Ch.167Beyond the Sea’s Iron Bars (1)

Swoosh-.

Following the gentle breeze, waves ripple across the surface.

Inhaling the salty scent that brushes her nose, the fox lifts her eyelids.

Lukewarm air caresses her cheeks.

“……”

What meets her sight is nothing but an endless, vast ocean.

Warm sunlight tangles through her crimson hair.

Only familiar silence lingers in her ears.

It was a strange landscape.

Gently rippling waves.

An endless water surface.

The sky-blue background resembles a painting of the sea.

The fox realizes she’s trapped in a nightmare.

‘This is…’

She feels something hard against her back.

Turning around in confusion, she finds iron bars surrounding her.

Their surface was rusted, as if weathered by many years.

It was a single-cell prison standing in the middle of the ocean.

The girl smiles bitterly.

‘……It’s been a while.’

The dream that had tormented her for years.

At the same time, a nightmare she had rarely experienced since being with that person.

A faint sense of déjà vu flickers through her mind.

-You will be imprisoned for eternity.

-In a place where one hour feels like one year, meeting no one, you will serve a punishment of thousands of years.

-Is your altruism and determination strong enough to bear such a sin?

They called it the mental world.

Perhaps it reflected her unconsciousness.

Or maybe this prison above the water truly represented her inner self.

Loneliness she thought she had forgotten stabs at her heart.

Irene had to force herself to look away.

“……”

A view filled with refreshing clarity like a summer day.

Waves creating gentle ripples.

The floor slightly submerged beneath the surface.

The splashing seawater covered the girl’s ankles.

Yet her clothes and tail remained completely dry, clearly indicating this was a dream.

Her movements are unsteady.

‘It’s so quiet.’

Whooosh-.

Suddenly, a sea breeze disturbs her hair.

The fox, who had been letting her hair flutter in the wind, soon sits down, leaning her back against the old iron bars.

The worn-out metal bar groans with a clatter.

Creak.

Regardless, the fox hugs her knees.

Nothing existed beyond the bars.

Only empty waves flowed by.

As her gaze fixes on the horizon, a vague sense of exhaustion weighs down on her shoulders.

Deep beneath her black pupils, only the blue sea is submerged.

Irene felt fragile, as if she might break at any moment.

“……There’s really no one here.”

She murmurs faintly.

This place was lonely.

As if the entire landscape had formed to isolate her.

There wasn’t even a hint of human presence, let alone other living beings around her.

A horizon where only the sea and sunlight existed.

The girl was perfectly alone.

“How long will I have to wait.”

Sinking silence.

The peaceful scenery was beautiful, but even more so, it was unbearable.

The girl, shaking off needless gloom, falls into thought.

It was about a certain boy.

-Miss Irene.

The fox lets a slight smile escape.

Soon her eyes close gently.

She whispers words that no one could possibly hear.

It was a monologue that filled the emptiness completely.

“Come quickly.”

Perhaps it was weakness.

With a hint of fear, the girl confesses her vulnerability.

“A world without you… is so lonely.”

Swoosh-.

Only the sound of waves remains in her ears.

Of the thousands of days she had to endure, this was merely the first.

The fox waited silently.

***

When I returned to the academy after hearing the news.

The situation had already ended.

-Only the bodies of the intruders remained at the scene.

-Lezia carried Irene on her back and ran to our faculty infirmary.

-We immediately issued a lockdown order for the entire academy.

-I apologize for our delayed response.

The voice of Professor Cadel explaining the situation.

With noise I couldn’t hear in my ears, I could only look down at the fox lying in the hospital bed.

Perhaps noticing my unusually unguarded expression.

Cadel hesitated beside me for a while, then uncharacteristically patted my back.

And offered awkward words of comfort.

-Miss Irene… protected the academy.

-Everyone at the academy owes her their lives.

-I express my condolences.

I just listened quietly.

I didn’t know what to say about the scene before me.

Meanwhile, Irene showed no movement.

As if she were merely sleeping.

‘Inner sleep.’

According to the infirmary’s diagnosis, the fox was trapped in her own mental world.

It seemed to be the price for forcibly drawing out her inherent power.

Looking down at the girl who must have fought alone, suddenly Selena standing beside me speaks up.

The woman’s voice was unusually cautious.

I turn to face the drunkard steadily.

“Judas…”

“How is Miss Irene’s condition?”

“Since she’s trapped in her mental world… her life isn’t in immediate danger, but I’m not sure if her mind will hold up afterward.”

“……”

That makes sense.

The mental world differs from reality, maintaining its own concepts.

The most representative example is the difference in the flow of time.

When one hour passes in reality, one year passes in the mental world.

That’s why there’s concern for the fox’s mental state.

Time eventually breaks down the inner self.

“How much time has passed?”

“About… 5 hours.”

“So it’s already been 5 years inside.”

There was no time to waste.

Even at this moment, Irene was enduring an eternity of time.

As I maintained a serious expression for a moment, suddenly the sobbing girl grabs my sleeve.

It was Lezia, who had been holding the fox’s hand by the bedside all along.

The pink-haired girl crumbles with deep tear stains.

“It’s all my fault.”

“Miss Lezia.”

“Irene got hurt because of me… trying to protect someone like me…”

“Don’t cry. This isn’t anyone’s fault.”

