Chapter 370 : Consciousness Returned (2)

During the night, while Yutia told her story, the unfortunate incident of Alon regaining control of his body did not occur.

The next day came.

Fortunately.

Even if he could have moved, he probably wouldn’t have.

At least Yutia hadn’t spent the entire night just talking about herself—she had shared her memories with Alon, her voice calm and full of concern.

Each time, she added little notes about how old she had been back then...

But that wasn’t really a problem.

Alon simply realized something.

That, deep down, Yutia was much more self-conscious about her age than she liked to admit.

Still…

‘Wait, is that really how old she is?’

Alon tried to estimate again.

He hadn’t thought much of it at first, but he’d always assumed Yutia was around twenty.

After all, not much about her background was revealed in Psychedelia.

The only setting the game gave her was a bleak future, so Alon, who had pondered her age before, suddenly found himself wondering.

Not a major question, but…

If she was really that old, then why—both in the game and in this world—did Yutia always appear as her younger self from ten years ago?

As he pondered that in the dim haze of half-consciousness, a creaking sound came from the door.

“Master!”

It was Seolrang.

Her bright, cheerful voice was as lively as ever.

With a single light step, she plopped herself down beside Alon’s bed and began rustling with something.

She was definitely up to something.

“Hmm, kind of disappointing…”

What was she doing?

Alon, who could only move his thoughts but not his body, couldn’t tell for sure.

But the soft sliding sound near his arm made it clear she was fiddling with him somehow.

After a while—

“Master, did you know?”

Seolrang began to talk.

Like Yutia, she spoke of old memories with Alon.

The only difference was that, unlike Yutia, she didn’t bother mentioning her age.

Time passed quietly.

“Hm-hmm~”

Her voice, which had been animated just moments ago, grew softer.

Then—

“You know what, Master? You liked me best.”

She whispered into his ear like she was sharing a forbidden secret.

“You did! You said I was the cutest! You hated that horned idiot kid, and the one who always did weird stuff with a straight face.”

She was slandering them now.

If Alon could move, he would’ve protested—What are you talking about?—but unfortunately, his body still refused to obey.

“They only act all clever around you to get attention! That horned brat? She waits for you to come out before pretending to bump into you by accident!”

Maybe she should stop with the false accusations…

Just as Alon thought that, the image of Ryanga suddenly flashed through his mind.

In the vast marquis’ estate where paths rarely crossed, he somehow always ran into her whenever he left his office.

So that had been intentional…

‘Ryanga…?’

he thought blankly.

Meanwhile, Seolrang had worked herself up, continuing her energetic campaign of slander about Ryanga and Historia’s “two-faced” personalities.

“Anyway! That’s why you have to play with me the most, Master!”

She laughed proudly, as if she had won something.

“So promise me, okay? When you wake up, you’ll play with me first.”

Her tone wavered slightly, her voice trembling to keep back a sob.

Unlike before, there was a hint of heaviness in her words.

Alon decided that when he woke up, he would give Seolrang the biggest head pat he could manage.

Silence lingered for a while.

“Okay, I’m going now~!”

After sitting quietly for a long time, Seolrang chirped brightly again and skipped out of the room.

But it didn’t stay quiet for long.

“Hmph—”

This time, the one who entered was Ryanga.

And—

“What are you breathing so hard for?”

It was Blue Ghost.

“Shut up.”

Ryanga’s tone was cold.

“I mean, why are you so tense when he’s unconscious?”

“Shut up. He might be conscious.”

“Then doesn’t that mean you shouldn’t be saying that to me right now? He’s hearing everything, you kno~ow?”

A loud whack! echoed through the room almost at the same time as Blue Ghost’s grumble.

They had turned up out of nowhere and started their usual skit.

But only for a moment.

“Ahem. Chief, they said it’s good to tell you memories, so I came. Honestly, ours aren’t exactly the happiest ones, though.”

Ryanga let out an awkward laugh.

Alon felt a heaviness settle over his chest.

He knew Ryanga’s past.

He knew that their shared memories were born during her saddest days.

“So… it’s been a while.”

But as if the sadness didn’t bother her anymore, Ryanga calmly began to speak about the day they first met.

When Alon had saved her.

When she gathered allies to escape from Baarma.

When they fled desperately and finally shook off the enemy army to return to their village.

When she cried and begged Alon to kill Baarma, and he, unsure of what to say, could only nod in silence.

And then—

“Do you remember? You promised me back then… you said I looked pretty.”

…Alon? Saying she looked pretty?

A question rose in his mind.

Did that really happen?

“But you said we’d talk about it properly once everything was over, remember?”

As Ryanga went on, Alon’s confusion deepened.

He had never said that to her.

In fact, he couldn’t have.

Ryanga might look like an adult now, but back then she was just a child—barely waist-high to him.

If he really had said something like that then…

No matter how he looked at it, it spelled nothing but disaster.

‘Ryanga… what in the world are you talking about…?’

