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Chapter 237
Chapter 237
Chapter 237
[Day 28 Month 3 Year 609]
The androids finally succeeded in breaking through Rinekal Rigatuma’s barrier, which was unbreachable up until the moment. Right now, the number of androids has reached 300. If a fight were to break out, both Elaim and I would be in danger.
But, suddenly.
[Detecting changes in the world line.]
One by one, the androids in the air began to disappear. On top of it, the clouds and barriers they had pierced and torn were restored to its original state instantly. All of their missiles had also disappeared without a trace.
“Huh?”
Elaim also felt something strange, so she opened her tightly shut eyes and looked up at the sky. Meanwhile, I relaxed my grip on the ether sword and said, “Elaim, It’s all over.”
The world gradually turned white. I’m used to it now because I’ve experienced it countless times before. Perhaps because the reason for my existence in this timeline had gone, I was being transferred to the original time zone, which is year 709.
“Now you are safe.”
“Is that so?”
Elaim had a bewildered expression on her face as she saw me wrapped in white light. Then she asked slowly.
“Are you going to go now?”
“Yes. Because my job is over.”
She tried to say more, but I interrupted her by saying my piece first while pointing behind her.
“Elaim. Look behind you.”
Elaim followed my hand and looked at the panoramic view of Rinekal Rigatuma, which shone in many colors.
“It’s the thing you’ve been waiting for so long.”
The tower behind her was once a building of Vivienda Academy, and now it was the only place in the world which was said to be holding the legacy of Aracelli. In such a place where all wizards’ dreams lay, can a curious girl who aspires to be a wizard withstand the zeal for learning? Of course not.
“Come on, wait a minute. I… Can someone like me really learn magic?”
“Of course you can learn. I said I come from the future, didn’t I? In that future, you are the archmage of the era. Do you still not believe what I said?”
“No… I believe it…”
She hesitated and muttered a word, then looked at my eyes with me.
“But, you are really returning to the future, right?”
“Yeah, I think?”
“If so, okay then!” She smiled broadly and nodded her head. “I will study hard until then!”
Until then? Before I could even ask why she chose those words, the world turned blurry.
[Returning to the original time zone.]
[…. On day 31 Month 12 of year 699, the protagonist ‘Scientist Partellian’, who completely lost the probability, was defeated by the supporting role ‘Archmage Elaim’.]
[History is turned upside down.]
[You have successfully hunted a level 400 (+120) protagonist.]
[Your level has been raised by 15.]
[Your level has been raised by additional 3 levels after successfully hunting a protagonist who had absorbed most of the probability existing in their world.]
[Your level has been raised by additional 3 levels by hunting the protagonist who had an extremely slim chance of being hunted.]
[4000 days of lifeforce has been paid.]
Those messages floated in front of my eyes. By the looks of things, it seems like the future Partellian’s power exceeds SSS rank using the power of science.
By the way, I just hunted a protagonist who was just slightly weaker than Supreme Dharma.
Should I delay the distribution of skills this time too?
The moment I wanted to tell the system those thoughts.
[…A minor error occurred during the traveling process!]
[Day 1 month 9 year 709 (Abandoned World)]
Bzzzztttt-!!
An error message popped up, and an ominous air rushed through my face.
“Huh?”
An error occurred?
I’ve seen countless error messages so far, but most of them were messages related to the protagonist.
But what is this?
An error occurred during the traveling process?
What is this?
I climbed the hill close to me in order to come to my senses and had a quick look around the area. At that moment, I realized that something was strange. For some reason, there was no wind at all, except right after I arrived in this world.
Then, I become fully aware. The clouds in the sky, the blades of grass, the water in the river and the splashing water drops, every single one of them was unmoving.
“What the hell is this… Hey, system, what is happening?”
But there was no answer.
“System?”
There were times when the system was silent like this. However, she had never become silent in front of the question which we deemed as ‘important’.
