Fakes Don’t Want To Be Real - Chapter 98

FAKES DON’T WANT TO BE REAL

~ 98 ~

* * *

After returning to the barracks, Verndia felt apologetic and didn’t know what to do to appease her. He wiped the already clean Psychke with a handkerchief and wiped her again.

“I’m sorry. No matter how many times I called for you, you were silent, so I thought you were just asleep.”

“…”

“I’m really sorry.”

“….”

“I am really sorry…. Are you angry?”

In fact, she was not angry at all. She was just keeping her head bowed because she was pondering about Yzhar’s action of not killing her. Well, he found that she was gone late, so she can’t say she wasn’t upset.

“Princess, look at me. Are you angry?”

“It didn’t happen.”

“It happened. In fact, a lot.”

He groaned at his neglections.

“How are you going to release me?”

“I can’t.”

“Then look at me.”

Finally, Psychke lifted her head. Blood stained his armor, his hair unkempt.

As soon as the battle ended like this, he came straight to find her.

He put his hands together and apologized as if begging.

“I am really sorry. From now on, I will check where you are every five minutes.”

“No. As long as I am not in your pocket, it’s really okay. I am not angry.”

“You look angry.”

Verndia lightly pressed her forehead.

Psychke straightened the wrinkles between her brows.

“This is my original expression. How did you catch all the monsters?”

“Well, for now. It seems like it was a preliminary match, but I think it will be more intense in the future.”

He hardened his complexion, saying that he had found the harbinger of a high-level monster in the colored skeletons.

“Asum is sure to appear.”

“Everyone must be quite tired. I hope tomorrow passes quietly.”

“If it shows up tomorrow, we will trust the Princess. The Princess will catch them all, right?”

He was half-serious and half-joking when he said that then heard someone calling for him.

A temporary meeting was held due to the previous battle.

He wiped his face as if tired, and held out his palm to Psychke.

“Are you going to come and listen?”

“No, I’ll listen to Count Ruan tomorrow.”

Wouldn’t she have to go into my pocket again to eavesdrop on the meeting?

Psychke politely declined.

She’d rather be kidnapped by monsters, and she didn’t want to see his pocket for the time being.

* * *

As soon as the day broke, Psychke put on the brooch and went to Eric.

It was to listen to the battle situation last night and to check the damage situation. But his complexion doesn’t seem to be that good, too.

He wasn’t hurt anywhere, but his face, which had been sore from staying up all night, was pale.

As soon as he saw Psychke, he asked sharply.

“You weren’t there all-night last night. May I ask where you have been?”

“I was out scouting a little far away at the Duke’s order. I realized too late that it was attacked.”

“Is that so…”

He seemed to wonder why would she go alone scouting when it needs a group to do so.

But instead of relaying his wonders to her, he reported things Psychke needed to know.

“Aside from a few wounded in the Fourth team due to the Lindworm’s venom, there was very little damage to anyone but the Templars. I’m counting the damage to the two Knights separately. I’m sure they’ll receive their treatments.”

His tone was strangely sharp. Reporting other situations, he turned around.

“I want you to talk to me wherever you go in the future. No matter what, I am in a position to assist the Princess.”

Just like Miya did, she thought it was better to tell him that she gets smaller and thus couldn’t keep helping it. She didn’t want to keep a distance from him.

She didn’t want to be distant from him, only answering with, ‘Ah, okay.’

After spending the morning like that, it was time for personal maintenance.

Psychke used her break time to grind moonstone, an effective ore for catching high-level monsters in the barracks.

Finely ground white powder fell gently onto the cloth spread on the floor.

She heard that it was not enough because she used the moonstone powder she had prepared for yesterday’s battle.

It was said that this was usually done by the lower end of the supply, but it was not necessary since she could use her sword.

Since she couldn’t participate in the battle, she wanted to do something like this.

‘This level of grinding would be enough.’

She carefully drew the cloth together to keep the dust from scattering.

She made it into a pouch and held the entrance tightly with her hand, and she headed towards the barracks of one of the commanders of the punitive force who was in charge of weapons.

“Thank you.”

The commander who received the moonstone powder was very grateful, as he had not expected that a princess with the level of a sword master would care so much.

