episode_0097
by fnovelpia
Amidst the commotion outside, Carl fell into a deep sleep.
Then, little by little, I woke up. From within my unconsciousness.
Maybe it was because he recognized the energy of his nemesis, the Unknown, even though he was unconscious… or maybe it was because he was angry at himself for falling so weakly.
The important thing is that we lost again.
He had to protect the heroine… no, he had to protect Beatrice, but he fell into deep disappointment because he found himself woefully inadequate to do so.
Carl opened his eyes in an empty inner space where there was nothing.
He soon realized where he was.
A world within the unconscious, a subspace that unfolds in resonance with the Holy Sword.
I knew it because I saw it in a novel.
So rather than panicking, I looked around the open space and thought.
When I actually saw this place, it didn’t feel particularly special.
The space was completely filled with black, but it wasn’t dark. I’ve never seen such a splendid darkness, but strangely, I didn’t feel anything.
There are spaces that are dark but not dark, and surroundings that are excessively quiet… This endlessly spreading world feels like it has nothing to do with Karl himself.
That’s it, that’s it.
He couldn’t stop thinking about how disappointed he was. Any sight seemed insignificant compared to his own cold, self-deprecating judgment.
The world of the unconscious? The power of the holy sword? Even the grand story of the original felt pointless.
Now, I can’t even tell if she’s fallen or dead. All I can think about is Beatrice, who’s left alone.
I was so angry that I wanted to scream. I guess this was the limit for me, a weak person who wasn’t the real protagonist.
That thought made the sword even more difficult.
In an instant, a flash of light appeared in front of Karl’s eyes, and a man who looked exactly like a mirror appeared.
Carl paused and looked at the man.
“What are you so dissatisfied with?”
He was an incredibly handsome man. The statue seemed to speak.
“All.”
“How pathetic.”
And that handsome man was none other than himself.
Another me, or the true form of Karl Maynor projected by the Holy Sword.
“Do I look indifferent when you look at me?”
“Because I know.”
That’s right. Carl knows. He knows what this place is and what that man who looks exactly like him means.
I came knowing everything. It was the privilege of the reader.
It was a privilege that didn’t seem all that useful now.
“You came here to give me strength? Give it to me quickly. I need it right now.”
The man’s golden eyes stared at the sword. Rather than being surprised by the unexpected reaction, his expression was one of pity. He reached out his hand indifferently.
A familiar greatsword appeared in his hand. It was the Holy Sword.
“You already have it?”
“……”
It’s clear that he’s teasing me even though he knows everything. It’s not enough to just swing the holy sword… He must know that he has to draw out his latent power to become as strong as the original.
“You know that’s not what I meant, right?”
“No, it means exactly the same thing.”
When the sword asks, the sword answers.
“What do you lack? Sword skills, abilities, holy swords, social status, people to help you… and even good looks. I gave you everything. And yet you’re full of complaints… Huh.”
“Na.”
“?”
“I’m lacking. Yeah, you’re right. Carl Maynor has it all. He’s the main character, so he has to be this good to have all the heroines!”
Carl expressed his self-loathing that he had never told anyone. It was an appearance that had been hidden because he knew his strengths too well, relying on the original answer sheet.
Deep-rooted self-loathing that comes from the gap between the real and the fake.
“But! That’s not me… .”
The man is still looking at the knife. His expression is like, “This is a headache.”
“I, I! It’s not you… Carl.”
On the other hand, the other was on the verge of tears. The tip of his nose was red and his eyes were bloodshot.
“So what.”
“?”
But I can never understand such a weak heart. Weakness is a luxury.
“If it’s hard, just leave it alone. I’ll send it back to you.”
“!?”
This is a story that wasn’t in the original. I asked myself this question as if shouting at a mirror.
A mirror-like, yet arrogant and overflowing confidence, directed towards the other person who appears different.
“What, what does that mean? Sending it back… .”
“You know what I mean, right?
“Who the hell are you?!”
Carl, who was startled, yearned for an answer. He could not hide his embarrassment. However, what he received in return was not an answer, but laughter. Carl’s reaction was so funny that he could not hold back his laughter.
“Who am I? This is funny.”
Only after he had barely stopped laughing did he take a step closer. He approached and answered. The answer that Carl wanted.
“Carl Mayner. As you always said.”
“This is not the time for wordplay!”
“No kidding. Carl, I’m Carl Mayner. Just like you.”
His answer was far from sufficient to clear up the doubt.
