"Thank you very much," Rhizen bowed in gratitude, seeing Chenger's wounds had completed healing. The healer of the fortress had finished healing her injuries.
The healer's abilities weren't anything spectacular and were only able to speed up the body's natural recovery using the burst element. So, it wasn't able to regrow any fingers or limbs.
Thankfully, Chenger mostly suffered cuts on her body and a loss of eight nails, all of which could be healed by her body naturally. Same for the swelling on her legs. It did consume a lot of pearls, but her legs were good as new in the end.
Rhizen then carried her, arriving at the room allotted to them. There were various rooms in the fortress, each spacious enough to house a family each. So, he and Chenger, given their status, were allotted the same room.
From the start, he was awed by everything that was going on in the fortress, feeling as if he was seeing things for the first time. There were indeed many things that were going on in the fortress.
And upon hearing that food would be served in a large mess where everyone could dine comfortably, he was shocked. The pearl-like objects, that he viewed with scorn due to his prior experience were seen in a completely different light now.
They rapidly allowed the lives of everyone to become better, causing him to change his opinion about them, making him sigh in the end, 'So, things like a Mountain Deity are real, huh.'
'Is this really the world that I grew up in?' He wondered from time to time, sighing as he entered the room, not surprised upon seeing that it was mostly empty.
There was a couch in the living room and a table before it, all made from pearl—the same material making up the entire fortress. They were rooted to the spot, one with the building. They were hard, but as long as he placed the rug of something above it, they would serve as comfortable seating areas.
Those in charge of the clothes indeed said that they would be providing blankets and the other necessities sooner, once they were ready.
There was an attached dining room to the living room, leading into two bedrooms. There was an attached bathroom to each bedroom, ready with a plumbing supply. Upon seeing how clean everything was, Rhizen sighed, "This feels like an apocalypse never happened."
Just as he thought as such, knocking sounds resounded from the door. He opened it, noticing two men saunter inside, carrying large quilts that they placed in the centre of the living room, "Bedsheets, pillows, mattress, towels, and some sets of clothes. All are here. You can later collect toothpaste, soap, and other items from the relevant buildings."
After saying their piece, they left, joking about with each other, clearly happy with doing work. A warm, comfortable place to live, nourishing food to eat, protection against external threats, and a spiritual pillar to rely upon, all were positive signs that made their moods great.
From time to time, the ballistas on the walls took action. And, all they had to do was go and collect the corpses of the mutated beasts. Once collected, someone purified them by putting some grass on them. It was mentioned by Compass Carburettor, so they followed it, having understood the danger that existed in the mutated beast meat.
"Everything feels unreal," Rhizen sighed, slumping on the sofa as he gently placed Chenger nearby. Thanks to the cushions, it was pretty comfortable.
"Ugh…what…happened?" A couple of minutes later, Chenger groaned, waking up slowly, blinking in confusion at the pristine state of her surroundings, "Am I...dead?"
"You're pretty much alive," Rhizen said, gently hugging her when Chenger's eyes slowly widened in shock before tearing up.
She hugged him tightly, feeling him up, causing the feeling of this being a reality to slowly sink into her. "I…never thought I would be able to speak with you again."
"What happened back then? How were you captured?" Rhizen asked.
"As you had instructed me, I was training daily while inspecting the surroundings, making trips into the nearby forest. On the day you left for Mount Craire, I used the crossbow to hunt a mutated creature and somehow gained an ability." She began to recount her experience in the apocalypse.
"But yesterday, right after I sent you the message using our messenger bird, two people barged into our house." She shuddered in fright, "I retaliated against them, alright? But, before I knew it, my two items were destroyed while I was on the floor, paralysed. After that…"
"I'm sorry…" She began to shed tears, "I wasn't able to endure their torture for long before I leaked information about you."
"You could have simply told them at the start itself. You didn't have to suffer so much." Rhizen sighed, patting her back.
"No," Chenger shook her head saying, "I might be dumb, but I didn't wish to implicate you. So, I gave them the wrong information about you. But, strangely, it seemed they were able to detect my lies."
"Eight times, I changed my lies eight times, hoping that they would believe it. But…" She covered her face, sobbing uncontrollably.
"You've been through a lot." Rhizen consoled her.
…
"No…that's not me! Rhizen! That's not me! No!" A lady writhed on the ground, tied up, unable to escape.
Hovering before her was a screen, displaying the scene shared between Rhizen and 'Chenger'.
"No!" Upon seeing Rhizen show such an expression to 'Chenger', the lady screamed as tears streamed out of her eyes, causing her to suffer from pain. After all, her face was a horrid mess, affected by acid that had been poured on her.
The perpetrators had partially healed her to ensure she was alive but still suffered in pain from the gentlest of sunlight and wind. She lacked neither fingers nor toes, sporting lacerations all over her body that were haphazardly healed.
She was Chenger, the actual one.
"How is it? Seeing your beloved with another woman that is aiming for his life?" Followed by a chuckle, Shyvern gazed at Chenger's melted face, "You know, all men are the same. They just want a pretty lady by their side."
"Even if he had realised that the Chenger beside him is fake, as long as she looks the same as your pretty self, he wouldn't care." He laughed.
"No, Rhizen isn't like that," Chenger screamed but was unable to do anything, lacking the strength to resist.
"I'm curious," Shyvern closed in on her, "If you run towards Rhizen now and reveal your identity with your melted face, I'm curious about what will happen next."
"Which Chenger will Rhizen say is real?"
