The next few prey ended up much like the first two, but it seemed like the level improved as a few with thicker skin began to show up… This made me wonder about something, though.
What the hell is happening in that city? Not only are there quite a few people who are having their final nightmare at the same time, but none of those men are caretakers from the orphanage, or from the orphanage at all!
Are these guards? But how could so many of them become affected by the nightmares? It hasn’t been very long since I left, and yet, not only did so many people come within range of ‘Remember Me?’, but they managed to fail so much in so little time that they were already at the end of the line…
It frankly didn’t make much sense… The only explanation was that something else had happened that had weakened their psyche or something. Did SHLAD lose his freaking mind when I left and do something notable? No… Even though that thing is alive, I doubt that he would be able to kill any innocents. At most, SHLAD could only harm ‘bad guys’.
Knowing Leton, he had definitely put several layers of protection to ensure that no innocents were harmed by his creation–But then, what was the big deal? Luckily, I just so happened to have people under my disposal that I could ask the question to.
They just needed not to fail the trial for long enough for me to ask them something.
This was actually rather difficult. Not to say that I was just so stunning that it was impossible for a man not to desire me, but I had studied men extensively in my quest to find myself a good husband. In summary, men are very easily ‘distracted’ by women.
The smallest thing could do it, so this trial was basically impossible to survive for any of them. It wasn’t even a matter of willpower. It was a matter of biological reality–Was that the right word? I think biological is the right word.
In any case, another man entered the room and did not immediately collapse. This one was clearly a guard, only a higher-ranked one. He had manifested in the nightmare wearing his uniform.
The moment he saw me, he closed his eyes and breathed out loudly, like he was trying to cool down, muttering something along the lines of: ‘Stay focused’, under his breath.
On my end, I had dressed up in an attire I was completely unfamiliar with. According to Nara, it was called a ‘Sailor Fuku’, featuring a blouse with a collar that was indeed akin to what I had seen from sailors–Well, depictions of sailors, there were none of those where I came from…
It also had a pleated skirt and a cute little ribbon. For some reason, the guard seemed to have been more mesmerised by the tights than anything.
My cute little sister had told me that it was a uniform of sorts, but that it wasn’t something I would encounter outside of here. In any case, it was quite a nice-looking outfit, though I must admit that it wasn’t the best match for my body type.
Regardless, the man wasn’t looking too good. He might drop dead any second now.
“Say… Is something going on in your city?”
I asked as casually as possible.
He immediately collapsed. I guess having to engage in conversation was his breaking point…
This is starting to get a bit annoying. This wasn’t even a revealing outfit! Am I supposed to dress in a nun’s habit–Actually, that would definitely kill them even faster. I almost forgot how popular female clerics and female paladins were… Actually, is there anything a woman can be that isn’t somehow popular with men? Now that I think about it, I feel like they somehow always find something to like.
Hold on a moment…
I headed back to the closet. I had all the time in the world to select an outfit since the door would remain locked until I put something on. The variety of clothing was wide.
Anything too revealing would end them immediately. Anything tomboyish would eradicate them instantly. Anything girly would destroy them instantly. Anything noble-like would exterminate them instantly–Something silly perhaps?
Just as I thought about this, my hand grabbed a colourful attire. I remembered this one, I had worn it before!
It was the prototype of the scrapped concept for Harvey’s Diner. When the owner first ordered the automatons, since he was short on money at the time, he had to settle for only being delivered several months after making the order–In the meantime, that absolute moron thought that it was a good idea to spend more money to find something else to entertain customers with.
The owner was never a very bright person. The only thing he was smart about was hiring only pretty girls and making them wear tight uniforms to encourage fathers to bring their kids to the diner… Even then, I am fairly certain it wasn’t even his own idea.
In any case, before the automatons–Those wretched, ugly things–Came along, it was up to us, the workers, to dress up and put on a show for the children. There were two costumes… Generations, because Mister Owner just couldn’t stop himself from spending money like a madman.
The second generation of attire was way more expensive than the first ones, and were more akin to advanced suits than anything else–In fact, they had been so expensive that only one had been made.
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Since I had been the best worker, I had gotten the privilege to wear that bizarre, skintight thing that felt like wearing somebody else’s skin… It was definitely good stuff though, I wasn’t recognisable at all while in that thing, instead of myself, I looked like a most jolly clown girl…
That attire ended up being taken away after a certain accident, though.
What I was holding right now was the first, much simpler costume I had been given. It was also a clown attire–Personally, I never understood why so many people seemed to be scared of clowns. I love these guys. The only men who’ve made me laugh consistently were all clowns by profession.
In fact, I loved them so much that when I was still short enough to give headbutts to people’s knees, my parents were already starting to gift me clown dolls. They terrified Leton beyond belief, but I adored them.
