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Chapter 304: Sunset\'s Potion

Frey was shaking as he looked at her with a terrified expression.

" Y-Your arm..."

His shattered left arm was dangling awkwardly, and even at a glance, it looked extremely serious.

"I-I hate you."

Roswyn, unable to stay still at the grotesque sight, tried to approach him. However, Frey retreated from his sitting position with a pale and frightened expression.

"Don\'t come closer..."

His eyes were filled with unimaginable chaos.

The mental stability he held on briefly with Lulu\'s help shattered into pieces the moment Frey met Roswyn.

"Please... don\'t come..."

- Drip...

As Frey moved backwards, pus started to ooze out from his left arm.

"Please..."

Blood also trickled from his bitten lips.

Of course, the damage wasn\'t only from him biting his lips; it was also because he forcibly shattered the gate core.

As Ruby said, the gate core could only be destroyed if all first-year students attacked it together.

Frey pushed himself to the limit and destroyed the core by himself. He did it to bear the early termination penalty alone and prevent the students from receiving the punishment.

"H-Hero."

"......."

As the amount of blood flowing from his mouth increased, Roswyn took another step forward and called out to him, but Frey covered his ears and lowered his head.

"...Don\'t call me a hero now, what’s the use..."

That was what he said.

"If I heard such things from you now..."

The next words from him were silently left hanging in the air.

"...Don’t you hate me, Roswyn?"

Frey stayed silent for a moment, then clenched his fist and whispered.

"Please tell me. If you don\'t like me, say you don\'t, and if you do, say you do."

"Th-that is..."

"Why did you keep giving me hope…?"

Before Roswyn could respond, Frey cut off her words.

"I wanted to be friends with you."

Frey raised his head and began to speak in a low voice.

"Since the first time I met you, who was terminally ill."

Upon hearing these words, Roswyn couldn\'t utter a response and just closed her mouth.

“I knew very well how scary and frightening it was to be terminally ill. I wanted to help you break free from those shackles."

"Ah..."

"And after that, I wanted to give you presents, eat snacks together, and play together."

"..."

"You’re the only one… There was no one else but you..."

He was almost rambling to himself, but Roswyn knew the meaning behind those words.

She was the only one who Frey spared from any ‘evil deeds’ in the previous cycle.

Frey really wanted to become friends with someone like her.

E-even now... I want to embrace you…

"But now... I\'m scared of you."

Frey looked at Roswyn with fear in his eyes before he started speaking again.

“I\'m afraid of what to do if you reject flowers again this time... Every time you trample on the flowers, it feels like my heart is breaking... You smiled in front of me, but when I left, you looked at me so coldly, it was terrifying, almost maddening…”

"..."

"I don\'t want to be friends with you anymore... Y-you\'re too scary. So please, just go away..."

Although Roswyn wanted to say something to him, she couldn\'t bring herself to open her mouth.

She had nothing to say, even if she had ten mouths.

This was because she knew very well that she was the one who trampled over his feelings to the end, both in the previous and in this cycle.

And Roswyn understood all too well that it would be shameless for her to ask for forgiveness or even to speak to him at all.

Through countless previous cycles, she had finally succeeded in figuring out this secret before everything came to an end.

"So... What brought you here this time?"

"Pardon?"

But when Frey looked straight into her eyes and asked, she could only tilt her head and open her mouth.

"Don\'t play dumb. I know you\'re an illusion."

Frey responded with a fiery gaze.

“There’s no way Roswyn would refer to me as the Hero.”

"Th-that\'s... I..."

"Hurry up. Start the penalty. Come on."

Once Frey said that, he immediately closed his eyes tightly.

"...Ugh."

He was trembling as if he had encountered a ghost, like a young child.

"I-I... actually... a-an awakened... helper..."

Roswyn wanted to shout at Frey…

That she had received his flowers and became his helper.

That she now knew everything about him.

And that she wanted to assist him in the future.

"Help…er..."

However, she couldn\'t bring herself to say such words.

She was no longer a helper.

- Zing...

Even at this moment, in front of her, the recording function of the Helper System was busily recording important events and truths of the world.

-Uwaaa!

And on that screen, there was a cute girl who bravely broke through a snowy mountain full of snow.

- Kuoohhh!

Standing in front of her was none other than the \'Ice Dragon’.

The lord of the snowy mountain in the western continent, who shared the same name as the nickname Frey gave to his favorite berry, was fiercely fighting against Glare.

"..."

Watching that scene, Roswyn couldn\'t bring herself to say she was a helper.

- Just give me the points obediently!

- Kuoohhh!!

Because she could see the real helper right in front of her, it was something she couldn’t deny even if she wanted to.

"...Ugh."

Therefore, Roswyn just maintained her silence…

"Aaa... Uwaaaaa..."

Suddenly, things started happening.

"H-Hero...?"

Frey, who had been slumped on the ground, began to convulse.

"I don’t want to... it can\'t be..."

Until now, Frey had mistakenly thought that the Roswyn in front of him was an illusion caused by the penalty, but the real penalty had just begun.

"No...!!"

The sinister energy from the broken core seeping through his shattered arm replayed the most dreadful event in Frey’s life in the past few months.

"N-No way..."

It was the incident from a few months ago during the Hero Inauguration Ceremony when Ruby nearly raped him.

"Nooooooo, I don’t want to!!"

As Frey’s shuddering screams echoed, Roswyn approached him frantically.

- Zing...

However, a transparent barrier blocked her without fail.

