Ch.187 Hans! You’re really being fooled!
Leah and Nekhuf headed toward the room Icira had used.
They knocked on the firmly shut door.
—Tap. Tap.
A few monts passed—no answer.
Leah and Nekhuf exchanged glances, blinking.
“Is she even in there?”
“You said she was in here, didn’t you?”
—Tap. Tap.
Leah knocked again.
Still no response.
“Aria?”
—Squeak.
Leah turned the doorknob and eased the door open.
“Aria?”
The room was immaculate—untouched, as if no one had ever lived there.
“Aria? Is this the right room?”
Nekhuf asked.
Leah nodded confidently.
“Yes. This is it.”
Nekhuf scanned the surroundings.
“Where is Aria?”
“Yeah… where is she?”
Leah sat on the edge of the bed, chin in hand.
“Aria… where are you?”
Then—
Sothing nudged Leah’s foot.
“Whoa!”
A long, white shape vanished beneath the bed.
Leah and Nekhuf crouched down to peer underneath.
“Aria?”
“Don’t sit on Mom’s bed!”
The hatchling snarled fiercely—clearly Aria.
“Aria?”
“Get out! Get out of Mom’s room!”
As Leah reached out gently, Aria bared her sharp fangs.
—Kyaah!
It was a clear warning: ‘Co closer, and I’ll bite.’
“Aria, why are you like this?”
“I hate you! I hate Hans! I hate Lord Auros too!”
“Aria…”
“You lied to ! You said Mom was fine! You all were terrible!”
Having said everything, Aria turned her back to them.
“I’m staying here. I’m waiting for Mom.”
Her stubborn hatchling form left Leah and Nekhuf speechless.
Aria, still so young, needed her mother’s comfort.
—What do we do?
—I don’t know either…
Both had lost parents—but no words of comfort ca to mind for Aria.
But they couldn’t just leave her here.
She couldn’t stay in this room forever.
“How long are you going to keep this up…?”
Leah extended a hand—Aria growled.
—Grrr… Grrrr!
“Don’t co near! I’ll bite you!”
Aria’s reptilian eyes glinted with nace.
Leah stared back, exasperated.
“Ah, co on…! At least get on the bed! Why are you under it?!”
“It’s my choice!”
Aria—once so gentle—shouted, and Leah sighed.
“If you keep this up, Lady Icira won’t be happy.”
“What do you know about my mom?!”
“I know less than you, maybe.”
Leah slowly reached out again.
Aria opened her mouth.
—Grrr!
As if to say, ‘One more step and I’ll bite’
But Leah didn’t hesitate.
She couldn’t let this continue.
She grabbed Aria’s foreleg—
—CRACK!
“Aaaah!”
Aria bit down hard on Leah’s arm.
—Grrrr!
“Aria! What are you doing to your sister?!”
Nekhuf lunged to pry Aria’s jaws open—but Leah stopped him.
“Khh… I’m fine, Nekhuf.”
—Grrr…!
Blood dripped from Leah’s arm, staining Aria’s muzzle red.
“I’m fine. Really.”
Leah winced in pain—but gently reached out with her left hand and stroked Aria’s face.
—Mrrr…
“You’ve been through so much, haven’t you?”
Aria’s snarling softened.
Her mouth opened slightly.
“Sister… doesn’t it hurt?”
Her eyes widened, round and shocked.
Actually, Aria hadn’t ant to bite.
She only wanted to warn Leah away.
But the bitter taste of blood in her mouth snapped her back to reality.
Leah shook her head gently.
“It hurts. But you’ll hurt more.”
She slowly pulled Aria’s foreleg toward her.
“I know it’s hard. I know it’s sad. But just sitting here won’t change anything.”
Aria, powerless, was dragged out from under the bed.
“But… but…”
Her voice trembled with grief.
Leah spoke softly.
“Lady Icira sacrificed herself—for all life… and for her only daughter.”
Leah understood perfectly why Icira had chosen that path.
If the Seal Stones fell…
The human world would collapse.
If the King of the Dead broke the God of Death’s seal—or if bound demons crossed over—
everything would end.
Icira knew this.
And yet she stepped forward.
Because of her, Roy’s arm was severed.
Because of her, the Hero Party had ti to grow stronger while Roy searched for a new limb.
It was a small act.
But it sparked a great miracle.
Thanks to her, they had succeeded in suppressing the King of the Dead.
If Hans could convince Selena…
Then the God of Death’s seal would never be broken.
Leah understood all of this.
“Eeeeng…”
Aria knew Icira was gone.
But she refused to accept it.
