Chapter 575 – #118_Betrayal(4)
#575
1.
“Hah!”
As soon as I regained my senses, I jolted my upper body upright.
Looking around, I saw the same room as before the trial.
Even if I broke and smashed things inside, it was all within the VR space created by magic.
The external environment didn’t change at all.
I had forgotten for a moment, probably because I had just come from an intense battle.
I fumbled over my body, which was dripping with cold sweat.
It was perfectly fine, like new, without any holes.
My mind was also intact, and there was no sudden personality hijacking or anything like that.
After sitting blankly for a while, Siwoo reaffirmed.
“I won.”
I cleared the trial.
Even though I had some penalties, I defeated the Black Knight who had even broken free from his shackles.
In the beginning, I couldn’t do anything and was completely overwhelmed by the Black Knight.
“I won.”
It felt like I had soloed a raid boss that was considered an impregnable fortress with all sorts of chaotic patterns.
That feeling was something any man could relate to.
Adrenaline surged through me.
The sense of accomplishment and the intoxication of victory flowed through my veins with an even stronger intensity.
I clenched my fist and looked at the sofa where Luelie always waited in a languid pose, and delivered the good news.
“Your Majesty! I cleared the trial very splendidly!”
But Luelie wasn’t there, half-asleep, saying, ‘Huh? Huh? What are you talking about? Did you really clear the trial?’ and then genuinely congratulating me.
It seemed she was still in Akula, indulging in magazines.
I was excited to tell Luelie this wonderful heroic tale, but then I paused.
“Huh?”
The golden fractal patterns that had been encroaching on the obsidian-like surface of the Cradle of Dreams were slowly fading.
And next to it, the Red Branch, which should have been in the Jemanae mansion, was gently placed.
The real Red Branch that I had summoned using a fake in the trial.
Did it respond to the call even in reality after leaving the trial?
Or was it able to penetrate into the trial because it was summoned in reality?
I wasn’t sure which was the case.
As I recalled the fierce battle, a sense of fatigue washed over me.
Except for the fact that my magic was depleted, there was no physical exhaustion.
But the mental exhaustion was enormous, so I sat on the sofa for a moment and took time to review the battle.
“That was really awesome.”
I was happy that I had won against an opponent who had been giving me trouble, but the process was also incredibly dramatic.
It was like sweeping the pot with a bluff that risked 500 million at a single turn.
It was a heroic tale that could easily be the topic of conversation over drinks for a night, but I wasn’t sitting here just to indulge in self-admiration again.
I closed my eyes and quietly replayed the last moment.
It was time to review and get feedback by watching the replay.
Summoning the real Red Branch at the end was impromptu.
It required several instances of luck, several instances of chance, and several more instances of mad gambles.
I tried to go back over the details one by one, but…
“I can’t do that twice.”
There was only one conclusion.
At least, unless I achieved twice the magical accomplishment I have now, or unless I could control the Red Branch more reliably, I couldn’t do it again.
The reason I was able to summon the Red Branch in the trial in the first place was because there was a ‘fake’ that served as an imperfect medium.
Drawing a picture on a blank sheet of paper.
Coloring in a picture that already has lines drawn on it.
If I had to choose which one was more difficult, it would definitely be the former.
The super play that I had executed with a sudden flash of inspiration was a one-time thing that could only be used under very difficult conditions, and was virtually impossible to reproduce, which was a bit disappointing, but…
Still, it was a meaningful gain.
I had defeated the Black Knight with improvisation, and I had also seen the new possibilities of the Red Branch in advance.
If you try to be full on the first spoonful, your stomach will burst.
“Let’s recharge with some sugar.”
Now, should I go back and get a leisurely and happy sleep?
Just as I was about to go back, dragging my tired head,
“You were here, as I thought?”
I heard a languid voice that had become familiar over the past few days.
It was a voice that I thought I might not hear for a while, maybe even forever.
A long corridor with pillars lined up on both sides.
At the end of the corridor, which was so vast that even a normal voice echoed, stood a witch in a nun’s habit.
“Dorothy? Weren’t you going to work?”
She walked briskly on the red carpet.
Her steps were as welcoming as if she had met a very old friend.
“Yeah, I was going to, but I had some business left.”
“Didn’t we make a promise?”
“I said I was leaving today. There are still 16 hours left in the day, aren’t there?”
It was indeed Dorothy’s usual nonchalance.
Dorothy was getting closer.
“I guess that’s true.”
The emotion I felt at Dorothy’s sudden appearance was unexpectedly welcome.
Was it because of the guilt I felt for having sent her away so coldly?
Or was it because I had subconsciously concluded that she wasn’t a bad person?
As Dorothy had said, she was going to ‘disappear tomorrow,’ so there was still some time left before sunset.
Thinking about how happy Luelie would be at her surprise return, I felt happy too.
