I opened my eyes.
Epherene was lying on the floor, drooling and scratching her stomach.
She must have been struck by the mist.
I picked up the sleeping girl and carried her to bed.
“Is Allen asleep?“
On the other side of the bed, Allen was snoring away.
I sat on the chair and watched the two of them. It didn’t seem like they were having a nightmare, but I detected a status abnormality with Vision.
[Status Abnormality: Coma]
Coma… it wasn’t a very pleasant matter.
The weight contained by the word was greater than ever.
I looked at the clock. It was exactly 6:06 in the morning on the 6th.
“…This is strange.”
I lifted the [Records of the Goreth Island Incident Investigation]
again and started reading.
—The inhabitants of Goreth Island disappeared in an instant.
One eyewitness, who remained as he was out fishing at the time, said that the entire island of Goreth was shrouded in mist during the incident.I still saw the thick mist rolling under my feet.
—Also, a day on Goreth Island is different from the outside.
We don’t know why, but when we reach the island, we naturally think of a month as 36 days.What Hesrock once said.‘The passage will open at 18:06:06 on the 6th, 16th, 26th, and 36th.’In this world, a year had 365 days, the same as the Earth, and a 36th day of the month didn’t exist.
—We believe that the Goreth Island itself is part of Coma, a space where dreams and reality merge. An island of monstrosities that prey on people’s unconscious minds.
I mumbled absentmindedly.
Soon, the spelling of the word Goreth in my head was dismantled and replaced with a new name.
I got up and went down to the first floor, to where Hesrock’s team currently resided.However, there were only three people in the thick mist: Ihelm and two of his disciples.
Hesrock’s team of about fifteen disappeared into thin air.
I took Ihelm and his party with Psychokinesis and moved them to the second floor.
After putting them in the bed, I looked at Epherene, who was breathing hard.
After pondering a moment, I took off my gloves.
Then, I placed my hand on her forehead and activated Understanding to look into Epherene’s dream.
[Dream understanding: 2%]
But it seemed it would take some time. It must be because these five…no, all the humans in this castle were trapped in the same dream…
* * *
…Epherene opened her eyes, feeling a bit strange.Why was she here?
What was she looking for?
She tilted her head and looked around.“Please prepare. It is now the time to enter.”
The operation was in full swing. Hesrock and his members were in the conference room alongside Assistant Professor Allen, Ihelm, and his disciples. Each of them wore bracelets and had a string tied around their waists.But something was missing.
She couldn’t explain it, but she instinctively knew something was missing. Allen, putting on his equipment, turned to her.“Epherene?
What’s wrong?
“
“Yes?
No… well. It’s not a big deal.”
“Are you all ready?
“
Hesrock regarded the two. Epherene nodded, confused, and Ihelm spoke up.
“Yes, let’s go.”
Hesrock looked at his watch and opened the door at exactly 6 minutes and 6 seconds.
“Sixth day, six minutes and six seconds. We will start exploring.”
“Shall we go?“
Hesrock hefted a crystal ball for recording, and Allen smiled broadly.
“Yes. Let’s go.”
Together they entered through the door, stepping upon a wide and dark path in a tunnel. The mist inside was so thick they couldn’t see more than an inch ahead.
“Everyone, please be careful not to lose the line.”
Epherene went forward, relying on the line drawn on the center of the floor. One step, then another, looking nervous that a ghost might appear.Suddenly, Ihelm called out to her. Epherene glanced up.“Isn’t something strange?
“The sound of someone’s walking behind them. Epherene replied calmly.“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean? It’s too-“
“It’s over there.”
Hesrock interrupted Ihelm, pointing ahead.Ihelm and Epherene grew distracted as if possessed by the scenery around them.
“This is the door leading to the inside of the Ghost Castle.”
The mist gradually faded, and a large gate appeared.
Its appearance was disgusting at a glance, as what were either tentacles or veins wrapped around it.
“This is the result of a lot of exploration. We believe that the core of the discontinuity lies within this.”
“Hmm. That’s what it seems like. A tremendous amount of mana is pulsating within there.”
Epherene agreed with Ihelm, but she felt like she had forgotten something over and over again.
“Then let’s go in.”
When Hesrock was about to open the door-A restraining voice called out from somewhere. Everyone turned vigilantly to find the source of the sound. Four unidentified silhouettes were slowly approaching them.
