“Where on earth did you go? I couldn't even find a trace of you.”
A few days ago, Silvervein City had just experienced an unimaginable disaster. But under the command of the Azure Sky Queen, a large number of mages had already begun reconstruction efforts, including pacifying the border refugees and rebuilding structures.
Although the disaster had passed, an indescribable, suffocating heavy feeling still lingered in the air.
In a half-collapsed tavern, there weren't many customers in the early morning.
The bartender was boredly wiping a scratched wooden counter with a rag of indistinguishable original color, while a few drunkards, seemingly hungover since last night, snored loudly at a corner table.
The air was thick with the sour smell of cheap ale and the lingering greasy aroma of some unidentified roasted meat.
When Kaila arrived at this tavern, those were the first words she heard.
This left her momentarily dazed.
The red-haired woman slammed a huge wooden mug heavily onto the table, the white foam overflowing from the rim and trickling down the grain of the wood.
“Fill it up!” she said boisterously.
The tavern owner filled her mug to the brim with cheap beer.
Yet Sylvia still drank it with great relish.
“Little Shi, you...” Kaila hesitated.
A week ago, when this woman was still Duke Elizabeth's trusted maid, she wore a tight maid outfit, but every gesture of hers still carried the competence and decency cultivated in a high-ranking noble's mansion.
But now...
She wore a gray robe pieced together from various coarse linens and torn sacks, with frayed and scorched marks intentionally made along the edges.
Her red hair was casually tied in a messy bun behind her head, and two streaks of grayish-black furnace ash were smeared across her face.
There was no longer any trace of a maid's poise, but this state actually resembled the Sylvia Kaila had known in her childhood much more.
“I'm asking you, why were you so slow?” Sylvia said in dissatisfaction. “I've been waiting for you for ages.”
“I got delayed by a few things on the way,” Kaila said, pulling out a chair that was missing half of its backrest and sitting down in a perfectly upright posture.
“I can tell,” Sylvia said, scanning Kaila from head to toe.
Although the Hero's signature grayish-white nun's habit was still relatively neat, the weakness radiating from the depths of her soul could not be hidden. The golden holy light that was once blinding was now faint and subdued.
Sylvia carelessly wiped the foam from the corner of her mouth with her sleeve, grabbed the wooden mug, and gulped down several more mouthfuls.
The harsh taste of the cheap ale made her let out a comfortable burp.
“Refreshing,” she said, casually pushing the mug aside and crossing her arms. She leaned back lazily against the chair. “My Class is already 'Beggar' now. Aside from having absolutely nothing, a beggar can do anything, and doing nothing is perfectly reasonable. Of course, the most important thing is that, except for these clothes and the restriction of not carrying money, I don't have to follow any other rules.”
“You don't have money?” the tavern owner, who was pouring drinks, looked up.
“A sucker will pay. Just keep pouring,” Sylvia said casually.
The owner looked at the “sucker” Sylvia was referring to, and when he saw her face clearly, he was instantly startled.
“The Hero?!” He widened his eyes and immediately put away the bottle on the table. “An honor to have you here, Lord Hero. I'll go get the finest wine right away...”
“No need,” Kaila shook her head gently. “Due to my complete resistance to 【Hunger】 and weakness, I do not need to eat.”
“Right... right.” The owner immediately brought out his own intact chair, which still had a straw cushion, and swiftly flipped the open sign on the door to “Closed.”
“You and your friend can chat. Let me know if you need anything. No charge!” He rubbed his hands and retreated to the back room.
Sylvia and Kaila watched the owner leave.
“That's the only bad thing about them, isn't it?” Sylvia said. “The more recognized you are, the deeper the curse becomes.”
“If only you had chosen the same path as me back then. You'd only have to endure the initial backlash of the curse, and it would get easier and easier afterward.”
“I wonder when I'll ever hear you say, 'I don't want to be the Hero anymore.'”
Kaila remained silent.
Sylvia shrugged, looking as if she had expected this.
“Let's not talk about that for now. How are things on your end? Are you going to survive?”
“I'm... fine,” Kaila gave a very brief summary.
Although she had survived,
her physical Strength had been severely weakened.
