I gasped like a fish on land, truly, it felt like I would die on the spot as soon as I crossed paths with Solace. My knuckles were even colder, and my fingernails suddenly turned blue. Cold sweat poured down my back, and my chest was tight. This can't be a coincidence, there must be a purpose for Solace to appear like that, even though he never cared about me before. The grip on my shoulder reflexively made me jump. Leon was also surprised and released his hand on my shoulder with a worried expression. "Are you okay, Joe? You look sick all of a sudden," he said. I tried to neutralize my breathing and realized I was in an alert position, my hands clenched into fists as if ready to punch someone. Damn it, why is the effect of Solace's existence making me this anxious? "Oh, yeah, I'm just sleep-deprived," I boasted. Leon then gave me a bottle of mineral water and at that moment I realized that we had arrived at Mr. Jaden's residence, even the landlord had gotten off the carriage with
"From the report of the investigating team, it can be confirmed that there is no evidence whatsoever around the hut and the surrounding area. Even so, the charges will still be dropped because the defendant cannot defend his innocence."I immediately stood up with a fierce face surpassing Leon's lawyer who also showed an expression of shock. This old fart had really eaten bribe money! However, I then restrained myself after receiving a sharp glare from the judge. I wasn't afraid of him, but I kept my promise to Mr. Jaden who was now looking at me as if to imply to stay calm. Leon, on the other hand, just looked down and didn't answer any of the questions the magistrate threw at him, further corroborating the accusation. "That's not true, Your Honor Judge. Leon had a strong alibi at the time of the theft," argued the lawyer. Then, the head of the investigation team spoke up. "That still doesn't confirm anything. Who knows he may have destroyed evidence, because even Mr. Josse's res
By the authorities, the entire area from the cottage to the estate was heavily guarded by security guards in all black uniforms. No one was allowed in, except the investigation team who were carefully searching for evidence of the case. Mr. Jaden watched from his terrace with a hawk-like gaze. Mr. Josse and his henchmen had returned home after making a scene on the way here. This incident was more like a search of an accused smuggler or terrorist than a search for evidence of a missing diamond necklace. I let out a long sigh, remembering Leon who was still in temporary prison. He didn't deserve all this mistreatment. I kicked the scattered pebbles as I moved away from Mr. Jaden's employees who were whispering excitedly about this case. I was pessimistic about Leon's eventual fate at the hands of the judges who clearly favored Mr. Josse. I also didn't trust the authorities because they could have been bribed to fabricate evidence against Leon. I had to rely on my own two hands. I ce
"Your Honor, allow the witness to give his statement regarding this case and the accused." The man in the smart blue suit spoke with a very convincing and confident gesture. He gave me a quick glance as if to indicate that it was my turn to speak. The lawyer was directly appointed by Mr. Jaden to handle Leon's indictment case. That's right, last night I couldn't resist those rich men from searching my and Leon's cottage. As a result, all the contents of the cottage were taken out and left in ruins. I was worried that they would find my gold coin and accuse me of stealing it, but as it turned out... guess what? That gold coin wasn't anywhere! It seemed like Solace didn't include it because this was the last world before I returned to my original place. But, what right does he have to do that? I could have used that coin to bribe the judge so that this case would be over quickly and I wouldn't be looked down upon by those rich people sitting across from me. "Brother Joe, please give
House—I mean, Mr. Josse's mansion was only two houses away from Mr. Jaden's residence. My guess must be correct that the countryside here is filled with wealthy landlords who own mansions and thousands of acres of land. If the countryside is like this, I wonder how life is in the city? Or are there narrow slum alleys like where I used to live. I parked the brown stallion pulling Mr. Josse's cart of ordered goods. I then ducked in front of his towering fence, trying to find the bell because there was no way I could just yell 'package'. Besides being rude, I'd only get a sore throat from it. Soon the gate was opened by two men dressed as servants. "Please take it directly to the back kitchen," one of them said. I pulled the horse's reins and entered the enormous courtyard, filled with well-decorated weeds, not to mention bonsai that I'm sure would be worth hundreds of dollars if sold. However, those bonsai seemed to be just yard ornaments that had no value here. I shook my head in a
Fertilizing the fields turned out to be very tiring, I thought with my previous experience I would suddenly become turbo-charged, but it was the same with the scorching sunlight in the morning. I then put down the sack of stinky fertilizer, and endured the nausea while drinking soothing water. I'd been working since early morning, but this vast field seemed endless. Maybe it's because there are only two of us working, so it feels like it's taking forever. By the way, I'm a farm worker for a rich merchant with a gothic mansion-like house. It's quite a distance from the fields and the cottage, but it's clearly visible from here. I haven't met the owner either because it seems like the workers are scheduled to work at certain hours. I just followed along when my colleague said that the fields were ready to be fertilized. Now I'm just watching the man tirelessly working, since I came, he hasn't even sat down or had a drink of water. He was tall and strong looking, though. "Leon, take
I'm now like a spirit floating through the air, passing through a line of soldiers to a small cemetery at the edge of a village in the middle of nowhere. Time in a vacuum is indeed different from time in the ordinary world, then it seems that I have passed through a lot of things because now Adam's body and the civilians who were hit by the bomb have been buried. I stare at the tombstone bearing my friend's name, along with a picture of him smiling slightly in his military uniform. He's exactly the Adam I saw last time, I've only known him for a short time but the sadness is overwhelming. The soldiers saluted and carried out the military funeral procession as a last respect with great solemnity. Next to Adam's grave, the graves of his other family members were lined up and I couldn't hold back the tears I had been holding back. They were good people, but why did they have to suffer such a tragic fate? I'm leaving this world, and Adam will never return to the military. He's now sett
Even though my vision wasn't completely clear, my body felt like it was moving on its own to beat up the Solace in front of me. I was sure I had exerted all my strength to give him the greatest punch of my lifetime, but all I felt was like punching a very hard wall. Solace was flat-footed, and the look in his eyes clearly showed that he was bored. I felt even more compelled to turn him into a punching bag. I punched again, several times, but to no avail, instead my knuckles turned red and cracked. "Crazy bastard." I cursed as I kept my distance from the creature. "How could you show up without a single guilty look? I know you're not human, but you're even worse than that."It hurt so much when I thought of Adam who had suddenly died at a young age, along with Celine who was alone, and Adellia with her destiny for the kingdom. "You seem to only want to make me a patient of the mental hospital after this. What help is that? It looks like I'm making their lives even more miserable!" I
I never took dreams seriously, but this time I really wanted to wake up and escape from everything that had happened. This memory was very vivid because of the pain I was still suffering all over my body after being bounced around by the bomb blast. Particles of dirt were wafting through the air so my vision was limited, but I could faintly hear screams and bodies clad in army uniforms in the distance. It would undoubtedly be fine if I got hit by a bomb, after all, I wouldn't be able to die. However, what bothered me the most was the sergeant's remark that Greenish had been destroyed. That was impossible. How could that be? According to the information I knew, Greenish and other food supply areas had very strict guards and not just anyone could enter there. I even had to go naked to be checked to make sure that I wasn't carrying anything suspicious when I visited the village with Adam. Then, at the same time, my eyes closed because it was so hard to maintain consciousness. I was