“Who is… huh?!”
Epherene, preparing for an unexpected battle, was surprised to find she knew who these newcomers were. Red-haired beauty with children standing next to her emerged from the mist.
“Red Garnet Adventure Team?!”
* * *
While Understanding Epherene’s dream, I explored the inside of the castle with the wood steel.
At first, I was planning to find that demon and kill him.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a trace of him, but instead, I could figure out exactly how much space this castle had, calculating the number of rooms by their concentration of mana.
The concentration of mana in each space was independent.
For example, if mana concentration in one space was 3.1503% and in another space was 2.9825%, the two spaces could be called different.
The total number of spaces in this castle was 3,663, derived from my calculations conducted with the wood steels. It was a familiar number for some reason.I continued to read the
[The Incident Log]
—At the time of the disappearance, there were 3,535 people, but since then, more than 100 people have gone missing.
There were 3,535 people and 3,663 spaces. Coincidentally similar numbers. I put my hand on the wall.
“You didn’t disappear.”
There was no particular reason why the space was discontinuous, except that this space itself was alive and moving.
“You became part of the castle.”
Then, an elegant voice called out my name.
“Looks like it’s been a while.”
A Named in a robe
— Carla. As expected of the owner of the Authority trait, she hadn’t been trapped in the dream either.“Did you come to fight?
“Carla shook her head.“Deculein, did you see that child?“
Her sentences always sounding like they ended as a question was one of her biggest characteristics. I suppose you could vaguely call it a personality trait.
“…Are you talking about the demon?“
“It looks like it’s not a demon; it’s half-human and half-demon.”
Half-human and half-demon. As soon as I heard that, only one Named came to mind.“Yeah. You already knew his name?“
Carlos was a bit complicated. Depending on the quest’s progress, he could become a villain, a madman, or an ordinary human. He was an unpredictable Named.
I didn’t know he was that young, however.“What will you do with that child?“
For me, I had nothing to think about.
“Of course, I’m just going to kill him.”
He had a pretty high chance of becoming a demon, so it was better to kill him. No matter who was by Carlos’s side or tried to stop me, I wouldn’t give him a second chance. I wouldn’t hesitate like a fool as I did last time. She just resembled her, but that weird kid wasn’t Yuli.
* * *
…The Red Garnet Adventure Team denied the Imperial team’s entry.
“Wait. There’s no good going inside now. It seems that dark energy is boiling inside there right now~; wait a little bit.”
Epherene quickly agreed because it was Ganesha’s explanation, not anyone else’s.
“Hmph. Long time no see, Ganesha.”
Ihelm twisted his lips as he looked at her. Ganesha offered a short answer of, ‘Yeah~,’ and then sat down.
“While waiting, should we grab something to eat?
We have quite a lot of food in stock~.”
Epherene immediately sat down as well. Allen, Ihelm, and Hesrock, alongside his teammates, followed her.
“There’s food here.”
Ganesha pulled pork from her backpack, and the kid named Lia skewered it while Epherene made a fire.
“Hurry up. Cook quickly…”
“Be quiet, Leaf.”
She didn’t need to wait, drooling all the while, for long.
“There is ssam* here too.”
(*T/N: A Korean dish in which, usually, leafy vegetables are used to wrap a piece of meat.) Lia took out some leaves, prompting Ihelm to look at Epherene. Epherene responded bluntly.“What are you looking at?“
“Nothing. I’m just curious. Hey, what is that?
You brought leaves.”
“It’s called ssam. You wrap meat in leaves like this and eat it.”
Lia wrapped the pork and various vegetables in the ssam and began eating right away.
It was a pretty unique dish but appeared tasty, nonetheless.“Oh~, you wrap meat and other things in the leaves and eat them together?“
“Yeah. It’s really good.”
Epherene also tried a ssam after seeing Lia enjoy one. She placed three pieces of meat and a mushroom on the leaves, seasoned it with herbs and salt, and took a large bite.
“It’s good, right?!”
Epherene and Lia, their cheeks full, looked at each other and laughed. At that moment, Allen, who was eating quietly, spoke.
“But you know, how do you differentiate between humans and ghosts? There must be a ghost in there…”
Lia was the one to answer, wrapping up another ssam.
“There used to be a saying that ghosts turn everything upside down.”
