Even with the Goddess stripped of her Godhood,
Even with the Demon King awakening from his long slumber,
None of that changed the reality right in front of them.
“…Elia left us with a smile.”
Lola, who had finally cried herself dry, spoke in a hollow voice.
She had no strength left anywhere in her body and needed something to lean against, so she pressed herself close to Ex and rested her head against him. The symptoms of the Mana Sickness that had been eating away at Lola had already been cured by Deuslute before she left.
Ex also looked down mournfully at Elia in his arms.
It was the happiest smile Elia had ever shown him.
Only after every misunderstanding had finally been cleared away did she meet her death.
It was an unbearably cruel ending.
As Ex sat there, something slipped out from Elia's clothes.
“…Paper?”
It was a stack of documents, its edges charred by fire.
So much of it had burned away that most of the contents were impossible to make out.
But what remained was extremely important.
“Elia Lockhart, female, seventeen years old. Born in the Meltran Barony…?”
It was Elia's past.
The past Elysia had erased.
The moment Ex saw it, the system sounded an alert.
『Alert! An element with impossible plausibility has been discovered. The discovered element has been assessed as Plausibility Destruction Grade A. A Plausibility Advantage will be granted accordingly.』
『Plausibility Advantage Acquired: Learning Ability +50%, Intelligence permanently increased by +1.0』
『100,000 Editing Points acquired.』
It was an exceptionally powerful advantage. His total Learning Ability bonus was now +110%, and the Intelligence he had lost had finally been restored to its original value.
‘…Now I get it.’
It didn't take long for Ex to understand why the advantage had been so powerful.
Elysia couldn't simply rewrite Elia's past, or the past of any other character, from the ground up. That was why she'd removed their memories and covered the gaps with fabricated ones.
‘In other words, Elysia can't alter the past itself.’
That was incredibly important information.
‘Come to think of it, she did the same thing during the Great Mansion Scenario. She went out of her way to avoid actually changing the past. So that's why learning Elia's real history gave me a Plausibility Advantage.’
What that past revealed was surprisingly simple.
Elia had been born in a remote village of the Meltran Barony, and after an unfortunate incident, she had been sold to slave traders.
“Elia… You were from the Meltran Barony in the south…”
Lola barely managed to whisper the words as she read the papers.
“I heard the Meltran Barony is small, but it's supposed to be a good place to live. The problem was that the territory was poor, so unscrupulous merchants took advantage of the people there… Slavery should've been abolished by then, but I guess there were still bastards doing things like this…”
“…We should take Elia home. If we're lucky, we might even find her family.”
“Yeah…”
And so, as the two of them began preparing for Elia's funeral.
“Ex.”
Darius, who had been standing nearby, spoke with a heavy expression.
Only moments ago, he'd nearly made an irreversible mistake.
“Ex, I'm sorry. I thought you were…”
“It's all right, Your Highness. I'm still alive, after all.”
“…Thank you.”
“More importantly, I'm worried about what comes next.”
Darius and Ex looked around them.
The knights and mages, particularly Milia and Count Lemercier, were still visibly shaken.
One event after another had unfolded, each beyond anything an ordinary human being should ever have had to comprehend.
Ex, a demon, had been chosen by the Goddess and become the Hero.
The Goddess's star, the brightest star in the night sky, had exploded.
Something had happened at the very heart of the Demon Realm, far beyond the horizon.
They had witnessed every one of those history-altering events with their own eyes.
They had no idea what they were supposed to do now.
The pitifully limited knowledge of humans wasn't enough to make sense of any of it.
Even Darius, an Imperial Prince, was no exception.
“…What am I supposed to do?”
“To be honest, I'm not sure either. If I followed my instincts, I'd march straight into the Imperial Palace and demand an emergency council right this second, but…”
Ex looked up at the enormous moon hanging in the sky.
That colossal moon remained there during the day and throughout the night.
Fortunately, there didn't seem to be any visible change in it.
Darius realized what Ex was worried about.
“…Has something truly dire happened?”
“Far worse than merely dire.”
The Demon King had been resurrected.
