Chapter 131 No Matter What You Have Done, I Will Stand by Your Side (5k)
The white hem of the dress swayed in the gentle breeze, and the morning light filtered through the leaves at the treetops, casting fragmented shadows.
As he watched the light golden long eyelashes rising and falling with each breath in front of him, Rast finally realized that the girl before him was currently carrying the warmth of his nape with the softest skin on her inner thigh.
“Good morning, Xiao Ai.”
Rast sat up from the soft knee pillow and greeted the golden-haired girl, who was smiling slightly with a tranquil expression in the morning light: “Long time no see… No, it should be half a day no see.”
“More accurately, it’s been one night since we last saw each other.”
Emis’s voice intertwined with the distant sound of a bagpipe, equally melodious: “But for you, Rast, it must feel like a very long time has passed.”
She suddenly leaned down, seriously gazing into Rast’s eyes. Her light golden hair fell with her movement, with a few strands brushing against Rast’s cheek, causing a slight tickling sensation.
The two pairs of eyes locked in a close distance… After a moment, Emis gently exhaled.
“It seems your mental state is even better than I imagined.”
“You haven’t been self-destructive like you were when we first met in Deep Blue Harbor, and the tendencies toward self-destruction have been suppressed. You look much more spirited.”
Seeing the girl’s expression change from tension to relaxation, Rast was momentarily taken aback.
“Do I have any noticeable changes?”
“Mm.”
Emis nodded gently: “You are very good at disguising and hiding yourself. If it were someone else, they wouldn’t have noticed the difference.”
“But I can understand.”
“Because I have seen you at your most vulnerable, like cracked porcelain on the verge of shattering, nearly losing all of your humanity.”
“At that time, although you still had a human body, with breath and heartbeat… neither your gaze nor your words resembled those of a living human, but more like a—”
“A machine.”
A hint of fear surfaced in Emis’s beautiful azure eyes.
“Having lost your humanity, you also lost the feeling of being human… and like a machine made of steel, only the burning core was left to drive the decaying shell, acting according to a set program.”
“Once that burning core extinguishes, or the preset program is interrupted, what awaits the machine is only the gradual cooling and self-destruction.”
As if relieved, Emis gently patted her flat chest: “But now, you seem much better, Rast.”
“Although due to inertia, you still habitually maintain that cold expression, not allowing others to sense your true feelings…”
“But now, I can feel from you that it is not mechanical, but the feeling of being human.”
She pursed her cherry blossom-colored lips: “Though it feels a bit unwilling…”
“But is it because of Miss Hiltina?”
“Partly because of Hiltina.”
Rast sat up from the girl’s soft knee pillow: “But there are also other reasons.”
He and Emis sat side by side on the grass, gazing at the distant scenery.
The silvery lake, the slowly rotating white windmill, and the tranquil town at the foot of the mountain… everything seemed like a landscape depicted in a fairy tale, adorned with dreamy colors.
“Xiao Ai, you are right.”
Rast’s voice was unusually calm: “In the world outside Canaan… there really is an endless golden prairie where the wind blows and the grass sways to reveal cattle and sheep.”
“There, I encountered many people and things I had never seen before.”
“Looking back now, perhaps my inner transformation began because of those encounters…”
“Even though I didn’t realize it myself before.”
Listening to Rast’s words, Emis’s azure eyes shone slightly.
“Then, can you tell me about it?”
“The stories of the world outside Canaan…”
“And the people and things you encountered there.”
“Mm.”
Rast nodded gently.
“Where should I start…”
He gazed into the distance, towards the snowy peaks at the end of the mountains.
“The snowy mountains… then I’ll start with Mr. Silver.”
“Xiao Ai, do you remember the Starry University that Miss Hiltina mentioned before? Mr. Silver is a professor in that academy.”
“But…”
A slight smile appeared on Rast’s lips.
“Actually, it’s a talking ferret, who is homebody and lazy, and loves to act cute even though he is hundreds of years old.”
…
In the distant sky, the sun slowly moved from the east toward its highest point in an arc.
The slanted sunlight passed through the leaves at the treetops, casting mottled shadows.
Rast spoke as he leaned back on the grass, while the golden-haired girl sat beside him and listened.
She was indeed a very good listener. Once Rast began speaking, she would attentively take on the pose of a listener, occasionally nodding and asking questions without any dismissiveness.
The golden-hued tranquil time quietly slipped away, little by little.
