Chapter 118
“Wasn't it the end?”
After repeating countless regressions, at the point when the clues were gradually beginning to emerge one by one,
when I finally drove a sword into Mirne's neck, I believed everything would be over.
Having seen the end, I thought that if I returned to the beginning and fixed things one by one, I could achieve a perfect ending.
But.
"I never imagined you would hide like that. No matter how despicable you were, I believed you would have at least some basic decency."
This was a new beginning.
After killing Mirne, I saw her true form.
An unpleasant entity looking down at this world from its boundary.
It had taken the form of a god, but its nature was completely different.
Something hiding inside the shell of the system and enjoying the world.
"You make your doppelganger bear all the hardships and adversity of living in the real world, while you pick and choose only the fun parts... Ha."
It wasn't outside the world, either.
It was clearly straddling the boundary, in a state of possession—something I had mentioned before.
But I had no idea what method it had used; this possession was not a normal form of possession.
If there was a stage, it was in the position of standing behind it, setting up a stand-in and watching.
A place where it could cast aside every responsibility and obligation and pick out only the pleasures.
Then, whenever the stand-in was in danger, it played the role of granting conveniences under the pretext that the stand-in was the protagonist.
[ I don't understand what the problem is. Doesn't everyone want to live like that? ]
Could Mirne not withstand the criticism?
Mirne's body, which unquestionably should have been dead, forcibly rose and poured out words.
More precisely, it had to pretend to speak.
Because the real voice was coming from above.
'I'm not sure whether to call it a voice or a message.'
Even while looking at Mirne, the Crown Prince continued to remain wary of the presence he sensed above.
"There's a difference between wanting to live that way and personally exploiting a world where everyone lives so that you can truly live that way. That is a problem."
[ I don't understand why that's a problem. I'm the protagonist, you know. ]
Could someone living in the same world truly say such a thing?
In the past, Mirne had sometimes said that this world was a game and so on.
She was the player, everyone besides her was an NPC, and this world was a story inside a game.
It had been shocking at first, but after repeating countless regressions, I came to understand what she meant.
And at the same time, the more I understood, the harder it became to suppress my disgust.
"Now that you are also inside the same world, you are not even a player... Do you really think that is the right attitude? Do you truly feel there is nothing wrong with it?"
[ Watching from outside the monitor was fun too... Ah, will you not understand if I put it that way? Being inside like this was confusing at first, but I like it now. ]
After exchanging a few words, I could tell.
That woman genuinely believed this world had to revolve around her.
She even treated everything that happened in the process as unavoidable.
She might have thought that way because, when she was outside the world, she regarded it as something truly fictional.
But it was astonishing that even while inside it, she still did not treat the others as fellow human beings.
Yet at the same time, I felt relieved.
"You will remain thoroughly evil."
All that remained was to kill her mercilessly, without a shred of mercy.
An unmistakable enemy with no tragic backstory or coercion caused by some incident.
Paradoxically, I felt refreshed by that repulsive attitude, since it helped me cleanly resolve the situation.
Slash!
I poured all the power I currently possessed into the sword and swung it.
A swing meant to cut down that lowly thing wearing the system's mask.
But sadly, it did not reach.
"So I'm still closer to being on the audience's side."
[ I don't know what you're talking about. ]
"If you don't understand, it doesn't matter. I do like how foolish you are."
The Crown Prince turned his gaze away after saying that.
A ruined world came into view.
I had not resolved all the pacts, but I had solved enough of them to make it this far.
If I repeated a few hundred more regressions, this part would improve as well.
'Of course, I will forget what happened just now when I regress. But all my other memories will remain intact, so it does not matter.'
If I kept repeating like that, someday, with all my memories intact,
the day would come when I would face you after you had climbed onto the stage instead of remaining in the audience.
The Crown Prince muttered that inwardly as he took in the Empire that was being destroyed.
+++++
“....”
The Crown Prince's memories filled my head in an instant.
It felt like recalling a long feature film I had watched.
Various moments flashed through my mind, almost like a lifetime passing before my eyes.
Everything from the emotions to the circumstances and sensations of that time was conveyed.
Everything was conveyed.
"It reset."
Immediately after I swung my sword at Mirne's system.
Just as Mirne's system had said through its messages,
the problem with the aerial fortress really had been resolved as naturally as could be.
"The Kingdom of Maselin contacted us as soon as it discovered the aerial fortress?"
"That's right. So, together with the dwarves...."
According to Theo, as soon as the Kingdom of Maselin discovered the aerial fortress, it immediately contacted the Empire.
The Empire took the aerial fortress as it was, and nothing happened during the process.
The aerial fortress must have begun with Mirne inciting the dwarves to build it.
But that entire process had been omitted, and the aerial fortress was treated as having been on the Kingdom of Maselin's side from the very beginning.
'She really forced a resolution. She ignored all the settings and... to escape the immediate situation, she destroyed all plausibility.'
Naturally, it could not be a technique she could use every time.
If she had been able to do something like that freely in the first place, things never would have reached this point.
Just as I was thinking that and about to properly investigate what had happened,
[ A penalty is being imposed on the opponent. ]
[ I will make it impossible to skip over the story like this ever again. ]
[ You can no longer remain on the audience's side. From the moment you were wounded on the stage, watching from afar is no longer possible. ]
The system messages continued.
