At the edge of the camp, the wasteland wind swept grains of sand through the air.
Vera and W strolled one behind the other. Unlike usual, though, Vera was the one following behind W.
"What?" Vera's calm voice broke the silence.
"Does it make you uncomfortable to have someone following behind you?"
"..."
W's steps paused almost imperceptibly before she continued forward as though she hadn't heard a thing.
Vera raised an eyebrow slightly, somewhat surprised.
Given W's personality, she had expected an immediate barrage of sharp-toothed retorts.
But since W wasn't taking the bait, Vera was happy to enjoy the quiet.
Part of her attention drifted over the chat logs. After Gregor had retracted that [Stay safe], there had been no further message from him.
Vera remained silent.
Even those rough-and-ready mercenaries could tell something was wrong with her mood. How could she herself not realize it?
To be honest, after Gregor had taken the initiative to apologize, she wasn't actually angry anymore.
They had been concerned for her safety. What was there to stay angry about?
But...
A nameless fire still burned in her heart—not directed at Gregor or the others, but at herself...
"Hey!"
W's voice interrupted her thoughts, and Vera looked at her with displeasure.
"Finished checking?"
W snorted and folded her arms as she looked at Vera.
"Checking? Why doesn't our esteemed employer take a good look at where we are first?"
"?"
Vera swiftly looked around. Without realizing it, they had already wandered far away from the camp.
When she looked back, the campfire was nothing more than a faint speck of light on the distant horizon.
"...What are you trying to do?"
Vera's expression turned completely cold.
That lunatic had led her somewhere this remote. She definitely wasn't up to anything good.
"Nothing."
W spread her hands, wearing a deliberately innocent expression.
"There are just some things... that aren't convenient to do in camp."
"What kind of nonsense are you—"
Before Vera could finish—
"Beep beep beep beep beep—!!!"
A sudden electronic sound effect that made Vera's scalp prickle rang out, particularly piercing in the silent wilderness.
[Time Stop Sound Effect]
The world instantly froze. Vera quickly summoned the little demon and scanned every corner.
Another bomb! That lunatic!
I knew nothing good could come from her asking me out here!
Finding nothing around her, Vera frowned in confusion and focused her gaze back on W.
Sure enough, at W's waist was an explosive device flashing red as it counted down.
Vera's face darkened. Without hesitation, she reached out and hurled it into the distance!
Time resumed.
"Beep—!"
The instant the sound stopped, W immediately noticed something was off.
She instinctively reached for her waist, only to find it empty.
"You'd better... give me a reasonable explanation!"
"An explanation?"
Hearing Vera's words, W looked as if she had heard something hilarious.
She lazily flicked her fingers and walked toward the patch of darkness nearby—the very direction Vera had thrown the "bomb."
Under Vera's uncertain gaze, W picked up the still-flashing bomb from the ground.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk... Who would've thought? Our seemingly unfathomable employer..."
W waved it before Vera's eyes, her face openly mocking.
"Turns out you're... a coward?"
As Vera's expression suddenly changed, W gripped the bomb with both hands and gently snapped it apart—
Crack.
She broke the bomb in half with her bare hands. Facing Vera, W silently mouthed:
"Boom~"
Vera stared at W's utterly vile grin, her face darkening.
"What, exactly, are you, trying, to, do!?"
Vera felt like she was about to lose control and grind that red-haired cockroach into the ground a hundred times.
The last time she had felt this way had been toward a certain Vampire...
"Nothing~"
W dragged out the word, her face still wearing that infuriatingly teasing expression.
"I just wanted to confirm something~"
As she spoke, she pulled another identical-looking bomb from her waist and tossed it up and down in her hand.
"A wonderful person like our employer surely wouldn't refuse a tiny request from her little employee, right?"
A vein throbbed at Vera's temple as she gripped the hilt at her waist.
"It seems my previous tolerance gave you the wrong impression..."
[Time Stop Sound Effect]
Vera appeared at W's side, her sword already resting on W's shoulder, its sharp blade pressed against her vulnerable throat.
"Do you think... I really wouldn't dare kill you?"
"Ahh, yes~ This feeling~"
Unexpectedly, W's voice held no fear at all. Instead, it carried a trace of... boredom?
"Yes, this... sense of discord."
"What?" Vera frowned.
"A sense of discord. There's too much discord about you..." W sneered.
"You and that Ines both pretend to be Sarkaz, mixing in among us."
"But you have no idea how laughable your disguises are in the eyes of us real Sarkaz."
"Is that so?"
Vera lowered her voice, like a venomous serpent tasting the air.
"Should I praise you, then? And after I cut off your head, carve 'W died of her own cleverness' onto your tombstone?"
"HAHAHAHA—!"
W suddenly burst into exaggerated laughter, doubling over as she laughed so hard her body bent forward.