“Princess, must have been very tired from scouting all the way back.”

“No this is nothing than those who directly fought.”

The two exchanged warm thanks to each other.

Meanwhile, Psychke belatedly saw her palms, which had turned white with moonstone powder, and hid them behind her back.

‘This.’

She should have washed it before coming here, but because she had to deliver it quickly, she didn’t have time.

Fortunately, the commander was only concerned with the moonstone powder, so he couldn’t see her hand.

After briefly concluding the conversation, she left the commander’s barracks.

‘I’m going to go wash my hands.’

In the early morning after the battle with the monster, it snowed for a short while, so the outside was all snowy.

So, Psychke closed her eyes and headed for the nearby stream.

‘There’s no one there.’

The riverside was empty. All she could hear was the gurgling of the brook under the ice.

She broke the ice, squatted down, and washed her hands in the icy water.

‘This is cool.’

In fact, it wasn’t cool, so her skin turned red and it was quite painful.

She felt better when she put her hand in the clear water, so it didn’t matter.

‘Next time, the monster should appear within the effective time of the artifact.’

If something like yesterday happens again, it will be really difficult. Because she can’t give an excuse for reconnaissance twice.

It was time to put strength in her legs to get up slowly, hoping the same would not happen again.

Someone whispered strange words in her head.

‘Sooner or later, monsters will appear on the blizzard hill.’

‘There must be a small stream there… There’s a token buried nearby. Activate it.’

For a moment, Psychke’s legs gave out and she sat down on the floor.

Her expression seemed to be dazed, and her eyelids, which had been closed, slowly opened.

The frozen stream was captured in unfocused blue eyes. Next, she captured her snowfield across the stream.

A voice whispered in her head as she stared at the pure white snow without a single footprint.

‘Go find a sign.’

“… Huh.”

Psychke gave a small answer and slowly stood up. She moved along the stream without a soul like a puppet being controlled under strings.

And just like that, she went to wander.

‘Here.’

A voice dictated.

Psychke complied, bent her knees, and dug into the frozen ground. Her reddened, frozen hands made her numb, but she didn’t care.

She repeated her action, not caring if the soggy mud under her eyes dug into her fingernails.

And it wasn’t long before she pulled something out of the ground.

It was a round circle-shaped mark with intricate patterns engraved with red strings intertwined in a cross shape.

At first glance, it looked like a sacred object used by priests when they prayed, but the color was burnt black as if it had been scorched by fire, so she looked ominous.

‘Now activate it.’

The voice was sharp and said to tear her palms and put blood on the marks.

Psychke did as he was told.

Without thinking, she untied her earring and tried to transform it into a sword.

However, a familiar voice grabbed her wrist.

“What are you doing here?”

The movement to unfasten her earring and turn it into a sword stopped. Her movement to turn her earring into a sword stopped, and her empty eyes turned to him.

“Gasp!”

Psychke, seeing snow for the first time in her life, gasped.

What the hell!

Her eyes were dizzy as if the ground was disappearing. She closed her eyes tightly and shuddered to shake off the snow.

“Princess?”

Surprised by the feeling of fear transmitted through the ring, Verndia approached.

He looked at Psychke’s hand, which was covered in dirt and was red. He even found a mark on her hand.

“Why are your hands like this?”

He squeezed her frozen hands to thaw them, then frowned after seeing the pit she dug.

“Why are you in this place?”

“I… I do not know, too.”

Psychke was a bit hazy, and she spoke like someone who hadn’t woken up yet.

She was clueless why she was here nor what she was doing, or what this object was, as her last memory was of dipping her hand in the stream.

Verndia’s face wrinkled even more.

“You don’t know?”

If she didn’t know what she did, maybe she would have been brainwashed again.

After Shiona brainwashed her, Psychke was fine.

Something in her was uneasy. However, feeling that it would make Psychke more anxious if he showed it off, Verndia pretended not to care and raised his voice.

“You probably didn’t sleep well last night and dozed off. Can I take a look at this?”

He took the sign Psychke was holding.

She placed her cold, and numb hand on his hand. The warmth transmitted through her hands had never been as desperate as this moment.

Thinking that with Verndia, she would be able to hold on no matter what, Psychke held his hand.