At that moment, I could feel other strange things.
‘There are no living things here.’
Not even a little bug could be found on the ground. The space was filled with silence. That sensation really drove me to fear.
-Calm down…
“Ah… Thank you for being here…”
The calm voice of the flowerpot echoed in the silence, where even the wind did not blow. It’s truly comforting to have something familiar in this strange and unfamiliar place.
-It feels strange over there…
“Over there?”
I had no idea of what I should do here. Therefore, for the first time, I had no choice but to trust the sharp sense of the flowerpot, who I always ignored.
I walked across the silent and still world. We crossed mountains, passed some cities, and crossed a lot of rivers.
Even common rabbits couldn’t be seen in the mountains. The city where there could be a floating population of millions, was empty. On top of it, since the sun did not set, I did not know how much time had passed. And since the time display of the system was stopped, I had to count the time by myself.
Finally, we arrived at a certain huge valley. Though, since it was completely dry and deserted, it was too far-fetched to call it a valley; the word canyon is more appropriate.
However, unlike all places. There are living things here.
“Huh?”
On top of it, it was a place that seemed to have been hit by some kind of disaster. I could see some remnants of a building which had been broken to the extent that its shape was unrecognizable.
However, the original shape of the building did not matter to me because the thing which caught my attention was the weird structure situated in the middle of the valley.
“Hell Gate?”
It was a structure which looked very similar to Hell Gate. Although Aracelli had said that ‘Hell Gate’ appeared in the year 709, it was in the future occupied by science.
In other words, it was a history which had disappeared.
‘Why the hell is Hell Gate still here?’
Even in a world where everything stopped, Hell Gate was still there. On top of it, in the pieces of Hell Gate in front of me, I could see something in the shape of a human moving busily.
Slowly, I approached them and checked their heads.
?? ?? ?1?
#??0? #??? #??
??? ??????
#?1? #?? #???
(T/N this is… Nonsense… But as I couldn’t think of anything, I’ll just put it in there.)
On top of their head, a message which I was certain was a protagonist hashtag was floating.
I’ve seen things like this before. It was on top of the unidentified woman who came from Hell Gate. And the guys in front of me now had a similar appearance to that woman.
I drew my sword and slowly approached them. However, they only glanced at me without showing any kind of hostility. Rather, they bowed their heads to me before returning to their duties, such as tearing the ground or attaching something to it.
Something is strange. Last time, that woman said she was going to kill me, but why are they acting like this right now?
“…you guys, what are you?”
When I asked them those questions, they all turned their heads at me at the same time. Because of the immense pressure I felt from them, I involuntarily took a step back and took a battle stance as if the kindness they had just shown to me was nothing but an illusion.
‘Can I win?’ No, it was absolutely impossible. They were not enemies which could be beaten by force in the first place. They too had the power of probability behind them, and each one was similar to or more than the probability behind me.
The moment I bit my lips and was about to eject the ether blade, their movements suddenly stopped. Then, all at once, they bow their heads towards somewhere.
Step-!! Step-!! Step-!!
The sound of shoes hitting the ground echoed clearly despite the fact that the air does not reverberate and no sound will be transmitted. The center of the Hell Gate-like structure cracked, and someone slowly walked out from it.
“Huh?”
I couldn’t say anything when I saw the figure.
“Seriously… why did you come here? Were you that curious about the abandoned world?”
Although the figure was wearing glasses, had a different hair style than me, and was wearing a brown suit I had never worn in my life, there’s no doubt. The figure was me!
It’s not just someone who looks like me. I could tell that he was me. Even though he was a completely different person from me… from the tone of his voice, his expression, and even his actions, he was different. Yet he was me.
‘I… why, how…?’
He slowly approached me while waving his hand. Then all the ‘Protagonists’ in the area started to do their jobs again as if nothing was wrong with our situation.
