Chapter Seventy One: Invisible Foe

The pain came from the area below my neck. Just centimeters below the collarbone.
It was a type of pain that was new to me. In a state of confusion, not knowing where the pain could have come from, I moved my eyes down to my chest.
Just as I did, blood spurted from the area where the pain was at its greatest.AAAAARRRGGGGHH!!!!
What’s this? It hurts!! it’s hot!!
I placed my hand on the hole that appeared on my chest. Something else was protruding from it. 
My hands touched what felt like the shaft. I slowly made my way towards a sharper object. It was a steel object. I immediately realized what had happened to me. I was hit by a lance from behind.
The lance was transparent just like everything else on the floor. Lines of my blood could be seen on it.
The great pain I felt was not just from the hole the lance made. It was due to some other factor. It felt as though the lance was pumping something else into my body from the hole. It felt so hot as though it were melting away at my flesh.
“GUAH!” I collapsed on the transparent ground motionless. 
Blood gushed out of my mouth and eyes. Nosebleeds flowed out constantly as well. I stopped seeing. My body felt cold and my head spun round and round. All I could hear was silence. The solitude was painful.
The coldness enveloped me all over. I felt no strength at all. All I felt was pain. Indescribable pain.
….……………………………………………………………………………………………….
What happened after that? I don’t know. How was the lance able to pierce me so easily like that? Whaat about my barrier? Did it not react in time or is the attacker stronger than my defence? It was all too sudden I couldn’t make heads or tails of it.
{Become strong………..}
Become strong? Is that you…… the girl in black? So that means I’m dead right? I always see her even when I die at the hand’s of Lust. Lust? Should I really be calling her with that name? What is her real name anyway? She still hasn’t told me. No that’s not it. I should be the one to ask her.
Wait, what’s happening? I’m dead yet I’m getting emotional. Is this a bad omen? Is this maybe the end for me? Will I not be able to revive like I always do? That would suck so bad. I still haven’t spent enough time with Lust yet. And Leila, I promised to rescue her didn’t I? I have to go back!!
Hey! Girl in black!! I know you can hear me!! I can see you looking down on me from your throne like you always do!! send me back to the land of living. I have so many things I have to do!! 
In the darkness where the only vision is of the girl in black inside a dark isolated room, she remained with a sad expression no matter how loud I yelled at her.
So I really am dead? I’ve never stayed for such a long time in this darkness after I die. Now what? Do I just stay in here forever, looking at her from the opposite side?
If that’s how you are going to play it, then at least tell me your name. ‘The girl in black’ is too long for me to pronounce. How about a one word name I can call you with? You are lonely inside that dark room right? If I’m going to stay in here forever, then we might as well get to know each other don’t you think?
And as if she was just waiting for me to ask her name, she replied the instant I paused {Hope…… My name is Hope. That is the name you gave me.}
Bad-ump!!
My heart pounded even though I was supposed to be dead.
Hope? Why does the name feel so nostalgic? I feel like I know someone with that name but cant remember a single thing. And what the hell does she mean by “The name you gave me” is she mistaking me for someone else?
{Become strong………..} 
With those last words, the darkness began to disappear. An unknown force pulled me out of it towards the light. The light was blinding. I wanted to turn around to see the girl who called herself Hope but couldn’t. I couldn’t move my body as I pleased.
I left the darkness and entered a void of light. A sudden burst of energy circulated throughout my whole body.
“Hope!!!” I yelled sitting up.
Huh!!?? I’m alive again? 
I glanced all around me and saw a familiar scene. It was a scene with nothing in it at all. Only the clouds below and the endless sky.
The first thing I did was check the injury on my chest. My gear was intact and there wasn’t a single stain of blood on it. My chest was as though non of the things that happened before really happened. Not a scar no pain could be felt.
After verifying the state my body was in, I stood up straight and browsed through the floor with my eyes. There doesn’t seem to be any monsters anywhere. How in the world did I get killed. Maybe I’ll find something if I check while moving about.
Or maybe the monster will……………….
Just when I moved a few steps away from the place I had woken up, I felt another unbearable pain that was similar to the pain from before.
