The Strange Adventures of Hearn the Believer

Page 108

"That child... that child's heart was too cold, as cold as mine when I was a child, just as hysterical, just as crazy, just as clueless about love. I was afraid she would go astray and grow up to be a monster that roars at the moon, so I stayed behind and walked with her to the end once, then left her behind to go on my own. The name I gave her was Chloe, Chloe Hearn, which means 'flower blooming'."

"Chloe, is she doing well?"

"The hardships you've endured are no less than yours, yet you've seen me far less often. In short, the effort you've put in is similar, but the rewards you've received are worlds apart. Recently, she finally caught me and has been keeping me hanging on ever since. Charlotte, you know best that your talents are actually quite similar, but she's been ruthlesser than you since childhood, so naturally she's a better actress. Your 'Grey Mouse Fairy Tale' still contains contradictory details, which is why Miss Xue Ni saw through it before she died. But Chloe's act is flawless. She even wears your disguise, completely fooling Aoko, making Aoko think she's a caring little sister quietly mending relationships between her seniors, thus developing a great liking for her. Of course, that's why I initially called you Cinderella and her Little Red Riding Hood."

"Because the twist in Cinderella is that learning magic will turn her into a princess, while the twist in Little Red Riding Hood is that—until the moment the hood is lifted, no one knows whether it is Little Red Riding Hood or the Big Bad Wolf hiding under the cloak."

"That's right, as expected of the teacher's favorite student, you guessed it perfectly."

"I'm still very clear about the teacher's perverse sense of humor... Back then, you left your name and assignment on the back of our hands, but what you left for me was..."

"Why does time only flow in one direction? / The entire timeline is self-unified."

"So what did you leave for her?"

"Why do we only live once? / Parallel worlds are self-unified."

……

Chapter 161 Dragons (Part 2)

"If a person is still cynical and takes everything in stride even at an old age, then he must have been a jerk who suffered a lot when he was young."

Suddenly, the believer spoke unconsciously, gazing at the sea with a distant look in her eyes. The starry sky above the sea was high and the Milky Way was brilliant.

Upon hearing this, Charlotte put down her nail clippers, silently wrapped her arms around his left hand, her palms warm, her gaze gentle.

Then, Cinderella was lightly flicked on the forehead.

"babble!"

“You silly girl… I was talking about a friend, not myself.” Xin Nu could naturally sense the warmth of her gaze and hand, so she turned around and emphasized impatiently, “I’m only seventeen, have you forgotten?”

"Yes, teacher is forever seventeen, Charlotte remembers."

Cinderella answered solemnly and respectfully, but in an instant, her composure vanished and a faint smile appeared on her lips.

Since the great devil appeared, the little devil has always had a faint smile on his face, which has never disappeared.

"but……"

The believer changed the subject, freeing his right hand to pick out a grape of excellent quality—although they were all essentially high-purity ether essence, he still habitually picked out the best one, and then, just like before, fed it to the little devil who was trimming his nails, as if feeding a hamster. Then, his gaze became serious, and he spoke in a low voice.

"If a little girl grows up in hell and still has a pure and innocent heart and doesn't suffer from any psychological problems, then she must have always been a 'beloved' and loved."

Cinderella understood the underlying meaning in his words, and thus even the faint smile on her lips vanished, replaced by a feeling of reluctance.

"After thirteen, I was a teacher; before thirteen, I was..."

“Chloe, even though she didn’t have that name yet.”

The believer softly took over the conversation and then flicked Cinderella's forehead.

"babble!"

Because of this flick of the finger, the faint unease and reluctance that lingered between Charlotte's brows also dissipated.

"Don't worry, don't feel guilty. Since your teacher has three names, it's not strange that you have three names too. You're just a little luckier than your teacher—your teacher is a kind, leisurely, and patient dragon, while your teacher's teacher is a kind but impatient fool."

"Teachers are also very strict with their own teachers."

Charlotte subconsciously remarked that the chain reaction triggered the believer's madness and rampage.

"What is a woman who gets tricked by half of her own student's students if not an idiot? She's a seemingly meticulous but thick-skinned idiot. If she were even a little bit more observant, she wouldn't have failed to recognize me after smashing her own student 665 times in a row. I had to show my true colors and throw my name in her face before she realized what was happening!"