“Hm? Why are you so bewildered? OH! That’s right! This is our first time meeting each other, right? How do you greet someone you meet for the first time again? Nice to meet you, I’ve heard a lot about you? No no no… There should have been a better greeting…”
Then the figure said with a snake-like smile.
“Ah, it’s time for me to introduce myself, right? Nice to meet you. My name is Yoo Seodam. You’ve heard the name a lot, right?”
“…!!!!”
“Woah. It seems like I chose my greeting correctly. I’m proud of myself.”
“Who the hell are you…”
“Didn’t I say that my name is Yoo Seodam?”
Above his head, something flashed before disappearing. I looked at it. There is only one thing which is supposed to be in that place; the protagonist hashtag. However, his protagonist’s hashtags were odd. The more I tried to look at it, the more it tried to run away.
“By the way, you have ruined my plan splendidly. If we had successfully absorbed this place as planned, we could have created a ‘completed world’… Why are you so obsessed with this kind of story, really? I don’t understand.”
“What?”
“No no no… Well, it doesn’t matter anymore. A gigantic existence in the completed world had even left its footprints here. They had unknowingly helped our cause. So I can continue with my plan.”
“Just, just what are you talking about?”
Then, the other Yoo Seodam said to me,
“By the way, I want to ask you. Why are you here instead of returning to your world? Why don’t you just do what you normally do? Oh, right! You can’t return to Earth because your ‘system’ is gone, aren’t you? I apologize for her disappearance.”
He bowed his head playfully.
“Your client will be a little busy from now on since I asked her to do a lot of things. So you won’t be able to receive ‘requests’ anymore. It’s not your philosophy to put emotions into the relationship you have, right?”
Yes. That was undoubtedly my philosophy. But, why does this guy know that?
“What happened to the sys- no, her?”
“Hm? Did you feel attached again? Well, she’s fine. She’s just busy.” The other Yoo Seodam said. “If you are truly thinking of looking for ‘Reina Ju’, It would be better for you to not look for your system anymore. That will be the best for both of you.”
“What?”
“What’s the matter? Why are you so surprised? Weren’t you also vaguely aware of it?”
At that moment, all the memories I shared with the system rushed towards my mind.
Do I really not know at all?
Had I not been aware of it at all?
A long time ago, when I just returned from the world of constellations, I could catch a glimpse of the client’s face. At that time, she was wrapped in lights. So it was impossible for me to look at her. However, I remembered that I could get a certain familiar feeling from her.
Ever since then, I have been living with my doubt. After all, it just didn’t make sense.
Why did she give me this chance?
Why did she give me this power?
Why did she want me to be happy?
There was only one answer, wasn’t there?
“Really… the system is…?”
Realizing that, I fell to the ground. But it was already too late.
“Hmm, originally, it would have been a big deal if you said something like this. Well, thanks to the plan going off, things were resolved quickly, so it doesn’t matter now. For that reason, this time, I’ll have to send you home. Originally, there was no such service, but since you are a very important existence to me, I’ll do it for you.”
[You have successfully hunted the protagonist of this world.]
[Returning to your original world.]
But unlike usual, it was not the System’s voice who said those things but a voice of an emotionless man–me.
As soon the dimensional shift occurred, the other Yoo Seodam smiled. It was a smile I had never seen before, so I was enveloped in a terrible sense of unfamiliarity.
“You’ve worked hard for me until now. Unfortunately, this is the time to call it quits. Didn’t I tell you? I want a world where anyone can be the protagonist and anyone can draw their own story. That’s why I designated you as the protagonist of ‘All Stories’. So, stick to your role until the very end. For all of us.”
Right after those words ended, I found myself back on Earth.
“Huh….”
I sat down on the floor and grabbed my head. It was really hard for me to accept what had just happened.
“System?” Just in case, I tried to call her. Someone with a kind voice who always gave me strength, became my helper, and always listened to my concerns when I was mentally struggling.
“Reina?”
However, no answer ever came back.