Chapter 1
This world is a romance fantasy.
I suddenly realized that fact when I was nineteen. More precisely, I remembered my past life.
In my past life, I enjoyed reading male-oriented web novels, and one day I was lured into a romance-fantasy novel by its pretty cover.
Romance fantasies were full of one-off villains who left the story after only a few chapters.
'Astin von Cardenos' was one of those characters. A disposable villain who exited in the fifth chapter as a sacrificial lamb for the hero's cathartic comeback.
-Gold, jewels, dresses. I gave you everything you asked for! What more could you have wanted?
-Do I look like that kind of shallow woman? You never gave me love. But this man is different. He truly loves and cherishes me.
That crazy bitch had taken everything she could get and was still pulling this shit.
Astin was clearly a disposable villain, but I sympathized with him more.
They weren't childhood sweethearts, nor was it some one-night fling. She was his formally betrothed fiancée. His fiancée.
Imagine emptying your entire fortune for your fiancée only to get NTR'd. Anyone would lose their mind.
Even worse was the arrogant attitude of the man who stole his fiancée.
-It's a duel for Azelin, Astin. Whoever wins this fight gets Azelin.
-You...! You're nothing but a fallen noble who couldn't even meet my eyes at the academy!
What the fuck? Was this really supposed to make sense?
It was an arranged marriage, wasn't it? Could it really be broken off over a duel with some adulterous bastard who rolled in from nowhere?
The story's logic had gone completely to shit.
In the end, Astin lost the duel miserably.
-This duel is invalid! I refuse to accept it!!!
After that, he tried to stab the outsider in the back like a coward, only to get punched in the jaw by his fiancée and knocked unconscious.
Astin von Cardenos made his exit disgracefully to the very end.
...The reason I'm bringing up Astin at all is because.
"I'm that Astin."
A disposable villain who lavished everything on his fiancée like a pushover, got NTR'd, and made a disgraceful exit.
That was me.
At least I knew now. That meant everything would be fine.
My mind had cleared, and if I gradually fixed my ways, I could avoid the future that awaited Astin.
However, the fact that I was Astin was only the lesser of two evils.
In my past life, I was forced to suffer through the romance fantasy all the way to the ending. It was because I'd made a bulk purchase without thinking.
Because of that, I knew exactly how horribly this world was going to fall apart.
'Outer gods invading, humanity exterminated, world destroyed. A completely fucking disastrous bad ending.'
The outer gods and their servants invaded out of nowhere, and the main characters were mind-controlled into killing one another.
The ending was dark fantasy in everything but name.
So forget NTR and reputation and everything else. I had to save the world first.
***
There was a time when I thought that way, too.
"If I hadn't remembered my past life, I could've lived comfortably and died. Fuck."
Ptui-
I chewed and spat out a clotted mass of blood.
In the middle of the raging flames, I blankly looked around.
Blood flowed in every direction like rivers. The ravaged earth had lost all life, and corpses were strewn across the fields where barley should have grown.
Everything in sight was red.
When I closed my eyes, my vision filled with black. When I opened them, it filled with red again.
Was this really how a romance-fantasy ending was supposed to be?
-It is astonishing that a human can possess such power. Your skill certainly lives up to your reputation.
"What? You're still alive?"
At my feet lay the 'Tongue That Whispers Mirages,' commonly known as the Black Serpent.
It was a servant of the outer gods and the one responsible for creating this carnage.
-There is no doubt you deserve the title Bane of Evil. Who would have thought a mere human would prove such a great obstacle?
"Thanks. It's nice to have the great Moon Clan recognize me."
-You may be proud. Even the Moon Goddess has taken an interest in you. You, too, shall be embraced by the great goddess.
"Does your goddess have a big heart?"
-She is exceedingly magnanimous. Though you are mortal, since you are human like us, she will gladly take you into her embrace.
"You really don't understand a damn thing."
Then again, I was an idiot for trying to converse with something that wasn't even human.
