Chapter 173: Monocle must be banned

Zora’s eye twitched upon seeing this.

?Sara asked, "So?"

?Arthur, however, lied. "I don’t remember. I barely recall the contents since it was a long time ago. This name thing was weird, so it just stuck with me."

?This matter involved his secret as a reincarnator, and he was not willing to give away any clues that might point people in that direction.

There were many bizarre techniques and skills that could divine his secret; he had already said too much.

While Aspect like Fate and Destiny were rare but there were people who had them, and they could easily peer into his past if they knew where to look.

?"I see." Sara looked disappointed, as if she had genuinely been looking forward to reading the book.

?Arthur sighed in relief when he saw Sara not pressing the issue any further.

?Zora looked puzzled. She wanted to know why he had lied when he had easily told her the story when she asked, though she didn’t show her confusion on her face.

?Then, she saw Sara put her free hand into her pocket, pull something out, and place it over her right eye.

?The results were immediate. Arthur jumped back like a startled cat, pulling out his silver sword in the process as if he were facing a great enemy.

?Zora backed away too, trusting her brother’s instincts. A pink aura faintly gathered around her as she stared at Sara.

?Beside her, Night stiffened. Monocles were sort of a shared trauma for all webnovel readers. He asked, using telepathy ’Wasn’t this artifact destroyed in the fight?’

?He saw Sara smirk. ’It’s a prop.’

?Night relaxed slightly upon hearing that, though anyone could tell he was still a little uncomfortable.

?Sara then turned to Arthur and asked with an evil smirk, "I thought you barely recalled the contents? I think this is pretty memorable," she said as she adjusted the monocle.

Arthur looked at her deeply then, shook his head.

?Arthur lowered his weapon slightly. He calmed himself down at record speed, stepped forward, and picked up the chair that had fallen over. He sat down and asked, "How do you know?"

?He looked pretty calm, unlike earlier, though the sword he refused to put away told them otherwise.

?Zora didn’t sit; instead, she stood right behind Arthur, as she could tell the matter was far from over.

?Sara asked innocently, "Know what?"

?Arthur narrowed his eyes. "You know what I mean..."

It was easy to guess, she knew about the Webnovel and the only way to know its contents was that she had read them in the past. Things like internet had been burried with everything else during the Dark Age.

As a race their technology at that time was fairly advanced but it was still fragile, and it was the first thing that went down when their world was invaded by the Nighmare Aspect.

?Perviously he had suspected there might be other reincarnators; it was a usual trope in webnovels.

?Before, when he had first met Sara, he had suspected that she might be a reincarnator too. That would explain why she had been so strong before the System arrived, as well as her strange act of protecting the children.

?But he had dismissed the thought after some time when he couldn’t find any proof.

?Now, though, he was not so sure. For all he knew, the real character from the book might actually be sitting right here. The Nightmare aspect was bizarre, and the world had become strange enough as it was, so he wouldn’t even be surprised.

?Sara chuckled, her smile purely evil. She had finally found a way to mess with Arthur; she was still pissed at how nonchalant he was about what he had done to all the kids.

?She knew about Death’s past, too. Death had told her everything when she went to check on Anna. So she understood all too well how the organization did things.

?Sara said with a malevolent look on her face, "I see you know of me."

?"Do you think I would be so easily fooled?" Arthur replied, though his strained voice told them otherwise.

He was starting to feel his second guest might be true, that maybe the one before his was not a reincarnator but a Nighmare Creature born form a fantasy book that actually gave people Nighmares.

?Zora asked Arthur telepathically, ’Brother, is something wrong? Why does Sara look so scary all of a sudden?’

?Arthur replied with a single word: ’Amon.’

?Zora’s eyes widened as she recalled the story her brother used to tell her when they were little just to scare her to sleep.

?Sara looked at Zora, guessed they were talking telepathically, and said as a bluff, "So you know my name."

What she didn’t expect was just how perfectly timed her words were.

?Arthur’s pupils constricted. He looked at Sara with the exact same level of vigilance he would have used if he were looking at the Void God.

?Zora also took a step back, her palms and back instantly covered in cold sweat.

?"It’s impossible!?" Arthur blurted out. It came out more as a desperate question than a foregone conclusion.

?"The Nightmare aspect is truly miraculous," Sara mused. "I didn’t expect to have merely been some words in a book."

?"How?!" Zora demanded. "What did you do to Sara?"

?Then her eyes widened as she looked at Night and pointed a trembling finger at him. "Don’t tell me you are controlling him! Is that why he lets you treat him like a puppy?!"

