Chapter 327 – Meetings #3-15 (1)
My whole body is cold.
My whole body is cold.
My whole body is stiff.
I don’t know what the situation is.
What have you been through and what have you been doing?
They seem to vaguely come to mind, but they struggle as if they are in a dream, unable to grasp the reality.
A state of being faintly conscious, but not cut short.
1 second feels like eternity, 10 years feel like an instant, the boundary between dreams and reason…
And, after being lost in a swamp of consciousness that I don’t know where.
Then, at some point, my consciousness was forcibly raised to the surface.
‘… Huh?’
——So, Number 13 regained consciousness.
A body that had not felt anything until just a moment ago, as if it were above the clouds, or as if it had fallen into deep water.
Now it felt heavy, as if several sandbags had been put on it, and I felt myself lying on a very cold, hard floor.
His blinking eyes weren’t used to the light, so it took a while for him to regain sight.
“Wake up, number 13. Your body has been fully restored a long time ago. How long will you linger?”
“… Boss?”
Turning my head to the side, I saw the boss sitting with his knees erect at a distance.
The eyes that were looking this way were dark, and yet, somehow, they seemed futile.
It was number 13 whose head wasn’t working properly just a moment ago.
However, seeing Violet looking at him, it was only then that No. 13 could recall what had happened.
Like Rahe or Dorothy.
In the end, he and Ashe were completely defeated by Rahe.
And Rahe would have left after neglecting the two.
And the fact that Violet is here, already Dorothy——
“I was frozen for an hour. The ice of that woman, even if she dies, it won’t melt.”
“I rewinded the time of the ice and rescued him~ Seobang-nim~.”
Ashe was also by her side.
Hachee looked as usual, but her movements were uncomfortable and some of her clothes had been cut off in the first place.
Number 13 watched with her own eyes as her arms and legs were cut off by Rahe’s sword.
It seems that he managed to rewind time and recover, but his eyes showed fatigue, perhaps because he used magic continuously.
And.
Number 13, who had been pierced through the middle of his body by an ice pillar, had been left frozen so that he could not be resurrected.
When Ashe saved him, she barely returned to life as usual.
“Dorothy, is…”
“… I’ll explain everything. Rather, if you can move now, let’s go up to the lounge. It’s frustrating to stay here any longer.”
Violet said so with a small sigh.
* * *
“Brother… ? Dorothy… ?”
And, the first floor lobby of the villain organization 【Abyss】.
Or, in a place called a lounge, Number 13 and Violet are each sitting on a sofa with a table in the middle.
Violet told me about her conversation with Dorothy an hour ago, and above all about her ‘little sister’.
And at that, Number 13 muttered something nonsense.
“No… That’s ridiculous. Yes, she heard that Dorothy had a sister, but…”
“Yes. Because I heard it too.”
Number 13 muttered, and Violet nodded.
The two of them had been together with Dorothy for a long time, and as a result, they shared most of their inner affairs.
Of course, I didn’t force anything, and I only shared as much as I wanted when I wanted to.
Even so, they had spent such a dense time that they were able to share enough stories without knowing each other.
Dorothy had also talked about her sister.
She’s prettier than herself, taller, has bigger breasts, has good sociability, and has far more diverse knowledge than herself, who only knows research and development… I had a brother like that.
And that brother——One day He died in a villainous terror attack.
… Other than that, nothing more was said.
Judging from the look on Dorothy’s face and the way she spoke at the time, I knew that she still had some regrets about it, but she didn’t bother to ask.
It’s over in the first place.
Because I thought it was pointless to ask.
But when I heard Dorothy’s story, the sister was alive.
What’s more, it is now referred to as the darkness that disturbs this organization.
“No, this is nonsense… Even so, it didn’t seem like Dorothy had lied until recently… After spending several years together, all of a sudden…”
“If so, ‘Her brother, whom she thought was dead, was in fact alive.’… Isn’t that a story?”
Carrying a tray of coffee and refreshments, Ashe came over and said.
In the gloomy atmosphere, the aroma of coffee spreads and seems to lightly soften the air.
