Chương 73: Climbing the Mountain

I was so surprised by this generous offer that the words slipped out before I could think.

"Huh? Why?" Nathan replied, "If a Hero Candidate goes along, at least two soldiers will have to follow. It'll be safer that way, right?"

"Well, yeah, obviously. But I'm asking, what makes you want to help me?"

"I'm not helping you. I'm just choosing the most feasible and quickest way to solve the problems at hand."

"What about the wound on your head?"

"Iris healed it. I don't feel any issues anymore." Realizing it was a bit awkward for us to keep talking at the door, I invited him into the room. Nathan looked a bit uneasy as I offered him a seat. He looked at me and asked:"Why aren't you worried, knowing I have the ability to read minds?" I replied, "I was worried at first, but that skill of yours is very weak right now, isn't it?"

"No matter how weak it is, there's still a high chance I can read your thoughts if we're in direct contact. And yet, you didn't hesitate to bring me back yesterday." When he said that, I suddenly realized I had been a bit careless. Nathan's behavior over the past few days had led me to conclude he was harmless, and my guard had involuntarily dropped. But relaxing wasn't too serious a mistake. After all, I always had the chance to redo everything from the moment before we met.

"So, what have you read from my thoughts?" I asked casually.

"... You believe this town is in serious danger and desire to solve it more than anyone else. At the very least, I haven't felt any evil intentions from you. I want to leave here as soon as possible, so I think we can cooperate." So, Nathan's mind-reading ability hadn't reached the level of being able to read every specific thought clearly. It seemed he could only sense intense surface thoughts or a person's primary psychological state.

That made sense; humans have many streams of thought running through their heads at once. Sometimes, people even lie to themselves. Reading a few thoughts and truly understanding a person are two very different things. Looking at it this way, Nathan was really just a boy who was overly sensitive to the emotions and thoughts of others. And if I had to pick the most important factor to prevent a person from becoming a villain, I'd say it was empathy.

More than that, it seemed nearly dying in the landslide yesterday had made him feel insecure about the current situation, and my rescue had made him see me as more trustworthy. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. I asked him, "You think following me is safer than sitting down here and waiting?"

"You're very smart, and you have a strange kind of confidence. I've never seen that kind of confidence in anyone else. It's as if no matter how bad things get, you're certain it won't affect you. I'm betting on that." The confidence he was talking about was likely the fact that I knew for sure I would always have a chance to reset everything. Regardless, having an extra person to go up the mountain was a good thing, so I didn't overthink it.

"Fine. You handle the equipment. I'll write you a list of necessary items; it's best if everyone has their own set." That evening, I went to find Lealia to ask for some first-aid herbs and something to stop bleeding. We hadn't spoken privately for two days, so she looked quite awkward, but she still gave me all the herbs I needed. As I was leaving, she suddenly asked, "Is it really necessary to go? Can't we just wait here until the rain stops or help arrives from the outside?"

Her eyes were filled with genuine worry. I could only shake my head.

"I can't." I had wondered several times over the last few days—if I reset everything, would Lealia make a different choice? But in the countless scenarios I imagined, the answer was always no. Her decision not to pursue the title of Hero stemmed from internal issues, something an outsider couldn't solve for her. I wasn't a psychiatrist; I was just someone trying to make life easier for myself. The reset button would always be my last resort, used only when things were so bad they were beyond saving.

It's like, if your goal is to pass university and escape a toxic family, you don't retake every single test until you get all the perfect As. Therefore, as much as I regretted having to give up on Lealia, I wouldn't use the reset button for this. Fortunately, the rain subsided significantly the next morning. The dark clouds broke enough for sunlight to pierce through. With this weather, the townspeople would be out more. They would quickly find out that all the roads leading out were blocked.

It wouldn't cause chaos immediately, but in a few days, it would be a major problem. But letting them panic was better than having them all infected by Miasma and turned into ghouls. The purpose of my trip up the mountain was to prevent that from happening. The mountain path was slippery after two days of heavy rain, making every step exhausting. Luckily, the soil here was quite firm and didn't turn into a muddy mess when wet.

This time, to be careful, I started leaving markers by tying cloths to branches and carving into tree trunks once we left the main trail. I led Nathan and the two soldiers to the spot where I had hidden the ghoul corpse the other day, but there was nothing there now. Nathan asked, "Are you sure you didn't remember the spot wrong?" I didn't answer him. I walked to the spot where I had buried the head and started digging. After two days buried in damp earth, the head had rotted severely.

My digging also peeled away a large portion of hair and rotting flesh from the crown, making it look absolutely horrific. I regretted not wrapping it in leather or cloth before burying it. But fundamentally, it could still be recognized as a human head. The church soldier named Jonas wrinkled his nose and frowned.

"There's no sign to prove this is a ghoul head." Jonas clearly didn't believe me and thought coming up the mountain at this time was foolish, but as the soldier responsible for Nathan's safety since day one, he had no choice but to follow. I glanced at Nathan, signaling with my eyes for him to use his power to do something about the man who had been dragging his feet the whole time, but he didn't even look back at me.

However, he didn't object to continuing higher, so I guessed he could sense that my words were true. Regardless, now that we were up here, proving whether the head belonged to a ghoul or not wasn't important anymore. I said bluntly:"I cut this head off myself, but the body is gone. There are no wild animals here; the only possibility is that someone took it. We aren't the only ones on this mountain, so if you want to make it back alive, you'd better not be careless."