Chapter 163
Chapter 163
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 163
Chapter Title: Forest of Bewildering Dreams (6)
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Kadim thought to himself.
If he had his way, he'd knock out the entire group and cross this forest alone.
Unfortunately, that wasn't an option. No matter how he sliced it, Ilenia was the only one who could guide them. The merchant could be ignored, but that archaeologist-priestess in disguise needed to keep her wits about her and lead the way.
Yet even as the moon sank quietly into the night sky, she was still tormented by the scorching illusions of the wasteland, bubbling up inside her.
"Haa, haa, haa..."
Her cheeks were slick with sweat, strands of hair plastered to her skin. She'd stripped off her damp tunic, leaving only a thin sleeveless slip. Her pale yellow eyes had lost focus, and her thin lips were chapped dry. Even pinching her thigh hard enough to bruise hadn't snapped her out of it.
Kadim glanced up at the night sky. In sync with Ilenia's delusion, the dim moonlight was heating up like the sun, glowing faintly orange. If he left her like this, she'd turn this place into a real wasteland soon enough.
With no choice, he considered knocking her out like Duncan...
...but she suddenly raised a hand to stop him.
"Haa, w-wait a moment, mercenary... haa, I... I thought of something on the way here..."
"...What?"
"Haa, well... to verify it, I need to run a test first... haa, c-could you grab my bag for me?"
Kadim handed her the bag first and saw what happened. He half-expected her to pull out some hidden "something." What emerged instead was utterly out of left field.
A bottle filled with fragrant fruit wine.
Without a word of explanation, the archaeologist uncorked it and blew into the bottle like a horn.
"Wooup, wooup, wooup, wooup..."
Kadim frowned. What was this? Trying to pass out painlessly? It made no sense. Just as he opened his mouth to ask what the hell she was doing...
The forest's scenery shifted.
Kururuk, kuk, kurururu...
Sturdy old tree trunks softened and melted away, green leaves tinting bright and vivid. Once she'd emptied the bottle, the ordinary foliage vanished, replaced by oozing trees and pale pink underbrush. Just like when they'd first entered the forest.
Ilenia's cheeks flushed pink as she lifted the corners of her mouth.
"Huuu... hic, good thing. My guess was right..."
"What did you just do? Explain why the forest changed."
"Hup, hold on... ugh, too much on an empty stomach..."
Ilenia steadied her breathing in silence before rambling out her explanation.
To sum it up, this forest wasn't a place to bring any sense of "reality" into.
Kadim's guess had been half-right. It wasn't wrong that believing illusions made them real here. But the thing you really shouldn't believe in wasn't just the "illusions"—it was the broader concept encompassing them.
"Yes, so... you shouldn't believe in 'reality' itself here... Feeling a sense of 'reality' in this forest summons illusions that become real too. But if you don't feel any 'reality' here, no illusions appear, or if they do, they're just meaningless phantoms..."
The nasty part was that everyone who entered the forest shared their "sense of reality" and "illusions." Denying reality on your own was useless if others felt it. Illusions started affecting only the individual, but as delusions grew, they solidified into reality that impacted everyone.
You could gauge the group's "sense of reality" by the forest's appearance. Weak reality sense meant an unrealistic landscape like now. Strong reality sense meant the familiar, realistic forest scenery.
In other words, no one felt "reality" at first amid the alien scenery... but as they grew accustomed and started feeling "reality"... deadly illusions intruded, gained substance... and eventually became true reality, harming everyone.
"At first, I believed you, but things got weirder and weirder... When the illusions first appeared, I thought they were 'fake' and didn't buy into them. But they kept getting stronger... until I couldn't tell them apart anymore."
"..."
"So I wondered if there was some other cause... Then I dozed off from exhaustion... and the illusions vanished, this scenery appeared just for a moment? That's what led me to this conclusion..."
Forest of Bewildering Dreams.
This forest didn't allow fully awakened minds. The moment you recognized reality, even your inner nightmares became real and bared their teeth. The safest way through was for everyone to constantly maintain a hazy, dreamlike state of mind.
