Ch.109104 – To My Past Self, To My Future Self

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[NoName(NoName)]

[World of Arsheria – Priest Nightmare 10/10/10]

[Stream Time – 5:22:41]

[Viewers – 19407]

“Remember.”

“Recall.”

“Don’t forget.”

* * *

“Adella?”

“Hmm?”

The voice cutting through her thoughts made Adella turn her head.

“Are you okay?”

“Ah… um… yeah. I’m fine.”

“Your hand… it’s bleeding.”

NoName reminded her that she wasn’t holding the handle but the blade itself.

Only then did Adella feel the sharp pain in her palm, startling her into dropping the dagger.

“Want to rest a bit if you’re struggling?”

“No way. We don’t have time. We need to go straight to the academy.”

“We still have plenty of time before the signal comes from headquarters. Besides, we need to hide somewhere to shake off anyone following us.”

Bodies were scattered everywhere around them.

Most were in visibly terrible condition, their organs torn apart by Adella’s curved blade.

Thanks to World of Arsheria’s automatic mosaic function, NoName’s stream wasn’t suspended, but the cruel atmosphere behind the censoring remained palpable.

Following NoName’s suggestion, they passed through the northern forest and reached a narrow alley in the capital.

“The sky looks pretty today.”

She was looking at the jewels densely embedded in the black silk spread between the crowded buildings.

Adella always had a habit of looking up at the sky when walking through the city’s back alleys.

Partly because the stench rising from the ground was unbearable, but mostly because she couldn’t accept being stuck in such a place.

What started as a small escape from reality had become her hobby.

“Hey Forest Guardian.”

“What?”

“Do you know how to boost self-esteem?”

The sudden question made NoName ponder for a while.

“There’s an easy way and a hard way.”

“What’s the easy way?”

“Just surround yourself with people worse off than you.”

A clear but unsettling answer—if you’re not great at anything, you won’t have to worry about low self-esteem.

“Then what’s the hard way?”

“Working hard to surpass those who are better than you.”

“That’s what I thought.”

Deflated by the obvious answer, Adella tried to lie down but bumped her head on a protruding rock and said irritably:

“Ow! Why is there a rock here?! Ugh… You know what? Those slave children we rescued from the storage room earlier…”

“The people we freed from Balum’s study?”

“Yeah. I almost ended up in the same situation when I was young. My mother tried to sell me to a slave trader because she had no money.”

NoName nodded slightly.

It was a case he’d seen countless times in his previous life.

He’d already learned that maternal love isn’t always natural, so it no longer shocked him.

“I always thought when looking at the slaves in the capital: At least I’m better off than them. Better than those who’ve had their futures stolen… But now I wonder what meaning that had.”

“None whatsoever.”

“Exactly. In the end, I was still stuck in place regardless.”

The sound of her dagger scraping against the stone floor would normally make someone wince, but NoName didn’t seem to mind.

The characters she had carved were “NoName” and “Adella.”

“Is this how you write your name?”

“Yeah. You got it right this time.”

“What are you talking about? Common Continental script is easy peasy! Anyway… I’ve made a decision today.”

NoName rested his chin on his hand and gazed at her intently.

“I’m going to improve my skills without the Laurel’s help and get into the academy for sure.”

With a slightly shy and excited tone, Adella carefully explained her ambition.

“Didn’t you say you only get one shot at the academy?”

“Come on, for someone like me with no connections, forging an identity is easy. Besides, don’t I look young for my age?”

Adella shrugged her shoulders.

“Kids who look old when they’re young often end up looking young when they grow up.”

“What? What’s that supposed to mean, Forest Guardian!”

As they bickered while stargazing, NoName suddenly sighed deeply and said:

“There’s no guarantee the academy is actually a good place.”

“Have you been to the academy?”

“Yes. Though I dropped out.”

“Why would you leave such a good place?”

NoName bit his lip and rolled his eyes around.

“For the academy to be someone’s heaven, it has to be someone else’s hell to maintain balance, right?”

“Hmm…”

“There are bullies, classes might not suit you, and professors might discriminate against you based on your background.”

“I guess that makes sense. I should reconsider. But still, attending the academy is my lifelong dream. Deciding it’s hell without even going there makes me feel like such a loser.”

“You’ve always been that type of person. Unlike me, I think you’ll adapt well once you’re there.”

“I think that’s the first time I’ve heard you say something like that.”

Adella sheepishly scratched the back of her head.

[Move to the Academy’s North Gate and rendezvous with ‘Abyss’.]

With the story progression text visible only to NoName, fireworks exploded in the sky.

“If something happens to Alperion and Ciciella… what will you do?”

