“He… he is…” A player from the Common Guild stammered and couldn"t find any words at all.
Many people had already forgotten about Blue Maple, but there were still many who remembered him, such as the Common Guild"s members.
“The Blue Fire Devil!” A terrified voice could be heard from the Common Guild"s group of players.
“What?!” Smooth Light had just witnessed a frightening dash of blue light, but he didn"t know what was going on. He was still locked in furious battle with Wolf G.o.d.
Smooth Light snapped his head around in that direction.
What appeared before his eyes was a shadow that he had hated since a long time ago, and another beautiful figure that he had l.u.s.ted after for a long time.
“It"s him! s.h.i.+t! Ghost Spike!”
He realized to his shock that Ghost Spike wanted to a.s.sa.s.sinate White Cherry, but Blue Maple was standing right next to her. That meant…
Smooth Light gazed somewhere into the distance and realized that Ghost Spike had already become a corpse, which was still warm, and was lying beneath a cherry tree.
“Swoos.h.!.+”
-1345！
-1345!
Blood splattered everywhere!
Smooth Light was brutally cut along his waist in this moment.
“Hey, you gangster. Don"t look around when you are fighting me. You could die!” Wolf G.o.d spoke with ridicule in his voice.
Wolf G.o.d threw Smooth Light"s own words back at him, and he couldn"t feel better than this, especially after striking him.
Hahaha, White Cherry"s boyfriend is here. I do wish to see how all of you are going to end up! Wolf G.o.d laughed in his heart.
Eh? That"s not right. I"m f.u.c.king chasing White Cherry too. Why am I so happy? s.h.i.+t!
Wolf G.o.d was still feeling conflicted in his heart as he hacked at Smooth Light furiously once more as Smooth Light lost his footing.
“b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”
Smooth Light parried angrily, but he started feeling like he couldn"t defend himself anymore as he was starting to panic, and he was in an even worse state than Wolf G.o.d was before.
“Members of the Deities Guild, it"s time to retaliate! Lady White Cherry"s boyfriend, the Blue Fire Devil, is here!” Wolf G.o.d hollered fiercely to boost his own side"s morale.
“Oh!!!”
The Deities Guild"s players acknowledged excitedly.
No wonder Moon Spirit asked me to flash my emblem. Otherwise… I might just have been burned to death. Wolf G.o.d felt a cold s.h.i.+ver run down his spine as he thought to himself.
Wolf G.o.d, like everyone else, believed that Blue Maple was White Cherry"s boyfriend. After all, his sudden appearance and everything else that Blue Maple had done did justify their beliefs.
However, only Moon Spirit and several others who knew them better knew that they had only met twice.
The Deities Guild"s members started retaliating energetically, regardless of whether Blue Maple would help them or not. The Common Guild"s members had witnessed Blue Maple"s formidable prowess in group fights, and they started panicking.
The Common Guild"s overwhelming advantage was starting to wither away.
The balance that was leaned in the Common Guild"s favor had been balanced. The only thing left was whether the last straw would be placed down.
Blue Maple no longer cared about everything else around him. White Cherry was fine, and other problems were temporarily not important anymore.
“I thought you would only turn up in the evening.” White Cherry was still smiling warmly.
“That was the plan,” answered Blue Maple plainly.
Blue Maple wasn"t smooth at all, and he had no qualms about saying such honest words. However, Blue Maple did plan to do that, except he decided to come a little earlier in the end.
He didn"t mention the fact that he had changed his mind and decided to come a little earlier.
“Did you come here just to save me?” White Cherry"s words were so warm and gentle that anybody couldn"t resist saying yes to her.
However…
“It was convenient,” answered Blue Maple coldly, like rescuing her was actually just convenient for him.
White Cherry didn"t feel sad about Blue Maple"s answer. Instead, she smiled, and her smile was even sweeter than before.
“You are like that.” White Cherry"s words sounded a little strange, and there was even a tinge of craftiness in her voice.
Blue Maple didn"t disagree with her, and he said nothing.
White Cherry"s expression became a little gloomy afterwards as she stared at the patch of cherry trees.
“Then, Maple, are you going to burn this place down?” White Cherry still had a faint smile on her face, except there was a little more dejection in her expression.
“Yes.”
Blue Maple did plan to burn this place so that he could collect power for his Heavenly Fire. After all, his enemies included thousands of players from the Common Guild"s main force.
“Then, can you wait for a few moments? There"re some things that I wanted to say to you, and I want to take this chance to do that.” White Cherry"s smile was still so beautiful and enchanting.
Blue Maple didn"t reject her as she smiled at him.
“Yes.”
Blue Maple still unleashed Heavenly Fire even though he answered that way, and flames started circling around him and around White Cherry.
Magnificent blue flames began burning quietly around them as they spread continuously… the flames surrounded them and didn"t allow anyone near this area. The circle of fire was very glaring amid the chaotic battlefield.
The heatwaves from Blue Maple"s heavenly fire made White Cherry"s hair sway in the wind, and bluish fire was reflected through her bright and pretty eyes.
“The fire feels so warm.”
White Cherry couldn"t resist reaching out to feel the beautiful fire, but she gave up in the end.
She took a deep breath when she saw the cold look on Blue Maple"s face before she stared at him with a smile on her face.
“You didn"t want to help me that day, did you?”
White Cherry didn"t sound dejected at all as she spoke, and she still had a smile on her face.
Blue Maple didn"t answer her, and he just listened quietly.
“This is just a game, and we will not truly die, and neither can we be truly hurt. No matter how that fellow hara.s.ses me, I can always request a.s.sistance from the system, except that will be c.u.mbersome.”
