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I had absorbed the pain of the Knight Commander and ended up with a beating headache, now lying in the Knights’ Rest Area.

My head throbbed painfully.

This headache felt familiar, like the time I chugged four bottles of soju by myself before I was possessed.

The chaos on the floor of the Deputy Director’s Office had been dealt with by the Deputy Director.

Witnessing the process was quite a spectacle, as Alpha and Beta rushed in from somewhere, naturally bringing a large cloth bigger than themselves. The Deputy Director swept the floor with his sword, and the cloth flew toward it, covering the mess and then being tossed into the hearth.

The Deputy Director claimed that if you control Meditatio to the extreme, you can use it like this in everyday life.

But what if Alpha and Beta end up wearing that horrific thing?

Perhaps it indicates a lot of confidence in their own skills.

…Even at that level of mastery, they can make it seem like a trivial ability, I thought.

Anyway.

Focusing on my headache and feeling the world spin oddly, something felt very peculiar.

It certainly didn’t seem like it would end with just absorbing the pain of the Knight Commander.

It felt like my mind was turning white, like I was losing myself.

Yeah, it felt like that sensation when you forget what you were about to do due to forgetfulness, and it enveloped my entire head.

But before that feeling could last longer, it quickly morphed into a dizziness, transforming into a headache reminiscent of a hangover.

It felt strange.

It didn’t seem like a natural occurrence.

Was this also part of the coward mode?

Did coward mode really have the power to censor even this?

Perhaps due to continuously absorbing pain, I had become slightly more adept at utilizing powers related to the Outsider.

I would have to investigate further whether coward mode relates to Outsider powers.

Suddenly, with a loud bang, the door burst open, and I could hear someone’s footsteps approaching.

The moment I sat up to straighten my upper body, something rushed toward me swiftly.

“Drink this.”

It was a cup that Deputy Director Maren handed to me.

I accepted it and checked the contents.

It was a yellow drink with a gentle sweet fragrance rising from it.

“It’s honey water. It should help relieve your headache.”

He spoke bluntly, but it was clear he was looking after me.

Hmm.

But does honey water actually work for a headache like this?

Biologically, it makes sense, but I had my doubts about whether this headache fell under medical categories.

Still, I appreciated the kindness, so I quickly took a sip.

I rolled the drink around on my tongue.

It was sweet.

“Where did you gather the honey?”

“Hmm? Haven’t you seen it in the Gardener’s Garden? Even in that field of corpses, flowers grow. There’s a place where bees live.”

Eh.

I didn’t know that existed.

I thought I had wandered around the Gardener’s Garden quite a bit.

Certainly, with something sweet entering my body.

I wasn’t sure if the pain was improving, but I just felt good.

As I stood up and headed back to the Deputy Director’s Office, I approached to check on the Knight Commander’s condition.

Oh?

I confirmed that the severe pain in the Knight Commander’s body had completely vanished.

But the Knight Commander still looked at me with a rather vacant expression.

“Commander?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you remember what your ultimate goal is?”

“Umm….”

The Knight Commander seemed to be deep in thought, tapping her chin with her finger, and then suddenly pointed at me as if she just recalled something.

“You said the Deputy Director would buy me dinner after this.”

“Haah.”

The Deputy Director let out a deep sigh.

Oh dear.

What is going on?

It seemed like a power strong enough to erase the cause of pain, yet the Knight Commander was still acting this way?

The frustration and helplessness surged within me over the fact that, despite seeing such absurd sights, she hadn’t been healed.

Was the Deputy Director feeling the same? She rubbed her forehead with a tired look.

Is there anything as deflating as thinking you’ve almost arrived, only to find out it’s not your destination?

If this doesn’t work, what on earth am I supposed to do?

“R Leydan Tanton, you have arrived at your destination.”

As I sank into that empty sentiment, the Record Keeper’s voice refuted my thoughts.

Is that even something to say?

Claiming I’ve arrived at my destination?

Even after seeing the Knight Commander still in such a daze?