"Teacher, please calm down, please calm down. Isn't everything over now? Miss Qingzi has already compensated you with her own people, so what's there to be angry about... Ee..."

As she spoke, Cinderella was flicked on the forehead again.

Correspondingly, the believer calmed down from his frenzy and cleared his throat somewhat deliberately.

"Charlotte, since birth, your teacher has had an inherent quality of being absolutely immune to surveillance. Azriel came here on official business, while you were instructed by your teacher to participate in the listening through the Bloodline Echo. Your teacher is telling you about that story of the 'Painted Heart' to provide you with a reference, not for you to watch your teacher have fun. Do you understand?"

When this topic was brought up, the believer looked at her with a face full of disappointment and frustration.

"I understand. The teacher has put a lot of thought into this, and the students have benefited greatly from it."

Cinderella nodded obediently, looking confident and assured.

"Hmph, since you've benefited so much, then tell me what you've learned?"

Upon hearing this, the believer's cat tail perked up again; he was eager to test his student.

Cinderella, seemingly out of nowhere, turned a page in the small blue notebook and meticulously answered the question while carefully polishing the believer's nails.

"First, one must ascend to the realm of time."

Secondly, we must think like teachers.

Third, it is necessary to find the teacher's weaknesses.

Fourth, we must catch the teacher off guard…

"Stop, stop, stop, stop... Charlotte, did you come to the wrong classroom?"

The more she listened, the more uneasy she felt, and she waved her hand to stop her student's defense.

"No, the main speaker has always been the teacher."

Cinderella readily confirmed.

"Did you come to the class wearing a filter or headphones?"

"No, the teacher's lectures are always insightful and the students never lose focus."

"Then tell me what you're studying?"

The dragon stared coldly at the students who were daydreaming in class, its crimson-gold vertical pupils wide open.

"How should a student start from scratch to 'chase' their teacher?"

Cinderella turned her head away from his gaze and answered shyly.

"……call--"

The believer lay back on the recliner, gazing at the starry sky. She grabbed a glass of fruit wine and gulped down a large mouthful, taking a long time to catch her breath.

When he caught his breath, his left fingernails had been treated, and Cinderella began to pack up all sorts of grooming supplies.

Despite his sharp teeth and kind heart, the evil dragon couldn't bring himself to be cruel to the little violets in his own nursery. So, once he had caught his breath, he spoke earnestly to the dragon.

"Charlotte, the teacher asked you to audit the class so that you could have a reference for how to treat Chloe in the future, and how to treat the 'human intelligence' aspect of you that has always sheltered you from the wind and rain and faced the many hardships of Ys for you before the age of thirteen, which was separated by the 'Crown of the Sky' and 'Dualism'."

Outsiders would find it hard to imagine that this stunningly beautiful actress would have such a fussy side, but Charlotte was already used to this motherly manner.

In her childhood, she often sat on the shoulder of this nagging, evil dragon. The dragon would always arrogantly raise its head and spew blue dragon breath while babbling to the little one on its shoulder about fairy tales from the stars.

Above them was a brilliant galaxy, and beneath their feet was an endless sea of ​​time. Even time itself was frozen by the dragon, no longer flowing in any direction. Those precious moments of the past have long since reached eternity.

"The students have also considered this carefully, but they have concluded that it is not a concern."

Charlotte replied nonchalantly. She packed up her tools, scooped up a handful of water from the Sea of ​​Time, and summoned a wisp of blue flame to cleanse herself.

"Aren't you afraid she'll hate you, hate that you were the one taken away, while she's the one left behind in the freezing cold?"

The believer then asked a question in return, her tone quite playful.

"Didn't the teacher stay and walk with Chloe for a while? If that's the case, why would she hate me?"

"What if this was just a joke? How do you know I'm not using you two as 'experiments' to resolve some dark, long-held 'knot' in my heart?"

"Teachers are always like this; they say the harshest things but do the gentlest things."

"It's a lie, a lie made up of one part truth, nine parts falsehood, and ninety points of acting skills."

"Yes, it's a lie. Lying is something we weren't taught to do, teacher."

"What kind of teacher would teach students these things..."

“Then let’s just assume the teacher wasn’t lying,” Charlotte suddenly changed her mind.

"Ok?"

The believer cast a questioning glance, only to be met with her student's bright smile. She had changed her attire at some point, transforming from a Cinderella traveling in a cloak into a devil in a purple-black Lolita dress.

