Chapter 1324 - City of White (1) (1/2)

Entering the subconscious could be said to be both a short and long process for Rhode. It was like a dream, where one felt like it had happened for a long time, but, in fact, it had only been a moment. This was one’s mental world, which was not always about the person themselves. It wasn’t entirely unreasonable to say that the person who knew themselves the least was often themselves. Even if one were as sane and indifferent as one could be, one couldn’t completely grasp one’s mental world. Even robots could make logical errors due to various incidents, not to mention humans whose minds were a thousand times more complex.

After an unknown amount of time, Rhode finally felt his feet setting foot on solid ground. He opened his eyes and the blurry scenery before him became clearer. Although he had already prepared himself mentally, after looking at the scenery before him, he couldn’t help but stare with curiosity.

What appeared before him was an endless grassland, as well as an azure sky, which didn’t seem to be out of the ordinary. The problem wasn’t this beautiful scenery either, but something that appeared amongst it—a white city.

Of course, if it were just an ordinary city, Rhode wouldn’t be so surprised. As a matter of fact, instead of a city, it looked more like the scribbles of a child. There were heavy, crooked black lines, square windows that were clearly not drawn neatly, a gate made of childish-looking fruit candies, cookie-paved roads, rivers flowing with fruit juice, and walls that looked like they were made out of marshmallows… And a sweet aroma of appetizing food lingered in the air.

“Have I entered Lilian’s mental world?”

Looking at this scene with an odd expression, Rhode reached out his hand and scratched his head. He would totally accept the explanation that this childish and crooked ‘candy city’ before him belonged to Lilian’s inner landscape. But unfortunately… According to the order, he should have entered Celia’s inner world instead.

“Celia?”

Rhode swore to God that he never thought that the battle angel who was always calm and quiet would have such a childish side. This was really surprising to him. But despite that, it was the truth that he had entered the deepest part of her mental world, and the most unknown side of her. Perhaps even Celia didn’t even know that she possessed such a mental world.

No matter what, this mental world seemed rather peaceful and wasn’t as sinister and evil as he had imagined. The reason why there were so many issues in Lize’s mental world was mainly due to the fact that she was taken advantage of by the Mind Devil, which unrestrictedly amplified the negative emotions within her. But this time, through his younger sister’s guidance, Rhode entered the card spirits’ mental world peacefully, so there wouldn’t be any troubles as evil or dangerous as the Mind Devil.

Rhode’s curiosity about Celia’s mental world lasted for only an instant and soon after, he lowered his guard. Since this place wasn’t dangerous, all that was left was to complete his mission. Although everyone’s mental world was full of bizarre happenings, there were always things in common. And now, he was going to find the ‘real Celia’ in this mental world and earn her recognition. Of course, he couldn’t come up with anything just by standing here, so he had to take this one step at a time.

At this thought, Rhode lifted his head and strolled toward the white city.

While the grassland and sky around him appeared normal, everything started to become strange when he arrived at the bridge built of biscuits. He stared at the gate before him, which was made entirely of fluffy cream cake and considered how he should open it. He extended his arm and pushed the gate, only to end up sinking his entire arm into it.

“Who’s there!”

And at that moment, along with the sudden yell, two figures flew down from the city wall from the left and right and arrived in front of Rhode. Upon meeting them, Rhode was stunned. They looked undoubtedly like Celia, wearing the set of battle angel armor Rhode remembered, and their expressions were no different from the Celia he knew. The only difference was that there were two of them standing before him right now. They were like twins, exactly the same without any visible differences in the slightest. They held spears in their hands, gazing at him sternly as if he were an odd visitor. As long as he acted suspiciously, they would stab him with the spear and teach him a lesson.

Forget about whether or not they could cause any harm to him; since the two spears in their hands were made entirely of candy sticks, they must taste really nice.

“Greetings, I am a traveler from the outside world. My name is Rhode.”

In response to the two Celias’ question, Rhode didn’t explain himself, but quickly introduced himself instead. He knew that this was Celia’s mental world. But even so, they wouldn’t recognize him. Because this was the most secret area of Celia’s innermost heart, where even she wasn’t aware of its existence. That was why it was natural that this place didn’t know anything about Celia’s outside world, and it was normal for them not to know him. If they did know who he was, it would then be really strange instead.

“Traveler from the outside world?”

Upon hearing Rhode’s introduction, the two Celias exchanged puzzled looks with each other. Shortly after, as though recalling something, they revealed warm, passionate smiles.

“Oh, I see. You must be here for Her Majesty Honey Queen’s annual Sugar Pot Extravaganza too, aren’t you! We’re so delighted that word of our grand event has finally spread to the outside world… Welcome, traveler from the outside world, I’m sure you’ll enjoy yourself to the fullest here.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

After hearing their words, Rhode didn’t say too much. He pretty much figured out what was going on here. Since they had already said so, he was happy to go along with them since it was quite troublesome to explain his situation, anyway. Since they found a good reason for him, it would be a waste if he didn’t use it. That was why he kept quiet and went along with what they said. As expected, after hearing his answer, the two Celias grinned

“We’re sure you’ll be pleased, Traveler. We promise that our Sugar Pot Extravaganza will not disappoint you.”

With that said, the two Celias held out their hands in an inviting gesture to Rhode. Then, they put a knife and fork into his hand.

“This is…”

After looking at the knife and fork in his hand, Rhode shifted his gaze to the two of them with some confusion. Upon sensing his puzzlement, the two Celias smiled warmly, stood on both sides, and made an inviting gesture to him as if they were welcoming guests.

“Please.”

“…”

Upon hearing their response, Rhode looked once more at the knife and fork in his hand, before gazing at the gate in front of him, which was made up of fluffy cream cake. He twitched his eyes in disbelief. This gate must be almost two meters thick, right?

Fortunately, the two Celias weren’t going to let him finish the whole of the cake gate, but just let him eat his way in. But even so, that was more than enough for him to take. He wasn’t a girl, after all, and his liking for sweets wasn’t really that strong. Like most men, he only occasionally had sweets. But this time… He felt as if he were about to swallow the amount of cake that he would have in his entire lifetime. Even though he only had to eat a one-man-sized entrance for himself through the two-meter-thick cake gate, it still gave him quite a headache. And if it weren’t for the two Celias watching from the side, he would have just thrown all of the cake into the river of juice to destroy it. Of course, in the end, he finished the cake on his own will and as for how he felt… Well, that was another story.

“Phew…”