An Unwelcome Guest
Some time had passed since the incident at the ruins.
Thankfully, nothing similar had happened since then, but...
Is it really okay for me to keep the Journey going?
Well... Even if you ask me that, I can't really give you a clear answer.
When it comes to the [Journey], you're the expert here, Captain.
I figured as much...
Why not try looking at it from a different angle?
After all, she's someone Lady Alicia personally selected.
A different angle?
Yes. You're worried that Hilde might be a cold-blooded person who doesn't care about others.
But from what I've heard, Hilde herself has never said anything like that.
So you're saying...
...That it might just be a communication issue?
That's hard to imagine...
Well, you asked, so I answered.
If she really were that cold-blooded, she wouldn't have saved you in the first place.
Lisa's words struck a nerve I'd been overlooking.
The day the Voidborns suddenly fell onto NOA...
If Hilde hadn't helped me then, this [Journey] would have ended before it even began.
Oh, by the way, was today's schedule canceled?
I checked the time and realized it was already fifteen minutes past my appointment with Hilde.
Hilde was still staying at the secluded quarters I'd visited before.
After being told by the staff that they hadn't seen her today, I knocked on her door.
Hilde, are you there?
...There was no response from inside the room.
Thinking we might have just missed each other, I absentmindedly turned the doorknob, when...
Ugh...!
I spotted Hilde collapsed in the middle of the room, her body trembling as if in pain.
Hilde?!
Captain...?
Why are you... here...?
Don't come closer!
Her irate shout made me stop in my tracks.
I guess... I didn't realize how much time had passed.
I'm fine. My condition just... took a turn for the worse for a moment.
This much is...
That was when I finally realized the strange sight unfolding before my eyes.
You're awfully nosy...
...Can you help me over to the bed? I need to lie down for a bit.
Leaning on me, Hilde had none of her usual strength.
...Up close, I could see she was still covered in cold sweat.
I never expected to end up like some kind of exile in a place like this...
You should go now. Sorry, but I don't even have the energy to talk.
Just think of it as a trick of the eye.
Wasn't your objective to complete the [Journey]?
You don't really need to know more than that.
You're awfully silver-tongued...
Like I said, I don't have the energy to argue with you right now.
How long are you going to keep acting like—
That's why you should ask the [Witch].
That scheming one will answer your questions.
...So that's why you came to see me.
I must say, being called "scheming" is a bit unexpected...
First of all, what you saw was not an illusion or some kind of visual trickery.
Everything that happened was real.
Because the world is rejecting her.
The world...?
Alicia slowly raised her head and looked up at the sky.
In the sky above Astro Sanctum, a massive scar-like mark was etched across it.
Do you see it? The wound carved into the sky.
It was created as a side effect when your Journey member entered this world.
...
She does not originally belong to Lavistar.
Under normal circumstances, she would have lived a different time, never crossing paths with us.
No, even among such beings, she is an exceptional case.
She has lived while crossing hundreds, no, countless worlds.
Crossing... worlds?
Yes. That is my judgment based on the traces I felt from her.
And those traces...
Most of them were remnants of decline.
Fragments of worlds that have vanished, or are destined to vanish.
It was almost unsettling how such a path could even exist.
...
Normally, she can endure the rejection without issue.
But in a state where she has expended too much power, it becomes difficult.
That is likely why the symptoms are manifesting now.
As I listened to Alicia, the image of Hilde smashing through the ceiling of the ruins came back to me.
...Captain, people trust their own experiences.
Sometimes to an extreme, leading them to make judgments that others cannot understand.
The more experience one has, the greater that distance becomes.
Yes. There is no way she wouldn't have known.
Her consistently domineering attitude... perhaps it was the result of having lived through too much.
Still, whether her disregard for those around her was truly the right choice, I couldn't say.
You look like you've grasped a clue.
...A little.
I see. Now that you have a clue, you'll come to your own understanding soon enough.
As for her condition, I believe I can help to some extent.
There are ways to at least alleviate it.
Think nothing of it.
If it is a choice you have made, Captain, then it will be the right path.
Then may the blessing of the stars be with you.