From her youth, the appearance of the believer has been able to change at will. The misty sea of ​​time that can reshape all things and the ever-changing magic derived from the feather robe have ensured that this actress has never lacked costumes, and the little devil has naturally inherited this.

"Yes, the teacher wasn't lying. So the teacher was indeed using Charlotte and Chloe as 'experiments.' Charlotte was fortunate enough to correspond to 'Miss Shiki,' while Chloe was unfortunate enough to correspond to 'Miss Shrine Maiden.' The teacher deliberately favored one over the other to see if Chloe would carry enormous evil consequences and turn into a demon one day to catch up with you and betray you again."

Charlotte continued speaking, following the believer's train of thought.

"Charlotte remembers sitting on your shoulders often when she was little, walking along this silvery beach. I remember you once said that another little crybaby once sat on your shoulders."

Charlotte didn't know who that little crybaby was or where she was, but she genuinely felt that she was very lucky and deserved to be happy, because it was her teacher's shoulder, not just anyone could sit on a dragon's shoulder and act spoiled.

"But after hearing the story of the 'Painted Heart,' Charlotte realized she was wrong, terribly wrong..."

"Charlotte has never forgotten that during those years when she was still in the abyss of Ys, her teacher once said—if Pandora had met you a few years earlier, let alone something as simple as leaving Ys, even breaking Pandora's tragic fate of being cursed by the White God would have been a piece of cake for you. Although it would still be a piece of cake now, it is not the same as it was then."

"Charlotte hasn't forgotten what you once said, teacher—that overly cheap gifts and generosity always lead to enormous evil consequences. Before you were a devil, you helped a little girl, similar to Pandora, break free from the shackles of fate. But in the end, she willingly became a puppet of fate again, indirectly destroying everything you cherished in the first eighteen years of your life. Later, you became a tearless devil, and like other devils, you regarded equivalent exchange as the ultimate principle."

Charlotte remembers every word you said.

"The reason why the teacher has become the way she is now, such a bloodless and tearless devil, is because of that little witch, because that little crybaby betrayed you, right?"

"If you want to conduct experiments, please do so. We will prove to you with the results that no matter whether it was Charlotte or Chloe, Cinderella or Little Red Riding Hood who was left on the frozen ground, we will never betray you. We will never stay in the same place and complain that you left too fast. We will only try our best to chase after your back and keep up with your pace."

“Every time you send Charlotte to some corner of the lower world, you will leave without a trace. I will only live alone in that world for a short or long period of time, and complete the tasks you assigned me. Only then will you suddenly reappear in Charlotte's world one day and take me away.”

“I can understand the little witch’s feelings, because I also lived in unease since I was a child. My unease in childhood stemmed from the many sufferings of Ys, while my unease in adolescence stemmed from your unpredictability.”

"To you, Miss Aoko is a woman who would disappear with a gust of wind, but to Chloe and me, you are also someone who would disappear with a gust of wind."

"Charlotte could face, overcome, and crush all the hardships she encountered in the starry lower world. But what I feared and felt most uneasy about was that one day you would stop appearing and completely disappear from my world."

"In the years when I couldn't see my teacher, I could only sleep peacefully when I returned to the Sea of ​​Time. It wasn't because it was safe and carefree there, but because as long as I could return here, it meant that you had not abandoned me."

“I knew I would go crazy sooner or later if I continued like this. I understood that I could no longer rely on you to slow down for me. I had to catch up with you on my own. When I deciphered the problem you left on the back of my hand, I felt a little relieved for the first time because I finally found a way to eliminate my anxiety. From then on, I frantically searched the lower realm for any mystery related to the Time Realm, from artifacts to spells, from miracles to inscriptions. I conducted countless experiments, killed countless prey, and plundered the hopes of countless people, until one day I finally ascended to the Time Realm. When I first arrived in the world you lived in by my own will, stood in front of Miss Kaguya's door, knocked on the door, and introduced myself as your secretary, that was the first time I was able to let go of my anxiety and tell others frankly and without guilt—I am Charlotte Hearn.”

"...This is the path I chose, and so did Chloe. We will not stay where we are and complain that you moved too fast, but we will be ashamed of our weakness and powerlessness. You left us with two questions equally. Now I have given the answer, so Chloe must have also found the answer, because that is what we swore before you."