"No longer being able to remain on the audience's side means... if I get the chance, I can cut you like that again?"
Even though I had not been able to inflict a fatal wound, the fact that I had wounded it at all was what mattered.
A spectator who intervened in the story and was affected by the characters within it was no longer a spectator.
That meant Mirne's system—its true body—could no longer watch the role-play.
On top of that.
[ I found kindling to be used for the dwarf pact condition, 'the flame that burns forever.' ]
[ The artificially created gods will literally become kindling that burns forever. ]
I had resolved the dwarves' pact as well.
"All the pacts...."
There was no reason to delay.
I immediately summoned Gilbat, and
"All preparations for creating the flame that burns forever are complete. Would it be all right to burn them right away with Sol Bellos's flames?"
"P-please give us a chance to use this kindling ourselves. We'll make a large furnace and put the... put the flame in there...."
Gilbat began to speak in a rambling, extremely flustered manner.
"The pact will be fulfilled when the flame emerges, so... it seems it won't be fulfilled until we build the furnace. B-but even without that, the pact is sufficiently... First, we'll quickly dismantle the aerial fortress and use its materials to start with the furnace...."
"Yes, it seems everything will proceed well without me having to say anything, so I'll spare you further words. You look to be in a hurry, so hurry and get to work with those."
"Thank you! Thank you so much, Your Highness!"
Gilbat immediately dropped into a deep bow, slammed his head against the floor several times, grabbed the gods' heads, and hurried away.
After all, he was finally going to see the flame he had been waiting for so long. It would have been strange if he had not been excited.
'Does that mean all the pacts will be fulfilled the moment the furnace is finished?'
If that happened, the only thing left that could destroy the Empire would be a demon realm suddenly opening in the sky.
The possibility of the Empire's destruction was still 100%.
The deadline was still five years.
"If things continue this way, Mirne will try to avoid getting involved with me as much as possible,
wouldn't she keep running around and fleeing because she is afraid of me, who can even hurt her true body?"
Moreover, the aerial fortress problem had been cleanly resolved in the end.
There would be no reason for me to get involved with the Kingdom of Maselin for the time being.
Of course, that would only last for a very short while.
'When the Empire calls, you come even without a reason.'
I had no intention of doing that for now.
The Empire, too, was about to begin focusing in earnest on strengthening its internal foundations.
The moment the furnace was completed, the Empire would undoubtedly change completely.
We needed time to prepare for that sudden transformation.
"I'll be busy. But it's a shame to have a pair of hands sitting idle when I'm this busy."
How wonderful would it be if the giants awoke at a time like this?
Just as I was muttering that,
"Your Highness!!! Your Highness!!!"
Arveda came running toward me, waving her arms wildly.
"T-Tin Can! Ah, no... Pavan has awakened!!!"
She brought good news with her.
++++++
Around the time the Empire was preparing to begin strengthening its internal foundations in earnest,
"How many people have gathered to join us?"
"Perhaps because there is a clear external enemy, many places have been cooperative."
"Fortunately, there are clever people."
The Kingdom of Taewon quickly designated the Empire as its enemy and became the central force of an allied coalition through its continuous provocations.
Why were they being so aggressive when they were across the sea?
It was necessary to make the Empire of the Western Continent clearly understand that the Eastern Continent was not to be trifled with.
"But... is it true that some have sided with the Kingdom of Cheongryu?"
"That's right. I don't know what they're thinking, but there are countries foolish enough to side with the Kingdom of Cheongryu and think they can coexist with the Empire."
"Ha, they would look after a neighbor in a distant land instead of a close neighbor. No, not even a neighbor in a distant land... Are they thinking of crawling under those who seek to rule the Eastern Continent?"
Although the King of Taewon wore an expression of incomprehension,
"Good."
he concluded that this might actually be better.
"If the sides are drawn quickly, we can use that as a pretext to act."
"You are right, Your Majesty. How about pressuring the countries that joined hands with the Kingdom of Cheongryu first?"
"That was my intention. However, we cannot move openly and make noise while pressuring them, so it will have to be done secretly."
"I will bear that in mind."
How dare they join hands with the Empire?
Taewon would never sit idly by while countries rejected its proposal.
With that in mind, Taewon asked its allies to select small elite forces.
'Shall we start small with a few murders of unknown cause?'
They would repeatedly strike and withdraw, forcing the helpless people to watch their fellow citizens die.
If they had refused to join Taewon, surely destruction was the only end awaiting them.
The King of Taewon and his ministers reached that conclusion, and so did the countries allied with Taewon.
And just as the small elite forces of the Taewon Coalition were preparing to move,
"How much longer until we reach the Eastern Continent?"
"About three hours!"
"Excellent. I can hardly contain my anticipation for the culture of the Eastern Continent."
"Thanks to His Highness the Crown Prince, we've even gotten to come on a mission to the Eastern Continent... I'm so happy."
Imperial knights were on their way to support the Kingdom of Cheongryu.
And among those knights,
"...Oh, Marianne... You're beautiful every time I see you."
"Hey, rookie! I told you not to talk to that cannon!"
"Sorry! Marianne was so beautiful! I couldn't help myself!"
"...Crazy bastard."
there was one knight carrying a cannon.