“It’s your fault! If only you had never shown up! It’s all your fault!”

Seriously… What the hell is going on? I can barely stand after fighting the mermaid, and now this? Carol suddenly fell to her knees and started screaming at me… Her pained words make my skin crawl… I saw a brief flash of light just as she fell to the ground, and now there’s this strange darkness surrounding her. Is it magic? It’s got to be, right…? What should I do, though? What can I do?

“Carol?” Can I help her somehow? She’s suffering because of the voice she told me about, right? I have no idea what it is or what to do about it. Should I say something to her? Can I comfort her somehow?

“It’s not my fault! I’m not useless! Everything would have been fine if you had never shown up!” Carol brought her hands to her face, covering her eyes and gripping so tight she might rip the skin off her face. She squirmed around in pain. The more she spoke, the more hurt she looked.

This is too much! I can’t watch this anymore! What’s happening to her? It’s just too awful. I don’t know how to stop it… If I could talk to her—if I could comfort her—she might calm down. But what do I say to her? I haven’t known her for that long. What’s causing her this pain, what kind of words she needs to hear—those are things I don’t know… I’m an outsider… I don’t have the right to say anything… It would be hollow, wouldn’t it?

“It’s not me! It’s not me! It’s not me! I’ve been training and training and training… I’m not a burden! Not anymore! It’s impossible! Impossible impossible impossible!”

“You’re not useless! You’re not a burden!” My emotions got the better of me, and I jumped down to embrace her. I may not be the best person to say this, but I care about her. I can’t watch her suffer without doing anything… “You saved my life, Carol! You’re not a burden!” I would be sad if she were gone… And I know for a fact that the other girls would be devastated too! No one thinks she’s useless, no one thinks she’s a burden, and no one wants her gone! She’s irreplaceable! Please, reach her!

“Eh?” Carol blinked. “Y- you’re lying… I- I didn’t…” From what I gathered, Carol was the last one to join the House of Imaginary Boundaries. The other girls were more experienced than her, and they supported her the whole way through. Carol worked hard to catch up to their level, only for me to show up and improve at a much faster rate than her. She probably resents me for making her work all for naught and herself for being unable to keep up with me… But that comparison is flawed—hell, she shouldn’t even be comparing herself to anyone. We’re not in a competition… Everyone does the best they can, and together we get better. She’s too harsh on herself!

Carol twitched in my arms and gasped for a moment. Maybe now she’ll listen to what I have to say. “You saved my life! The trident would have stabbed into my heart if you hadn’t broken it! Can you still say you’re useless?”

“Really? I- I didn’t see anything… You’re making things up!”

“I’m not! Stop being so harsh on yourself! You’re not useless!!” I can’t even imagine how she got to this point. Everyone in the house treasures her so much, how could they let her feel this insecure? Maybe they just didn’t express it often enough…? Or maybe it’s because of the magic. It might be amplifying her insecurities. Either way… “You did great, Carol. It may have just been a coincidence for you, it may not seem like a lot to you, but you were the one who broke the trident! You saved my life! Even if no one else says it, I’ll acknowledge it! You did great! Thank you… Carol…” I squeezed her body with my fading strength.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Iroha…” Carol sniffles and lets out a few quiet sobs. Did I reach her? The darkness surrounding her disappears, but is quickly replaced by another kind of darkness. I see a faint smile before I lose focus. I’m glad… “Hm? Iroha…? Iroha?!” Carol calls in a panic as she feels my weight shift towards her. My vision goes blurry, then everything fades to black.

…

A well-kept gentleman forces a smile on his face as he welcomes a precious “business” partner inside a bright and lavish room. A room made exclusively to receive and converse with important guests. In the middle, two wide couches with a small table in the center. Some of the finest furniture money could buy.

“Welcome, Armand-sama. Please, take a seat.”

The guest enters with confident and relaxed steps. He calmly paces around the room instead of sitting down as offered. He stops by a window with a view to one of the most beautiful yet busy streets in all of the kingdom, framed by a set of intricate and expensive curtains.

“Philip Wealworth. Leader of the Ebrilyon’s Alchemist’s Guild. Tell me, how does a man like you take such a long time to find one mere girl?” Back turned to the host, the demon recoiled, seeing the little people through the window.

A bead of sweat runs down the gentleman’s forehead. “I believe that matter has been settled. The girl should be under the demon’s custody now. We handed her over to one of your subordinates yesterday.”

“I’m aware. I’m aware, and I’m grateful for that. Congratulations are in order. I’m merely curious how an organization with such a wise leader struggles to keep track of its subordinates’ abilities. Even without the technology to identify skills, an alchemist with the ability to ‘remove’ should have been easy to track.” The demon finally turned to face the host.

“Please don’t be too harsh on my subordinates. The people who handle the papers around here are grossly uneducated. It’s unfortunate, but this is the best they could do.”

“I see… Perhaps you should consider hiring better people. Those without ambition make for rather lousy subordinates.”

“Thank you for your advice. I would love to employ better people, but unfortunately, when it comes to us humans, sometimes this is the best that there is.”

“Hphm. Perhaps you’re right. This whole situation was just an unfortunate coincidence. Who could have predicted the alchemist you sent to Rocky Ridges to create a diversion just so happen to be the very same alchemist we were looking for?” The demon sat down, and the gentleman leaned forward with artificial excitement.

“Indeed! It was just terrible luck. Completely outside of anyone’s control!”

“Fortunately, the alchemist in question exceeded expectations, and, thanks to her diversion, we’re still on time.”

“That’s wonderful news! I trust this means there won’t be any issues with the reward we agreed on!”

“Of course! You are a very valuable partner for us demons. We’ll deliver your reward just as promised.” The demon places a small treasure box on the short table and opens it up. “Take this gold as the initial payment. We’ll deliver the rest together with your requested skill at the agreed date.”

“Ohhh!” The gentleman greedily jumped up from his seat. “Hmm! Wonderful! Thank you very much!”

…

“Nghhnn…” Where am I?

I forced my eyes open and was greeted by an unfamiliar ceiling. A sanitized white room with four clean beds arranged in a grid. To my left, a window, letting in indirect light from the sun, which bathed the room with a soft light. To my right was a door, some cabinets, a few miscellaneous devices, and a desk, with a chair, and someone sitting on it.

Am I in a hospital or something? Other than the time I woke up in that cell in the dorms, I’ve barely ever woke up anywhere other than my own room. Is this what a hospital’s ceiling looks like? What happened after that fight? There’s light outside, so how much times has passed since last night? And… Carol! What happened to her?!

Okay… Guess I can’t afford to stay in bed forever… I gotta find out what happened. I turned my head to the right, back to the person sitting nearby. A thin figure laid back on the chair with a hoodie over their head. The figure tapped a tablet sitting on their knees while the right hand was raised in the air, spinning something with the index finger. My vision was still blurry, so I blinked a few times to focus on the object.

What the hell?! Is that a gun? A revolver? Fuck that! Where am I? What happened after I passed out? What were they called…? Paranormal… Security Forces? The PSF! Did they catch me and take me in?! Is this the beginning of my dissection arc!? NOOOOOOO!