The defensive barrier was created between Roswyn and Frey to prevent conflicts in the helper system. It was so sturdy that Roswyn couldn\'t break it no matter how hard she tried.

- Bang, bang, bang!!

"P-Please let me in!!"

Despite knowing this, Roswyn still frantically pounded on the barrier and shouted.

"I was wrong!! I know I was wrong, so please! Just this once!!"

Saying that, she pulled out a small vial from her pocket.

It was the remaining healing potion she purchased when she obtained the system.

"I have to give him this!! If I give him this, he can be healed!! Please!! Please, just this once!!!"

- Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!!

"I-I made a mistake... I want to make amends... I want to repay the favor... Please, just once. Just once, please!"

Still, she continued shaking the vial and muttering in front of the sturdy barrier.

"Just once... Only once..."

However, the barrier remained unyielding.

"Hegeuk, heeguuuk..."

"N-no... Aaah... Aaaah..."

Frey’s breathing was ragged. His face started to turn red as he gasped for air.

"Heeugh..."

"Stop... Please stop..."

Even back then, Frey was almost on the verge of breaking down. Now, with his mental strength at its lowest, it was terrifying to even imagine what would happen, even if it was just an illusion.

- Rolling...

"T-take this... If you take that, everything will be okay..."

Desperately, Roswyn sat on the ground and scratched at the invisible barrier before rolling the vial toward Frey, hoping he was still lucid enough to understand her.

- Plop...!

However, due to Frey\'s thrashing, the vial ended up rolling back to her instead.

"..."

Sending the vial back to Frey in his current condition could risk breaking it. So, Roswyn eventually gave up and just blankly stared at him.

- Bang, bang, bang...!

But then, Roswyn started banging her head against the wall without saying a word.

"Ru-Ruby..."

Just as she witnessed before, Frey’s struggle gradually subsided with his arms bound.

"Huh...he..."

Then, with a short exhale, Frey shivered slightly.

"Hehe...he..."

He had inadvertently formed a foolish grin.

"Ruby... wretched woman... I’m gonna kill you... kill you, bitch..."

Roswyn\'s eyes were glued to the scene as she watched it unfold.

"I’m gonna kill you... definitely... gonna kill you..."

The already palpable blind rage she felt toward Ruby intensified even further.

"I’m definitely gonna kill you... definitely..."

Roswyn could no longer assist Frey. She felt like a burden simply by being by his side.

Even in a situation like this, she could only be a bystander.

The sense of shame and self-loathing she felt in such a situation began to shift toward Ruby.

Her ingrained defense mechanism, developed from a young age, was once again in action.

"Definitely... I’m gonna have my revenge....."

Roswyn muttered while tearing at her own hair, paying no heed to the trickling blood from her fist and forehead.

- Rustle...

She shifted her gaze when she heard something behind her.

Then, she fell into silence.

- Ooouung...

A human figure faintly flickered and could be seen in a distorted space a bit further away.

- Ssk...

Roswyn looked at that space blankly for a moment, then slowly started heading towards it.

"Kyaaak!?"

"..."

As Roswyn unceremoniously pushed her head into the distorted space, Lenya, who had been hiding inside, was startled and let out a surprised cry while Eurelia stared at her dryly.

"..."

Roswyn fell into silence, and tightened her grip on the vial in her hand.

"Hehe, hehehe..."

In the distance, Frey\'s laughter still echoed.

Leaving things as they were could lead to unpredictable consequences.

"..."

Roswyn\'s revenge-filled gaze fixated on the distorted space where the two girls were.

.

.

.

.

.

"Hey, say something."

"..."

"Didn\'t you say it\'s a perfect plan? Didn\'t you say we would split the credit evenly?"

"...Shut up."

Eurelia spoke up, interrupting Lenya\'s incessant complaints.

"Regardless, the core has been destroyed."

"Was that your doing?"

"..."

Mumbling these words, Eurelia ignored Lenya and examined the vial handed over by Roswyn.

"If you can make Frey consume all of this... I will share all the guild\'s information."

"So, what are you going to do? Are you going to feed it to him or not?”

“...You’re noisy, forest pest.”

"W-what?"

After responding to Lenya’s irritating behavior, she soon approached Frey, who was trembling in front of her.

"He seems to have gone mad from improperly handling the core. Wouldn\'t it be better to just kill him here? Why bother taking him outside?"

"Sigh."

When Lenya asked again, she sighed and shook her head.

"Indeed, a forest pest like you is stupid."

"But this...!"

- Pop!

She then quietly murmured while still ignoring the agitated Lenya behind her.

"Let\'s feed him half for now... By then, we can see what happens and confirm the effects. Since the potion seems to take full effect only when fully consumed."

Eurelia administered half of the potion into Frey\'s mouth as she said that.

- Shaaaa…

As a result, the energy of the potion began to envelop Frey, who was in a state of panic.

"So, why are you trying to take him outside... Ugh!"

"...Let’s pick him up and follow me."

"Why, why me!?"

After observing Frey intently, Eurelia responded to Lenya\'s indignant question with a dry expression when the girl unexpectedly had to pick him up.

"...If you don\'t want to die here, shut up, pick him up and follow me."

Having said that, she began to walk quietly.

"Th-that rude bitch..."

Lenya glared at Eurelia, and staggered forward.

"...Thankfully, he’s not that heavy, huh?"

Soon, she noticed something slightly protruding from Frey\'s pocket and tilted her head in confusion.

"This is...?"

Her gaze fell on the \'Cloak of Deception\', which slowly swayed due to the tremors within the /genesisforsaken