Brainwashed Then Woke Up To Find My Childhood Friend a Hero

18. Interlude Part Ayla 1

In our family, there has always been a mysterious power. The power to see the future. Thanks to this, I’ve had many good experiences, but I lacked magical talent. Because of that, I’ve faced many unpleasant situations from others. At school, I was pelted with trash and had my textbooks thrown away. Seeing me like that, my father suffered; watching him awkwardly apologize to me, I carried an unresolved sense of unease. One day, while I was out shopping, three well-dressed individuals called out to me.

“Hey, you! Are you the rumored magic-less one around here?”

A flashy blonde man said, spreading the word to those around him. Hearing this, the other two followed suit, raising their voices even louder.

“What!? A magic-less one!?”

“That’s dangerous! We need to teach this one a lesson!”

With their lewd expressions, the three of them spoke, and the atmosphere around us shifted. There was a blatant air of discrimination and disdain towards the magic-less. Suddenly, I used my foresight and glimpsed the future.

The future that would likely occur if the current situation continued,

The closer the future, the higher the accuracy.

What I saw was a horrific scene of me being discarded, my father holding me and crying. I let out a strangled scream and immediately fled the scene.

Seeing this, the three men hurriedly chased after me.

“Hey! Don’t run away! You damn magic-less!”

The blonde man shouted angrily as he pursued me.

I couldn’t understand why I was being chased, or why I had to endure such treatment, but I ran desperately towards where my father was.

Then I stumbled over a stone and fell to the roadside.

“Ah!”

I felt blood flowing, as I must have scraped my knee.

“Hey, hey! The magic-less one fell down!”

The three men approached me, laughing.

—

I tried to stand up and escape somehow, but I was grabbed by the arm.

“Ugh… let go!”

I struggled, but the blonde man found it bothersome and hit me.

Then I was thrown to the ground.

“How dare you make me go through all this trouble!”

The blonde man kicked me in the stomach. I couldn’t make a sound from the fear and pain, and I looked around.

Some people didn’t care because I was a non-magic user, while others pretended not to see.

Someone help…

As my consciousness began to fade from the pain and fear, I heard my father’s voice.

And then I lost consciousness.

When I came to, I was receiving treatment at a familiar uncle’s clinic. Realizing I was conscious, the uncle immediately sent word to my father. My father came flying in and hugged me tightly. My anxiety melted away, and I cried a lot that day.

After that, my father changed. With the intensification of the war, discrimination and persecution against non-magic users eased, and he formed a resistance for us non-magic users. Many people gathered to support my father’s activities, not just non-magic users but also those with non-magic friends. At first, it was just about protecting non-magic users, but my father said that we needed to address the root cause, not just treat the symptoms. I agreed, and we decided to confront the Empire seriously. I had many visions of how we could defeat the Magic Empire for the success of our operations; sometimes I even had nosebleeds from seeing too many visions, but I didn’t want to give up for everyone’s sake. When my father reluctantly said he wanted to entrust command to me, I felt a little happy, knowing I was being recognized.

With support from some trading companies, we gained strength. I trained and learned how to fight using my visions.

Then, based on the results of my visions, the day of the operation was set for the day of the hero’s triumphant parade.

The reason was that many important figures would be heading to the kingdom, leaving security thin.

On the day of the operation, we split up to wait for the right moment at key points of the magic fortress. My father led a diversionary force and the main unit to create chaos, while we aimed to free the non-magic users imprisoned underground and destroy magical tools, all while occupying the heart of the nation amidst the confusion. The operation seemed to be progressing smoothly, but when we freed the imprisoned non-magic users, we received word that the main unit had been annihilated. I immediately tried to rush to help, but I was blocked by soldiers and a woman at the front called Guildia.

We were defeated and ended up imprisoned in the newly constructed magic prison. I was placed in cell number three, where serious criminals were kept, while my hot-tempered father often rebelled against the guards and was regularly put in cell number one.

We decided to wait for the right moment, but it seemed nearly impossible for all of us to escape, and I could only see a future where more than half would become sacrifices. As the days passed, with only a future of ruin in sight, a man was thrown into our cell.

His name was Elgu. He was a strange guy who claimed to have been caught for a crime he didn’t commit and ended up in cell number three, reserved for serious offenders. What caught my attention was that he had been found sleeping in front of the back gate; he had come through the Demon Forest, a place that had been invaded during the height of the Demon King’s army, deemed impossible to reclaim. Even now, with the decline of the Demon King’s army and a decrease in demon species, ferocious monsters roamed freely, making it impossible for even B-rank adventurers to explore properly. I held onto a glimmer of hope and used my visions. Among the many branching possibilities, I saw a future where we all escaped.

I couldn’t help but let out a voice, which caught Elgu’s attention, but I managed to cover it up. When Elgu was taken for lunch, I asked a guard who was infiltrating to deliver a message to my father.

We began to devise a plan, telling our comrades to “wait for the right moment.”

My father, the most trusted in the resistance, needed to lead our comrades.

Using my visions, I discovered that the time after tomorrow’s lunch had the highest chance of success. I called on the guards who were my comrades and began preparations.