Knowing the ending of this world, I had done everything I could to prevent its destruction.
Including this one, there were three servants of the outer gods whose heads I had taken single-handedly.
Three out of seven. If humanity had taken down the remaining four, we could have delayed the end.
'What could I expect from those romance-fantasy idiots?'
The crown prince, the Northern Grand Duke, the saint of the Holy Empire, the heir apparent to the Magic Tower, and the Swordmaster.
While I was throwing myself into the fight, they had gotten distracted by women and turned the world into this.
"You were right. What was the point of struggling alone? Everyone else is dead, and the world is finished."
I should have given up early, enjoyed everything I wanted, and died in bed from too much sex.
-No, mortal. Your efforts were not some meaningless struggle. They were truly an awe-inspiring feat.
"You sure know how to suck up. No wonder you're called the Tongue That Whispers Mirages."
Still, I couldn't save you.
Slash!
The Black Serpent's head rolled across the ground before sinking into a pool of blood.
I cut it down in one stroke before listening any longer and letting my heart soften.
Stomp-
Stomp-
That was when I heard someone approaching from a distance.
Human footsteps.
There was a survivor. I had a good idea who it was without even looking.
The taste of iron filled my mouth, and my vision spun.
I clung to my fading consciousness with every last ounce of strength, even though it felt ready to collapse at any moment.
I dragged my unsteady leg toward the source of the footsteps.
"Hey-"
It was the first time I'd ever been glad to see that face.
I waved first, but the other person's expression immediately darkened.
"Your pretty face is going to get ruined. Lighten up, man."
Lucia von Elzerna.
The protagonist of this world and the current commander-in-chief of the Allied Human Forces.
She was the only person on this battlefield I could trust to watch my back.
If I'd been alone, I would have joined the corpses lying over there long ago.
Lucia parted her cracked lips.
"Your arm?"
"My arm?"
"What's wrong with your arm? Where'd you leave it?"
So that was why she looked like that. I'd almost misunderstood.
I waved the stump where one of my arms had been torn away. The wound had stopped bleeding after I cauterized it with fire.
"Ah, you could say I left it behind in the new age."
"Don't bullshit me."
"The Black Serpent took it. That thing was pretty strong. Lucky I only lost an arm—I nearly died."
...I thought you'd be fine, Astin.
"I am fine. Can't you see?"
"You call that fine, you idiot?"
"You lost an eye yourself."
Whoosh-
Lucia threw something with one hand.
It was the severed head of the Black Fang, another servant of the outer gods.
She really was the protagonist of this world.
"Are you the only one alive?"
"They've all been dead for a while, what do you think? Belbruck, Alex, Valerian—all of them."
"I see."
Lucia accepted it calmly.
She had already been through too much to grieve over fallen comrades or agonize over her own wounds.
"I've recovered Azelin's body over there. Want to see her? She was your fiancée once."
"What do I care about seeing the face of a cheating bitch? I don't even want to pray for her soul."
"Pfft. I knew you'd say that."
"Huh? What's this? You're not even getting angry?"
She was my cheating ex-fiancée, but to Lucia, Azelin had been a schoolmate and best friend at the academy.
I had expected her to flatly tell me to watch my mouth.
Lucia merely shrugged and staggered over.
Thud-
She came to my side and sank down as though collapsing.
When I sat down beside her, she offered me a cigarette. I gently pushed it away.
"I don't smoke."
"I know. You said you wanted to live until you smeared shit on the walls. After seeing that, do you still feel the same way?"
Lucia pointed up at the sky.
The sky was dyed completely blood-red, with a hole so vast its end couldn't be seen punched through the center.
Black things were pouring out of it in swarms.
"Still not smoking. What, am I going to burn incense before I die?"
"You're full of surprises. You look more like a chain smoker than anyone I've ever seen."
"Your face and your mouth don't match either."
"I used to be demure, you know? It's all because of those things."
Fwoosh-!
