MISS 19

A very special—no, rather peculiar—flower blooms in the Red Forest.

This flower, with its layers of soft white petals, looks delicate on the outside. But contrary to its fragile appearance, it has a rather tough nature.

‘Well… “tough” is putting it nicely. It’s actually a nasty-tempered flower.’

Strangely enough, this flower hates water.

And not just a little.

‘It hates it so much that if water touches it, it spontaneously combusts.’

The moment water hits it, the white petals start smoking and burning away. Logically speaking, that makes absolutely no sense.

‘Though, considering there are somewhat similar plants in the real world, I guess it’s not completely impossible.’

What really mattered was that this trait made it perfect for pulling off a scam.

It could easily be staged as if some mysterious power had caused the ignition.

Yes. That was exactly why I had come all the way to the Red Forest.

But—

‘…What on earth is going on here?’

This clever giant cat had brought back something even more unbelievable.

“…The Pendant of Illusion.”

This was no ordinary pendant.

It was an item that appeared in the game—a cursed artifact used to place a terrible curse on someone.

‘Why is this showing up here…?’

The problem wasn’t simply that it had brought the wrong item.

This thing wasn’t supposed to be here in the first place.

‘By now it should’ve already been sealed by Yulia and buried deep inside the temple.’

Why was the pendant used as a weapon by the main villain of Chapter 3 suddenly appearing right now?

“—Grrr.”

Meanwhile, hearing my muttering, Aigers puffed out his nose proudly.

His expression clearly said, See? I did well, didn’t I?

That only made me even more speechless.

‘…Well, there are white petals, and it definitely is extremely valuable.’

Technically speaking, the creature had perfectly followed my request.

‘Did I keep emphasizing how valuable it had to be, so it brought the most valuable thing it could find?’

The more I thought about it, the more plausible it sounded.

Of course, regardless of the reason, I was already doomed.

‘Now it looks like I came all the way here just to get this thing.’

Sure enough, the way Azel was looking at me had grown even more suspicious than before. He had clearly recognized what kind of ominous artifact this was.

On the other hand, Mary seemed to have no idea what it was, which was at least a small relief.

‘Why is life so impossible to predict?’

Still, I couldn’t just pretend I didn’t know what this was and abandon it. The performance of this item was simply too incredible.

After all, it was the weapon of the Chapter 3 main villain.

‘If used properly, this could become an incredible self-defense weapon. There’s no way I can just give it up.’

If I kept it, people would definitely suspect me.

But throwing it away felt unbearably wasteful.

It was the very definition of a chicken rib—too good to discard, yet troublesome to keep.

Fortunately, my hesitation didn’t last long.

‘Right. Who knows what might happen in the future. I should at least have one weapon to protect myself.’

I quietly slipped the pendant into my pocket.

Azel’s gaze followed the movement.

“Let’s go.”

With that confident declaration, the rest of the group awkwardly followed behind me.

‘As for Azel… let’s just ignore him for now.’

Of course, that decision wasn’t nearly as easy as I had hoped.

‘This is uncomfortable.’

The way Azel was staring straight at me was unbearably burdensome.

And then—

“Is something bothering you?”

For the first time, Azel spoke to me.

“Y–Yes?!”

Even though it was a simple question, my shoulders jerked in surprise.

“Why are you so startled?”

Instead of the conscience I had already sold off, the small, ordinary-citizen mentality inside me was screaming.

“If you’re uncomfortable, say so.”

Right now, Azel and I were riding on Aigers together, and the distance between us was far too close.

Which meant his lips were whispering right beside my ear.

But surprisingly, my heart was pounding for a completely different reason.

“N-No, it’s fine. I’m okay.”

“…I see.”

Perhaps sensing my awkward reaction, Azel fell silent as well.

An uncomfortable silence settled between us.

In the end, I was the one who gathered the courage to speak first.

I had to change the subject somehow.

“Azel.”

“Go ahead.”

“Why did you come here yourself?”

“…Then why did you come to this forest?”

“I told you already. I came to keep a promise.”

“The promise you mentioned… is it related to that pendant?”

That was a landmine.

“….”

When I fell silent, unable to answer, another question followed.

“You said earlier it was a misunderstanding. About the way those creatures reacted—do you have any idea why?”

Another bomb.

Every question stabbed into me like a blade.

‘I should’ve just kept my mouth shut and stayed quiet!’

I immediately regretted it.

‘I’m screwed. Seriously. How am I supposed to explain this?’

If I kept lying to get out of this moment, someday I’d reach a point where I wouldn’t be able to fix the situation anymore.

But I couldn’t simply brush it off either.

Then suddenly, Azel said something strange.

“…Is that also difficult for you to answer?”

His tone sounded hesitant.

While I tilted my head internally at the unexpected reaction, he said something even stranger.

“Are you… still seeing things?”

Seeing things? What did he mean by that?

For a moment I wondered if he was implying I was crazy.

Then something suddenly came to mind.

‘Wait… by “seeing things,” does he mean that incident from before?’

The day I mistook Gaspata for a ghost and screamed.

Back then, Azel had thought I was hallucinating.

‘Is that really what he means?’

My expression instantly stiffened.

‘This guy—did he think I grabbed a cursed item and decided now was the perfect time to interrogate me about everything?!’

It was an extremely plausible guess.

But then his next action was unexpected again.

Seeing my stiff expression, Azel changed his words once more.

“Just forget I said anything. If your posture is uncomfortable, tell me. I can get down and walk instead.”

“…What?”

And that was it.

He stubbornly stared straight ahead as if he had nothing more to say.

I was completely bewildered.

‘Wait… what? What just happened? What kind of development was that?’

He wasn’t a moody middle schooler—yet somehow his words had no beginning, middle, or end.

Living according to the random flow of consciousness was supposed to be my role.

Yet Azel had suddenly begun threatening my position.

‘Is that really it? Is it really okay to just leave it like this?’

Now I was the only one left feeling confused.

‘…Well, if he says he’s fine with it, what can I do?’

After intense deliberation, my conclusion was simple.

Let it go for now.

But instead of ignoring it completely, I decided to redirect the focus.

‘I’ll just patch things up a little.’

With that resolve, I slowly opened my mouth.

*

Azel was regretting the words he had spoken earlier.

‘Why did I say something like that?’

It hadn’t been driven by any particular intention.

It had been closer to an impulse.

Now that he had realized an unexpected truth, it was honestly difficult for him to control himself.

‘This is absolutely not a coincidence.’

Aigers was originally supposed to be discovered in the Duke’s territory—not in the Red Forest.

The Pendant of Illusion was the same.

That ominous artifact should have been sealed by the Saintess and buried deep within the temple.

Yet everything had changed.

‘There’s no way this is coincidence.’

If it wasn’t coincidence, then there was only one explanation.

‘There exists a turn I do not remember.’

A hidden turn.

Otherwise, none of this would make sense.

‘She must have shown it to me deliberately. She called me out here under the pretense of a promise, then presented Aigers and the pendant as evidence.’

Because she couldn’t say it directly—

she showed him instead.

“I didn’t lie.”

That she hadn’t been lying.

Because of that, his uncontrolled thoughts and turbulent emotions kept pushing him forward.

‘What exactly do you want from me?’

But there were still things that couldn’t be explained if all of this was merely a silent demonstration.

The uncomfortable expression on Elpis’s face kept bothering him.

It looked as if she didn’t actually want to go this far.

Her pained expression felt strange.

‘Was it simply… that you just wanted me to believe you?’

Because of that, it was hard to stop his thoughts from drifting toward her again and again.

And just then—

“Azel.”

Elpis’s voice called out.