To accept ant never seeing her mother again.
So the hatchling stayed in the room—waiting, clinging to the mory.
—Waaahhh!
Aria burst into tears.
Leah pulled her into a tight embrace.
“It’s hard. I know. When my mother died… it broke
too.”
Before Leah ca to the Imperial Capital…
Just before she was chosen by her forr master—
her mother had fallen ill and passed away.
Even now, the pain hasn’t fully faded.
And Aria—a dragon who never received the blessing of forgetfulness—
felt it ten tis worse.
“Cry all you want… cry loudly… and then live fiercely.”
Leah gently patted Aria’s back.
***
“Where… is this?”
Ruins of a building, nestled in a desolate forest.
Only the stone foundation remained—proof a structure once stood here.
“This was the orphanage I grew up in.”
The ruins were even more desolate than she rembered.
The remaining stones matched the layout of the orphanage in her mory.
They’d burned it completely.
In her previous mory, she’d only seen Davinus and Selena fleeing.
But now it was clear—soldiers had set it ablaze.
Hans felt it was hopeless to search here.
The fire had left nothing but scorched stone.
“The day the village vanished and I beca a wanderer… the nun took
in.”
He passed the spot where the front door had been, scanning the interior.
Though burned, shards of broken glass and carved stone fragnts remained.
Hmm… if it was this thoroughly incinerated, finding anything would be nearly impossible.
Then Selena’s voice brushed his ear.
“Hans… you rember, don’t you?”
“Huh? What?”
She hesitated, struggling to speak.
“Do you… rember anything?”
She ant the mories she’d tried to erase.
When she’d spoken to him as if they’d just t after the orphanage fire—
he’d sensed it instantly.
She’d tried to erase his mories.
And failed.
Afterward, he’d played along, pretending to forget.
They’d traveled together.
And then—she confessed her love.
At that mont, he’d felt a chill crawl up his spine.
Last ti, she’d tried to kill him.
This ti, she’d erased his mories—and then confessed?
He’d wondered if she was a true psychopath—but he’d hidden it.
First, he had to convince Selena to expel Roy.
But now… he couldn’t pretend he didn’t rember anymore.
Her voice was weak—but filled with certainty.
He t her gaze, speaking calmly.
“Yes. I rember.”
Her eyes trembled.
“W-when… since when?”
“Since the beginning. Your mory wipe… never worked.”
Selena’s expression shifted rapidly—
first doubt, then shock, then crushing disappointnt.
“How… how could you still rember?”
He shrugged.
“I don’t know. But I think… it’s because of the Arbiter’s Armor.”
The item that made its wearer immune to all effects.
Naturally, it granted immunity to ntal attacks.
In her mind, her attempts to erase or manipulate him were psychic attacks.
So the armor’s effect likely protected him.
“Eek!”
She bared her white teeth at him.
Then sighed.
“Haa… so you accepted my confession… just to use ?”
Truthfully? Yes.
But no one in the world would admit that so bluntly.
He chose sincerity.
“No. I truly enjoyed the ti I spent with you.”
She was dangerous. Dangerous to the core.
But her beauty—long flowing hair, mysterious crimson eyes, delicate features—
made her unforgettable.
Sotis, when she laughed, he almost forgot she was a fanatic.
Was it because he understood her?
Selena lowered her head, arms trembling slightly.
“Then… will you join our side?”
“No. I won’t.”
Her face fell.
“Hiiing…”
That familiar, wounded look—
it made him question whether this woman had ever truly wanted to kill him.
She was beautiful.
Even if she was a monster.
If she hadn’t been a zealot…
he might have wanted to make her his girlfriend.
But she was a fanatic.
That was an insurmountable flaw.
“Will you really not help ?”
Her gloomy expression made him smile involuntarily.
“Yes. I can’t. If I do… we all die.”
“No! Hans! You’re really being fooled!”
He shook his head.
“No. I know what happens when the God of Death wins.”
In the ga, players only saw ‘GA OVER’ when the God of Death won.
No explanation.
Early on, the Church of Death was popular.
A group with conviction—willing to sacrifice everything for their cause.
They felt like a secret society.
Like a dark knight order.
But their image soured when Davinus beca playable.
Davinus was the ultimate anti-hero.
His story: stopping heroes to resurrect the God of Death.
Players who admired the Church of Death played Davinus…
and then cursed him.
Playing Davinus revealed the world after the God of Death’s resurrection.
The afterlife he promised…
wasn’t paradise.
All dead souls lost their selves—becoming eternal puppets, endlessly generating divine power.
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