Chapter 342
The Baptism of Growth
“Don’t you think this is too absurd?” Haina’s eyes widened as she retorted.
“…What’s absurd?” Sherlock blinked, finally realizing what Haina was referring to. “Oh, I see. Never mind then.”
“Objectively speaking,” Eivass chimed in, “I mean, considering Avalon and Star Antimony’s objective conditions, this development isn’t entirely impossible.”
“But in the future I encountered, Avalon was already in chaos! Corrupt dark magic infiltrated the land, crops could no longer grow, famine had persisted for years, the Round Table Hall had completely fallen and become a joke, and the Inspection Bureau had turned into ruins. The corpses of animals and plants had been corrupted by the power of shadows and stood up again, souls were unable to enter the Dream Realm for reincarnation and were instead imprisoned by the magic on the ground. Those shadow wandering souls were at least Third Tier and attacked everyone indiscriminately…”
Haina’s speaking pace had clearly quickened. She sounded like a madwoman who had seen the truth of the future, desperately and solitarily recounting a future no one would believe.
“Don’t worry, don’t worry,” Eivass reached out helplessly and pressed down on the increasingly agitated Haina. “It’s not that we don’t believe you…”
…The only problem was that Haina herself was the last to know these things.
If Eivass hadn’t awakened his past life memories and done nothing, this would have been the future of Avalon. And with so much investigation data and secret intelligence from important figures at his disposal, Sherlock, with his intelligence and wisdom, must have already guessed such a future. This was also the reason for his initial poor attitude towards Isabel. He might not have known the details as well as Haina, but he had certainly guessed Avalon’s future direction. In the original game, he hadn’t reacted much to this matter. And when Eivass had vaguely mentioned it to him at the Bishop’s house, he had only grunted and ended the topic. Sherlock’s loyalty to Her Majesty the Queen had long prepared him to give his all and die for the cause. This wasn’t loyalty to Avalon, nor to the Avalon royal family, but solely to Her Majesty the Queen alone. As for Lily, she didn’t care about such things. Moreover, she was a direct witness to “how far the Round Table Hall had fallen” – her own biological father was a minister of the Round Table Hall, a spy who colluded with the Star Antimony people, and had recently been killed by Eivass and Lily.
—Speaking of which, Haina didn’t actually know about this. The death of Minister Dross was a top secret in Avalon. He had to “live” to have meaning. This way, they could continuously extract various “confessions” from the void, keeping those people perpetually fearful. Maintaining such political pressure would make it easier for those people to reveal their flaws.
“Why don’t you tell us first,” Eivass said gently, “In that ‘future,’ what did you experience, what did you foresee? Or rather, what were the specific contents of the ritual you participated in this time?”
“…That’s quite long,” Haina calmed down a little, rubbing her temples with some distress. “My memory is almost completely blurred now… but this dream was particularly long, very, very long—perhaps over a month, or maybe two or three months.”
“Can it be that long?” Eivass asked, somewhat surprised.
“Yes,” Haina nodded, still showing fear in her eyes. “In that future, I was a Supervisor in the Inspection Bureau… but in that future, people no longer trusted Supervisors. My mission was very simple… just to ‘protect civilians,’ but such a simple mission…”
Her voice broke slightly as she spoke. Eivass sat quietly beside her, waiting for her to calm down. Lily came over, gently hugged her, and whispered words of comfort in her ear. However, Haina was a strong knight after all. She didn’t cry in Lily’s embrace, but adjusted herself in less than ten seconds.
“Initially, I found twenty-eight civilians. I remember each of their faces. They didn’t trust me and were full of hostility. It took me a very long time to gain their trust… and it was only during a battle against those monsters, when I was exhausted, that they slowly began to believe me. It was only then that I realized what had happened in that world…”
Eivass noticed that Haina unconsciously referred to the fragmented scenes in the dream as “another world.” Eivass liked this reaction. It meant that subconsciously, she didn’t regard those fabricated pseudo-souls as mere afterimages or ghosts, but as real people. Although, strictly speaking, this was somewhat naive and foolish. But just as Eivass liked puppies and kittens, he also liked friends who could trust from the bottom of their hearts—even though his contact with Haina wasn’t extensive.
“I don’t know what everyone else’s mission was, but I experienced a betrayal.” Haina grit her teeth as she said this. “I remember that person—his codename was ‘Cake Maker.’ When I heard this codename, I thought he was a good person, otherwise he wouldn’t use such a soft and sweet thing as his codename… But after I trusted him and brought him into the settlement as a teammate… those civilians started disappearing. By the time the tenth person went missing, I finally discovered he was preparing ritual materials. He mocked me for trusting him so easily, and before my eyes, he used a ritual to tear the tenth person apart and attacked me. She was a girl’s mother, and she had prepared porridge for me that morning. She had also thought of taking her daughter to Avalon to study music… It was only then… that I truly understood what the New Moon Ritual meant. I was furious, but anger was useless. I couldn’t possibly defeat a well-prepared Ritualist—especially while protecting those people. In the end, I was covered by those people as I escaped… And when I limped back to a safe location, only six of the twenty-eight people remained. —I will always remember their names.” Haina said seriously. Her words were sincere and fervent, her clenched fists holding palpable anger. “If I meet him in reality… I will teach him a lesson.”
“What kind of lesson would that be?” Eivass suddenly interrupted.
Haina was silent for a moment, then said seriously, “I would kill him.” This girl, who used to only say “I will arrest you” when threatening someone… finally, with her own sober will, without losing her temper, seriously said that she wanted to kill someone. Eivass smiled with satisfaction and nodded slightly. It was much better to grow in a dream than to wake up after truly losing something in reality. “Very good,” he said calmly. “You have indeed grown. Alright, I’ll help you with this.”
“…What?” Haina didn’t react.
“I’ll help you find him, and then let you kill him.” Eivass sat on the edge of the bed, smiling and murmuring gently. “This will be a baptism for you, and it will signify your eventual maturity. Few people have the chance to use the person who made them realize themselves as a sacrifice, but that nature is ultimately different. The person who truly angered you should be ended by your own hands. This is the meaning of power.”
Sherlock, standing nearby, felt that Eivass at this moment was like a devil enchanting people. His expression became extremely subtle. But in the end, he didn’t stop Eivass. Forget it, do as he pleased…
