Chapter 209. The Beyond (1)

‘Wear it. Don’t just hang it on your neck.’

The words Riley said, played in her head again and again. After many times, Nainiae closed her eyes when she heard Abyss told them to close their eyes now.

‘If we go over… if we go over… more than before, more than now, for young master…’

Nainiae held the silver ring she received from Riley in her hand and listened to Abyss with her eyes closed.

“…when you open your eyes again, before your eyes.”

Nainiae felt some special energy, which couldn’t be said to be mana, was spreading widely from Abyss. When she couldn’t hear his voice anymore, she opened her closed eyes.

“…”

“How about the game room after school today?”

“Hey, Cole!”

“Just trust me and follow me. I’ll win everything.”

“Again, I lost to Heo Eon-byeong again. That one.”

The scenery, which seemed to be completely reversed despite just closing and opening its eyes, boasted a different atmosphere as if it was a dream.

Here…

As Nainiae was absentmindedly checking her surroundings, voices were heard stuttering beside her as if they were perplexed.

“Th, this, what the hell…”

“Are… are we here?”

Two voices were heard.

One belonged to an old man and the other belonged to a girl.

“Mr. Ian, Ms. Priesia.”

“Ah, Nainiae.”

“We, we are here, right?”

When she was asked if it’s true that they came to the ‘world where Riley lived’, Nainiae scanned her surroundings and the people here then nodded.

“Yes, maybe… it’s the same as the scenery I remember.”

After confirming that the scenery was the same as those of Riley’s previous life, Nainiae suddenly tilted her head with a question mark on her face.

“What about the others?”

“Hmm?”

Ian, who looked blankly at the scenery, also began to look around with a question mark like her.

“Come to think of it…”

As Priesia saw only two familiar faces, her lips began to tremble as if in a panic.

“Why… are there only three of us?”

Riley and Abyss… and seven parts. Until she closed her eyes, nine people were standing around, but when she opened her eyes again, for some reason she could only see two people.

“Somehow… it seems to be scattered.”

Without any delay, Nainiae gave strength to her right eye. She began to use her ability to look for Riley and the rest of the group that Priesia thought of.

“…ugh!”

Only the approximate location was confirmed. Nainiae, who wasn’t able to confirm in detail, frowned in pain in her right eye. Priesia approached her and used her divine power.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, I am okay.”

When Nainiae replied that she was okay and pushed Priesia away, the people passing by around them began to mumble.

“Hey, look over there.”

“Are they capable people?”

[Note: Capable person = A person who has the ability or skill to do something. A talented person.]

“Why are they dressed up like that?”

Nainiae, who was holding her right eye, looked at Priesia and Ian’s clothes as the people looked at them and gossiped about whether they were ‘capable people’.

These clothes… It might stand out.

This was because people wearing clothes called suits or school uniforms were gossiping at them.

“Why do people look a little bit…”

“It’s like they’re looking at a suspicious person…”

Priesia and Ian also noticed something strange and looked at Nainiae with signs of uneasiness and gave her a look, asking what to do.

“Maybe… it’s probably because of the clothes.”

“Clothes?”

“Why are our clothes…”

Priesia, who tried to ask if there was anything unusual, noticed that the clothes of those who looked at them were very foreign, and opened her mouth blankly.

“This place, it’s different from where we lived.”

When the pain she felt around her eyes had improved to some extent, Nainiae exhaled lightly and began to look around.

“Is there anybody who wears such clothes these days?”

“A maid, a butler, a nun?”

“Wow, look at the two faces over there…”

“Aren’t they capable of charming people?”

“Oh… I’ll be tempted.”

Nainiae, who decided to get out of here for now, moved her mana when she found a particularly familiar building among the buildings around her.

“We’re going to move.”

As Nainiae swung her right hand, the ground flashed from beneath the feet of the three! Blue light emanated at once.

“…oh?”

“What? They’re gone!”

“Ah, what a pity. I should have taken a picture of those faces… If I posted it online, it would have been a huge hit.”

“Looking at that movement, I guess they weren’t charming people?”

As the blue light that had emanated from the feet of the three disappeared as well as themself, the people who were looking at the Nainiae’s group, stopped for a while and scattered again.

Among the scattered crowds, to be precise, on the ground where the crowds were walking…

Several opaque heads with horns popped out, talking about the three people they had just seen.

*****

“Hmm…”

“Explain what happened.”

“Hey, Mr. Andal…? First thing first, calm down…”

“Do I look like I’m going to calm down!”

“…”

Abyss, Andal, and Iril, who had passed into the world where Riley lived in his previous life, were talking in a deserted alley.

“I was told to close my eyes so I closed it, and what is this?!”

At the appearance of Andal screaming with fire breathed from his mouth, Iril, who was afraid of dragons, tightly closed her lips as if glue was applied.

“Even if we are scattered, why am I with these two…”

At Abyss’s explanation that they seemed to be scattered, Iril stared at Abyss and Andal alternately, her mouth trembling.