NoName asked Adella as she prepared to meet up. Adella frowned, asking what kind of ominous question that was.

“I’ll rescue them, of course!”

“Even if it means failing the mission?”

“Yes.”

* * *

When they reached the Academy headquarters, Adella couldn’t shake the foreboding feeling rising in her heart.

There was a theory that cat-kin’s intuition was sometimes good enough to avoid impending disasters, but now it felt like a loud alarm ringing in her head.

That anxiety soon became reality when a blood-covered Ciciella limped toward them.

“Ciciella! What happened?!”

“Damn… the old man was right. Unfortunately, only half right…”

“Wait. Don’t pull it out.”

Forest Guardian grabbed Ciciella’s hand as she tried to remove the arrow lodged in her thigh.

“You’ll bleed too much if you pull it out now.”

“I can’t fight like this either!”

“Fight? In this condition? What are you thinking?!”

Adella stomped her feet.

“Now I understand why they sent just you two on such a dangerous mission. Our mercenaries have all betrayed us. Everyone from Abyss District 15 has sided with the Academy!”

“Then what about Alperion?!”

“He’s surrounded by security guards and officials.”

“You’re really going? No, you can’t! Absolutely not!”

“The Laurel is here. I have to go back to help Alperion. Forest Guardian, please don’t abandon Adella. Please.”

Despite Adella’s protests, the bear-kin roughly pushed her away.

NoName, who had been asked to stop her, decided to take drastic measures.

Thwack-!

He knocked her out with a sharp chop to the back of her neck.

“Take her.”

“Where to?”

“Anywhere. I’ll secure Alperion’s safety.”

“Do you realize how absurd you sound—”

“This time, I’ll definitely come back alive.”

With those words, NoName, equipped with the Laurel of Life, vanished.

Adella’s head burned hot as she realized she was at a crossroads.

No, there was never a choice to begin with.

NoName had deliberately knocked out Ciciella because he was worried Adella would join him.

It meant if she wanted to save Ciciella, she needed to leave immediately.

[Remember.]

“Remember what?!”

Adella felt a searing pain as if the laurel crown was tightening around her head.

[Recall.]

“Recall what?!”

[Don’t forget.]

Adella ran with all her might.

Leaving the burning city behind, ignoring the screaming drunkards scattering in all directions, she fled carrying her companion who must have weighed nearly twice as much as herself.

Her thighs felt like they would burst. Her heart was racing madly.

The soles of her feet must have been completely torn by now.

Adella’s body, hitting its physical limit, gradually slowed down.

“Haa… haa… damn it…!”

She finally stopped and turned to look behind her for the first time.

The majestic clock tower of the Academy headquarters was no longer visible.

She realized she had been running blindly forward and had ended up in an unfamiliar place.

‘North, so District 18? Maybe District 20.’

All districts beyond the capital’s 16th District looked the same, making it impossible to determine her location just by the appearance of buildings.

Ciciella’s bleeding had stopped, but she remained unconscious from losing too much blood. It was fortunate she was still breathing.

Adella leaned against a stone wall, intending to rest briefly.

The cold night air crept up her back.

Drip-

A raindrop fell on the bridge of her nose.

When she stretched her palm forward, a downpour suddenly drenched her sleeve.

“Just my luck, rain too…”

The brilliant starlight gradually disappeared. Though invisible, dark clouds must be covering them.

As if confirming her prediction, lightning flashed, briefly illuminating the darkened world.

“Huh…?”

Adella’s eyes widened as she looked at the stone wall opposite her.

Gripping the dagger hidden in her bosom tightly, she approached the wall one step at a time.

“That can’t be…”

BOOM-!

The earth-shaking thunder made her fur stand on end reflexively.

Though she wanted to run away desperately, she had to confirm it.

And when the next lightning took its turn,

“Impossible…”

[NoNahit] [Adella]

[NoNaim] [Adella]

[NoName] [Adella]

[NoName] [Adella]

[NoName] [Adella]

Names engraved in intaglio were lined up.

BOOM-!

“Ahh!”

Adella’s mind was in chaos.

With a sinking feeling, she tried fitting her dagger into the crevices of the characters and found it matched perfectly in width and depth. It was definitely carved with her knife.

“I’ve never been here before…”

Who could have done this?

Unless doppelgangers existed in this world, it was impossible.

But the characters illuminated by the successive lightning flashes were undeniably in the same handwriting as what she had carved on the floor while talking with NoName.

Adella used the Laurel’s power to cast a spell Forest Guardian had taught her.

[Cast: Light]

And at the very bottom of the stone wall, she discovered a faint, shallow inscription she hadn’t noticed before.

[Go back]