Ch.135130 – Learning World

The harsh sunlight forced its way in, leaving me no choice but to open my eyes.

I raised my upper body, trying to grasp my foggy consciousness.

After rubbing my eyes, my vision gradually cleared.

I tried to recall what happened yesterday, or rather, just moments ago.

Something suddenly rushed toward me and collided with me.

What should have been a light push felt like my very soul was being sucked out.

“This is Abyss Branch 15, isn’t it?”

It was the familiar space that had first welcomed me when I died in Part 1.

It was also the world I had originally set as my destination.

What was it?

I did manage to find my way here, but…

Did I really see something? Or did some collision occur while skipping through the open world?

My questions were immediately answered when the inn door opened.

“You’re awake, sis! Do you know how worried I was?”

“Adella? What? How did you get here?”

This wasn’t the Adella from this world.

She still knew nothing about me.

And most importantly, she was calling me “sis” instead of NoName.

I noticed my body had returned to normal from when I had switched with Adella, as I felt my flowing blonde hair in my hands.

“I… I don’t know! A demon suddenly appeared, and I was running away like crazy, and then suddenly you were right in front of me…!”

Adella explained, rambling incoherently.

Frowning, I opened the event window with a suspicion.

[14:20][‘Soul Exchange’ duration has ended.]

[14:21][NoName ⥨ Adella]

[14:21][Adella ⥨ NoName]

So when the skill ended and our souls were exchanged back, did it pull Adella into this world too?

I rubbed my chin, thinking deeply.

This might actually be fortunate.

Mephistopheles would still be summoned, and with Adella by my side, she wouldn’t be in danger of being killed by it.

Our eyes met briefly.

“Adella, can you say ‘what are you doing’ for me?”

“What are you doing, meow?”

“Say ‘is it fun’ too.”

“Is it fun, meow? Like this?”

Right, that pronunciation is cute when Adella does it. I didn’t really want to live in that body.

“Let’s pack up and leave. If we can just get to where Jin Chronicle was, we should be able to cross to the next world.”

“Wait, sis!”

Her hand landed on mine as I grabbed the doorknob.

We exchanged glances again as she stared at me with a meaningful expression.

“What?”

“Something feels really off about this place.”

“It is a strange world. I’ve been through it before.”

“No, not like that! It’s much more…!”

Clunk-!

The door opened by itself before I even turned the handle.

I almost lost my balance and fell with Adella, but I wasn’t going to be caught off guard twice.

“Oh my, are you two alright? Sorry for opening the door suddenly, didn’t know you were coming out.”

At the gravelly voice of a middle-aged man, Adella jumped in surprise and retreated to the corner of the room.

Short in stature, he wore so many layers of black cloaks that it was impossible to make out his body shape.

But having seen him as often as Adella during my repeated regressions in Part 1, I recognized him immediately, even though he looked somewhat different.

“Gestalt…?”

“Oh, you know me too?”

His hair was much fuller.

* * *

-Isn’t this how he looked in the flashback from the Gestalt side quest?

-Yeah, he’s definitely younger

-But that’s not story mode

-Right, he only appears in flashbacks

I glanced sideways, scanning the chat.

So we were indeed in the past, but the problem was that it wasn’t the “player’s” past.

“I have a favor to ask. We’re people who live by the sword, so we have no talent for looking after children. Could you watch over one until tonight?”

Like when I first went to the branch director’s office, we went down to the basement and walked through a narrow corridor.

Light was seeping through the crack of the last door, indicating someone was definitely inside.

“The child doesn’t listen at all… Haha, well, since you’re both fox-kin, maybe she’ll listen to you?”

He laughed casually while patting Adella’s back. Unable to just take the patting, she dodged his rough hands and moved next to me, linking arms.

Creak-

“I’ll leave it to you then. The mother said she’d come tonight. She’s probably a lonely child.”

Feeling nervous, Adella took a deep breath and carefully opened the door.

As soon as the door opened wide, a tiny two-year-old child came running toward us.

Her short legs couldn’t control her speed, and she fell flat right in front of us, immediately making a crying face.

“Waaaaaah!”

The child had a cute tail on her lower back, the same silver color as Adella’s.

“Adella?”

“Don’t tell me this is… me?”

I doubt even the operators who provided the roadmap imagined we’d regress to Adella’s past.

Life is full of uncertainties.

