Chapter 84
Adela placed her hand on her forehead.
By her own judgnt, the Joshua before her eyes was a fake.
However, she did not have the confidence to reveal that.
It was the first ti she had been affected by hallucination magic.
She did not know how the Joshua before her would react upon hearing the truth.
“Your thinking is too long.”
“Huh?”
“I am saying you should make a judgnt quickly.”
Adela swallowed her groan.
Joshua had said it.
To always think and deliberate.
Empowered by his words, she worked her brain desperately.
“Where did we co from?”
“Vilne.”
“What is our request?”
“The elimination of the zombie in the lake.”
“Among the comrades who ca together, who is missing from this request?”
“Talleon, Gavinu, and Leonard.”
“Since you know so well, why couldn't you answer the question about the Ice Witch earlier!”
She bit her nails.
The more she talked with him, the more confused she beca.
“I don't know about that.”
“……Seriously.”
“So what will you do in this situation?”
He spoke as if he were testing her.
“I will do nothing."
“You are very different from the Joshua I knew. That boy would have taken action without waiting.”
“Then am I a fake?”
“……I don't know.”
She leaned her back against the dirt wall.
“Argh, how annoying. What should I do.”
Joshua only listened and did not answer.
He simply watched.
Even when she glared at him with a resentful gaze, his expression did not falter.
“I told you that you should not enter the Academy.”
A familiar voice was heard from within the mist.
It was a middle aged woman.
She wore a flashy dress that did not suit a disaster situation.
“……Mother.”
Olivia Grace.
A person who wore noble dignity like armor.
It was her mother.
Her heart swelled at her mother's healthy appearance, but she also felt uncomfortable on the other hand.
“You insisted on going to the Academy, and in the end, you turned out like this.”
Her sharp gaze pierced Adela.
“If you had stayed in the territory and received education from , this would not have happened.”
“If I had done that, you intended to send to another family in the year I turned sixteen.”
“That is the destiny one is born with as a woman.”
She felt sothing hot burning down her throat.
Devote your life to the family.
That was the phrase she always said to Adela like a habit.
“Even if it is not that way, there are many ways to enhance the honor of the family.”
“But it is impossible for you.”
“T-That is not true.”
“I know how many tis you failed here. You could not lead people. Even though you knew the group was bruised, you could not cut it out. It was all because you were lacking.”
Adela bit her lip until it bled.
She was indignant.
However, she could not refute it.
Ever since the zombies appeared, what she had done was a series of failures.
“You have a wise mother.”
Joshua, who was next to her, replied sarcastically.
“If you intend to tease , stop it.”
“Is her evaluation unfair?”
“No, Mother’s words are correct. I only had good academic grades. In reality, when things happened, I was an incompetent human being.”
She wanted to prove her value and be recognized.
The work in the Moonlight Knights.
Obsessing over being an officer in Joshua’s group.
She had moved with a consistent purpose.
“Are you being swayed by the words of your mother, who is an illusion?”
“Because the real Mother would have said the sa thing.”
“……A pity.”
Joshua scratched his chin as if he were dissatisfied.
“The ambition you had when you first ca to the Academy has vanished without a trace.”
“I am your senior by two years, you know? So how do you know what I was like when I first ca.”
“If it is a hallucination, it might make sense.”
A deep sigh flowed from her mouth.
“It seems you really are the real Joshua.”
He only shrugged his shoulders.
“The illusion of Mother, what should I do about it?”
Olivia, her mother, remained before her eyes.
She began to point out Adela's actions one by one since the disaster occurred.
It was no use covering her ears.
She felt as if her mother's voice were being embedded in her brain.
“It must be troubleso since you cannot commit the immorality of killing your mother, even if she is an illusion.”
“I am not asking for sympathy, I am asking for you to teach a thod.”
“Why do you ask that?”
“……You know everything.”
“There are many things even I don't know.”
Joshua feigned ignorance.
He did not help.
Even if he were real and not a hallucination, he seed likely to act as he did now.
“My head hurts.”
“Anyone would be that way when hearing a lecture.”
“If this continues, I will end up going crazy.”
The dizziness grew increasingly stronger.
At that mont, soone grabbed her ankle from beneath her feet.
