Episode 79
"...Haa."
A few days before Clana visited Frey's grave, a girl was walking down a snow-covered road wearing a thick coat.
"It's cold."
As the biting wind that had tormented Clana began to blow, the girl frowned and muttered to herself, unconsciously tensing her entire body.
"...Ah right, it doesn't come out anymore, does it?"
But nothing happened.
The shimmering light that had once been created by a miracle had vanished like a lie along with the hero's death.
- Shuuu...
Thanks to that, the girl who was facing the ice-cold wind with her whole body nonetheless gritted her teeth and continued walking forward.
"Excuse me... is anyone there?"
Continuing to walk like that, the girl noticed that a light was on in a tavern and poked her head in.
"Oh my, it's a little lady?"
"...Hello."
Soon after, when a woman came out from inside the shop and spoke, the little girl greeted her with a dark expression.
"...What are you doing right now?"
Touching the last remaining gold coin from among the gold coins her savior had given her years ago, which was sitting in her pocket, the girl was glancing over the menu when she noticed the woman busily doing something behind the counter.
"What do you mean what? I'm packing my things."
"Are you leaving this empire too?"
When the girl asked with a troubled expression, the woman sighed and answered.
"Of course I have to leave. The hero who could kill the Demon King is gone, and the Demon King's army is advancing... If I stay here, I'll just die in vain, won't I?"
"...You're right."
The girl quietly nodded at her words, then began to stare blankly at a broken photograph next to the counter.
"Are you curious about that?"
"Ah, well..."
"It's a family photo."
The woman, who had been quietly looking down at the photograph, soon wore a sad expression and murmured.
"...When the news came a year ago that my husband and son in this photo had died in the war, I threw the whole album away, and that's how it ended up like this."
"Ah..."
Seeing the woman speak of such a sad story quite calmly, the girl quietly lowered her head.
"...You're kind, feeling sad for others."
Perhaps finding such a girl cute, the woman patted her head, then picked up her luggage and headed for the exit.
"Take whatever you want from this shop and eat to your heart's content."
"But..."
"I'm leaving this empire today anyway, so it's fine."
As the woman said that and opened the door to go outside, the girl pointed at the photograph.
"Aren't you taking that?"
Then the woman answered with a sad smile.
"I don't particularly want to carry around sad memories, you see."
Having finished speaking, the woman left the tavern and began to slowly walk down the snow-covered street.
"........."
The girl, who had been watching the woman's retreating figure for a while, cautiously took some bread from the shelf and took a bite.
"Puheh..."
The bread was frozen solid.
"Eugh..."
Thanks to that, the girl spent some time rubbing her jaw and warming her body inside the shop, and when her body started to feel somewhat warm, she inevitably went outside the tavern.
- Thud thud
After that, the girl walked without saying anything for a long time, and the place she arrived at was, surprisingly, Frey's family home.
"You definitely said..."
After looking around for a moment and discovering Frey's grave, the girl began to speak in a dark voice.
"...That soon the world would praise the hero."
The world did not praise the hero.
They merely sympathized with and lamented his noble deeds, immersed in sorrow.
"........."
The girl, who had been watching Frey's grave for a long time, which now had few visitors, quietly removed a ring from her left ring finger and whispered.
"...Good night, Hero."
Glare, who placed the sparkling ring beneath the hero's grave while saying that, shed a tear and left the grave.
It was the moment when a variable that could have changed everything, which the system's trials had failed to detect and Frey couldn't see either, completely disappeared.
.
"...Haa, it's finally over."
As Clana before my eyes disappeared, darkness enveloped me.
And at that moment, the number floating before my eyes changed to 0.
[You have cleared the 2nd trial!]
"...Sigh."
I tried to push away the system window with a deeply furrowed brow, but now it won't even push away.
'Damn system bastard.'
I cursed internally at the system that kept following me even when I shook my head this way and that, then lay down on the ground with a sigh.
"I miss meow..."
I think of the cat doll that used to lick me whenever I was mentally exhausted.
At first, the cat doll had a haughty expression and wouldn't even let me touch its belly, but after we became quite close, the situation changed.
When I felt something damp while sleeping and opened my eyes, it would be cautiously licking my face then make meowing sounds.
If I happened to have a nightmare, it would throw nyang-nyang punches to wake me up.
Every now and then, it would make a long meowing sound, burrow into my clothes, curl up, and fall asleep soundly.
If I looked depressed, it would flop over with its belly exposed and look at me with an expectant expression.
Since it helped significantly with my mental recovery in that way, the little one and I had become inseparable.
'If possible, I wanted to play with Kania too.'
Kania, who received such a cute cat as a gift from her brother, would surely like the cat quite a bit too.
But it's a bit strange for us fully grown people to play with dolls, and Kania lately, once she falls asleep, has trouble waking up.
Of course, there's also the fact that if I try to wake her, the cat fellow bites my ankle as if it's jealous, so I haven't made many attempts to wake her.
[The first clear reward will now begin.]
"...Right, it should."