"But honestly... it doesn't make sense, right? You wake up and reality hits you square... No matter how surreal the scenery, how do you walk through thinking it's a dream? We're not sleepwalkers..."
"...So you drank to blur your sense of 'reality'?"
"Heh, you're quick... Yeah, a nice buzz lets you stay hazy even while awake... I wasn't totally sure it'd work, but... seems like it did..."
Ilenia smiled languidly, stroking the cherry-blossom-hued bushes. Her buzz had finally washed away the illusions, restoring her composure.
Kadim's expression, however, remained grim.
"Who the hell messed with this forest like this? No demonic energy, so not demons. But it's got too much deliberate malice to be some accident."
He closed his eyes, probing the darkness.
Then the priestess of the Forgotten God revealed something unexpected.
"The world is full of mysteries and miracles like stars in the sky... But to weave reality and illusion on this scale and sustain it? You'd need a god's power. And considering where we are and whose dreams and illusions these are... it's obvious which god."
"..."
"The Mother who dreams an eternal, unbroken slumber. Hesilia, goddess of the elves, who governs nature and rest."
His empty eyes widened.
It wasn't an unfamiliar name. This game's world had gods for elves and dwarves besides Elga, Atala, and the Forgotten God. They just vanished after the mythic age, so he'd never encountered them in the game or his first playthrough...
"So the elves used her power to make this place? To keep intruders out?"
"Hmm... who knows? It doesn't have to be elves... Someone could have borrowed that power without permission..."
"...What do you mean?"
"I mean, if a higher being capable of stealing a god's transcendent divinity... somehow contacts the god... even without being an elf, they could pull this off..."
"...!"
The moment he heard it, two prime suspects flashed through his mind.
Dragon, and Melissa.
Dragons were innately versed in unfathomable mysteries. Even if one deciphered and wielded a god's power, it wouldn't be shocking.
Melissa was a grand archmage at the pinnacle of wielding mysteries. An atheist, sure, but her insatiable curiosity made scholarly pursuit of divine power plausible.
Plus, he suddenly recalled how she'd left "past illusions" in Vesta more real than reality itself...
'...Melissa wasn't great with illusion magic in the first playthrough. Though 300 years later, she could've mastered it by now...'
Which was true remained unclear. Only this priestess of the Forgotten God knew the reality. She wouldn't speculate without basis. But when pressed further, she brushed it off as drunken nonsense.
Damn, not drunk enough yet. Kadim scowled fiercely. He asked about handling the current situation instead.
"Either get everyone blackout drunk and push through... or find the source of this holy ritual. There's gotta be some sacred relic maintaining the illusions somewhere in the forest... Destroy it, and this place should revert to a normal woods..."
"..."
"Oh, and when that old man wakes up later... knock him out again or make him drink... Who knows what worse than root golems might pop out this time..."
That sparked another big question. Kadim narrowed his eyes sharply.
"Archaeologist, didn't you say the forest changes and illusions strengthen just from feeling 'reality'? So why haven't I been affected much, even without drinking?"
Ilenia suddenly wobbled. This time, the buzz was really hitting.
"Hmm, yeah...? Why was that...? Illusions are part of reality too... Maybe you refused so firmly? Or, hic... you're just so weird you cut off your own arm stone-cold sober..."
"..."
With that, she declared she needed rest and flopped down, using her bag as a pillow. Her breathing evened out instantly. Kadim stared piercingly at her face half-hidden by tousled black hair, sighed, and turned away.
But Ilenia wasn't truly asleep yet.
A moment later, she cracked her eyes open and stared at the warrior's back. Through the dreamlike swaying colors of the forest and the haze of alcohol and fatigue, she mulled over an answer she couldn't voice.
It's because deep in your subconscious, Sir Kadim...
You don't see this world itself as 'real.'
Thanks to finding a countermeasure, the group suffered no more illusions after that.
Though when the merchant woke, there was a close call as the forest nearly reverted...
"Choose, Duncan. Pass out again, or finish this bottle."
"...Pardon?"
"Passing out isn't a bad option. I'll make it cleaner than last time."
"I'll drink!!"
...He'd strong-armed an instant life-or-death choice to avert crisis.