During this time, Rast spoke a lot.
From how Isda wanted to carry out psychological tests on him only to be backstabbed, to the gorilla professor Barba Rosa, who wore spectacles.
From the Starry University, which stood on an endless golden prairie, to the heavily guarded military restricted area, where the sword of judgment hung high above in the Tower of Secrets.
From granting the little girl Grey a name in Frozen Water Town… to everything that happened in Paradise, that hug during sunset, and the betrayal in the rainy night.
The mask that Rast usually wore was not the type to babble endlessly or easily reveal his heart.
But only in Canaan, in front of the golden-haired girl before him, could he completely remove the mask and disguise he had worn for a long time… and boldly reveal his heart.
“And then, I chose to leave the Night World…”
“Only, the story within the Echoes of the Era is still not over.”
He looked at the blue, cloudless sky: “The next time I enter.”
“It should be the beginning of the Battle of the Broken Coast…”
Rast stopped narrating.
Although his experiences were so fantastical and absurd, those who heard them, unaware of the Night Travelers and the Night World, would likely take them as mere fabrications.
But Emis was completely immersed in the story Rast was telling, sharing his joys and sorrows.
When Rast spoke of Mr. Silver, Emis’s pupils sparkled, as if she also wanted to reach out and pet that talking little ferret, to feel its soft snowy fur.
However, when Rast’s narration progressed to his entry into the Echoes of the Era and the commencement of the Paradise Project…
Emis’s attention was completely captivated by that part of the story.
Even though Rast’s narration had ended, Emis’s azure eyes still held a hint of lingering desire.
“Fairytales are false, but is love real…”
Emis murmured to herself.
Her eyes sparkled with brilliance.
As if with Rast’s story she had reached the cliff peak under the sunset, witnessing the Ice Blue-Haired Queen of the Underworld’s reckless declaration.
Emis suddenly turned back, once again gazing into Rast’s eyes.
“But what about you, Rast?”
“Even if the seeds of illusion can bloom into beautiful flowers, that was the answer given by the Queen of the Underworld and Miss Akshia.”
“Then… what is your answer, Rast?”
“In your eyes, what kind of existence is Miss Akshia?”
Her voice was melodious, reminiscent of the ringing of wind chimes at midnight.
“Is she an ordinary classmate from Starry University whom you’ve met once; or a scion of the God of d*ath, standing on the opposing side of the Guardians, and must be eliminated?”
“Is she a sacrifice you must make for the sake of the justice you hold in your heart, for the longer-term goal…”
“Or like the male and female protagonists in the fairy tale ‘Chronicles of Silver Wings,’ someone you must protect at all costs, even at the expense of your past justice and beliefs?”
The girl’s voice was light and faint, yet each word resonated distinctly in Rast’s ears.
Listening to Emis’s probing voice, which felt as if it were directly resonating within his heart, Rast hesitated, unwilling to answer that question directly.
Because he feared that if his answer regarding Akshia did not meet Xiao Ai’s expectations…
Then, the golden-haired girl before him might feel disappointed.
However.
What responded to Rast’s doubts was only the soft touch above his head.
“No, it’s not like that.”
“No matter what choice you make, Rast, I will not be disappointed, nor will I be angry.”
The cool and soft touch on his cheek made Rast lift his head in surprise.
Emis’s white and slender fingers were resting on his cheek, gently caressing the outline of his face.
“I know you are also confused and lost right now.”
“If we want to find a way to save Miss Akshia from the Abyss, and turn around the ending of her being sacrificed as a Gravekeeper’s ritual… then it will inevitably carry extra risks.”
“Moreover, there is a great possibility it will affect your plans with Leader Ciser.”
“Even because of being distracted by this, it could change the outcome of the upcoming Battle of the Broken Coast.”
As if seeing through all of Rast’s thoughts, the girl before him spoke gently in his ear.
“The justice known as ‘Guardians’ has been the ideal you have embraced since childhood, and you are willing to pay any cost for it.”
“It has also been the belief that has supported you to keep living; you persisted through the endless time in Deep Blue Harbor because of this belief, until you broke out of that desperate cycle.”
“And now, if you continue to uphold this belief and are willing to pay any cost for it…”
“Then coldly sacrificing Miss Akshia as a offering to gain strong power, and then joining the Battle of the Broken Coast, which will determine the fate of the Guardians… is indeed the choice with the least risk and is the most rational approach.”