I carefully pointed at the Knight Commander with my finger, out of sight of the Deputy Director.

“I might have expressed that poorly. Let me clarify: You have arrived at your destination. It seems that woman, the Knight Commander, has not yet arrived.”

Then the Record Keeper responded with an even vaguer expression.

The Knight Commander hasn’t arrived yet?

What does that even mean?

“Hmm.”

At my inquiry, the Record Keeper seemed to be choosing his words, making sounds as if in thought, before finally emitting a ‘huh!’ sound as if he found a way to explain it.

“Yes, it seems to be easy to express like this: Her persona is currently heavily entangled with something. It has somewhat been resolved by you healing her, but she’s still tightly bound.”

Is she intentionally not coming back?

“That’s somewhat different, but I don’t have the authority to elaborate any further, Leydan Tanton. I wish I could share everything with you, but it’s not easy.”

So it’s not intentional.

If healing power works to reverse the cause of pain and still doesn’t help, does that indicate some interference from the Outsider?

Did I misinterpret the approach from the start?

If that’s the case, perhaps her condition isn’t amnesia, but something resembling dissociative identity disorder.

From here onward, the Record Keeper remained silent, as if to indicate it was no longer the time for further discussion.

Still, some of her sentences were quite helpful.

If not, I might have ended up digging around for another solution.

“Tanton.”

The Deputy Director called my name with a sense of urgency in her voice.

The following words were obvious, even without hearing them.

“She hasn’t fully recovered yet.”

“…What exactly does that mean?”

“I don’t know why, but it seems like something is tangled up in the Commander’s mind. We have no choice but to approach through other means.”

Despair clouded the Deputy Director’s features.

I’m sure she had no idea how much longer she had to witness such a state of the Knight Commander.

So, she’s mentally tied up inside.

If what I expected is true and it ties back to the Outsider, it would explain why her persona isn’t returning even with the Outsider’s power.

If the strength of the Giant of the Snow Mountain can counter the Outsider, then—

Having grown up without love and witnessing the death of her father under neglectful parents, the Outsider might feel jealous of all living beings coexisting peacefully.

“…So what you’re saying is, if I give her a suitable mental shock, she might return to normal, right?”

“…Uhh, yes?”

“Am I right? That would mean the Knight Commander’s mental state is incomplete. In an incomplete state, chain reactions often occur from light shocks.”

The Deputy Director seemed to have inferred something from what I said.

Upon hearing that inference, I was taken aback.

It really could happen, I thought.

The Knight Commander in the Deputy Director’s dream had promised to return to her once they returned to Rondan.

That meant the Knight Commander also had a very strong homing instinct.

Then it suggested that some unknown power was strongly clashing with the Knight Commander’s persona.

And what if a slight shock were to be given in that situation?

I had a feeling something bomb-like could explode within her mind, potentially clearing things up.

It was rather fanciful.

But in this world, which is a dark fantasy realm.

If even that degree of illusion isn’t tolerated, how could one not call it a game?

At this point, there seemed to be only one way to give a mental shock to the Knight Commander.

To directly see the comrades she once fought with.

But even at this point, searching for those who may or may not be alive would also be a gamble.

What if they had all been killed by the Giant of the Snow Mountain?

But considering that the God of War had the strength to confront the Knight Commander, I felt he wouldn’t meet such a pathetic end.

Perhaps like how the Knight Commander was caught by the Cook, the God of War might be in a similar predicament.

As I pondered this, someone knocked on the Deputy Director’s door.

“Come in.”

Observing the Deputy Director’s words, a common knight hurriedly rushed in.

Gasping for breath, the common knight saluted.

“Deputy Director! There’s a strange space opening outside Rondan Castle right now!”

And in that moment, I thought, maybe my assumption was correct.

“Deputy Director.”

“Hmm.”

“Shall we enter that space together?”

“Hmm?”

The Deputy Director looked at me with a puzzled expression, and I smiled as I spoke.

“Perhaps we might be able to heal her during this opportunity, Commander.”

Upon hearing my words, the Deputy Director’s eyes widened.

 

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