Chapter 178: It’s all fake

Perletti looked at the face before her—the expression filled with concern and faint amusement—and asked uncertainly,

“You are… Ino?”

Hearing the confused tone in that question, Ino frowned instinctively.

“Hm? What’s wrong with you? Don’t tell me you can’t even recognize me anymore. Weird… Have you been overworking yourself again? I already told you to get proper rest, but you never listen. See? You’re so exhausted you’re hallucinating now.”

Her tone was natural and familiar, carrying the teasing unique to close friends.

Clearly, in this Ino’s eyes, Perletti was someone extremely important to her.

“N-No… wait a second. Let me sort my head out first.”

Perletti pressed against her throbbing temples and tried desperately to focus.

“Fine by me. The battle’s over anyway, so take as long as you want.”

Ino shrugged and casually sat down on a chunk of broken stone beside Perletti, tugging at her somewhat damaged black robe.

“The battle… is over?”

Only then did Perletti finally get a clear look at her surroundings, and her pupils contracted slightly.

As far as the eye could see was the aftermath of war.

Collapsed buildings, drifting smoke, cratered ground, and in the distance, groups of people in matching black robes struggling to dig the bodies of their companions out from beneath the rubble.

The architecture was rough and towering, filled with obvious Imperial characteristics—nothing like the refined elegance of the Elven Forest.

“This place… where is this? This definitely isn’t the Elven Forest! And you—none of this…”

None of this makes sense…

Wait—

Where’s Scarlet Night?!

Perletti hurriedly searched herself in panic, but no matter how hard she looked, she couldn’t find the tiny purple sable anywhere.

Her heart tightened instantly.

“Yeah, we just finished a hard fight.”

Ino failed to notice her small movements and continued speaking casually, somehow producing a cup of water from nowhere and handing it over.

“After the battle ended, we were cleaning the battlefield when I found you lying here, so I came over to check on you. Here, drink some water.”

Perletti accepted the cup in confusion.

The clear water carried a faint orange fragrance—processed with Ino’s Gluttony divine power.

She took a sip, and the familiar sweetness helped calm her down slightly.

“Where… are we exactly?” she asked carefully.

“Don’t tell me you really turned stupid?”

Ino burst into laughter and poked Perletti’s forehead.

“Navia! Don’t remember? Fine, I’ll be more specific—the Imperial capital, Navia.”

She paused, her tone carrying the pride of a victor.

“Honestly, though, breaking into Navia was way easier than expected.”

“Oh, Navia…”

Perletti repeated the name absentmindedly before suddenly reacting.

“Wait—WHAT place?! Navia?!”

She knew that name all too well.

It was the Imperial capital—the heart of the Empire and humanity’s homeland!

“No… this is all wrong! There’s no way the Church of Gluttony could ever conquer Navia, let alone already ‘finish the battle’!”

Within Perletti’s understanding, the Church of Gluttony should have had absolutely no chance of taking the Imperial capital at this point in time!

So what exactly was going on here?

A shocking possibility rapidly formed inside her mind.

“This isn’t reality… I’m still inside the World Tree! This might be some kind of trial, an illusion created by the God of Decay… or maybe a parallel world?”

She forced herself to calm down.

Right now, the most important thing was figuring out the rules of this “world” and her own situation within it.

“Oh right…”

Pretending to sound casual, she continued asking,

“Do you know where Scarlet Night is?”

“If even you don’t know where she is, how would I?”

Ino rolled her eyes irritably.

“Aren’t you two usually inseparable?”

“True…”

Perletti nodded and rose from the ground, brushing the dust from her clothes while quickly observing both the environment and Ino’s reactions.

This version of Ino seems very familiar with me. We even seem close…

Could it be that in this “world,” I joined the Church of Gluttony and fought alongside them in the war to overthrow the Empire?

To confirm the timeline, the best option would be finding someone whose age visibly changed.

“What about Vinika? Is she nearby?”

If Vinika is still a child, then the timeline is probably close to the reality she remembered.

But if she’s already grown up…

“Well, speak of the devil.”

Ino lifted her chin toward Perletti’s back.

“There she is.”

Perletti turned around.

Walking toward them was a tall black-haired beauty with graceful curves, dressed in perfectly tailored dark clothing. Her steps carried a lazy confidence, almost like a cat’s elegant stride.

More surprisingly—

Beside her walked a much shorter girl with white hair and violet eyes.

A girl Perletti could never mistake.

The moment the two spotted her, their eyes lit up simultaneously.

“Big sister!!”

Yet unlike the Scarlet Night in Perletti’s memories—who would always throw herself into Perletti’s arms without hesitation—the Scarlet Night here merely approached quickly with a bright smile, without any especially intimate physical contact.

And that black-haired woman…

“Vinika?!”

Perletti could barely believe her eyes.

The mischievous little girl from her memories had grown into a mature beauty overflowing with seductive charm. Only her eyes still retained traces of the same clever spirit from before.

“So a lot of time really has passed… at least several years.”

That realization only made Perletti doubt the authenticity of this “world” even more.

“Oh my, Perletti’s here too?”

The grown-up Vinika approached with a radiant smile tinged with playful teasing.

“Hehe~ do you know you missed quite the show?”

“A show? What show?”

Perletti deliberately put on a confused expression, glancing between Vinika, Ino, and Scarlet Night before suddenly pretending to realize something.

“Let me guess… it’s about Josuna?”

“Hm?”

The smile on Vinika’s face faded slightly.

She suddenly leaned closer, carefully examining Perletti’s expression. A strange glimmer flashed through her violet eyes.

“That really doesn’t sound like you, Perletti.”

“Maybe big sister completely forgot about that bad woman already?”

Scarlet Night spoke from the side.

Compared to the Scarlet Night in Perletti’s memories, her tone here was much brighter and more cheerful.

Although her appearance hadn’t changed, her temperament felt far more relaxed—like a normal lively girl.

“Right, big sister?”

“…Did she die?”

After hesitating for a moment, Perletti finally forced herself to ask.

Even knowing this world was most likely fake, hearing Josuna’s name still caused a sharp pain mixed with complicated emotions to quietly spread through her chest.

“Oh?”

Hearing that tone, Vinika finally smiled in satisfaction again.

“I knew it. There’s no way you’d actually stay indifferent after hearing news about your little sister. Look, your second sentence already exposed you.”

“Mhm, that’s true.”

Scarlet Night nodded along.

A trace of loneliness briefly flashed through her eyes before being quickly hidden beneath a smile.

“After all, you two were sisters who lived together for decades.”

“So?” Perletti pressed further, her heartbeat growing increasingly restless.

“How is she now?”

“Relax.”

Vinika waved her hand casually.

“She runs faster than a rabbit, so she’s alive and doing perfectly fine. Though honestly, compared to the previous Saintess of the Holy Light Church, our dear ‘little sister’ is way weaker.”

The previous Saintess—Agnes.

Even within Perletti’s memories, Agnes had already fought for the Church for nearly ten years. Whether in strength, experience, or mentality, she was far beyond someone as inexperienced as Josuna.

That comparison actually sounded perfectly reasonable.

Learning that Josuna was at least still alive made the heavy stone hanging inside Perletti’s heart finally loosen slightly.

Even though she remained painfully aware—

This entire world was probably nothing more than a false illusion.

Yes.

None of this was real.

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