She placed her gaze where the sensation was transmitted.
She saw a dead apprentice knight.
Calvin.
He was the boy who had climbed the ridge with her in the forest.
“If it were not for you, I would not have had to die!”
His face was in a rotten and crumbling state.
The decayed skin unique to zombies.
Goosebumps rose all over her body, and she quickly cast a spell.
Bang! Sparks flew up and the spell misfired.
“Kaghhhh!”
Calvin bit her ankle.
A scream burst out reflexively.
Even then, Joshua did not do anything.
“Do not just watch and help !”
“Always think.”
“What kind of nonsense is that!”
“If you think just a little, you know how much this situation makes no sense.”
She bit her teeth.
Calvin reached his arm past her ankle to her thigh.
She ignored him and closed her eyes tightly.
Let's think, let's think.
“There is no way you could be here. Because I was the one who buried your corpse.”
He was a well made fake.
“So what changes? I died because of you.”
Her whole body convulsed.
Even though she wanted to pull him off, strength did not enter her hands.
“Adela.”
“……Dammit.”
“Hey.”
“What are you saying I should have done.”
“Adela Grace!”
Joshua shouted.
She looked at him with trembling eyes.
“Act a little more brazenly.”
“Huh?”
He approached and kicked Calvin, who was an illusion.
Surprisingly, Calvin was knocked away by his kick.
“Ugh, what is this!”
Joshua got on top of Calvin and continued to throw punches.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Calvin distorted his expression in agony.
“You are the one who ran away because you were afraid to fight the variant, so why are you blaming her?”
“That is true, but the one who led us then was Adela.”
“So is it her fault that you died?”
“That's right!”
“You are talking bullshit.”
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Again, his fists headed toward Calvin.
“It is because you were not confident, so you pushed it onto her.”
“It is not!”
“Now you are even trying to lie.”
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Sticky flesh stuck to the hands of Joshua as he swung his fists.
He lightly brushed it off.
“Do you feel like speaking truthfully now?”
“Y-Yes, it is true. I was not confident in climbing the mountain path alone, and I was not confident in leading the kids, so I entrusted it to her.”
“Then you should have said so from the beginning. Why are you flapping your gums?”
“I am sorry.”
Adela, who was watching this scene, could not hide her bewildernt.
He, whom she thought was an illusion, knocked down another illusion.
“If you don't want to get beaten more, vanish from my sight.”
Calvin vanished into the mist.
Once he disappeared, Joshua approached her.
“Get up.”
“But my leg.”
“It is not a real zombie, so even if you are bitten, you don't beco a zombie.”
As he said, the wound on her leg disappeared.
“……Thank you for helping.”
“Why could you not do it yourself.”
“My body would not listen.”
“If you are like that even in reality, I cannot entrust the kids to you.”
An excuse did not co to mind.
If not for his help, she would have been eaten by Calvin.
“Shall I tell you the difference between you and Leonard?”
She slowly nodded her head.
“He does not hesitate. And he is not easily shaken either.”
“How can he be that way?”
“It is because his head is simple.”
“Leo will be hurt if he hears that.”
“It is better than thinking complexly like you.”
A deep sigh flowed from within.
She was afraid to et his gaze.
She had boasted about showing him she could beco an officer.
Yet she had only shown a pathetic appearance.
“My expectations for you are high.”
“Liar, I have only disappointed you every ti.”
“Even so, you have made an effort to lead other people. That is not sothing just anyone can do.”
“……Really?”
“Yes.”
Joshua showed a soft smile.
He was younger than her.
Nevertheless, it felt like an experienced person was giving her advice.
“Do you intend to keep giving chances?”
“There is no one else to assign besides you anyway.”
“Among the mages, there is Tania or Serena too.”
“You are more suitable for the job than them.”
It felt like her heart was becoming full.
His single word pulled up the confidence that had been hiding.
“The help ends here. Take care of the last part yourself.”
His gaze headed toward the illusion of her mother, which had not yet vanished.
She stood up from her spot.
When she first saw it, she could not approach.
However, now her feet were light like a lie.
Joshua was behind her.
She felt reassured just by him watching.
“Mother.”
The illusion of her mother looked this way.
Her gaze was still sharp and cold.
