episode_0140

Everyone has a plan.

Until I rolled around on the floor like crazy and my body turned into a rag.

Of course, I went back in time several times during that training session. Even the training ground was inside the castle, and I had already used it several times, so I was quite familiar with it. As expected of a place inside the castle grounds, it was naturally much flatter than that mountain, so theoretically, it was much easier to run around.

In theory.

In that theory, there was no swordsman holding a wooden sword.

It was still worth trying to dodge the sword once. Once you get hit, at least the trajectory of the sword itself is similar to when Lucas swings it. Of course, the swordsman doesn’t swing it with sincerity, and that’s probably what Lucas swung it with.

However, even if you could dodge several times, it was impossible to dodge normally until it exceeded the limit of your stamina. No matter how well you distributed your stamina and dodge in the best way possible, it was impossible to infinitely dodge the wooden sword that kept rushing at you unless you had skills similar to those of a swordsman.

I tried blocking it with the mock gun I was holding, but that was all. If I tried to block it, Geomseong would swing his sword even harder, only making it more clear that I was weak.

However, it wasn’t necessarily all bad.

It had been quite some time since Lucas had randomly swung his sword at me. It seemed that the feeling I had forgotten since Lucas himself had disappeared was slowly coming back to me. At least for now, if Lucas really rushed at me… …

… … Well, honestly, I’m still not sure. If Lucas really rushes at me with a single stroke of his sword, I’m not sure I’ll be able to dodge.

but…….

“No matter how I look at it, you have no talent.”

Geumseong said that while looking at me, but I didn’t hear any complaints in his voice.

“But it doesn’t seem like he’s going to give up.”

All I could think was how pathetic it would be if I ran away after coming all the way here, but Geomseong seemed to be somewhat impressed by my appearance.

“I don’t hate that kind of mentality.”

It was a line you would hear in a boys’ comic.

Considering that the original game was made by a Japanese company, it doesn’t seem that strange.

“Good! That’s it for today!”

At those words, Alice and Leo let out a deep breath. Still, the two of them stood until the end. As for me… … well, lying on the floor didn’t seem right, so I sat on the chair.

It seemed difficult to sit up straight, so I sat with my upper body bent forward and my elbows resting on my knees.

Alice and Leo ran straight to me, perhaps worried about me.

“Sylvia, are you okay?”

It’s not that bad. I immediately started to regret it when I thought that I would have to live like this for at least the next two weeks.

Finding Lucas, is it really necessary to do it now?

Why can’t we just turn back time and make it seem like it never happened and just rest for the remaining two weeks?

I had that thought, but… …

I raised my head for no reason and met eyes with the black castle standing a little distance away between Alice and Leo.

The blacksmith who was looking at me was smiling. I don’t know what was so good about it. Could it be a smile of satisfaction?

And, after seeing that smile, I somehow felt like I was turning back time.

……okay.

Anyway, let’s turn back time after two weeks have passed.

At least, I can turn back time after I have definitely taken responsibility for what I thought I would take responsibility for.

In the first place, there was no option to ‘be late’ since there was an ability to turn back time.

“It’s okay.”

I answered.

But his gaze was still directed at Geomseong, not Alice or Leo.

Hoo, I saw the shape of the black dragon’s mouth moving.

It was an expression I had seen a few times during my 300-day meditation training.

At least, seeing that expression more often now than before, it seems like my training wasn’t all in vain.

*

… … I was thinking like that, leisurely.

If we turn back time, the fact that we used words like “brother” and “sister” will become something that never happened.

Well, well, but the word ‘sister’… … I guess it would be better to repay Alice someday. When my concept falls apart, that is, when I think of the end.

This time, I wasn’t thinking about finding the treasure. There was a treasure in the system, but at least it wasn’t something I had to find while clearing the dungeon.

So… … I thought that there was no reason for the masked woman wearing a black robe, who was probably ‘me’, to suddenly appear.

“… … .”

I thought there weren’t any.

“… … you.”

I spoke to him in the Hwangseong training grounds, towards the mask robe.

