Chapter 73
[ Hidden Male Lead 'Roomta' has appeared. ]
[ Roomta is a descendant of the Giant Race and will become your reliable shield. ]
“What?!”
Mirne shot up in surprise the moment she saw the message floating before her eyes.
“Roomta has already appeared?”
The timing of the Hidden Male Lead’s appearance was excessively early.
Originally, Roomta was an entity that was supposed to appear after the Academy.
To be exact, after forming a Club at the Academy and doing this and that.
Accidentally taking a portal and moving to the Giants' Underground, which was said to be beneath the Empire.
He was a character who should have been naturally discovered during the exploration process there.
To think he would just pop up like this at this point in time, when the Imperial Academy wasn’t even completed yet?
“Is it… a bug? No, how on earth? Don’t tell me it’s the Crown Prince again?”
It was the most likely story, and in fact, there was no way it could happen otherwise.
But at the same time, it was unbelievable.
How could the Crown Prince find the Giants' Underground?
The normal method was to go through a portal that appeared after the Academy was completed.
The hidden method was to gain the Favor of the World Tree, having the World Tree find the path.
The former was impossible since the condition of the Academy’s completion hadn’t been met.
As for the latter, there was no way the Crown Prince could have already made contact with the World Tree.
“Or… what if he did make contact?”
Mirne’s eyes flashed as she double-checked the notifications the system had sent her one by one.
She had been so busy lately that she hadn’t properly checked her System Messages.
So if a variable had occurred, it would definitely be left in the message logs.
“…There’s nothing?”
There was nothing, yet a variable suddenly occurred? This made no sense.
If so, there was exactly one possible scenario she could think of.
“Could it be that because I failed to make contact with Eiloren, I couldn’t receive notifications about the World Tree… and the Crown Prince took advantage of that gap to make contact with the World Tree?”
The only explanation was that the Crown Prince had made contact with the World Tree.
In truth, this didn’t make sense either. How could the Crown Prince of the Empire know of the World Tree’s existence and go there directly?
This was truly nonsensical.
“What on earth… is the Crown Prince? He’s not a Conquest Target, nor is he my Ally… How can he keep creating variables all by himself like this?”
Did some error occur during the transmigration process? If it were just once or twice, she would have just let it slide.
Thinking that he had abruptly made contact with the World Tree, which had no direct relation to the Empire, left her dumbfounded.
“He shouldn’t even be a Playable Character… What is he?”
Actually, there was exactly one remaining possibility.
“…Could the Crown Prince be a Transmigrator too?”
It was a hypothesis she had shoved to the back of her mind, thinking it impossible.
If the Crown Prince was a Transmigrator, there were parts that could be somewhat understood.
Starting from his unpredictability, to how he was excessively running wild in the story unlike the original work.
Should she say he was acting independently?
Even just looking at how Teo, who was by the Crown Prince’s side, had deviated from being a Conquest Target showed it.
If the Crown Prince really was a Transmigrator, he would definitely be moving to protect the Empire.
“Then should I… try meeting him once? Ask him if he’s a Transmigrator too… Since the Empire is going to fall anyway, should I tell him to quickly fold everything… and come under Maselin while I tell him the future?”
Even while having such thoughts, Mirne urgently prepared to move.
Meeting the Crown Prince right away would be too much, so the very first thing she had to do right now was.
“The World Tree… I need to secure the World Tree first!”
It was to Check the status of the World Tree, which had no messages whatsoever.
The World Tree was one of the essential conditions needed to make Maselin strong.
She absolutely needed to transplant it to the Maselin Kingdom without any issues.
+++++
Losing one’s memories is a futile thing.
And at the same time, it is a life of having to tremble in fear every single day.
If the day ever came when one even forgot the fact that they had lost their memories.
Then truly nothing would be left.
“…Are you the Giant who will inherit this generation’s covenant?”
“Yes.”
A very long time ago.
A time when he had just outgrown his infancy.
Pavan conversed with the Giant who was slowly crumbling before his eyes.
“I am going down below. Forgetting everything… for the moment the covenant is inherited… I will fall asleep.”
“…”
“While asleep, I will not forget anything, so in the world of closed eyes, I will wait for the covenant to be fulfilled.”
“What exactly is this covenant for, and why did the Giant Race swear loyalty to the Empire?”
“To reclaim what was lost… The Great Prophet said so. That it could definitely be reclaimed, that the time would come.”
“…What did we lose?”
“We lost our memories. Our history, our lives, our emotions, everything…”
At first, he couldn’t understand those words.
But understanding was unnecessary to grasp their meaning.
Tap.
The moment the crumbling Giant’s finger touched his forehead.
“Ah, ah, aaaaagh!!!”
It was because countless memories flooded into his mind.
The history of a Race entirely entering the head of a single individual.
Normally, it was an amount of information where it wouldn’t be strange to instantly become an idiot.
But the speed at which the information disappeared before it could overflow and break his mind was faster.
Ssssh.
A very brief moment of pain.
And starting with that pain, Pavan earnestly came to bear the Giant’s Covenant.
It truly happened in an instant.
“…What on earth is this.”
After that moment when he briefly lost consciousness from the pain.
Pavan became unable to remember anything.
Starting from what kind of life he had lived before then, and how he had grown up.
To what thoughts he had lived with, he lost everything.
All that remained were his instincts and faintly lingering, miscellaneous pieces of information.
