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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Hmm…
Strange…
Luna couldn’t comprehend the situation unfolding before her.
“I was clearly in the dungeon!? Why am I suddenly back at Mister’s house!?”
She vaguely remembered encountering someone…
And Mister seemed angry…
But when she closed and opened her eyes, she was back at the house?
This situation…!
“Something, something’s wrong… This isn’t normal…!”
The situation felt incredibly unreal.
Luna looked around and listened intently to get a grasp of her surroundings.
Thwack- Thwack-
A rhythmic sound of wood hitting wood came from somewhere.
The direction was…
“That way leads to the yard…! Is Mister there!?”
Scamper-
Luna hurried towards the sound.
There, she saw Mister sparring with a small, red-haired girl using wooden swords.
But instead of his usual emotionless expression, he wore a happy one.
Luna called out to Mister,
“M-Mister? You, you never made that face when we sparred…!”
When they trained, he always taught her swordsmanship with an impassive expression, as if unsatisfied…?
Why was he teaching swordsmanship so happily now…?
Hurt and disappointment washed over Luna like waves.
She ran up to Mister and said,
“M-Mister! I-I’m better with the sword! I’m more talented!”
“Step aside, Luna. You have no talent. I prefer this child.”
He replied to her with a mechanical tone.
Every time Mister looked at the red-haired girl, a happy smile spread across his face.
Luna was incredibly annoyed by that sight.
“N-No way-!! Th-That’s impossible! Mister doesn’t smile!”
“Then let’s spar. I’ll show you just how talentless you are.”
“Y-You’re asking for it! Come at me, you little brat!”
Hmph, I trained so much with Mister!
Do you think I’d lose to a kid like you?!
I’m Mister’s best student!
Luna confidently pointed her wooden sword at the red-haired girl.
The red-haired girl’s name was ‘Aina.’
Aina, whose memories had been manipulated by Lee Jun-woo, also pointed her wooden sword at Luna.
“…Come at me. You’re less talented than me.”
“D-Damn it-!! Don’t call me talentless! Only Mister can say that!? And I am talented!”
That’s my spot, get out of the way!
Feeling as if her place had been stolen… Luna swung her sword down hard at Aina.
Clang-!
Aina dodged the sword with ease.
“Y-You dodged that?! You must be pretty athletic!”
“With skills like that, Mister will abandon you. You have no talent. It’d be better to raise a different child.”
“Wh-What are you suddenly saying!! D-Don’t say such ridiculous things!!”
“If he finds a more talented child, he’ll abandon someone like you without hesitation. Mister likes strong children. He prefers them to someone like you, with your stupid, simple brain.”
“D-Damn it-!!”
Annoying!
What do you know, acting all high and mighty!
I trained so hard-!!
Luna, provoked by Aina’s pointed words, swung her wooden sword wildly.
Losing her composure and revealing her emotions during a battle that required rationality meant she had already given up.
Aina’s wooden sword struck the emotionally charged Luna.
“An opening.”
“Ah, ahhhh-!!”
Thud-
Luna let out a gasp as the tip of the sword struck her solar plexus.
Having been hit in a vital spot, Luna collapsed on the ground, barely able to breathe.
As she lay on the ground, struggling to catch her breath, Mister’s voice reached her.
It was a cold, indifferent tone.
“As I thought. You have no talent, Luna.”
“N-No…! I have… talent…! I-I’m a good fighter…!”
“Talents like yours are a dime a dozen. So, there’s no need to raise you anymore.”
“M-Mister…? W-Wait a minute…! Wh-Where are you going…!! M-Mister…!!”
You said you’d teach me swordsmanship!
You said you’d make me stronger!
“You kidnapped me! And now you’re abandoning me like this!? You kidnapper-!!”
“…”
But Mister, heartlessly leaving, didn’t look back.
He simply walked away happily, hand in hand with the red-haired girl who had defeated Luna.
Luna could only lie on the ground, watching them leave, and shout,
“You said you’d make me strong!! How could you do this!! Come back, Mister…!! I’ll train harder…! So please…!!”
Just give me one more chance, please!
But Mister didn’t turn back, even at Luna’s desperate plea.
Luna, abandoned, lay on the ground, consumed by a feeling of loneliness.
It was enough to make her feel the despair that Rust had intended.
“Liar… You said you’d make me strong… You’re mean… You’re so mean…”
I trusted you…
How could you do this to me, Mister…?
Luna felt an immense sense of betrayal.
Mister grew further away, disappearing from Luna’s sight with the new girl.
Then, as if waiting for this moment, the holy sword’s voice echoed in Luna’s head.
“No, I’m not a hero… I have no talent, no skill…”
It was a chilling voice.
As the voice rang out, a sword emanating a holy light shot out from Luna’s heart and floated in the air.
It gleamed sharply, pointing towards Luna.
“Wh-What? Wh-What are you doing…?! W-Wait, sword…!! D-Don’t come out! W-Wait…!!”
Because you’re a hero.
A hero cannot be defeated by evil.
The holy sword shot towards the hero, who struggled and shouted for it to stop.
It pierced through her heart without hesitation.
Luna coughed up blood, staring at the holy sword.
