Chapter 82 Heartless Choice

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No one's POV

Night in the wasteland grew deeper, and the only light upon the earth was from the purple moon. The soldiers of the Human Guardian Army and the dark knights and pugilists of the Dark Territory's army on the other side of the bottomless abyss fell into a deep sleep.

While the forces of both sides recharged for the coming battle, the light from one tiny tent simply refused to go dark. At times, muffled laughter could be heard from under the hemp canvas—but only by a single owl that perched on the branch of a nearby tree.

Eventually, the lamp oil ran out, and four exhausted young women fell asleep, nestled around the object of their interest.

A while later, in distant Centoria, the midnight bells rang peacefully. Naturally, their sound did not penetrate to the distant Dark Territory.

At that very moment, every citizen of the Underworld experienced what could be called a tiny chrono-vibration. It was the effect of the simulation's Fluctlight Acceleration dropping to real-time speed, but hardly anyone who was awake even noticed the shift.

It was midnight on the eighth day of the eleventh month of the year 380 in the Underworld's Human Era.

It was midnight on July 7th, 2026, according to Japan Standard Time.

At this moment, the time of the two worlds was in perfect synchronization.

(Timeskip)

As she ate a simple breakfast of two hard toasted pieces of bread surrounding cheese, dried meat, and dried fruit, Philia's mind sleepily worked through some calculations.

Philia(mind):...If time is accelerated a thousand times here, that means I get to have a thousand meals in the time that people in the real world eat just one. I'm assuming that means I won't get that much fatter...

She glanced up ahead at Alice and Sortiliena, who were equally sluggish in the process of eating their sandwiches. Through the fabric of their dresses, it was clear that the other two had lithe physiques with absolutely no extra meat on them.

Did lifestyle diseases even exist in this world? Or was your physique based on fixed parameters that were assigned at birth? Or perhaps a person's appearance was like a mirror that reflected their mental state?

Next to her, Ronie was cutting a sandwich into little pieces for Zora to eat.

Ronie: Here, Senpai

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Ronie: Here, Senpai.

Alice claimed that she had been feeding him enough to maintain his life level, but apparently there was nothing she could do about how scrawny he looked. It was as though he wished that he could simply vanish from the world.

Ronie:...Zora-senpai's cheeks are looking less pale this morning.

Ronie suddenly said, as though she knew what Philia was thinking.

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