“You promised to wait until I graduate from the Academy. I turned nineteen this year. That ans only one year is left. I don't know if I can do well, but if it does not work out, I will follow your words then. So please just watch over until then.”
“……I still regret sending you to the Academy. You should have stayed by my side.”
Indeed, it was her mother's illusion.
She showed a prickly appearance until the very end.
“No one knows who will win yet. I will surely prove that I was right.”
“I am sorry, but I don't think I can cheer for you.”
“It is okay, that is just like you, Mother.”
As she forced a smile, the hallucination gradually returned to mist.
Eventually, she vanished from before her eyes.
She turned her head.
Fortunately, Joshua remained in his spot.
“By any chance, did you cast a spell on ?”
She asked him.
The cause of the courage she did not have.
She thought Joshua had secretly cast a spell on her.
“No.”
“It is okay to tell the truth.”
“If I had used [Serenity], you would have known. And even if [Serenity] calms the mind, it does not have the power to change a person's heart. This is sothing you did.”
“Hehe, I see.”
Laughter ca out.
Even though she faced her trauma, it was not as painful as she had thought.
It was because he helped by her side.
“Is it not ti for you to tell now?”
“Tell you what?”
“You are the real one.”
“I wonder, that is sothing one cannot know.”
Joshua answered indifferently.
“But even with Mother and Calvin gone, this hallucination does not end.”
“I suppose so.”
“I think we might have entered the variant’s dream. If that is the case, is the variant not sowhere here too?”
“Have you beco able to think a little?”
“Thanks to you.”
Joshua smiled, seemingly satisfied with her answer.
“Then look for it.”
“What, were we not looking together?”
“If you find it first, you are the top contributor to this request. Then the other kids will acknowledge you too.”
“Leo’s face will be worth seeing if that happens.”
She could not help but laugh as she imagined the boy's blunt expression.
Joshua began to walk into the mist.
She did not follow.
He gave her another mission.
It seed he was leaving to do sothing else himself.
* * *
[You have completed the achievent of rescuing the illusion.]
[You have acquired 30 coins.]
[The God of Compassion is moved by your actions. Presenting 20 coins.]
[Current coins held: 70]
Coins were collected quite well.
He could collect a few more from this request.
He tossed a pill called the Pill of Purity, which he bought at the village shop, into his mouth.
His head beca clear.
[Patience] expressed dissatisfaction.
It seed it did not like its role being taken by the dicine.
“Stop it, it is too much for you alone.”
[Steady Nerves] also joined in, but strange mories occasionally flashed by.
The mories of the past that Joshua possessed.
His parents and younger sister.
And the interests of the family surrounding him.
Even though he possessed [Clever], he could not look back on Joshua’s past alone.
“It has been a long ti since I was alone.”
It was similar to when he first fell into this world.
However, he did not fumble like he did then.
It was different from when he knew nothing.
“……The child is truly quiet.”
A personality trait he had forgotten ca to mind.
[Loner].
He had never once exchanged emotions with that bastard since waking up here.
He wondered if it was very timid.
If not, he wondered if it was originally that kind of concept.
Anyway, it was quiet.
“If you guys are not bullying, how about talking to it at least once?”
[Cool] and [Clever] fight at the slightest provocation.
Seeing that, it was possible for the traits to share emotions among themselves.
Yet they did not even care about [Loner].
“If you guys stay silent, I look like a crazy person.”
There was no reaction.
At this point, it was a look of intentionally ignoring [Loner].
“Fine. Rather than that, let's organize the situation.”
We arrived at the lake.
A small piece of land floating in the middle of the lake.
The variant was there.
The zombie noticed us and increased its mana to attack.
It had drawn us into the dream it was dreaming.
He was not flustered.
There was a special strategy for hunting this variant.
That was to hunt it in the hallucination rather than reality and defeat it ntally.
“I could head straight to the variant, but.”
He was worried about Adela and Serena.
The debuffs of the two people were still effective.
If left alone, there was a possibility they would be consud by the illusion.
It was troubleso if they were broken.
Even for the sake of my survival.
“Let's stop here.”
Checking the personality traits and the plan ended here.
The person he was looking for was seen.
Serena.
She was sitting on the spot and looking at the sky.
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