Right now, Ain was breaking out in a cold sweat.
“Ahaha! That! Actually, today I was just...”
“I know...”
Erylin stopped her tears and lowered her eyes slightly. All the emotions in her heart seemed to freeze at this moment, leaving behind only disappointment.
“Instructor Finn already told me...”
Ain let out a long sigh of relief.
“That's good then.”
Erylin gripped Ain's hand and said softly, “It's not good at all...”
“Hey, Ain...”
“Why do you do all this...?”
“Saving Lillian too, and this time as well...”
“Why do you keep doing things like this...?”
Ain sighed.
Damn it...
The worst-case scenario had occurred.
Ain was a bit afraid to look at the current Erylin.
“'It was probably for... Miss Erylin, right?'”
Erylin pressed further, “But you could have told me, right?”
“This morning too, those baffling words... I didn't understand them at all...”
“If you want to find that compass, or search for that holy spear, or even if you want to tame that giant dragon, you could have told me...”
“Why did you only tell Lillian...?”
Erylin tried her best to restrain herself, holding back her tears.
“Why...”
“Why didn't you tell me...?”
Indeed, during the first playthrough, Erylin only learned about the holy spear under the Dean's guidance because she wanted to gain power after Lillian's death.
The current Erylin shouldn't have known about any of this.
Now, it seemed Lillian had told her.
Erylin slowly raised her head, yearning for an answer.
“Is it because... there's simply no need to tell me these things?”
“In reality, I'm not important to you at all, am I...?”
These were not words the normal Erylin would ever say.
Looking at the ice crystal deep within Erylin's pupils, Ain unconsciously avoided her gaze and remained silent.
But this only made Erylin's heart ache even more.
“Do you know, when I heard Instructor Finn say you weren't actually hurt, I wasn't happy at all...”
“What happiness...”
“I don't need that kind of thing...”
“I only need you to...”
Erylin reached out to touch Ain's cheek, but the moment her hand made contact, a freezing frost suddenly erupted.
A bone-chilling cold accompanied by intense pain instantly surged through his entire body, causing Ain to instinctively recoil as if he had been shocked by electricity.
Seeing this, Erylin's pupils dilated, and she immediately pulled her hand back.
“I'm sorry, I didn't mean to...”
“It's fine, it's fine. I know.”
Silence descended upon them once more. Just as Ain was about to say something, Erylin immediately asked her final question.
“Ain, what kind of role do I play in your heart?”
“Ah, that! Well...”
Cold sweat dripped down Ain's forehead. He waved his hands in a fluster, seemingly trying to laugh it off.
“I suppose we're...”
“Friends, right?”
Hearing his answer, Erylin bit her lip bitterly. She unconsciously placed her hand over her heart, gripping her clothes tightly.
As if failing to notice Erylin's distress, Ain continued speaking.
“Ahaha, well, didn't you say before that you didn't like me? Think about it, even if you don't like me, we get along so well that we're definitely something closer than just ordinary friends!”
Seemingly convinced by his own logic, Ain nodded to himself and continued his analysis.
“Even though there are three of us, still...”
Erylin interrupted him, “Ain...”
The young girl lowered her head and let out a soft sigh, trying to ease her pain, but her hand clutching her chest only tightened.
“You're right...”
Erylin raised her head once more and forced a smile.
“Friends are nice.”
“Right, right...?”
Erylin handed Ain a bowl of soup that was sitting on the table.
At the same time, she was doing her best to suppress the cold emanating from her palms, terrified that the out-of-control frost would ruin Ain's only meal for the night.
“It's already very late, so there probably isn't anything else to eat...”
“You must be hungry, right? I'm sorry, I don't cook very often...”
Ain took the soup and lowered his eyes, carefully examining the appearance of the food in the bowl.
It was obvious that Erylin really didn't know how to cook.
However, she had put her whole heart into it.
“Thank you. And I'm sorry for letting you misunderstand all day...”
Erylin let out a bitter laugh.
“As long as you're okay.”
“As long as you're okay... that's enough...”
With that, Erylin slowly stood up and walked out of the infirmary step by step.
Having Lillian by Ain's side was enough.
The things he said back then were probably just a byproduct of saving Lillian, right?
Indeed, how could Ain...
...ever like her?
It was nothing more than her own wishful thinking...
