Proof

“I don’t like it.”

Watching big sister Aria and Father in Aria’s form excitedly chattering in front of her, and Yujia and Meiyel occasionally joining the conversation.

Seeing this scene, Yeonhwa muttered in a small voice with her lips pouting.

“Even though the story has ended…”

After revealing Yujia’s embarrassing past and getting thoroughly beaten by Yujia earlier, Father stopped proving himself further.

In fact, everyone already instinctively knew she was Father, and Yujia had become a sacrifice to provide proof, so there was no need to prove anything more.

Instead, after the proof as Father was over, a few more important questions were asked of her.

Questions like why she was in Aria’s form and if she really came in using the book.

She finished answering all these questions by saying it was because of Iriel, and now the situation had reached this point after such important Q&A was over.

“So you’re saying you formed sisterly bonds here at that time?”

“That’s right. After Father left, this was the only place where everyone could gather.”

“We can make anything here… so we all drank together…”

“It was delicious since we made it ourselves.”

Father and the sisters are chattering, exchanging light conversations unlike the heavy discussions just moments ago.

Yeonhwa, of course, couldn’t help but feel her blood boil seeing this scene.

‘Are they not even thinking about how Father overworked us like that? Moreover, we nearly died hundreds of times and actually died several times.’

What kind of person was this Father?

He was someone who used Yeonhwa herself and her sisters like objects, overworking them to death and using them until they were on the verge of breaking, then cutting off his affection.

Of course, when they were playing the game, the affection coming from Father was very sweet. Even Yeonhwa could feel the genuine affection Father sent her.

In the old days, not long after they were created, even Yeonhwa gladly accepted Father’s love.

She shouted at Father, who couldn’t hear their voices, that she wanted to receive even a little more, that she wanted to stay even a little longer.

She shouted until her throat was hoarse, asking him not to abandon them and to stay with them just a little longer.

But it was around the time she had lost her life about ten times and been reborn that she realized these actions were completely useless and Father’s sweet affection began to feel like bitter sugar.

No, if you really look into it, it might have been even earlier, but that was when she became certain.

What Yeonhwa was certain of was just one thing:

That Father saw them only as objects.

They clearly had their own lives, but Father saw them only as objects.

That’s why Yeonhwa had tried to carry out her will to kill Father even while clashing with Aria earlier, and actually tried to kill him when Father appeared.

‘Of course, I failed.’

Although it was already a foregone result, the attempt to kill Father had failed and been thwarted, and moreover, as she listened carefully to Father’s story, even Yeonhwa couldn’t help but understand.

‘I knew he couldn’t hear what we were saying, but to think that game perception was like that.’

Yeonhwa also knew what this game world, where they were born and lived, was.

But while the game she knew was just a term for a place filled with things that weren’t alive except for herself, the game she heard about from Father was completely different.

The game was a ‘connector’ created by Iriel.

In simple terms, it was an observer that allowed mutual observation between this world and that world.

Normally, they could never observe each other’s worlds, but Father knew our world existed through this game observer and created them here.

Father spoke with a slightly uncomfortable expression, but nodded as if it was enough if we understood.

Anyway, because of this, Yeonhwa had to understand even if she didn’t want to.

“You’re saying you didn’t intentionally see us as objects.”

That he could only see them as objects due to the filter created by the game. That if he had known earlier that we were living beings, he wouldn’t have seen us that way.

Honestly, even though it was no different from an excuse, this was in line with saying it was Iriel’s fault for making the game observer’s perception that way, so Yeonhwa directed all her anger and killing intent that had been aimed at Father towards Iriel.

However, her feelings towards Father hadn’t completely disappeared down to the dregs, which is why she was now sitting with a sulky face without joining the conversation.

“Still, I’m glad you all became sisters. It puts my mind at ease in many ways.”

“Is that so. That’s fortunate then.”

“Once sisters, forever sisters even in death.”

And as she was recalling Father’s words just now while still sulking, it seemed the conversation about their past sisterly bonds had ended.

Yujia slightly rolled her eyes as if looking for the next topic as the conversation ended with laughter.

As she was watching Yujia roll her eyes like that, suddenly, Yeonhwa’s gaze met precisely with Yujia’s.

“Hmm… huh? Ah!”

“W-What is it, big sister Yujia.”

“Eek…”

An ominous feeling ran up her spine the moment their gazes met.

Following that, as Yujia’s face began to show a mischievous expression, the ominous feeling grew stronger and Yeonhwa tucked in her protruding lips and asked her, but it was already too late.

“Come to think of it, Father.”

Yujia lightly shrugged her shoulders and began to speak.

“Hm?”

“This is quite an old story… It was about 2 months after Yeonhwa, who tried to kill Father today, was born? Around that time, when everyone was trying to sleep after running dungeons until their health hit bottom, Yeonhwa was whining in the living room saying she wanted to see Father…”

“Aaaaah!!! Have you gone crazy and want to die, you crazy sister?!”

And before Yujia’s story could end, Yeonhwa realized what story she was trying to tell and threw her kitchen knife at Yujia.