Having said that, Charlotte rose and walked to a spot not far from the believer, turned around, and bowed deeply to her teacher.

The believer silently gazed at the little devil who had grown into a graceful and elegant young woman. The image of the drab, crybaby little devil seemed to float before her eyes, and the pure vow she had made in the violet garden beneath the abyss echoed in her ears.

[Teacher, please rest assured, wherever you go in the future, the little girl named Pandora will not cause any major "bad consequences" that will affect your life. Because there is no business relationship between Pandora and you, no generous charity, and no cheap reward. I will no longer expect to gain freedom from you; that would be bad for both of us. I will find my own way out of Ys, whether it takes ten years, twenty years, or fifty years… one day, I will reach the outer edge of that endless white wind and see for myself what the outside world looks like.]

“I know that you, teacher, don’t believe in empty words, but value tangible facts more, so…”

The next moment, the ethereal, pitch-black phantom wings, as ethereal as the starry sky, silently bloomed on the left rear side of the little devil. A pitch-black crown woven from the rings of ultimate truth inscribed with the laws appeared above her head. It was similar to what Miss Xue Ni had seen before, yet completely different, even extremely magnificent. Irregular geometric patterns continued to extend outward, and blasphemous words were inscribed in every gap of the rings.

The crown belonging to the little devil was presented in its complete form to the lower realm for the first time, before His mentor. It was composed of five supreme principles corresponding to the ten elements of the Tree of Life. Starting from the initial [Kingdom], it skipped the [Foundation] in a way that defied the common sense of the [Path of the Fire Sword], directly ascending to [Glory], then [Beauty], then [Majesty], and finally ending at [Understanding].

The believer immediately saw through the black crown woven from the five principles, and also saw through the five illusory, star-like wings that fluttered behind the little devil.

"I see. You have already reached the realm of divinity, and you have chosen the principle of [understanding]. In that case, then—"

The next moment, the dragon abandoned its lazy sitting posture, stood up, and then revealed its majestic and enormous form.

The dragon's wings, which blotted out the starry sky, spread out freely above the Sea of ​​Time. The supreme crown woven from the thirteen supreme principles floated on the dragon's head. The crown, interwoven with light and darkness, had already surpassed the ten primordial nodes on the Tree of Life, leaped over the endless [nothingness], and even [infinity] was trampled under its feet, until it reached the final [infinite light].

Compared to the world's largest and most monstrous dragon, the fledgling dragon, which had just mustered the courage to spread its wings and complete its task, turned back into a dull, gray little bean.

"Ouch - ow -"

The believer jokingly imitated the dragon's roar, then grinned at the little boy in front of her.

"...Now that you have left the realm of creation and entered the realm of divinity, it is time for you to see your teacher's true face."

"Ugh, teacher, you're bullying me..."

"I feel dizzy and lightheaded," Charlotte protested in a low voice.

In the initial instant, she only felt a light bloom before her, like the Big Bang, weaving everything from nothing in the top macroscopic realm. The overwhelming tide of information almost caused her to faint the moment she perceived its true form. If she hadn't entered the divine realm and grasped the principle of [understanding], she probably would have burst like a balloon at the very beginning!

"Alright, alright, I fully understand your anxiety and know that you've prepared for this. Now, pack up and get ready to go."

The dragon retracted his phantom wings that obscured the starry sky, leaving only the "Crown of the Abyss." He came before Cinderella, gently cupping her cheek with his left hand, and raising his right hand in a crooked gesture.

Charlotte knew she was about to get another flick of her teacher's finger, though she didn't know which rule she had broken this time. Her teacher was a capricious and unreasonable dragon, and she was used to it. So she simply closed her eyes and waited to be scolded.

Until a tactile feedback, unlike anything I'd ever felt before, came from the "tortured" area between my eyebrows.

A silvery train emerged from the void and slowly came to a stop beside the shore of the time, accompanied by a melodious whistle.

Amidst the melodious sound of the steam whistle, the woman silently pressed a kiss to Charlotte's forehead. Then, she wove in the wind a blue scarf similar in style to the one Aozaki Aoko had given him in his dream. He carefully tied the scarf around Cinderella's neck, adjusting it meticulously to ensure it was fluffy and suitable.

The train doors opened wide, revealing the silver interior.