The Star Goddess had given Sven Parav a revelation in the form of a prophetic dream. It described how he would die in the near future at the hands of the expeditionary group, which he was beginning to believe he could trust.
¡Ba-dump!
The warrior's heart in my chest began to beat strongly, sensing the danger. However, first of all, I clarified calmly. «Are you sure?»
«...Sorry?»
«Are you sure you saw me die? In that dream».
This was quite a cliché in modern media. The actor was shown being shot in the trailer, but later in the film, it was revealed that they were wearing a bulletproof vest the entire time and the story ended happily ever after. Things like that happened all the time.
«I'm not sure». Even in this situation, where certainty was of utmost importance, it was still being ambiguous. «But no matter how many potions were used on his body, none of them had any effect. »
The potions did nothing... Hmm, that was a problem.
Am I really going to die...?
To be honest, I hadn't figured it out yet. My mind was in a mess.
What could I do?
The first thing I thought was that I could do the same trick I did with Amelia's older sister. However, some logistical issues immediately came to mind.
If this was a situation with such an easy solution... why make a whole prophecy about it?
No, and more importantly, how could a situation like the one Parav saw happen? Wasn't it the entire goal of the expedition group to get me back to the city alive?
Damn, why do I have to deal with this so early in the morning...
«...Mr. Baron!» As I furiously racked my brain thinking what the hell I was going to do about it, Parav shook me by the shoulders. «Haven't you heard me? We don't have time for this. You have to run away».
«¿Huir...?»
«The goddess also told me this: your destiny is not yet written in stone. It is up to us to determine what the future holds».
In other words, the future Parav saw was one I could avoid depending on the effort I was willing to make.
«Why didn't you mention that before...?».
«Eh... No sé...»
Man, you should have started with that.
Now he understood why others bullied this guy so much.
In any case, by saying that it is not yet «written in stone», you are probably referring to the Stone of Records...
I finished evaluating the situation. Reatlas was one of the three main gods of this world. If she, a goddess, said that I could change the future, then it had to be true. Which changed things a little.
What dem…? In the era for this.
In a way, this was basically the equivalent of a red light in the Fate Seeker. Now he knew that misfortune lurked around the corner, but he could avoid it if he was careful.
«Thanks for telling me this. I'm going to stay though», I sternly rejected Parav's suggestion that he run away, and for a very simple reason. «I'll take care of this, so keep talking. Everything you saw in that dream, tell me in detail».
Nothing was ever fixed by running away.
***
As soon as I was reunited with my companions, Amelia pushed me away.
«You seemed very serious during that conversation. Was important?»
«Not really. It wasn't a big deal».
When I pushed her away, Amelia stopped insisting. Instead, he closed his mouth, looked at me with half-closed eyes, and turned around.
...Was she angry with me? I was trying to be considerate and not worry her before I had time to understand this mess.
In the end, I couldn't help but tell him the truth, although I did so in an unusually indirect way for a barbarian.
«Emily, if I suddenly found myself in danger of being executed by the commander, what would you do?».
At first he looked at me as if I spoke another language, but then he clenched his jaw. «Are those guys... up to something?».
«I'm still not sure. So what is your answer?»
Amelia's look suggested that she thought it was obvious. «I would stop them. Even if I had to risk everything to do it».
«Even if they have more than a hundred people on their side?».
«Haven't you heard me? I would stop them with everything I have».
I could hear a deep determination in his voice.
Yeah, so that's your answer, huh...
Although I was grateful for their loyalty, their response also left a bitter taste in my mouth that was impossible to ignore. If things really ended badly, this wouldn't just end with my death. All the people around me would also be involved in this.
...Should I have run away?
That idea crossed my mind, but I quickly threw it away. There was a chance that running away would make things even worse.
Let's monitor the situation for now. I still have time before making a decision.
I was basing this assessment on three key pieces of evidence I obtained from Parav's dream account.
One: The dream took place on an island.
From the description, I assumed it was Boss Island. Since we hadn't arrived yet, it was fine for the moment.
Two: It wasn't during the rainy season.
In other words, my safety was guaranteed for at least the next few days.
Three: For some reason, Erwen had short hair.
That particular detail would help me know when it might happen.
Therefore, it would not be too late to flee later, once he had a better understanding of the situation.
«Boat!»
After that, the expedition group boarded the boats and left Library Island. Squadron Four did not board our usual ship and instead split between the three military vessels, as that would give us a much better chance of surviving the rainy season at its most intense.
It's still pretty intense since it's only the third day.
Indeed, the monsters fell from the sky. Of course, the ships themselves had defensive magic circles inscribed on them that were being supplied with mana by dozens of mages, so the monsters didn't hit us at all.
Boom! ¡Crunch! ¡Coups!
The monsters crashed into the mana barriers and fell into the ocean, dripping their blood from the sides.
«It is not as arduous as we had anticipated. Ebost! What is our mana expenditure? Is it the pace we expected?»
«Yes! Right now we have no problems!»
The three ships crossed the silver waters and sailed forward.
Most of the monsters crashed into the barrier and fell harmlessly into the ocean, but not all. A few aquatics chased us through the water, and those who could fly obstructed us from the air.