Now that I think about it… These dolls were nowhere to be seen back when I visited my abandoned home.
…Regardless, surely a silly, loose, and ample clown outfit should do the trick.
The next man to enter the room fell to the ground without delay.
Fuck! I didn’t put on the makeup! You can’t be that much into clown girls, right? What the hell? This can’t be a widespread attraction amongst men, right? Is it? Should I have been dressing up as one to find a man back in the day?
I honestly felt like giving up trying to discuss with these guys. Clearly, the trial was nothing short of an execution for them. I was starting to think that they were being sent in based on what type of outfit I was wearing–Specifically, if they were ‘weak’ to it.
The odds were wildly skewed in my favour, or at least it seemed so. My last attempt to get answers to my questions was to cover whatever I was wearing with a bathrobe that was just hanging near a door that couldn’t be opened.
To make sure, I stood in a dark corner of the room, staring out of the window with my head tilted to the side so that the next man wouldn’t see my face, and it worked. He stepped inside and didn’t fall to the ground inert immediately.
Alright, let’s try to sound all mysterious and stuff…
“I am not used to such traffic, you know? What could possibly be happening for you and your fellows to all end up here at the same time?”
I asked in a low tone. Thankfully, my voice was not enough to ‘trigger’ something within him, and he was able to respond.
I was naturally very curious to know, after all, I was receiving a good stream of negative emotions and even negative energy thanks to ‘Remember me?’, and yet, I hadn’t noticed any spike in a certain emotion or anything like that.
This made me believe–Since all of the men so far had been unknown to my eyes–That only the guards were being affected somehow. They had been infected with nightmares, but it was something other than me that had led them to be so vulnerable to them.
“W-Well… First, there were the strange deaths at the orphanage, then, when we evacuated the place, some sort of hellish creature fired a beam of energy from inside it! Had it not aimed high for some reason, a good portion of the city would have been obliterated!”
Aimed high? SHLAD had been aiming straight at me. Seems like I was right, he must have flung his arm upward when he realised what was going to happen if he didn’t. As expected of my brother, his creation was a goody two-shoes.
The man continued.
“But then… Something else showed up and started fighting that first creature!”
Huh? It feels like I left a party just before things got interesting…
“I don’t know what it was, it was… Sort of humanoid, but made out of… I don’t know how to explain it properly! It was like a big, yet thin doll made from ropes tied together… And its head was shaped like… I think it was shaped like… A triangle or kite”
The guard looked pale as he recalled the details.
“They were fighting in the middle of the city! We had to try and do something, but all that happened was us being torn apart, maimed, and broken like twigs!”
“The only reason the city was not devastated is thanks to the first creature, the one with a scythe-like arm, which disengaged and lured the second creature out of the city… We were useless! We amounted to nothing! Those creatures were both more powerful than us. Our weapons broke against their bodies!”
“That’s enough speaking. I get the picture now”
I made him shut up, rubbing my chin.
The second monster’s description was familiar… Did Sylbi show up? To fight SHLAD? Had the Abyssal been following me around this entire time and tried to come help me when it realised that I was in trouble? That was sweet, but also a bit concerning. I hadn’t noticed a thing, and neither had any of my little sisters.
Sylbi had also definitely gotten stronger to be able to contend with SHLAD…
What a bizarre state of affairs.
Now that I know what’s going on, I feel a bit better. Sylbi, according to Nara herself, was on my side. So, there was no point in worrying about that. In fact, Sylbi had done me a favour by traumatising and rendering many of the guards weak-minded.
“Oh, look over there”
I called out to the guard, who raised his head to see me open up my bathrobe, revealing a set of black lingerie that immediately sent him to an early grave.
I guess the trauma of seeing friends and colleagues being slaughtered by a True Void Being-shaped Abysaal did not overpower the natural desires of a man…
The nightmare trial began to fall apart. I had been lucky to manage to get answers from the last one. The rest, even the more ‘robust’, had never been able to get a word out.
What a weird trial this was, though. It is pretty funny, but I still think I much prefer chasing people through rusted structures. It’s just more entertaining.
When I came back into the real world, the lion and tigress were nowhere to be seen, while the people bearing my curse had all been grouped up into a hastily built house of sorts away from the town.
Where did they go? Finding the tigress could be difficult, but the lion was a bit too large a guy to go unnoticed. I eventually spotted him alongside the tiger lady. They had gone back to looking around the nearby woods for some reason.
Had she performed another divination whilst I was away?
Mmh…
I wonder if I could deceive them with my knightly form or not. Probably not, since most people here have a strong sense of smell and would realise that I smelled like nothing but steel, but I was very much tempted to try to talk to them.
No. Let’s not be careless. I’ll talk to these beastfolks when I meet them in their nightmares…
