VIP Chapter 339: A Promised Future
—Will’s intention…
—He not only wants others to think he’s dead…
—But also for them to believe he is indeed dead?
“Speak, you—why didn’t you save him?!”
Seeing her silence, Treya’s voice grew louder. The sword pressed against her neck seemed to shift back and forth slightly, full of menace.
Shuna raised her head, observing the expressions of the three women who had received their respective “tokens.”
There was Iaar, who clutched her collar, her ears drooping like a wronged puppy.
And Liya, who held the ring in her hand, head bowed so her expression was hidden by her hat.
Or perhaps the last…
Treya, whose face rarely showed any emotion, was now displaying “anger.” Yet, the hand holding her earring was gentle, as if afraid of crushing it.
Shuna understood. The significance of Will entrusting only her with this, without even telling them directly, and simply having her deliver those items to them.
Because everyone present knew how much he valued the gifts they gave him.
Everyone present—especially those who had truly shown him their passionate love—understood that he would not easily remove these accessories that represented their feelings.
Unless…
Unless he were truly dead, leaving behind these relics.
If… If she hadn’t met them head-on, it might have been easier.
“Heh… Why wouldn’t I save him? Don’t you still not understand?”
Shuna chuckled and stood up from the ground.
—This is bad, when it comes to acting, she’s really not good at it.
—But, fortunately, she had been fortunate enough to witness what she would look like if she lost Will.
“He wouldn’t casually take these things off.”
Shuna’s tone was very “rational,” using cold, declarative sentences. From the initial question to her final answer, she sounded like a strict and merciless teacher analyzing an answer.
That’s right.
If Will were truly gone.
She would become exceptionally “cold,” exceptionally “rational,” and exceptionally “obsessed,” with her entire heart ultimately belonging only to him.
This was what she had seen… the ending after his death.
“He left on his own. After I woke up… he only left these things behind. And he asked me to send them… to you.
“That’s right, everything was done as if he… was saying goodbye to you and me.”
“So, he truly stepped into that place on his own… into a death he had calculated.”
“Young Master… how could he…”
“Are you serious? He’s definitely… definitely not someone who would seek death!”
“You know the consequences of deceiving us.”
—This is probably the line of thinking Will wanted to guide them towards?
—It seems my acting isn’t as terrible as I imagined.
“I know. It means dying here. However… it’s okay.”
She mimicked the tone of that “Xiu” and then caressed the black blade of Treya’s sword with her hand.
This time, she didn’t use any defensive magic. She directly drew her palm across it for about five centimeters.
Blood trickled down her palm, slipping off little by little.
“If he’s gone, I don’t care if I die. The items have been delivered, if you want to kill me, go ahead.”
As soon as she said this, Treya, whose face had held the most suspicion, felt the tip of her sword tremble, and the doubt on her face slowly faded.
“He would do this, probably because… of you.”
Shuna tightly gripped the sword in one hand and looked at Liya.
“Your most trusted teacher, but she didn’t trust him, imprisoned him, and injected him with the dangerous blood of a witch.”
Then she looked at Treya.
“His fiancée, who was supposed to marry him, even wanted to trap him in a dreamscape and take away his life up to this point.”
Finally, she looked at Iaar.
“The maid he raised from childhood… wanted him to remain by her side forever, in a state of being rendered useless.”
As she spoke these words, they did not retort.
But they also didn’t seem to be crying.
Shuna realized something “unusual.” Their reactions were strange.
It was as if they had already known the outcome of Will’s death.
…Wait, where did Will want her to send these items at that time?
Nov Town?
Was it to lure them to Nov Town, where there was something he wanted them to see?
Could it be…
“However, perhaps it’s not entirely your fault, which is why he chose death,” Shuna added at the end.
“You… What do you mean?”
As if sensing a sliver of hope, Iaar looked up, a touch of anticipation in her gaze.
“If you have read his book, ‘Quest System,’ you should be well aware that although your fates were altered by him, you broke free from his control and did not reach that… future he desired.”
She lowered her hand.
The three women didn’t show confusion. Instead, they were lost in thought—recollection tinged with regret and guilt.
—Alright, Will, see? I’ve even thought this far. You should give me the Best Actor award.
“You’re saying… he wanted to die because of us?”
“Perhaps… I also played a part.”
Shuna let out a self-deprecating laugh.
“Taking him away from your sides, hoping he would completely forget you… Me, who only wanted him to depend on me alone… was also completely wrong.”
Shuna had indeed thought this. There was a moment when she saw Will sitting in her own basement.
Her words were also a little pained.
“No… it’s impossible… You, you must be lying to us…”
Only Iaar looked at the collar in her hand, bringing it close to her own, mumbling repeatedly.
“Whether to believe it…” Shuna looked to Treya. “Let her go to the Adventurer’s Guild, where she has a good relationship now, and confirm it, then she’ll know everything.”
“…No need. He only takes off this item when he’s facing death.”
Treya remembered the last time she tracked Will’s escape route, something he did, and lowered her sword.
With the threat neutralized, Shuna took a few steps and picked up Shadow’s dagger that had fallen nearby.
“A death, and the grief it brings, I think we all need time to process. I’ll be going now—after all, I’m not with Shining Star anymore.”
“But I’m curious… you are the type of person who would surely follow him in death… but you seem to have something else on your mind now,” Treya continued, as if seeing through Shuna.
Shuna broke into a sweat.
—Even at this stage, there’s a flaw?
—Did I get too invested in the act and trap myself?
“He left me a ‘future’…”
“What—”
“Death Hall, the deepest dungeon right now. He wants me to see… that future in his stead.”
“……”
There was no verbal reply, but it was equivalent to an “agreement.”
—Alright, alright, they believe it.
—Perhaps Will, who was so fixated on dungeons, was indeed the kind of person who would say something like that.
Before turning, Shuna glanced back at the items in their hands.
Having guessed Will’s intention, she felt a twinge of jealousy.
Only she knew.
Will, whose smile and gaze seemed intent on taming these “naughty children,” wanted to use this “sweeping a raft from under the pot” tactic to rekindle their relationships.
These tokens, which were merely “farewell gifts” in their hands now, were, in Shuna’s eyes, Will’s promise of a future where they would “surely reunite.”
One could only say, he was indeed Will.
He and the women he trained, just as Shuna had evaluated at the beginning, their relationships were a game of chess—a game he himself had orchestrated.
And Will never wanted to be the one at a disadvantage in this game.
She was curious to see what outcome he would achieve.
“I’m leaving, see you later.”
Shuna smiled with relief and bid farewell to the group, who weren’t looking at her.
“…”
Winter days grew dark exceptionally early.
And so, the three women stood on the street, facing the setting sun directly ahead.
Iaar was the first to pick up her shield.
“Let’s go.”
“Where are you going? We still can…”
“Iaar… I think…”
She calmly changed the self-address she had maintained for many years—especially in front of him.
“We will, at the very least, seek revenge on the Dust Bone Corridor. Annihilate it completely.”
