The Nameless Extra: I Proofread This World

Slowly descending from the sky, Calyra came to a gentle halt a few metres behind Rosalin. Several metres of open space separated them, while she herself remained suspended a few metres above the ground.

”It’s been a while, hasn’t it, Rosalin? Long enough that our last conversation feels like it happened a lifetime ago.”

Rosalin turned around and stared at her for a while, then smiled bitterly.

”Indeed, it has been a while, Calyra.”

Silence followed.

Neither of them needed to say anything else. They both knew just how much time had slipped away between them.

The last time they had spoken to each other was thirteen years ago, when Rosalin was only four years old, celebrating her fourth birthday. Since then, thirteen long years had passed, and not a single word was exchanged between them.

The incident that drove them apart had left scars on both of them.

Neither of them had truly been in the wrong.

It had simply been a misunderstanding, born from circumstances and emotions that neither of them had known how to face at the time.

But that was all in the past now.

If Rosalin was honest with herself, she had always wanted to mend the fractured bond between them. Deep down, she believed she, too, was partly responsible for what had happened.

Whether it was guilt, regret, or simply the passage of time, she could no longer bring herself to leave those wounds untouched.

Rosalin took a step forward.

”Calyra... do you still remember what I said back then, during the banquet?”

Calyra stiffened, then inhaled slowly.

”I still do...”

Rosalin’s golden eyes softened as she placed a hand over her chest.

”Then... can we talk about it again? There’s something I want to clear up.”

There was one thing Rosalin had finally come to realise. She finally understood why Calyra had reacted so fiercely to those words all those years ago.

It had to be connected to the dungeon incident she had survived.

No... she was certain of it!

From what Rosalin remembered, Calyra had been grieving.

Her face had been weighed down by anguish.

Even though everyone praised her accomplishment for that dungeon incident, it had never looked like a triumph to her. Instead, it seemed to be a wound she carried wherever she went.

Rosalin had thought about it countless times.

Why would the most cheerful and optimistic girl she had ever known suddenly become so distant and hollow after that event?

Something must have happened inside that dungeon. Something so painful that Calyra had never been able to speak of it.

Calyra frowned.

”There is nothing to talk about. I was the one at fault for lashing out at you when you only meant well, Rosalin. But even if you ask me why... I can’t explain it. Because I don’t even know why I reacted that way myself...”

Rosalin’s eyes widened.

She fell silent.

For a long moment, she simply stood there, gathering the courage to voice the thought that had lingered in her heart for years. The conclusion she had finally arrived at. The pain she believed Calyra had been carrying all this time.

Rosalin understood that kind of pain.

When she had been drowning in her own sorrow, Calyra had been the one to reach out and pull her back.

That was why...

This time, Rosalin wanted to be the one to reach out.

It had always been one of her deepest regrets.

What kind of friend was she if she could not return the kindness Calyra had once shown her? If she could do nothing but watch as the person who had once saved her quietly carried her burdens alone?

Even if this was not how she had imagined this conversation would happen, she no longer wanted to run from it.

Rosalin finally spoke:

”Calyra... did you... did you perhaps lose someone dear to you in that dungeon? Was that the reason why?”

The moment those words reached her ears, Calyra visibly flinched. Suddenly, her heart pounded violently, a searing pain gripping her chest. (+2,000PP)

’This... what is this?’

Calyra slowly raised a hand to her forehead, pressing her fingers against it as though a splitting headache had suddenly taken hold.

Seeing Calyra react that way once again, Rosalin knew she had struck the truth.

Then, Calyra spoke.

”Rosalin... please refrain from speaking about that dungeon incident.”

”Why? Because you don’t want to remember it? Because every time you do, it only brings you pain? Is that why you’ve been avoiding it all this time?”

”....”

Calyra fell silent.

After a long moment, she finally answered.

”Yes... because I cannot remember what happened inside that dungeon. No matter how hard I try, my memories are nothing but fragments. The only thing I have ever been able to remember... is the pain.”

Calyra lowered her gaze.

”So please... do not speak of it anymore. I want to forget it.”

Rosalin slowly lowered her sword.

”I see... just as I thought.”

Then, she smiled bitterly.

”Then, Calyra... you should know this. I have never once blamed you for whatever happened back then. If anything, I should be thanking you. Because of you... I found something worth chasing. Something that gave my life direction.”

Her smile gradually faded, replaced by a look of quiet determination.

”But what about you, Calyra?”

She met Calyra’s eyes without wavering.

”Are you still chasing your dream?”

”Do you still want to be the greatest mage in the world?”

Calyra narrowed her eyes.

The question lingered in her mind.

Honestly...

She was no longer sure.

Somewhere along the way, that dream had quietly withered away. It no longer stirred her heart the way it once had. It was as though, without ever realizing it, she had lost the very thing that had driven her forward all those years.

She did not know when it had happened.

Nor did she know why.

She only knew that something inside her had changed.

Calyra drew a slow breath.

”Yes, I still—”

”Lies!”

Rosalin cut her off, her voice sharp with restrained fury.

Calyra simply stared at her.

”If you’re going to lie to me, then at least make it believable. I know you, Calyra. Even if it was only for a few short months... I came to know the person you truly were.”

She took another step forward, her unwavering gaze never leaving Calyra’s.

”This isn’t you. This isn’t the Calyra I once knew... nor the Calyra I admired. The Calyra who reached out her hand and gave me hope all those years ago would never speak of her dream with such hollow conviction!”

Rosalin ground her teeth, unable to suppress the frustration swelling within her.

”So don’t give me that... if this is all the resolve you have left... then you will never reach the dream you once swore to pursue.”

Silence descended between them once more.

The wind drifted quietly across the empty terrain, stirring the loose strands of Calyra’s white hair. For a long while, they said nothing.

Calyra merely looked at Rosalin with those vacant azure eyes.

Then, she spoke.

”And what if I no longer wish to chase that dream, Rosalin?” (+2,000)

Rosalin’s expression froze.

Calyra’s voice remained calm, almost devoid of emotion.

”What if I no longer wish to become the greatest mage in the world? What if that dream no longer holds any meaning to me?”

Rosalin stared at her in stunned disbelief.

”...Calyra?”

A faint sigh escaped Calyra’s lips.

”Listen, back then, the reason why I said that to you, Rosalin.... it was only a childish dream — a dream born from the innocence of youth, nothing more. There was no profound conviction behind those words. No grand purpose or any noble aspiration. They were merely the answers of a child who knew too little about the world she lived in.” (+2,000PP)

”Our dreams... they are not sacred, Rosalin. They, too, can fade as we grow up. So why must I continue chasing something simply because I once declared it with confidence as a child?”

Her voice remained frighteningly composed.

”Must every childish promise be fulfilled? Must every dream survive until adulthood? I do not believe so. People can change. Their desires can change. Their values can, too.”

”And eventually... so do their dreams.”

She looked back at Rosalin.

”So if I no longer wish to become the greatest mage in the world... then what is so wrong with abandoning it?”

Rosalin’s pupils trembled violently.

Disbelief washed over her face.

”No.... you are not the same anymore...”

The Calyra Rosalin knew would never have dismissed her own dream as nothing more than childish nonsense.

Rosalin clenched her fists until her knuckles turned white.

Her heart ached.

”...What about our promise then?”

”Have You.... (+2,000PP)

──────── ✦ ────────

[Chapter 258: Have You Truly Abandoned That Too, Calyra?]

Plot Points= 25,600