Chapter 1102: 89. Unwavering
"Run..."
"Don’t run..."
"Run..."
"Don’t run..."
Meanwhile, in a cave several meters deep, Marcie, following Muen’s order, squatted in a corner, repeatedly bending her own fingers as she began struggling over what might be the most important choice of her life.
—Should she take this chance to slip away or not?
If she did not slip away... that golden-haired guy was definitely no Pioneer! Did he really think she was stupid? She had only admitted it earlier as a temporary measure! She was so smart. How could she be fooled that easily?
Now that she had fallen into his palm, she still did not know whether it was good or bad.
But if she did slip away...
Could she really slip away from that guy? Even the Third Attendant did not seem to be his match...
A guy who could easily defeat the Third Attendant, who had overwhelmed more than a dozen Pioneers, while she... had not even become a Pioneer yet. The gap between them could no longer be measured using her ten fingers.
Marcie did not understand where someone like him had suddenly popped out from. Logically speaking, for someone as strong as him, in a place like Annabawei that revered bravery and strength, he should not have no reputation at all.
He had also said he had lost his memory, but his behavior showed none of the confusion a person with amnesia ought to display.
Instead... he lacked certain pieces of common sense.
Could it be that he was...
"No. Hasn’t that kind of thing already been proven impossible?"
Marcie’s head was a mess. After thinking so much, forget making a decision—the parts she could not understand had only increased.
"Grandma, what should I do?" Marcie murmured.
If only that knowledgeable and incredibly clever grandmother were here.
Although she called herself the most outstanding person in the village, that excellence... did not seem to include her brain.
Perhaps she should have listened to Grandma, stayed in the village, inherited her ancient texts, taken over Grandma’s duty, and protected that last forest farm.
But now...
Thud.
Just as Marcie was hanging her head in dejection, a tattered book suddenly slipped out of the backpack she was holding in her arms.
It was the record book she treasured beyond measure, the one in which she had written down all her longing and yearning.
Then, perhaps by heaven’s will, a breeze blew in, flipping open the record book and stopping on the very first page.
On it was the first Pioneer she had recorded.
Then, among those dense, complicated words, she saw at a glance the words spoken by her favorite Pioneer—the one who had led humanity four hundred years ago to gravely wound the Goddess of Night and bring brief light to this world.
The first hero, Alan Aisger.
—True strength does not lie in power, but in whether you have the courage to make a decision when facing danger!
That was right. Courage!
Marcie’s eyes lit up, as if she had seen light in this endless darkness.
She had to have courage!
No matter what the result was, gathering courage and moving forward was what mattered most!
And that was precisely the most important quality required to become a true Pioneer! Every generation of Pioneers had said that only courage could allow them to press onward through the long, boundless darkness!
"I understand, Lord Alan. At a time like this, I absolutely won’t back down. Otherwise..."
If she backed down... then she might be trapped for the rest of her life in the claws of that damn yellow-haired pervert, and her dream...
Marcie’s gaze gradually became firm. She was a person of extremely decisive action, so after making up her mind, she did not even think too much. Without another word, she grabbed her little booklet, turned around, and ran!
While that guy still had not come back, with her familiarity with the surrounding terrain, she would definitely be able to...
"What will happen if you don’t back down?"
A gentle, rich, magnetic low male voice suddenly echoed through the quiet night.
"..."
Marcie had only just taken one step when her body suddenly froze solid.
She stiffly turned her head. Because the motion was too rough, she even heard the mournful cry of her spinal joints grinding together.
It was clearly just the action of turning her head, yet it took her an extremely long time before she finally saw, right at the cave entrance, a certain handsome yellow-haired man leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, staring at her curiously.
"Hm? What happens if you back down?"
"Backing down... backing down... backing down would make my conscience unable to bear it!"
Marcie had never felt her brain turn this fast before. Perhaps human potential really was infinite. It was clearly her greatest weakness, yet at this moment, it erupted with tremendous power.
Her expression changed, and her little face was already filled with worry.
"Are you all right? I was just about to go help you!"
"Help me?" Muen raised an eyebrow.
"That’s right! How could I let you face the Third Attendant alone? That guy is the most despicable. What if you were ambushed?"
Marcie patted her chest, righteous and awe-inspiring.
"As it happens, I know him fairly well. Among the information I collected, there is a large amount of intelligence about him. I definitely would have been able to help you!"
"...Then I really should thank you. I thought you were trying to take the chance to run away."
"How could that be possible! Am I that kind of person?"
"Aren’t you?" Muen smiled without quite smiling. "Heh. And here I thought you had a good sense of the situation and knew what you could do and what you couldn’t."
"..."
Marcie’s expression changed.
Just as Muen was wondering what excuse she could come up with next, she actually puffed out her chest, stiffened her neck, and said,
"That’s right. I won’t hide it from you anymore. I was trying to run! Because I still have an unfinished dream! I still have to become the most outstanding Pioneer! I can’t completely hand my fate over to someone else!"
