I Am Wary

The first thing I recalled after reading the description of the [Telepathy] skill was the telepathic conversation between Antenora and I during the meeting with Cyrus.

There was a very particular remark that she’d made when we first spoke.

“There is no need for you to attempt to ‘send’ your thoughts to me. I can simply read them from your mind while your mental shield is down.”

There was no need for her to say that, yet she said it anyway.

Why?

I didn’t know, but I intended to find out. It was a blatant lie, seeing as she would’ve been able to penetrate my [Psychic Citadel] skill easily.

Perhaps she wanted to make me feel safe and secure now that I had the skill so that I would be vulnerable whenever the time came for her to exact whatever plans she had for me.

Or maybe she just didn’t want me to be paranoid of her.

Whatever her reasons, I didn’t like it. It wasn’t the type of behavior I’d expect from the world’s former Hero.

In the end, I really did invest the second level that I gained into the [Psychic Citadel] skill. It left a sour taste in my mouth since I was forced to do it out of paranoia when I could’ve gotten something cooler and more flashy.

Even though I was always looking forward to magic back on Earth, I had barely interacted with it here in this world.

I mean, I had an incredibly large mana pool since increasing that shit was just so cliche and easy. It had already become as second nature and automatic as breathing to me nowadays, but for all my mana, the only thing I could use was [Pyromancy].

What a damn shame.

I grunted as I hefted myself up from the hole I’d created in the tunnel system earlier while I was punching through one of the mine’s many shafts.

When the sun rose and the miners returned to work, they’d probably be confused as to why a human-sized hole had opened up in one of their shafts, but that wasn’t my problem.

Right now, all I wanted was some sleep before daybreak.

Luckily, the walk back to the campgrounds didn’t take too long. Lucrezia and Priya were still on watch since I hadn’t returned to switch out with them together with Antenora, so their greetings were a little bleary.

I felt bad for making them stay up a bit longer, but they didn’t seem to mind. I guess they saw it as part of repaying me for everything so far.

I couldn’t say that I was entirely comfortable with it, though. Give and take relationships don’t exactly last long, and although I didn’t really understand the concept of “love”, I was pretty familiar with the concept of “friendship.”

At least, I’d like to think so after binging so much shounen anime and manga back in the day. I knew it was unrealistic, but one of my greatest desires was to have a friend who stuck with me through thick and thin, no matter how many adversities we’d have to face.

Just one would be fine.

That thought hung in my mind as my eyes lingered on Priya’s back while she and Lucrezia made their way to their respective tents.

I hadn’t known her for very long, but she had at least been helpful so far. Her advice had helped me curb my blinding attraction to Lucrezia and her warning had helped me discover some of Antenora’s secrets.

Just not all of them. At least, not yet.

Once Priya and Lucrezia had retired to their tents, I strode toward Antenora’s tent to wake her. I stopped short before reaching to untie the knot that closed the entryway to the tent, making sure to purge all idle thoughts from my mind.

Now that I knew about the true capabilities of [Telepathy], I would need to watch even my thoughts until I managed to get [Psychic Citadel] to a high enough level.

Whatever level that was, I had no fucking clue. I couldn’t even use [Complete Analysis] on Antenora, so I simply had to assume the worst.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, steeling my mind as I opened the tent.

Inside, Antenora was breathing softly as she lay asleep. Her chest rose and fell in a gentle rhythm. The waning moonlight that cast itself against her pale skin through the opening I’d created gave her something of an ethereal aura.

A violently cut pearl.

The thought had just popped into my mind as I looked at her. I didn’t know what had prompted it, but that was the only description that I could attribute to her right now, and it didn’t even make sense.

What does “violently cut” even mean? I sure as hell didn’t know. All I knew was that it fit Antenora right now. Though, for something that was so violently cut, she seemed quite frail.

Her legs and arms were toned, but not heavily muscled. Her figure reminded me of a gymnast. It was a different kind of beauty compared to Lucrezia’s elegance.

I reached out to shake her awake. As I did so, the thought that I could kill her right now had suddenly occurred to me.

I shuddered with the realization that if I chose to do so, Lucrezia and Priya could not stand against me even if they brought everything they had to bear.

Right now, I could extinguish the greatest source of uncertainty in my life.

Right now, I could eliminate the person who I thought was more likely the previous Demon Lord instead of the former Hero.

Right now, I could kill the Antenora who lied to me for a reason I didn’t comprehend.

My heart thumped violently in my chest like the beat of several war drums. A slick sheen of sweat now coated my skin and my hand trembled.

If I had a mirror, the look in my eyes would be nothing short of haunted.

My hands slowly and unconsciously reached toward Antenora’s neck.

Am I... Am I really going to do this...?