Ch.130Beg me

# 1.

The voice of the abyss piercing through my ears.

“Don’t you want to be happy?”

A whisper imbued with such powerful force that it made my head throb, despite having activated my Dark Veil.

And so Nahan unconsciously repeated the words that appeared on his status window.

【─Hidden Quest─】

◆ The Abyss’s Proposal.

: What is the definition of a happy ending? Even if all characters become happy, wouldn’t it be a bad ending if you become unhappy? Therefore, the ‘Abyss’ proposes to you.

◆ Objective.

: Join hands with the ‘Abyss’ and help achieve the ending it desires.

◆ Reward.

: Return to your original world – to the moment right before all misfortune began.

Hidden Quest – The Abyss’s Proposal.

Unlike previous quests, this one simply required helping him.

Unlike when he was an ignorant C-rank mercenary captain, he had now awakened Ex+ rank power.

‘Whatever the Abyss asks of me, I should be able to resolve it easily.’

As if reading Nahan’s thoughts, the Abyss whispered additional words.

“What I desire from you is just one thing. Simply do nothing and let everything unfold until the end.”

It was truly a simple task.

Even the current Abyss was on par with himself.

If it took possession of the unsealed Dragon Lord’s body and became one with it, it would clearly grow stronger by obtaining at least partial divinity.

No need to struggle like before, just wait for the right time.

And the reward for this task was,

◆ Reward.

: Return to your original world – to the moment right before all misfortune began.

Return to his original world and go back to before all misfortune began.

His parents’ deaths,

The orphanage’s decline,

Even the deaths of his big brother and only friend—could all be undone.

If that happened.

Could he live the “ordinary and happy life” he had murmured like a dream every night?

.

.

.

【Warning.】

【The <???? ?? ??> residing in <Nahan>’s heart is responding.】

.

.

.

As the light disappeared from Nahan’s eyes, the Abyss embraced him more tightly.

“This world has nothing to do with your world. You don’t even need to get blood on your hands; just watch like reading a book. There’s nothing to worry about.”

No matter how powerful he had become, Nahan’s core was that of an ordinary person.

For ordinary people, the life of one person they know, even just by face, weighs more heavily than the lives of a hundred strangers.

“Accept it. Just watch quietly and return to your original world to be happy.”

At these words from the Abyss that precisely targeted his weak point, Nahan finally nodded and asked.

“…Is that all you need?”

“More than enough.”

As the Abyss’s mouth split into a grin, Nahan nodded and muttered with a smile.

“Did you hear that?”

“…? What do you mean?”

While the Abyss was momentarily confused.

Nahan looked up at the sky visible through the hole in the ceiling and muttered.

“Choose. Either properly explain why I should help you, or come with a better offer than this one.”

“…!! You bastard, don’t tell me──!!”

Just as the enraged Abyss reached out toward Nahan, all colors around them disappeared, turning the space black and white.

Simultaneously, a brilliant system window appeared.

【The [Balance] urgently presents you with two choices.】

【1. Meet the Black Wolf.】

【2. Meet the Goddess.】

It was exactly as Nahan had intended.

# 2.

To be honest, the Abyss’s proposal was far better than what the Goddess or the Black Wolf could offer.

Think about it.

A quest requiring bone-breaking effort VS a quest achieved by simply doing nothing.

Moreover, the rewards were roughly equivalent, so excluding moral issues, the Abyss’s proposal was much easier to accomplish.

Thus, when the Abyss proposed the quest, Nahan almost unconsciously muttered.

‘You should have proposed this right after I possessed this body.’

Indeed, for Nahan at that time, ‘this world’ was merely a fictional world from a novel by an author he liked, not something he considered real.

If he had still been a C-rank mercenary approaching everything like a game, he would have stepped back from events and waited as the Abyss suggested.

Of course, he would have felt guilty.

The Abyss’s goal was the destruction of the world.

It could only be achieved by destroying a perfectly fine world and killing everyone in it.

Even if he had realized this later, Nahan would still have remained passive.

His current power was literally obtained through desperate struggle and extreme hardship.

If he had been powerless, he would have dismissed this world as fiction and only worried about how to deal with the misfortunes in his original world.

But now he couldn’t do that.

After tumbling through hardship after hardship, he had realized this world was not an illusion but reality.

He had discovered that the guild members, who seemed like mere villains, were actually victims of a hidden mastermind, puppets of fate.

He had learned they weren’t simply monsters as described in the novel, but beings with emotions who could share their hearts.