“Cough- Wh-What is… going on…”
As more negative emotions than the Demon Lord of Lust, Rust, had expected, began to surge…
With a piercing pain in her heart, Luna opened her eyes once more.
The red-haired girl stood in the distance, aiming her sword at her.
It was the moment before their fight.
“I-I’m back… Th-This is a lie… You’re telling me to fight again…?”
Until I win…?
You’re telling me to keep fighting…?
The hero, Luna, began to have a nightmare from which she couldn’t wake.
While Luna and Hare were suffering…
Saten and Estia were also experiencing their horrifying pasts.
“Returning to my childhood. What a fascinating situation.”
Click- Clack-
The desolate family hut, filled with memories of her struggling to survive, nearly starving to death, amidst the apathy of others…
Saten, suddenly transported there, looked around.
“Hmm, I remember eating mushrooms here. I nearly died back then.”
Lonely, sad, wanting to die.
A life with no reason to live was hell.
But now, she felt nothing.
It was just a colorless hut.
“I don’t miss it. I just want to wake up from this dream.”
I hate this hut.
It’s noisy and uncomfortable, but the house with Mister, who teaches me magic, is much better.
Throb-
Saten felt a pang in her chest.
It was too distinct to be dismissed as just her imagination.
It was a small but sharp pain of an emotion she hadn’t felt in a long time.
“Longing, yearning? I don’t know the name of this emotion, but it’s been a while since I’ve experienced something like this.”
If making me feel this way is your goal…
Well, you could call it a success.
Thinking that, Saten walked through the empty hut alone.
Today, she felt a void in her heart.
And next.
Estia.
She was imprisoned in the Church’s dungeon, a place from her past.
“Wh-Why am I here…?! Did, did they sell me…? Did that kidnapper, that brother, send me back here…!?”
Trembling-
She was paralyzed by learned fear, unable to move.
All she could do was pray for this moment to end.
“S-Save me… Pl-Please… G-Goddess…”
Dreams replayed the past, digging into the deepest wounds of the heart.
Estia trembled in the corner of the prison, watching the children dwindle in number.
All of them had vacant eyes, expressions that seemed to sense death.
Estia murmured as she watched them,
“I-I need holy water… So that the children won’t suffer… They need happiness… They need holy water…”
Trembling-
But realizing she had no divine power, Estia lowered her head.
She couldn’t bear to watch this any longer, it was a scene she never wanted to see again.
And as the children in the prison gradually disappeared, the warmth around her fading…
A familiar, terrifying voice reached her.
“Experiment on subject 51. Follow me.”
“Ah, a-ah… S-Save me…”
Estia cried out for help in despair.
Hoping someone would rescue her.
She prayed desperately to the Goddess, reliving this hellish past.
But there was no escaping fear.
“There’s no time. Come out immediately.”
“…Yes.”
Following behind the priest, Estia felt defeated.
Why was this happening to her again?
She obeyed the Church, she diligently produced holy water.
Why was reality tormenting her like this?
Estia was in despair.
She lost the light in her eyes like the other children and climbed onto the experimentation table out of habit.
“We will begin the experiment on subject 51.”
“…”
‘I’m… used to this now.’
He was holding the injection, he’d stab her arm now.
She would experience unspeakable pain.
Drip, drip-
Estia shed tears, facing this reality.
“Sob… I just wanted to live a normal life… Why… Why wasn’t I born normal…? Sob, I didn’t want to live like this… Sob…”
“Administering the injection to subject 51.”
“G-Goddess… Please save me…”
’I don’t want to experience that pain again.’
Estia prayed to the Goddess with all her heart.
Though she had received a distorted education, her prayer to the Goddess was genuine.
Perhaps because of that…
Whether the Goddess answered Estia’s prayer or not, the Pope who was about to inject her vanished in an instant.
“Huh…?”
Wh-What’s going on…?
Confused by this incomprehensible situation, Estia let out a bewildered voice.
The familiar voice reached Estia as she lay bound to the table.
“Estia.”
“B-Brother, the Apostle of the Goddess…? D-Did you come to save me…?”
“Yes, I came to save you.”
A gentle tone, but a voice tinged with sorrow.
Estia turned her head to see Lee Jun-woo, there were traces of tears around his eyes.
“Brother…?”
“…What’s wrong?”
“Did, did you… cry…? And what’s with the blood on your sword…?”
His eyes seemed sad and dried blood stained his sword.
He looked like he had just killed someone.
Lee Jun-woo replied firmly to Estia’s question,
“…Nothing happened.”
His appearance clearly suggested otherwise.
Lee Jun-woo, seemingly filled with sorrow, extended his hand towards Estia and said,
“Take my hand. We have to go somewhere else. There must be other children suffering like you.”
“O-Okay… Brother…”
Estia took Lee Jun-woo’s outstretched hand.
His hand was warm, as if someone’s warmth lingered on it.
Estia glanced at Lee Jun-woo’s face and whispered,
“…Thank you… for saving me.”
“What?”
“N-Nothing… I didn’t say anything…”
‘I hate you for kidnapping me, but… thank you for today.’
Estia, trapped in a nightmare, set off with Lee Jun-woo… to enter the dreams of other children.
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