"What's the matter?"
"Do you remember the dream I told you about?"
"Oh — yes, I do."
Bernadette stepped silently into the ward. "This room is identical to the one in that dream."
The ward held four beds, two of which were occupied. One middle-aged man, one elderly man — both sleeping deeply. She looked around, then withdrew and continued down the hospital corridor, scanning each room on either side.
"So that Somnambulist demigod pulled you into the dream from all the way over here? That's quite the range."
Bernadette didn't answer. Near the end of the corridor, something stirred in her senses, and she stopped in front of one particular door. "This is it."
Click.
She pushed the door open quietly and stepped into the room — six beds in total, five of them empty. Only the one by the window had anyone in it.
A small, sturdily-built boy. He wasn't sleeping like the other patients — he was sitting up against the headboard, wide awake, those big eyes of his already turned toward Bernadette at the door. Exactly like the dream.
She almost had to wonder if she'd never woken up from it at all.
"Oh? You actually came to find me?" The boy looked surprised. "What — did one spear in the dream not feel like enough? You wanted to come in person for round two? I only pulled you into a dream — your grudge-holding is a bit much, don't you think?"
Bernadette's expression remained placid. "I apologise. Looking back, it was probably just a misunderstanding."
"Oh. A misunderstanding."
The boy extended a hand. "Then where's my apology gift?"
"..."
Vincent's voice came through, sounding slightly strained. "...Bernadette — you didn't mention before that the one who pulled you into the dream was a small boy."
"It was just a dream. He can take whatever form he chooses."
Vincent was already fighting a headache. A boy who pulls people into dreams and has a broken leg — he recognised this child. It was the same kid who'd broken his leg in that accident a few days ago.
Put all those clues together, and they pointed fairly clearly to one person.
Tonight's turning into quite the reunion — first Emlyn, now this one. At this rate, we might bump into someone else before we're done.
Bernadette asked, "What would you like as an apology gift?"
"Every flavour of ice cream on the menu at Caesar's Restaurant — one of each!"
"???"
Bernadette blinked. "What?"
"Ice cream! Ice cream! Ice cream!"
The boy repeated it three times for emphasis. "Last time I helped you — pulling you into the dream was just me trying to ask for some ice cream — and before I even got to finish explaining, you put a spear through me! This time you owe me double! Extra chocolate, extra strawberry, extra mango!"
Well then. Add ice cream to the list.
It's confirmed. This is definitely him — always playing at being younger than he is. The Little Snake.
Once she'd verified that the ice cream request was genuine — it really was just about ice cream — Bernadette didn't understand it, but she nodded. "Fine."
She paused for a moment. "But I'm curious — what was the 'great favour' you mentioned doing for me?"
"Oh, so you had absolutely no idea." The boy folded his arms with a grin. "I can't say exactly what's going on, but I know that somehow, through the Mystery Pryer Pathway, you've come to contain the Nation of Disorder within yourself. Based on the Law of Convergence between Beyonder characteristics, you can probably work out what might happen next, right?"
"Now think carefully — what happened to you the day you ran into me?"
Vincent's voice surfaced quietly: "That day... I encountered the Emperor of Ruem."
The chill hit him a moment later. Oh god. I was inches from death that day.
In the entire world, the one being most obsessed with the Nation of Disorder would have to be the Emperor of Ruem — a man just one step away from becoming the Black Emperor. If he'd sensed it, he would have stopped at nothing to kill Vincent and claim the Nation of Disorder for himself.
Bernadette asked, "And then?"
"I can't say for certain, but I can sense it well enough — that Emperor is either a Justiciar or a high-sequence Lawyer Pathway Beyonder..." He added, "Higher sequence than you."
"That's impossible. Every king and emperor in every nation is bound by Church law not to exceed Sequence 5."
"Then what about your father, Emperor Roselle?"
Bernadette shook her head. "Father had already advanced beyond demigod before he took the throne." — And the reason he had suddenly defied the Church and declared himself Emperor back then was almost certainly because he needed that position to make his leap toward the Black Emperor.
"Fair enough — take it as my senses misleading me if you like. But the Nation of Disorder doesn't lie."
"So the Emperor of Ruem may have detected the Nation of Disorder that day... and was moving to act on it — but you stopped him?"