He approaches the confused Carl, taps his shoulder, and spits out even more confusing words.
“You’ll know someday. What it means.”
“……”
“Don’t look for your strength elsewhere. Throw away all the foolishness you brought from other worlds.”
I know that the sword is possessed. Who on earth is this guy? I wondered if he was the writer.
“Find what you want. Find it and get it.”
“Uh, how…?”
The end of confusion is adaptation. Carl put aside his doubts and listened to his words. As if by magic, he became focused on his words. Maybe it was because they were the words he really wanted to hear, the words he had to hear.
“There is no right answer. If you want to rely on a set path, go back. If you focus on one path… You’ve only experienced bitterness so far, right?”
“!”
Carl realized that the man in front of him, a man with the exact same face as himself, was talking about the original story with Bingyi.
“So you have no choice but to do it. Oh, I’ll say it again, don’t ask me how. It’s unconditional. Don’t worry. ”
“What is that… .”
“This is the protagonist’s life. No, it’s a man’s life.”
His golden eyes were as clear as fire. There was no trace of bewilderment or hesitation in them.
Carl wondered if his eyes could look that cool. Then, he realized that he was far from it. His self-deprecation began to build up again.
“I, I am not you… .”
“Stop talking nonsense.”
“?”
I can’t help but let out my frustration and pain, because I feel so frustrated and miserable. I wonder if ‘I’ will understand.
But all I got in return was a firm answer. A bitter, but necessary answer.
“How long are you going to act like a fool? If you don’t trust yourself, who will?”
“……”
“You don’t have anything? Let’s say so, but I still believe you. And you can get it later. So just count it as something you have.”
Carl speaks to Karl, who still lacks confidence.
“After… If you don’t believe me, I’ll show you.”
“What?”
“What we can do.”
He took a deep breath, then stretched out his hand and reached for Carl’s forehead.
“But be careful. I might take everything you have.”
“What is that…!”
“Shh, just watch from inside. If you keep acting like this, I’ll just take everything. Our bodies, and even the heroines.”
Carl tried to resist at the last moment. It was because he had a belated sense of alarm at the guy’s words that he would take over even the heroines.
But it was already too late.
Carl’s consciousness began to fade.
What happens if you lose consciousness even in the unconscious world?
Before I could even chew on the question, I lost consciousness.
I closed my eyes slowly like that.
*
My throat hurts from screaming so loudly.
A woman’s characteristic high-pitched scream is deafening to both the person screaming and the person listening.
She literally gave it her all, even shedding tears like a little girl.
When I saw myself reflected in the broken glass here and there, I could feel it. With my face turned thoughtful and my body trembling, I looked like a frail heroine who wanted to be protected.
I just regret not being able to show this side of me to Karl.
If I had known this would happen, I would have just fainted… .
While I was personally revealing my thoughts about acting, the saint next to me asked me a question.
“Beatrice, use your strength!”
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t next to each other. There was a fallen sword between the saintess and me.
“That…you went on a pilgrimage, right? A saint who has been trained through arduous marches should be able to hold you better.”
“That Dahlia is from the Knights College, right?”
“……”
When you ask me that question, I have nothing to say.
The two of us were groaning as we carried him, each of us putting an arm around his shoulder.
It was only natural that his legs would drag on the ground as he was dragging a sword that was much larger than ours, which was why the saint spoke bluntly.
The sword will be struggling, so let’s pull it well.
But she wouldn’t know. If only it hadn’t been for four years, she would have been transported safely and peacefully by magic… .
It’s all because of this sinful pheromone-lump saint.
They have no idea that they are being disturbed.
Then suddenly, a solution occurred to me and I stopped walking.
The saintess who was walking with me, carrying a sword, turned her head and looked at me. Questions bloomed in her pink eyes.
You have such a pretty face that it’s actually annoying.
“?”
He spoke to the saint in a hoarse voice, as if he had found a brilliant solution.
“Then I’ll try to carry it by myself.”
“!”
But contrary to my expectations, she was quick-witted.
Ahem-! He swallows a dry cough and speaks to me with a somewhat anxious expression.
“No way.”
“Why? I was disrespectful. How dare I try to entangle a saint and a man… .”
“It is a virtue of a priest to devote himself to the needy.”
“But it’s not like you can put a man from another country on the saint’s body, right?”
“Other, a stranger…!?”
It seemed like she didn’t like the expression referring to the sword. But what can I do when it’s a foreign man who gets hit?
Since the saint and the sword are not related, there is no expression that fits them as if they were an outsider.
