"Oh no... oh no..." Robin whispered, placing both hands over his head as if trying to physically contain the panic surging inside his skull. His breathing quickened. His heart thundered like war drums. A silent reel of his life began to unravel in his mind, memory after memory flashing by like pages ripped from a burning book. the fairy reappeared at the left edge of the mirror, her voice calm and pleasant, as if nothing in the universe had shifted. Her eyes narrowed slightly in confusion. Robin wasn't responding. He wasn't even seeing her. His expression wasn't that of someone waiting. It wasn't even one of mild annoyance. His eyes were vacant—disconnected—like someone who had just seen a future they weren't prepared for. Like a man watching his own execution. she asked gently, the air between them suddenly felt tenser than glass. "…Matter?" Robin echoed with a voice that sounded hollow, as if it had to crawl its way out from the back of his mind. Then, slowly—like lightning reaching a tree—her words struck him. His eyes refocused, flaring with sudden intensity. "Is something the matter?! You tell me! Weren't you the one who told me to head to the public lobby?! Don't you know what the hell is happening out there?!" the fairy tilted her head slightly, puzzled at the scale of his panic. "Yes, yes, that I expected," Robin snapped, eyes wide. "I assumed there'd be a few nosy agents. People who get too curious when someone invents something useful. That's normal! It's what happens to everyone! I thought I'd get a little heat. Maybe even a background check or two!" Then his voice exploded, raw with disbelief. "But you never told me I'd become a bloody myth! That my name would be whispered in every single corner of the Mid-Belt! Every damn avatar in the public lobby was chanting my name like cultists at a summoning ritual!" Her tone remained calm, but a note of seriousness entered it. With a small wave of her fingers, a glowing scroll unrolled in midair beside her. It showed a long list of products, talismans, and arrays—all crafted by Robin. His most recent additions, the five martial arts techniques, glowed with golden aura at the bottom of the list. She smiled, not mockingly, but in genuine awe. Robin stared at her, horrified—like a man waking up in someone else's skin. "But how?!" he cried, voice cracking. "Aren't we in the Mid-Belt?! The cradle of accumulated genius—where every brick has a legacy, every shadow holds a master?! There are civilizations here with millions of years of history! Why the hell do my inventions matter?!" He gripped his hair, almost pulling. "I thought... I thought my work would vanish into the noise. Like throwing a needle into an endless ocean." the fairy said softly, her voice carrying the weight of truths unspoken. She raised a single finger, a gesture as graceful as it was deliberate. She paused, her luminous wings fluttering behind her like echoes of a forgotten song. Then she turned her gaze directly at Robin, her expression sharp as moonlight on ice. Robin clenched his jaw, brows furrowed in silent tension. Wasn't it expected for a Truth Chosen to master many paths? Wasn't that the point of Seeing everything? Had he misunderstood the role from the start? But the fairy was not finished. She raised a second finger, her tone darkening. Robin stood frozen, mouth dry. To him, those innovations were nothing. Not compared to what he still had hidden. They were tools to earn credit. To make a living. To pave the way for the Empire of True Beginning. If he had tried to craft all those arrays and talismans himself, he wouldn't have made a fraction of what he earned now. Not even 1%. He suddenly felt a chill. What would happen if he sold "Deathfire"? If he unleashed the "Foundation Modification Technique"? Or the terrifying "Soul-Filling Technique"? The fairy's voice broke his thoughts like a dagger through fog. She smiled now, a smile both amused and dangerous. Robin scratched the back of his neck, guilt and embarrassment crawling up his spine. "Not entirely... I suppose I got carried away. When I heard from that boy about the condition of humans in the Mid-Belt, about their suffering, their helplessness... I guess I wanted to raise them up a little. Even if just symbolically." He gave a nervous chuckle. "Yeah… that one's on me." The fairy's expression hardened. Her wings slowed their shimmer. she said quietly, every word coated in caution.
