“Could you please cast a protective magic here for me?”
“Yes…”
I think while watching two geniuses create a masterpiece.
‘What should I do now?’
Should I go and at least offer my hands?
However, my actions are likely to be a hindrance to those two.
I have no expertise, let alone a shallow understanding of mechanical engineering.
I do have a bit of knowledge about magic, but it’s not enough to help Charlotte.
And I can’t help Dalia, who is right next to me.
“Let’s just drink.”
So amidst the busyness of my daily life, I down the alcohol that I couldn’t properly enjoy earlier.
“Heh… Hehe.”
With my mental stat having increased, I don’t easily get caught in drunkenness, but if I intentionally maintain a relaxed state, I can enjoy a certain level of intoxication even with low levels of buzz.
Thus, I feel the hazy sensation creeping into my mind as I glance at their ‘masterpiece’ from a tilted perspective.
In fact, I don’t really know what those two are conceptualizing.
I have frequently employed Skolla in specific situations, but he has created different mechanical devices with varying power and appearance in each instance.
Sometimes he has made ground battleships, and at other times, simple bomb shelters with ordinary defensive walls.
Whatever piece they create, in my situation, I can only trust them.
While I was just lying down and resting,···.
“Ugh…”
Everyone is working hard, and it’s quite uneasy for me to be the only one resting.
To at least have minimal conversation, I sought out Dalia, who was coloring the surrounding underground space with her vibrant hues.
“Is the work… going well?”
“Ah, yeah. Actually, I burned most of my mystique over there, so it’s taking a bit longer.”
“Is it really taking that long…?”
I looked up to see the numerous drawings she had created.
Huge pictures mixing various techniques like murals or graffiti art.
Dalia moved her hands towards the air from her place, and simultaneously, another fantasy painting was created.
In the game, I merely thought of it as a means for players to see comfortably, but I never expected it to be produced without any paint or ink.
Since I wasn’t aware of this, I began to sip on my drink while admiring the pictures being drawn in the air.
At first glance, it seemed like a meaningless array of images, but these would ultimately expand the scope of her mystique.
“You’re doing really well.”
“Normally, I should finish it all in about 30 minutes, so taking this long is already a problem.”
“I see…”
However, now I have nothing specific to say.
I don’t particularly enjoy conversations, but if possible, I would like to satisfy my curiosity about the information I don’t know.
Especially since these figures have been categorized as mere avatars in a virtual world.
“Dalia, why do you have such mystique?”
Knowing every character’s past is difficult.
Surely, if the ‘Dreaming World’ is a place where players can meet characters, each should have been prepared with their own narrative, but players don’t have much time to know all of it.
Concentrating on a few key characters alone takes considerable time to clear the game.
Moreover, even if I knew a character’s past, it doesn’t mean I would understand everything about that person.
I actually wanted to ask this question to Charlotte first, but I already know too much about her.
Even if I pretend to admire her, she would believe me, but Charlotte’s past is rather dark, and bringing that up wouldn’t be good for either of us.
“It’s simple. Just… drawing makes me feel at ease. There’s no distinction in types. I just… draw.”
“….”
“It’s a bit awkward to say this to someone I don’t know well, but since we have plenty of time… what do you think a drawing is?”
“Just… a drawing, right? Describing what you imagine with paints and pencils?”
My only memory of drawing is receiving an encouraging award in elementary school.
Even that was a piece I barely created with my father’s help.
I remember crying when I went to pick it up weeks later and found it was thrown away.
So, for someone who has no expertise in drawing like me… this was about the extent of my thoughts.
“You may think that way, but I see it as not just a simple drawing, but a depiction of emotions.”
“Depiction?”
As her hand moved from top to bottom, red paint was drawn into the air.
“Every emotion has its own personality and color. At least, that’s how it appears to me…”
Yellow, blue, and other paints began to be layered and mixed over it.
“People need a place to spill forth their emotions. Whether it’s a trash bin, food, or another person.”
