The Truth of the Dream
July 31st – I skipped over a bit too much, so I’ve made major revisions! Because of that, some characters are dead, while others who were dead are not.
For several weeks now, Jean had been having the same “Dream.” He didn’t know why he was having it, but he somehow (・・・・・) sensed that there were others in town experiencing similar dreams. However, Jean never spoke of it to his companions. Because that dream couldn’t be understood unless one had experienced it, and those who had would understand without needing an explanation.
In that dream, Jean watched himself making a “promise” with “someone” from a third-person perspective. He didn’t know its contents, but perhaps because he was observing from an external viewpoint, Jean couldn’t perceive the “self” making a promise with someone as “himself.” An unfamiliar “self” was making an unfamiliar “promise” with an unfamiliar “someone.” Unaware of its meaning, Jean didn’t consider the promise important.
Around the time Jean started having the Dream, incidents of outsiders disappearing in town had been occurring. Hearing about it, the timid Collette-san had looked frightened, but Jean naturally assumed that someone who’d had the Dream must have fulfilled their “promise.” The reason Jean didn’t even mention this was because, ultimately, it was “someone else’s problem.” This was a closed-off town. It was common in countryside towns; even in the village where Jean and his friends were born and raised, it took many years for outsiders to fit in. Unless one owned a house in the land and had children, they wouldn’t be recognized as one of their own. He, Slay, and the others had left their village to become adventurers in this, the closest town, but even at the Adventurers Guild, which saw many outsiders, that hadn’t changed. The Jean of the past (・・) had believed this was because they themselves were exceptional.
Neither a border region teeming with Monsters nor possessing a Dungeon, in this awkwardly located town, there was little work for adventurers. Still, adventurers were present because they had the role of culling the Monsters around the town. For that reason, the lords of such towns, even at their own expense, raised the purchase price of Magic Stones to subsidize the adventurers’ livelihoods. That’s why adventurers in countryside towns were typically only around Rank 2. Once they reached Rank 3, it was common to head to the Royal Capital and earn money in Dungeons. They believed they had talent. Two years after leaving their village, all of them had reached Rank 2, and they had all decided that if even one of them reached Rank 3, they would head to the Royal Capital like other adventurers. As they prepared to leave town, they began to be treated as outsiders. When the purchase of their materials was haggled down, or their meals in the tavern arrived late, Jean didn’t get angry, thinking it was because the locals were “jealous” of them for leaving such a rural place.
Jean believed that he would be the first among his companions to reach Rank 3. He, the warrior and party leader, had always dreamed of reaching Rank 3 and achieving spectacular success in the large-scale Dungeons of the Royal Capital. They had talent. He had skill. Never having faced a fatal crisis, Jean believed this without a shred of doubt. But—when had it all started to go wrong…?
Among their companions was a girl named Collette-san. Jean was the oldest. A year younger were Slay and Cara-san. And a year younger than them was Collette-san; the four of them were childhood friends who were always together. The youngest, Collette-san, always trailed behind Jean and the others. Not skilled at physical activity, Collette-san, who often lagged behind, was regarded by the other three with a mix of exasperation and affection, like a younger sister they needed to protect. Then, it turned out that this Collette-san possessed a talent for being a Magician. Magicians were rare among Commoners, but Collette-san’s mother, an outsider, had apparently been a Magician. Collette-san happily reported to Jean and the others that she had a talent for Light Magic and Water Magic. “With this, I can finally be useful to everyone,” she’d said. Collette-san had always worried about being useless among her companions who aimed to be adventurers, and she had strived hard. Jean had thought that even if such a Collette-san learned magic, their relationship wouldn’t change. Cara-san had teased that learning magic with no offensive power was just like the timid Collette-san, and they had casually thought that the three of them could simply continue protecting her, their “little sister,” as they always had.
But, one day, after they left their village and became adventurers in this town, a Rank 3 adventurer from the Royal Capital tried to recruit Collette-san. It was then that Jean first realized that Collette-san wasn’t someone to be protected; her very existence was their lifeline. Commoner Magicians were few. Commoner Magicians who could handle two attributes were almost non-existent. Moreover, he was made to understand that if one could also use Light Magic, they were precious enough to receive invitations from famous adventurer parties. Young Light Magicians were highly sought after by adventurers, often overworked and discarded, though sometimes skilled parties would take them under their protection. At that time, Collette-san refused the invitation, but the Rank 3 adventurer leader looked at Jean and laughed, saying, “You guys were lucky.” It wasn’t because Jean and his friends possessed talent… but because Collette-san had protected them in situations where ordinary adventurers wouldn’t have survived, allowing them to reach Rank 2 so quickly. It wasn’t the talented Jean protecting Collette-san; it was Collette-san who had been protecting the ordinary Jean from the shadows. It was from then on that their relationship began to change subtly… Cara-san started to assert her presence at every opportunity. Slay began to hide his injuries. And Jean—eventually started having that “Dream.”
When they were investigating a cemetery on a request from the Guild, they were attacked by Orc Zombies that shouldn’t have been there, and they split into two groups to flee. He didn’t know why he’d done that. The Jean of before might have chosen to fight. When he learned that the Orc Zombies had pursued Collette-san and Cara-san instead of him, a dark emotion welled up in Jean’s heart. He heard that Cara-san and Collette-san had been saved by a lone adventurer. A young, slender girl, who looked about Cara-san’s age, had supposedly defeated an Orc Zombie in a single blow. At first, Jean thought it wasn’t a lie, but an exaggeration. Still, thinking he should thank her, he asked the receptionist about the girl, who had vanished from the Adventurers Guild before he knew it. The receptionist, with
“――Promisssse――!”