“I can even do it like this. I can join a powerful guild which is opposed to my enemy so that I can protect myself.”
“What caused you to make your move was because of something that fellow said, which was about killing people in real life.”
White Cherry"s faint smile appeared like it would remain on her face forever.
“The reason is because you can tolerate killing people and whatnot inside this game, but you cannot allow such things to exist in real life, because that will lead to actual death! So… you made your move.”
White Cherry"s bright eyes swirled with strange colors.
“You knew that true death couldn"t occur inside the game, but you still wanted to give him some punishment that he deserved. You were just able to help me at the same time. You didn"t want to help me in the beginning because that would cause trouble for you.”
“However, Maple, you could have just said that you were trying to help me so that they would hate you a little less. But you told them that you didn"t need a reason to kill.”
“Because that would make everyone believe that this was just an encounter between two bad guys, and that was the reason why you made your move, instead of the fact that you wanted to help me.”
“That meant I, who was the whole reason why this happened, would be buried underneath your image as a villain. When people talked about you afterwards, they would think that this was just an encounter between two bad guys, and less people would think about me. Then, I would have less trouble in the future.”
“They wouldn"t even think about me even when they wanted to take revenge on you, and they would only think about… you!”
White Cherry"s clear and pretty eyes immediately sparkled.
Blue Maple"s expression revealed a rare ripple as he looked a little taken aback…
Blue fire was still burning quietly around them, but it stopped spreading. The battle raged on around them, and some people even started forgetting that they were here, and they treated this fire as something that was completely unrelated to the battle.
The reason was because the flames were only burning quietly. The flames weren"t raging, and they weren"t spreading.
Blue Maple still said nothing as he stared at White Cherry, and he consented to her words with his silence.
He knew that she wouldn"t believe him even if he tried to disagree with her, because… that was the truth…
White Cherry"s smile became even sweeter than before when she saw Blue Maple like that.
“You couldn"t have known that they were going to block the gate back then, so I followed you. When you saw those fellows waiting at the main gate, you must have realized the reason why I followed you was because I could understand why you did what you did.”
“Therefore, when you asked me why I was following you, I naturally chose to answer in the same way you did. I didn"t need a reason to follow you.”
The event started because of White cherry, and Blue Maple shouldn"t be the only person to bear this burden.
Therefore, when Blue Maple was punis.h.i.+ng Smooth Light and the others and chose to help White Cherry until the end, he decided to take the burden all by himself.
White Cherry decided to bear the burden together with Blue Maple.
If everyone believed in the beginning that Blue Maple was just a bad guy who was just pa.s.sing by, and he was a shameless individual who wasn"t afraid of all the trouble that would find him, and that he was prepared to face all those troubles and vengeance by himself…
Then, everyone"s opinions changed when White Cherry chose to follow Blue Maple. At least, their opinions became the fact that Blue Maple wasn"t a bad guy, and he was just a cold fellow who was trying to help a friend.
At least, that was the case for many people who heard about this through other sources.
“You"re always facing everything by yourself and you"re always accepting all burdens by yourself. You accepted all responsibility and consequences for that episode, and you fought those people blocking the gate by yourself. You also attacked the wild monsters for the quest by yourself.”
“The reason why you did everything by yourself shouldn"t be because you felt like you didn"t need my help. That must have been because… you were used to it.”
“You were used to facing everything by yourself.”
Blue Maple was still standing quietly in front of White Cherry, and he didn"t say a single word to disagree with her as he stared at her smile.
The reason was because everything that White Cherry said was true…
Blue Maple also decided not to continue staying with her because he knew that White Cherry saw through everything, because he knew that staying with her would only cause her trouble.
He didn"t want a kind and nice girl like her to be in danger because of him.
Therefore, he wanted to treat their encounter like they had just pa.s.sed each other by, and that would be their last farewell.
Blue Maple wanted to come here quietly to see cherry blossoms, and he wanted to leave quietly.
However, now…
“Therefore, you are also preparing to accept all responsibility by yourself this time, right?”
White Cherry smiled as she saw through Blue Maple"s intentions.
White Cherry turned her attention not the flames around her after she spoke, and she glanced at the fight beyond the circle of fire.
“The Common Guild"s members are disregarding normal citizens" sentiments towards cherry blossoms, and they"re disrupting the ceremony because of their private desires. Their guild will be despised and treated with contempt in the eyes of the public.”
“However, do you know that there are many players who have chosen to join because they are greedy, and because this guild has existed for a long time. They are only following their superior"s orders, so it"s not fair that they are affected by this, and it"s not fair that they are despised by the public.”
“So, you want to help them. Furthermore, you want to take responsibility for the sins all by yourself to save them! You"re doing this even though some of them have attacked you before…”
“And you"re probably choosing to use your fire to achieve that. You want to burn the entire patch of cherry trees so that you can absorb enough strength to fight off a guild"s main force by yourself. I know from when you were absorbing fire at the city gate that you possess such power.”
“This way, all the citizens will blame you for burning the cherry trees after everything"s over. The citizens won"t blame them anymore, because they will only be part of the destruction. They will have only destroyed how everyone has been looking forward or their plans to see cherry blossoms.”
“Instead, you will be the one who have destroyed the possibility of seeing any at all.”
White Cherry"s gradual narrative stopped there.
White Cherry stared at Blue Maple hopefully. There was also some nervousness and eagerness in her eyes, and she smiled as she said:
“I want to share the burden with you this time. I want to share the burden of this… sin… that you are trying to bear all by yourself. Can I do that?”