This was the result of her traveling through various countries, performing the deeds of the Hero, and leaving behind the Hero's name.
A Hero's strength increased exponentially. Although she was currently still slightly stronger than an ordinary adventurer, wanting to fight a Witch or the like was undoubtedly nothing but a pipe dream.
This left Kaila feeling a bit empty.
However, the regression of her strength was exchanged for the return of her sanity and a reduction in the depth of her curse. While an ordinary person might find this an unacceptable price, she had regained the right to breathe.
Moreover, there was a fellow who was even more unreasonable than the curse, who had forcibly dragged her back from the banks of the River Underworld.
At the thought of that fellow, Kaila pursed her lips.
“That's good,” Sylvia said. Seeing that Kaila was reluctant to say more, she didn't press further. “I wonder if Miss Hill's scroll helped at all.”
“Miss Hill? She was here?” Kaila widened her eyes.
She hadn't met Miss Hill in several years. She had originally planned to visit her before the final battle with the Witches, but she hadn't expected so many things to happen this week...
“Where is she?” Kaila asked expectantly.
“She went back,” Sylvia shook her head. “She was muttering about how some dangerous fellow had returned and how she didn't want to be conquered or something, and then she left.”
“A dangerous fellow?” Kaila murmured.
Sophie was indeed very dangerous, but she was actually a good person.
She actually wanted to introduce Miss Hill to her.
It was a bit of a pity.
“I have no idea. She's always been a riddle-maker anyway,” Sylvia shrugged. “She also asked me to pass a message to you.”
“What message?”
“Her exact words were, 'The dial of fate has been violently disrupted. Aside from the world inevitably heading toward its end, nothing else can be predicted. If Kaila also wishes to reach the end, set fate straight, and fulfill her mission, she should go to the snowfield.'”
“The snowfield?” Kaila tilted her head in confusion.
She had been to the snowfield and even fought the Witch there.
Why would she need to go again?
“Didn't she say anything else?”
“No, she's a diviner after all,” Sylvia shrugged, then thought for a moment. “The last keyword she gave was 'oblivion.' By the way, how did you avoid the heavy snows of Laisenia before?”
“Just run faster than the snow,” Kaila said.
“Then I guess Miss Hill probably wants you to let yourself get rained on by the snow, to forget some things—like your stubborn Hero's mission... Hey, don't you dare forget about me.”
Kaila remained silent.
The snow of Laisenia would make one forget everything.
Experiences, common sense, even language and writing would be forgotten together.
It could be said that losing oneself in the snowfield was no different from death.
If a person lost all their memories and could never recall them, and their personality completely changed as well, would they still be the same person?
This was the danger of the curse.
But.
The dial of fate had originally pointed to her ending in death.
The person who had violently disrupted that dial... was undoubtedly Sophie.
What did reaching the end and setting things straight mean?
Kaila's mind uncontrollably replayed the scene at the top of the clock tower.
Sophie's burning forehead had pressed against the back of her hand, her voice broken, tearful, yet dominant to the absolute extreme, smashing every single word into the depths of her soul.
【“Even if I have to turn you into a skeleton, a zombie, a mummy, or a lich, I will make you stay by my side...”】
【“Can you please not die? Can you please not die? Can you please stay alive?”】
And,
【“This is a confession!”】
Kaila's breathing hitched for a moment.
The hands that had been resting on her knees involuntarily gripped the fabric of her nun's habit.
A rare loss of composure.
Sylvia keenly captured this.
“What is it?” Sylvia stared at Kaila curiously. “That expression of yours... did the prophecy make you think of something?”
“No,” Kaila quickly smoothed her expression, returning to her usual cold face.
She could not explain Sophie's identity to anyone, not even Sylvia.
The Hero was always very good at keeping secrets.
But, but...
at the thought of that scene...
Kaila's face couldn't help but feel a little hot.
“Is it really nothing?” Sylvia asked in confusion. “You're acting so strange.”
Yes, that was right.
Sylvia was someone who could read the subtle changes in her expression.
And, perhaps,
she could talk to Sylvia about her troubles.
The tavern was somewhat noisy, with some drunkards still snoring.
