[Silver Ash] - Become The Strongest In Another World
CHAPTER 115: [Asterisk: Countdown] (1)

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A strange atmosphere of silence ruled the air where they were at the moment.

Everyone was sitting on a chair arranged in such a way that it surrounded a fairly large round table with a hole in the middle.

In the center of that round table, a statue of a woman with scales on her left hand, as well as the chain sword in her right hand stood gracefully, while her face did not even have a single detail of a human face.

Noelle sat on one of the chairs, with a violet crystal floating before her. As well as the others, they each sat in their own seats, with a crystal before them. Of course, the figure of Pauper—Colyn is an exception. He lay on his stomach on his pillow floating in the air.

Shortly after silence had taken hold of them, a stern-faced man, and the sword at his waist, spoke while staring at the green crystal by the name of Ructus before him spoke.

" … So, what do you think about the image all these crystals gave you? "

"Isn't it clear? Of course I'll stop him. I don't care about everyone's safety, but I can't forgive those bastards who intend to intrude on my life like that."

A man rudely answered that. He is Arnaz, who holds a brown crystal named Caver.

The man whose question was answered harshly, Damian van Houten, also the owner of the Ructus crystal did not move his expression in the slightest. He simply closed his eyes quietly and thought of a few things, before finally staring at the figure of the woman with eyes covered in a piece of black cloth, Lucia Khora.

"What about you? "

Lucia, or can also be called by her crystal name—Auger smiled faintly at Damian. Although both of his eyes were covered with cloth, and half of his face was almost invisible due to the transparent cloth, the expression he put out was somehow understandable to everyone.

Lucia breathed quietly, then spoke.

"The picture of the future that this crystal gave me is a little too terrifying. Of course I'll stop him. But, I'm afraid I don't have enough power for that."

"Ahh, wait. Personally, I agreed to take action as soon as possible, but .. I want to ask you one thing."

A man raised his hand. It is the owner of a yellow crystal named Ortis, his real name is Ethan. He asked with an innocent face as if he did not care about this situation.

Damian nods his head in approval for Ethan's request for permission.

"What I want to ask is .. We all get a picture of the future, right? Are all the images we get the same? Because we seem to understand each other about what's being talked about here."

"I think so."

Arnaz answered briefly while shrugging his shoulders slightly. Just that short response seemed to be enough for Ethan to manage the information and make some conclusions in his head.

Noelle really felt a certain familiarity with him.

"If so, then I will accept the answer of the three of you. Then ... How about you guys? Souris, Tristan, Pauper, and Mordred."

Noelle opened her eyes that had been closed since, and quietly glanced at the three figures nearby.

Tristan, or Asher nodded his head slightly, then spoke.

"I myself am not worthy to say this, but .. A deviant existence must be annihilated."

Asher said that with great affirmation, as if emphasizing to everyone there that he was serious. Noelle fully understood his feelings. Although, Noelle had other ways of expressing her agreement.

"Personally, of course I agree with your decision. Annihilating them all was the most logical thing to do right now."

By utilizing the situation as it was in the 'premonition', Noelle could have just quibbled and hid behind the phrase 'self-defense'. In that situation, being unbearable and sympathetic was the most unreasonable thing for him.

Noelle of course believes that besides her, everyone there also has the same thoughts as her. Only, the way they think and the way they express it is quite different. That made him find it difficult to form an understanding.

Crossing her arms, Noelle then leaned back on the chair she was sitting in, and began to think of a few things while noticing the constant movement of the violet crystal in front of her.

"Hey .. Do you really believe what this crystal shows us? "

"What's up, Souris? Don't you believe what you just saw? "

Damian asked her with slightly narrowed eyes sharply, but that did not stop Noelle from forming logical thoughts in her head.

"I don't know if I believe it or not, but .. At a time like this, questioning the truth is logical, right? One cannot simply believe the image that suddenly pops into their head without cause."

As soon as Noelle said it, everyone went back to silence. They clearly understood that everything Noelle said was the right thing.

They could not simply believe the picture of the future that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Forget about questioning the prophecy for a moment, the eight of them still had to think about their current situation. There were so many questions that they were a little confused about wanting to solve which question first.

Noelle had already discovered some very visual questions, and gave them to everyone there.

The first question is the most important, it is 'what is an Asterisk? '. The answer that results from this one question will guide them to another answer. It's like playing a crossword puzzle where they have to find one answer before finding another.

This chain question was very annoying even to Noelle.

"It doesn't mean I don't understand how you feel, but .. Souris, what action will you take? Considering you still don't even trust that 'premonition' completely."

As soon as Damian asked her, Noelle flicked her finger a few times while thinking, then spoke after making a decision in her head.

"It's annoying to admit it, but .. It doesn't hurt to take the same action as you are right now. All right, I'll come."

"Heh, tsundere, huh? "

Arnaz spoke with a tone that was almost laughing as if mocking him. In response to that, Noelle narrowed her eyes at Arnaz.

"What's so funny, Caver? "

"Uwahh~ Scary~"

The mocking smile still did not disappear from his face, but Arnaz calmly closed his eyes and placed both his feet on the table.

"I have my own decision. So it's up to you to do what."

Although Arnaz said that ... In reality, he also had no idea of what to do in this situation. From the start, the only option he and the others had was simply to 'fight' to stop everything that happened in the prophecy.

"What does that mean that I can assume that everyone at this table agrees with immediate action? "

Everyone without saying anything else immediately nodded at Damian.