Because of this crazy trial, I spent several months in this world within the trial.
Of course, there was a message that time in the trial differs from time in reality, so it won't be like last time where I open my eyes and several months have passed... but still, wandering this crazy world as a soul for several months was truly hellish.
'...Well, is it fortunate it ended in just a few months?'
From the point of my death to the time Clana was in just now, there was a gap of several years.
And I crossed that gap, resolving the emotional burdens of the people who were precious to me.
That's right.
The system's 2nd trial was to directly experience the bad ending while saving the heroines who had been broken by that bad ending.
Thanks to that, I visited various places in the empire... I even went to the Western and Eastern Continents to find the heroines.
The day the branch point occurred, I went berserk to the point where life force supply was no longer needed, and Serena's sacrifice barely stopped the berserk state, but after that day, I went to find Kania who had been living like a wreck, drowning in sorrow.
I went to find Irina who had lost her former ego and pride, and even her sanity, having gone mad.
I went to find Perloche who had accumulated guilt over not being able to save me and was on the verge of corruption.
I went to find Isollet who had quit as an academy teacher, drowning in alcohol day after day, spending time looking at the sword and letter I had given her.
Besides that, I went to find Lulu who had been suffering the misfortune of repeated suicide attempts all failing, Aris who was half-crazed, and Ariane who was living in guilt while nursing Irina.
And among them, meeting Aria and meeting Serena in soul form was... no matter how much of a trial it was...
"...Get a hold of yourself. This didn't actually happen."
In the end, this is just a trial the system is showing me.
It's just showing one possibility that could have happened, and when this trial ends, I will return to a world where I can still give everyone a happy ending.
So...
- Shuuu...
"...Hm?"
The darkness enveloping me suddenly began to thin.
I looked around wondering what was happening, and suddenly the scene started changing rapidly.
"...Huh?"
I was frowning at such strange phenomena when suddenly a huge crowd began to enter my field of view.
"It's the Demon King's army......."
The Demon King's army I had seen in the previous round, chilling just to look at, was advancing.
"Aaaaaah!!!"
- Boom boom boom boom!!!
At the very front of the Demon King's army, which kept advancing and advancing, a fierce battle was taking place.
"If even we fall, there's no more hope! We have to stop that damned woman..."
- Crack...!
"Commander!!"
An Eastern Continent martial artist who was radiating energy from his entire body and throwing punches at the Demon King's army was cut in half in an instant.
"........Yawn."
The Demon King, who had disposed of the leader of the suicide squad gathered from all continents to stop the Demon King's army with just the movement of a finger, began to yawn with a bored expression.
"I desired a heated battle. However, seeing that the leader of these so-called suicide squads is so weak... it seems things have gone wrong."
As the Demon King said that and waved her finger as if conducting, terrible screams began to be heard.
""............""
At the brutal scene created by blood and entrails flying around and mixing together, bones and flesh bursting from all directions, even the Demon King's army fell silent at a loss for words.
".......Is that, by any chance, your ultimate technique?"
"Ultimate technique? I just moved my fingers quickly."
The Demon King answered Demirkan's question with a calm expression, then smiled.
"If I were to use an ultimate technique here, the Demon King's army behind me would also be wiped out. Do you still want me to use an ultimate technique?"
"No."
When Demirkan answered quickly, startled by those words, the Demon King found that sight amusing and began laughing loudly.
"It was a joke."
"R-right. Even for the Demon King, that would be..."
"If you were to use space magic at full power to escape, it wouldn't be total annihilation, would it?"
After saying that, the Demon King waved her finger greatly as if her arm hurt, and the terrible screams stopped in an instant.
"......Amazing, truly."
When Demirkan, who had been blankly watching the惨敗 scene spread before his eyes, spoke with a trembling voice, the Demon King made a sullen expression.
"I'll say it again, I wanted a heated battle. Not this lukewarm fight."
Saying that, the Demon King yawned once more, then began to speak in a low voice.
"If it had been that fellow Frey, I could have had quite an interesting fight."
"Is, is that so...?"
"That's right. From what I saw, his strength was beyond imagination."
"To what extent... do you mean?"
"Probably, if you exclude me, he would have been the strongest on the entire continent."
The Demon King who said that muttered in an annoyed voice.
"Tsk... if only there hadn't been restrictions on my fighting."
'...What did that bastard just say?'
And I, who had been listening intently to their conversation, began to be confused by the unexpected story.
'He... saw me?'
That fellow just said my strength was beyond imagination. Moreover, he even said that if excluding himself, I would have been the strongest on the entire continent.
Seeing him speak with conviction and precision, not roughly speaking... and since he said 'from what I saw,' it means that fellow has met me.
'But does that... make sense?'
As far as I know, the Demon King cannot leave the 'Demon King's Castle' unless the ritual using the 'Sacrifice Magic Circle' succeeds and the seal is broken.
That's why preventing events that give the Demon King an advantage through 'Main Quests' and stopping the activation of the 'Sacrifice Magic Circle' to keep the Demon King from coming out of the castle, while simultaneously awakening the Hero's Armaments and raiding the Demon King's Castle is the strategy for the 'Evil One Route.'