He wanted desperately to protest, but his body still refused to move, leaving him dizzy with helplessness.

“D-Does it mean anything if you’re stuttering like that while talking?”

“W-What?!”

Blue Ghost, who had been sitting quietly, suddenly threw out a remark.

Ryanga, startled, reacted in confusion.

Blue Ghost let out a long sigh.

“If you’re going to make something up, at least make it bold. What is this, a children’s fairy tale?”

Unfortunately, Blue Ghost could not finish his sentence.

He clicked his tongue in disdain, and then—crash!—an earth-shaking sound erupted, followed by complete silence.

And thirty minutes after that—

“Please… be a little more careful?”

“I-I’m sorry…”

Though her tone floated lightly, even Alon could feel the chilling murderous intent emanating from Yutia’s voice.

Ryanga offered his apology(?), and with that, the room returned to silence.

And then another day passed.

“Brother.”

“...Marquis.”

The ones who entered the room were Deus and Radan.

Unlike the previous visitors, Deus began to speak of memories with Alon in a slightly subdued tone.

Radan did the same.

Worried they might start fabricating things like Ryanga had, Alon listened with unintentional tension.

Fortunately, their stories were nothing more than pure memories.

By the time Alon let out a sigh of relief—

“While you have been bedridden, the situation has slowly begun to stabilize.”

Deus abruptly shifted from reminiscing to current affairs.

It was exactly the kind of update Alon had been waiting for, and he focused his attention.

Through Deus, Alon was quickly able to understand the present situation.

‘The fall of Ashtalon… and monsters…?’

The news Deus conveyed was not exactly pleasant from Alon’s perspective.

Of course, he had already expected the fall of Ashtalon.

Ever since Eliban had killed several key nobles and the capital had been destroyed, it was clear the kingdom could not continue functioning as a proper kingdom.

What he had not expected were the monsters.

‘Ever since the Milky Way fell, the number of monsters has skyrocketed exponentially—huh.’

From what Deus described, it didn’t seem like a simple increase—it was likely far more serious.

Alon wanted to hear more about that, but unfortunately, there wasn’t much detailed information.

Instead, what he heard was—

“Marquis, as soon as you awaken, we will prepare a new statue in honor of the man who saved the Allied Kingdoms. After all, you love statues.”

That was what he said.

‘Did I ever say I liked statues that much?’

Alon thought, baffled.

But Deus was relentless, as if intent on brainwashing Alon into loving statues, and delivered a passionate speech for nearly thirty minutes before leaving.

***

A few days after Deus and Radan left the room—

During that time, Alon received countless visitors while only his consciousness was awake.

And over those few days, Alon gradually began to understand what each person who visited him actually wanted from him.

For example, the first to visit after they left was Sili.

She said, “I’ve completed all preparations for when you awaken,” and brought a new holy scripture titled The Great Divine Epic, which she proceeded to read aloud to him.

Naturally, nearly everything in it was completely unfamiliar to Alon.

It made him wonder whether she truly believed it, or simply wanted Alon to believe it.

Next was Penia.

She came in and told Alon that he had always cherished and respected her deeply.

As for Evan, he said he had voluntarily cut his rightful salary in half.

Of course, the moment Alon heard that, he decided he would cut Evan’s salary to one-fourth.

Others like Nangwon and Historia also came.

Nangwon quietly shared memories and left.

Historia simply said, “Get well soon,” in a straightforward tone.

And today—

By the time Alon’s body had fully recovered, his ability to move slowly returning—

“You’re awake.”

Hearing that voice, Alon naturally opened his eyes.

There, smiling against the darkened window backdrop, stood Rine.

“How did you know?”

He hadn’t shown any signs at all, yet she noticed immediately.

When Alon asked in surprise, she let out a soft laugh.

“Hmm—intuition?”

“...Intuition?”

“Is that strange?”

“Coming from you, yes.”

Rine smiled gently and gave the real answer.

“The truth is, I already knew.”

“Knew… when I would wake up?”

“Yes. With fairly accurate timing, too. That’s why I’ve been waiting.”

“...Why?”

“Because I wanted to be the first face you saw.”

At her playful remark, delivered with a serene smile, Alon couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle.

Then he tilted his head slightly in curiosity.

Because just a few days earlier, Rine had told others that it wasn’t certain when Alon would awaken.

“Godfather. May I ask you something?”

Before Alon could ask his own question, Rine spoke first.

Alon reflexively nodded.

“What is it?”

“Between someone who acts with a clear conscience and someone who acts without one—who do you prefer more?”

She asked calmly.

Alon blinked, caught off guard by the sudden question.

“...Rine.”

“Yes?”

“You didn’t only know when I’d wake up, did you?”

He looked into her eyes.

At that—

“Who knows~?”

Her smile, which had never once faded, deepened even further.

This time, there was a hint of mischief in it.

“In any case, welcome back, Godfather.”

At her words of welcome—

Alon responded with a smile that rose naturally to his face.