Let’s Block the Ruined Route in Advance Chapter 64

“Is anyone here?!”

 

It was broad daylight, but the street was eerily quiet. Cordelia shivered uneasily as she walked down the deserted street.

 

“Jessie, are you here?”

 

Lynn appeared and threw his arms around Cordelia, her voice tense and urgent. Cordelia cringed at Lynn’s reaction.

 

She stepped out into the street with Jessie, and for a moment, she lost sight of her. No, it was more of an evaporation than a loss.

 

“Lynn, do you feel anything?”

 

As soon as she rounded the corner, Jessie and everyone else was gone. Cordelia walked and walked and walked. No matter how far she walked, looking for Jessie, looking for an exit, there was no end to this strange alley. Lynn, his face contorted with nervousness and discomfort, scanned the area, his nose twitching hard.

 

Cordelia ran after the spirit, which suddenly turned as if it had spotted something. She was with a spirit, but Jessie was a student in the School of General Administration. If this oddity involved a demon, no one could guarantee her safety.

 

“Lynn, slow down!”

 

Cordelia called after Lynn as she stepped into an alcove in one of the buildings.

 

A long hallway with countless rooms opened up before her, despite its narrow exterior. As Cordelia froze in bewilderment at the surreal scenery, Lynn advanced, sniffing the air, and came to a halt in front of one of the rooms.

 

“Lynn?”

 

Lynn bared his teeth and stood alert. The fur on his tail stood on end, showing how nervous he was.

 

Cordelia approached, swallowing hard through a throat parched with nerves. The door was open with just a crack, and she could hear mumbling from inside. After calming Lynn, Cordelia stood quietly in the doorway and peered inside.

 

“…So believe me, humans, He will return.”

 

Cordelia’s eyes widened.

 

“What is that?”

 

The view into the room was grotesque. A man with stitches over his closed eyes stood dressed in black robes, like a priest’s vestments, with a half-dozen men kneeling at his feet.

 

“Gather the magic, create chaos, and open the gates of the Netherworld. Where evil germinates, He will return and bring true eternity! He will embrace the most perfect darkness to be born of the Fall. All as “Urzar” promised.”

 

As he finished speaking, the man raised his hands to the sky, and a black aura resembling a veil emanated from the back of his head. As it descended over the heads of the people, they simultaneously raised their heads and uttered the words like a scream.

 

“Everything is as Urzar promised!”

 

“He returns! The true hero returns!”

 

“The most perfect light that ever lived will return to devour the most perfect darkness!”

 

Madness, performed with black eyes that never seemed to light up, as if possessed by something. As a panicked Cordelia tried to move away from the door to escape, she noticed the presence of one more figure behind the man.

 

It was Jessie, lying there, badly wounded.

 

“Jessie…”

 

Cordelia let out a small groan at the dizzying sensation of all the blood leaving her body. Frantically, she slipped her hand through the crack above the door. But the thin wooden door didn’t budge, despite its appearance.

 

“So many rats today. Oh, you’re not a rat.”

 

The man, who had been looking down at the humans nonchalantly, slowly turned his head toward Cordelia. His face was bloodlessly white, and he spoke softly, as if soothing a child.

 

“Poor, precious fruit, the last key to His new body. Alas, the harvest is yet to come, so I must retire for the day.”

 

As the man finished speaking, the door that had been slightly ajar slammed shut.

 

Cordelia was thrown out into the hallway by the impact, and when she recovered and looked up, she found herself not in a hallway, but in a clearing.

 

“Oh, Jessie!”

 

Confused by the sudden change of scenery, Cordelia scanned the clearing, her attention drawn by the falling rain.

 

“No, no!”

 

She saw Jessie lying on the ground through the falling rain. Cordelia’s legs gave out and she crawled toward her. The rain grew heavier, staining the clearing red.

 

“Jessie, no!”

 

Cordelia screamed, clutching her wound, her eyes scanning the area urgently. She needed help. She couldn’t let her only friend go like this.

 

“…Cordelia?”

