The World of This Fantasy Novel is in Crisis – Chapter 50

“Do normal friends even go this far?”

Satin had deliberately gone to bed early. He wasn’t the least bit sleepy, but he needed an excuse to avoid conversation. Cain just wouldn’t leave him alone. It was a small mercy that he at least let Satin go to the bathroom alone.

If it was about buying time to think, holing up in bed was far better than locking himself in the bathroom.

“Even if we were the closest of friends, isn’t this a bit much?”

Satin had virtually no experience making friends. Sure, he’d interacted frequently with the townsfolk, but calling them friends felt like a stretch. Neighbors and friends weren’t just not synonymous—they weren’t even similar concepts.

So Satin didn’t really know how normal friends behaved. He could only guess.

Even someone who’s never been in love still has an idea of what it is. Emotions can sometimes be understood through indirect experience. Satin tried to imagine what typical friendship looked like.

If a friend experienced something unfair, he’d be angry. If he thought his friend had died, he’d be heartbroken. If a friend had been wrongfully killed, then yes, anger and sorrow would be expected.

“But would anyone think to go and kill everyone else over it?”

That was something straight out of fiction.

“Well, this is a world based on fiction…”

Still, there should be some sense of plausibility. Satin hadn’t died because of everyone in the world. If you wanted to assign blame, it would fall on the Bureau of Order. If Cain really wanted revenge, it should be aimed at the Bureau only.

“Was he brainwashed or something?”

It was a plausible theory. If the original Satin had some ulterior motive and had deliberately manipulated Cain, then his behavior now would make more sense.

Teens with nowhere to turn often made reckless decisions—not because they were stupid, but because at the time, it felt like the only option.

In a way, Cain had been in that exact situation. Four years ago, he would’ve been just sixteen. A sixteen-year-old with no one to lean on naturally gravitated toward the first person who showed him kindness.

Thinking that way, Satin could understand how Cain must’ve felt. How relieved he must’ve been to finally find someone to rely on.

And then, to lose that person without even realizing it. Even if that person had turned out to be a villain, Cain was still pitiable.

Satin abruptly sat up in bed.

“I should ask for a cup of hot water.”

He’d gotten too emotionally involved, and a wave of melancholy swept over him. His hands began to tremble faintly. Warming himself with something hot might calm the anxiety.

But before he could even go looking for a staff member, something stopped him in his tracks.

“Where are you going?”

Cain was standing in front of the door. Who knew when he’d come out. He stared at Satin with eyes that held no trace of sleep.

Because he’d been thinking about Cain the whole time, Satin suddenly felt self-conscious. It wasn’t like he was sneaking off to do something bad, but still—he mumbled his reply.

“It’s nothing. I was just going to get some water…”

“There’s water in the room.”

“I meant hot water.”

“Are you cold?”

“Not exactly.”

Answering so obediently made him feel like he was being interrogated. Satin tried to casually change the subject.

“What about you? Why did you come out?”

“Why do you think?”

“Because I came out?”

It was meant as a joke, but Cain didn’t react the way Satin had expected. He didn’t snap back with a sarcastic comment—he just stood there, silently watching. Satin’s heart skipped a beat.

“Seriously? Are you serious right now?”

Even if Cain had leaned on him in the past, this was a bit too intense.

Satin carefully asked,

“Were you and I… like, really close before?”

Cain didn’t answer. He didn’t look flustered by the sudden question either. Maybe he was thinking about why Satin would ask something like that.

“I’m just curious. You seem to see me as… very close to you.”

Words like obsession or devotion felt too extreme. Satin chose his phrasing carefully.

“Like I was someone you could lean on. I mean, the place we were in… it wasn’t exactly a great environment, right?”

“Honestly, it wasn’t that bad.”

“…Huh?”

Satin blinked in surprise at the unexpected answer. Cain, unfazed, continued speaking with a casual tone.

“We had food on time and a roof over our heads.”

“Oh, is that so?”

“That old geezer was annoying, sure, but objectively speaking, it was still better than living on the streets.”

“Uh…”

“So, what exactly are you trying to ask?”

So much for beating around the bush. Faced with Cain’s blunt question, Satin felt acutely awkward.

“No, I just… how do I say this… I was wondering if maybe, because things were tough back then, you relied on me a lot. People tend to be less rational when things are hard…”

“I didn’t rely on you.”

“Oh… okay…”

“To be honest, you’re not someone worth relying on. Not back then, and not now.”

The harsh critique stung a little. At the same time, it made him all the more confused. If things weren’t particularly hard, and Cain hadn’t needed someone to lean on, then why was he still so hung up on the old Satin?

Maybe his face gave away his confusion. Cain immediately caught on to what he was wondering.

“Don’t overthink it. Just chalk it up to how things turned out.”

“No, come on, you can’t just brush this off like that.”