She asked it plainly.
The boy waved a hand. "No need to thank me. I was glad to help."
"Why did you help me?"
"Hmm."
He tilted his head back, thinking. "I have a feeling that you might be very useful to me in the future."
"In what way?"
The boy grinned. "Advancing to Sequence 0."
"..."
Bernadette's heart rate picked up. His candour was essentially an admission — this being was likely a great angel, sitting just half a step away from Sequence 0.
And for such an existence to claim that she — no, that they — might be able to help him...
It only made Bernadette's chest tighten with apprehension.
The boy then tilted his head, his gaze sharpening with sudden curiosity. "Honestly, your situation seems extraordinarily unusual — but I can't see through it at all. My intuition tells me it's not just because of the Nation of Disorder."
"Can you tell me why?"
Bernadette had just started to form a polite refusal when the boy immediately started waving his hands. "No, no — actually, don't. My instincts tell me that knowing your secret would be a massive headache. I already have more than enough of those."
"Alright, alright — don't forget my ice cream. We'll talk again sometime!"
"Oh, and one last thing — good luck."
The moment he said it, everything before her eyes seemed to blur and rush away, as though the whole world were speeding backwards. Then, just as quickly, it snapped back. Bernadette found herself standing in the doorway of the ward, one hand extended toward the door — which she had never actually pushed open.
She quietly withdrew her hand. Then she stepped into the Spirit World and left the hospital behind.
A short while later, the moment she emerged from the Spirit World, she asked inwardly, "Were you pulled into the dream just now as well?"
"Yes — you really don't remember talking to me in there?"
"I would expect that, since you're fused with my physical body, you shouldn't normally be drawn into a dream along with me — the same way that when we sleep at night, we each rest separately."
Vincent thought about it, and she had a point. "Either that person's abilities are something special — or... our particular situation is rather special."
"If it's His abilities, then that last question He asked would have been unnecessary. Though He might have done it deliberately, of course."
"..."
Vincent said nothing. A heaviness had settled over him. If the Little Snake could so easily see the strangeness surrounding him and Bernadette, what about the seven gods watching from the Astral World? What about the Priest?
Had what looked like a perfectly concealed secret — the body swap between him and Bernadette — actually been sitting in plain sight of certain beings all along?
Say what you like, the very first time the swap happened, he'd ended up in Tingen — a place watched by any number of powerful eyes. He'd had direct contact with their Mr. Fool, Klein, on multiple occasions. Then just a few days ago, he'd gone back to Tingen and helped Klein save his sister.
He had already changed the original story. And if that was the case, then that legendary "First Old Silver Coin" of the mystery world — how could he possibly have gone unnoticed?
If the trip to Tingen the first time had been mere speculation, then the Little Snake's words tonight were something closer to confirmation.
He had steeled himself for this day. He knew that in the world of Lord of the Mysteries, the idea of "my fate is mine to command" was painfully naive. And yet...
Sigh.
"You suddenly seem very heavy."
Bernadette noticed and spoke up.
"Yeah."
Vincent was quiet for a moment, then admitted with a wry smile, "I was thinking... our secret — do you think it's already been noticed by certain high-and-mighty beings? The gods, for instance?"
"If they've noticed, they've noticed."
She was utterly calm about it. "I can't let the possibility of being observed stop me from doing what I intend to do. As long as they're not planning to interfere, we do what we need to do."
"The more important thing is to help you advance to demigod as quickly as possible. Then, if we really do find Father..."
Bernadette smiled — genuinely. "We might have a real god standing behind us."
Lovely dream. Harsh reality.
From what Vincent remembered, Roselle had been contaminated by something — which was why he hadn't been able to revive. And something powerful enough to leave a god too afraid to simply return... whatever that was, it sat above gods.
Roselle's road back was likely far harder than Bernadette imagined.
But Vincent said none of that. He just took a deep breath and said, "Right. Then I'll work hard and we'll find our father together as soon as we can."
Bernadette: "???"
She had barely opened her mouth to respond when she turned her head sharply toward one direction. Her figure blurred and she shot off in that direction like smoke.
"What's wrong?"
"Stephen seems to be in trouble."
To be continued…
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