It was not in the mood to touch the coffee, but No. 13 unconsciously reached for the cup because of the scent that somehow attracted people.
“It could be… And when she meets her dead brother, her heart is weak and she does everything she asks. Could it be, Boss?”
“… Even so, it’s so unnatural… It’s a request from her younger sister, so it’s one thing…”
To the question in #13, Violet speaks suspiciously.
Her thin eyebrows are furrowed as if she cannot comprehend the situation.
Of all the people in this room, Violet is the most similar to Dorothy in her situation.
However, no matter how much I think about it, it’s hard to believe that the younger brother, who I thought was dead, came back alive and went out like this.
And, above all, I don’t know what the younger brother is thinking.
What the hell are you thinking doing this?
Why did you attack 【Abyss】, and what was the purpose… I don’t know anything.
“No. 13. How about that foresight hero on the hero side? Are you using her to find out something?”
“… I’ve said it before, but it’s a bit difficult. I heard that she still collapses and her consciousness goes back and forth——”
Aria, the hero of the 7th division.
Although she is one of the most powerful foresight in this era, she hides that ability herself.
In addition, the penalty for her wisdom is also large, and it is said that she passed her own wisdom to Ashe of this time frame just a short while ago, and then she collapsed as it was.
She said that foreknowledge, perhaps she instructed the future Ashe to come here like this.
‘… ? Come to think of it, did both Ashe from the future and Ashe from this time hear the same prophecy?’
‘As the future Ashe came, Maybe she’s changed something .’
Thirteen came up with an idea and slurped her coffee before putting the question into her mouth.
A sip of the hot coffee flows down her tongue and flows inside.
And–
“… ?”
“… !!”
She blinked at the taste for a moment, then opened her eyes wide.
Her face softens strangely, and I chew on the lingering aftertaste while chewing on her mouth, where her coffee passed just a moment ago.
Delicious.
It’s really, really delicious!!
It is so delicious that I wonder if there is such a delicious coffee.
All the thoughts I was busy thinking about are erased in an instant, and only the taste and aroma of the coffee I tasted now fills my head.
“Hey… Thing… ?”
And that impression was the same for Violet.
She, too, was blinking her eyes in amazement as she raised her glass.
As if trying to make sure she wasn’t mistaken about something, she tilted her glass again to taste it.
Then, realizing that it really did taste right, she blinked her eyes in amazement.
To Ashe, who was puzzled by their reaction, No. 13 asked while holding her glass with trembling hands.
“Ahh, you have this… Did you ride it?”
“No, That person over there.”
Ashe turns her head to either side.
I followed that gaze.
At the stairway leading to the lobby and lounge here, I saw someone standing there as if secretly spying on this place.
“Hello ♪ Is the coffee good ♪?”
Olive hair with glasses.
Unlike before, when it was braided into two pigtails, he is now a prisoner of the villain organization [Lesserat], Who lives with his wavy hair undone.
Former 7th division heroInterestApple, a master of mind manipulation, greeted me with a sweet smile.
* * *
“Eh… Ah… What… ?”
“Thank you, Captain, for listening to my request ♪”
“Huh… ? Uh, you… The organization’s coffee dame… Sugar… ? What… ?”
Ashe seemed confused.
Apparently, she had heard that this woman was in charge of the organization’s coffee, so she left it as it was.
Of course, she’s also a spy planted by Apple on Hero’s side, and she’s pretty familiar with what she looks like.
However, at some point, she fell under Apple’s hypnosis, and it seems that she regarded Apple as a mere member of the coffee department.
Without any awareness of being hypnotized.
It’s just that I’m hypnotized at some point, and I become Apple’s puppet limbs.
It’s not a superpower given by a constellation, it’s a pure human skill.
No matter how talented an Awakener is, it is unavoidable…
“To the great boss of [Abyss], And Dear No. 13, who is my masterI give you my deepest greetings.”
“I feel very sorry for suddenly interfering like this.”
“However, I thought it would be of some help in this matter, so I took the risk of visiting you like this.”
“Please, I ask for your understanding and forgiveness.”
Apple, who is such a hypnosis and brainwashing specialist, smiles like a flower and bows his head deeply like an action in a play…
