Goblin Knight - Chapter 320



Only Noblemtl

EP.320 The End of the Dream

Even though everything around him had turned black and turned into a lightless void, Blanc could feel the space disappearing at a rapid pace.

As if I had first seen the rippling ground, something that made up the space was crumbling and crackling, while at the same time some force was restoring it.

But the speed couldn’t keep up. The ripples in the darkness were gradually expanding their range.

This space soon.

‘Anelli’s Dream’ will be dominated by sway.

And then-

“Annelli!!”

Feeling the ominous fantasy slowly becoming reality, Blanc shouted the girl’s name in a fearful and anxious voice.

There’s no way it could end like this.

There was no way his seed, who knew everything and could do anything, could disappear so meaninglessly.

The reason he brought Blanc into his dream was because he had come up with a good idea that could turn this situation around… he desperately believed it.

“Annelli!! Can you hear my voice!!”

Was this an answer to his earnest call?

It seemed as if I could see a purple light sparkling in the ripples that filled the surroundings.

As he hurriedly ran there, the sight of the girl Blanc had been longing for appeared.

Although there was a huge horn near its head, purple wings and a waving demon tail near its back, and the color of its eyes flashed between red and purple… … .

“Master… sir.”

“Annelli… … !”

His beloved squire, who still lingers on without returning to Nellyvia.

Blanc felt deeply relieved. Thank goodness. It’s not too late. He found a way before his ego disappears.

Now all that’s left is for Anneli to give me the solution as always, and for me to follow it. If I do that, if I just do that, Anneli will continue-

As if to shatter that weak delusion.

“I’m sorry… Master.”

“……what?”

“I can’t… bear it anymore. There are too many, too many. Those who call themselves ‘me’ instead of me… I’m not talking about those outside. They were here. When I said I entrusted them with my wishes, I meant it literally. It was all, it was all with her… … .”

What Annelly conveyed was an apology.

Even for her, there was nothing she could do, nothing she could do to stop herself from transforming into another being.

Even while saying those words, Annelly’s ego continued to waver, and the image of the demon Nelivia continued to shake as she continued to talk nonsense.

Blanc shook her with a voice that sounded like she was about to cry.

“Annelli, Annelli… Come to your senses. That’s not it. This is not it. You can handle it!!”

“… … It’s impossible, Master. If something else… were trying to eat me up, I could endure it as long as I could… But right now, that ‘something else’ is me. I’m the nightmare that’s preventing her from waking up… … .”

“No, Anneli! How could you dismiss that devotion, that belief, that love as a dream? How could those thrilling days we’ve spent together be a dream!? Please, Anneli, I!!”

“Master.”

Annely smiled sadly.

Even though he knew better than anyone what Blanc was talking about, he was the one who was the saddest and most afraid.

As if trying to appease him.

“No matter how sweet the dream is, in the end… the dream will eventually break.”

“ah…….”

With those words, Blanc came to a clear realization.

Annely will soon disappear.

There was nothing that could stop her from waking up from her dream and transforming into the ruler of the dream world, Nellyvia Jenn Heinswerk.

No matter how much Blanc refuses to admit it, the harsh reality will not change.

Still.

“I don’t want to… send you away like this… … .”

“… … .”

Blanc extended his trembling hand to Annely.

With an obsession that could be called petty, with a greed that did not want to let go of his Annelies.

Blanc begged for another answer.

“Isn’t there any other way? When Nellyvia wakes up from her dream, is there really no way for you to still be there…?”

“… … Dreams are a manifestation of suppressed consciousness. That means I share some of Princess Nellyvia’s ego, so you may feel that I resemble her to some extent-”

“You know that’s not true, Annelie. The journey we took together, the thrilling emotions… the memories. Are you saying that everything is really going to disappear?”

“I guess so.”

Annely nodded her head sheepishly.

“Maybe… for a short time, the memory will remain. When you first wake up… that’s when dreams are most vividly remembered.

But… even if I remember all of that, it’s all just a dream. Every day was a new adventure… even a miracle greater than the most powerful magic, even my deepest love for you… in the end, it’s all just a dream. Unreal.

When Princess Nellyvia wakes up… even if her memories remain, it is unlikely that my feelings will remain.

If possible… even if I guess favorably, it would be something like ‘those kind goblins who protected me while I was dreaming’. Perhaps, I might be angry at the very fact that I was able to communicate with the goblins even in my dreams.

… … Ultimately, since we know nothing about Princess Nellyvia… everything is unknown.

“The only thing that is certain is that when she wakes up… if she is asked to choose between the life and death of the goblin knight she loved in her dream and the life and death of the entire race she will rule over… she will definitely choose the latter.”

My heart felt like it was going to break as Annelies struggled to put each sentence together.

Because it was just words that proved that the ominous speculations that Blanc had been trying hard to deny were true.

Then, suddenly, Blanc felt her cheeks wet and reached out to her hand, and realized that she was crying.