Lucia lit the cigarette with a flame that sprang from her fingertip.
She tilted her head back and exhaled a plume of acrid smoke.
"Astin."
"What?"
"Is it really all over now?"
"Yeah."
"We're both going to die, right?"
"Probably."
For a while, neither of us said a word.
Lucia silently puffed out smoke.
Come to think of it, she had changed a lot.
She had once lived demurely and with dignity, admired by countless young noblewomen.
When I recalled that old version of her, she seemed like a woman better suited to high society than a battlefield.
Lucia's current appearance felt very unfamiliar.
Soot clung to the bridge of her nose. Her lips were cracked and split, and her dark-gray eyes bore old scars.
Even her skin was cracked as if from a drought. The noble, flawless complexion she had once possessed had long since faded.
"Still, I'm glad I'm not alone."
"...."
"I'm even more glad that it's you. I truly mean that."
"What's with you? You're giving me goosebumps."
Pretending to be heartwarming just because this was the final moment.
We weren't the kind of people who exchanged that sort of sentiment.
"Hey, Astin."
Lucia exhaled her cigarette smoke with an air of relief.
"If I'd walked the right path like you, would things have been different?"
"What's the point now? Just shut up."
"I don't understand my past self. Why did I let myself be pushed around by men like that? Why did I keep doing it until the world reached this state? I should have refused when I didn't want to...."
"Hey."
I had wanted to let her go on good terms at the end.
But she was so vile that I couldn't bring myself to say anything kind.
"Shut up. Before I say something worse."
Lucia had received all the world's protection.
Swordsmanship, magic, spirit arts—she excelled at all of them.
Not only was she talented, but her mind was astonishingly brilliant.
Public administration, accounting, diplomacy, linguistics, law, astronomy, engineering, magical engineering, and more.
She devoured every field of study until the people around her were sick of hearing about it.
Furthermore, Lucia had been chosen by the holy sword, which had remained unclaimed for three hundred years.
The World Tree recognized her and bestowed upon her the divine artifact Mistilteinn.
The Spirit Kings lined up to form contracts with her, and even the haughty grand dukes of the demon realm clung to her skirts and begged for a meeting.
A protagonist loved by all creation.
And despite being born with such blessings, she spent her time fooling around with men.
She danced with the crown prince in a corner of the imperial palace, exchanged sickening love letters with the master of the Magic Tower, and held secret outdoor meetings with the Northern Grand Duke under the pretense of hunting magical beasts.
Of course, this wasn't a problem unique to Lucia.
The most prominent rulers on the continent were all sitting around spouting nonsense about love.
But her personal indulgence carried a different weight from the indulgence of hundreds or thousands of others.
If Lucia alone had devoted herself to saving the world, the ending might have turned out completely differently.
"I'll be blunt. You're a man-crazy bitch. You hopped from one man to another for fun. You're a fucking slut."
"...."
"And now you've finally come to your senses? You only woke up because all your men are dead."
Despite my barbed abuse, Lucia didn't offer some pitiful excuse.
She merely lowered her head helplessly and hugged her knees.
"Everything you said is right. I was crazy. I was an idiot. It's all my fault."
Lucia threw her cigarette butt to the ground and crushed it beneath her foot.
Now that she looked so pitiful, I couldn't bring myself to curse her.
Yeah. What was the point of sorting out who was right and wrong now?
We had three minutes at most.
In three minutes, the two of us would be torn to shreds and killed by those black things.
"Fuck, it was all pointless."
I lay flat on my back and muttered hollowly.
"Playing hero, of all things. If I'd known this would happen, I would've spent my time embracing pretty women like you instead."
My past, spent struggling desperately to save the world alone and prevent its fucking bad ending, suddenly seemed laughable.
Boom-! Thud-boom-!
The ominous rumbling shaking the ground grew steadily closer.
The grotesque black things pouring from the sky were slowly closing in around us.
Lucia let out a self-deprecating chuckle.
