IATVWAMOLS 114

114. Now It’s Time for Us to Part Ways

“Should we go somewhere else?”

Kaien gauged my expression as he asked.

He walked past the iron bars and deeper into the compound. Before long, a modest-looking villa came into view.

The exterior was plain, lacking in any ornamentation, but compared to the tattered tents, it looked far better.

Inside, wooden stools without backs were scattered about in disarray.

“Sit here.”

“Ah, thanks.”

Even after he offered me a seat, no real conversation followed.

It feels like I’m suffocating in this silence.

Even in a dream, it seemed his withdrawn nature couldn’t be altered.

In the end, I had no choice but to speak first.

“Honestly, I came because I wanted to hear your story. I know it’s sudden, but I’m curious about how you’ve lived.”

I knew the rough outline—that he was abandoned by his parents and sold to a slaver. But the details were a mystery.

“My story…”

He paused, choosing his words carefully before speaking.

After being sold to the slave merchant, the merchant chief quickly discovered Kaien’s remarkable gift for magic.

Recognizing his extraordinary talent, the man took special care of him—treating him better than a real parent.

Starved for affection, Kaien in turn regarded him as family. But in the end…

“I only realized much later that all of it was just a ploy to sell me at a higher price. The merchant sent me to a laboratory.”

It was there, he said, that he first met the night persona.

“So originally, the two personalities were separate people?”

“Yeah. But we were of similar age and constitution. Both of us were born with mana. That’s why we were chosen for the human experiments.”

I already knew what came next.

That experiment about transferring someone else’s soul…

I didn’t need him to say more to guess the result.

“The experiment failed. My body died, and my soul was transplanted into his body. But for some reason, his soul didn’t disappear.”

“So technically, it wasn’t a split personality—it was an added personality?”

“Exactly.”

“…”

Even as I said it, the whole thing felt surreal.

Yes, this was a world steeped in magic, but still—was something like this truly possible?

He continued, matter-of-fact, as if telling a story worn from repetition.

“During the transfer, the mana went berserk.”

The clash of two different manas caused a violent rejection. The surge destroyed everything around them.

“In the chaos, I just ran. Eventually, with nowhere else to go, I returned to the slave merchant.”

“You went back… to him?”

Surely there had been better options.

He answered hesitantly.

“I had nowhere else. I didn’t even know where to go. Whatever the case, this was the only place that had ever taken me in. And—”

“….”

“I thought maybe… maybe the people who abandoned me would one day come looking for me here.”

“….”

“I don’t hold onto that foolish hope anymore. But back then, I believed it might happen.”

But no miracle came.

And after destroying the laboratory, Kaien became a marked man even among the slave traders.

What followed was endless abuse disguised as “management” and “supervision”: violence, confinement, and torture.

His resilient body and tenacious vitality became nothing but a curse.

“I tried escaping on my own, and sometimes I was sold off elsewhere. But I always ended up back here.”

Wherever he was sent, he was abandoned. His constant “problems” meant he was always returned to the slave merchants.

Even when he escaped on his own, his wandering always led back here.

What an irony.

He despised this place, and yet it was the only place left for him to return to.

Maybe that was why—even in this dream—he remained bound here.

But still…

“Even so, wouldn’t it have been better to leave? Better than sinking deeper into the mud?”

I asked out of pity. But his reply took me by surprise.

“If I leave here, I really won’t know who I am anymore.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t even remember my face or my real name. I don’t know who I was—or if I even existed.”

“….”

“My mind has holes in it. It’s not whole.”

“That might have been true before, but not now, right?”

When I first met Kaien, his sanity was broken.

Even later, he often seemed unstable. Talking with his night persona had been impossible.

Thinking back, the fact that I could even converse with him calmly like this now felt like a miracle.

“Yeah. It’s all thanks to you, Master. But… I don’t know how much longer I’ll be alive.”

[The only way is to kill the day persona, isn’t it?]

[Yes. I’ve already searched every other option.]

[….]

[Don’t feel guilty. It’s just correcting what went wrong.]

I recalled what the night persona once said.

In the original storyline, Kaien’s day persona never existed.

At some point—though I didn’t know exactly when—he was always fated to die.

“…!”

Suddenly, Kaien grabbed my hand and placed it against his chest.

His heartbeat fluttered faintly, like the wings of a newborn bird. Fragile, yet undeniably alive.

“…I want to live.”

At that moment, a system window appeared before me.

【SYSTEM: Hidden Episode. Branch Selection】

【Between two conflicting personas, what is your choice?】

[▶ Support the night persona and destroy the other.]
[Support the day persona and destroy the other.]

[※Failure to choose will forfeit entry into the hidden route.]

“You’ve got to be kidding me…”

If I chose one, what would happen to the other? Did the system want me to drown in guilt?

[Time Remaining: 00:00:29]

A thirty-second countdown began.

I wanted to refuse altogether, but the thought of losing the hidden route gnawed at me.

I couldn’t back away yet—not with secrets of the imperial family and the mastermind still unresolved.

【Unknown: (´·_·`)】
【Unknown: Roselia.】
【Unknown: You know, right? You can’t let sympathy sway you.】
【Unknown: This is a game world. A world with a set scenario and ending.】

“I know. I know that.”

But I still couldn’t turn away from this man.

[Time Remaining: 00:00:19]

【Unknown: Some things are inevitable.】
【Unknown: Even without your choice, it would’ve happened anyway.】

“Damn it.”

The administrator’s words left me even more frustrated, because I couldn’t deny them.

[Time Remaining: 00:00:11]

“…What’s wrong?”

Kaien looked at me with anxious eyes.

[Time Remaining: 00:00:07]

If I’d known the “special event” would be like this, I never would’ve entered his dream.

But there was no time to regret.

[Time Remaining: 00:00:03]

【Unknown: …….】
【Unknown: Sympathy shouldn’t sway you… but…】

The administrator’s words, like muttered self-talk, overlapped on the screen.

【SYSTEM: Hidden Episode. Branch Selection】

[Support the night persona and destroy the other.]
[Support the day persona and destroy the other.]

[▶This is only a dream. Leave the dream now.]

“Huh?”

【Unknown: Because sometimes… you just can’t stand by and watch.】

My fingertip brushed the third option.

The other choices crumbled into ash.

【SYSTEM: Kaien’s subconscious is fading.】
【SYSTEM: The effect of <Invitation Into the Dream> will soon end!】

Kaien’s eyes grew hazy. He must have sensed something as well.

“Are you leaving?”

He gripped my hand desperately.

The warmth from his touch spread faintly—like it could vanish at any moment.

Something told me I mustn’t let go.

I couldn’t bear to leave him alone.

Why did he always stir this pity in me? Was it, as the administrator claimed, nothing more than sympathy?

“Roselia, it’s time to go.”

“…Administrator?”

Before me, the administrator’s avatar appeared.

“You’ve stayed here too long.”

His face was clouded with concern.

He tried to take my hand, but his holographic body passed right through my skin.

He frowned faintly.

“Why that expression?”

“It’s just…”

Instead of taking my hand, he covered my eyes. Darkness bloomed from his palm, blotting out my sight.

Like passing through a long tunnel, the deep black drew me away.

I don’t know how much time passed.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back in my own room.