Kaila stared at the wood grain on the table, her finger tracing over it once or twice.
Only after a long while did she look up again.
“I... have something I want to ask you,” Kaila said softly.
“Ask away,” Sylvia said, chugging down another mug of beer. “Beggars love digging up gossip the most.”
Kaila hesitated, her long golden eyelashes drooping, obscuring the light in her eyes.
“Suppose,” Kaila began slowly, “there is a, hypothetical friend.”
“Uh-huh?” Sylvia arched an eyebrow.
“This, hypothetical friend, was... confessed to, by a hypothetical person.” Kaila's voice grew softer and softer. But due to her inherent personality, even when saying such things, she still maintained a completely solemn demeanor, giving the scene a somewhat comical sense of dissonance.
“Pfft—cough, cough, cough!”
Sylvia sprayed out a mouthful of ale. She coughed violently, her eyes wide as she stared at Kaila as if looking at a gargoyle that had suddenly started singing love songs.
“Cough, cough... You, you actually got confessed to?!”
Although Kaila was indeed beautiful—that sacred, cool, pure beauty could make half the passersby crash into lampposts on the street—
she was the Hero.
Could anyone really develop feelings for such a rigid person?
“That is not the case,” Kaila immediately denied. “It is a, fictional, hypothetical friend of mine. Do not, project onto me.”
Sylvia wiped her mouth, looking at Kaila's face, which was slightly tense from desperately trying to maintain her cool.
I see.
“Oh—I get it, I get it,” Sylvia drawled, nodding heavily. “So 'I' got confessed to? That's pretty nice. To think someone would take a liking to a beggar like me. It seems there are still people with noble taste in this world.”
Kaila ignored Sylvia's teasing.
“Assuming this, fictional friend, is confessed to by another fictional person, how should she respond?” Kaila stared at Sylvia seriously. “What... should she say?”
It was wonderful to have some free time to herself, rather than having to face Sophie the moment she woke up.
Otherwise, if Sophie were to use even a single glance to press her for whether she was willing to accept,
it would be too troubling.
Due to her complete resistance to 【Confusion】, the Hero shouldn't feel troubled by such things.
But.
Her mission, the future, responsibility, prophecies, her own feelings...
These complex things were tangled together, and Kaila could not separate them.
She didn't care about her own life; if sacrificing it was worth it, she would offer it up without hesitation.
But similarly, if Sophie's wish was for her to live, she should also live up to that expectation and stay alive for a while longer, so as not to make Sophie sad.
Add to that the mission to save the world, the mission to eliminate the Witches, the prophecy of the Evil of This World destroying the world, the Sophie who was completely different from the one in the prophecies, and the Witches who were entirely different from their stereotypes...
Kaila currently desperately needed an external brain to help sort out her thoughts.
“So,” Kaila stared at the crisscrossing scratches carved into the table by patrons' daggers, her speaking speed slow, as if every word had to be deeply considered. “Suppose, this fictional friend, she is a... fictional Hero.”
Sylvia sat opposite her, resting her chin on one hand while swirling the huge wooden mug with the other.
The expression on her face was a half-smile, her eyes twinkling with the amusement of a spectator.
“Oh? What a coincidence, your friend is also a Hero,” Sylvia drawled. “Can Heroes be mass-produced nowadays?”
Kaila's body stiffened slightly.
“This is... a hypothesis,” she stubbornly corrected, attempting to pull the conversation back on track. “This fictional Hero, she carries the mission of saving a fictional world. This is her responsibility, and the cornerstone of her existence in that fictional world.”
“Mhm, sounds like a very dutiful and responsible good Hero,” Sylvia nodded.
“But...”
Kaila slowly recounted the experiences of the fictional Hero friend in this fictional world up until now.
“It started in a fictional dungeon of fictional cultists...”
Kaila spoke very slowly, needing to pause and think from time to time, but Sylvia did not rush her, listening quietly.
As a maid, Sylvia should have spent her day serving others, but her increasingly free shackles allowed her to move about. As the Hero, Kaila should have continued to spend her time performing Heroic deeds, but now her curse had receded significantly, giving her plenty of free time.
