Story Reader / Extra Hidden / EX05 Inscription of Labyrinth / Story
Roland leaves Cerberus and walks out of the town. He then arrives at the ruins underneath the mountain.
Goddamn Lamia...
Roland expected her to run, but she did it at a very awkward time.
Fortunately, he was able to use Cerberus to contain Voodoo, taking only an acceptable amount of damage. He got what he wanted.
Hope our Cerberus friends aren't too shocked when they find out the truth.
He smiles.
Well, it will be too late for them anyway.
He has returned to the wasteland. But this time, he has a purpose.
Once again, the girl in black shows up in front of him—
You there, come with me.
Come with me, please.
Who are you?
The girl did not reply. She only looks at him calmly.
Roland sees no emotion or demand in her eyes. They look like a deep lake engulfed in fog.
—He does not like those eyes.
Why?
...
She does not answer.
Roland strolls forward as he is about to leave the girl behind.
This is what you wanted.
—Roland pauses his steps.
...How do you know? Wait, no...
Not just in the house, you have been tracking me since long ago, right?
Cinderelik didn't deny.
State your offer. After all this drama, I don't think we need to test each other any further.
That's not my mission.
The girl turns away in silence and heads out.
...Tsk, whatever.
But Roland isn't going to simply follow her.
He has his own plans.
Roland follows Cinderelik over a long way in silence, until the nearby scenery has completely changed.
He walks over many deserted towns, buildings and bastions destroyed by Corrupted and human weapons.
But no matter how he tries to talk to Cinderelik, she never answers.
Roland even brought Corrupted from afar to attack her, or set up traps along the way—
Don't do unnecessary things.
The girl says calmly.
Her words contain no "request" or "restriction," but Roland feels they are more dangerous than straight-forward threatening like "the consequences are dire."
Her real strength is still a mystery, but from what she has displayed, she still has lots of cards to play.
In that case, he can only continue to follow.
With this in mind, Roland keeps walking after her.
Please.
Roland has lost track of time. He is already used to the strange pattern of changing scenes along the way.
Cinderelik stops at a high-rise building ruin. She orders a few Corrupted to push away a heavy piece of building wreckage.
—This has to be it, Roland thinks.
After countless detours along the way to make Roland unable to find out the exact location.
Now that he is finally here, it is all over.
Maybe snipers have taken aim on him for a hundred times.
But this is the end.
At least they want him to come here, Roland thinks.
—So he follows Cinderelik into the large ruins.
The road inside is wide, but almost all light is absorbed by the ruins.
He can only see Cinderelik walking past dappled light spots.
(No, she's not the only one.)
Someone is watching him. Actually, there's more than one. No less than two digits.
(It's getting busy here...)
But they are only watching.
Roland would have prepared himself if they were "aiming" or "preparing to attack."
But he doesn't know how to respond to this neutral "observation."
He senses a familiar sight—it must be that "Voodoo" female.
She would have attacked him without hesitation. But Roland doesn't feel it.
Is she under someone's control? Did anyone order her to "not attack"?
Whoever is behind all this, he makes a pretty good dog trainer.
Roland purposely makes a taunting statement.
Is this simple taunt going to work? Roland wonders.
There is no response. The watchers are still eying on him, while Cinderelik continues to walk without a word.
(...Tsk.)
Roland sees a lit-up area in front.
The inside of the ruin is mostly dark. Only that area is lit up by the sunlight from above.
—Almost like a spotlight on stage.
A black figure is standing in the spot.
Mr. Vonnegut, the guest has arrived.
Good.
He turns back, facing Cinderelik and Roland.
Glad to meet you, Roland, a "knight" who lost his master.
I am Vonnegut.
Now that you have made your way here, I can give you my straight forward promise.
Come work for me. I can make your wish come true.
If that's the case, I trust you can understand that I have no interest in these social concepts.
Why don't we cut to the chase?
Roland makes a bold statement. He isn't keen to get himself overly involved.
After all, he only came because he wanted to find out if they had the thing he longed for.
I can give you what you want.
