Ch.8888. What Was Left in the Past (3)

George was confused. The hero he knew, Ilroy, would never abandon his comrades and act so unilaterally. Yet, part of him understood the Pope’s words. If they had persuaded Ilroy to let them come along, he would have reluctantly agreed—exactly opposite of what Ilroy wanted.

“Damn it.”

George clicked his tongue. When facing the third calamity, the Kraken, Ilroy had come to share his optimal strategy with his companions. And the result? George held his head.

“Foolish bastard.”

George recalled the story the Pope had told him—the advice the Pope had coldly given when Ilroy went alone to face the fog.

‘Are you saying he didn’t trust us?’

‘That’s possible. No, I think it’s correct to say he didn’t trust all of you.’

George’s face contorted at the Pope’s calm words.

‘We’re comrades. In life-threatening situations, if you can’t trust the companions who should have your back, who can you trust? Ilroy must have known that…’

‘You speak as if you trusted the hero completely from the beginning.’

George’s face hardened.

‘How much did you trust him when he first became the hero?’

He hadn’t trusted the hero. He always questioned whether to follow his words. He thought it was inevitable. Some nobody he’d never heard of, becoming a hero just by pulling out a sword.

“…Everyone probably thought that way. Even Ilroy himself.”

And through that incident, just as George and the other party members couldn’t trust the hero, the hero couldn’t trust his companions either. This was the consequence. The hero, Ilroy, had shown many times that he could resolve the doubts and distrust directed at him, but how much had his companions done to resolve Ilroy’s doubts?

How much trust did I give him while standing by the hero’s side?

George gritted his teeth and rushed to Ilroy’s room. When he flung the door open, Daphne Ephiphone and Marianne Prim were sitting inside with their heads bowed. George sighed as he looked at them. Daphne, still with her head down, pointed to the desk. On Ilroy’s desk lay a letter envelope. George approached and looked at the envelope’s exterior.

To George.

Seeing those words, George opened the envelope with trembling hands. In Ilroy’s neat handwriting, the letter contained only what needed to be said.

I had no one else to entrust this letter to. I’m not going to die. And it’s not that I don’t trust you enough to take you with me. But battles with calamities are always uncertain. In case I can’t return, I want to tell you about some contingency plans.

“…How far ahead were you looking?”

George sighed. Ilroy ended the letter saying they needed to know these plans, so they shouldn’t think about entering the fog. George folded the letter with a sigh. He had to wait. If he recklessly entered the fog looking for Ilroy, he would be betraying his trust.

“How cunning.”

George let out a hollow sigh. When he returns, we’ll need to have a proper talk.

“I’ll wait for Ilroy to return.”

At George’s words, Daphne and Marianne looked up. George put the letter in his pocket and looked at his companions.

“…Even if you decide to go in, I’ll trust him and wait for his success.”

Daphne spoke in a voice that had grown cold.

“I wanted to be helpful to Ilroy. That’s why I’ve been trying to get stronger all this time, but in such an important situation, I’m completely useless.”

Daphne shook her head and sighed.

“I don’t know what to do anymore.”

Marianne was quiet. She seemed to be just watching the compass turning in her hand. George let out a brief sigh and left the room, leaving Daphne and Marianne alone in Ilroy’s room. Marianne’s grip on the compass tightened.

Tick. Tick.

What should I do? Marianne stared blankly at the compass, pondering this question. Even after Daphne had fallen asleep from exhaustion beside her, Marianne continued to stare at the compass. What was Ilroy seeing in the fog? What enemies was he fighting? Marianne stroked the glass of the compass.

“…Hero.”

No, Ilroy. Marianne bit her lip firmly. Ilroy was wandering through the fog even at this very moment.

==

The spider, Aragrid, was much stronger than any spider monster I’d known. My reactions were quick, but occasionally I’d rely on my unenhanced body and pay the price.

CRASH-!!

Like now, when I blocked its full-power charge.

“How foolish. Did you really think you could take that head-on in your current state?”

I got up from the collapsed wall. Stones slid off my shoulder. Dust rose from the floor. Blood trickled down my torn forehead, and my breathing was rough. The spider rolled its eyes and smiled. I massaged my aching shoulder.

“How does it feel? Painful, isn’t it? It feels real, right? The blood flowing down your body is real, and the pain you’re experiencing is real. Do you know what that means?”

Aragrid placed one of its front legs on Harvi’s corpse.

“The pain these people feel here is real too. Though it might be a lie to you. At least not to these adventurers here.”

I looked up at the spider. I exhaled. The spider chuckled at my changed reaction. Click, click. The spider moved its legs, mocking me as it moved.

“So you became a hero to protect people. How amusing.”