Duncan, trembling in confusion, accepted the explanation once informed. No worries about sobriety sparking "reality" mid-journey—Ilenia had brought an absurd amount of booze.
The problem was, absurdly abundant.
"This one's from the north, wine made from silver grapes grown in eternal snow! This beer's from the empire's richest soil in Yorpen, brewed with barley. This fruit wine's concentrated from a hundred wild fruits..."
A feast of exotic liquors from across the continent. You half-wondered if their real goal in the great forest was selling booze to dragons.
Good stuff aplenty, excuse unavoidable... the group poured it down like they were distilling in their guts. Even Kadim, who didn't need to drink, sampled occasionally. He shunned most indulgences save one: alcohol.
He didn't overdo it. Ilenia guided, but they needed clear heads for threats or the ritual's source. His tolerance was legendary anyway—a few barrels to get him buzzed.
Thus, the sole sober one amid the drunks, forging through the forest, when Kadim suddenly sensed it.
"..."
A sharp pang in his brain, bloodlust throbbing, and unfamiliar presences lurking far off in the woods.
The rest were at camp, boozing. Not blackout yet, but too sloshed to move quick. Kadim gripped Duncan's shoulder and murmured low.
"...Duncan, gotta check something—I'll be gone a bit. Mind the archaeologist."
"Y-yes, milord..."
"And if you get a chance, don't forget the favor I asked."
Duncan snapped alert, setting down his bottle quietly. The burly warrior vanished into the rippling trees.
An awkward silence fell over the booze fest. Ilenia stared blankly where he'd gone, sighed, and sipped. Duncan fumbled for words, finally asking why she'd brought so much liquor.
"That... I heard the mercenary likes his drinks... thought it'd help us bond over some... sigh..."
"..."
The glum woman took another swig. One became two, two three, three four, then a bottle, two, three...
Thus began the unrestrained binge—and an unexpected ramble.
"Mister, it's just... so frustrating! Hic, I just wanna tell him everything I know... but if I do, hic, disaster! B-because of that 'watching eye,' it'll ruin the plan! Y-you get it, right, mister?"
"Uh... no clue."
"N-no, mister, listen... I've been h-helping Sir Kadim all this time, s-seeing the wasteland, studying hard for the great forest, guiding the way, hic, f-figuring out this forest's secret, a-and all that... right?"
"Uh... y-yeah...?"
"So why doesn't Sir Kadim ever trust me? W-we gotta go see the d-dra-dragon, for real... Never praises me for doing good... treats me like a con artist, hic, so cold... D-do you know how much that hurts, mister?"
"Uh... yes... I get it. He was the same with me at first... My wife too when we met..."
"Huh? Y-you're married? Hic, why didn't you invite me to the wedding?"
"...I married way before meeting you, miss—how could I?"
"Oh... r-right... I'm such an idiot... Still, hic, if you remarry, I'll come for sure... invite me then...?"
"..."
...Gods preserve us, Remillion.
Duncan was half-stunned witnessing this unseen side of the archaeologist. He desperately chimed in to match her mood. Empty bottles piled at their feet.
The pent-up archaeologist downed seven bottles solo before passing out cold. Garbled sleep-talk dribbled from her crooked lips.
"Hehe, hng, al-lef... crpe-s-dra mag-n-si... ram-bal-k-ta p-siheb, hehe, hehehe, hng..."
"..."
And at last, her ever-guarded bag lay defenseless.
Duncan shook his head, steeling himself.
From what he'd seen, those two weren't the lovers he'd first imagined. Ilenia helped in her way, but Kadim distrusted her shady side... something like that. Her complaints suggested no deep malice.
But he couldn't ignore Kadim's order to search the bag.
It wasn't about the promised reward. He'd been dead weight so far. Couldn't guide or help Kadim, just hallucinating and causing trouble... His pride as the "best guide" was shredded, rolling bruised in his heart.
This wouldn't fly with his family on the line. It was a once-in-a-lifetime shot. He had to uncover her secret, prove his worth.
Duncan drew a deep breath and flipped his cloak.
"...Hup."
Flutter—!
A presence stealthier than a ghost slipped toward Ilenia's bag.