Chapter 71 – Quarrel and the good bye

Noah opened the wooden fence and stormed to the wooden house's main door, jumping up the stairs to the porch. He kicked the door of the house with his leg, slamming it open and rushed inside. The house was empty and silent, with no motions inside save for the working TV in the open space main room, that had the Comments Section opened on it and changed every moment as new posts were appearing on it.

"Come out!" Roared Noah in the empty room.

*You don't need to scream. I am here.* Said the plush bear that was laying limp in the armchair when Noah entered inside. Now it lifted its head and straightened as if life returned to it.

"Not you! You be silent!" Said Noah and suddenly a red mark of a speaker crossed with a line appeared in the air above the plush bear. Plush bear startled and started to wave hands but no sound came out.

"I know you are here, nightmare! Come out, now!"

Suddenly Noah heard the noise of clicking on the floor and spider legs appeared from behind the couch, with an arachne girl appearing after them. She plummeted on the couch and sat there with her head bowed in an apologetic look.

"Now you can start talking." Said Noah turning to the plush bear and the red sign above him disappeared. "Explain what she is doing here."

"I have released her from the confinement shortly after you went back to the real world."

"I see that. Why?"

"Because she is useful."

"She is a nightmare!"

"Yes and you owe her your life."

"What?"

"She was the one at the control this whole week, while you were gone after giving me away to the nightmares. She is the reason you did not slit your throat becoming undead or something even worse. She found a safe place that no one could reach you in and kept you safe until you came to your senses." Said system from within the plush bear that looked at him.

"So you thought it would be a nice idea to release a NIGHTMARE THAT I STRUGGLED TO SEAL?!" Roared Noah at the system.

"Oh come on. We both know Yuko is a nightmare because she is a monster, but in the manga 'The spider and the gruesome murders' she wasn't actually the bad guy of the story. She was a yandere monster girl that fell in love with the protagonist and tried to protect him from the psychopath murderer that was killing people in his neighborhood. She wasn't actually the one murdering people. Among all the nightmares she is the only good creature." Reminded system.

"Nice you gave her name of a girl she ate and then pretended as. No matter what she looks like she is a Nightmare from the horror story."

"User, look at the whole picture. When you gave up control of the nightmares without consulting with me first, all I could have come up with in that short time was to support her in overruling all other nightmares and taking control of you. Instead of using you as she pleased she acted in protecting you. She was the one who sensed another spider girl through the dream realm and brought you here to keep you safe. She was the one mixing her own presence into your own so that the spider woman would not attack you, sensing that you are a weak kin that came asking for help instead of trying to hurt her. She was also useful when you confronted that woman in the mansion. It was the spider presence she was giving off that mixed with your own, what helped you to stay alive without the woman simply ripping you apart the moment she felt threatened." Explained system. "So yes, I do think she can be trusted. Also…"

"Also?" Said Noah raising a brow.

"Also confronting Nightmares and using their power is inevitable. We must start training our understanding of them and how to subdue them. Simply locking them up as you did is just a temporary solution. Starting with a Nightmare that does not mean harm to young and is obedient is a good decision."

"I need to think. Until then she goes to lock up." Said Noah.

"User…" Started system

"This house is my mind for fucks sake! I am not leaving a dangerous being that I do not trust to roam here free!" Interrupted it Noah. "Neither do I trust you! You knew where we were, knew what was waiting for me in the mansion and lied to me. You manipulated me."

"Yes. To make you grow up. There are things that are not as shiny as you were thinking while growing in your family's house. Monsters are part of the higher nobility of countries. Your own family tried to kill you by throwing you out from under their house's roof as garbage to deprive you of your legitimate house heir rights. Holy Lady, who should be a beacon of light and justice of your world, has a death squad she is using to keep her perfect appearance clean. Nobles are enslaving people in the period where every soul is important to fight against the demons roaming the world. Dark organisations fight against humans destroying whole villages instead of fighting monsters. The Guild kept you under surveillance and did not trust you. Do you think nobles that were so greedy for your slimes were going to be generous and kind to you? They have skills to rob you of your skills just like those shadow bitches tried to do. Do you think you would be safe? And among all that it was a bunch of monsters protecting you under their roof when human society used every means they had to kill you."

"Even after learning all this you still want to live in your closed off shiny world? I do not know whether you are stupid or naive any more. Grow up kid or you will end up as a dead body in a gutter very soon! And while you are being a brat, why don't you go back to that spider lady and tell her it was all a big mistake and schemed by me, and you actually hate her."

"I don't hate her." Said Noah calming down

"Who helped you with it? Was it a discussion with her, or was it what I showed you and made you realize?" Asked System.

Noah stood there for a few moments peering at the plush bear in anger. Then he turned around and walked away while the spider girl was grabbed by the shadows and was dragged away from view disappearing from the house.

Noah went out of the house and slammed the door. He walked outside the fence and stood there while breathing hard.

He knew that system was right in almost everything. But it did not mean he would just accept being manipulated. He trusted it. Trusted as if it was part of him, but turns out it has its own agendas. He needed to weigh and reassess all the choices he made with the system taking part in the decision making, to look at the things from another angle.

He lifted his eyes to look at the dark mountain in the distance and the black clouds around it shining with lightning while in thoughts and it seemed that either the mountain was closer or the clouds larger. He shook his head and breathed out a heavy sigh ready to leave the mind realm, however he suddenly heard a familiar woman's voice.

"Noah. Are you safe?" Echoed a gentle voice with a note of worry in it in his mind realm.

Noah closed his eyes and the scene around him changed.

******

Lina slowly opened her eyes seeing the darkness of the room with just a slight light of the moon peering through the crack between the window curtains feeling a presence near her and saw a dark figure sitting at the edge of her bed.

"Hey. Missed me?" Asked a familiar voice from the darkness.

"Noah." She said jumping up from the bed while seeing who the person sitting at the edge of her bed was.and jumped to embrace him "You came back?"

"Not yet." Answered Noah while hugging her back.

"Not yet?" Asked Lina surprised moving back a bit to look at him.

"I came by just to see you. And apologize. I have to go back after this."

"Apologize? For what?"

"I promised to bring you to that field last time. But me in my current state is unable to do that. There are enemies after me. They will target you as well if you are with me. I can't even protect myself right now. If I take you with me, I will lose you. I want to apologize for leaving alone. But one day, I swear, I will fulfill my promise."

"No wait. We will find a way."

"It's too dangerous being around me right now. I live under protection of others. I am sorry Lina but this…" said Noah lifting his hand to his forehead and picking up a yellow paper slip from his forehead. "I will have to take it off for now, so that you would not get in trouble if we meet accidentally. I will contact you later myself, when I am confident and if you are still waiting." Noah put the yellow paper into her hands and stood up.

"Wait don't leave. I…" She jumped up from the bed to grab him but Noah disappeared before she could. "I'll wait." Whispered Lina squeezing the paper slip in hand.

A moment later Lina startled from her bed,  opening her eyes wide in surprise and looking around while sitting up and turning on the magic lamp at her bed side. The room was empty

"Dream?" She muttered. Then she looked down and saw a yellow paper slip squeezed in her hand. She opened it with trembling eyes and started to cry after seeing the text on it. It was his mark. The mark that she put on Noah.

"He was here. He really was here." Whispered Lina. "He is alive."