Chapter 107

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Episode 24 - Isabella [2]

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A little girl swayed back and forth as the evening breeze brushed against her face.

With deep violet eyes and hair as black as ink, she looked like an ordinary girl at first glance.

But there was something strange about her eyes.

Her hair gently swayed with the breeze as she continued swinging without stopping, staring at the dark sky.

A faint smile formed on her face as she pushed herself higher and higher on the swing.

And while the soft breeze brushed against her small body, a voice came from behind her.

"You remind me of a little girl who climbed a tree and fell. If it weren’t for me, she would’ve gotten hurt."

The girl slowly came to a stop. Then she turned her head back and looked at the two people.

A man and a woman.

The man continued.

"If you swing too hard on a swing, there’s a chance the rope could snap and you could get hurt."

The girl’s smile faltered. In truth, this wasn’t the first time someone had told her something like that.

Whenever people from the village came to visit, or when her master suddenly appeared out of nowhere and told her to stop swinging so hard.

But the girl couldn’t help it.

And now, new people she had never seen before were scolding her too.

The girl puffed out her lips and, instead of listening to the man’s words, asked,

"Who are you."

Adel smiled and, instead of answering her question right away, said,

"Changing the subject, huh."

The girl froze for a second before staring at him without blinking.

Adel seemed to notice and sighed. Then he said,

"We’re travelers. My name is Adel, and this is Charlotte."

After hearing Adel’s answer, the girl replied,

"My master gave me the name Isabella, so my name is Isabella. Did you come to see my master?"

Adel and Charlotte nodded. Isabella then said,

"She’s not here right now. She always goes out in the afternoon and doesn’t come back until nighttime."

"Mhm, so she’s not here."

Isabella nodded. Then she remembered the words her master always told her whenever someone came by.

"Can I know why you’re looking for my master?"

This time, Charlotte was the one who stepped forward and, instead of answering, asked,

"Master...? Why do you call her that?"

Isabella tilted her head in confusion.

"Because she’s my master."

"That doesn’t make sense."

Isabella only became even more confused and stared directly at Charlotte.

"But she’s my master. What else could she be?"

’That makes sense.’

The thought crossed Adel’s mind before disappearing, but Charlotte frowned and said,

"And why is she your master?"

Isabella did not hesitate to answer Charlotte’s question.

"Because she said she would be my master, and I would be her disciple."

Charlotte opened her mouth, but then closed it again.

So instead of continuing to press the issue, she asked another question.

"Do you know if she had another disciple? Maybe in the past."

Isabella remained silent without answering immediately. Her thoughts drifted to the past.

At the same time, she felt a great deal of curiosity toward the person who had taken her in after that incident.

Isabella had asked what a master was, and Luminus had calmly answered her.

Isabella asked many questions, and one of them was whether Luminus had another disciple before her.

Luminus confirmed it and told Isabella the name of her first disciple, but Isabella could not clearly remember what name Luminus had mentioned.

Her memory was not very good, actually. Luminus always had to remind Isabella of many things she tended to forget.

Shortly afterward, Isabella came back from her memories and answered Charlotte.

"Yes, my master had a disciple before me."

A smile appeared on Charlotte’s face. Meanwhile, Isabella asked in confusion,

"Why are you asking that? Are you the first disciple?"

At that question, Charlotte flinched for a moment before composing herself.

She opened her mouth, but the words did not come out immediately.

She was aware of an important rule whenever entering a Memory Gate.

The most important rule, and the one they had to follow to the letter.

’Never say that this place is a Memory Gate.’

Therefore, Charlotte’s thoughts raced until she barely managed to find the right words.

"No, I’m not."

Isabella seemed disappointed.

"I wanted to meet big sister."

Charlotte heard her murmur and could only press her lips together.

She didn’t know why she felt that way, whether other people’s emotions were beginning to enter her mind again or if, in truth, they were her own emotions.

"Do you know when your master last saw her first disciple?"

The one who asked was Adel. Isabella looked at him and then sank into her memories.

Shortly afterward, she nodded and said,

"Four years ago."

Adel nodded without saying much, but his thoughts quickly went into motion.