I exhaled while cracking my neck. I kept seeing Lea collapsed on the floor, but I deliberately ignored her. If you recall something too detached from a person’s memory, anyone would feel that dissonance. So the fog draws out what a person fears most, or once feared. Until they break.

“Aren’t you amusing?”

I ignored Aragrid’s words and charged again. The spider greeted me with a ghastly smile on its face. Did it think I was losing my mind? I dodged the spider’s attacks and jumped up, kicking off the cave wall.

“Without the Holy Sword awakening, you have to struggle so hard against me, don’t you?”

I dropped the sword straight down. Aragrid snorted and turned its body. An opening appeared. I kicked off the ground and began swinging my sword at Aragrid’s body. Aragrid shot out webs to restrict my movement and swung its front legs.

“Is enhancing your body all your meager imagination can manage?”

I said this while completely avoiding, blocking, and deflecting all of Aragrid’s attacks. Counterattacks were thwarted before I could attempt them, and when it tried to overpower me with force, I retreated. And gradually, wounds began to appear on Aragrid’s body. When my blade finally cut off one of its legs, Aragrid laughed and backed away.

“Not bad, hero.”

Not much left. That’s what I felt. I was no longer taking any wounds, and only Aragrid was bleeding now. Well, knowing this wasn’t the end made me uneasy. Aragrid clicked its legs again and moved toward the three people collapsed on the floor.

“Well then, how about this?”

The spider poked Lea with its leg and picked her up. Lea hung limply. The spider clicked closer to me, and I looked up at it.

“Getting desperate and ugly now. At least the giant had some weight to him. Too much talk ruins the dignity.”

When I laughed mockingly, the spider’s face wrinkled slightly.

“So what do you want me to do?”

“Cut down this woman in my hand. Then I’ll let you go without argument.”

I gripped the Holy Sword with both hands. It had been a while since I’d held the Holy Sword with both hands. I won’t break. I won’t move as that creature wants me to. I pointed the tip of my sword at the spider and let out a snicker. Before Aragrid could sense anything strange, I cut through all its limbs and body. And I caught Lea, who was falling to the floor, with both hands.

“…Hero.”

Lea, covered in blood, raised her hand to me, and I took it. Aragrid, completely sliced up, was sprawled on the floor, letting out a grotesque laugh. I narrowed my eyes at the spider. What the fog wanted from me was probably to follow its words and cut down Lea.

“If you’re going to let me go without argument, why don’t you just die and disappear right now?”

“Right. Of course. You’re soft to the bone, after all.”

What do you know about me? I laughed. You didn’t even realize I was hiding my true strength until now, waiting for just the right moment.

“The other companions…”

Lea in my arms started to ask but closed her mouth. I looked down at Lea, who was quietly crying. Most people manifested in the fog aren’t the fog itself. They’re more like constructs of people from my memory, shaped to be as close to reality as possible.

So they’re not real. Neither these dead adventurers nor this wounded Lea.

I put Lea down. She walked toward her dead companions, knelt, and cried. I stood beside her, waiting until she had shed all her tears. I began to leave the cave with Lea. Suddenly, Lea who had been walking beside me was gone. I stared at the empty space beside me for a while and muttered.

“I’m tired of spiders.”

Light consumed the edge of the cave. I couldn’t see what was outside at all.

“Bring something else now.”

What would come next? A hearing? Or my first deployment ceremony? I took a deep breath. Wind rushed in through the narrow entrance of the ant hole. The wind carried the scent of salt and raw fish. Even without opening my eyes, I could tell what the fog was showing me now.

“…Damn it.”

I shouldn’t have confidently asked for something else.

As I walked out of the cave, I saw people bustling about. They seemed to be preparing for a large-scale naval battle. Soldiers were busy carrying weapons and supplies, and explosives and shells were being transported on carts.

“Hey! Don’t load that there!”

“Bring more rope! We need to tie down everything on the ship!”

I don’t recognize this conversation. This must be a fragment of memory from this body’s owner, Ilroy. The sky was gloomy as always, and the weather was warm in the middle of spring. I took a breath as I looked at the harbor city landscape, completely different from my memories.

Barktins, not in ruins.

A place filled with the smell of fish, where rough-faced sailors busily moved about. I looked around with a blank expression. There was probably one reason why I appeared here.

“Let’s go. Don’t just stand there blankly.”

And then I heard a voice. I turned my head, and there were faces I knew.

The cold-faced saint, Isis Blume. The expressionless mercenary, Aryen Elmione. The magician with one corner of her mouth raised, Nella Tarr, and George Gunther with a large shield on his back. I looked at Ilroy’s old companions. And Isis spoke again in a stiff voice.

“We’re in a hurry. The Kraken is probably approaching Barktins even now.”