Just like that, these two girls, who hadn't had a proper chat since reaching adulthood, conversed in a dilapidated tavern.
Kaila spoke for a long time.
“Then came a fictional commission...”
“A fictional date...”
“A fictional vow...”
“A fictional crisis...”
“And finally,”
“not only did that existence save her, but she also... expressed very, very strong feelings toward this fictional Hero. And she demanded that this Hero stay alive and accompany her.”
“So, what should that fictional Hero do?”
Having finished, Kaila closed her mouth, her gaze still fixed on the table.
“...”
In the tavern, there was only the muttering of the drunkards and the whistling of the wind passing through the damaged roof.
Sylvia remained silent for a full half-minute.
Just as Kaila began to wonder if the other had fallen asleep, Sylvia burst into a fit of laughter.
“Hahaha—”
Sylvia laughed so hard she rocked back and forth, nearly spilling the ale in her hand. She slapped the table, her face filled with uncontrollable amusement.
“Oh, my goodness... Kaila, do you have any idea how hilarious you look right now?” Sylvia wiped away the tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes. “A fictional friend, a fictional Hero, a fictional source of all evil... What kind of third-rate bedtime storybook did you read this from? Or is this some new type of play you've been studying lately?”
“This is very important.” Kaila did not laugh. Her rose-red Hero's Eye was clear and serious, stubbornly waiting for an answer.
Seeing Kaila's expression, Sylvia's laughter gradually subsided.
She sighed, pushed the empty wooden mug aside, folded her hands on the table, and leaned forward, drawing closer to Kaila.
“Fine. Since you asked so seriously, I'll give you a serious answer.”
Sylvia stared into Kaila's eyes.
“If this 'fictional Hero' were me, I would think this is simply the most perfect script. Because 'I' have already died once. The missions and responsibilities forced upon 'me' should be considered settled with that death, right? The remaining life was given by that person, so it naturally belongs to oneself, doesn't it? The life dedicated to the mission has already ended.”
“But,” Kaila countered, “as long as there are still people suffering, the Hero should not stop. Moreover, that existence, in the prophecy, is destined to destroy the world.”
She couldn't forget those prophecies regarding “Hiso.”
If being with Sophie meant the world would accelerate toward destruction, then what was the meaning of her existence as the Hero?
“What mission?”
“To eliminate the Witches.”
Sylvia frustratedly ran her fingers through her red hair.
“You know, I've always regretted this.”
“Regretted what?”
Sylvia didn't answer; she merely shrugged lightly.
“Don't you enjoy your current life?”
“The present?” Kaila was taken aback. She looked at the mug on the table, then at her surroundings, and fell silent for a moment. “I cannot deny that it is somewhat pleasant right now. However, if the price of this pleasantness is abandoning my principles...”
“Hey, Little Kai,” Sylvia dropped her casual attitude, her gaze turning sharp. “I think I probably understand why Miss Hill left that message.”
Kaila looked up.
“She asked me to pass on the word that the dial of fate has been disrupted. Since your mind is currently filled with too many chaotic things, and you can't distinguish between what is important and what isn't, or what is your true desire versus what is just the inertia forced upon you by the curse...”
Sylvia pointed to the sky outside the tavern.
“Then, just as Miss Hill said, go to Laisenia.”
“Go to... the snowfield?” Kaila repeated.
“Yes,” Sylvia nodded heavily. “Miss Hill is right. You really should go let yourself be rained on by the snow there. The snow of Laisenia strips away all external things from a person. Memories, cognition, obsessions, and personality.”
“Do you think the mission is real?” Sylvia asked.
Kaila nodded.
“Do you think the fictional Hero's feelings are real?” Sylvia asked.
Kaila nodded.
“Then which do you think is more important?”
Kaila shook her head.
She couldn't tell.
“But I heard that the cursed snow there starts by making you forget the things that aren't important,” Sylvia said softly. “When you have nothing left and only your purest instinct remains, whatever it is you least want to forget, whatever you would desperately cling to even at the cost of your life—that is the answer you truly desire.”
What remains is what matters most.
Kaila sat there in a daze.
She lowered her head, looking at her hands resting on the table.
