Chapter 21: Yesterday’s You and Tomorrow’s Me

“Although the terrain of the Drifting Underground Cemetery is constantly changing, not every area moves.”

Ryan straightened up from the sofa and casually pulled a sheet of white paper from the coffee table, then began sketching a rough diagram with a pen.

“Its structure can be understood simply as this, the shifting waters of a river, with fixed reefs scattered throughout.”

He drew arrows between the circles.

“The sections that don’t move are those ‘reefs.’ Every temporary camp left behind by the adventurer parties that entered before was built on one of them. So our goal is simple, find the reefs and use them as stepping stones to move forward.”

Vidia walked behind Ryan, her wine-red eyes fixed on the crude diagram.

“Easy for you to say. Finding fixed points inside a constantly shifting maze, isn’t that basically looking for a needle in a haystack?”

“Exactly. Even if an ordinary person knew the locations of the fixed points beforehand, finding their way through a constantly changing maze would still be extremely difficult.”

Ryan set down his pen and leaned back against the sofa.

“But you’re not an ordinary person, are you?”

Sidelika caught the subtle change in his expression, and her emerald eyes lit up.

“You don’t look worried at all. You’ve already got a plan, don’t you?”

“More or less.”

“The Drifting Underground Cemetery… Back when I was still with Dawn, I secretly went there a few times.”

All three of them turned to look at him.

Sidelika blinked.

“Alone? You went to an A-rank ruin by yourself?”

“I wasn’t there to fight monsters. I just went in to get a feel for the layout.” Ryan shrugged. “After exploring it a few times, I managed to figure out some of its patterns. I originally planned to wait until I had completely figured it out before taking Anna there to conquer it.”

At the mention of Camuanna, his tone remained perfectly calm, but the atmosphere in the room suddenly became strangely quiet.

“I thought she’d be really happy if we successfully conquered an A-rank ruin. But something else came up afterward, so we never got the chance.”

What happened after that was when he was kicked out of Dawn, rendering all those preparations useless.

He had thought those preparations would never have a chance to be used again.

Yet after going around in circles, he had somehow ended up right back where he started.

Fate really was ironic.

“So Camuanna choosing this place for the bet is basically shooting herself in the foot?” Eluvier bit into her meat pie, her voice carrying a hint of schadenfreude.

Ryan shook his head.

“Who knows?”

He stood up and stretched.

“Either way, we’d better be careful. I’ll put together a detailed overview of the Drifting Underground Cemetery later. Everyone can look it over when I’m done.”

“We’ll spend a few days preparing, then set out.”

“Yes, Captain~” Sidelika crossed her legs and gave him a playful wave.

****

Meanwhile, at Dawn’s headquarters.

“You’ve got to be kidding me?!”

Rurika’s voice was filled with shock as she stared straight at Camuanna, her eyes brimming with disbelief.

“The Drifting Underground Cemetery? That’s the place even Sword of the Firmament couldn’t make it all the way through. And you just casually chose it as the stake for a bet?”

“Have you lost your mind?”

Camuanna sat across from Rurika, silently enduring her questioning.

“What were you thinking?”

“I didn’t choose it casually. I had my reasons. I have a way to win.”

Rurika let out a cold laugh.

“Based on what? Then tell me. What makes you think we can win?”

Sitting nearby, Camuusia suddenly raised her head, her long pink hair slipping from her shoulder.

She looked at her younger sister as if she had thought of something.

“Anna, don’t tell me you…”

Camuanna met her gaze for a moment, then nodded.

“I’ve actually been to the Drifting Underground Cemetery many times.”

Rurika froze.

“What?”

She shot to her feet, the legs of her chair scraping harshly against the floor.

“Alone? You went to a place like that by yourself? What if something happened to you? Who was going to save you?”

“I know what I’m doing.”

“You know what you’re doing, my ass!”

Rurika, who was normally quiet and reserved, rarely swore.

But everything that had happened recently had left her unusually irritable.

“With you looking like you’ve completely lost your soul, how am I supposed to believe you?”

“If you really care that much about Ryan, then why did you drive him away?!”

Camuanna lowered her head without offering any rebuttal.

“All right, all right. Rurika, that’s enough.” Seeing the situation getting out of hand, Camuusia hurriedly stepped in to smooth things over. “Didn’t you agree to let Ryan leave back then, too? Don’t fight.”

“Go on, Anna.”

Camuanna bit her lower lip, then raised her head to meet Rurika’s eyes.

Her golden eyes were filled with determination.

“I’m very familiar with the conditions inside. The terrain, the enemies, I know most of it by now. Anyway, please believe me. I’m confident we can do this.”

Rurika stared hard at her for a long while before finally dropping heavily back into her chair.

Camuanna had already made herself clear.

“I’ll say this beforehand.”

Rurika’s beautiful hair fell over half her face.

“If you lose control when the time comes, I’ll knock you unconscious and drag you back myself. Got it?”

Camuanna froze for a moment, then the corners of her lips curved upward.

“Okay.”

****

It was late at night.

The moon over the Shattered Lands was enormous and perfectly round, its silver-white light spilling across the balcony railing like a thin layer of snow.

Camuanna stood there alone, one elbow resting against the cold railing as she stared at the dark city walls in the distance, lost in thought.

Soft footsteps sounded behind her.

“Miss Anna, why are you still awake so late?”

Olivia approached with a cup of warm milk and held it out to her.

“Thank you.”

Camuanna accepted it.

“I couldn’t sleep.”

Olivia quietly stood beside her, looking out into the night with her.

After a long while, Olivia finally spoke softly.

“Is it because of the bet?”

Camuanna took a sip of milk without answering.

“Sia just told me that you used to sneak off to the Drifting Underground Cemetery by yourself at night.”

Olivia turned her head toward her.

“Why?”

The wind blew in from the distance, carrying away the warmth rising from the milk.

Camuanna lowered her eyes to the tiny ripples forming across the surface of the cup.

She remained silent for a very long time.

So long that Olivia began to think she wasn’t going to answer.

“I wanted to give him a surprise.”

Him?

Olivia froze for a moment before realizing who she meant.

“I thought… if I could lead everyone in conquering that place, he’d be really happy, wouldn’t he?”

Camuanna’s voice was very soft, almost as though she were talking to herself.

“I wanted to prove to him that I could do the things he could do, too. I wanted to share his burden. I wanted him to see me in a different light.”

She lowered her head and gazed at the moon reflected in the milk.

“More than anything, I wanted to give that success to him as a gift and tell him, I’m capable of protecting you. So I didn’t tell anyone. I went there alone.”

Olivia stood where she was, unable to find anything to say for a moment.

She could hear the sincerity in every word Camuanna spoke.

That clumsy affection, that feeling she didn’t know how to express, had been hidden away in night after night of venturing alone into danger.

But…

If she cared that much, then how had things ended up like this?

Camuanna seemed to notice Olivia’s silence and turned to look at her.

Perhaps thinking that her own melancholy had rubbed off on Olivia, she reached out and patted her shoulder, forcing a smile.

“Don’t worry, Xiaowei. I originally thought all the effort I’d put in would never get the chance to be useful.”

She tilted her head upward.

The moonlight fell across her face, making her golden eyes shine especially brightly.

“We’ll win.”

Watching her smile, Olivia’s lips curved upward as well.

“Mm… We will.”

Beneath the moonlight, the two figures stood side by side.

Neither of them knew that… on the other side of the town, there was someone who had once done exactly what Camuanna had done.

With exactly the same feelings in his heart.

Walking exactly the same road.

Only, the gift they had both wanted to give…

In the end, neither of them had ever managed to place it in the other’s hands.

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