Ch.9494. Where You Are (3)

“Marianne.”

Marianne looked up in surprise at the voice calling her name. A cutting wind, different from the winter cold of the Holy Kingdom, brushed against her cheek. This place was…

“As you can see from how I usually wear this on my head, it probably won’t be easy to succeed.”

It was a room. Ilroy’s voice could be heard. Familiar words. Marianne watched the familiar hands opening and closing a wooden box. The crown of thorns appeared intact after a long time. Ilroy’s hands holding the crown trembled slightly. His eyes wavered between certainty and uncertainty. At that moment, Ilroy turned to Marianne.

“If I fail to overcome the trial, I’ll collapse unconscious. Then somehow wake me up immediately and take me to Lis.”

Before Marianne could say anything, Ilroy put the crown on his head. Like someone being electrocuted, his body twitched, and Ilroy fell to his knees on the bed. Though he might have fallen forward, Ilroy sat stiffly as if his body were tied to a pillar.

Why am I watching this scene?

Marianne stared blankly at Ilroy. Memories of that time were coming back. Ilroy had challenged the crown’s trial, intending to defeat the giant and rescue Duke Quenore, while Marianne anxiously helped him at his side.

“Hero.”

Marianne murmured softly as she approached. It was a painful memory. Why she remembered him painfully. Marianne decided not to recall. Ilroy had entered the trial and remained motionless. Marianne approached and looked at Ilroy’s face. Eyes closed as if sleeping. Beyond them were long eyelashes. At first, she worried he might not wake up.

“No.”

Ilroy’s complexion began to change. Cold sweat started flowing from his forehead, and his limp hands were trembling. Marianne unconsciously moved closer and grabbed his hand. Ilroy’s hand was ice cold. With these hands, how many people had he protected? When Marianne held his hand, Ilroy’s face seemed to become a little more peaceful.

“…No.”

Marianne hesitantly rubbed Ilroy’s hand. She recalled her feelings at that time. If Ilroy passed the crown’s test and opened his eyes, he would surely pick up the Holy Sword again and go into battle. Risking his life in places beyond Marianne’s sight.

She felt anxious. Just sending him off and having to watch made her anxious. In truth, part of her didn’t want to send him away. At least he wouldn’t have to fight alone. But, and yet. Marianne’s thoughts continued in a chain of contradictions.

“…Ah.”

And then, the crown placed on Ilroy’s head began to shake. With cracking sounds, pieces of old, withered tree branches fell to the floor. The crown had completely shattered. Marianne stared at the glowing ring that rose above his head in place of the crown. Soon Ilroy would wake up.

“Did I succeed?”

Ilroy murmured as he opened his eyes. Marianne’s heart began to beat faster. Anxiety. Her mind called it anxiety.

“Thank you for your help.”

Hold him. Her instinct told her.

“I’ll be back.”

Marianne watched Ilroy leave. Now if Ilroy went to attack the enemy’s headquarters to rescue Duke Quenore, she would have to go fight to defend the walls from monsters.

Tick.

A sound like a clock hand turning was heard. Shortly after, hurried footsteps followed, and Marianne faced knights who burst through the door.

“We need to prepare for defense. It’s not very large in scale, but monsters are coming again.”

Marianne nodded and rose from her seat. A holy spear was already in her hand.

“Monsters are coming, you say.”

Marianne sighed. She could see the knights looking at her urgently. Marianne gripped the holy spear, then put it down. The knights’ expressions were filled with confusion. Marianne tried very slowly to remember why she had come here. Her head was foggy, as if covered in mist.

“We have no time, Lady Marianne. Commander George and Lady Daphne are already hurrying to the walls.”

Marianne followed the knights to the top of the wall, almost being dragged along. The scenery that brushed against Marianne’s memory appeared before her eyes. Soldiers were desperately pushing monsters outside the walls, and knights were swinging their swords. Marianne killed an approaching monster with a swing of her spear, in a movement close to habit.

“Marianne!”

She heard George’s voice welcoming her. Daphne also turned her head slightly and smiled. It felt strange. Marianne turned her head beyond the wall. The hazy sky created by the boundary line was close by. Ilroy would be fighting in there.

“That section of the wall is weak. If we’re not careful, the defense might collapse under the monsters’ pressure. I think you need to go provide support.”

George, who took on the role of a reliable commander when Ilroy was absent, said this.

“I’m counting on you. It’s the task Ilroy left us. Our duty is to minimize casualties.”

Marianne found herself nodding. George then turned a charging monster into pulp with his shield.

“I under…stand.”

She killed a monster. Marianne frowned as she looked at her spear dripping with blood.

The surrounding noise gradually faded away. The fog enveloping Marianne’s memories was slowly beginning to disperse. Marianne struck the neck of a white wolf charging at her. At the same time, a round object fell from Marianne’s bosom onto the floor with a thud.

A compass.

Marianne stared blankly at the compass that had fallen onto the wall. The compass needle was still pointing somewhere, twitching slightly in place. Marianne picked up the compass. Where the compass was pointing. Marianne looked in that direction and began to move her feet little by little.

“Marianne! Where are you going!”

A scream-like sound came from behind her. Marianne raised her holy spear. Daphne, who was screaming, was being overwhelmed by a charging white wolf and falling. Behind her, George was being crushed, unable to defeat an ash-colored bear.

Eyes filled with resentment, hands begging for help.

No. Marianne’s comrades wouldn’t suffer like that. They wouldn’t look for her in an emergency, and they wouldn’t create such a situation in the first place. Marianne suddenly looked around at the world that seemed frozen in time. When she touched the droplets of blood floating in the air, they dispersed and disappeared like mist.