This time around it was in my right hand. Blood spurted from it just like a tap.
What!!?? how!!??
The next thing I knew, I was on the floor half dead. An extremely hot sensation moved from the lance in my hand and circled all over my body. That hotness quickly turned into coldness. I lost all my senses and everything became dark once again.
….……………………………………………………………………………………………
It was a painful experience for me. Dying twice without knowing the cause of death is comical. 
I left the dungeon the moment I revived from my second death on that floor. Whatever it was didn’t follow me as I turned around looking for the dark veil.
It seems Deram’s party still hasn’t left the dungeon by the time I exited it. Something told me the girls were still going berserk on that floor. That’s the price they have to pay for healing their injuries.
Soaking in the large bath at home, I reminisced all the time I spent in the dungeon.
It was apparent that a hero would be summoned after the dungeons were cleared. Instead of a hero, I was the one summoned. Some people here still have faith that a hero would come. Word on the street is that ‘He’ is already here. You hear people talking every time you sit in their midst.
It’s only been a few months since I got here, but it feels like eternity. It’s almost as though this is my original world. It has felt like that ever since I lost the aura around me. I’m now able to interact with the people thanks to that. No one seems to be scared of me as well. But I’m sure they will be once they come to know of my real identity.
I haven’t changed my mask in some time. I haven’t done anything that requires me to do so. The last time I changed it was when I deceived the town where Taht lives. That was quite the funny moment. How I wish that deception ability will be returned to me.
Figlo explained some more to me about his situation when we met yesterday. Apparently, his family had been serving a noble family since before he was born. As the only child of the servant’s he naturally continued the role when both his parents died. Even though he had his own dreams he wanted to chase, it was no more than an unrealistic dream as far as he was concerned. It’s unheard of for a servant to leave his master because of the dreams he wants to chase. Then weeks ago, something big happened and the family were stripped of their position by the king. They lied to him about carrying out an order he gave them. As such they were made the laughing stock for everyone. Their nobility wasn’t that strong to begin with. They lived in the parts of the city we made our home. To wash away their sins and to regain the king’s favor, they all set out to fulfill their mission but were never heard from since that day. After losing his masters, he was left all alone. The relatives of the noble family took over everything and kicked Figlo out. That was when he had the idea to try chasing his dreams. But he had no money to pursue such a dream. So even though he was never used to fighting monsters, he thought that it would be the quickest way for him to make the money he wanted. That was why he started going into the dungeon. We all know how that turned out for him.
The puzzles all fit together perfectly after he told me the family’s name; The Basilin family.
I can never forget that name for as long as I live. I received the harshest treatment from them not once but twice. To think that is what happened to them……. they must have been so sure about my death when they didn’t know I was going to revive. The king got mad when he thought they failed him and that happened. It seems no one in this world knows about their deaths. People still think they disappeared out of shame.
Still, I cant be certain that no one knows. Those that keep an eye on me should know the time when the family followed me inside the nightmare forest.
“UUOOH~!” 
The bath feels so good. The water is just the perfect temperature. 
Taking a soak like this after dying twice in the same day is really refreshing. I still don’t know what killed me however. 
“It’s frustrating!”
Feeling pathetic about my loss, I felt a slight movement by the door.
“Meila? Is that you?”
I then heard footsteps moving away as soon as I asked.
Maybe she forgot I was inside. I did spend a long time in the bath. Or maybe she came to wash my back but was too embarrassed to come inside.
Yes! Maybe that’s really the case! At the current level of our relationship right now, it wouldn’t be surprising if things escalated to that level.
But something feels really strange to me. I live alone in the same house with a girl, we share the baths and sleep on the same bed yet I no longer get even the slightest bit excited about it. I used to think of doing naughty things to Meila each chance I got. But I don’t think along those lines these days. It’s been like that ever since I fell in love with Lust.
Is this what love is actually about? Not having eyes for anyone but the person you love? I guess that’s why I haven’t made any move on her despite sleeping on the same bed for a while now. She’s been sleeping in my room so much now it feels as though we only have one room in the house. Maybe she’s scared of sleeping alone.