Not only are they not relatives, he is definitely not my husband.
So, to the saintess, the sword must remain that kind of man.
“That’s right, Miss Dahlia… No matter how urgent the situation is, how could I allow the unhealthy behavior of a noble lady getting close to a man?”
The saint barely managed to hide her embarrassment and made a plausible excuse.
“I can’t commit such a rude act against someone who is destined to lead the social world. So, I, who has been watching over the sword since childhood, am like a family member! I will take on this burden… .”
While saying this, he made the sign of the cross devoutly.
As if to emphasize that it is a sacred work that must be done without selfish motives and with a sense of mission.
“……”
She’s a shameless bitch. She pretends to care about me and to elevate me, and she cleverly achieves her goals.
Don’t leave it like that.
“No!”
“!?”
“I’m not the upright woman you think I am. So that’s okay.”
The expression of the compassionate saint slowly crumbled. Anxiety and confusion were eating away at her.
“She is a sinful woman. As a noble lady who should be virtuous, there were things that almost disqualified her.”
“What happened… .”
“Please, forgive me for my sins. I showed a lot of skin to a man at night. Almost naked… .”
As he said that, he turned his head slightly and looked at the sleeping Karl’s face. He smiled because a smile came to his face without him knowing.
“Ah! Now that I think about it, I must have seen it this morning when I woke up… I hurriedly covered my body… ”
“!?”
Although there is a bit of exaggeration, these anecdotes are based on facts.
The night I was training with Chloe… I was drenched in sweat, and not long ago… I saw her just coming out of the shower wearing a bathrobe.
Smile-
The saintess noticed my strange gaze towards the sword and asked with trembling lips.
“What, what, what are you saying…?”
“So~ don’t worry… Huh… ?!”
Then I felt some tossing and turning.
I could immediately feel the strength building in the sword’s arm as it wrapped around my shoulder and around my neck.
The other side must have felt the same sensation, as the saint’s trembling face brightened.
“Knife! Are you okay?”
As she was the player, I just watched the sword moving silently.
Instead of answering, Carl opened his eyes slowly. He opened them languidly, but they quickly turned into clear eyes.
His gaze seemed more intense than before.
Swish-
He slowly removed the arm that was resting on our shoulders and stood up straight on both legs.
The sword, which had finally returned to its original eye level, looked down at us. I could feel an atmosphere so strong that it made my heart flutter.
It was an impression that gave off a sense of inexplicable dissonance.
I was overcome by an inexplicable sense of foreboding, and as if in a trance, I spoke to Karl without realizing it.
“Are you okay?”
I felt bad for taking him down and making him unconscious.
“……”
But there was no answer. Instead-
Saaak-
A white light rose around the sword’s body. It was the energy that was emitted when the Holy Sword’s power was used.
“Knife?”
“Alana, get away.”
The saintess looked very shocked at the words, “Get down.”
I think she heard it as, ‘I want to be with Beatrice, so please step aside.’
If that’s what you meant, that would be great… .
The menacing aura emanating from the sword told me something else.
“Stay away, it’s dangerous.”
As he said that, he turned his gaze towards me. His gaze was filled with strong anger and skepticism.
It was only then that I realized that what was coming had come.
Saaak-
As the sword stretched out its right hand to the side, the holy sword came into being.
“Okay, wait a minute… .”
Before I knew it, I was slowly backing away.
“……”
The sword approached me step by step, keeping pace with my footsteps. So the distance between us could not grow.
Bam-
Stuck at a dead end, I reached the wall and could only look up at him with a trembling heart.
The sword was still looking down at me, its gaze so intense that it seemed as if it was going to devour me, I couldn’t look it in the eye.
Or maybe, it was as if I had been stripped naked and my identity revealed… .
It was truly an embarrassing look.
As I was waiting for his disposition, he lowered his holy sword so that it was pointed at the ground, and came near to my ear with his other hand resting on the wall.
You can tell that my face is flushed without even looking in the mirror… .
The knife whispered to me as I stood frozen with a flushed face.
In a low, small voice that only I can hear.
“Trixie Green.”
“… !!!”
My face turned cold at the shocking words I blurted out with dry emotion. It would be more accurate to say that I turned pale.
Parrr- I couldn’t calm my trembling eyes at all.
Not only my eyes, but my whole body was trembling, and I was barely able to make eye contact with him.
The sword gave a mocking tone bordering on contempt, and said:
“I hate you.”
With those cold words, my world also froze over.
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