¡Graah!
At one point, a Hipramajent appeared from beneath the waves to grab our ship.
«¡Es un Mobilus!»
Furthermore, we also stumbled upon a rank two super-large type ocean monster. However, none of these encounters caused us problems, as the ship was built for combat.
¡Bum! ¡Boom! ¡Bum!
The dozens of mana cannons installed on the ship made their way through us with explosion after explosion. These ships also had mana propulsion systems of a completely different level than our ship, and were always on at maximum to keep us moving at breakneck speeds.
«¡Emaze Lula Kini Review!»
The wizards used the magic circles engraved on our ship to fire attack spells.
¡Crack! ¡Creak! ¡Creak!
At the same time, the ice crusher located at the helm and designed to help the ship cross the frozen areas of the sea hummed, crushing all the little monsters that were in our path.
...How much would a boat like this cost?
It was completely different from the military ship I embarked on for the dark continent expedition, although I assumed the purpose of the ship had been different to begin with. That had been a ship designed to transport the greatest possible number of people, while this was made exclusively for naval combat.
Six hours, twelve hours, eighteen hours...
Soon, we were a day's drive from Library Island.
«Commander! We can see our destiny!»
Our destiny had appeared on the horizon.
***
On our 118th day
day in the maze, we go through the heaviest part of the rainy season and arrive at Chief Island, all without a single casualty.
With that, there was only one decision left to make.
«Count Saintred, what do we do now? Will we disembark and start traveling inland?»
We still had three days left until the rainy season ended. Still, he could tell that the worst was over and that the strongest monsters didn't fall as often anymore.
«No. Until the rainy season ends, we will wait here».
Jerome decided we should stay in the boats. It seemed that after experiencing the rainy season firsthand, he had come to the conclusion that going ashore at this time would be dangerous.
He should have trusted me from the beginning.
«So wouldn't it have been better if we waited until after the rainy season as I suggested?»
«There are no guarantees that we will be able to leave this ground anytime soon. There might come a day when we had no choice but to travel during the rainy season, so I reasoned that experiencing it at least once when we are fully prepared would be best.»
When he said it like that, I couldn't argue. Now that he had seen it for himself, he would be able to make informed decisions even in an emergency.
«Furthermore, one of the missions assigned to our expedition group is to investigate this floor. We have to experiment as much as possible to give the palace a comprehensive report. Including everything that happens during and after the rainy season».
Or so he said, although I couldn't shake the feeling that he was complicating things for no reason. Still, I assumed that a soldier's perspective must be different from that of most people. The expedition group even had a specific knight who was in charge of recording all our battles.
So I guess we'll weather the storm until the rainy season is over...
The most important factor now was Erwen. If her hair remained the same even after the rainy season ended, that would mean that the prophetic dream was not going to come true yet.
«Erwen, do you plan to cut your hair soon?»
«Hey? Well, I like the way it looks now... but if that's what you want, sir, I...»
«What are you talking about? I like long hair. Don't even think about cutting it! Understood?»
«Eh...? Ah... okay! I will never cut it!»
Alright, with that, he probably wouldn't cut it off of his own free will. Even if it meant burning all my hair and going bald, I needed to keep his hair safe.
«Oh!» I heard Ainar scream. «Bjorn, so you're that kind of man?»
What was he talking about?
I chuckled at her nonsense, but for some reason, Amelia was looking at me appreciatively.
«Hmm, I didn't think that was your type, Yandel».
...Should I clarify this?
When I ran into Raven, she cleared her throat before curling a lock of hair around her finger.
« ¡Mm ...! »
Oh, it doesn't matter. They could think what they wanted. It didn't really matter. I had a lot of other things to worry about, so I had no intention of wasting my energy on something like that.
«I'm going to sleep for a while, so don't bother me unless it's my turn to rotate».
With that, I returned to my chambers so they wouldn't bother me, lay down on the bed and closed my eyes to think.
No matter how I looked at it, they hadn't come with orders to kill me... so why would they suddenly execute me?
How could something like this happen?
I think it probably involves the village chief in some way...
I didn't have any concrete evidence to support that yet, but that was my immediate thought. He continued to distrust the boss; He had a slight suspicion that he had some method of stealing another person's body, as an evil spirit would do.
If he has an ability like that... Parav's dream scenario is definitely plausible.
There were even two clear routes we could take on the way to that scene: Either Commander Jerome Saintred took his body, or...
They take my body.
Any of those situations could lead to the expeditionary group executing me, so now the most important question was this:
How do I prevent that from happening?
Operating under the assumption that one of my hypotheses was correct for now, I began to think of solutions.
He said Erwen had short hair...
What if he shaved his head completely? So the dream wouldn't happen?
...It probably doesn't work like that.
The goddess herself said that the future could be changed. She was pretty sure that a difference in hair length wasn't something important enough to alter the course of fate.
It had to be something else.
Yes something...
Something that would make a bigger difference.
¡Flash!
Suddenly, a thought struck my mind like lightning when it occurred to me that I might be complicating this more than necessary.
In Goblin's prophetic dream, Jerome Saintred was the one who killed me...
So wouldn't everything be okay if I got rid of it?