Those were hands that had gripped the holy sword countless times, slain countless monsters, and had also been tightly held by someone at the top of the clock tower.
“Must I... forget one of them?”
“Then that's a question you should ask yourself,” Sylvia said casually. “Isn't your fictional friend currently in a phase where she must forget one of them?”
Kaila's eyes widened.
“I understand.”
Her voice was still flat, but it lacked the previous tension.
“Thank you, Sylvia.”
“Remember to settle the bill for me,” Sylvia waved lazily. “But anyway, do you still plan on going to the snowfield?”
“I will go,” Kaila said.
She stood up.
“I will find my path there.”
“And what about the Witches?” Sylvia asked.
“Ah! The Witches!” Only then did Kaila realize that in her thoughts just now, she had unconsciously forgotten about the Witches.
With her current body,
could she still subjugate the Witches?
Could she still lift the curse?
How should she...
“Forget it, it doesn't matter,” Sylvia said. “Just forget about the Witches.”
“But that is...”
“You already have things you want to do now, things you want to understand, things you want to seek, don't you?” Sylvia interrupted Kaila, patting her own chest. “Just find what your heart truly wants to do. So forget about the Witches.”
Kaila blankly pressed her hand against the left side of her chest.
Her heart?
Her heart was beating as usual, her organs functioning normally.
But today was slightly different.
She would head to the snowfield.
This time, what she was going to conquer was not a Witch.
It was the confusion within her own heart.
...
As she pushed open the creaking wooden door of the tavern, a cool afternoon breeze brushed against her face.
Kaila squinted her eyes.
The sunlight was brighter than when she had arrived, and scattered pedestrians were starting to appear on the street.
Laborers carrying stone materials, women holding children, farmers driving ox carts—Silvervein City was slowly waking up from that disaster.
Kaila stood at the entrance for a moment.
The snowfield.
The clear path Miss Hill had pointed out to her.
But the Witch there didn't have a good relationship with her. Would she...
Rumble.
Kaila's movements froze.
A strange, faint, yet distinct feeling of emptiness emanated from her stomach.
She lowered her head.
Looking at her abdomen under the grayish-white nun's habit, which appeared perfectly normal.
Hungry?
Kaila stood frozen in place.
How many years had it been since she last felt this sensation?
Due to her complete resistance to 【Hunger】, the Hero could continuously travel without eating, completely unaffected.
This also kept her in a permanent state of satiety, with no craving for food.
But now,
she was hungry.
Her stomach was empty, and she could even hear the protests coming from her internal organs.
Kaila pursed her lips.
How could this be?
All the attributes of the Hero that she had once taken for granted were peeling away from her body bit by bit.
She really should have felt anxious.
But,
for some reason,
standing on this sun-drenched street, feeling the incredibly human emptiness in her stomach that whispered “need to eat something”—
the corners of Kaila's mouth twitched upward.
The feeling of being alive.
Was this what it felt like?
“—Found you!”
A cool and slightly smug voice sounded from behind her.
Kaila turned her head.
A black-haired, purple-eyed girl with bare, fair feet stood steadily on a patch of moonlight fragments that had materialized out of thin air. She had one hand on her hip, while her other hand held half a cookie—undoubtedly loot plundered from Sophie's secret storage.
The New Moon Witch, Miaoyue.
“Hero,” Miaoyue arched her eyebrows, swiftly stuffing the remaining half of the cookie into her mouth and saying indistinctly with puffed cheeks, “It's mealtime.”
Kaila: “...Mealtime?”
“Eating time,” Miaoyue repeated word by word, as if teaching a not-so-bright child. “The thing humans do thirty times a day. My lunch stomach is hungry, and now it's time to go mooch a meal off the Saintess.”
Kaila fell silent for two seconds.
“I, actually...”
Halfway through her sentence, she froze.
Because her stomach let out a very untimely, loud rumble.
Rumble—
“See, you're hungry too,” Miaoyue chuckled. “Me too. I just finished snacks and I'm already hungry.”
Kaila: “...”
What did she mean by “too”? She hadn't eaten anything at all since waking up.
However,
Kaila nodded in silence.
Since things had come to this,
she might as well eat first.
Rate on N.U.