"Am I really that frightening?"
"Hmph!"
Marcie did not answer and turned her head away.
"Kill me or cut me apart. Do whatever you want!"
"Is that so? Sigh. Looks like I can only..."
Muen gave a soft sigh, stretched out his hand, and reached toward Marcie...
Marcie closed her eyes and clenched her teeth. The words left behind by generations of Pioneers kept echoing through her mind... Since those before her had pointed out the road for her, even if she died, she could not...
"Who said I was going to kill you?"
The death she had imagined did not arrive. Instead, she felt something sink into her arms.
...Huh?
Marcie secretly opened her eyes and discovered that this powerful yellow-haired pervert had not stretched his claws toward her. He had only picked up the backpack she had dropped while trying to flee and tossed it back to her.
"You... You’re not going to kill me?" Marcie thought for a moment, then asked cautiously.
"Why would I kill you?" Muen did not know whether to laugh or cry. He had only meant to scare this little girl, but who would have thought she would take it seriously?
Was he that terrifying?
Wasn’t it agreed that handsome men could always make people let down their guard easily?
"But... Pioneer Bloom Norton once said that any beast that shows you kindness for no reason must be coveting your flesh and blood, and will swallow you whole when you lower your guard... Are you not trying to eat me?" Marcie opened her record book again and showed Muen the famous sayings she had written inside.
"..."
Muen’s cheek twitched. This girl had chased stars so hard she had chased her brain stupid, had she not? She believed anything?
"First, that guy called Bruno is obviously a **."
"You... You’re not allowed to talk about my forty-third idol like that!"
"...Second, if I really wanted to eat you, do you think I’d need to go through the trouble of showing kindness to you?"
Muen casually picked up another stone and squeezed it... The hard stone directly turned into fine sand, scattering past Marcie’s eyes with the breeze.
"Can your skull possibly be harder than this?"
"..."
Marcie hurriedly shut her mouth.
Right... If he wanted to do something bad, it seemed he really would not need to go through so much trouble.
In other words... had she been overthinking it?
"Of course, you were not entirely wrong. It is not as though I want nothing from you."
Muen looked Marcie up and down, as though admiring some kind of treasure. That meaningful gaze made Marcie’s hair stand on end.
"Th-That kind of thing can only be done after marriage!"
Marcie clutched her chest, tears in the corners of her eyes.
Muen: "..."
I only wanted to ask some questions. Why would she come up with that kind of idea?
Did he really look that much like a pervert?
"Take back those strange thoughts of yours. I only want to talk."
Muen found a place and sat down on the ground. At the same time, to show his sincerity that he truly had no "perverted" intentions, he deliberately left some distance between himself and Marcie.
"Sit."
Muen tapped the ground.
With a face full of humiliation... Marcie slowly sat down.
Was this some special kind of play? She understood!
Muen: "..."
No, had this girl misunderstood something again?
"Sigh."
Muen sighed.
"In that case, to show my sincerity first, I’ll introduce myself."
He pointed at himself.
"Muen Campbell. Male. My specialty is this damned charm."
"..."
"Of course, where I come from, I am publicly acknowledged as a good man. No one would ever have a misunderstanding like yours." Muen smiled.
"..."
Liar.
Those words were definitely lies!
For some reason, Marcie was absolutely certain of that.
"As for where I come from, you may not know it, but I can tell you clearly."
Muen gradually withdrew his smile and stared seriously at Marcie, paying attention to her every move.
"I am an outsider."
Come on.
After those evil believers had noticed this fact earlier, they had immediately developed unimaginable killing intent and hostility toward him.
The Third Attendant just now had clearly come for that reason as well.
Then, aside from evil believers, what kind of reaction would an ordinary local person here have toward his identity as an "outsider"?
There were no outsiders present.
Nor would it cause any unpredictable chain reaction.
There was only Marcie here, whose eyes revealed clear stupidity. Clearly, she was very good experimental material.
"Outsider?"
Sure enough, Marcie’s eyes widened at once.
"That’s right. An outsider."
Muen rubbed his chin, looking forward to what would happen next.
Let me see the truth of how this place regards outsiders...
"Liar!"
Marcie’s mouth twisted, and she revealed a cold smile.
"Do you think I’m that easy to fool?"
Muen: ???
"Hmph. Over the past several hundred years, who knows how many people in this place have claimed to be outsiders? Some pretended to be charlatans and went around swindling people out of money and sex. Some simply gave wrong guidance, making numerous Pioneers who served as trailblazers face danger. There were even some that were the most ridiculous of all—straight-up schemes of the Goddess of Night, which made several city-states completely disappear from this world."
Marcie slapped her record book with a rapid smacking sound.
"I recorded all of this information. You think you can trick me once or twice, and then trick me a third time?"
"No... I really—"
"Don’t say another word. I, Marcie! Am someone who is going to become a Pioneer. I won’t be deceived that easily!"
"..."
Muen was speechless yet again.
These days, no one believed you even when you told the truth?