Noelle and Arnaz seemed to have no intention of saying a word, and Asher had not even moved his expression since. Colyn, and Tania also had sleepy expressions on their faces.

Other than Ethan who did not wipe away the smile on his face, there was only Lucia who raised her hand to ask Damian questions.

"I'm sorry if what I'm asking is a little unrelated to the 'action plan', but ... Who will be the leader here? Ahh, I mean .. Leaders will be needed to organize everything to fit what is planned. And also ... Exactly, when are we going to take that action? "

Lucia easily asked that extremely sensitive question right in front of everyone.

Speaking of the figure of the leader, there might be nothing more suitable than the figure of Damian who displays the stature of military members, but, still it was very dubious.

Noelle tiredly sighed and looked at Lucia with lifeless eyes.

"I don't think we need that. After all, this place contains people who do not know each other. It would be very strange if we decided on a leader now."

"And? Why that? "

Lucia asked him while smiling faintly. In response, Noelle raised one corner of her lips and raised both her legs to the table, just as Arnaz did.

"Regarding the cooperative relationship to face the prophecy, I don't trust you at all. We have all known each other for about three hours. And that's not enough to form a trust."

" … I agree."

Asher who had been silent all of a sudden spoke up.

"I'll work with you guys, but .. I can't do anything more than that. Anyway, I still don't trust you all."

Saying it bluntly like that should be a problem, but Asher worrylessly easily said it all.

The reason Asher did not hesitate to say it like that, was of course because he knew that other than himself, everyone there had the same feelings and thoughts.

From the beginning, the reason they were all brought together was still unclear. The information they have is limited.

All they know, Asterisks are a group of just eight, and are passed down from generation to generation. Noelle and the others are currently members of the 47th generation.

Perhaps they would find another answer if they investigated all the statues that were there, but they would do so next time. After all, it's troublesome.

Noelle only smiled wryly as she realized the contents of Asher's mind. Unmistakably, Asher and everyone there had the same thoughts and conclusions as him.

(It feels really annoying when someone has the same thoughts as me.)

"Then I have a little proposal."

Noelle suddenly spoke up and caught the attention of everyone there. He did not care about their gazes, and continued to reveal the idea that was in his head.

"Here, trust is more expensive than one's life. Well then, we don't have to trust each other here. We just need to do something to stop the prophecy without having to rely on each other. The asterisk will be an eight-man group with independent members."

" … What do you mean? "

Damian asked Noelle, and was immediately answered with a small smile.

"As Tristan said. I don't trust you either, and neither do you believe me. Then, the only solution is to stop expecting something from each member. We will still gather to discuss some things, and share information, but we will move on our own when the time comes."

" " " " " " " ……… " " " " " " "

Everyone nodded understandingly while continuing to listen to Noelle's proposal.

"Everyone at Asterisk will stand on equal footing. Nothing is higher, and nothing is lower. That's why we don't need leaders. We just need to act on decisions that are taken in accordance with what we are discussing. That doesn't require trust at all, does it? "

Damian closed his eyes for a moment, then looked back at Noelle with narrowed eyes.

"I agree with Souris' proposal. But, are you really sure about that? A group without a leader will become very chaotic and disorganized. How are you gonna take care of that? "

Noelle shrugged her shoulders slightly and gave a cynical smile to Damian.

"That's easy. We just need to give the 'doer' who caused the mess the punishment it deserves. We have eight people, right? Just assume that if there is one, two, or three people causing chaos to the group, the other can still give the perpetrator the proper punishment."

Of course, it would be a difficult thing if it was the majority of members who became 'hostals'.

"Sounds pretty good to me" Colyn said as she swung her legs.

Tania made a thoughtful gesture for a moment, then nodded without saying anything.

Arnaz snorted with a smile, while Asher and Ethan showed their faint smiles.

" … What do you think, Auger? "

Damian turned to look at the response from Lucia, and Lucia returned her gaze by giving a small smile from behind her transparent hood.

"Then, we all agree with Souris' proposal. From now on, Asterisk will be a group with fully equal members with no higher, or lower."

"Then," Damian continued, "For the actions we will take to prevent that 'premonition' from happening in the real world, we will carry out 'extermination' right at midnight. Use the shared teleportation ability that the crystals gave you to gather. For the gathering point, I will announce it by telepathy after conducting the investigation later."

They all nodded simultaneously in response to Damian.

Noelle sighed, and looked at the figure of Colyn, as well as Tania who was in front of her.

"If we're done here, can I ask you both for help? "

Colyn and Tania stared at each other in confusion.

"I promise I'll give you a decent fee on that. So can you help me a little? "

" … What is it about? "

After a moment of silence, Colyn then spoke up.

"Actually .. I feel that my friends in the city are currently facing a troublesome opponent. I don't think they'll be able to beat him easily. So, I want you two to lend me a little bit of your strength."

It didn't take long until the negotiations that took place between Noelle, with Colyn and Tania were completed.

As a result, Colyn and Tania were willing to do the task Noelle had given them, and instead, Noelle would give them some gifts that she thought were quite good.

About half an hour later, Colyn and Tania returned to the foggy place in a state that was not good enough. Bloodstained was still on Colyn's clothes, and Tania's appearance became quite bad with her hair falling apart, as well as the blood on her face.

Noelle was only able to smile wryly upon seeing them, and decided to ask Olivia the situation later.

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