[Vol. 7] Chapter 89: The Erased Past
The siblings had worked together for years and shared an unspoken understanding. The moment Sophie moved, Enrique immediately pulled back the string of his signature weapon. An unusual wooden blade-bow, similar in material to the shield but entwined with lush green vines. With just a single-hand draw, vibrant green energy formed into a solid short arrow, ready to be fired!
Even though the dense, shadowy forest at night concealed the enemy’s exact position, their attack had already given away their location. This arrow would undoubtedly—
Just then, a voice suddenly burst out from the woods!
"Hey, wait! Stop! Everyone, stop!"
A young girl dressed in a thief’s outfit dashed out from the underbrush, throwing herself between [Tree Bow] and the distant forest where the attack had originated. In the dim moonlight, she frantically waved her hands.
"Not an enemy! I swear, not an enemy!!"
"?"
Without a doubt, it was that girl, Le Qiaoqiao.
The moment she appeared, Sophie and Enrique both froze for a second. Everything they had done up to now was purely instinct. An automatic response from seasoned adventurers the moment they sensed an unknown presence creeping into their danger zone.
The life aura had appeared out of nowhere, as if a ghost had suddenly materialized. Simply put, it had startled them.
So the other party’s situation was likely to be similar.
With the thief girl stepping in to de-escalate the situation, [Tree Bow] and [Tree Wall] hesitated, exchanging confused glances before lowering their weapons. Meanwhile, the [Shadow] creeping behind the black-haired girl slowly stilled once again.
Even so, none of them fully let their guard down. After all, the situation was far too strange.
"...Captain? Vice-Captain? What are you doing here...?"
[Tree Monkey]'s voice rang out from the treetop, precisely where Enrique had aimed earlier. As he spoke, figures emerged, Hongyan, Le Qiaoqiao, and the rest, stepping out from the bushes or leaping down from the trees.
Who else could they be but the team members who had been missing for an entire day?
Seeing that everyone had returned unharmed, Enrique finally breathed a sigh of relief. He exchanged a glance with his sister and Violet, giving a slight nod.
"Well, at least you're all safe. But where exactly have you been all day?"
The [Tree Monkey] group, including Hongyan and Le Qiaoqiao, exchanged confused looks. One of the older members of the Tree team, a middle-aged scholar-looking man, almost forty, frowned in puzzlement.
"Captain, what do you mean? Weren't we all traveling together during the day? If anything, I should be asking. You went to investigate that village, so why did you suddenly appear from the opposite side of the campsite?"
"Yeah, yeah! Boss, what kind of magic trick is this? Next time, can you at least warn us before doing this? That was seriously creepy!"
The thief girl nodded furiously, and the rest of the group seemed to agree, completely unaware that anything was off. Meanwhile, the three legendary-rank adventurers glanced at each other, their expressions, dimly illuminated by the moonlight, growing increasingly complicated.
Sometime later, at the temporary campsite outside Adelaide Village 192. Everyone sat around a freshly lit campfire, exchanging what they knew so far.
"So... from your perspective, an entire day has passed?"
After listening to Enrique's explanation, the middle-aged scholar, [Tree Branch], a core member of the [Tree] adventurer team, seemed to grasp the situation and summarized it for the others.
[Tree Bow] shook his head.
"It's not just from our perspective, it's the truth. Last night, after confirming the situation in the village and deciding to stay there temporarily, I even came back here to discuss it with you all and remind you to be cautious. Both Sophie and Miss Violet can confirm this."
Seeing the two women silently nod in agreement, the others, especially Hongyan and Le Qiaoqiao, who had a deep understanding of Violet's true abilities, hesitated, looking uncertain.
"Wait, wait... this is way too crazy! But my memory doesn’t feel like it's missing anything. How could an entire day have passed just like that?"
"…Same here. Miss Violet, in my memory, we only just arrived in this area. Everything Mr. Enrique mentioned never happened at all."
The priestess, sensing questioning gazes on her, didn’t rush to answer. Instead, she simply shook her head and added,
"Before we start arguing about who's right and who's wrong, let's first confirm each other's identities. While you all seem fine to me, given the current situation, we can't rule out the possibility that this is some kind of illusion created by a special power… or even that you're imitations."
After thinking for a moment, Violet casually asked,
"Qiaoqiao, do you remember the target we were tracking on this trip and what happened when you first met them?"
"Target we were tracking?"
The thief girl, sitting by the campfire, blinked in confusion before finally realizing who Violet was referring to. She couldn't help but stick out her tongue, scratching her head awkwardly.
"Boss, you're really jealous. I just touched the little dragon’s horns a few times. Do you have to keep bringing it up? I nearly got beaten to death back then…"
"Ara~ How can you say I'm bringing it up on purpose? This is just to confirm your identity."
Violet said with a cheerful smile, shaking their head in denial as they casually moved past the topic. They continued asking a few more small details about past events, even things that had happened in Ancient Spirit Realm, but Hongyan and Le Qiaoqiao answered smoothly without a single mistake.
"This copy is quite flawless…"
"For the last time, we ARE the real ones!"
After that, Enrique and Sophie used similar methods to confirm their teammates' identities. Only then did the subtle tension lingering in the air completely dissipate.
Once everyone fully grasped the situation, [Tree Branch], the middle-aged man dressed like a scholar, who looked nothing like an adventurer, adjusted his unusual-looking "glasses" and calmly analyzed,
"As unbelievable as it sounds, what the captain described is certainly possible. It also explains why we suddenly ran into each other without warning. However… we still can’t completely rule out the possibility that you were the ones affected by an illusion, making you think you experienced an entire day."
Enrique frowned slightly. "You mean…?"
"Hmm, remember how the captain said that last night, you successfully entered Adelaide Village 192, interacted with many people and things there, and that’s why you believe that time moved forward for you while it remained frozen for us?"
[Tree Branch] stated this with a completely neutral expression before continuing,
"The power at play here wouldn’t be something designed specifically against us. It must be centered on Adelaide Village 192 as a whole. So, regardless of who's right and who's wrong, the key to solving this mystery undoubtedly lies over there."
"If this space we’re in is actually a mysterious node where time keeps looping in a closed cycle, then we should be able to test it by manipulating certain variables."