Raymond quickly pulled Luna back with him.
Luna tried to go to the fallen Elliot, crying out, but Raymond stopped her.
“I need to think rationally now. I have to protect at least Luna.”
“Why are you doing this?! What wrong has this child committed!”
“Oh God… another fool is being deceived by the witch…”
Raymond’s shout was in vain. The villagers were slowly approaching Raymond and Luna.
“…Please, I beg you. This child is innocent!”
He pleaded earnestly and stood in front of them, but was soon stabbed and fell.
“You! How dare you protect the witch! You deserve to die here too!”
“No! Uncle!”
Blood was pouring from Raymond’s abdomen. It had been peaceful days… Why had it become like this? Luna’s scream echoed in his ears.
Filled with the grief of losing her father and the guilt of him falling while protecting her, Luna sobbed.
‘…Sigh.’
Should I have run away with Luna? I should have been more cautious when the village chief made that request, but I was too complacent.
However, Raymond’s thoughts didn’t go any further. His consciousness began to fade. It felt like floating on water, the boundary between reality and illusion blurring. The surrounding sounds grew fainter.
‘This… could it be…?’
Raymond recalled the sensation he felt when he entered the illusion. The scene before his eyes slowly lost its color, and his body felt lighter and lighter.
‘Kaleido, you bastard!’
Only then did Raymond understand the situation. He was being pulled away from this place at such a crucial moment.
‘No!’
It was agonizing to escape as if fleeing, leaving the tragedy before his eyes untouched.
‘I’m sorry…’
But his words reached no one. His vision slowly blurred, and his consciousness faded.
“……”
“……”
He could no longer hear Luna’s voice or the villagers’ shouts. Raymond turned his head with difficulty. His gaze fell upon an adventurer.
‘Dambi… Rills…’
The adventurer, who introduced himself as a half-blood vampire. He didn’t know about the man, but the woman beside him was a mage. Perhaps those two could stop the villagers?
He looked at them with difficulty. Please… please protect Luna, he wanted to say. But no words came out.
“……”
At the moment his consciousness was about to break. Dambi’s eyes met Raymond’s.
“……”
Still, no sound could be heard. However, from Dambi’s lips, he could vaguely grasp the meaning.
*Don’t worry.*
Yes, he was sure the man had said that. Or rather, he should have said that.
Soon after, Raymond’s vision went black.
* * *
“Hah!”
Raymond woke up with a gasp.
“Welcome. Did you enjoy exploring the illusion?”
The place that was an inn was now back to reality. Kaleido greeted him with a sly smile.
“No… please send me back…! I beg you…!”
As soon as Raymond regained his senses, he knelt and pleaded. But all he received was a cold refusal.
“Hoho, where you were was just an illusion.”
Kaleido’s curt reply. But Raymond had no intention of dismissing the emotions he felt as fake. Even if it was an illusion, he wanted to go back and finish what he started.
“Didn’t I tell you? You shouldn’t be consumed by illusions. And above all, illusion magic isn’t something that can be used so easily. Calm yourself.”
With Kaleido’s continued persuasion, Raymond calmed his mind.
‘Right, it’s just an illusion.’
Raymond adjusted his clothes. Then he felt something damp.
‘…Blood?’
There were faint traces of blood splattered on his clothes.
‘Where did the blood come from…?’
Only then did he remember that he had come here with his friend Ethan.
“Come to think of it, where is Ethan?”
Ethan was nowhere to be seen. He had definitely come together.
“Um… he left earlier saying he had urgent business, so I don’t know. Besides, Ethan refused the illusion magic.”
Raymond nodded at Kaleido’s words. He would have been suspicious normally, but he didn’t have the energy to do so now. He had been too drained exploring the illusionary world. More than anything, he was curious about what had happened to Luna. He didn’t care what happened to Ethan.
‘Then this blood…’
What was the blood on his clothes? He was definitely cut by a sword in the illusion, but blood shouldn’t have splattered in reality.
It was strange. After thinking for a while, Raymond asked Kaleido a question.
“Was it really illusion magic…?”
It was just a small doubt. To an absurd question that Raymond himself thought was absurd, Kaleido smiled again.
“What do you think?”
A vague answer returned, but Raymond moved on. He wouldn’t get a clear answer from Kaleido.
“Ah, as promised, here you go.”
As Raymond tried to leave, Kaleido handed him a pouch. It contained numerous gold coins and jewels.
“This is your reward for successfully completing the exploration.”
Kaleido’s smile was like that of a child who had received a fun toy.
“……”
Raymond snatched the pouch and immediately turned his back. He wouldn’t have accepted it normally, but now there was something he wanted to check. With that, Raymond entered a dark alleyway in the underworld. After wandering for a while, he entered a small shop.
Only darkness pervaded the shop, and a woman with her face hidden was there.
“What do you need?”
This was a place in the underworld where information was bought and sold. Raymond wanted to confirm a faint possibility.
“I’ve come to buy information.”
He revealed that he had come to buy information, lowering his voice as much as possible.
“Are there any inns that have been recently attacked?”
An attacked inn. A little while ago, in the illusionary world, Raymond had been attacked by villagers in an inn.
“An attacked inn… the scope is too wide?”
Unfortunately, there were too many inns for adventurers across the continent. Therefore, there were also many inns that had been attacked by monsters, adventurers, or bandits.
