*No... no way. Cornelia Sieglinde? The queen who betrayed Tiwaz? Then this place...it's not a new world. It's… Schönheit.*
Perlì went white. He seemed to be on the verge of falling over, like Dante in the Inferno of the Divine Comedy.
What Perlì roughly knew was that Schönheit was a cursed land, shut off from the rest of Nahewunder. Five centuries ago, the Kamu of Schönheit, led by Kaiser Manfred VII and Cornelia Sieglinde, rebelled against their Kamu, Tiwaz, and managed to kill him.
After this deed, the remaining Kamu and the Three Outworldy Heroes imprisoned Schönheit inside a dome. From then on, no one ever heard anything more from within.
And yet, there he was. Perlì, somehow inside that dome, seeing the horrors the nation now had to endure.
"What about the Sleepers you mentioned?
The woman became a little enthusiastic, as if she were talking about her favorite hero.
"The 5 Sleepers? They are 5 heroes who helped Sieglinde during the war against Tiwaz, each of them made their own Bloombound through the alchemy of the first Sleeper Verrentale. It's a shame he's the only one missing, of all five he was the most dangerous."
*Verrentale a hero?*
Verrentale was well known in Perlì, There were a lot of fairy tales around where the Three Outworldy Heroes defeated him . Even alone, that guy committed a lot of crimes.
Kamuicide, Bloombounders Butcher, Anomaly incarnated...
There was an embarrassment of choice for why he was that famous.
"Come on, follow me."
The woman gestures for Perlì to follow her as she continues walking further into the cemetery
"Wait. At least tell me who you are?"
Perlì asked, keeping pace with her, now more than ever doubtful.
"Rery Silner. I work for Das Ausgeschaltet. It's a firm that deals with the monsters that plague our nations."
Rery just kept moving on without waiting for Perlì to answer. She walked to the fourth row, stopped before the third tomb, and stood up straight, gazing at it with restrained reverence.
Perlì bowed his head and closed his eyes, silently praying for the dead. Even though Schönheit had murdered their own Kamu, he could not help but sympathize with their position.
"Keep your eyes open." Rery said, turning her head towards the quiet Perlì.
"Why?"
Perlì snapped his eyes open.
"You will know. Just have faith and keep them open."
Rery's response only added to Perlì's bewilderment.
"Rery, I'm afraid I have to tell you this, but I don't understand anything about this. Why should I believe you in the first place?"
Rery sighed. She rubbed her eyes with her right hand, then began to speak.
"The only way you could be here in Schönheit is through dream manipulation. This is one of our Cornelia's abilities."
Rery continues
"When we sleep, our Cornelia can produce realistic dreams at will to train, develop our Bloombound, or even communicate messages without being physically present.
If you die, fall asleep, or if the time comes wake up, you will return to wherever you are sleeping."
A dream, not a transmigration but a dream. Perlì wasn't dead; at that moment his body was sleeping peacefully on his bed while his consciousness was in Schönheit. In that moment, Perlì understood: the beast was just a test; by killing it, he had proved himself worthy to get a Lotus Flower.
"Me? But I can't do anything about this, It's an impossible task for me."
Perlì tried to explain in an almost desperate way.
"Don't be ridiculous. Our Cornelia knows what she is doing."
Rery cut him short.
Perlì was speechless, it was incredible how Rery had more faith in the Usurper Queen than he had for himself.
"Your scars, they were caused by a Flowerberos. I would know them anywhere."
Her voice turned cold.
"That's the name of that beast? Flowerberos? Wait… how do you know that?"
Perlì was surprised that Rery recognized the monster from the wounds themselves.
Rery looked at the grave and said in a serious voice, totally devoid of any emotion.
"One of those assholes killed my brother in front of me during a mission."
"I'm sorry for what happened and I understand your pain, almost 2 years ago I lost my parents. May your brother rest in peace." Perlì sympathized.
"Thanks."
Rery kissed her hand and touched the tombstone, shaped like a sword, then walked in the direction of the exit. Perlì repeated the same gesture and then followed Rery.
"Do you know where that Flowerberos is at the moment?"
Rery asked while she was leaving the cemetery.
"It's dead. I killed it."
Perlì replied, drawing his dussack and holding it out to her.
Rery didn't budge for a moment, then began to inspect the sword slowly and minutely.
*How... How did he even killed one of those things without a Bloombound?*
That the same breed of beast that had killed her brother was now dead because of this stranger occupied her mind.
*At least he's capable of something, and if I suggest it to Das Ausgeschaltet. If he can physically come here with his Sulla, perhaps we will get a valuable member.*
The scratch, the blood, the blade. There was no other means those would have appeared there but from a Flowerberos. Rery studied the sword for a moment before handing it back to Perlì.
"Good job."
Perlì took the sword and looked at Rery in a respectful silence of pride.
"Thank you."
Rery moved on ahead, with Perlì following after her.
"Are we going to meet Sieglinde?" Perlì asked.
"Yes. And as soon as possible. In case you wake up, we'll have to wait until next time before we see each other again."
Rery replied, somewhat annoyed with his incessant questioning.
It didn't take Perlì long to notice the distant and irritable tone of voice, so, To change the tone of the gloomy situation, he decided to talk about his most beloved vice.
"What do you do in your spare time, other than killing monsters? Mine is sleeping. I'm almost always tired."
Rery kept walking, although the attempt to show disinterest a faint "Hmm" could be heard in her voice.
Rery taps on her stomach twice and then says
"I eat, I'm almost always hungry."