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There was no mistaking who the dark-haired and yellow-eyed little girl was. But Emilia had to admit, her slightly chubby friend was far more likable in her childhood than she was now.
But aside from being slightly taken aback, Emilia didn't feel much else for Dolly. After all, it was natural for people to change as they grew up, and she didn't believe that Sylvia's friend would treat either her or the heroine particularly well as she was now.
In fact, she was far more interested in knowing what Darryl would do, as it was a rare chance to peek into his psyche.
Of course, being just a 'memory', Darryl was completely unaffected by the beautiful girl's sharp and expectant gaze, and just continued to wait silently as the situation got worse.
"This has nothing to do with you, Dolly!"
"Yeah, get out of the way!"
"Sylvia knew we didn't complete the homework, so why did she mention it to the teacher?!"
As the saying goes, 'snitches get stitches', and the dark-haired little girl seemed to have already accepted her 'just punishment'. And the 'children' around her seemed to be in no mood to listen to anyone's explanation or persuasion anymore, either.
In fact, they probably hadn't been particularly polite even before things reached an 'irreversible' point, as Sylvia's usually healthy and silky brown skin was already covered in small scratches, presumably from a previous scuffle.
Emilia couldn't help but frown. 'Maybe we should have started viewing the timeline from an earlier point…'
Although she couldn't be sure, the crimson-haired girl had the feeling that Sylvia's 'submission' to the hero in the original timeline might have had a lot to do with their 'past', though the 'impact' of the hidden quest's manipulation on her decisions also couldn't be ruled out, either.
"Don't you dare touch her! I'll fight you!"
But although Dolly appeared fierce, everyone around seemed to already know that she was all bark and no bite. Two girls easily swept past her to grab Sylvia's hair, and started pulling her away angrily.
"If we don't teach her a lesson today, she'll never learn!"
In fact, it was impossible for a single 'snitching' incident to devolve into such a nightmare for the heroine, but Emilia had no way to probe into it further.
Under her narrowed gaze, the 'hero' waited patiently without revealing himself to the crowd, even as Sylvia was bullied and scratched by four different girls while the rest of her 'classmates' watched.
Of course, Dolly kept screaming unwillingly from time to time, but she was ultimately helpless and easily held down by a couple of boys.
Just as Emilia was starting to wonder when the hero would finally make a move, the dark-haired boy stepped forward and yelled 'Stop!', immediately frightening all his classmates.
The crimson-haired girl couldn't help but sneer. "Even at this age, he knew how to time his 'rescue' perfectly to maximize the gratitude he reaped, huh…"
"I-It's Darryl!"
Emilia wasn't sure how fierce the hero's reputation must have been, but based on everyone's uneasy expressions, she could only wonder how he got it. Not only did some of the children immediately back off, many of them even fled directly.
And the most nervous of them all were the four girls who had been 'handling' Sylvia just moments before.
Unfortunately, Darryl seemed to not care about their explanations at all, and directly knelt in front of the 'injured' girl to check on her wounds. "Are you alright?"
Dolly took this opportunity to break free from the crowd, and immediately started crying. "W-We, our Sylvia obviously is a good girl, so why does everyone have to bully her like this?"
The hero frowned and shook his head slowly, then extended his hand to help the still-dazed yellow-eyed girl off the ground. "Come, I'll take you to the infirmary."
Emilia watched coldly as Darryl neither reprimanded nor responded to any of the words directed his way. 'To the one being saved, maybe it's really charming, as if he'd already sentenced them as guilty and taken her side without question. But in fact, he's just cleverly avoiding making enemies and ruining possible relationships.'
Of course, even she wouldn't be able to think so 'badly' of a young child's actions, and might even have passed it all off as just herself thinking too deeply, had she not witnessed the hero planning it all out beforehand.
She couldn't help but sigh. 'He's definitely not an opponent to be underestimated, for sure.'
Following after the 'retreating' hero, as Emilia watched their interactions, her understanding of their characters slowly grew.
Dolly was both selfish and immature, with a very weak sense of responsibility, while the heroine was quite insecure and shy, quite unlike her older self in the future. The hero, meanwhile, remained as enigmatic as always, never really exposing his true thoughts to others.
Emilia smiled. 'He's really careful and thoughtful with his actions as I thought... maybe I can continue to use that to my advantage.'
Of course, as the 'memory' progressed, seeing Dolly's eyes get brighter and brighter whenever she stared at the hero, the crimson-haired girl couldn't help but sneer.
The complaining little girl had long since forgotten that the grievances she was expressing were mostly borne by her friend, and had been completely carried away by the knight in shining armor who had 'rescued' her.
Maybe Dolly at this time didn't understand yet what her true feelings were, but in the future she certainly must have, and that must have been the start of her 'friendship' with Sylvia turning fake.
Otherwise, there was no way she could have betrayed the heroine in the way that she did.
Emilia turned her gaze to young Sylvia, who was being ignored by both her 'best friend' and the supposed 'knight in shining armor', and couldn't help but feel sad.
The beautiful little girl covered in scratches looked even more like an abandoned puppy when her eyes got teary, and if not for being unable to interfere with the 'memory', Emilia would have already rushed forward to give her a hug.
She couldn't but curse. "Ahh! Being forced to just watch this… it's really torture!"
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The 'dream' went on for what felt like a very long time for Emilia, but for the rest of her teammates, it was only a few moments.
Before they'd really even started to worry, the crimson-haired elf had already broken out of her 'daze', and the phantom of the level hundred 'enemy' also returned.
Danielle couldn't help but frown. "Emilia… what's going on? Did you complete the quest?"
She hadn't been very happy when Emilia chose to challenge a non-hostile, high-level 'NPC' without even consulting her first, but thinking about how 'lucky' the crimson-haired elf had been so far, it was impossible for her to get too angry.
After all, the concept of 'no risk, no reward' was still very clear to the drill-haired girl, and she knew that putting a leash on Emilia's willfulness might be a bad idea.
But all that being said, she was still a little upset.
Emilia stayed silent, and the ghost didn't move, but that didn't mean no one in the cave had any idea what was going on.
After all, Crystal could always deduce a few things with her ability.
The blonde girl smiled. "It looks like the two of them must have entered into some 'mini quest' mental battle or the like, given how she challenged the ghost earlier."
It was impossible for others to resist their curiosity for long, and after realizing that there was no 'danger', they quickly surrounded Emilia and the 'corpse' of the Blood Monarch.
Fortunately, Emilia soon regained her senses, and at the same time, the 'Blood Monarch' also moved.
"Although you have failed my trial and lost to me in the world of dreams, I admire your tenacity and talent, and shall allow you to become my Blood Servant. Do you accept?"
His gaze was even more proud than before, but knowing that their 'star player' had been defeated, Emilia's teammates could only remain silent.
Danielle couldn't help but sigh. 'She must have lost because of the level difference.'
Sylvia's thoughts were also along the same lines, while Robin and Nico felt wronged on Emilia's behalf as well.
"If they'd been at the same level, Emilia would definitely have crushed that guy!"
"Right!"
The moment they voiced such thoughts, the ghost's eerie gaze immediately focused on them, making them involuntarily jump in fright.
"So, do you wish to submit, or not?"
"E-Eek!"
"Kyaaa!"
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