Those weren’t the hands she needed to grasp. Marianne recalled Ilroy’s face. The person she needed to save wasn’t beyond the boundary line.

This place wasn’t where she needed to be right now. What she needed to save wasn’t these phantoms, but the person fighting against these phantoms. Her heart pulsed, igniting her magical power. Marianne felt the power of the holy artifact embracing her legs and sprang forward from her position.

The wall collapsed. The winter cold subsided, and the monsters turned to dust and disappeared. Marianne was suddenly running on ground that resembled a building floor rather than Evernode’s hardened earth. The fog could no longer block her.

Hero.

Marianne looked down at the compass.

Tick.

The compass twitched. Marianne ran while looking only at the compass. What was Ilroy seeing as he fought right now?

==

“Hero…”

Holding Marianne’s limp body, I exhaled weakly. How much time had passed outside, that no longer mattered. In this endlessly repeating mad day, I was just struggling not to lose my mind. So that I would never reverse my decision,

“Marianne.”

I called to Marianne, but there was no answer. Marianne, or rather her phantom, had died with her eyes open. I gently closed those eyes and stood up. A shattered harbor, a sunken ship. If I closed my eyes and opened them here, I would be standing in front of that damned tent again.

“Have you realized it now?”

I turned my head at the sudden voice. The fog’s illusion was looking at me with a faint smile of mockery. Aryen’s face. I couldn’t even get angry looking at it.

“You must understand how futile your thoughts are. How lucky you’ve been, and what choices you should make when such things happen in the future.”

I sighed. My wavering is because of my own thoughts, not because of that guy’s words.

“So if I choose to abandon the people of Barktins, what will the next illusion show me, Fog? The suffering of Barktins? Residents who have turned into doomsday worshippers, criticizing me?”

I let out a hollow laugh and shook my head.

“I won’t break. You chose the wrong target. I’m willing to face you until all your magical power is depleted. Go ahead and continue as much as you want.”

I spoke as if it didn’t matter. Whether my emotions wore out from death or the fog’s magic was depleted.

“What? My magical power?”

Aryen… no, the fog asked with wide eyes, then burst into laughter. As if it couldn’t bear how funny it was, it pretended to hold its stomach and bent over.

“Hero, you’ve really lost your mind. This might be an unexpected harvest for me. Things are going better than I anticipated.”

“…What does that mean…”

At that moment, Aryen’s face changed to someone else’s. I looked at the face reflected in the glass window and bit my lip.

It was me.

Ilroy with a shabby appearance, tattered clothes, and the face of someone who hadn’t slept properly for days was there. And beyond that mirror, Aryen’s figure appeared.

“You, you’ve never thought about your physical condition. I didn’t expect you to really think my world was the real world.”

I raised my hand. My arm was trembling slightly.

“Do you really think the scenery I’m showing now is created by my magic?”

My heart raced. But the massive movement of mana that should pulse with the blood wasn’t felt. More than half had disappeared.

“You’ve already lost, Hero. And know that what I’m going to show you won’t be happy memories.”

I exhaled a shallow breath. The fog looked at my expression and let out a satisfied cackle once more.

“After I digest you, all that’s left is to devour the world in earnest.”

Aryen’s form was gradually getting closer to me.

“You must pay the price for interfering with ‘our’ long-cherished wish.”

I drew the Holy Sword and slashed the mirror. And the scenery that appeared as the mirror shattered was the familiar tent again.

“Ilroy! We’ve been waiting for you.”

“Hero, you’ve arrived.”

I gripped the sword hilt with renewed strength.

==

She ran.

She ran without knowing where the end was. It felt like she was going around in circles in the same place. At some point, the compass suddenly began spinning in place. She was definitely close to Ilroy. Marianne tightened her grip on the compass.

There was only one desperate thought. The desire to save the hero. If only she could, if only she could somehow overcome this. Marianne desperately gripped the holy spear. It was a weapon that had never given her an answer. Marianne had never needed the spear’s power either. She needed to clear away this cursed fog and reach where the hero was.

Marianne stopped in place and thrust the holy spear into the ground. She didn’t know how to awaken this holy relic. Like Ilroy, she had no choice but to charge in blindly.

“…Please.”

Marianne spoke as if the holy spear were a person and began pouring all her magical power into it. Golden haze formed at Marianne’s fingertips and transferred to the holy spear. The spear began to devour the holy power greedily. As if it knew what its wielder was trying to do.

“Ugh…!”

With the magical power draining so quickly, Marianne clutched her dizzy head. But far from hesitating, she gripped the spear shaft more firmly and increased the flow of magical power. Until her body collapsed from exhaustion, and if that wasn’t enough, even if she had to burn her life force—

That’s enough.

Marianne raised her head in a half-exhausted state. And magical power began to flow back into her body little by little.

I don’t like responding to tantrums, but your sincerity is touching.

And with that mysterious voice, the holy spear began to shine. Marianne gritted her teeth to handle the surging enormous power.

Crack.

A sound like an egg cracking was heard. Marianne faced the slowly splitting space, and the scenery revealed beyond it.

There was the smell of the sea.

And a stench and fishy smell strong enough to overpower the sea’s scent.

“…What is this,”

And there was one person standing at the end of that fishy smell. The person Marianne had come to save. Ilroy, covered in blood, facing a massive monster. Marianne unconsciously took out the compass from her bosom,

The compass was telling her without doubt that this was the Ilroy she was looking for.