Of course, not with the blade out, but with the handle turned around.

The story Yujia was trying to tell was none other than the story of Yeonhwa when she still craved Father’s affection.

Because it was the story of her past self that the current Yeonhwa detested so much, Yeonhwa had a fit more than usual and tried to stop Yujia’s mouth.

Crackle…

“…?”

If it weren’t for the distortion seen from Father before she could rush at Yujia, that is.

Something appears near Father’s side with a sound of electricity sparking.

As that enters the edge of her vision, Yeonhwa stops her rush and turns her gaze towards Father.

Then everyone follows Yeonhwa’s suddenly stopped gaze and turns to where she’s looking.

At the end of everyone’s gaze is a black mass that’s distorting and sparking like a TV screen with mismatched frequency.

Everyone sprinkles questions at that mass that also looks like a mosaic.

“What is this?”

And Father, who had that mosaic-like mass attached to his body, burst out with a question and put his hand on it.

[It seems you’ve had a pleasant conversation, so now it’s time to leave the book.]

Along with a faint laughing sound, a woman’s voice was heard.

At the same time, the mosaic-like mass suddenly swells in size and swallows Father whole.

“Wha-“

Crackle──

The mosaic mass swallows Father without giving him time to utter a word and disappears.

The mosaic mass that disappeared in an instant as if no one had been there from the beginning, leaving Yujia who had brought up the topic, Yeonhwa who had been rushing at her, and the other three sitting in chairs all looking at where Father had been with blank expressions.

Silence that hadn’t settled for a while descends at the sight of Father who vanished in the blink of an eye.

And in that silence, the first to open her mouth was Meiyel, who had a frightening expressionless face unlike just moments ago when she had a languidly relaxed face.

“That voice just now was Iriel’s voice.”

Meiyel recites each word with force, without even her usual drawling way of speaking.

Because they could tell from her voice alone that what she said wasn’t a lie, Aria, who opened her mouth next, grabbed her sword with trembling hands.

“Then… this event that happened so suddenly it’s absurd, it would be best to ask the person herself.”

Saying that, Aria glared at the blue space surrounding this area outside the wide open door of the cabin.

No one else put any further questions into words.

Just from those words alone, they could understand what Aria was talking about, so there was no need for additional questions.

It was just that now, a reason to meet Iriel had arisen for everyone.

---

“Uwagh?!”

With the sensation of being wrapped in a bundle and thrown, my body was ejected out of the book.

The last thing remaining in my memory was Iriel’s faintly heard voice and the mosaic mass that covered my vision.

I shook my head at the memory that only made me feel worse even when recalled.

“Damn it, I was having an enjoyable conversation after a long time.”

Thanks to facing the children I created as living beings before my eyes for the first time, I was having a truly enjoyable conversation I hadn’t had in recent times, but the mood was ruined.

I frowned at the fact that my conversation with my children, my daughters, was cut off in the middle, but since nothing changed by doing so, I eventually had to get up from where I had been thrown out while dusting off my clothes.

If I was angry at being roughly thrown out earlier, this time I was furious because the flow was interrupted in the middle.

Moreover, thinking that there might not be another chance in the future made me even more heated with anger.

However, it’s not like I could act up against Iriel, who called herself the supreme god. Besides, only Iriel knew how I could return to the real world, so all the more reason not to.

Therefore, rather than venting the anger rising in my heart, I chose to slowly melt it away while alternating between inhaling and exhaling.

Anger is naturally meant to cool down as time passes.

However, it seemed that I didn’t have much time now to cool this massive anger.

Boom───!!!

“The sound of battle…?”

A violent vibration strong enough to shake the library spreads from outside the library. And along with it, the sound of explosions.

At that sound which could only be heard as the sound of battle no matter how I looked at it, I raised my head but soon had to tilt it in confusion.

Surely the surroundings of the library would be covered by Idea’s barrier. Therefore, inside the barrier, there should only be Idea, who had been there since before I entered the library, Mu, and the students who had left the book before me.

But if this was really the sound of battle, it was impossible for the students to make such explosive sounds, and there was no reason for a battle to occur in the first place.

If a battle had occurred, the only one who could make such sounds would be Mu.

“…Mu?”

A chilling, ominous sensation I had felt before on Sky Island runs down my spine.

Come to think of it, didn’t Iriel say that? To look around.

Thinking about it now, only now barely thinking about it, I realize what I had failed to see even though it was right beside me.

Homunculi are certainly said to have almost no emotions and are tools that only follow their master’s orders.

But Mu’s face smiling brightly at my praise, Mu’s face making a sad expression, Mu’s face with tears welling up, Mu’s face bursting out in anger – these images flowed through my mind like a film in an instant.

Those appearances I had simply dismissed as being just a tool, as coming out because good materials were used.

Things I hadn’t paid any attention to at all, just like not treating extras as personalities.

No, more precisely, things I had tried not to pay attention to.

Things I had dismissed, saying there was no time to pay attention to a homunculus when I was so busy, all come to mind.

And when I recalled these things, my body was already rushing out of the library.

Because I had remembered another daughter I had kept out of sight.