Chapter 61 World B: 6 "What do you mean?" Ethan Ben...

"What do you mean?" Ethan's already pale face turned even paler. "Bertha? Tenas killed her?"

“Tell me first, what did he say to you?” Ethan immediately stopped talking and let Ethan speak first.

Ethan had no choice but to try to understand the real Tenas and find out what he had lied about, so he began to tell him what Tenas had told him about the two of them.

Ethan was initially calm, but as he listened, he started to sneer repeatedly.

"This is a classic montage lie. You can't be careless just because the other person is someone you know. You clearly noticed something was wrong." Ethan's face was full of sarcasm, even lecturing his own counterpart: "The mosquito bites that guy showed you were real. That was probably a ruse, deliberately staying in a place with lots of mosquitoes to get bitten. And he did have wounds on his neck; he just put on a few more to mislead you. His hair was also cut off during my attack..."

Ethan begins to tell Ethan about his true past.

At first, Ethan and Tenas were indeed best friends, having met in the summer when Ethan was ten years old.

They hit it off immediately, sharing many interests and philosophies. Despite not knowing each other well, they could understand each other's thoughts, and each other's next move was like finding a lost soulmate. They were very happy together.

Ethan had known Bertha and the others since he was very young. After discovering his talent by chance, Bertha led him into the magical world and taught him knowledge.

However, due to his difficult situation, he did not want to involve him, so he was considered an unofficial member and did not truly join Bertha.

The mages were originally neutral, never favoring either side. At the same time, they were too mysterious and powerful, which made the guardians wary. They thought that if they couldn't make the other side submit, they had to get rid of them, which forced the mage camp to fight them to the death.

It's not that there weren't forces that wanted to defeat the Guardians and stop their reign of terror, but without exception, in the long run, the Guardians slaughtered them all, leaving nothing behind.

Because he was familiar with the people in Bertha's camp and hated the Guardians even more, as he grew stronger, he wondered if he could join Bertha's camp in the future and one day overthrow the Guardians' one-man rule.

Because Tenas was his only friend at the time, and the two of them were very close, Ethan got so engrossed in their conversation that he couldn't help but say something that sounded like he was opposing the Guardians' rule, saying that the Guardians' existence was simply superfluous and confusing.

Tenas could still clap and cheer back then, but that jerk was a Guardian before he even met him, and he still echoed Tenas's insults.

Bertha discovered that Tenas was the Guardian, and an even more tyrannical one since taking power, in the first battle after Ethan, who had finally shown his strength, used all his skills to wear Bertha down until Ethan finally agreed to let him join. As his adrenaline surged, he saw a familiar figure, his best friend, Tenas.

At that moment, Ethan seemed to lose all will to fight, and even his breath seemed to stop for a moment. An unbearable cold assaulted him, leaving him ice-cold all over.

Tenas seemed to have noticed him too, and gave him a look of surprise.

Like last time, I prepared a birthday gift that he really liked, and gave him a playful wink. It was as if we weren't on a tense, deadly battlefield, but rather on a lush green lawn in the afternoon, laughing and playing with him.

Tenas was as enthusiastic as ever, which usually left him somewhat overwhelmed. When faced with this kind of situation, his mind went blank, and he was at a loss, almost canceling his flight magic.

No one noticed Ethan's strange behavior. Everyone was busy fighting the enemy, and even if they noticed that Tenas was just being affectionate and playful, they assumed it was just something he did to annoy everyone, as usual.

After the battle, Ethan still clung to a last shred of hope, thinking that it was just a coincidence of namesakes or that he was forced to become a Guardian for some reason, and then he became the leader of the Guardians in a daze.

When he approached Tenas, the latter readily admitted it, as if it were a minor issue like stealing snacks. He confessed that he was the current leader of the Guardians and that he had taken the position willingly, even by killing his childhood rival.

He spoke of it casually, as if they weren't talking about a huge deception and a disparity in status, but simply about where to eat that night.

That shameless guy even tried to invite him to become a guardian after he finished speaking.

