Reed’s face invaded my field of vision, coming so close that our noses finally touched in my blurred sight.
“Aaaah!”
<A-Ailette?!>
The vision cut off abruptly.
[ The cinematic video ‘Fragment of Memory (3) — Corruption (Memory Synchronization Rate: Unknown)’ has ended.]
I had no choice but to imagine—no, infer—what happened next.
Did we… did we do it? Really? For real?
Kyaaa!
I screamed internally once more and then gasped for breath.
<Ailette, what’s wrong?>
“S-Sorry. I was just so startled.”
<What happened that you screamed like that?>
“L-Later. I’ll tell you later.”
I was still too shaken to collect my thoughts.
Meanwhile, the system, indifferent to the shock it had caused me, dropped the quest with cold precision.
[ ‘Final Boss Guidance Stage 5 (Difficulty: Unknown)’
Safely acquire Ribrili.
Success Reward: Ribrili
Failure Penalty: Your corruption, destruction of the world]
Now, just seeing the word “corruption” made me anxious. I felt like I needed to prepare myself mentally.
✠
It had been fifteen days…