[Dreaming of the Hated Hero]
I was dreaming.
I normally wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between reality and a dream, but I could instantly tell that this was a dream.
The reason being, I saw the memories of the original Barrett through dreams.
It used to happen almost every day at first, but it had stopped these days. I thought it was because I’d seen all of his memories, but… today’s dream somehow different from anything I’d seen before.
Right now, I was in a strange town.
However, its atmosphere was completely unlike that of a normal town.
Women in revealing clothes invited shady men with amorous eyes. Skinny children dug through piles of thrash, scavenging for food. The buildings were badly cracked and looked like they were going to collapse at any moment.
The only silver lining here was that no one could see me.
If I were to wander around here in my usual outfit, I would definitely get ganged up. Not that it would be a problem with my Holy Sword.
I gave another look around the town and came to one conclusion.
“This is… a slum…?”
Judging from the look of the town, I was guessing that it might be the slum that was only mentioned in the original novel ‘Rise of the Weakest Holy Knight’.
Which meant that…
“Barrett Albers is here…”
In the original novel, it was described that Barrett came here after being abandoned by Tayte for his tyrannical behavior and defeated by the awakened Raul.
If this was the world of the original novel, Barrett should be somewhere in this town.
I ran around town, gasping for breath. No one could see me and no one could hear me, so I could do my search without hindrance, but I couldn’t find him–Barrett.
“Where is he…”
There was no concrete proof that this was the slum where Barrett had drifted to—but my guts told me that he was here, though I wasn’t sure why.
Finally, I arrived at an old church on the outskirts of town.
“This is the only place left…”
As I slowly approached the church, I sensed someone inside.
Even though I knew in my mind no one could notice me here, I slowly and cautiously looked inside.
“! There he is!”
I finally found him.
Barrett Albers. He had fallen to the point that there was no trace of his old self left anymore. It made me feel strange.
He had lost everything because of his arrogance.
I was sure that right at this moment, Raul the protagonist was having fun surrounded by many heroines such as Tayte, Madeline, Reina, Miss Teixeira, etc.
…Yet here was Barrett, alone with nothing, Jarvis was sent to prison, and Eureka… her whereabouts were unknown, but I bet her fate was as pitiful.
But having seen how Raul was in the world I lived, I couldn’t help but wonder… was this world’s Raul truly happy?
Well, let’s put that aside for now… I’d got a simple question.
Why was I seeing this?
As far as the original novel went, Barrett was simply described to have ‘disappeared into the slums’. There was no mention of this abandoned church.
–One possibility came to mind.
“Could it be that.. the original novel was updated…?”
It had been a year since I came to this world.
If the passage of time of this world was same as of the world in my previous life, the book version should have already been released and the serialization of the manga must have begun. Had the author resume writing new chapters and post them?
That was the likeliest possibility…
“!”
As I was pondering, I noticed someone standing in front of Barrett.
Since when had they been there… I couldn’t sense them.
Their whole body was covered by a hooded robe, so I couldn’t see their face. However, from the movement of their mouth which was slightly visible, they seemed to be saying something to Barrett.
The moment I walked closer to try picking up what they said—Barrett smiled wickedly.
“Huh—”
My body wouldn’t move.
It was as if my soul forcefully restrained my body… it was a strange feeling.
But I had to move on.
If there was progress in the original work, it might have some kind of impact on my world. Further, this involved me, Barrett Albers.
“Move! Move, dammit!”
I desperately tried to move my body, but I couldn’t move even a single finger.
Before long, I heard a voice coming from behind me.
As I focused to listen to it, the voice got closer and closer and–
“Young Master!”
It suddenly burst in my ear.
“?! W-where is this…?”
“A-are you okay? You seemed to have a nightmare…”
“…Marina?”
I suddenly found myself in my bed, Marina stood by the side with tears on the corners of her eyes.
Seeing her and her tears, it came to me.
“D-don’t worry, I’m okay… Just had a bad dream, is all.”
“Are you truly okay?”
“I am! Look!”
Marina still looked anxious, so I smiled at her and showed her how I could move my body without an issue to reassure her. Only then did she calm down.
“That’s fortunate—but you overslept, you know?”
“Crap, for real?!”
I couldn’t make Tayte wait for me.
There were still many questions in my mind, but for now, I’d better prioritize getting ready for school.
