Chapter 101 – Episode 101. Eat the Nightmare (1)
I had time to slowly open my closed eyes and look up at the moon in the window.
It is a position that is no different from before.
Is it an illusion, or is it because time has not passed as much as I thought.
“… Cool.”
However, in either case, the burden was overwhelming the body.
The moment I lose my mind even a little, I will collapse right away…
Yes, it must be natural since all the blood is pouring out of the hole called the hole.
“Dave, are you okay?”
Katarina starts to approach me, worried about me.
She, too, guarded her entrance, and her body was covered in her own blood.
Probably the blood of the guys she disposed of while guarding her entrance. It looks like she has many minor injuries, but the struggle for breath must be more due to exhaustion than blood loss.
“… Just hold on.”
It was because of her that she was able to catch and eat the dreamer left in Heira’s mind.
But she showed her gratitude for him, and what came out was the blood that filled her mouth.
Damn it, isn’t it easy to defeat dreamers who have lived for hundreds of years with human mental strength?
I guess I should be glad that I was able to do this much with the medicine Ymir gave me.
“Dave…”
“… You don’t have to guard the entrance any more?”
When I tried to ignore Katarina’s concerns about me and asked, she turned to her entrance without further questioning my condition.
“Yes, fortunately… For some reason, the number of people coming in from the middle has decreased.”
“… Do you have an ulterior motive?”
“No. Rather, it is confirmed that the power that binds their minds has weakened.”
Your strength has weakened
Actually, when I checked the entrance of her, I could catch a glimpse of the servants and guards of the mansion she dealt with.
Some died, but there were also those who did not die and only fainted.
During the battle, the power that restrains my mind must have been severed.
As Katarina said, if the power that binds their minds is really lifted, it would mean that they don’t have to worry about an attack coming right away.
As far as right now.
“Are dream demons up to something? I’m exhausted from attacking the hero and the archmage, so I’ll do my best…”
“Yes, I don’t know. Or, other executives, or the human side, noticed and set foot here.”
To figure out what’s going on.
And you’ll have to get out of here to take care of the rest.
Leaving Heira, still unconscious from a long sleep, here.
“… Dave.”
Heira whispers as she lays her head on my lap.
As I stroked her hair, a smile slowly began to form on Heira’s lips.
Are you feeling me even when I’m asleep? If this is enough, even if I’m gone, I won’t be swayed by anxiety like before.
“Katarina.”
Calling out to Katarina, who was watching the scene, she said.
“Am I disappointed?”
Looking at her like this, imagining the feelings she must be feeling.
Yes, if anyone sees the current appearance, they will have many thoughts.
“…Dave.”
“Just rescuing one person from a nightmare is what it is like. Not to mention, she’s not even a formal party member. I risked her life to save a woman who had nothing to do with her goal of leading a party of heroes and defeating him.”
“…”
“…Do you really think you are worthy of following me?”
Even if I cut my throat and leave here, I’m afraid to say anything.
I might resist even to protect the girl in her arms, but I’m sure I’ll be far away from what she expects.
To the extent that she, like me, would choose to keep her pretense with her, who was forced to betray her humanity.
“… I couldn’t save anyone.”
But she didn’t swing the knife at me.
Rather, borrowing the tranquility that came to this moment, he quietly vomits out the helplessness he is feeling.
“Even though my comrades who lived and died were swayed by their tricks, I could do nothing but slit their throats. Unlike me, you, who saved the person you wanted to save, can definitely be said to be a greater person than me.”
“… Katarina.”
“It must have been what you wanted to do to save her, right?”
A very clear and upright heart.
Faced with her pulpit, I finally let go of her guilt towards her and answered quietly.
“… Okay.”
She already decided to walk on me, and if that heart was maintained, I had an obligation to revive it.
If I can’t even do that to the girl who has protected me up to this point, will she not have the face to face her father later when she falls into hell?
“He is the child I genuinely wanted to save.”
“That desire will also serve as a driving force for your purpose.”
Saying that, Katarina bent her knees and made eye contact with me.
There was not a single trembling in the eyes illuminated by the moonlight. Those straight eyes were directed at me.
“Dave.”
Soon she faced me and said.
“No matter how strong and wise a monarch may be, he can do nothing alone. To achieve their ambitions, they need someone to support them. And those who follow a lord are loyal not because he has done it, but because he has shown it. About whether you are qualified to lead someone.”
