16 - Memory of Heros (2)

In the middle of the darkness, someone was typing and typing at the computer that was lit in front of him, he kept typing until he couldn't see the time ticking away, and he kept typing until the knock on the door called him.

Only with that knock did he know that he was wanted. That was the knock that told him that the food was being delivered to the door of his house. It's a habit that he keeps doing, he even forgot about the phone ringing to look for him. 

Forgotten everything.

Yes.

Let's forget everything.

It's just a bad dream.

When I wake up, I'll be in a field of flowers with a long dining table where their favorite foods are neatly arranged. They must be waiting for me.

I must catch up with them quickly.

Otherwise, they'll leave me here alone in a hellhole full of eyes watching him.

***

Why do I feel uncomfortable now? 

Eriu felt uncomfortable with his suddenly silent surroundings. Everything was so dark that he couldn't even hear a sound, even though the train was still moving.

It was as if time had stood still.

"Eri, can I ask you something?" Those pink diamond eyes lit up brightly as Eros took Eriu's hand.

Eriu gasped before he regained consciousness.

Maybe it was because his senses were really sharp that he misjudged their surroundings...

"Did you know that every time you go into the forest, there's someone peeping?"

"Huh, isn't that you?" Eriu's eyes narrowed suspiciously, after all, Eros himself had said that he was following him out of fear that someone's child might suddenly go missing. 

"Pftt," Eriu chuckled briefly before smiling with a mysterious smile that made even Eriu feel suspicious, "are you sure you know Linda and not someone in disguise?"

"..."

I wasn't wrong,

The atmosphere is really suspicious right now...

"Tell me, how many times have you met her?" His eyes shone softly in the darkness, giving a twinkle every time he looked into those beautiful eyes. If someone other than him knew that those diamond-like eyes could shine beautifully in the dark, how many people would target this child to pry out those eyes?

People who are always in higher positions of power would use that power to capture him, to pressure him, to threaten him, just so that he could be with them.

They would sell him as a display piece on their bed and decorate their home with such a beautiful human being. 

Sometimes he even thought of locking his friend up and not letting the world see him, but he knew that it was not him, but the original owner of this body. Even when that person in front of him threatened him, his feelings were mixed between pleasure and fear, and it happened again and again until sometimes he couldn't tell what was his or the original owner of this body's feelings.

"Ah, haha..." With an awkward laugh, Eriu pushed away his awkward feeling and thought it was just a bad feeling, "You mean my first meeting with Lei's sister, Linda?"

"I also met Linda during my first meeting with Aunt Emma." 

Although it felt awkward, Eriu tried to act as natural as possible to hide his nervousness. If the person in front of him was a god, that person would surely realize that he was scared and happy at the same time. So act as natural as possible and dispel that suspicion, if he finds out that I'm just an impersonation of his loved one, everyone here won't be safe.

"That day, as usual, I sneaked off to look for magic stones, you know how I like to collect things that look cool and unique to me. So I like to go to places that are a bit extreme."

"But that day, I heard a scream echoing through the forest, not far from where I usually collect magic stones."

You could say that I'm going to tell a lie and the truth now, considering that on that day, all the magic stones I collected and put in the tree I marked suddenly disappeared somewhere.

The tree I marked wasn't there either, they all seemed to have moved, but since I was accompanied by 001, I didn't question my feelings too much with the system's statement that there was nothing dangerous there. After all, who would be afraid of the darkness when the most powerful system could enter my soul.

Even in fantasy novels where the characters have a system, they are bound to find a dragon egg in front of their house or near a forest that is rarely entered.

So I immediately thought that I would find my comrade-in-arms, who might be a stray dragon, and that it might be a way for me to survive a horrible death.

I didn't want to be burned alive, I wasn't fried chicken.

"Perhaps because I was a bit surprised and also curious about where the sound of screaming was coming from, I quickly ran to see where the sound of screaming was coming from. But being very suspicious, I peeked out from behind a tree and saw the old grandfather beating the pregnant woman until her blood splashed everywhere. But the woman was covering her stomach, so I immediately saved her from dying at the hands of the old man who reeked of alcohol."

It was thanks to 001 that he learned that there were other people besides those two and himself. 001 said that someone was peeking out from behind the tree at the other end, so the old man stopped in surprise at his appearance. Gathering strength from his stomach, he immediately shouted loudly to scare the surprised old man.

Uncle, someone is doing something illegal!

"There I realized the existence of Linda, who was also in the forest that day, so that with her help I and the woman could survive, but that day I didn't know the woman's name because she had been taken to the nearest health center for treatment."

Within a minute, many people from the patrol came to save the woman, but what was even more confusing was that they didn't look at me as if I had never been there. The alcoholic-smelling old man was also arrested immediately and said that I did it, but everyone there let him talk and some even thought the old man was crazy.

I just thought 001 did something because 001 didn't say anything.

"That day I met Linda and got to know her. Linda was the one who told me about you being taken out of the village. I even thought she was lying, because her movements seemed a bit suspicious to me, maybe because of the pressure from her parents, so she might have been acting a bit scared".

"Heh." Eros sniffed mockingly, "No wonder you came earlier than expected."

"I didn't even think you would be the first to arrive."

"?"

Those soft fingers immediately hooked between his fingers. A faint light shone, but because it was too faint, Eriu did not notice it because he was really just staring at the person in front of him.

"Instead of telling me to wait in front of the playground, you even told me to wait for you there. When another child called out to me, you said you would wait for me, but you suddenly disappeared... "

"Uh..." There's nothing suspicious about that.

"When I went to look for you, all the kids in the playground were gone, and there were only three people there."

"..."

Didn't they disappear too fast?

Eros came closer and tried to hide their clasped hands, "I never told you to wait for me at the playground, I never even saw you that day. I was in the fields that day as usual." 

"Don't you realize that the person you call 'Linda' is very suspicious?"

"Linda would never go out of the house unaccompanied by her parents, and she would never go out unless someone was looking for her." Seeing Eriu full of questions, Eros happily explained, "I was asked by the God of Hope to help her, so I often meet Linda."

"Since the God of Hope heard her prayers, I, as her incarnation, must obey her request."

"God of Hope, Ramiel has many enemies, including people called brothers. They are all enemies even though they are of the same blood."

"Including diseases that will continue to be contagious and infectious."

"!?" Eriu came to his senses and noticed the yellowish pink light that surrounded his hand and Eros' hand. With all his strength, Eriu tried to free himself from Eros' grip.

"Take it off! Are you crazy, everyone will wake up!"

Eriu quickly confirmed his guess that time seemed to have stopped. From the beginning, the windows of the train showed only darkness, not even a sign that the train was moving.

"I'm just trying to remove the curse that was placed on you, so be quiet."

"!?" Eriu's face grew worse at Eros' statement, "C-curse?"

"Uhm, if they were still after you, I couldn't do much, but now we are so far away from them. This is also the reason why Knight Grace told us to leave. I even realized that the curse they put on you has been on your body for 7 years." 

"If you stay any longer, you will become one with them."

Eriu was even speechless.

Me? Cursed? 001 didn't even say that there was something evil in the village...

"Now this god of hope is trying to get rid of it, so calm down for a while." Eros still looked calm while Eriu had a bad face, he even thought he would die first before meeting the dragon.

Before Eriu could thank Eros for the umpteenth time for saving him, he suddenly felt tired and his eyes kept opening and closing. Eros, noticing this, closed Eriu's eyes with his bare hand. 

The fresh and sweet scent of soft, chamomile-like flowers made Eriu feel even calmer. 

"Go to sleep."