So when the Abyss made its new proposal, Nahan took a gamble.

“Did you hear that?”

“…? What do you mean?”

Judging that he couldn’t deal with the Abyss without harm using only his current information.

“Choose. Either properly explain why I should help you, or come with a better offer than this one.”

“…!! You bastard, don’t tell me──!!”

He had cast bait to discover hidden information he hadn’t yet heard.

The chance of failure was low.

Though he called it bait, it was essentially a threat: “What? If you don’t offer something better, I’ll cause trouble with this one.”

And the result of that threat was──

【The [Balance] urgently presents you with two choices.】

【1. Meet the Goddess.】

【2. Meet the Black Wolf.】

A great success.

“…A moment later and my head might have been cut off. Wonder if the ring could heal that.”

Nahan slowly moved away from the Abyss’s grasp in the frozen world.

And so came another time for deliberation.

‘…Who should I meet?’

Part of him wanted to confront the Goddess who had summoned him here, but he also needed to meet the Black Wolf, who was presumably one of “Those Who Cannot Be Saved.”

“Both.”

【That is not possible.】

He tried his luck, but received an immediate rejection without even a moment’s consideration.

In such cases, threats work best.

“Tch, then I’ll just accept the Abyss’s proposal.”

As he turned away, half-serious and half-acting annoyed.

Pop.

With a cute sound like something opening, a small golden scale appeared.

【<Balance> manifests.】

【Transforming into a form capable of conversation.】

Emitting golden light as it transformed, it soon took the shape of a small human.

“…A fairy?”

“[I am the Guardian of Balance, the Scale.]”

Ignoring Nahan’s muttering, it walked over with heavy steps and spoke with flashing golden eyes.

“[How dare you make unreasonable demands with such a shameless face. Your only role is to choose from the system’s options. Threats are meaningless.]”

“…What?”

“[The Goddess herself has graciously provided choices, so accept her will with gratitude.]”

A golden flame-like being holding a scale in one hand and a sword in the other.

Indeed, as a being aware of the system, its pressure was considerable.

If its body hadn’t been only half the size of his waist, Nahan might have chosen without thinking.

With tension eased by its doll-like appearance, Nahan nodded while continuing his act of being a nonchalant human who disliked hassle.

“Fine.”

“[…Hmph. Finally understood, have you? So, the Goddess or the Black Wolf?]”

“The Abyss.”

“[Eh…]”

The Scale momentarily shrank in size with surprise, but trying not to show it, immediately raised its voice.

“[Didn’t I just say!! Your only choice is to──!!]”

“Hey.”

“[Uh, wait, how dare, huh?!]”

Cutting off the Scale’s words, Nahan grabbed it by the collar and lifted it up.

“You people dragged me here when I was living perfectly fine, right? I’ve been working hard because I care about this world, but you expect me to keep working without reward? Absolutely not.”

“[Ha!! How foolish!! If you succeed in saving them, you’ll get a wish──!!]”

“Your quests have ridiculously high difficulty and take forever to complete, while the Abyss offers success just by doing nothing. Isn’t it natural to choose the easier option?”

Despite Nahan’s fierce gaze, the Scale continued shouting earnestly.

“[But our side is justice!!]”

“So what? Whether it’s saved or destroyed, I’ll be leaving this world. Do I need to care about that?”

“[Ugh…!!]”

“What, would something happen if I sided with the Abyss?”

“[N-no!! Go ahead if you want!! We’re just giving you a chance to maintain your own humanity──!!]”

“Then I’ll side with it.”

“[Eek! Ugh…!!]”

Finally at a loss for words.

After staring at Nahan for a while, it finally changed tactics.

“[Trash!! Worm!! Psycho!! The people in this world are real humans too!! There are people!! Real people in this world!!!]”

At the sight of the Scale, now even smaller in its final desperate attempt, Nahan spoke one last time after observing it for a moment.

“Beg.”

“[What!?]”

“Prostrate yourself flat on the ground, apologize, and beg, and I might listen to what you have to say.”

“[Eek!! You──!!]”

“Oh, right.”

Interrupting the Scale again, Nahan stroked its head and added.

“This is your last chance.”

A chilling smile.

A finger hovering over the crimson system window created by the Abyss.

“[……]”

“Answer.”

“[……I’m sorry. Please, just help us this once. If you… I mean, if the Savior goes over to their side, everything will truly be annihilated…]”

Finally, the Scale prostrated itself flat on the ground.