“For me…”
I looked at the bottle of alcohol in my hand.
“Yes, I guess it’s alcohol.”
“Isn’t that a drink? You can… well, yeah, you can drink it.”
“Where’s liquid that looks like this?”
Dalia looked me over for a moment, shook her head, and continued speaking.
“It’s just that the appearance doesn’t match… Anyway, for me, that was what drawing was.”
“Would red be like anger?”
“You could think that, but it could also be love or something too?”
Red can be both anger and love.
Yellow can be mercy and chaos.
Blue can be generosity and nobility.
Though I don’t fully understand, Dalia’s emotions contained within those colors… Well, I still don’t quite get them.
“It’s okay not to understand; I didn’t draw this for you to understand. Just by pouring out my emotions with this freely, eventually…”
Dozens of colors overlapped.
And finally, the colors mixed, swirled, and converged into a single color called black.
“Finally, the moment comes to restrain all emotions.”
A rectangular pillar drawn over it confines the expanse of chaotic colors.
Through the expression and organization of emotions, and perhaps something I still don’t know, she manages to restrain her feelings.
What allows Dalia to accomplish this is none other than drawing, or no, it was art.
“When I first expressed my mystique… I was a little surprised. I didn’t expect the mystique to be unlocked to this extent.”
Dalia’s mystique is particularly strong in the art category.
And most mystiques arise from intense emotions.
The foundation of intense emotions is generally…
‘Trauma.’
“Isn’t it strange that I don’t have a particularly bad past compared to others?”
Perhaps, Dalia’s past could really have been not so bad, as she claimed.
However… it might be necessary to reconsider whether that is ‘truly’ her memory.
Just like the violence and barbarism experienced long ago can be remembered as fond memories by many.
But when asked to return to such times, no one chooses to go back.
Even now, she may just be comforting herself saying it’s alright, but the past might have been scarier than it seems.
“I see…”
However, pondering this deeply will not yield any solutions.
After all, it’s all speculation and hypotheses; her past might not have been bad at all.
Unless it enters my mind, I cannot verify my assumptions, even if they are correct, nor can I resolve any trauma.
“Then in terms of meaning, Charlotte really… ouch.”
And suddenly, she tried to change the subject to Charlotte, and I lightly tapped her on the head with the bottle.
“Why did you hit me?”
“Gossiping is bad.”
“Okay, I admit it. You’re unexpectedly strong… ouch.”
“Conversations can be bad too.”
“I’m sorry.”
Before I knew it, through our conversation, all the drawings in front of us were completed.
And finally, her mystique shines.
“This is… amazing.”
“I always say this, but I think it’s amazing too.”
What stood before me had a strangely distorted and warped feel.
When I brought my hand to the wall, even though I felt the sensation of touching the end as if light were bending in water, the hand I visually perceived remained suspended in midair.
What’s amazing is that this sense of dissonance becomes increasingly faint over time.
“So is this finished now?”
“It would be nice if it were, but compared to what was here before, the space is so much smaller. Moreover, those guys… broke through way too easily.”
It seems they are insisting on safety just to be safe.
“Also, the space down here is much larger than expected. I don’t know what they’re making but…”
“Hmm… not sure.”
Even if I ask Skolla, he only mentions creating ‘children’ and doesn’t give any specific details.
Charlotte seems to be blindly following Skolla’s tasks and doesn’t know much about what they are making either.
Perhaps Skolla himself doesn’t know what he is creating.
It’s also possible that he’s just making various mechanical devices as his heart leads him and increasing their size…
“Well, let’s just trust them.”
“Honestly, I was surprised. Your power… is stronger than I thought, but the ones accompanying are all completely unhelpful.”
“That’s true.”
“What in the world were you thinking bringing them along?”
“They’ll definitely be helpful.”
As I said this with a confident gaze, Dalia reluctantly nodded in agreement.
“…Wait a minute.”
“What is it?”
“….”
She paused for a moment while speaking, looked around, and then blurted out.
“Someone’s here.”