“Everything upside down?
Do you mean to walk while standing on one’s hands?
“Epherene was preparing more food for herself as she asked. Lia smiled a little.“No~, not showing off like that. It is unconsciously reversing learned behaviors. Like when you’re clapping, you unknowingly hit the back of your hand… now, Leo?“
Lia offered a bowl of soup to the young boy Leo, who sipped at it gingerly.
Epherene chuckled.
“Do it backward… you know a lot, huh?This is fun. I used to hear myths like that when I was younger.”
Epherene suddenly noticed Hesrock. He was also wrapping a ssam, but she pretended not to see him and quickly turned away.She swallowed her food, hardly chewing on it. It felt like something was stuck in her throat, but she couldn’t make a sound.
That was how much Hesrock’s ssam shocked her. He didn’t put meat on leaves but leaves on meat… in other words, he made a reverse of a ssam.
“…Um, Mr. West?“
Epherene remembered a scene from a little while ago when Mr. West opened the refrigerator. The refrigerator was a closed space, but it was normalized again when West closed the door and reopened it.
At the time, she didn’t think it was too strange…West appeared confused. Epherene wiped away some sweat, pretending to scratch her head.
“Hey, it doesn’t seem like nothing.”
West smiled, but for Epherene, his face overlapped with the ghost she met in the nightmare last night.
“Tell me. What-“
The moment West began to insist-A great shout rang out from far away.
Ganesha moved straight into battle position, and Epherene turned to face her, warming up her mana.
“Who else is there?“
… a certain uniformed warrior was moving toward them, a longsword sheathed behind his back. Ganesha, clicking her tongue, said his name reluctantly.
“It’s Jackal. A somewhat annoying guy arrived~.”
“Annoying? That makes me sad. Forget it, let me eat some of that food too, huh?“
* * *
Meanwhile, Carla and I sat facing each other.The two of us didn’t say anything to each other for 30 minutes but just sat there in a quiet power struggle. Finally, Carla broke the silence.“I heard you met Idnik.
I looked at Carla with some sense of accomplishment. She formed a teacup with her magic, and I could smell the coffee it held.
“Right. I met her.”
“What did you talk about?“
Carla asked the question casually, sipping her coffee. I didn’t answer.
“Idnik seems to be raising Sylvia these days.”
Carla nodded, clearly a bit surprised.“Maybe it’s an uncomfortable situation for you.”
I didn’t know how much this woman knew about Deculein. However, if I looked at her actions and attitude, it appeared clear she knew a few things.“Why would I be uncomfortable?“
“When Sylvia grows up, you will be the most in danger.”
“Do you want me to kill her instead?“
At that moment, I lifted my head to stare at her. Carla’s eyes, covered by her hood, were invisible, but I could see her smirk.
“…Don’t touch Sylvia.”
My tone was so heavily subdued that even I felt awkward saying it.
“Why? Do you feel sorry for her? Or are you trying to kill her yourself?“
I closed my eyes for a moment, feeling a cold pain forming in my temple. At the same time, the memories of that day appeared as fragments.
The moment Deculein killed Sierra, it was a blurry and murky scene because it wasn’t my memory. My hands clasped around Sierra’s neck, who had done nothing wrong…
—Please forgive… Sylvia. Please…
I opened my eyes, and Carla tilted her head. She gestured, asking for an answer.
“…I have no right to kill that child.”
Sylvia, that child who made me feel the passion.
“But the kid has it.”
Perhaps, Deculein was also feeling pity for her. He felt sorry for her, at least a little.I answered briefly.
“To kill me.”
Then, suddenly, a strange phenomenon occurred. A gust of wind condensed like a tornado and released in a burst of mana.
“Was someone watching us?“
Carla mumbled with a faint smile. My brow furrowed as I stared at the wind.
“…Deculein. It looks like the demon is coming.”
However, I shifted my gaze again, an almost automatic anger rose inside me.
“What kind of demon?“
That was enough. It wasn’t even surprising. As for the quest’s progress, given the bloodline called Yukline, I was sure I’d face him someday.
“It seems that where there is a demon, there is always a Yukline. Even dealing with the demon this time, the Yukline bloodline must be here, right?“
“Stop talking now.”
I put the teacup that Carla was sipping down with Psychokinesis.
“For now, this damn island which took my apprentice is my top priority.”