Vera had no choice but to adjust the angle of her blade slightly to keep W from running into it in her laughter.
"What are you laughing at!?"
"That's exactly why I said you're not convincing at all!"
W stopped laughing and raised her face.
"What tombs do Sarkaz have?"
Before Vera could fully grasp the meaning behind those words, W's expression abruptly changed, and her mad grin faded.
"Ahh... Employer, just talking is boring."
When you encounter advertisements asking "Are you a real person?", ignore them, close them, and never scan codes or send text messages!
W caught the bomb she had been tossing steadily in her hand and lightly pressed a spot with her thumb.
"Let's... play a game."
"Beep—"
With a soft sound, the screen on the bomb's casing lit up, and scarlet numbers began to tick down.
"This bomb... is, real."
W lightly tossed the bomb upward, then let it fall.
"Let's see who has more nerve~"
"Heh... I could just leave. Even if that bomb is real, you'd be the only one blown to pieces!"
"Is it really okay to waste time?" W tilted her head, her smile sweet and vicious.
"The bomb... is about to explode~"
[Time Stop Sound Effect]
Vera looked at the bomb's numbers, nearly at zero, and instantly made her judgment—
It's probably fake again... She just wants to see me panic!
W was indeed still perfectly calm, and neither of her hands held a controller.
"How boring..."
Vera punched W in the stomach, then turned and headed toward the camp.
"..."
The second time stop began.
Expressionless, Vera walked back to W, punched her again, then picked up the bomb and threw it away.
Time resumed.
"Urgh!" W clutched her stomach with a muffled groan and staggered back several steps.
The bomb Vera had thrown into the distance reached zero at that exact moment—
BOOM—!!!
"What!?"
The violent explosion thundered across the wasteland, and blazing fire instantly lit up the night sky.
Vera stared at the dazzling fireball in the air, her face full of disbelief.
She whipped her head around to look at W.
W slowly lowered the hand clutching her stomach. There was no surprise on her face; instead, she wore a sickly smile.
"See..."
"I told you... you're different from us."
"Is something wrong with your head!?"
Vera stared at the slumped W in exasperation, pointing at the distant blast site, her fingertips trembling slightly.
"Why would you gamble with your own life? So what if you confirmed I'm not Sarkaz? What good does that do you!?"
W did not answer immediately. She simply lay down and gazed up at Kazdel's night sky, forever shrouded in gloom.
After quite a while, she finally spoke in an unusually calm tone.
"Tell me... why did you give that guy a name?"
"A name?" Vera froze, then anger surged through her again.
"This is why you went insane? It's only a name!"
"Only?"
W repeated the word, chewing it over.
"That 'only' thing you speak of is something many Sarkaz... never obtain in their entire lives."
"..."
Vera fell silent.
She suddenly thought of the mercenaries in camp. They addressed one another by codenames or crude nicknames. It seemed... she truly rarely heard a proper name, one that belonged to a "person."
"Tell me..."
Vera's expression suddenly became a little strange as an absurd thought uncontrollably surfaced.
"You caused all this, even risking your life... Could it be because... you're jealous?"
W: "..."
W's body stiffened.
The next second, she sprang upright, her voice suddenly rising.
"Huh?! Jealous?! Me?! What stupid nonsense are you talking about!?"
"I'm not like that trash who doesn't even have a name! My 'W' was inherited from a famous dead mercenary! It's a codename, and a trophy! Proof of strength!"
Seeing how eagerly W tried to explain herself, Vera found the absurdity of it even stronger, and she instinctively asked:
"But isn't it still a codename?"
"..."
W froze again, her mouth open, yet no sound came out immediately.
She glared at Vera, complicated emotions shifting in her eyes. In the end, they all settled into an almost empty calm, carrying even a trace of... imperceptible disappointment.
She slumped back down, her voice muffled.
"What a pity..."
"What?" Vera hadn't heard clearly—or rather, she hadn't understood the out-of-the-blue remark.
W raised her head and turned to look at Vera. Moonlight illuminated half her face, stripped of its usual madness and mockery, leaving only self-deprecation.
"I used to wonder... what kind of place could raise a Sarkaz like you."
Her gaze fell on Vera's face, as if tracing something.
Someone who could smile so... beautifully.
"But in the end..."
W turned back toward the endless darkness. Her voice returned to its usual tone, but it sounded far hollower.
"That kind of place... doesn't exist at all."
A place capable of nurturing someone like her—
A place that would unconditionally bestow something as extravagant as a name...
That would so readily offer others kindness and trust...
That valued life and did not turn a blind eye to suffering...
Such soil.
The ideal place she had longed for.
It simply did not exist.
"It does."
Under W's puzzled gaze, Vera stepped closer and spoke earnestly.
"That kind of place exists."
"There..."
"...is my homeland."
Before you continue