She said she knew he was a little dissatisfied with the current system, but it didn't matter. As long as Ethan joined, it could be changed until he was satisfied. They could still be good friends as Guardians and even share the world together.

He spoke with such sincerity that he even employed his own persuasive rhetoric, his words passionate and seductive, that Ethan thought he had gone mad.

At that time, Ethan, who was usually introverted and emotionally stable, had a huge argument with him. It was an outburst of anger that Ethan had never seen before. His attitude and words were sharp, like blades piercing Tenas, who could only look on in bewilderment.

Ethan felt deceived; the Tenas he knew in the past couldn't possibly match the person in front of him.

Was everything he showed when he was with him fake? Were their perfectly compatible personalities, habits, beliefs, and hobbies all just a facade? The person in front of him felt so unfamiliar, as if he were meeting him for the first time.

He couldn't help but feel a chill run through his body, a mixture of anger and disbelief. A surge of emotions overwhelmed him, threatening to tear him in two.

Tenas was surprised by his reaction and felt puzzled.

He looked genuinely puzzled, tilting his head slightly. "Little Ethan, you don't want to? I thought you would join. Didn't you complain about the system I implemented before? If you join us, you can have whatever you want the world to become~" His tone even carried a hint of sweetness at the end.

Ethan, whose mind was on the verge of a breakdown due to a mix of complex emotions, responded by cursing him.

This was the first time Ethan had ever used such vulgar language. Before this, he had never used such crude words for anything.

Even when he's angry, he usually uses words without any profanity, instead of swear words that start with S, F, or B. He has a pretty good temper, and this is the first time Tenas has seen Ethan swear in all the years he's known him.

Tenas was somewhat taken aback, but that didn't stop him from continuing to persuade the other man to join him, which only provoked Ethan's even greater anger.

I've forgotten the specifics of what we argued about that time, but it was a very heated argument. Before leaving, Ethan broke off all contact with him, saying that he would defeat the Guardians and overthrow his rule in the future.

But to my surprise, Tenas turned out to be a complete madman.

Seeing that gentle persuasion was ineffective, they resorted to force, starting by killing off the familiar magicians around him one by one.

Every time he rejected someone, they would send him an invitation. It was hard not to notice; Ethan was going crazy.

Ethan felt lost and struggled, and with the passing of more and more people around him, he began to doubt himself.

After Lily was killed, he found Bertha and poured out his grievances with Tenas all night. He asked her, confused, whether he should join the other side because too many of Bertha's comrades had sacrificed themselves. He couldn't accept that people he knew had died because of him; it was all an innocent tragedy.

Bertha remained silent for a long time after hearing this, so long that Ethan was on the verge of another breakdown. Ever since he learned that his best friend was the leader of the evil organization, the Fun People, his ability to cope had plummeted.

He even doubted whether he was suited to be a magician. No matter how good his aptitude was, could he really be a good magician? Especially considering his existence, he didn't want to lose any more companions.

After Tenas started killing the people around him to force him to join them, Ethan never had a peaceful night's sleep again. He tossed and turned every night, unable to fall asleep, and even when he managed to drift off, he would be awakened by nightmares. The guilt in his heart tormented him, making him increasingly irrational.

“This is what he wants.” After a long while, his adoptive mother finally gritted her teeth and uttered these words: “You are the way he wants you to be now. He wants to see you break down, he wants to see you suffer. He wants you to be like this, someone who would think about joining his ideas so that the people around you wouldn’t die.”

“Absolutely not,” she said. “Ethan, you can’t even think about that.”

She called everyone in her camp together and announced Ethan and Tenas's past to them. In the end, she left Ethan behind, successfully swaying him and making him want to join the other side.

To Ethan's surprise, his friends reacted strongly, not because of their past acquaintance, but because of the very thing that had shaken his resolve.

"Isn't this exactly what that kid planned?" An uncle couldn't help but slap his thigh and said angrily, "We can't let this happen. Don't underestimate Ethan. If he successfully recruits people from the mage faction into the Guardians, this will be a breach."

“Exactly, exactly.” A young woman agreed with the older man’s insightful observation: “Right now it’s Ethan, but could it be any one of us in the future?”

