Kwang-!

Drukan swung his holy sword.

Whatever had its mouth wide open was buried in the darkness and couldn’t be seen clearly, but it was evident that it had malicious intent towards them.

“Child!”

Drukan called out to the child sleeping beside him. As he launched an attack while sitting on the bed immediately after opening his eyes, he couldn’t put proper strength into it.

‘He’s not waking up.’

With this much commotion, he should have woken up by now.

Drukan grabbed the child’s waist, got off the bed, and swung his sword.

Shwing-!

His sword clashed with the invisible something’s teeth.

“What exactly are you?”

“Grrrr…!”

“Seems it can’t communicate.”

Drukan swung his sword horizontally. He wanted to leave the room as soon as there was an opening, but he couldn’t gauge how big the thing was.

“Since it’s hidden in the darkness, I can’t see it properly……”

Drukan thr*st his sword forward.

Puk-

There was a sound of something being pierced, but it didn’t feel like a solid hit. He jumped onto the bed.

Kwang-!

Just as he was about to grab the door, it opened.

“…Drukan?”

“Y-Your Grace.”

Magnus, while holding Serena, and Drukan, with the child tucked under his arm, faced each other simultaneously.

The two exchanged glances and caught their breath for a moment.

“What were you doing?”

“There was something, so I was trying to lure it outside, but……”

The tremendous killing intent that was felt from behind disappeared. Drukan slowly turned his head.

His room was quiet as if nothing had happened. He took a deep breath.

“It’s gone……”

He blinked slowly.

The presence that had been emitting such an enormous aura until just now seemed to have melted into the darkness, quickly hiding its form.

‘It’s unbelievable.’

He slowly rolled his eyes.

There’s no trace left.

“…Mmm, Mi-Mister? Ahhh!”

“You’re awake.”

Drukan said, properly holding the child again.

There were several unsettling things. He exhaled with narrowed eyes.

“What’s wrong with Lady Serena?”

“She says she feels… some kind of gaze, do you feel anything?”

“No, I don’t feel anything.”

Drukan said, scanning the surroundings once more. But Serena was still trembling with her eyes tightly shut.

<Why won’t you die? Why won’t you die? Why won’t you die? Why won’t you die? Why? Why? Why? Why? The world would be happy if only you disappeared, so why?>

<That’s right, everything would be solved if only you were gone. Why? How come? What makes you want to live?>

<Was the misery not enough? Was this life so pitiful that you want to cling to it desperately? It’s a simple thing. You don’t even need to go see the World Tree.>

<It’s because of you. If you weren’t here, the darkness would disappear too. This terrifying darkness enveloping the world would vanish…>

<There would be no more dying people.>

<You wouldn’t have to be sad anymore.>

<You’d never be hurt by people again. You wanted to be happy, right? But why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Won’t you die? Won’t you die? Won’t you die? Won’t you die?>

‘It’s noisy, it’s noisy, it’s noisy.’

Serena closed her eyes tightly and covered her ears. It felt like something was constantly watching her from all directions. It was agonizing. It felt like every move she made was being monitored.

The voices pouring from all directions since earlier were suffocating.

<You all are living off the taxes paid by those outside. So you should live with gratitude, thinking of it as serving society. Listen well to what they say, okay? Don’t cause trouble. If you’ve done something wrong, you must apologize unconditionally.>

<This is why children without parents are no good… How can they lack such basic manners?>

<Don’t lie! I said I’d forgive you if you told the truth honestly, so why do you keep lying? Teacher doesn’t understand.>

<Your parents aren’t around? Hmm… I’m sorry, but our shop has a lot of time alone, so…>

Serena frowned and rubbed her forehead against Magnus’s shoulder.

The voices in her ears were unbearably painful. No, since she could hear them even with her ears covered, they might not be voices heard through her ears.

Just the voices digging into her mind were painful.

‘What did I do wrong…’

I just was born, that’s all.

I just lived diligently as I was told. I did everything I was told to do, so what’s the problem?

“…rena! Serena!”

Serena’s eyes flew open at the voice penetrating her covered ears.

“…Mag… nus?”

“Yes, are you alright?”

“Ah……”

Serena raised her head blankly. Although everything was still pitch black, the cool air reaching her lungs told her that they were outside.

“When did we… come out?”

“Just now. You looked strange, so we came out. Are you okay?”

“Ah, yes. I’m fine…”

“Are you really okay?”

Magnus asked once more despite Serena’s answer. Serena nodded again.

“Serena, I’m asking you to be honest. Are you really okay?”

“……I’m hearing some strange words, but if you’re asking if I can move, I can move, and seeing that I’m having a conversation with you, I think I’m still fine.”

“We should keep moving for now.”

Serena blinked blankly at Drukan’s words.

“Yes, it would be best to finish this as quickly as possible.”

Serena slowly tilted her head back to look at the sky. Everything was pitch black and dark.

However, what’s curious is how it’s possible to distinguish objects and things to some extent.

There’s a limit to what can be seen in pitch-black darkness. In a world without a single point of light, objects shouldn’t be visible.

Then, where does this very faint light that allows us to identify our surroundings come from?

Serena, who had been staring into space, stopped her gaze at one point.

In the distance, there was a sky that looked like an aurora. It was exactly in the opposite direction of where we were going.

In contrast, the sky in the direction where Drukan’s holy sword was pointing to was just pitch black.

Honestly… Serena didn’t really understand about the World Tree or whatever, and didn’t know what they were talking about.

But, one thing was certain… she felt like they should go in that direction.

‘……Would they believe me if I said it?’

Serena hesitated.

What if this intuition was wrong or mistaken? Wouldn’t I be making things harder for others when I’m not even walking myself?

If I keep my mouth shut, won’t everything just flow naturally?

If I just keep my mouth shut and watch like I’ve done until now…

‘Then nothing will change.’

In the future, I’ll have to keep my mouth shut and not say anything about things I didn’t do, and I’ll have to be broken over and over again.

“……Magnus.”

After a long deliberation, Serena carefully opened her mouth.

It was after they had already started moving, but they hadn’t gone far yet.

“Yes, Serena.”

“How about… we go that way? I see light over there……”

Serena said, pointing in one direction. At her cautious gesture, Magnus narrowed his eyes and turned his head.

“Where?”

“Over there… there’s something like an aurora, can’t you see it? It’s a bit far, but……”

“……”

At Serena’s words, Magnus narrowed his eyes.

He couldn’t see anything. When Magnus stopped running, those running with him also stopped.

“Magnus, what’s wrong?”

“Can you see something like an aurora over there?”

Serena shrunk a little.

“No, I can’t see anything.”

“I can’t see it either.”

“I… I’m not sure either.”

At the responses, Serena’s head sank even lower. She tightened her arms around Magnus.

“Then I must be wrong……”

“Serena, can you see it clearly?”

“…I can, but I’m not in the best state, so I could be hallucinating…”

Magnus silently looked at Serena. Serena slowly nodded.

“I can see it for now.”

“Alright, then let’s go that way.”

“What are you suddenly saying!”

The Crown Prince blocked Magnus’s path with a pained expression.

“Serena says she sees something in that direction. However, since only Serena can see it, it doesn’t seem very efficient for all of us to move together.”

Magnus said calmly.

“So I propose this: Drukan and Your Highness, please continue following the light of the holy sword. I will go in that direction with Serena.”

The Crown Prince’s mouth fell open at this sudden proposal.