Jean’s undead screamed those “words” as it lunged at the shrieking, fleeing people, and in that instant, the Rope Weight Type Pendulum I threw pierced Jean’s skull.
“Jean!”
“Don’t go near him.”
As Collette tried to rush over to the falling Jean, I grabbed her shoulder to stop her. Her eyes, reflecting my emotionless face, looked as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
“That’s nothing more than a corpse now.”
“No…”
Collette must have known he couldn’t be saved. Besides, this wasn’t over.
“――No one――can essscape――”
Jean stood up, his face half-shattered. Just as I thought, one blow wasn’t enough to destroy him…
Can’t escape… No, could the “promise” from the Dream have been about ‘not letting anyone escape’?
They were likely made to promise not to let anyone who came to this town from outside, or anyone trying to leave, escape. If that was the contract with the “devil” I’m searching for, then those who had the Dream might have already finalized their pact.
I don’t understand the devil’s motives, but if it was trying to achieve something in this place, neither too far nor too close to the Royal Capital, it was probably planning to spread this phenomenon from here to the Royal Capital.
If the reason it didn’t act directly in the Royal Capital was because people like Karla-san and I, who could oppose it, were there—
“This is bad! Don’t run away!”
The devil will no longer let anyone escape this town.
“――Chigau! I…aaaaah!”
One of the women trying to flee from the undead Jean suddenly started bleeding from all over her face and began attacking those around her. It wasn’t just her. As far as I could see, dozens of people had turned into blood-soaked corpses and started attacking those who were “fleeing.”
“――Don’d go… Pleassse don’d go!”
“…”
Jean blocked my path as I tried to move forward.
Does he still possess emotions even as an undead? Or is there some meaning to his suffering precisely because he made a contract with the devil?
In that instant, I steeled my resolve, anticipating the worst-case scenario…
“――Please!”
Contrary to his words, Jean swung his greatsword not at me, but at Collette.
In an instant, I suppressed my emotions deep within, slashed with my knife as if to obstruct Jean’s vision, and pierced the Magic Stone in his heart—the vital point of an undead—with my Black Dagger.
“――Collette…”
“Jean…”
Jean, now merely a corpse, tumbled down. Collette gasped, trembling, at his final expression, which seemed to curse the one who had called his name.
“Collette, tell anyone still sane not to leave their homes.”
“…”
If they stay inside, they won’t be attacked, at least for now. As I decapitated Jean and the surrounding undead and calmly issued instructions, Collette stared at me with eyes full of terror.
“Go quickly.”
“…Yes.”
I’m used to such gazes, so they don’t affect me anymore. All I can do is kill, not save.
However, before Collette could move, I saw multiple human figures approaching from the other end of the street. Armed people… but not allies. They were adventurers who had turned into blood-soaked corpses.
“Cara…”
At Collette’s trembling voice, Cara, her skin ashen and dark blood streaming from all over her face, reached out with a bloodstained hand.
“――Collette… helb me… We bromised, didn’d we… Thad you’d sday wid me…”
“No… Cara.”
Was Cara’s consciousness still lingering? Hearing Cara’s words, Collette covered her ears with both hands, tears streaming down her face.
Hearing that cry, I understood the negative emotions embedded in the “promise.”
Collette is a dual-attribute Magician, a rarity for a Commoner. The overprotectiveness Cara had shown towards Collette, and even her condescending words and actions, were all born from Cara’s “jealousy” of Collette.
The reason this town rejected outsiders wasn’t because it was insular, but because of “jealousy” towards those who could escape this confined place.
The devil exploited those emotions. A contract with a devil requires a “wish” and a “price.” Even if the price was the lives of those who made the promise, I hadn’t understood their wish. But now, I finally did.
The “wish” of those who had the Dream was, from the very beginning, to ensure no one could escape from here.
Collette, shedding tears of blood, watched the approaching adventurers and Cara, then turned to me, her expression pleading.
“Please, save Cara! She’s my friend!”
“…”
Even though she knew it was a corpse, she couldn’t emotionally accept it. Collette turned her tear-filled eyes towards me.
CRASH!!
The sound of something shattering. From the distance, the screams of the townspeople reached us.
There were likely others inside the buildings who’d also had the Dream. Having turned into corpses, they began to rampage, trying to get outside. Seeing this, the other undead started attacking the residents—their living family members who were trying to flee.
“…”
I pushed my emotions deep down and quietly narrowed my eyes.
“…I’ll save them.”
“…Huh?”
At the words I muttered, Collette lifted her tear-stained face. I took a large step towards Cara and the others advancing on us—
“Collette—”
Covering the several meters in an instant, my knife lopped off Cara’s head in a single strike.
“Caraaaaaa!!”
A heart-wrenching scream tore from Collette, who witnessed it.
From the very beginning, this is all I could do…
“…I’ll save you all from this nightmare by killing everything.”
The devil’s trap is finally revealed.
How will the “devil” that creates the undead, and the unseen “Incubus,” make their move?
Next time: Aria vs. The Nightmare Town.