“To sacrifice the small for the larger overall picture, to sacrifice one for the potential continuation of an entire civilization… this is absolutely correct, and absolutely cannot be criticized.”
“But this also represents your betrayal towards Miss Akshia.”
Emis opened her arms and gently hugged his neck.
“It’s normal for you to feel confused and lost, Rast.”
“Cold, emotionless machines do not hesitate.”
“Confusion, entanglement, and pain… these are all emotions unique to humans.”
The embrace was gentle, just like Rast had experienced not long ago on the cliffs outside Paradise.
In his arms, the girl’s body was soft, filled with warmth and a faint scent of sandalwood.
“So, it’s okay, Rast.”
“Because no matter what you choose, whether it is to sacrifice Miss Akshia for the justice of the Guardians or to take risks and delve into the Abyss…”
“I will stand by your side and support everything you do.”
Feeling the soft body in his embrace, Rast slowly closed his eyes.
“Xiao Ai.”
As if he had made up his mind, he gently spoke.
“If, I mean if…”
“If I told you that the Canaan we are in, this entire world, is fake.”
“Just like the fairy tales in the Fairy Tale Book, or the Night World we spoke of… everything we are experiencing now, every landscape we see, is built on illusions, echoes, and shadows of the past.”
“Even including you, Xiao Ai, might just be a character created by a fairy tale writer, an NPC in a virtual game, not truly existing in reality.”
“All of this is a lie, beautiful and dreamy like the bubbles on the leaves in the morning… but at the moment the sunlight shines on the bubbles, everything will vanish.”
“If that’s the case, what would you think?”
This was something Rast had already anticipated.
Whether it was the concept of “past shadows” in the Night World, or in the historical echoes of the Sixth Epoch, everything he had witnessed regarding the Guardians Organization and Grey’s past.
Or the “Canaan Files” he had witnessed in the Tower of Secrets in the present world.
All of this was showcasing an exceedingly cold fact to Rast.
He could not escape like an ostrich, nor did he wish to.
“If I and Canaan are all illusions.”
“I am a character concocted in a book, an NPC created in a game…”
Listening to Rast’s words, Emis’s azure eyes sparkled with contemplation.
Rast had no secrets from her.
Thus, even the term “NPC,” which exceeded the understanding of this era, Emis could completely grasp the meaning.
However, just as a bit of tension rose in Rast’s heart, starting to worry about what he had read in past science fiction novels where “the bionic soul collapses upon learning that it is not human, and the logical program crashes”…
He heard Emis’s silver bell-like laughter near his ears.
“If that’s the case, then I would probably feel lucky.”
A serious expression flowed across her flawlessly delicate face.
“Grateful that someone created such an illusory world, allowing me to meet you, Rast…”
“Allowing me to be by your side during your most painful and despairing times, preventing you from falling into the abyss of self-destruction.”
Emis gazed into Rast’s eyes.
“I think—”
“This is the luckiest thing in my life.”
…
“So, is that so?”
Listening to the girl’s reply, Rast opened his eyes.
Above the azure sky, white clouds drifted quietly with the gentle breeze.
At that moment, he no longer felt even a hint of hesitation or confusion in his gaze.
“To be honest, I do have some affection for Akshia…”
“This affection may stem from her willingness to risk everything for that illusory emotion after knowing my identity and origin.”
“However, when it comes to being infatuated or crazy for love, it doesn’t quite apply.”
Rast smiled and shook his head, giving his answer to Emis’s initial question.
“But—”
“I must bring her back from the Abyss.”
If the fictitious fairy tale in Paradise and all the emotions born from it were false.
Then what about Canaan?
If Canaan and Xiao Ai were also a fairy tale?
Various pieces of information were hinting that there were many doubts surrounding the existence of Canaan itself.
If one day, the illusion of Canaan were to collapse.
Then… how would he handle the denial of everything that happened in Paradise, the denial of all feelings for Akshia, when faced with the same collapse of illusion?
This was not just to save the Queen of the Underworld.
It was also—
To save Rast himself.
“It seems…”
“Rast, you have already made your choice.”
In the warm breeze, Emis’s soft voice came through.
She raised the windpipe and brought it to her cherry-colored lips.
Soon after, a melodious tune floated in the air, echoing across the hillside.
Rast was lost in the flow of the enchanting flute sound, and his consciousness gradually drifted away.
Far from Canaan, far from the Night World…
Heading towards the real world.
(End of this chapter)
