
Karnel replied curtly, without even turning her head.
“No, well, at least put him in bed! Why leave him on the floor….”
Violet gawked incredulously at Adel, then glared at Karnel.
Karnel took the stare impassively, then…
“Ah.”
Nodded faintly.
She scooped up Adel in one motion and carried him to his room—his bed.
“Finally treating him like a person….”
As Violet sighed.
Chomp chomp.
Mikkulebi hopped right onto the bed as if waiting, bouncing up onto Adel’s stomach.
Then rolled onto its back and settled in for a leisurely nap.
***
Roughly a week later.
“Madam… is not well.”
“…….”
“Her cryopathy symptoms are worsening.”
Amelia could no longer rise from her cryopathy…
“And His Grace… for a full week now, hasn’t slept a wink.”
The duke had single-handedly repelled the corrupted spirits’ assaults for seven straight days without closing his eyes once.
Every day, amid the white snow blanketing the sky, manipulating the magic circle to halt the spirits’ invasion.
And during that time…
“…….”
Karnel hadn’t left Adel’s side.
Silently, steadfastly, unwavering.
By her side, one extremely grating voice.
“…Karnel, you didn’t kill little bro, right?”
“What kind of nonsense is that!”
Karnel snapped back, and Violet fired right back.
“No, then how do you explain this! Sleeping a whole week straight?”
Adel still lay motionless on the bed.
“I mean, he’s not dead! How can anyone sleep like a log for a week?!”
She turned her gaze, pointing at the fish comfortably napping belly-up on Adel’s stomach.
“And what’s that?!”
“…Mikkulebi.”
“I’m not asking because I don’t know…!”
“It’s been like that the whole week.”
“Hasn’t woken up once?”
“No. Opens its eyes sometimes.”
“Then why’s he still lying there?!”
“……Probably too lazy to move.”
Violet clawed at her hair, her face a mix of dream or reality.
Just as a sigh heavy as the world’s weight burst from Violet’s lips…
She suddenly perked up as if remembering something.
“Try magic or something!”
“……Magic?”
Karnel blinked.
“…Karnel.”
Violet stared at her very slowly… very coldly.
“……Don’t tell me you haven’t thought to try a single spell this whole time?”
“…….”
Sweat beaded on Karnel’s forehead.
She slowly turned her head, averting her eyes.
But…
Snap!
Violet swiftly grabbed her chin, forcing her gaze back.
“Do it now!!”
***
“…President.”
“Heh… what is it, Adel!”
In the room where I lay.
Swipe swipe.
Karnel paced back and forth, swinging a sword made of starlight.
The sight felt strangely unreal, almost dreamlike.
“What are you doing in my room….”
“Heh, Adel… technically, this is my room too.”
Karnel wagged her finger side to side as she spoke.
“I’m gonna be a magic swordsman!”
“Ah… I see.”
A sword, huh…
Somehow, it doesn’t suit her.
“…?”
I suddenly tilted my head.
Why did I think that?
Why did ‘sword’ feel so out of place for Karnel?
“Hmm……”
My thoughts slowed, the sense of wrongness sharpening.
Is this a memory issue?
Or just a fleeting unease.
I couldn’t pinpoint the reason.
“Why the serious face?”
“Just thinking.”
“What a zero-point answer.”
Familiar tone.
Familiar space.
It all felt so natural… it made everything seem fake instead.
I turned my back to Karnel, lost in thought.
‘What’s wrong with me?’
I looked down at my fingertips.
Fingers… five.
No anomalies.
Stroke.
I touched my face.
Something… empty.
Like something that should be there was missing—an inexplicable void.
But outwardly, no issue.
‘Hmm…….’
As I drew a slightly heavy breath…
- Clang.
A loud noise.
Karnel must have dropped her sword.
I naturally turned to look at her and asked.
“You okay?”
“……….”
But… no reply.
Unnaturally quiet.
“……?”
I followed her gaze again.
That instant, our eyes met.
……Karnel’s face… flushed beet red and frozen.
Eyes wide… lips quivering…
“President?”
“…Hic, h-hic.”
Karnel suddenly started hiccupping wildly.
Did she see a ghost?
“H-Hic… h-hic….”
I started to approach, then paused.
Karnel covered her face with both hands, peeking at mine through her fingers.
Her eyes traced my face, her lips trembling nonstop.
“M-M-M-Mask….”
She stammered helplessly.
And… as I called her name once more…
“President—”
“D-Don’t speak…!!”
Karnel practically shrieked.
Her cheeks burned scarlet, tears welling in her eyes.
Her gaze fixed on one thing.
My face.