Ishiki’s heart skipped a beat.
He gulped hard and took an involuntary step back. His heart had not yet calmed from the nightmare’s residual terror. It still hammered against his ribs with percussion, like a desperate creature trying to escape.
’What is this fool saying? How could that be possible?’
He forced himself to look directly at the young girl and asked in a strained voice. "You... don’t know? What does that mean?"
She clearly stated that two people were missing. So they knew, that individuals were absent yet, they don’t know who is missing?
’Huh? That’s so... confusing.’
It was, contradictory and paradoxical in its saying.
The young girl was silent for a long time and then finally broke her silence. "Don’t waste time here, let’s go to the meeting."
Ishiki nodded and donned his worn-out shoes. The two of them navigated through the muddy ground, careful not to slip on wet earth that sucked at footsteps like it wanted to drag them down into something beneath.
The outside seemed much more... silent than it usually was during this part of the silver night.
Normally, if Ishiki ventured out at times like this, he would observe other Players engaged in various activities—routines that had become integral components of their truncated existence.
Some would be practicing with weapons, executing forms with dedication. Some meditating.
This was what their life had been reduced to.
But it was fascinating, honestly—even when thrown into such severe, harrowing conditions, they lived and continued fighting with stubborn resilience.
Humans really are remarkably tenacious. Even after months of living in these harrowing conditions their will has not yet broken and then there is the fact that... all of them were among the younger generation.
The oldest person within this settlement was merely twenty-five years old.
’Has the system deliberately not chosen the elderly and very young? ’
There existed no proof of that hypothesis. Making assumptions based on examining only thirty individuals from population of two thousand would be statistically meaningless.
Soon, they reached the house where everyone else had gathered. They were sitting with tense, clearly confused expressions painted across their faces.
As he and Nina walked inside, everyone looked at them... specifically at him, he could feel the gazes, some were even throwing strange looks.
’This... is not good.’
Ishiki counted everyone present, most faces had become familiar even if he hadn’t established positive standing with all of them.
And when he finally included himself in the count, he was genuinely stunned.
’There really are twenty-nine of us. There were thirty-one yesterday.’
’I’m certain. I remember counting. I remember...’
’Do I remember?’
Ishiki fell silent, possessing no words to express what churned inside his chest.
There were clearly two people missing from their already devastated population. But for some inexplicable and disturbing reason—he didn’t know who?
The princess looked at him and let out a deliberate sigh. It was evident from her posture that she was relieved that at least one of them was here.
She turned to the other people once again and asked in her usual indifferent tone. "Did you find out who else is missing?"
The two individuals who had been searching through settlement shook their heads with synchronized negation. Then one of them spoke in voice almost inaudible—as if attempting to hide the fact that he’d learned something terrible:
"There... was no one else."
The princess visibly gritted her teeth, she was responsible for all these men after all, but the expression didn’t last long.
’As Expected.’
She took a deep breath and turned to the person responsible for keeping the list of names.
That was thanks to his skill.
One by one... he called out every name on the list. Everyone was present at the place except for two unknown names.
Alex and Jake.
These two names were profoundly foreign to all Players inhabiting the clearing.
No one had ever heard them spoken before this moment. No one possessed any memory of interacting with individuals bearing those identities.
It was as if, until this precise instant, they had named two imaginary people and were treating them as tangible reality.
Every soul present in that house shivered at the harrowing and utterly disturbing realization that they did not... know who Alex and Jake were.
Ishiki however was much more shocked than anyone else. He felt... wrong and empty. As if his memory... had a huge gap.
’A... Alex, ALEX!’
He frowned, repeating the name again and again in his mind. For some strange reason, the name felt familiar and new at the same time.
How could that be? How can something be both known and unknown?
’Am I really descending into madness? First the goddamn nightmare and now this—’
Suddenly his eyes widened with horrified realization.
’The nightmare.’
Who was the man that had shared the house with him in the nightmare? He... he didn’t know.
Ishiki gritted his teeth in frustration. It was... viscerally disturbing. For some reason... he could recall the whole nightmare with vivid clarity, the only thing he couldn’t remember was the name.
Name of the man who... killed him.
’Screw it.’
In that sudden, tense moment, one of the people who’d been sitting silently until now—contemplating on their own thoughts stood up and looked at Ishiki with narrowed eyes.
"You... What is your skill?"
Everyone startled, attention snapping toward the questioner with shock.
He was tall man with slender build, short black hair, and silvery pupils that caught light with metallic gleam.
Ishiki looked at him for prolonged moment, then winced visibly. "I refuse."
The other man took aggressive step forward, locking eyes with Ishiki’s blue iris. His gaze was undeniably intimidating.
But Ishiki was certain, for reasons he couldn’t fully articulate, that he wouldn’t encounter insurmountable problems in a confrontation against this individual.
Then the tall, slender aggressor gritted his teeth and spouted, pointing at Ishiki. "He is the culprit."
Ishiki’s eyes narrowed and he involuntarily clenched a fist. ’You... bastard.’
Ishiki recognized the fool clearly. He was the same guy who punched him in the gut just some time ago on the night they opened the temple’s gate. It was obvious the numbskull was carrying resentment towards him.
His finger pointed dramatically toward Ishiki with a theatrical gesture. "See? He refused to reveal what his skill is. What if his skill is related to memories?"
He paused and gave Ishiki a side eye.
"He... he might have killed the two guys and altered our memory."