After Erylin had completely left the infirmary, Ain heard another voice from the doorway.
“Ery...”
The newly arrived girl seemed to have witnessed an unbelievable sight, stopping mid-sentence before she could even finish calling Erylin's name.
Soon, the girl kicked open the door to the room, pointing at Ain on the bed in a fit of rage.
“Ain!!!”
Ain blinked in a daze.
“Vanessa?”
“How dare you make Erylin cry?!”
Vanessa clenched her fists and laughed in anger. “Fine, very well, you brat...”
“I will never forgive you for this as long as I live!”
With that, Vanessa slammed the door and left, seemingly chasing after Erylin.
Just as Ain was about to taste the soup in his hand, a dark shadow suddenly leapt out from his own shadow.
The emerging magical wolf gently bit Ain's sleeve and began dragging him toward the door without a second thought.
Generally speaking, Contract Spirits could not perceive what their hosts perceived.
Most of the time, they remained asleep within the contract magic.
But now, even Mordred could no longer stand by and watch.
“Ah, I know, I know...”
Ain tried to shoo Mordred away with some annoyance, but the latter refused to back down. Instead, it ducked to avoid Ain's left hand, clamped its jaws onto his collar, and dragged him right off the bed.
Ain fell flat on his back, crashing onto the floor.
The bowl of soup Erylin had meticulously prepared for him spilled all over his head, sticking to his hair.
Yet Ain didn't get angry. Instead, he stared blankly at the ceiling, only letting out a sigh after a long while.
“I know...”
“She made it so obvious, how could I not know...?”
Ain raised his right hand and gave it a gentle twist. After a flash of starlight, a Card of Canal appeared in his hand.
God Card (White Card)
【6】 The Lovers
【Upright: Mutual attraction, shared feelings】
【Reversed: Unreciprocated love, misplaced affection】
Ain didn't think he was a man of strict principles.
Liking Erylin wasn't really a big deal either.
But right now, he couldn't do that.
“Damn garbage game...”
Ain complained as he recalled the Erylin from the original game.
Only at the cost of losing her beloved could she obtain the power of magic.
Ain had thought about paving a smooth path for Erylin, clearing all obstacles from the main storyline and taking care of all the upcoming bosses himself.
But aside from his current stats being insufficient, there was another reason why he couldn't do that...
Even if he possessed the fully maxed-out character from his first playthrough, he couldn't beat this game alone.
After all, the protagonist of this game was never him.
It was Erylin.
This was a world that revolved around her, a story centered entirely on her.
In this game, Erylin had a mission she absolutely had to complete.
Therefore, Erylin had to grow.
Erylin had to become strong.
But if Erylin wanted to reach the level of strength she had in the middle of the first playthrough, she would have to...
...lose Lillian first, then Grace...
...and then the Dean would have to die too.
“Although I thought about using illusions to manipulate Erylin's emotions, from the looks of it now, as long as Erylin is at peace...”
“Her power will probably decline, won't it?”
Ain scratched his head in frustration.
Erylin's destiny was fated to move forward only through one tragic ending after another.
The one who saved the world was always the girl who lost everything on her fated path.
“But this is the second playthrough...”
Ain reached his hand out, grasping toward the magic lamp on the ceiling.
There was one more thing Ain hadn't told Lillian.
The compass in front of them was also the key item that could completely change that garbage setting of Erylin's—the one where she “can only gain power by losing her beloved.”
But the prerequisites were highly complex, and the mechanics were incredibly convoluted...
But in short, the negative emotions within Erylin's body needed to outweigh her positive emotions.
Just like when he saved Lillian, an item that players were only supposed to obtain in the late game had become the key to saving an early-game character.
But in the original game, those early-game characters had all already died.
“I'm sorry, Erylin.”
“I hope you can wait for me a little longer...”
“After all, in this world, the person I least want to lose...”
“...is you.”
Ain lay on the floor thinking for a long time, ultimately only muttering a single sentence.
“This is so annoying!”
“Lillian isn't here...”
“Damn it! I really need to vent...”
At that moment, Mordred stuck out its tongue, gave Ain's face a big lick, and barked at him like a goofy husky.
But this only made Ain even more annoyed.
“Get lost!”
“You're not even a beast-eared girl! If you're so smart, transform into one for me!”
“Wagging your tail? I'm insulting you here, you bastard!”
Rate on N.U.
