Konbini Ossan Volume 16 Chapter 13 — The World of Dreams
“This is my dream world. A closed world where only I can dream happy dreams.”
The boy began to speak.
“I had no power. I couldn’t protect the things I wanted to protect, and I couldn’t become what I wanted to become. I was just... me. Nobody special. All I could do was lose things.”
The scenery of the world changed.
Scenes repeated of Candy Goblins being slaughtered one after another by what appeared to be human soldiers and adventurers.
Most likely, these were not just the boy’s memories. They were the memories of resentment belonging to every Candy Goblin who had thrown themselves into the sea.
I see.
The boy must have taken in the regrets of others, and that was what turned him into this.
“I hate the world. A world that allows creatures this cruel to exist. A fate where everything is taken from you, even though you never wished for much. More than anything, I hate the humans who made everyone suffer and killed them.”
That resentment must have changed the boy.
It transformed an utterly ordinary boy into a Grudge-fueled Curse that would consume the world.
“So the world can break. It can disappear. Everything precious to me only exists in memories now. All I need is an endless dream.”
“And because of that, you would destroy the world?”
At my question, the boy nodded.
“Yeah. I don’t need the outside world. If it disappears, then I’ll never have to wake up from this dream. I can stay quietly shut away in my dream world forever.”
Now I could glimpse why the Douki had begun its corruption.
“You understand, don’t you? How I feel.”
“Yes. I do understand.”
To hate the world.
That broad, almost grandiose feeling, one that could even be called a kind of delusion, was not something I could deny.
I didn’t have reasons as deep as this boy’s, but there had been a time when I too was consumed by delusions.
That was why I could sympathize with part of his heart.
“That’s why I won’t deny your dream.”
And in this dream world, one that was far too convenient for the boy...
I saw a different meaning in it.
“To take revenge on the humans you hate. To be loved by the people precious to you. To have your abilities recognized and shine. One convenient event after another, arranged exactly as you’d wish. You think this dream is ugly, don’t you?”
Hearing that, the boy bristled.
“It is ugly. But what’s wrong with that?!”
As the boy shouted, I gently patted his head, as if soothing him.
“No. It isn’t ugly at all.”
Still unconvinced, the boy puffed up in a sullen expression.
“You had choices. You could have dreamed something even crueler, something even more convenient. You could have turned it into a dream centered on hurting humans. But you didn’t.”
Even after being swallowed by resentment powerful enough to consume the world, the boy had chosen to dream a dream befitting a boy.
In a sense, an ordinary one.
“You chose a world that would heal your wounds, rather than a world where you hurt others just as much as you had been hurt. This dream is not a world of ugly malice. It is a world preparing you to move forward.”
At my words, the boy made a face like he had bitten into something bitter.
“But I’m cursing the outside world!”
“Yes. Even if deep down you wish for your wounds to heal. Even if you are struggling to move forward. There is still a part of you that cannot stop cursing someone.”
The heart is not made of logic alone.
It is only natural to hold contradictory feelings at the same time.
“But that is not a strange emotion. If you have a heart, then those are ordinary negative feelings anyone can end up carrying.”
I embraced the boy as I spoke to him.
“It may be ideal for you to heal your wounds alone within this dream. But that is only an ideal. Because the heart is what gives rise to ideals, it is only natural that the heart can also lead you down the wrong path.”
And guiding those who had lost their way, like this boy, was probably the role of adults like us.
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E/N:
Ossan aiming to resolve the issue through words is one of his good qualities. Just like Master Satou!
Also, this reminds of Ryoma from By the Grace of the Gods in the Sea of Trees arc!
Stay tuned!
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