episode_0292

I hadn’t touched the recent scenario completion rewards at all. Being busy was one reason. When I was moving to regain my right to the throne, I was truly swamped.

However, the biggest reason was that I thought a more important matter was involved. Scenario completion rewards provide something necessary for the next scenario.

So I put it off. I could clear the scenario at the time without the reward. The time wasn’t right yet. I thought the necessary moment would surely come.

That moment is now.

Whoosh-

Holding ‘Leah’s Stone’ tightly, I slowly poured in aether. The slightly faded surface color returned to its original pure white, beginning to glow.

The light enveloped my entire room. A soft, warm breeze, like that of my homeland, blew in, and soon a woman with flowing black hair appeared within it.

Everyone present probably felt it. A pang of nostalgia from deep within the heart, a feeling of warmth that anyone possesses seeping out from between the gaps.

She, like the evening sunset, slowly opened her eyes.

“It’s been a long time, Mother.”

“To meet again like this… I’m truly happy to see you, Nari.”

I offered one hand to greet my mother, as if escorting a lady. She widened her eyes slightly, surprised, then lightly laughed and walked towards me.

Whenever I meet her, this feeling gives me such an extraordinary sense of stability, making me feel calm in both body and mind. Though I’ve never actually met her in life, my soul instinctively recognizes her as my mother. It’s just… inexplicably comfortable.

“It seems you have questions to ask again. Which one should I tell you first?”

“Ah, it’s alright. You don’t need to rush this time.”

“Hmm… I see. So you used three rewards at once.”

“You’ll be able to manifest for a long time. Take your time today.”

Chapter 5, Chapter 6, and Chapter 6’s interlude scenario. I had a total of three rewards. And they were all ‘Leah’s Stones.’

This stone is an echo left by Mother’s existence; to put it simply, the embers of her soul. By reacting with my living aether, I can temporarily meet the fragment of Mother’s soul contained within it.

Naturally, it’s not her whole being. Each fragment has a purpose, and once that purpose is achieved, it completely dissipates and disappears.

But it’s fine this time. Since I summoned the equivalent of three stones’ worth of soul at once, I can spend some time beyond the given purpose. Mother herself immediately understood my intentions.

“First… should I introduce my girls? A few are missing, but let’s start with these ones.”

I gestured to the three awkwardly standing around me.

Aspi quickly hides her surprise, standing tall. Tier fails to maintain her composure, flustered. Nyx gazed at Mother’s figure with shining eyes.

“Wow~! You really look just like Nari!”

“Nice to meet you. You’re Nyx, right?”

“You know me?!”

Mother smiled lightly at Nyx, instead of answering. It’s not difficult to know, isn’t it? One of the fragments of her soul is by my side, acting as a status window.

“It is… an honor to meet you. Aspi Lichtein, the loyal knight of Her Highness the princess.”

“There’s no need to be so formal. You’re all my daughters-in-law.”

“Daug… daughters-in-law…”

Aspi mumbled daughters-in-law, seemingly hypnotized. It looks like she likes the title, which she’s heard for the first time.

On the other hand, Tier bowed her head deeply.

“…yes.”

“Huh? Say it again.”

“I, I am Tier… I am…a saintess, my parents are deceased… and also, uh…”

Mother suddenly embraced Tier, who couldn’t make proper eye contact and was stammering. Tier’s eyes widened.

“You’re too tense. Let’s calm down a bit first.”

“Ye… Yes…”

The situation was a little strange, but I decided to let it pass. Finally, after Mother gave a brief introduction, we sat around the table and had tea.

Clink-

“…I see. So that’s how it was. To think he’d been regressing since that era of Akasto… you must have experienced a far greater hell than I did.”

“There are still so many things I’m not sure about. The body of Adam that Eve saw…”

“It’s either an illusion or something manipulated. ‘Adam’ was your Akasto character, and now he’s undoubtedly a non-existent human.”

