Cherva came back home and walked toward his bathroom. He found himself staring at his golden-rimmed mirror. There, he could see his entire self.
In my dream, I had gone through... probably countless battles.
Cherva stared at himself. He looked into his own eyes, a mirror into his self. Calm, outgoing. Happy. Content?
Yes, content.
The face of that... of me, in that dream, would definitely be a lot more...
Cherva's face tightened. He squinted. No matter what he could do, though, the innocence in his soft blue eyes remained. A childish outlook. He stopped altogether, feeling a little flustered.
If someone walked in on me just now...
He stared at the doorknob, then looked back at the mirror.
The main difference between me and... well, me, is that one started out as a slave who only knew violence, while the other was wealthy and raised his entire life to be a good individual. So what's the common denominator?
Take away my riches, and take away his slavery.
I don't dislike women.
He doesn't do fencing or deep-sea fishing. Not that he could ever get the chance to do something like that.
I don't like murdering innocents.
..
No! I'll never do something like that.
So what's the common denominator? That was definitely me. But there's no way we could be so drastically different.
"I'm thinking about this way too much," Cherva's thoughts escaped into the real world, as he suddenly spoke. He left the bathroom with a deep sigh.
Outside, his family was in their respective rooms. It was a quiet day. Cherva decided to walk up to his room.
To his surprise, the window was open, and the tall curtains were askew. Wind blew into the room.
Someone... has broken in!?
That was his first thought. Until he noticed the letter placed on his desk, which he promptly walked toward. Only after closing his window and fixing his curtains.
He ripped the letter up. A precious paper revealed itself.
"In twelve hours, the world will end."
Cherva stared at the window.
. . .
. .
What am I supposed to do?
I've told everyone, but everyone brushed it off as some kind of prank.
But this doesn't seem like a prank.
"What're you so stressed out about, Cherva? No way, you really think that paper is real? Is the world going to end tonight? You seriously believe that?" Almi looked at Cherva.
Alion sat on the wooden dock, dipping his toes in the water, while Almi and Cherva fished.
To the words she said, Cherva simply sighed. He made a smile.
"No, no. I'm not thinking about that anymore. I understand that it's false now."
"Okay. That's good."
The earth suddenly shook.
Alion stood up.
Almi held onto Cherva.
Is this..?
Crsh!
The oceans trembled, with huge spouts of water shooting into the air. The ground formed cracks.
Birds that were flying in the sky grew evil and deformed. Animals nearby became bloodthirsty, hungry for human flesh.
"Right now, Cherva, you have two choices."
The world was put to a standstill. Nothing moved.
"It's your chance to save the world. Either you choose to throw away all of your potential to save the world,
"Or, your potential is finally unleashed."
Time returned to normal. However, a dagger that had not been there before was placed into Cherva's pocket.
"C-Come on, guys!"
"N-No way... You were right?"
I finally understand the similarity between him and me.
Right now, I don't feel nervous. It's not because I already knew what was gonna happen. It's because I know what I'm going to choose.
Yes... it's that greed. That insatiable thirst. To grow and become stronger.
Cherva pulled the iron, curved dagger out of his pocket, and stabbed it into his chest, as that felt like the right thing to do.
The blade glowed orange before shifting to a light blue. The wound shot out mana.
"Looks like I've chosen the perfect candidate after all…"
A mysterious, unfamiliar voice spoke, in the echoes of Cherva's soul.
.
Cherva abruptly woke up. He was in Anore. It was still dark. He was still tied up. But something was now different.
[Greed's Cast: Black Flames: Ignite]
The material that bound his ankles and wrist burned to a crisp, falling to the ground.
He reached for the back of his head, undoing the tightly tied blindfold. Seeing the beautiful night sky, he let out a sigh of relief and satisfaction.
"Hahaha… I'm finally out of there. Blue is such a dorky color."
Something had awakened in Cherva. Something that was likely already there from the beginning.
"Is this a reward from the gods? Or from the devil? It doesn't matter to me! Strength is strength!"
. . .
. .
The span of water between Anore and Sar.
Julian groaned.
The sun was beginning to set, as shown by its beaming on the horizon. The sky was starting to reach a dark blue color.
Quite a few things had gone wrong in the past four days.
On the second day, a strong wave had hit Julian's very humble boat, knocking several materials into the water. All of his food was gone.
So on the second night, feeling incredibly uncomfortable in his wet clothes, he hung his shirt and pants to dry. Which, of course, didn't go as planned. A school of flying fish jumped over, deciding to chew and nibble on his clothing.
So now, it was the fourth day.
He was hungry, thirsty, tired, and unable to get comfortable.
If this is simply the distance from Ireland and the United Kingdom... why is it taking so long?
Perhaps I'm not that good a navigator.
He sighed, deciding to grab his fishing rod and cast it.
Suddenly, a familiar pain came surging through Julian's body.
He lost his grip. The fishing rod fell into the ocean, and he collapsed.
His first idea was to look for something sharp to impale himself with. But at the moment, that was not possible. The knife he had brought was too far from his grasp.
Slowly, he felt his consciousness slipping.