One is a demon king and one is a dragon…

Even though she was just still silent, she felt suffocated by the atmosphere of the two opposites.

“It can’t be helped. Now that we are scattered, there will be nothing good for us to move hastily. If something is going on, it will be faster for us to go there.”

As Abyss mumbled casually with his arms folded, Andal twitched his eyebrows and grabbed Abyss by the collar.

“Hah?”

“All the seven parts Riley brought, the spec… no, physically competent. Couldn’t it be that you just didn’t hear me?”

“Hahhh?!”

“If you heard it for sure, have you not noticed what I was talking about? Hmm, I couldn’t say any easier than this.”

At Abyss’s heart-scratching words, Andal fluttered his hair, starting to spew his mana.

“If something is going on, we can go there? Ha! You’re being ridiculous! We’ll be the first one to make a fuss! You know why? If this body’s going to crush this place, then… surely?!”

Andal, who had been grinding his teeth while talking, suddenly stopped… Iril, who was watching the two, trembled.

“…you must be sleepy.”

While being angry like fire, Andal collapsed… Iril was trembling while looking at Abyss with a gulp.

“He looks tired, so I need to keep his eyes closed.”

Abyss, who looked at the fainted Andal while leaning against the wall of the alley, turned to the stone-stiffened Iril and asked, “Do you want to keep your eyes close too?”

“……!”

Iril hurriedly shook her head as if she was refusing to do so. Abyss shrugged and sat next to the fainted Andal.

“It seems like the problem was that we spent too much energy before we came over. Because you guys are quite… good at warming up.”

As Abyss glanced at Iril, who had been stiffened, she approached him carefully as if she was still wary of him and asked, “Everyone really… scattered?”

Abyss nodded at Iril’s question, staring at his palm and muttering.

“All nine people, That’s for sure. I guarantee it.”

The problem was… how many, how, and where the nine people who came here were scattered.

“Then… the problem is how to find them.”

When Iril, who had very little knowledge of the world here, muttered with a perplexed expression, Abyss replied with a bloody smile.

“It’s not as wide as the world you live in, so we won’t have to wait so long. In case we join later, it would be more efficient to move around.”

“Efficient?”

“Yeah, efficient.”

Abyss, who thought that she had somehow been relieved, picked up a small stone rolling on the ground.

“In the first place, there was a lot of land like the world you lived in, but most of the land has sunk under the sea, so now…”

Abyss, who drew a white line on the brick road with stones, continued to explain, drawing a rough map of the world where they were now.

“It’s like this.”

“Can you compare it to where we lived?” Perhaps it was out of curiosity, Iril, who had put her fear aside for a while, looked at the map Abyss drew on the brick road and asked.

Abyss shrugged and drew another map. “This is where you lived.”

Iril, who was comparing the map of Solia, Rainfield, Ansirium, etc with the map on the other side, nodded as if she knew clearly. “It’s very small by comparison.”

“Because it’s narrow, so be careful.

It means that there is a high probability that our existence will be discovered by the other person.”

Abyss, who drew a solid line on the map of this world, pointed to the part where he just made the solid line.

“Here… these places, you should be especially careful.”

“…?”

Iril tilted her head as if she wasn’t sure what he meant.

“Below the ground where this solid line is drawn is where the ‘demons’ described previously exist.”

“Demon? Like you?”

“My name is Abyss, so call it that way.”

“Ah, yes…”

Abyss, who corrected the name that Iril called him, put down the stone he had in his hand and leaned his back against the wall of the alley.

“First, we need to know when it is now.”

“When… is it?”

“Is this before or after Riley and I died… You have to know it first and move. That way, you can move efficiently without stumbling.”

Then, when fainting Andal leaned his head on his shoulder, Abyss continued with a bloody smile.

“Riley should be checking it out by now.”

The ultimate goal here was the saint named Helena, so moving without being noticed… would create a favorable situation for Riley and seven parts.

“…hmm?”

Abyss smirked and opened his mouth again as Iril, with her fist under her lips, rolling her head.

“You don’t have to roll your head to understand the situation right now.”

“Why?”

Abyss, who didn’t change his smiling face even though she asked himself ‘why?’, answered with a kind face.

[Note: Iril asked ‘why?’ informally, not formally as usual.]

“Because you are the type that moves directly and learns through experience.”

“Abyss…”

Iril, who stared blankly at Abyss’s smiling face, praised him with a smile on her lips.

“You’re a pretty good person… (yo.)”

“It’s okay to be comfortable. It would be more comfortable if you could talk informally.”

When Abyss said it was okay to be comfortable, Iril nodded with a bashful smile.

“…okay!”

“But, it would be better to be respectful to the dragon child. He’s a pretty strong guy with pride and stubbornness.”

“Oh… Mm…”

Iril reluctantly nodded to the fainted and relatively gentle Andal. Abyss then added something he had almost forgotten.

“The reason why I knocked this child before he went violently was also this induction to avoid the demons, to move efficiently, but… there is one more reason.”

“More?”

“Since there are seven, not six, we have to make good use of the hidden card.”

“Hidden… card?”