The space leading to the outside was not necessarily lit. This was especially true in the middle of the training camp. There was no reason to keep the lights on.

You can’t get here unless you climb up the castle walls and climb the roof, and even if you try to get in through the open roof of the training grounds, you’ll inevitably be caught by the security guards guarding the hallway.

… … Originally, there should have been security guards inside, but I wanted to get more familiar with the training grounds, so I sent them all out.

The girl with the cheap mask came in during that time.

“How did you get here?”

It can’t be a coincidence.

If that were ‘me’, I would remember what I did and when. I may not remember every single day, but I would definitely remember the days when I experienced something.

It was my first day in the island after meeting Geomseong.

… … Or right now.

Actually, asking how he got in might be the wrong question. Wasn’t he the one who was proudly in the deepest part of the ruins in the first place? The methods or procedures we generally think of would not apply to the author at all.

Besides, the author was able to block my abilities.

Whether it’s simply because they’re in the same time zone as me and clash with my abilities, or whether the author is intentionally blocking it—

And then, as I recalled that fact, I felt goosebumps running down my back.

“… … Why now?”

Yeah, why now of all times?

If it could appear at any moment, there would be much more useful timing. Well, of course, if it were an attempt on my life, then that would be another matter.

If that’s really me, then shouldn’t he at least not do such heartless things to me?

But even after hearing my voice of shock, the other person had no answer.

No, there was a response that could be called an answer.

The author shook his shoulders when he heard my voice.

It’s not that I’m scared, nervous, or shaking my shoulders. If I was scared, I wouldn’t have shown up in a situation where we’re alone together in the first place.

Rather, that movement is… …

It was the movement of a person holding back laughter.

Even though her shoulders were wrapped in a long robe, she was shrugging her shoulders forward and trembling as if trying to suppress her laughter, so it seemed like my guess was correct.

“… … .”

I tensed my body for a moment, then ran straight ahead.

And so easily, I was able to grab the grove edge.

Interest continued to laugh. When I got closer and listened, I could hear the breathing sound that is characteristic of someone holding back laughter.

“What the heck are you… … !”

But before I could say anything else, the mask suddenly came forward.

And then he spoke through his mask, as if he was going to tell me something for sure.

“Sylvia.”

“… … .”

It didn’t seem like it was trying to attack or run away. It was hard to hear the somewhat smiling voice, but it didn’t feel like it was trying to kill anyone.

but-

“■■,■■■■■■■.”

I couldn’t hear those words properly.

It was like talking to someone a few meters away from deep underwater, and something seemed to block the conversation, so it didn’t reach me properly.

“… … What?”

When I asked that question without being able to hear the words properly, the masked woman’s shoulders slumped.

For a moment, it seemed as if something had disappointed him.

“… … .”

“… … .”

We looked at each other for a while.

The eyes sparkled inside the holes in the mask. I still couldn’t see what color they were. The only light shining on us was the faint moonlight.

I slowly let go of one hand.

And he took that hand and put it in his mouth.

Even before I took off his mask, he didn’t offer any resistance.

but-

“… … Ah.”

At that very moment, he disappeared.

As if it had never been there in the first place.

… … Did someone take it away?

“… … No, more than that.”

After the momentary feeling of being possessed went away, my head came back to reality.

Once again, goosebumps appeared on my back.

No way, no way, no way… … .

“Oh, no, right?”

He mutters to himself for no reason. To reassure me.

Do you think that just meeting him would block my abilities?

It’s not like the two of you were fighting or anything, right?

After catching my breath for a moment,

“Okay.”

Be strong,

“Again!”

He shouted so loudly.

And then I hit something hard and passed out.

When I woke up again, I was in the training ground.

Probably, it was around the time I came to the training ground. At least the position of the moon hadn’t changed.

But he didn’t have a girlfriend.

I stood in the middle of the training ground, stretched out in the shape of the letter “大”, and quietly looked up at the sky and muttered.

“I’m screwed.”

Was this why I was laughing?

… … That bastard, whether he’s from the future or not, I’ll definitely kill him.