Yes, that’s enough reason to swear allegiance.
Even if this body and mind collapse, if you pledge allegiance to the end, you have the expectation that your wish will come true.
“I don’t regret following you, who showed me the potential. So let me say it again. The way you go is the way I go, and what you will achieve is my pride. So please do not hesitate to fulfill your will in the future.”
Katarina lowered her head to a position lower than my eyes while saying that.
Anxiety about whether I would be able to revive with such loyalty came over me, but since I had already started, I couldn’t stop.
“Then.”
The two legs that contain such a will gradually stand up even though they are trembling.
Soon, the footsteps began to head toward the exit of the room.
“Then we can’t stop here.”
“Dave-sama, with that body…”
“Katarina. I guess I was a terrible greedy person.
I didn’t look back at her trying to dissuade me. She’s a mess even now, but because she still had work to do.
“Because I have strength and achieve something… There are more things I want to achieve.”
“… Dave.”
“It’s not just Heira. Two people too…”
Serika, who didn’t know anything, whispered her true love to me.
Even Ymir, who knew my true self, could not shake off his feelings for me.
“I don’t want to just use it and let it go. Like you, who swore allegiance to me, and like Heira… I sincerely want to have these two by my side.”
So I can’t stay still in this place.
If it’s impossible, it’s possible, if it’s not possible by force, in order to overcome this situation, even if it’s coming.
“So, I’ll ask for Heira.”
“… Yes.”
Katarina, who understands my feelings and never catches me.
Understanding that it was also the result of trusting me, she left the spot without hesitation.
Her whole body ached and her head ached, but she endured all the pain.
“Cool!”
But she couldn’t help it until her airway was blocked by blood, and she let out her cough while leaning against her wall for a moment.
The moment the pain rises from within.
But what made me hesitate more than that was the anxiety welling up in a corner of my heart.
Can I do it
Even if I, who had become a mess even with Heira, absorbed the power of the dreamers, would it be possible to save the two of them by defeating the damn galboy?
“… Weak sound, get rid of it.”
He regarded even such anxiety as an illusion created by himself, and repeated the steps he had stopped moving again.
It’s not about whether you can or can’t.
It has to be done. No matter how strong the galbo year is, no matter how deep and dark the hearts of the two of them are…
Yeah, didn’t you decide to do it for them? Even now, I decided to repay your feelings for me, but whether it’s the demon lord’s army or the warrior’s party, there’s no way that’s important.
I have something to say to them.
It’s a life I’ve been running away from, but from now on, it has to be different.
Like I did with Heira, taking responsibility for what I’ve done, and paying for it once this situation is over.
“… Yes, yet.”
If necessary, reviving the memories of the two and revealing my true self.
“I have something to tell you…”
Even if it’s not right away, if you’re ready for it, you have to endure it.
At the end of walking with such determination, I arrived at a place where I felt the power of a damn Galbo-year-old who was sensed by my power.
“Two people. Fine…”
As soon as I set foot there, my breath stiffened, and even my legs, which were creaking and moving, became straight as if nails had been driven into place.
And in that state, he scanned everything engraved on his retina.
The interior of the room was broken and shattered as if a strong shock had struck.
In the center of it, Celica’s body was lying naked.
“Sherry…”
The wind blows as soon as you try to say the name. At that moment, another shadow caught my eye as I reflexively directed my gaze through the broken window.
Rough unmanaged black hair and voluptuous nudity.
Like Celica, she wasn’t wearing a single thread, but what was drawn on her face was something far from shame.
No, I don’t see any emotions in the first place. Hardened, cold corners of the mouth and empty, cloudy eyes.
I felt a chill run through my body at the eyes that couldn’t tell if reason existed.
“…Ymir.”
Could it be that it’s already too late?
Already the archmage of the warrior party.
Have I become a puppet of the damn Galvonian?
“Dave?”
Ymir responds immediately to the reflexive whispers that contain such anxiety.
After that, the moment her cloudy eyes turned to me.
“… Under.”
With a smile on her lips, she reached out her hand toward me with her back to the broken window and spoke softly.
“Somehow it was strange, so that’s how it happened.”
A murmur of incomprehensible meaning.
But there was no time to spend on understanding its meaning.
-Giying.
Right now at this moment.
Because the mana gathered at the tip of her hand facing me was running wild.