For the moment, Ex was hesitant to even say those words aloud.
And yet, strangely enough, none of the signs that should have accompanied the Demon King's resurrection were appearing immediately.
Of course, even in the original story, the world hadn't ended the instant the Demon King revived.
‘Is it because he woke up earlier than he was supposed to…? I need to go over the original story again. I have to figure out exactly what triggered the Demon King to start moving in earnest.’
If so, then what remained to be done was obvious.
“For now, I think we should deal with that situation first.”
Ex pointed toward the image being displayed through the magic device.
The Hero Party's battle was finally entering its closing stages,
and most of the demons in the grand auditorium had already been exterminated.
The moment Darius saw it, he immediately began issuing orders.
“All forces, listen well! This situation is not over yet! Do not forget that this crisis will only end once every last demon has been driven from the Empire!”
“We obey!!”
At Darius's command, the knights and mages sprang into action.
The commanders who had regained their composure quickly resumed leading their troops with practiced efficiency.
“Milia and Count Lemercier, remain here. I need the two of you to handle the aftermath at this location.”
Milia and Count Lemercier approached.
The looks they gave Ex were both exceedingly complicated.
He was a demon, yet he was the Hero.
He was the Hero, yet he was still a demon.
No one could blame them for having no idea how they were supposed to treat him.
Darius, at least, had quickly determined what needed to take priority and issued his orders without further hesitation.
“Count Lemercier. Once this crisis is over, I want you to take charge of that girl's funeral. Elia's. See to it that she receives every courtesy she deserves.”
“I obey.”
“And Milia. Go to the Hellgate immediately and support the Hero Party. If you need additional troops, you have my authority to requisition as many as you deem necessary.”
“But, Your Highness. We still haven't decided what is to be done with Ex. Leaving Your Highness here alone with him is…”
“I know. I understand perfectly well how complicated the situation is. I will find a way to deal with that myself, so I want you to move first.”
“But Your Highness…”
Even if Ex had become the Hero, he was still a demon.
As Commander of the Imperial Bodyguard, Milia couldn't simply ignore that fact.
“Go, Milia. I shall lend a hand as well.”
Someone appeared at that moment.
Milia, Darius, and Count Lemercier all recognized the voice, and every one of them whipped around in shock.
An old man approached with the serene gait of an immortal sage, supporting another man whose massive body seemed almost too heavy for him to move under his own strength.
Leaning on the old man for support, the massive man stopped before them and spoke in a commanding voice.
“In all my life, I've never seen or heard of anything like this. Damn. If I'd died without seeing it, I would've regretted it forever.”
“Even at my age, this is a first for me as well. Hahaha.”
Ex had never seen the huge man before.
The old man, however, was Lung.
When the large man pushed his robe back, he revealed rough blond hair and piercing golden eyes, with the rugged appearance of a seasoned warrior.
Something about his face looked remarkably similar to Darius.
Or rather, to be precise, Darius looked remarkably similar to him.
“H-How…! How are you…!”
Milia and Count Lemercier, who clearly knew exactly who the man was, stared at him in disbelief before dropping to their knees in respect.
Lola saw Count Lemercier's reaction, belatedly realized what was happening, and hurriedly knelt as well.
“Y-Your Majesty!!”
“Your Majesty!!”
Those two words made Ex doubt his own ears.
‘…Your Majesty? This guy is the Emperor?’
At the shout, every knight and mage who had been moving in perfect order turned their heads.
The moment they recognized the man, every single one of them dropped to one knee.
“YOUR MAJESTY!!!!!”
Their voices thundered loudly enough to shake the entire tournament grounds.
The man standing before them, ‘Drakan de Dritania,’ Emperor of the Empire, had awakened after five long years.
He waved them off as though the entire display were nothing but an annoyance.
“Forget about me and get back to work! If I see anyone kneel to me one more time, I'll break their damn knees myself!”
“W-We obey, Your Majesty!!!!!”
“Ah, you two. Come here.”
Emperor Drakan called over two random knights.
Then he pointed at Ex and gave them exactly one order.
“For now, you. Go spend some time in prison.”
