[Amelia] The Level Zero Hero Chapter 200 (Patreon)

As the day progressed, Bucky’s Out of this World Restaurant began to attract more customers. There was no longer a problem with the bastion bees, so customers were slowly trickling back in for dinner. Fortunately, this turned out for the better, because Amelia couldn’t return to the kitchen for the day.

After all, she was too… preoccupied.

Noele stared at her master’s predicament. The brown-haired woman was standing outside of the restaurant, surrounded by the baby bastion bees. This was a familiar sight. Except last time the blonde girl saw this scene, the baby bastion bees were constantly assaulting Amelia.

This time around, they were clinging onto Amelia like she was their queen.

“So, uh, what are you going to do about that?” Noele asked, trying to meet her master’s gaze.

It was very difficult, since the baby bastion bees were crawling all across the brown-haired woman, even covering her face and eyes.

“I have absolutely no idea,” she said in a muffled voice. Amelia shook her head, brushing off some of the baby bastion bees. And then they clung onto her arm. Still, it gave her the opportunity to speak clearly. “I think I’m just going to chill in their hive until they fall asleep.”

Noele pursed her lips. “And you’re sure they’ll leave you alone when they wake up tomorrow?”

Amelia just shrugged. Well, it looked like she was trying to shrug. Noele couldn’t even see the gesture because of the swarm of baby bastion bees.

“We’ll see tomorrow, I guess,” Amelia sighed. “If it’s still a problem, I’ll have to figure something else out.”

“Alright…” Noele said, watching as her master vanished into the rocky hive of the bastion bees.

She looked towards the horizon and saw the setting sun. It was evening now. Soon, the restaurant would close, after the dinner rush was over. That was when the blonde girl could finally have her conversation with Arthur.

When she returned to the inside of the restaurant, there were about twenty or so customers gathered now. A few of them were lurking near the bar, so Noele didn’t even have the opportunity to approach Arthur. Instead, she just waited with Bucky in the corner of the room.

The chicken looked like it had eaten a rather large meal— which wasn’t an unusual sight— so she was resting, trying to recover. Noele sat down next to Bucky and nodded.

“Hey.”

“Bawk bawk.”

Bucky raised her head fractionally, but otherwise didn’t give much acknowledgment to the blonde girl’s presence. Noele watched in a daze as the room blurred around her— as customers and employees of the restaurant went about their days like everything was normal. And to them, everything was indeed normal.

Their biggest worry was about the bastion bees, but that had been mostly resolved already. However, Noele had just received the biggest revelation of her life. It was another sickening betrayal, so soon after discovering that the man she looked up to as a child— Nicholas the Noble Knight— was an ignoble member of the Sect of Abyssal Thorns.

Her head spun as she tried to process the fact that the World System was evil.

No… it wasn’t evil. She didn’t know anything for sure just yet. Just that it could be evil. After all, it had been manipulating the blonde girl since her birth to accept it as her God.

And now, she didn’t know how to react. She didn’t even know what to think. She closed her eyes and sighed.

“Bucky?” she said, turning to face the chicken. “What would you do if you learned your entire life was a lie?”

“Bawk?” Bucky perked up quizzically.

“What I mean is— if I told you that the… that the World System was evil. How would you react to that?” Noele asked in a soft voice.

She didn’t know why, but she couldn’t confide this information with anyone else. Not Garron. Not her parents. Only Arthur. And apparently, Bucky too. Everyone else? The blonde girl didn’t feel comfortable even alluding to what she learned.

There was a moment of silence as Noele saw herself in the reflection of the chicken’s eyes. It looked like the wheels were turning in Bucky’s head, and she slowly processed what had been said.

Finally, Bucky simply tilted her head back in response. “Bawk bawk bawk? Bawk bawk bawk bawk.”

Noele blinked at that. Obviously, she didn’t understand a single thing the chicken said. But she just saw the way Bucky gave such a simple response. It was like Bucky didn’t even care. And the blonde girl couldn’t comprehend the reason why.

“I… see.” Noele bit her lower lip.

Was Bucky’s muted reaction because of the World System’s control? Or was it for another reason? Noele didn’t know. And she also didn’t know how to prod the chicken to figure it out.

Fortunately for the blonde girl, she didn’t need to mull over it for long, because a pair of footsteps approached her. She looked up to see Arthur standing over her with a smile on his face.

“Hey, I can talk now,” he said with a nod.

Noele blinked and got to her feet. She looked over his shoulder, but saw there were still a handful of customers there.

“Are you already done with work?” She raised a brow.

Arthur shook his head and gestured at Harlan across the room. “There aren’t that many customers, so I’m not really needed here. Harlan told me I could get off early, since you need to speak with me.”

“Right, I see.” Noele nodded and stepped past him. “Thank you. Let’s speak somewhere more private.”

“Sure.”

The two of them headed out, leaving the chicken behind. Arthur just followed Noele until they were surrounded by trees, quite a distance away from Wolfwater. He looked a little bit confused as to why the blonde girl had led him there. He even asked her if she could elaborate a few times, but she kept silent. Only when she was certain they were alone, did she finally turn to him and speak up.

“Tell me, Arthur, what do you think of the World System?” she asked, meeting his gaze.

He blinked, taken aback by the abrupt question. He scratched the back of his head. “I’m… not entirely sure what you mean by that question, Noele. What is there to even think about the World System?”

Noele shook her head and gestured at him. “When you were possessed by the Voidgod, did it tell you anything about the World System?”

“When I was…?” Arthur’s eyes went wide. He looked down at himself for a moment, clearly uncomfortable with the question. He didn’t like thinking back about his time as the Lich King. However, he steeled himself and shook his head. “No. There was nothing. All I remember was the Voidgod telling me to destroy Amelia.”

“I see.” Noele nodded as she lowered her head.

Arthur pursed his lips. “And why are you asking—”

“What about when you were a [Priest]?” she interrupted him.

“When I was a [Priest]?” He cocked his head curiously.

“What did you think of the World System— what did you think about the God of Vacuos?” Noele asked, shaking her head. “And what would you say if I told you it was evil?”

The blonde girl expected some sort of reaction from Arthur. She wasn’t sure what it would be. But she expected him to have a visible change in his facial expression. However, all he did was place a hand on his chin in thought.

“What would I think if you told me the World System is evil? I mean… I feel like that would be quite weird, considering everything it does for Vacuos.”

“And what does it do for Vacuos?” Noele replied instantly.

“I guess it gives us our Classes?” Arthur said with a shrug. “But as a [Priest], I would say that the most important thing it does for us is protect us from the Void.”

“And what if I told you the Voidgod was the True God of Vacuos?” the blonde girl countered. “What if I told you that it was expelled into the Void by the World System?”

The former Lich King frowned. He furrowed his brows in silence for a moment, before looking back up.

“Then… I guess I would like to see some evidence of that,” he said simply.

Noele shook her head. “I don’t have any evidence of that. But that’s why I came to you. Because I know that the World System is not all it is made out to be. I know that there is something more to the World System.”

“What makes you say that?” Arthur asked curiously.

And the blonde girl sighed, “Because the World System has been lying to me. It has been manipulating me. It has been manipulating all of us, holding us all back.”

Author's Notes:

What thonk? 200 chapters of Amelia. Pretty cool.

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