“You can’t even think about this anymore, you know?” Mary sat down next to Ethan and explained the pros and cons to him: “He doesn’t just want you, he wants all the magicians.”

“But…” Ethan wasn’t comforted much; his face was full of dejection, and he was almost crying. “You still have families… What will happen to your families? What will happen to your families if you die? I can’t even imagine what it will be like if Mom dies.”

Mary simply patted him on the shoulder, her voice as soft as a breeze: "My children are gone."

Ethan's expression froze.

Then I heard echoes of agreement from the noisy crowd.

"Me too, my lover and children are all dead."

"My parents died too..."

"My last brothers and sisters are all dead."

"..."

Ethan didn't say anything more.

“We’ve already lost enough,” Bertha said.

In the end, Ethan never said those ridiculous things again.

Tenas's coercion continued, and when Ethan was eighteen, perhaps annoyed by his lack of action, Ethan obtained Bertha's mutilated body.

From this point on, Ethan and Tenas became sworn enemies. The intense hatred forced him to grow, gradually transforming him into the numb person he is today.

Out of fear, after losing Bertha, Ethan placed his only remaining concern, his mother Selene, in a safe place he had been searching for a long time—a remote village—and erased her memory.

He did more than that. After confirming that Selene would be safe, he gave the villagers a large sum of money to take care of her and ensure her safety. He also blurred the villagers' impression of him, so that they would only remember that a mysterious person had told them these things when Selene encountered trouble.

Then he went back to his place and disfigured his face.

Although Teans had never met Selene, he looked so much like his mother that he was afraid he would find Selene by following her appearance, and he was afraid of losing another mother.

Even after achieving this much, Ethan still felt it wasn't enough.

He left himself a message, briefly explaining why he did all this, and then erased his memories.

When he woke up again, he felt dazed upon seeing the messages, his heart empty, and he was somewhat surprised that he could do so much for that woman.

It's clear that he really loved his mother before, but he didn't have that part of his memory after waking up. Although he felt a little empty inside, he still couldn't understand it.

How amazing! He once loved someone so deeply that he was willing to erase his memories and disfigure himself just to protect that person.

He became increasingly determined to kill Tenas.

Now, all of this is happening, and they're dragging it out for longer and longer.

Ethan knew perfectly well that Tenas had the ability to kill him. At that time, Bertha was the strongest in the magic faction, yet he was still killed by Tenas's scheme.

After Bertha's death, he gritted his teeth and took her place, leading his companions to continue fighting, albeit with some stumbles. However, he was too inexperienced and was teased by Tenas who then shared his experience with him.

Ethan didn't know why Tenas could act like nothing had happened, as if the things he and the people around him hadn't been done by him, and his attitude was as close as that of a best friend.

This disgusted Ethan, who felt that Tenas was being incredibly hypocritical.

Should we let him play like it's a friendly match? Friendship first, winning second?

Is this the same? His family consists of older brothers, sisters, uncles, and aunts whom he has known since he was ten years old. Over time, they have developed a bond and are family members without any blood relation.

What about Tenas? As far as he knew, only Nadia was someone he was relatively familiar with. The other person he was familiar with was a woman named Reena who was competing with him for the leader position, but she had already been dealt with by the other side.

Everything else is consumable; a new guardian is immediately replaced upon death. They operate under the rule of fear. They don't care about the lives of their subordinates, let alone Ethan's companions; they only care about Ethan's life. Occasionally, they might even save Ethan if he's in danger.

As for who brought the danger, that's not an important question. Just focus on Tenas's efforts to repair his relationship with Ethan.

Thanks to his best friend [now estranged] Tenas, Ethan lost a lot.

Ethan lost almost all the wizard elders he had known since childhood; the uncles and aunts who used to tease him all left him, with only a few still alive.

Ethan lost Bertha, the one who led him to this wondrous world and who was also his adoptive mother. He couldn't even piece together her body, as it was mostly destroyed.

Ethan also lost Selene, forced to lose her, because he had to protect her and couldn't afford to lose her again.