But then, how could the Demon King have seen me?
My face could have been shown by the second-in-command with a photo when I was a tail of the Demon King's army, but if he knows my strength specifically, that's a different story.
'Could it be... he succeeded with the Sacrifice Magic Circle and came outside?'
For a moment, I considered the possibility that the Demon King had already come outside, but soon I shook my head.
If she had come outside, the entire continent should already be burning.
The Demon King that even I and all the main heroines at full strength couldn't defeat together has no reason to come out and hide.
'...Come to think of it, they said the Demon King declared war the moment I died.'
But combining various pieces of evidence... she seems to be outside right now.
Otherwise, there's no way she, who would be in the Demon King's Castle, could notice my death and immediately declare war.
'Damn it... my head hurts already.'
I wondered why seeing the Demon King ending the world was a reward, and so this was the reason.
Because it revealed quite a lot of new facts about the Demon King.
'Not only that... I gained quite a lot from this trial too.'
When I was existing as a soul, for some reason, there were times when the world was visible in third-person perspective.
From Kania to Irina, then Aria to Isollet.
The perspective, which was quite chaotic but regularly went back and forth, was fixed on Serena for a long time after she appeared.
And, even more surprising than that... was that I could somewhat feel their inner thoughts each time the perspective changed.
Of course, dialogue or inner thoughts that seemed important to anyone were blurred and couldn't be felt well.
But... even in those blurred lines, there was one line I could fully infer.
- ...The god, ...the god will awaken.
'...No matter how I think about it, what Perloche said back then was [The Demon God will awaken.], right?'
The system fellow seemed to dislike giving me helpful information, but thanks to the cipher 'half is Demon God' that Perloche left in her diary, I was able to infer information from the trial.
Thanks to that, I feel quite refreshed inside, like I managed to land a blow on the annoying system.
[2nd trial ended.]
"...Give me a break."
While I was thinking that, the system displayed a short message as if it was sulking.
The system has been petty for a long time now, but this seems a bit over the line.
Even though it's the 'first' reward, ending with just that short conversation?
Really, as our ancestor said, this damn broken game...
- Bzzzzzt!
"...W-what?"
While I was thinking that, suddenly the world began to shake.
"...Hm?"
And at the same time, something began to shine from the Demon King's embrace.
"Demon King? What is that?"
"This is... a scroll I bought a long time ago."
"...Excuse me?"
Then Demirkan began to look flustered, and the Demon King began to wear an interested expression.
"Why have you kept that until now?"
"It was the first scroll I couldn't decipher, so I kept it out of interest."
"You, the Demon King, couldn't decipher such an old scroll?"
At that, Demirkan frowned and asked, while the Demon King began to speak in an excited voice.
"Oh, this is finally working. For the past few years, no matter how much I tried, it wouldn't work."
And at that point, I began to feel something strange.
'...Why isn't the trial ending?'
The system definitely declared the 2nd trial ended. So why isn't the trial ending?
[Serious error occurred! System updating......]
"...Huh?"
While I was thinking that, suddenly a red system window floated before my eyes.
- Bzzzzzt!
"...Oh?"
And only then did I discover that the Demon King's appearance was invisible for some reason.
'How did I not notice this?'
Come to think of it, in the previous round when I finally met the Demon King, and even when I charged at her to die together, I couldn't perceive the Demon King's appearance.
I don't know exactly, but was there some kind of perception-hindering magic cast?
If so, why did I suddenly become aware of that fact now?
- Bzzzzzzzt!!
While I was thinking that, suddenly a sparkling flash began to shoot out from the scroll.
"......Ah?"
And at that moment, I saw it.
The ruby-colored eyes of the Demon King, who had been looking down at the scroll with an interested expression.
[System error correction complete! Ending trial.]
But the next moment, a red system window floated before my eyes, and everything began to turn black.
"...What is that?"
The last thing I saw before my consciousness faded was a sun dyed black.
.
"Mmm..."
Slowly opening my eyes, I see a familiar ceiling.
'...Haven't seen this in a while.'
It seems I'm currently lying in my room at the Starlight mansion.
"Heave-ho..."
I was looking with satisfaction at my clean room with no poisonous gas or fire, when I sensed a presence and turned my head with a stiffened expression.
- Pop! Boom!!
"...Heek!"
And at that moment, firecrackers went off.
Thanks to that, I was startled and flinched, and someone held out a cake to me.
".....What are you guys doing right now?"
I was blankly staring at a cake with a cat decoration that I'd seen somewhere before, and discovering Kania and Irina wearing birthday hats and holding firecrackers in front of me, I asked with a puzzled expression.
"Well, that is, today is..."
"Today is the young master's birthday."
"What?"
Then, while Irina spoke haltingly while glancing at me, Kania said with a gentle smile.
"Happy birthday, young master."
The day the 2nd trial ended was exactly one week after the Starlight mansion raid incident.