“I think so too. The Duke Darius must have done something. He’s certainly capable of it.”

The reason Eve couldn’t help but be deceived by him. If I think about it, the answer is one. The body of Adam that Eve saw would be completely identical to her memories.

Tenebris, the demon god who waits for the day he will descend from the shadows of Duke Darius. His main power is reading fate.

Naturally, he could easily read Eve’s fate and the memories of her life… and creating a human who is exactly like her memory would also be easy for him.

At the moment she first discovered that body, she was probably not in her right mind. It would have been her desire to cling to that possibility, rather than verifying if Adam’s body was real.

By the time her reason returned, she had already been consumed by the demon god’s aura. Resistance was impossible, and she had to follow Duke Darius even more passively than in the previous round.

The more I think about it, the more the whole situation seems rigged against Eve. Even if she continues to trust Duke Darius and moves according to his intentions, she cannot reach the desired outcome. And if she betrays him, death awaits.

There’s nothing that comes to mind even thinking about it now. First, I need to find out about the origin of the world. Then, a way to save Eve might naturally appear.

“I’ve been thinking about something. It was particularly questionable after reading Eve’s memories this time… what is this world? I hope it’s not a game?”

The most fundamental question. According to the status window message that appeared in Eve’s memories, apparently all of Eve’s data stored on the server was integrated.

I thought about what that meant. In an open world, that is, in all of Akasto’s player worlds, the same NPCs would exist. There may be individual differences depending on quest progress, but the basic character data is completely identical.

Eve was also an NPC when I first met her. Since she’s an actual character in Akasto, she undoubtedly exists in other players’ worlds as well.

The integration of all data means that all the consciousnesses of Eve in each of those worlds were fused together. It would be roughly accurate to think that she has wandered through each Akasto user’s world.

Then, is this world a game too?

If, like the email I first received, this world is just Akasto’s beta test server, then it’s understandable that I’ve been reunited with Eve, who has undergone regression. But my instincts tell me that this world is reality, not a game.

Conversely, if this world is reality, how can Eve, a game character, exist here?

“Hmm… it might be better to hear that story from her, rather than from me.”

“From her…?”

Mother pointed to the empty space in front of me instead of answering. Soon, a status window appeared between her and me.

『Scenario unlock condition [Origin’s Trace: Reincarnator] detected.』

“Let’s start with this. It’s one stone’s worth. We should complete its original purpose.”

“Is that alright?”

“Yes, of course. We have plenty of time, so don’t worry.”

Her words to not worry only made me more anxious. I instinctively feel it. Something is approaching.

It is truth and a gate. A gate to another world. The moment a bright star is born in the dark universe, the void is filled with darkness. Knowing one truth only means that more unknown worlds await me.

I stared at the status window with a heavy heart, then raised my head again.

“…?”

Mother, who had been standing before me a moment ago, was gone. A hallucination? An illusion? Or magic? My head was frozen as I looked around.

‘During our conversation, where did—’

My body froze solid. Everyone who had been sitting at the table was gone. By the time I realized something was wrong and deployed the exploratory aether barrier, all my senses had already stopped.

The teacups, the table, the carpet and sofa, one by one, turn into streaks of light and disperse. The bedroom splits from beneath my feet, shattering the entire royal palace. The crack doesn’t stop even when it hits the ground, and continues to extend.

I raised my head to the sky. The blazing sun is swallowed by a thick shadow. In that moment, I felt a more comfortable sensation than in Mother’s embrace.

When I opened my eyes again, shaking off the darkness, I was in the middle of space.

Sparkling stars, beautiful nebulae. While sensing the grand mystery of nature, I realized this wasn’t some kind of hallucination.

The universe before me was real. Apparently, I’d been invited by someone.

“Despite the setback… we weren’t supposed to meet again.”

Some being exuding grand majesty called to me.

“But what can we do? You’ve already crossed the threshold.”

That voice somehow sounded familiar.