The distance between the two was about 20 meters.
Siwoo’s steps, which had been approaching Dorothy, stopped.
His heart, which had been elated by the victory, also stopped.
The moment he was about to face her defenselessly, a sudden sense of unease seeped into his spine.
“Dorothy, could you stop for a moment?”
“Huh? Why?”
At a distance where they could see each other’s expressions in detail, Dorothy stopped as Siwoo asked.
The source of the unease was, in a way, trivial.
Also, bringing up the question about it here was no different from showing that I still didn’t trust Dorothy.
Should I show respect for Dorothy by ignoring the trivial unease?
Or should I resolve the unease by showing that I wouldn’t let my guard down until the end?
After a moment of contemplation, I made a choice.
“Where is Your Majesty?”
“She was rolling around in Akula, reading magazines.”
It was an answer that was not strange, and it was an extremely ordinary answer.
The last time Siwoo had seen Luelie, she was also flipping through magazines in her bedroom, so there was no room for doubt in her answer itself.
But.
“Why didn’t you come together?”
This was the core of the unease.
Luelie had been quite depressed after Dorothy left.
If a friend she thought was leaving had returned, wouldn’t she try not to leave her side for even a moment?
It might be a delusion, but if it was Luelie that Siwoo had observed so far, she would definitely act that way.
Siwoo had been separated from Luelie while he was undergoing the trial.
Dorothy had returned to Akula first when Siwoo had lost consciousness.
And Dorothy had come here alone without Luelie.
Of course, there was a possibility that it was simply Luelie’s whim.
In fact, no matter how hard Siwoo tried to predict, Luelie often did unexpected things nonchalantly.
“She seems to really like the magazine I gave her.”
Dorothy gestured and joked.
She didn’t seem to be hurt by Siwoo’s suspicion, and her reaction was very Dorothy-like.
But why this uneasiness?
Was I missing something?
“I’m sorry. I think I overreacted a bit. I thought you came to offer a scout proposal to Luelie without her knowing.”
It was the most likely scenario.
It was possible that Dorothy had come to kidnap Siwoo right away without meeting Luelie.
If she was willing to offer a salary negotiation, it meant that she liked him to some extent, so it was quite possible, wasn’t it?
“If I did that, I would be scolded by the Queen, wouldn’t I? More than that, what is that? It’s something I haven’t seen before.”
Dorothy asked, pointing at the Red Branch.
“It’s my main weapon.”
“You fight with something like a uranium rod?”
She had grasped its characteristics quite accurately at a glance.
From a magical point of view, the Red Branch was closer to a spear that emitted deadly radioactive elements.
“You could say that.”
I smiled wryly and lowered my guard.
As I approached her nonchalantly, Dorothy smiled.
“You don’t doubt me anymore?”
And.
-Clang!
A loud friction sound of metal clashing against metal was heard from Siwoo’s side.
“Oh my? You blocked that?”
Dorothy, who had thrust a white sword into his side the moment he came within range, and Siwoo, who had twisted and knocked it away with the Red Branch as if he had expected it from the beginning.
While Dorothy widened her eyes in surprise, he leaped back to create distance.
It was a surprise attack with almost no warning, which could have been fatal if he had let his guard down even a little.
Siwoo hadn’t completely lowered his guard.
He had only tried to create a situation according to Dorothy’s intentions, remembering that she had tried to get closer until he stopped her.
He showed trust and, on the contrary, narrowed the distance, showing his empty side.
The result of the simple test was clear.
At least, she wouldn’t stab a knife into an empty side to build friendship.
“…Haa.”
For now, I was relieved that I had blocked the surprise attack.
At the same time, I was disappointed.
Even though I realized that it was right to suspect her until the end, I didn’t feel a clear sense of ‘I was right!’
I just felt terribly bitter.
“I thought you were a softie~ You’re quite something, aren’t you?”
Just once, I wish it had gone as I had hoped.
Even if it was confusing and complicated, I wish it had ended with the lesson that ‘not all enemies are bad.’
A truly resentful complaint grew along with the resentment.
I tore away that sloppy and soft mindset as if I was ripping it apart.
Now was not the time to indulge in useless sentiments.
The fact that Dorothy was here, and the fact that she had openly started a fight, meant that Luelie’s safety could not be guaranteed either.
If she had launched a surprise attack on Luelie as she had done on Siwoo, Luelie would have certainly been defeated.
“I’m sorry, but I’ve never trusted you.”
The other-dimensional barrier began to extend behind Dorothy.
A chapel that seemed to have been built with pillars of sublimity and bricks of holiness manifested as if it was covering the vast corridor.
“As I said before~ You’re really bad at it. Lying.”
Just 10 minutes after finishing the trial.
With Dorothy’s teasing laughter, the second battle began.