“Because I’m weak… still inadequate… I ended up being a hindrance.”

“The situation was just unfortunate.”

I gently console the pilot.

She was simply targeted, not in a position to feel guilty at all.

If blame should be placed on anyone… it should rightfully be on me.

After all, I failed to fulfill the responsibility I had promised from the beginning.

‘I should have protected her.’

I hadn’t anticipated the cultists’ movements.

Of all days, I had left my post to discuss academy defense measures.

I never expected their infiltration to coincide with my absence.

I clenched my fist, realizing how careless I had been.

My fingernails dug into my palm painfully.

‘I am…’

At times like this, I remind myself of one fact.

That I am not a god.

I am neither omnipotent like one, nor omniscient.

I was merely a puppet, ignorant even of tomorrow.

As I try to calm my turbulent feelings, Selena follows with a question.

She was asking about my intentions.

“According to all recorded cases… there are almost no instances of recovery from a state like Irene’s. Most people lived the rest of their lives unconscious. What do you plan to do now, Judas?”

“…I must fulfill my duty.”

I answer.

Without leaving even a trace of hesitation.

“I’m going to save Miss Irene. Even if I have to intervene directly.”

“Direct intervention… you mean you’ll personally enter the mental world?”

“You heard correctly.”

Selena is utterly shocked.

She furrows her brow, then meets my eyes as if questioning my sanity.

The vivid redness melting in her pupils seemed somehow sad.

“You know how dangerous that is…”

“Life always comes with risks.”

“This isn’t about measuring risk! It’s considered impossible!”

The woman speaks with a somewhat agitated voice.

I understood such a reaction.

Entering someone else’s mental world… was like saying you’d swim in lava.

The process of invading a being with an established self involves countless risk factors.

One could easily be absorbed into the mental world.

That’s why the mental realm was treated as an absolute domain.

And I was saying I would break through such a place.

“I have a responsibility.”

What is essential is invisible to the eye.

Just as the rose was precious to the prince in the fairy tale, the reason the fox is precious to me is because of the time I’ve invested in her.

People have lost this truth over generations.

But I hoped not to.

“I must go.”

Responsibility always follows what you have tamed.

Therefore, I must take responsibility for my rose.

Like in a certain fairy tale.

“……”

I hold a determined gaze.

Our eyes cross with cool intensity.

Perhaps realizing I wouldn’t bend my will.

After looking up at me for a while, Selena finally speaks with a complicated sigh.

Her expression suggested she desperately needed a drink.

“I suppose… you won’t listen if I try to stop you.”

“I apologize for being such a stubborn student.”

“I’m glad you’re aware of it.”

In the end, the master yielded to her disciple.

There was no time to waste now.

The drunkard takes my hand.

“I’ll assist you. To help you enter as safely as possible.”

“That will be a great help. Thank you.”

A rippling wave of mana.

Feeling my consciousness growing hazy, I unfurled my shadow without hesitation.

With gently extended fingers, I touch Irene’s forehead.

The light that blooms softly resembles a distant star.

I close my eyes, preparing to plunge in.

Snap-!

The clear sound of fingers snapping echoes.

I execute the illusion while snapping my fingers.

And the next moment.

“……”

Swoosh-.

When I opened my eyes again.

A faint sound of waves reaches my ears that were once quiet.

I was standing in the center of a vast ocean.

***

What followed was a continuous wandering.

Crossing the transparent waves, cutting through gentle tides, navigating the sea of ignorance.

The boat woven from shadows faithfully performed its role.

How long had I been breathing the sea breeze?

“Haah…”

By my perception, nearly half a year had passed.

The scenery here closely resembled the “nightmare” Irene often spoke of.

It seemed her unconscious had influenced the mental world.

While worrying about the fox suffering from terrible loneliness, I rowed with the oar carved from shadow, steeling my resolve.

With the belief that somewhere on that horizon, a girl was waiting for me.

I crossed the sea for a long time.

And then.

“……”

I finally reached my destination.

Iron bars floating on the water’s surface.

Just as Irene had described, a single-cell prison floated there.

Through the bars, I could faintly see orange hair.

I direct my boat toward it.

Swoosh-.

Waves gently touching the surroundings.

In the center of such scenery, the fox was quietly keeping her eyelids closed.

Her pale complexion suggested she was exhausted from prolonged solitude.

Tear stains were clear on her white cheeks.

It was time to return.

Across the old sea, to the home where we had been together.

‘The two of us.’

I knock on the bars from outside the prison.

A low metallic echo spreads.

Clang clang-.

“……?”

An unfamiliar noise.

The girl’s closed eyelids open at the sound.

Her stiffened head turns, and soon black pupils come into view.

Beyond that transparent surface, only a blonde boy is perfectly reflected.

It was a look of disbelief.

Her lifeless pupils begin to tremble.

I waved at Irene.

A gentle smile forms at the corner of my mouth.

Our crossing gazes resemble a certain time.

Like the moment we first met.

-Pleased to meet you.

-You probably can’t imagine how much I’ve wanted to meet you.

Like back then, I smiled.

A faint monologue colors the scenery.

“Miss Irene.”

I told you.

That I wouldn’t leave you alone.

“I’m sorry for making you wait so long.”

The snake found the fox.