The room was pitch dark, without a single ray of light.
Following the red-glowing exclamation mark, Rellia discovered Kalix collapsed in the corner.
He was covered in cold sweat, groaning in pain....
'His eyes....'
Kalix's eyes had lost their pupils, glistening with strange colors.
Gold, red, purple, and silver mixed together, his eyes shone like mysterious beads.
Despite the eerie atmosphere, he kept groaning in pain and blinking.
It seemed like the aftereffects of injuries sustained during the battle with the Mad Dragon were manifesting as a seizure.
"Kalix, Kalix!"
Rellia didn't know what to do.
She sank to the ground in front of him, frantically checking his complexion.
Should she call someone? A doctor? A mage?
What should she do, what should she do.
She was so panicked her mind wasn't working properly.
Then suddenly, something flashed in her mind.
Rellia immediately opened her item window and took something out.
It was painkillers and sedatives, game items.
They were basic alchemical potions like health recovery potions, but quite effective.
They were safe since she had used them herself before.
With trembling hands, Rellia opened the bottle's lid and poured the medicine into Kalix's mouth.
"Nngh...."
Even so, Kalix clutched his eyes in pain.
Rellia felt so sorry and guilty that she burst into tears.
She knew there would be aftereffects from that incident, but she didn't know her precious friend would suffer and hurt this much.
Had he always been suffering alone like this in places where no one was around?
Since childhood, Kalix had always pretended to be strong, never wanting to show any weakness.
Feeling sorry and pity for such a Kalix, Rellia continued to cry silently.
Meanwhile, Kalix's pupils gradually began to stabilize.
The hallucinations tormenting him started to fade.
The flashes of light before his eyes, the corpses piled high enough to trip over, the sticky monster blood weighing down his entire body, the foul odor piercing his nose.
As these disappeared, a faint voice could be heard.
"...lix... Kalix.... Kalix!"
Ah.
Kalix let out a small sigh of admiration and realized who the owner of that voice was.
'Leo.'
It was Leo from his childhood.
As the terrible hallucinations disappeared, a peaceful scene emerged.
A wide field with fluffy clouds floating gently.
Leo came running to Kalix, who was lying comfortably taking a nap.
"Hey, you sleeping here all by yourself?"
"What... how did you know I was here again?"
When Kalix responded in annoyance, Leo curled his lips in a wicked grin.
"You're in the palm of my hand."
"Yeah, yeah, the captain is amazing."
"Your tone when calling me captain is getting a bit arrogant, isn't it?"
As he said that, Leo lay down next to Kalix in the same posture.
Hands behind his head, one knee raised with the other leg crossed over it.
Seeing Leo mimicking him, Kalix looked exasperated, while Leo closed his eyes and smiled.
"Let's rest a bit before the others come. They're like leeches, I tell you."
"Isn't my secret hideout getting completely ransacked because of you, captain? Just let those bastards swarm over here. It's your fault."
"How cheap! By the way, I'm surprised you know how to appreciate contemplation too?"
"Contemplation? What's that? I just took a nap."
"I knew it. Like a simple kid like you would know anything about...."
"Hey, what did you just say?"
"Hey? You said 'hey'? This is to your captain—!"
Warm wind tickling his cheeks, the beautiful pink sky as sunset approached.
Leo's laughter ringing clear like birdsong.
That figure gradually blurred.
He desperately tried to hold onto the scene before his eyes, but it scattered like dust.
At the same time, he felt a dizzying sensation of the ground beneath him crumbling away.
Leo died.
The memory of the day he realized that fact pierced his mind vividly like lightning.
That day, Kalix couldn't do anything and spent the day in a daze. The shock left him unable to do anything.
When he came to his senses, everything around him was in shambles.
His eyes were damp, and his body was covered in wounds from self-harm.
As the memory of that day surfaced, his heart began to race violently. Breathing became difficult.
"Kalix!"
It was then.
Somehow, a familiar voice caught hold of his consciousness.
Smack! Smack!
At the sudden sound of impact, his mind quickly returned to its proper place.
Smack! Smack! Smack!
Wait, what is she doing right now....
After blinking his eyes a few times, he saw Rellia—no, Leo... no, Rellia—with a startled face.
She was boldly slapping Kalix's cheeks with both her palms! Smack! Smack!
"Kalix! Wake up! Kalix!"
"Hey, stop it, will you?"
Kalix shouted irritably and grabbed both of Rellia's hands with one large hand.
"Ah! Th-thank goodness... thank goodness...."
Rellia's lips trembled as she started crying.
Only then did Kalix look around and gather his senses.
Ah, another episode must have come.
Damn it....
To be caught in that state—there should be a limit to how embarrassing things can get.
Kalix clicked his tongue low and raised his upper body. His whole body was soaked with sweat.
He irritably threw off his sweat-drenched shirt.
In doing so, he noticed that both his eyes were wet.
'Not just the episode, but crying too.'
He cursed himself and wiped away the moisture pooled at his eyes.
"......."
Kalix, who had been wiping his eyes and trying to get up, finally discovered Rellia sitting slumped beside him.
He felt bewildered.
"Hey, why are you crying?"
Rellia was crying so sorrowfully that Kalix felt it was absurd.
At his words, she tightly bit her lip, shoulders heaving as she tried to hold back her sobbing.
Anyone seeing her would have thought she had lost her entire family during the war.
"Hey...."
When he tapped her shoulder with his fingertips, Rellia was startled and looked up at him.
With tears welling up, she looked just like a puppy that had been scolded by its owner.
"......!"
Rellia belatedly realized her own appearance. And that it would look strange.
She sprang to her feet, rushed past Kalix, and darted out like an arrow.
"What the...?"
Kalix blinked in disbelief.
He felt inexplicably awkward.
Why... cry that much? Did I look like I was going to die?
No, even if that were true.
Is that really something to cry that much about?