’So the current timeline is four years after Chapter One.’

Adel then asked again,

"How long have you been her disciple?"

"For three years."

Isabella answered, and Adel nodded slowly. Then he thought,

’It seems the records are correct. Luminus’s first disciple only lived with her for a very short time.’

Soon after, Adel let out a sigh. Then he answered the question Isabella had asked earlier.

"We came to see your master, but since you say she isn’t here, then we’ll come back tomorrow."

Isabella simply nodded and returned to swinging on her swing.

Adel and Charlotte turned around to head back to the village.

***

At an inn, Adel and Charlotte had seated themselves at a table far from the other people while they reviewed everything they knew.

"This is the final Chapter; apparently, it seems the confrontation between the leader of the Church of the Black Dawn and Luminus will happen soon."

Charlotte nodded slightly and said,

"Do you think it will have an epilogue?"

"I don’t know, maybe. Most Memory Gates usually have an epilogue."

In the epilogue, the Invaders did not have to do anything.

It was more like a form of narration about what happened after the final Chapter.

Sometimes it narrated part of the protagonist’s past, and other times it showed the scene of the protagonist’s final moments.

It could be either of those.

"Anyway, we need to build a friendship with Luminus again."

Adel said while taking a sip of the coffee he had ordered from the waitress.

Charlotte looked at the plate of food for a moment before replying.

"Yes."

Adel looked at her emotions while taking another sip of coffee.

She had been observing her emotions for a long time.

Even though they had reached Chapter Two and the emotions of others had been erased.

Somewhere within Charlotte, all the time she had spent training with Luminus had remained engraved in her mind.

To her, Luminus had been her first master and the first person she had grown attached to.

Those emotions belonged to Charlotte herself; they were not Luminus’s emotions invading her mind.

’I think... this will be the last time I see her.’

She tightened her grip on the utensils, her thoughts spinning over and over until they stopped on a single conclusion.

Then she slowly nodded, as if agreeing with what she was about to do before the Chapter ended and they completed the Memory Gate.

"Anyway, we should think about our objective now and how to clear the Chapter."

Coming out of her thoughts, Charlotte listened to Adel’s opinion regarding the possible objective they needed to complete.

At the moment, there were only two options.

’Save her disciple or save the villagers.’

For Adel, the simplest answer was to save Isabella.

But what if Luminus had grown deeply attached to the villagers?

From what he had heard, the villagers had treated her very kindly.

Letting them die because of whatever the Church of the Black Dawn was planning to do in that place would mean Luminus’s purpose would not be fulfilled faithfully.

’I don’t know. First, I need to understand the kind of relationship she has with her disciple and with the villagers.’

Once both relationships were confirmed, Adel already had a plan.

’Phew, this Chapter is about choosing between two options, huh.’

That was his last thought. Shortly afterward, they stopped eating and drinking and rented two rooms.

Since gold had always been the currency used, both in the past and in the present, Adel and Charlotte had no trouble with those matters.

***

The next day, Adel and Charlotte left the inn and headed straight to the hill where Luminus lived.

Adel had come up with a plan to approach Luminus and build some kind of temporary relationship with her.

It would not be the kind of relationship they had built in Chapter One.

It would be the kind of relationship they had in the prologue.

The only problem was that Adel was not sure whether it would work well or if they would fail.

"Remember, don’t let Luminus’s emotions drown you like they did in Chapter One."

Adel warned Charlotte sternly along the way.

They were now in the final Chapter.

Any mistake would ruin everything they had accomplished up to that point.

Going from the prologue to the Final Chapter had not been easy at all.

They had lost a great deal of time in Chapter One alone, and Adel estimated they only had around two or three hours left before leaving the Memory Gate.

’At this point, dawn should already be breaking in the real world.’

The two days Professor Ashly had given them to remain inside the Memory Gate were almost over.

Time was not on their side.

"Hello, Isabella."

Before long, they had climbed the hill. Isabella, just like the previous day, was sitting on the swing, gently swaying back and forth.

She stopped and looked at them with a faint smile before saying,

"My master is waiting for you inside."