Didn’t you promise yourself that you would never cry like a child again while Anneli was looking at him?

And yet, the fact that I was so overcome with emotion that I burst into tears… … .

In the end, I guess that means you accepted it.

There really is no other way.

Annelly had called him here so that she could use her last bit of strength to say goodbye to him… … .

Blanc collapsed to his knees in despair.

What came to mind were words of resentment toward the world, and at the same time, a fear that could not be helped but be remembered.

His grandfather, Baron Romont von Gallif.

He was more faithful than anyone else in the world, but he lost his loved ones twice and ended up going crazy.

Blanc had already lost his mother horribly, so losing Annelie would be a second loss.

So, will he eventually become unable to overcome the pain and sorrow of loss and go mad like Galif?

Could it be that I am unable to reach my nobility and am transformed into a ferocious mutant goblin?

I don’t know. I couldn’t know anything.

From the moment she met Annelie, she had been like Blanc’s world to him, so he couldn’t even imagine a life without Annelie.

Blanc weeps, gripped by the fear of not knowing what the future holds, and prays fervently that they will not take her away.

A warm feeling was felt at his bedside.

Annelie was holding out her hand to him with a kind smile.

“… … Don’t cry, my dear.”

“Annelli, but, how, I… … .”

“Even though I may disappear from this place… Princess Nellyvia will not.”

“That… What good does that do!? What I want is you! You, the one who gave me your body, mind, and even soul, whether it was your dream or not! You, the one I decided never to let go of! But how-”

“There is only one way… no, ‘fate’ left.”

“fate?”

“The possibility that I, who was just a dream, would not be forgotten by Princess Nellyvia when she woke up from the dream. The destiny to become Princess Nellyvia while keeping all those memories, even this feeling of loving you.”

Blanc looked up blankly and looked at her.

What kind of wordplay is that? Fate is not a method, but a destiny. Fate is something that has already been decided, so how can an individual manipulate it?

“If I was… a ‘lucid dream’ that Princess Nellyvia was having, then everything would be resolved.”

“……what?”

“We still don’t know. Why did Princess Nellyvia seal herself despite all those wishes? Why did she become Annelie, a human girl who wanders endlessly through the winter, only wishing for nobility?”

“That’s… that’s true, but… … . That’s something that happened in the past! I can’t intervene or change it!”

“No. Certainly, the ‘past we know’ is something that cannot be changed. It is a fate that has been confirmed because it has been observed. It is also said to be a prophecy that has already come true. However… … .

“The past we do not know is not like that.”

Annely approached him, put her hand into his bosom and took something out.

That was… a rabbit’s foot.

This time, a new artifact was obtained from the shimmering land.

Not the ‘already used’ ones they have.

A powerful weapon that can transcend even time, with power remaining in it that can be used for more time──

“Annelli, no way… … !”

“Master, you do not know Princess Nellyvia’s past. Therefore, you can interfere with her past.”

Annely said with a grin.

“For some reason… ‘I’ am very familiar with this artifact. It seems like I’ve studied how to use it for a long time. I don’t think I’ve ever used it… … .

Anyway, I can use this artifact, the rabbit’s foot, to send my master back to the distant past.

There, make the former Princess Nelivia fall in love.

Since I originally wanted her to become Annelie and fall in love with my master, please make sure that even if I wake up from this dream, my memories and feelings will not be forgotten.

“It’s not that I disappear when Princess Nellyvia wakes up… It’s that Princess Nellyvia, who was originally Anneli, wakes up.”

It was such a transcendent story that it sounded absurd.

Leaving everything else aside, doesn’t it make no sense that a mere goblin could fall in love with a being that reigns over all demons?

But to put those worries to rest.

Annelie, whose trembling grew more intense, hugged him warmly and whispered.

“Don’t worry too much.

Of course, it may not fit well at first.

“Because I was like that too.”

Oh, that’s definitely it.

Because I remember the slave girl’s appearance when I first met her in Katia, as cold as ice.

The girl who said that the best way to survive was to keep her mouth shut and endure, even when persecuted by evil… who had nothing but a single flower.

“But I believe.

Even if it’s not me who’s there, in the end, I know that I’ll be walking the same path.

I will eventually fall in love with you again and love you again.

“It was born to be that way.”

With a strange confidence that there is absolutely no basis for it, but it is as if it were already an established fact.

Annelie closed her eyes and brought the rabbit’s paw to her chest, tightening her hold on him.

It was shining golden, and the ticking of a clock and the sound of shoes could be heard from somewhere.

“therefore…….

For now, goodbye.

My most precious… … .”

Annelie’s agitation has become so intense that she now looks like nothing more than a princess of the Demon Tribe.

Even as the darkness of the dream that had covered the surroundings disappeared.

With a sound of “click, click, slap!” everything around him began to elongate, and he felt his body being dragged somewhere.

The last thing I heard as my consciousness faded away was…

“My master.”

It was Annelie’s voice, tearfully bidding farewell.