episode_0070

“Who asked you to help me?”

“What do you…”

“I’ll handle it myself. There’s no need to worry.”

Perfect timing. I decided now was the moment to say what I’d been meaning to tell Cecilia.

“I already told Chris, but I haven’t said it to you yet, have I?”

I lightly tapped Cecilia’s shoulder.

“Worry about yourselves more. Far more than someone like me.”

After all, these five never listened to me in the first place. Even if they pretended to now, it would only be for their own self-satisfaction—not because they genuinely cared about me.

At this point, no matter how much they begged for my trust, their words would ring hollow to me. If they truly cared, they should’ve—

“Ugh.”

I stopped myself there.

What was I just thinking?

“Eric? Are you okay?”

“Ugh…”

I’m fine. She and I are no longer entangled.

We’re complete strangers now.

There’s no need for me to care.

The hero party—they live in a different world from mine.

So…

Shaking off the sticky emotions rising in my mind, I lightly shook my head.

Now isn’t the time for this.

“You said you acted out of a desire to help me, right?”

“Yes! If things continue like this, it’ll be too late. And when that happens, you’ll end up sacrificing yourself to stop the impending disaster. Because that’s the kind of person you are, Eric Grave. Am I wrong?”

“Yeah, you’re wrong.”

Maybe in the previous loops, that was true. No—actually, it still is. I’m a cowardly fool, too timid to be a proper civilian yet unable to bear seeing others suffer because of me. Even my goal of amassing a fortune and returning to reality was built on the premise of defeating the Demon King and ensuring everyone’s happiness.

Anyone would call me an idiot. But what can I do? This is how I’ve lived.

It’s not like I chose to be this way.

Still, I can’t agree with Cecilia’s methods.

“Did it ever occur to you that your actions might put me in even greater danger?”

“Huh?”

“I mean, if you start moving like this—”

I stopped myself. To Cecilia, the “me” she sees is nothing more than an ordinary Eric Grave who awakened the power of prophecy. If I started rambling about dangerous future events in this state, it would only make her suspicious.

“Ahem. What I’m trying to say is, the more you and the others act to help me, the more enemies we’ll attract. And that could bring about dangers that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.”

“That’s…”

Cecilia looked like she wanted to argue but quietly accepted my point. She wasn’t foolish—she could easily predict the consequences of her actions. But this time, she was desperate enough to act recklessly despite them.

“What exactly made you act like this? According to the prophecy, the Church’s reformation would’ve happened eventually, even if delayed. Why rush it now?”

“I already told you. I was just worried about you—”

“That’s all it took for you to move? I may not know you well, but I know Cecilia Rastal—the Saint candidate and heir to the Rastal Earldom—better than you know yourself. Because I’ve seen your future.”

Of course, that “future” was just her own past, but I had to bluff. That way, she’d mistake my actions for the arrogance of someone who knew everything and pity me for it.

“You know more about me than I do?”

“Yeah. I can vaguely see your future too.”

“Fairchild.”

“Huh?”

“I met Fairchild. That’s why I decided to accelerate the plan.”

“Ah…”

I had a feeling it was something like that.

Among the major incidents involving the Church, Fairchild was the one most deeply entangled with our hero party. It wasn’t surprising that Cecilia, in her desperation, sought it out first.

“Fairchild… You mean that tainted miracle?”

Cecilia nodded.

“Of course, Fairchild is one of the evils the Church has hidden. It was a problem that had to be exposed eventually. But all of that was recorded in the future. How did you—?”

“I’d already heard rumors about something suspicious in the Church. So I investigated possible hiding places and got lucky. It matched exactly what you kept warning us about—that there was something in the Church.”

Cecilia smoothly deflected my leading question like a snake slithering over a wall.

“…Fairchild will go berserk and begin corroding the empire beyond the Church. But in the end, it’s destined to be defeated by Lucella, who awakens as the hero. Without any casualties. So why worry?”

“The process is the problem.”

“The process?”

“Fairchild’s ability, as you know, is mental overload. It imposes a severe psychological burden on those within its range, forcing them to act for its greatest desire. And if its power goes out of control, it could regress everyone to infancy. You know that, right?”

“I do.”

“And to stop Fairchild, someone needs to hold its interest—to keep talking to it. Do you really think ordinary people can do that? It’s like enduring continuous mental attacks that could warp hundreds, even thousands, at once.”

“There are candidates who could—”

“Liar. You never even considered other candidates.”

Cecilia glared at me.

“Just as Fairchild said. You think you can do it, don’t you? Unlike others who lose themselves in vague visions of the future, you know the prophecy—the certain future. So you believe you can withstand its pressure. Tell me, in the future you saw, were there people who faced Fairchild? No—did such people even exist?”

“……”

She got me.

Cecilia already knew the answer. Even if I claimed to have seen someone, she’d find them first and test whether they could endure Fairchild’s attacks.

And she’d deem them unfit.

Of course. The only reason I can withstand Fairchild’s attacks is because I’m a transmigrator. No matter how sweet the dreams it shows me, they’re nothing more than text from a novel brought to life. The burden on me is naturally far lighter than on ordinary people.

Seeing me silent, Cecilia spoke with conviction.

“Just as he said.”

“Wait. You keep saying ‘he’—are you talking about Fairchild? As if it’s a person?”

As far as I knew, Fairchild was just a phenomenon—it shouldn’t have any will or ego.

“I met it. After breaking through the Church’s seal. There, it took your form. And it told me it had no intention of fighting.”

“What?”

“It even said it would die there if necessary. That if it was truly you, you’d do the same.”

“Fairchild mimics the personality of whoever it copies? Is that even possible?”

“I don’t know. No one understands the fundamental principles behind miracles.”

“Hmm…”

Fairchild took my form as soon as it saw Cecilia. I had a rough idea why, but if that was true, persuading her would be even harder.

“That’s ridiculous. It turned into me and said it didn’t want to fight anymore? And you believed that?”

“But it seemed completely sincere—”

“Why did you go there? Regardless of my prophecy, didn’t you go because you thought Fairchild was dangerous? And you just turned back because it fed you a few lines?”

“Then deny it! Prove you’re not the kind of person who’d sacrifice yourself—that you’re selfish enough to push someone else forward. Do that, and I’ll follow your prophecy right away.”

I wanted to deny it, but something stopped me.

I don’t need these people.

My return has nothing to do with this world.

That should be the case, yet something kept holding me back.

A sense of responsibility?

Duty?

No, nothing that grand. I abandoned those long ago.

Distrust?

But I know their abilities better than anyone. They’d handle it perfectly. Yet I didn’t want to burden them any further.

Why?

Unable to find an answer, I could only shake my head quietly.

“Honestly, you…!”

“What, should I tell the others too? That I’m still a self-sacrificing hazard? So they should babysit me more? What, should I suck on a pacifier while you’re at it?”

“Ugh—”

Knock knock!

A sudden rapping at the door interrupted us.

“Oppa? The chairman said you were with Cecilia unnie. Can I come in?”

I pointed at the door with my thumb.

“Perfect timing.”

Anything to escape this suffocating tension.