But he could feel even this disappearing in real-time every time he blinked.
“…No.”
Pavan abruptly pushed his body up and first wrote down everything he could remember in his head.
It took only an instant for all the walls and paper inside the Executioner’s Palace to become storage space.
His favorite colors, foods, actions, times, weather, and so on.
In the fear that he might lose himself, Pavan frantically wrote down information.
He seemed to have done that for several years.
Then at some point.
“Ah.”
He realized the emotion of anger had formed.
What exactly was the covenant that it had to be kept?
If it hadn’t been kept for a long time, wasn’t it just Hope Torture?
“If losing my memories is inevitable, if they”re going to disappear anyway… wouldn’t it be right to roam freely?'
Was there any way a covenant that hadn’t been kept for thousands of years would suddenly be fulfilled in my generation?
Even the deadline was slowly approaching now. Was my life going to end just recording things?
“…When the covenant ends, maybe I”ll be driven mad with anger.'
Anger at not regaining his memories, anger at the future where he would lose everything.
Would that future come to this land?
It was a complicated feeling.
While he wanted the covenant to be kept, he also rather wanted to just lose everything and spew out his anger.
Could there be such severe Ambivalence?
“I must be afraid.”
If the covenant was fulfilled, how exactly would the returned memories revive?
Would they seep into my head like back then? If a single individual had to receive all the memories of a Race.
What should that existence be called from then on?
“…Will I become a Living Library? Me?”
Around the time such complicated thoughts continued.
Crack, craaack.
The sound of something breaking rang out.
“As if. Do you think I would just stand by and watch my Official end up like that?”
A voice that immediately followed the breaking sound.
Pavan had never forgotten this voice, nor did he have any intention of losing it.
Not knowing where it was coming from, Pavan slowly raised his head.
“No, Your Highness is absolutely not someone who would do that.”
“Right, as long as you know.”
The Crown Prince smiled in satisfaction the moment he heard those words.
“Let’s go out.”
Craaaack!
He awakened Pavan’s mind.
+++++
The moment I heard Pavan was acting strange and ran straight over there, what I saw was.
“Aaaaaagh!”
Pavan clutching his head and going crazy like a madman.
A face that somehow looked like it was filled with anger.
First, I sheathed my sword and threw my body forward to perform a Subjugation.
“Arveda, Luminix, assist me with Subjugation as the top priority.”
“This Humble Woman! I am ready right away!”
“I will follow your command!”
Having received the assistance of two Executioners, the Subjugation itself didn’t seem difficult.
The problem was why this situation had suddenly occurred.
“There should be a trigger nearby, but what on earth is it.”
Fwoosh!
I scattered flames around to brighten the surroundings as much as possible.
Bang!
Around the time I was dismantling Pavan’s armor piece by piece and moving for a perfect Subjugation.
“Found it.”
I was able to find a single pillar emitting a humming vibration.
To be exact, it was a cone-shaped structure, and a sphere was floating above it.
On the surface of that sphere, a single padlock was sitting right there.
Anyone could see it looked like an object related to the covenant.
It looked exactly like something that needed to be removed.
So.
“Arveda, Luminix, I’ll leave him to you for a moment.”
I briefly left Pavan to Arveda and Luminix.
Then I swiftly threw my body toward the structure.
Slash!
I slashed the padlock without hesitation.
Fwoooosh!
An immense light spewed out the moment I slashed it.
And at the same time.
Ruuuumble.
I could see that light dwelling within the Giants who were reaching their hands toward the ceiling.
“Is this the third one.”
As I muttered that.
“Hmm?”
Something like black smoke, rather than light, was trying to cling to Pavan.
“What is this.”
Slash!
I lightly slashed it away, and the moment I slashed it.
[ Pavan’s sacrifice did not occur during the process of resolving the covenant. ]
[ As Pavan has survived, the disposition of the Hidden Male Lead 'Roomta' changes from 'Obedience' to 'Freedom'. ]
Messages with unknown meanings filled my vision.
His disposition changes from obedience to freedom? What on earth does this mean?
Anyway, that was that.
[ The Executioner’s Covenant has been resolved. ]
[ The worldline changes. ]
[ Destiny changes. ]
[ The Empire’s Probability of Destruction decreases by 10%. ]
[ Current Empire Destruction Probability: 20% ]
[ It seems the Empire will no longer fall. ]
Since I had resolved the covenant, it was time to get a sweet reward.
Luminix was Fairy Tale, and Arveda was the Dragon Legion.
Then what would Pavan give?
Such questions were brief.
[ You have acquired the title 'Recorder' as a Covenant Resolution Reward. ]
[ Due to the title’s effect, your actions will be recorded from now on. ]
“…?”
I received a reward that seemed ambiguous to use right away.
A title, it really is like a game.
“No, wait, if I consider that what Mirne read… was a Visual Novel, then it really is a game.”
That aside, I also received a whopping 5 points to invest in the Tech Tree afterwards.
With this much, I could invest about 50% into the Magic Stone Train tech.
So I was about to mentally call out the status window to invest in the Tech Tree.
[ You have resolved more than half of the Executioner’s Covenants. ]
[ The Hidden Tech Tree has been unlocked. ]
A new Tech Tree revealed its presence right next to it.
Normally, I would have just ignored it and invested in what was needed for development first.
[ Magitech Airship ]
“…Huh?”
I couldn’t resist this.