“I’m not brushing it off. I’m talking about… us. This relationship we have right now.”

Cain cut himself off mid-sentence and stepped forward. But when Satin instinctively flinched and recoiled, Cain let out a quiet sigh and stepped back again.

“To me, it all feels natural.”

“But I…”

“If you get your memories back, you’ll probably feel the same.”

That was impossible. Satin had never lost his memories to begin with, and the person Cain remembered didn’t even exist anymore.

But he couldn’t say that. Instead, he just looked down, and Cain spoke over the crown of his bowed head.

“If it’s hot water you want, I’ll bring it. Just stay in the room, and don’t go anywhere.”

“…Alright.”

Cain gently closed the door behind him. Satin stood there, unmoving, listening to the sound of his footsteps fade into the distance.

If this wasn’t brainwashing caused by some extraordinary circumstance, then it meant something really had happened between them. But what the hell could it have been? One was the protagonist, and the other, the villain.

Time slipped by quickly while he was deep in thought. Before he knew it, Cain’s footsteps were returning. They stopped at the door. Satin expected a knock, but the silence dragged on.

Why isn’t he knocking?

Satin waited a moment, then opened the door himself. Cain stood there with a strange expression on his face. He had been so shameless earlier—why the hesitation now?

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

Cain handed over a cup and abruptly turned his back. It seemed like he was heading back to his room, but he suddenly spun around and stared intently at Satin’s face.

The awkward silence made Satin squirm.

“What? Do you have something to say?”

“…No.”

Cain blatantly lied with a face that screamed he had plenty to say, then finally returned to his room for real.

Satin drank the water, thinking he didn’t understand anything anymore. The trembling in his hands had already stopped, but the warmth was still a comfort.

***

The next day, the Bureau of Order made a very important announcement. It was posted on wall bulletins in the town square and published in their official newsletter—and quickly reprinted by private newspapers as well.

[The Cloverland Bureau of Order is Calling for Heroes!]

Satin, Cain, and Rita had gone down to the inn’s dining room for breakfast when they heard the news. As soon as they saw the front page of the newspaper—after asking a staff member to bring it over—Rita exclaimed,

“What the heck is this? ‘To the righteous citizens and brave travelers of Cloverland—an unprecedented crisis has arrived…’”

While Rita read the content below the headline aloud, Cain gave the staff his order.

“Mushroom soup, please.”

“Dude, are you seriously picking soup right now?”

Despite Rita’s scolding, Cain calmly continued speaking to the staff.

“Just two servings.”

“I’m eating too! Make it three!”

After the staff left, Rita set the newspaper down on the table. For such a dramatic headline, the content wasn’t very long. Curious, Satin pulled the paper toward him to read it for himself.

It wasn’t so much an article as it was a formal announcement. The newspaper hadn’t added any editorial commentary; it was just a direct reprint of a Bureau of Order release. Full of phrases about righteous citizens, and so on. Satin skimmed the top portion quickly and scanned down toward the bottom—his eyes widened.

‘A massive reward for defeating the Demon King…’

The reward listed below the notice was truly astronomical. Having lived his entire life in a small village where there was barely anything to spend money on, Satin had no concept of what such an immense sum could actually buy—but even so, he could tell it was an incredible amount.

‘Registration at the Bureau of Order is mandatory before departure? And the Demon King’s castle is… a national park?’

Did the Bureau people seriously think they could take down the Demon King with something like this? All it would do was attract a flood of ragtag bounty hunters. Wouldn’t it make more sense to organize a proper subjugation force? They could divide the reward up as salaries and pay a group of trained fighters…

Cain, who’d been reading the article over Satin’s shoulder, let out a soft chuckle.

“They’re offering a lot of money.”

He didn’t seem to find anything odd about the notice at all. His reaction was so bland that Satin couldn’t help but ask,

“Wait, but isn’t this kind of… wrong? If a small group charges in just for the money, they could get themselves killed.”

“Not our problem. It’s not like we’re going after the Demon King.”

Cain naturally used the word we, and Satin almost pointed that out—but stopped himself. The way Cain looked at him with that faint, knowing smile—it was strangely disarming, as if he already knew exactly what Satin was thinking.

Rita, who had taken the newspaper back and read through the rest, crossed her arms with a serious expression.

“Either way, we should go.”

Again, Satin was bothered by her use of we, but he put that aside for now and asked a more pressing question.

“Go where?”

“The Demon King’s castle, obviously. You can’t trust a damn word that comes out of the Bureau’s mouth. We need to see it for ourselves—and if we can handle it, we will.”

“Uh… I don’t know if I’d be any help, though?”

“What are you talking about? Of course you’d help! If you warn us about enemy magic ahead of time, it’ll make it way easier for me to fight.”

It was nice of her to give him so much credit, but Satin wasn’t a child—he didn’t feel the urge to puff up with pride over a bit of praise.

Author: Levia