Chapter 46: Harvey Enrages Roland for the Third Time

"Oh, crap, I've turned into the dark side." Roland looked in the mirror, contemplating his deeply offensive and hideous reflection.

He set the mirror down. The surroundings were pitch black, save for a flickering candle in front of him casting a dim, yellowish glow.

Roland groped around on the surface before him until his fingers touched a switch. He pressed it, and a television not far away lit up.

The screen displayed a vast ocean and two ships.

Harvey Dent's voice emanated from the television. "Out on the ocean, there are two ships. One ship carries three hundred people, and the other carries two hundred. There are five hundred passengers in total, plus yourself. Let us assume these five hundred and one people are the last surviving remnants of humanity."

"An irreparable hole has opened at the bottom of both ships simultaneously. Only you possess the skills to repair the vessels, but while you are fixing one ship, the other will sink. Which ship will you choose to repair?"

"Wait, what?" Roland paused, picking up the mirror to look at himself again.

Indeed, he was still uniquely hideous; this wasn't Emiya Kiritsugu either.

"Make your choice."

Roland thought for a moment. "Contact the people on both ships and have them bid against each other. Whoever pays the most gets saved first."

"…Then, the ship carrying three hundred people has more people and offers a much more generous condition." Harvey's voice paused for a moment before resuming.

"Then fix the ship with three hundred people."

"Just as you decide to do this, two hundred people from the other ship grab you and demand: 'Fix our ship first.' What should you do?"

"Oh, right, right. How dare they threaten me? They're practically asking for death. Of course, I'll just take all of them out." Roland waved his hand, and the scene before him shifted. He found himself on a ship, tied up, with a man pressing a gun to his head.

"Trying that routine on me won't work either. I'm not Emiya Kiritsugu." Roland easily broke free from the ropes and disarmed the gun pointed at his head.

One minute later...

Roland woke up, cursing loudly as he ripped the device off his head.

"What's wrong with you?" Bruce asked, puzzled.

"That asshole only said there were two hundred people, he didn't mention they were carrying squad-level missiles, recoilless rifles, and MK19 grenade launchers!" Roland slammed his fist against the bed and placed the Wonderland device back onto his head. "No way, I can't swallow this anger."

Re-entering the dream, Roland found himself back in the bar where he had previously been drinking with Harvey.

"You didn't really think I couldn't do anything to you in the dreamworld, did you?" Harvey sat beside him, showing only his scarred half-face, and poured him a glass of whiskey.

"Huh? Could it be that you also kill people in their dreams?" Roland picked up the whiskey and took a sip.

"Maybe I can? The human brain is a delicate instrument, and delicate means fragile." Harvey sipped a glass of red wine. "Perhaps I can keep you here forever."

"I don't believe it."

"Heh..." Harvey smiled meaningfully. "Then let's try. How about we play a game?"

"What game?"

"The whiskey you just drank is laced with lethal poison." Harvey produced two glasses filled with an unknown liquid. "Now, one of these two glasses holds the antidote, while the other contains an even deadlier poison. You..."

Before Harvey could finish, Roland snatched both glasses, drained them in one go, and then raised his middle finger in a mocking gesture. "Don't think you've won."

"…Is that so?" Harvey wasn't angry; instead, he watched Roland with amused interest. "Don't you find the taste of those two things somewhat familiar?"

"Come to think of it, what was that?" Roland smacked his lips and asked.

"Elephant body fluids."

"Harvey Dent! I swear..."

Bruce grabbed Roland as he bolted upright from the bed. "What is it?"

"I'm going to slaughter Harvey!" Roland grabbed Harvey by the neck and shook him awake.

"Ha, I knew you'd pull that stunt on me. Didn't expect it, did you? This was all part of my plan!" Harvey flashed an evil smile.

"FXXK!"

"Calm down..." Bruce pulled Roland away with a headache. "What did Harvey do to you?"

"Nothing much. I just offered him a drink, but he insisted on hijacking my special beverage... and after drinking it, he turned out like this," Harvey said with a smile.

"…It seems you failed as well." Worried that Roland might be angered into a medical emergency, Bruce looked at Grida. "Why don't you give it a try?"

"Alright," Grida nodded. "Let's put Harvey to sleep."

"Constantly taking sleeping pills is bad for your health," Roland said with a grim smile. "Let me help."

"Don't go strangling him to death," Bruce worriedly cautioned.

"How could I let him die so easily?" Roland delivered a swift chop to the back of Harvey's head. He was already quite proficient at this routine—Gotham City certainly trains a person well.

Grida put on the Wonderland device, swallowed a sleeping pill, and drifted into a deep sleep.

A church.

Grida stood frozen in her wedding gown.

Harvey wore a black tuxedo; the double-breasted jacket and satin peak lapels suited his build remarkably well, yet his disfigured face ruined it all.

A coin flipped and landed on Harvey's fingertips. He said indifferently, "Everything is a matter of luck. Any outcome of good or bad, virtue or vice, life or death, is decided by God flipping a coin. Since my side has already landed, why bother wasting your effort?"

"Oh, is our love a matter of luck too?" Grida looked directly into Harvey's eyes, forcing him to look away.

"Look into my eyes! Look straight at me!" Grida walked up to Harvey and grabbed him. "Tell me, Harvey Dent, did you flip a coin to decide whether to love me? And did I fall in love with you purely by chance?"

"You love me? Then what about him?" Harvey pointed behind Grida, revealing another Harvey dressed in a white suit with handsome features.

"He is Harvey Dent too, so of course I love him as well," Grida replied without the slightest hesitation. "Your beauty and ugliness, your kindness and malice, your gentleness and violence... I accept every single trait."

"A person is a whole composed of diverse, contradictory yet independent qualities, and two natures are struggling within your consciousness."

"But it doesn't matter. Both of you, I will love you equally!"

"In the name of God, I promise from this moment on, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love you and to cherish you, until death do us part."

"Oh... wasn't that supposed to be said by the groom during a wedding?" In the real world, Roland had pulled out a small recorder from somewhere and recorded every word Grida had spoken.

Grida had forgotten a crucial detail when she fell asleep: she had a habit of talking in her sleep.

"It looks like Harvey can be saved," Bruce remarked. "Where there is love, there is hope."