Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
His explanation was somewhat forced, but Anna and Scroll were unable to find more problems in such a short amount of time.
After waking up, be it his body temperature, breathing, or pulse, everything was extremely normal, to the point that even Roland himself could not make sense of it. The dizzy spell came without warning and seemed to suddenly sever a part of his consciousness. He had no recollection of moving from North Slope Mountain back to the castle.
While being examined, he took the opportunity to learn about what happened after he fainted from Scroll.
A few of them heard Anna’s cry but never witnessed the scene of Roland falling. The moment Roland lost consciousness, Nightingale had pulled him into the Mist with her. Anna explained that her cry was due to her slipping and barely managed to conceal the situation and got through the event without mishap.
As to where His Majesty had gone, everyone was actually unaware of it. After all, everyone knew of Nightingale’s strength and it was close to impossible to hurt Roland when he was in her hands. Therefore, with her guarding him, Roland did not require personal guards. Additionally, The King of Graycastle did not need to report his movements to them, and it was perfectly normal for him to leave after having a successful trial of the wireless communications.
This was the reason why only Anna, Scroll, and Nightingale were the only people around him after the incident. Even the other members of the Witch Union were unaware of what had happened.
At this point, Roland finally felt relieved.
It had to be said that Nightingale made the best choice at that crucial moment. All of Graycastle matters were related to him and they had to withstand the powerful enemies at the borders. Everyone had to maintain their high morale together and focus on the war. If news of him falling spread, it would definitely lead to instability. Even if it was just a short coma, people would speculate on the condition of his body.
The best way to handle the situation was to act as if nothing happened.
“It was all thanks to you.” Roland smiled at Nightingale.
Unexpectedly, the latter did not use the opportunity to request for a few bottles of Chaos Drinks like she usually did. She lowered her head and replied, “No, it’s nothing… as long as you’re fine.”
After he finished the food delivered from the kitchen, it was just past eight in the evening.
Roland’s initial plan of returning to his office to redesign the ‘Fire of Heaven’ was put to a halt by Anna, who insisted that a sick person had to rest well and forced him to return to bed. Helpless, he obediently listened to her and even canceled the planned trip to the Dream World. After all, the sudden coma made him a little worried. Due to the prior incident which was caused largely due to overwork, Roland figured that resting was not a bad thing.
After wishing him a good rest, the three walked out of the room.
Once the door was closed, the room was instantly shrouded by darkness, leaving only the faint city lights outside the window, barely lighting up a small piece of glass through the cracks of the window curtains.
After fifteen minutes, Roland heard rustling sounds.
Inside the quiet room where no wind was present, the velvet curtains swayed gently.
Roland tilted his head and looked over. A shadow had appeared by the window and blocked the only source of light. From his position, the light shone and drew a thin silver outline on the silhouette.
Such a sight gave him a baffling sense of reminiscence.
Roland sat up and spoke unsurprised, “Can you now tell me what exactly happened?”
The shadow walked to the window and revealed a head of beautiful curled hair.
It was Nightingale.
“You knew that I would come back?” She was startled.
“You’re never like this.” Roland smiled and shook his head. He retrieved a glowing magic stone from under his pillow and inserted it into a light groove. A gentle and warm light instantly lit up the entire room. “Your expression just now literally had your emotions written all over your face.”
“Then, Anna, she….” Nightingale subconsciously covered her face.
“I’m guessing that she noticed it as well? That was why she left me in the bedroom.” Roland released a sigh. “But since she did not take the initiative to ask, it means she has agreed tacitly to your judgment—if you find that it is inappropriate for others to know about it, she wouldn’t get to the heart of the matter.”
This was undoubtedly a form of trust.
A complicated expression appeared in Nightingale’s eyes.
“To be honest, I’m curious as well,” Roland continued, “I feel comfortable all over and I don’t feel anything out of sorts. Those won’t fabricated lies to console all of you, and I truly feel this way. You can clearly see that, but why are you still so worried? What’s on your mind?”
Nightingale looked down, “The ones who knew you fainted, isn’t restricted to just the three of us.”
“Not just the three of you?”
“Nana isn’t in Neverwinter, and Lily can’t heal this problem, and no one was able to make a judgment on your situation at that time.” Nightingale spoke slowly, “In a moment of desperation, I thought of someone… although she is helpless regarding the specifics of your illness, she was still able to provide a holistic answer. Hence, I concealed her from Anna and brought her into the room.”
“You’re talking about…”
“Momo.”
Roland’s heart jumped. Momo was indeed an excellent choice. Revealing his life expectancy itself would indicate many issues. It went without saying that Nightingale had matured greatly, being able to think so clearly despite a chaotic situation and finding the appropriate ways to handle the situation. But thinking about how she had a load on her mind, he faintly sensed that the conclusion was not good.
“What did Momo see?”
“…..14.” Nightingale looked at him for a long while before whispering, “The number changed from 17 to 14.”
“It decreased… by three years?” Roland could not help but frown. It was outrageous. If his condition had worsened due to an illness, there would have been warnings. But he was truly brimming with energy and did not have any signs of pain.
Nightingale seemed to see through his thoughts. “It isn’t an illness, or fatigue… I went through the criminals in the mining area, but none of the samples tallied to your issue. To have three years cut short in just a few months isn’t normal; otherwise, in the past four to five years, your time would have already decreased by 30 to 40 years. This is most probably due to something recent.”
Her explanation sounded extremely plausible. Roland stroked his chin. “But I haven’t encountered anything special during this time…”
“No, there is one.” Nightingale leaned over, “Maybe you didn’t notice it yourself, but I’m most aware of it. In the past few months, the number of times that you have entered the Dream World increased by several times as compared to before. Aside from this, I can’t think of any other reason!” She extended her hand and grabbed Roland’s, her tone fluctuating. “Promise me, stop going into the Dream World, alright!?”
Enlightened, Roland could not help feeling shocked. That’s right, the greatest variable in the past few months has been the Dream World—the crux was not about the frequency of entry, but the absorption of the Force of Nature cores. According to Lan, the magic power of the Dream World would constantly expand until it invaded God’s Territory. He did not know what the end result would look like, but could clearly feel that the world was going through some sort of self-enriching process.
And being closely related to the creator, it was justifiable when the pressure on him increased substantially.
Upon thinking about it, when Lan solemnly mentioned “we don’t have much time,” perhaps it was not about the Divine Will, but implying about Roland’s own situation.