Then he hid her in a place he never expected, erased her memories and disfigured her. To this day, he still hasn't figured out where he might have hidden Selene, but he hasn't made a special effort to look for her, afraid that if he did, Tenas would notice something.

But Ethan also gained something.

He learned painful lessons, the price of trusting others, and the experience of being forced to manage his adoptive mother's team after her death.

Physically, he also experienced anorexia, insomnia, irritability, a slightly lower will to live, emotional instability, self-doubt, and so on. All of these conditions arose because he was under immense pressure and his mindset could not withstand it.

Although Ethan lost almost everything, he also suffered a series of negative consequences, all thanks to Tenas. Ethan's dreams were filled with either his deceased elders or the dream of killing Tenas with his own hands.

Every time I wake up, I feel regret that it was just a dream. Why didn't Tenas die? The contrast is so stark.

Ethan opened and closed his mouth, but couldn't utter a word for a long time. In the end, he could only cover his face and let out a desperate cry.

Montage lies and such are terrifying.

Tenas's account of the past isn't exactly the same as Ethan's; some words were rearranged, and some important information was omitted, but there are indeed some similarities.

Entering adolescence at fourteen = discovering Tenas's true identity and breaking ties.

His attitude was intense, the argument was particularly fierce, and he felt the world was messed up, all because of Tenas's identity.

After the leader died, she went mad for a while = her adoptive mother collapsed after Tenas killed her and was afraid that Tenas would harm Selene.

Ethan loves desserts but has lost his appetite.

One by one, it's all Tenas's fault.

How could I lie to him... At first, I even wanted his help to get Ethan to 'return' to the Guardians. Later, although I changed it to easing tensions, both were the same thing—impossible! The Guardians are a terrifying and evil organization in this world.

This world is going to have been a waste of time. I'm grateful to my counterpart for not killing me and for telling me the truth after I was deceived.

The Tenas in this world are so twisted that even the Tenas on his side would have to confess if they heard about it, even if it wasn't him who did it but his counterpart.

If Turnus were to come into this world, he would be utterly astonished...

Wait a minute, if Tenas were to come to this world, he might not be able to survive safely in front of his counterpart. After all, being an exact replica and a Guardian, he might not even listen and would just be dealt with. Ethan has wanted to kill Tenas for a long time.

"By the way, I was just about to ask, is there no Starfall City in this world?" After Ethan calmed himself down, he belatedly realized that his counterpart had never mentioned Lord Starfall.

Is it because this world hasn't become a guardian, and we're not familiar with it?

“Starfall City…?” Ethan repeated the name. “…What’s that?”

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Author's Note: I feel like I'm writing something like the kind of story I've read before, where the male lead hurts the people around the female lead to force her to submit... I'm going to hang myself.

But Ethan truly loves his wizarding family, though the way he's portrayed might seem a bit odd... He'd already spent a considerable amount of time with them before meeting Tenas.

Tenas is a playful character, and I wanted to write about his naive cruelty. In this world, the Guardian is indeed the villain, becoming even more wicked after taking power. The magician faction, originally neutral, was forced to stand on the opposite side.

However, Tenas didn't intend to use Ethan as a starting point, as the magicians suggested. He simply genuinely liked Ethan and wanted to be villains together; he genuinely didn't want Ethan to die [because they were quite compatible during their time as best friends].

If it were anyone else, this dungeon wouldn't be so easy. This is because Ethan's identity in this world is quite unique, and another person who makes him special is Tenas's counterpart. He has initial goodwill towards Tenas [but not towards others, especially Reina]. As long as Ethan proves he's not with Tenas and truly comes from another world, he won't face too much trouble.

So many magicians are alone because wars are frequent. Tenas wreaked havoc not only in his own country, but also in other nations, causing even more devastation. The problem is, he couldn't defeat any of them; one or two of them could only submit.

I'm certain I'll pass the exam I took a few days ago. I passed the theory test, and the teacher said no one fails the practical test. However, the results haven't been released yet, so I'm writing and posting as I go. I've written over 5000 words today, and I'm completely exhausted QAQ. I'll finish the rest tomorrow.

Green and white have fish