“…Pardon?”
And just like that, Ex was arrested.
The whole thing had come so completely out of nowhere that he failed to notice one small change.
Aganon's Jewel on his wrist had begun to gleam.
* * *
“…Whew. So this is how it ended up after all.”
A woman rose to her feet in the middle of a forest.
She immediately turned her gaze toward the pillar of black light visible in the sky.
Her expression darkened as she stared at it.
“I thought it might be all right since losing my Godhood wouldn't strip me of my Divinity as well, but of course things weren't going to work out that conveniently. I suppose all I can do now is trust the Dragon Lord to take care of what comes next.”
The woman, Deuslute, drew out the divine power dwelling within her soul and tested the state of her strength.
It was nowhere near what it had been when she still possessed her Godhood, but her divine power remained abundant.
Then she turned her attention to the voice speaking beside her ear.
“You think this was too dangerous a gamble? We didn't have much choice. If the world is destroyed, we'll disappear along with it anyway. If we want to change a predetermined fate, then something that was never part of that fate needs to happen first. More importantly, considering our ‘final objective,’ this is the better outcome.”
Then Deuslute's face twisted into a frown.
A moment later, she grumbled under her breath.
“I did not come down to the Human Realm because I was bored. Do you really think I'd give up my Godhood over something that trivial? I mean, sure, sealing the Demon King for a hundred years was boring, but…”
Still grumbling, Deuslute began walking through the forest.
Despite being barefoot, she felt no pain at all.
Nature itself brought soft earth beneath her feet to protect them with every step.
“So first, I'll travel around the Human Realm… Ahem. I mean, investigate it. …I said this isn't a vacation! That was a slip of the tongue. Just a slip.”
Deuslute…
No, the woman who had now simply become ‘Lute’ walked toward the lands of humanity with a lightness in her step.
“First things first! I should go teach those people using my name however they please a lesson. What? You're asking if that was my real objective all along? I told you it wasn't…”
Lute was headed for the Deus Theocracy.
* * *
Deep darkness.
Silence in every direction.
The only thing Elia could feel was the existence of her own consciousness.
‘Is this death?’
Elia had crossed beyond the boundary of death.
‘Where am I?’
She remembered the moment she'd drawn her final breath in Ex's arms.
She had distinctly felt as though her soul were being guided somewhere.
The sensation had been so warm and gentle that she'd immediately felt at peace.
And at the end of that journey, she had arrived here.
In this darkness.
‘Am I the only one here?’
She had been afraid at first.
But once she grew accustomed to it, she quickly became bored.
Even the flow of time felt strange. It seemed as though years could pass within a single fleeting instant.
Fortunately, Elia's mind never broke beneath it.
She was simply bored.
And lonely for the people she missed.
‘I already want to see you again. Mr. Ex. Ms. Lola.’
Perhaps that wish reached something, somewhere.
For the first time, a single ray of light appeared within the endless darkness.
Elia's consciousness drifted toward that light on its own.
And the instant she touched it.
“…Honey! Her eyes are open! Our daughter, ‘Lee Hana,’ opened her eyes!”
An unfamiliar voice reached her ears.
“Our baby finally opened her eyes! Honey, look at her. Isn't she beautiful?”
“She really is so beautiful… Seongtae, you must be exhausted.”
“Me? What did I do? You're the one who went through all the hard work…”
The two unfamiliar people staring down at her were overflowing with happiness.
Without thinking, Elia opened her mouth and asked them a question.
‘…Who are you?’
“Abwa.”
Never in her wildest imagination had she expected that sound to come out instead.
“D-Did she just say Daddy?! She already called me Daddy!”
“Our daughter must be a genius!”
“If only Brother Ilyong could've seen this…”
“I'm sure he's watching from heaven.”
An unfamiliar place.
Unfamiliar people.
An unfamiliar language.
At seventeen years old, she had nearly reached both 8-Star and Tier 8.
The greatest genius in the history of humanity.
‘…Where am I?’
Elia Lockhart had been reincarnated as ‘Lee Hana.’
–TL Notes–
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