If only I had known, I should have found out which country it was in. Why didn’t I ask such basic questions while talking to Luna and the adventurers? Raymond blamed himself and elaborated on his question.
“The inn was in the forest, no, a mountain? It was in a place like that. And the villagers… no, several people attacked the inn with weapons.”
At Raymond’s question, the woman paused for a moment to think. She then searched through a pile of documents and pulled out a piece of paper.
“Ah, there was one similar incident.”
By chance, there was an incident similar to what he had experienced. He felt excited, but at the same time, he hoped it wasn’t the incident he had experienced. It was better for the stories in the illusion to remain in the illusion.
“Similar to your words, but there isn’t much information. First, the inn was located in the mountains.”
However, as the woman’s words continued, Raymond’s expression grew serious.
“According to the information received, the bandits murdered the innkeeper. The number of bandits is estimated to be dozens, but their exact identities remain a mystery.”
Up to this point, it was similar. The inn was in a similar location. And the villagers could also look like bandits from a third party’s perspective.
“So what happened!”
If this incident had been known, there would have been a result. Raymond couldn’t hide his excitement and shouted.
“That’s all.”
“What?”
It was absurd. Was that all she had said?
“No, if they investigated the case, there would have been a result, but what is this…!”
The woman slightly lowered her head and whispered to Raymond.
“The next information is uncertain. However, it is quite dangerous, so the information fee is high, is that okay? I’m telling you again, this is not confirmed information.”
Raymond nodded and opened the pouch he received from Kaleido. He picked out a few gold coins and jewels from it and handed them to the woman.
“For some reason, this information is being controlled by the Sail Kingdom.”
“?”
Information controlled by the kingdom? It seemed far from the information he wanted. It was not an incident that would be controlled by the kingdom, unlike the story of Luna and the villagers he had experienced. Still, he had already paid for the information. Since a refund was not possible, Raymond listened to the woman’s words and was about to leave.
“Just take this as hearsay. Don’t spread it anywhere.”
What kind of information would warrant such a reaction? Since he had no intention of spreading it, Raymond nodded at the woman’s words.
“To get straight to the point, all the bandits who raided the inn died.”
A sudden story emerged. All the bandits who raided the inn died. Was there a strong adventurer staying at the inn? The image of an adventurer party suddenly came to Raymond’s mind.
“Well… I don’t know how the bandits died, but one thing is certain: it was far from a human act. According to the information, there are rumors of a vampire, but this is not confirmed information.”
“Vampire…?”
“That’s right. A vampire. You might find it absurd, but if a vampire was involved, it’s not hard to understand why the Sail Kingdom is controlling the information.”
Normally, he would have scoffed at such an absurd statement, but Raymond’s expression was now deeply serious.
‘Dambi…’
He remembered the adventurer, Dambi, who introduced himself as a half-blood vampire.
“Moreover, there were traces of magic being used at the scene. But a combination of a vampire and a mage… it’s just an absurd story, so you don’t need to pay too much attention to it.”
Raymond pondered the information. An inn in a remote mountain. A group of bandits who attacked.
‘The location, the situation, and even the presence of a vampire and a mage…’
All the situations were similar to what Raymond had experienced. This could not all be a mere coincidence.
‘Yes, it can’t be a coincidence.’
Then another question arose. Was what he experienced truly an illusion? He remembered Kaleido’s last answer to the question of whether it was really illusion magic.
– What do you think?
‘Kaleido, that bastard!’
A small doubt turned into certainty. Raymond, already convinced, asked his next question.
“Were there also the bodies of small children there?”
Raymond’s tone changed again. This question was filled with urgency. At his question, the woman frowned. But since Raymond was already a customer who had paid for the information, she reluctantly continued her answer.
“I’m not sure, but while there were bodies of the innkeeper and lodgers along with the bandits, I haven’t heard of any child’s body.”
Raymond kicked off from his seat and ran towards the arena building. He wandered everywhere, trying to find the place he had entered with Ethan. But the place he was looking for didn’t appear.
“Sir, is something wrong?”
A guard managing the arena approached Raymond. Raymond couldn’t find the place where Kaleido had been until he was dragged out by the guard.
Only then could he realize it. That the world he thought was an illusion was actually reality. Raymond believed so.
* * *
– All intruders entering the Satellite Dungeon ‘Nest of Corruption’ have been repelled.
– The Satellite Dungeon has been perfectly defended.
– Special rewards will be given.
– As a special reward, the ‘Stealth’ attribute is added to the Satellite Dungeon ‘Nest of Corruption’. The owner of the Satellite Dungeon can set the stealth status.
– As a special reward, Kaleido’s (★★★★) magic will be enhanced.
– Kaleido’s skill ‘Dreamy Eye (A)’ is enhanced to ‘Dreamy Prison (S)’.
– Dreamy Eye (A): Sends the target into an illusionary world. -> Dreamy Prison (S): Traps the target in an illusion, making them unable to distinguish between reality and illusion.
– Kaleido’s skill ‘Illusion Projection (B)’ is enhanced to ‘Illusion Distortion (A)’.
– Illusion Projection (B): Projects the desired illusion as if it were real, confusing the target. -> Illusion Distortion (A): Disturbs not only the target’s visual effects but also their senses.