"I thought I could die without regrets, but I guess not. I don't want to die like this. I still have unfulfilled dreams."
"What, you want to seduce more men?"
"I won't deny it. This time, I want to make the first move."
Both of us had run out of stamina long ago. The mana circuits we'd been forcing to produce power had burned out from overload ages ago.
My vision blurred, and my eyelids felt as heavy as iron weights.
I closed my eyes and calmly accepted death.
"Hey, Astin. Have you ever heard of the legacy of Deus Harven?"
At the unexpected question, I opened my eyes.
Deus. Deus Harven....
The name had seemed strangely familiar. Then I remembered that it belonged to the seventh-rank archmage known only through legend.
"Why bring that up now, when we're about to die?"
"You know about Harven's research, the work he clung to until the moment of his death? He was trying to complete time magic. You know it ended unfinished, with only the theory remaining."
"I know the gist. So why do you keep bringing it up?"
"I think I've completed it."
"What?"
I immediately shot upright.
"Maybe I can turn back time."
I stared at her, stunned.
If this was the Lucia I knew, then those words were close to the truth.
She was the protagonist who had received every opportunity and blessing in the world.
With Lucia's overwhelming talent, she might have completed the miracle even the archmage had failed to achieve.
"This is it."
Lucia pulled something the size of her palm from inside her clothes. It was an old silver pocket watch.
I could feel an immense amount of magic condensed inside it.
"Ha, haha."
I laughed despite myself.
It felt as if a tiny ember buried in mud was flaring back to life.
"But...."
Squeeze-
Lucia clenched the pocket watch. Blood seeped from her hand.
"Even if I turn time back to the past, I don't know if I'll be able to do it right. No, honestly, I... don't think I can protect the world."
"What are you talking about? Don't be so weak."
"Even if I walked straight ahead like you, I don't think I could save the world. What can I accomplish with this mindset? I guess I'm not capable of being as strong as you."
Lucia forcibly pried open my remaining right hand.
I felt the weight of a cold, heavy lump of metal in my palm.
"What are you doing...?"
"I'm sorry."
Tick- Tick- Tick-
The sound of the second hand ticking filled the air. The pocket watch's gears began meshing violently.
"You can think that I dumped the responsibility on you. You can curse me, too."
Lucia raised her lowered head and looked at me.
Then, as if stitching it together by force, she pulled up the corners of her mouth and smiled.
"You're different from me. So please, save the world. I'm begging you, Astin."
So that crazy bitch meant....
She meant to dump the entire burden on me.
Whoom-!
Before I could protest, blue light burst from the gaps in the watch. At the same time, magical threads bearing geometric patterns wrapped around my body.
As the light grew fiercer, the red battlefield began to bleach white.
Space twisted grotesquely, time and space reversed, and an oppressive supernatural sensation swept through my entire body.
"When you go back, seduce me."
Through my flickering vision, Lucia's face came clearly into view.
A faint blush rose on the face of the woman standing at death's door.
It was Lucia's old face, utterly out of place on this terrible battlefield.
"Make me love only you. And love only me in return. It's the dream I couldn't fulfill in this life."
Lucia's final voice lingered in my ears like an echo.
***
"Young master, are you still shut up in your room?"
"You aren't eating, either. I wonder if something happened...."
"You met your fiancée yesterday, didn't you? I wonder if something happened with Lady Azelin."
"She's cruel, isn't she? Why get engaged when she didn't even love him?"
"That's how arranged marriages between noble families are."
"Maybe his fiancée rejected him. If he's starving himself this badly, it sounds like the pain of heartbreak."
-Ah, that fucking bitch.
"Gasp! I guess that's what happened!"
"Oh no.... Did he hear all that?"
"All right, everyone, let's get to work."
The whispering maids scattered in every direction.
Meanwhile, in Astin's room.
"Lucia, that fucking bitch, dumped everything on me and left."
Astin gritted his teeth and trembled with rage.