 

A small murmur came to her ear. Cordelia whirled around quickly, like a person who had found a light in a lost cave. Laquerta was standing there.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Eileen?”

 

“Huh!”

 

Eileen broke out in a cold sweat at the unannounced arrival of the vision. She already knew what was coming next for Jessie and Cordelia, and it made it hard to breathe.

 

“Jessie…”

 

“What is it?! Are you feeling sick?”

 

Eileen anxiously reached out and pulled Jessie into a hug.

 

“Oh!”

 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, just give me a second.”

 

“Huh? Okay, okay, just calm down.”

 

Jessie, panicking like a caught cat, noticed Eileen’s trembling shoulders and obediently gave her a hug. A delicate, buttery hand awkwardly patted Eileen’s back.

 

The familiar sweet scent calmed her a little. But as the trembling fingertips slipped away, her mind was filled with anxiety.

 

‘The clothes resembled priestly robes. That’s strange, I’ve never heard of a priest’s robes that weren’t white. And what do you mean the hero is coming back, and who is Urzar? Cordelia is the key?’

 

Most of the futures she’s seen so far have been the direct misfortune of characters, mostly centered around Cordelia. But this time, the future she’s seen is much more macro and creepy than just one person’s misfortune.

 

‘What else is there?’

 

When Eileen’s breathing calmed, Jessie sat her down on the bed.

 

“I’m going to get you some cool water!”

 

After Jessie left, Eileen picked up Star, who was looking up at her with concern.

 

“Star, are we going to go off-planet from here?”

 

“Chew.”

 

Star shook his head in confusion, and Eileen, smirking at the sight, set him down and flopped onto her back. She shielded her eyes with her wrist and sighed heavily.

 

“All this time, I thought all I had to do was stop the misery from spreading to those around me, and this new life and power I’ve gained to do just that.”

 

But now that Cordelia, Lucian, Felix, and Laquerta had escaped their misfortunes. Something more serious set her teeth on edge.

 

“Why are you telling me all this now? I didn’t see anything during the greenhouse incident.”

 

Eileen blamed the original for not showing everything in its entirety. At Rofan, she was also frustrated, but she was optimistic that if she avoided the exhaustion routes, she could make it through. But when she avoided all the routes that she thought were main, she was left with the worst route, which is the misery of the world.

 

“Can I really stop this on my own?”

 

What was happening to the characters was still between people, so there was some justification for Eileen to intervene, but the mysterious force was completely out of her hands.

 

“Eileen, are you okay?”

 

Jessie, who had gone to get water, returned. Eileen pushed herself up and forced a smile.

 

“Uh, yeah. Sorry about the suddenness.”

 

“No, it’s just that you’ve been overworked lately with all the festival preparations.”

 

Eileen smiled bitterly and took a drink of water. As the cold water slid down her heaving chest, she felt some of the anxiety in her chest dissipate.

 

“I’ll finish cleaning up the cookies, and you get a full night’s rest!”

 

Eileen nodded and looked at Jessie. Neatly tied back into a bun, orange straight hair, round hazel eyes, and cute freckles.

 

She was so full of life, it was hard to believe that the original had died simply because she’d been unlucky.

 

‘I have to stop it. But how?’

 

Unlike the other characters, Jessie’s misfortune was purely coincidental, with no way of knowing when it would happen. It could have happened this time, or it could have happened as soon as tomorrow.

 

‘I can’t stop her from going out on the street, and I can’t follow her everywhere, because I’m a different grade.’

 

Due to Verotanis’s geographical location in the center of a large lake, the city and its sprawling lakeside shopping district were an integral part of academy life.

 

‘Even if I say I’m going to investigate, I don’t know how long it will take. What can I do?’

 

“Hey, Eileen, do you want to go to the infirmary now?”

 

Jessie, oblivious to Eileen’s distress, waved her hand in front of her unmoving face. It was a light gesture, just to make sure she was conscious, but the moment she saw her white hand, something flashed in Eileen’s mind.

 

“The Magi Chasing Ring!”

 

Color flashed across her face as she remembered the gift the Temple had given her all those years ago.