?Sara’s eyes glowed ominously as the room darkened. "Isn’t it exciting? To have a Chosen as a pet."

?She removed her hand from Night’s hair and extended her index finger toward his face.

?Night was completely speechless and didn’t know what to say. Still, he had always known Sara had a twisted, sadistic side to her, she had done something similar to him before, taking full advantage of his gullibility.

?Even though Night was speechless, he dutifully followed the act and lightly bit her index finger like a puppy would.

?Arthur tensed up, thinking that maybe Night was trapped in the same situation he had been in with the Void God.

?He threatened, "[Blaze] will roast you alive the moment he gets a chance!"

?Sara, however, had a fearless look on her face as she pulled her index finger from Night’s mouth and casually resumed petting his hair.

?"It’s just a Primordial God. Wasn’t your Patron God, who is also a Primordial God, toyed with by the Void God as well? They are not nearly as invincible as they make themselves out to be."

?Arthur gripped his sword tighter. He looked like he was about to attack, but recent events had taught him not to underestimate anyone.

?He frantically messaged [The Sleepless Sword]: ’How can we save the Chosen? He has clearly been turned into a marionette! This Sara is definitely a Nightmare Creature born from a story, or maybe she is in the same situation as the Chosen!’

[The Sleepless Sword] "_"

?Arthur pleaded, ’Please! I know I am acting cowardly by asking for your help, but I don’t think we should underestimate this Nightmare Creature if it truly is who I think it is...’

?[The Sleepless Sword replied], ’How could I not see this before...’

?Don’t tell me it has similar means to the Void God, Arthur thought.

He felt his spine shiver in terror, because right now, they were smack in the middle of a city filled with mundane humans.

?Arthur asked in pure despair, already expecting the dreaded answer, ’What could you not see before....???’

?Arthur waited anxiously like a pregnant woman.

?[The Sleepless Sword] finally answered, ’Your stupidity....’

?Arthur blinked. ’Huh?’

?...

?On a distant planet.

?A peerless beauty with silver hair and hands covered in bandages sat beside a man with red hair and red eyes, and a woman with blue hair and blue eyes.

?Her sleepy eyes were shut tight in shame, while beside her, the red-haired man and blue-haired woman laughed.

?The red-haired man’s laughter was completely unrestrained, not giving her any face at all.

The blue-haired woman was a little more restrained, not because she was trying to be polite, but because of the small sleeping baby she held in her arms.

?[Blaze] roared, "Hahaha, this is too funny!" Especially since he knew the story they were talking about.

He had heard it when Night had told her others during his free time.

?[Aqua] giggled softly, careful not to wake up Noela. "This Sara girl has great potential. I would have blessed her just for this if she weren’t already bonded to the boy."

?[Blaze], wiping away a stray tear, said, "I think you should finally consider getting some sleep and doing away with that silly title of yours... hahaha!"

?The Sleepless Sword sighed deeply. She had already given up defending herself, knowing full well they were going to tease her about this for a long, long time...

And for beings like then long time was not a metaphor but a reality.

?...

?Night finally couldn’t hold himself back anymore and burst out laughing.

?He had really tried, but he simply couldn’t control himself.

The situation was just too funny, especially when [Blaze] shared the live reaction of [The Sleepless Sword] with him through their link.

Night finally got to see the another Primordial God thought he guessed the other party might had liked if the situation was more dignified.

?Sara laughed too, having finally gotten some revenge for Night. Even though Night said he didn’t care, Sara cared.

?She felt satisfied after seeing the despair on Arthur’s face.

?Also, Night hadn’t left her hanging; he had shared the Gods’ reaction with her, too.

?After all, good things were meant to be shared.

?...

?After that, it took a lot of explaining from Sara and Night to finally calm down the brother and sister.

?Even then, they weren’t fully assured. Only after [The Sleepless Sword] personally gave Arthur a harsh scolding did he finally accept that he had been tricked.

?Night was pretty sure Arthur had just added a brand-new trauma to his list.

?Zora looked at Sara, who had yet to put away the monocle, and glared. "As we were saying, we called you here to discuss the City Merger that we are about to do today."

?Sara gave her an amused look. "Yes... yes." She kept fiddling with her monocle as if it were more interesting than the fate of humanity.

?Zora huffed, "I hope you have had your ’revenge.’"

?Sara acted dumb. "What revenge?"

?She even pulled the monocle off, breathed a soft "haah" onto the lens, wiped the vapor away with her clothes, and put it right back on.

?Arthur stared at her antics and said blankly, "Monocles should be banned..."

....

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