Curse the Mainframe! 278 Comatose

The forest was rather silent, and Alec knew the reason why.

There were groups of men that had been entering into the forest, subtle though they may be.

His brows furrowed a little, which wasn't missed by Elysia, who had been staring curiously at his face.

"What's wrong?"

Alec blinked, breaking his concentration. "There's been a few groups of people that have entered the forest."

Elysia tilted her head curiously. "Where from?"

"The same way we entered previously."

"Oh, so they're from the town! I guess the festival is over." There was a smile on Elysia's face, though her eyes seemed to carry a bit of dubious questioning.

The conversation between the two died a little, and Alec thought to himself that it wasn't the festival ending that had brought the groups of men into the forest.

As far as he knew, the forest was rather avoided by the town, and was far away enough that the town didn't have to worry about monster hordes, hence the avoidance about it.

No one visit the forest for herbs or anything of the sort of their own accord. Rather, Alec heard a few rumours that the only time the forest was accessed was when there was a prisoner to be executed.

Sometimes, instead of execution, the people from the town drove them here instead.

No, these men were looking for something – or rather, Alec privately thought, someone.

Originally, Alec had hoped that someone would come and take the stalker away, saving him some trouble, but with Sekai now… well. It was a whole different manner now.

If he went along the plot routes, then he didn't think that anything so convenient was about to happen. Such was the life of a Main Character.

While they should have moved on from the forest already, there had been a bit of a complication with Sekai's seal that had ended up sending him into a state of unconsciousness.

It had alarmed Alec and Elysia respectively.

Alec especially, since he hadn't even tampered with the brand on the transmigrator's neck just yet. This meant that the seal was a lot more complex and sensitive than he originally thought, which was not a good thing.

There had been the barest flashes of runes before they attacked the Sin's body, causing him to instantly lapse into a comlike state. He hadn't been able to fight back at all.

Alec's first instinct had been to grab the Main Character and haul him to safety, but upon closer inspection, should anyone move Sekai from a meter vicinity from where he first dropped, it would result in an immediate termination of life on both sides.

He could not be moved for two days, and had Alec not had knowledge in runes, the consequences would have been dire on both ends.

Alec had to begrudgingly acknowledge that the creator of that damned sickening brand knew what they were doing – and they knew it well.

It didn't sit right with him to see runes being used in such a way – he just couldn't help his knee jerk reaction.

By the day, it was slowly overpowering whatever misgivings he had with the transmigrator. Alec had no doubt that if it continued down this line, all his negative feelings related to Sekai would eventually fade away until only the urge to help was left.

The more he studied the brand, the more he felt disgust for its creator.

How could someone in their right minds create something so inherently evil?

Alec just didn't understand. Nor did he want to.

Still, he didn't think that it would be so bad for him to rid himself of the negative feelings in his heart towards the transmigrator.

He could faintly feel that the day he was able to let go of his lingering negative emotions would perhaps be the day that he transcended into the advanced stage.

There was no rushing it, and no one said that he couldn't have petty revenge on the transmigrator, so he was actually rather satisfied with his conclusion.

Still, Sekai had all but placed himself into Alec's hands when he had assented to the System working on his seal.

With such a duty, Alec wouldn't leave the other to die no matter what lingering negative feelings he had for the other.

There was still had ten minutes left before they would be able to freely move Sekai around, and the other was still in a comlike state.

Not only were they a person down, they likely had to fight with this burden…

Alec's brows furrowed more when he thought about it, but he wouldn't just leave the other here.

Still, the people that were coming were relatively strong. There was a single person that radiated strongness beyond all three of the Main Characters, even.

If Alec wasn't mistaken, that man should be a Meister.

Which was, quite frankly, terrible for them.

If you thought about all the cliché plots – well, this would be the time where they fought almost to the point of dying, before miraculously escaping after paying a huge price.

While they would not be able to win, they wouldn't die immediately either.

Still, Alec had a feeling that the men were here for that stalker that was following him around day and night.

It was just his damn luck that the psycho stalker was part of some influential family or clan.

Inwardly, Alec was frustrated, but Elysia only felt a few wavering emotions from his slightly fluctuating magic.

Still, before she could discern what emotions he was feeling, they were under control.

But she had a feeling. "Are those men coming for us?" she asked seriously. Her question was sharper than he expected.

Surprised, Alec looked at her, before turning back to look at Sekai who was still deep in the grips of a coma.

"I can't be certain, but they're likely here for the girl that's been following us."

There was a pause as a sharp cry pierced through the air, coming at the worst time in the world, followed by a thud of the body in the distance.

Alec silently closed his eyes.

Of course.

Of fucking course this would be the time that the crazy stalker would get hurt almost fatally, from the sounds that Alec heard.

Right at the moment when the men that were coming into the forest to find her.

Sure enough, when he watched the situation from afar, the people that had been combing the forest zeroed in on the scream like bees to honey, and Alec bit back a curse.

Of course she was unconscious as well!

Alec glowered at Sekai's unconscious form. Why did it always feel like someone or the other was unconscious?

For fuck's sake, Sekai was a Main Character!

Damn the plot!

Now, they were going to have a misunderstanding or whatnot that caused that Meister rank to come charging at them for their lives. He knew this plot development!

He originally thought that perhaps it would be the arrogant young master Travis' clan that would come after them for retaliation about what had happened between the young master and his henchman, but it looked like Alec misjudged the lengths that he would go to in order to keep his secret.

Then again, he supposed that with them going at it again for a few more rounds even after they were out from the influence, could he say that the young master had opened a new door?

Still, he had been preparing for those clansmen to come instead, but the ones that had come were the ones who were related to that crazy stalker.

The most aggravating thing about this situation was that he was sure this was going to get out of hand.

He could already feel the flare of anger from the strong magic that was coming from the Meister, and Alec felt chills run up his arms at the sheer depth and magnitude of the man's magic.

It was rapidly changing to killing intent, and Alec took a breath as he stared at Sekai's comatose body.

Chapter end

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