* * *

“Um… kid? Could you please stop that, meow…?”

“Kyahaha! Sis, do it again! Undo my hair again!”

“If you keep pulling my hair like that, nyaaaaargh!”

Adella let out a shriek, her whole body begging for help.

In contrast, the child seemed completely unconcerned about Adella’s scalp.

She twisted and turned Adella’s hair, wrapping it around her fingers and pulling, making Adella’s voice grow louder with each tug.

“Huff… huff… this is a nightmare. There can’t be a worse nightmare than this! Sis, slap my cheek hard, quick!”

-Lol the kitten getting disciplined by another kitten

-Is this what they call karma?

-Cat vs cat lol

-Why is baby Adella so cute

-But real childcare is different, right?

-Damn, she’s exactly like my daughter…

└ Dad, stop watching streams on the weekend and go feed your kid

It didn’t seem like we’d been playing together for long, but the sun was already setting.

Maybe it’s because this is past data, so the day’s time is set at a faster pace?

But Adella, who felt like she’d been with the child for ages, was clearly hoping for night to come quickly.

“Adella, do you remember when you were little?”

“When I was little? How many people actually remember their childhood, meow?”

“Hmm…”

“It’s really strange though. To think Gestalt knew me since I was little. Is he actually a stalker? Ugh, creepy!”

Adella didn’t know that she had visited the Abyss branch when she was very young.

That’s why her mind seems so troubled right now.

Setting aside my case as a reincarnator, if I think about my first life, humans generally forget most of their childhood memories.

We definitely existed in that past, but to confirm it ourselves, we had to rely solely on data like photos or videos.

How is that different from artificial intelligence then?

While Adella was playing with “baby Adella,” I had briefly explored the entire capital.

Thanks to that, I could learn a bit more about this world.

The normally crowded Remnant Academy had no NPCs at all, strangely enough.

The only figures were characters like Jin Chronicle or Alphonse Schipott, casually warming up in the training grounds.

It seemed appropriate to call this a kind of “learning world” created by NPCs to remember the past.

This must be the world they use to show the flashback scenes that viewers mention.

-To our parents who raised us like this, you are the GOAT

-Why does the baby look so real lol? Doesn’t feel like an NPC at all

└ lol Parenting (Despair Edition)

-Did they apply ASI instead of regular AI to the baby model?

-Jin Chronicle is ASI and Giselle Phoenix is ASI too, but each NPC feels different

-Maybe they used some super ultra deluxe ASI

└ As expected of the precursor to Mephistopheles, the strongest in the lore

-So how do they get out of here now?

Knock knock-

The sound coming through the door was one of despair for the child who was playing happily, but salvation for Adella.

“Will I really get to meet my real mother? I’ve always wondered what she looked like, the woman who gave birth to me.”

The adult seemed more expectant than the child.

However, contrary to expectations, the door didn’t open, and instead, unintelligible shouting could be heard going back and forth.

After exchanging glances with Adella, we sat the child down on the floor and carefully put our ears to the door.

One voice was definitely Gestalt’s. The other sharp voice was clearly female, but it was difficult to gather any other information.

“How could you raise a child to be like this! Are you even human? Huh?”

“Why are you nagging when it’s not even your kid? If you’re so concerned, take her and raise her yourself.”

“A person isn’t an object you can just take! Why are you acting like this? You weren’t like this!”

“Sigh. Then what kind of person was I? I really don’t know, so I’m asking you, Gestalt.”

“This… this!”

Gestalt’s voice trembled with anger.

At the same time, Adella’s expression grew increasingly serious as she listened.

Her hand was on the doorknob.

If she turned it, she could have seen her mother’s face, which she couldn’t even remember.

But despite the strength in her hand, the doorknob didn’t move at all.

“Don’t keep living like this. Or if you’re going to, live like that alone. But not Adella. Don’t push your daughter into the pit you’ve dug for yourself, understand?”

“Please, you think I’ll back down because you raise your voice? Do whatever you want. Even though she came from my womb, I never really thought of her as my child anyway. Oh, and I don’t have to pay child support, right?”

“You really are…”

-Why is Gestalt going so far for a child that’s not even his?

-Adella’s mother was Gestalt’s childhood friend and first love

└ Whoa…!

└ This is…

└ Reunion with first love: worst-case scenario final form

-The reason Adella survived in the back alleys for decades is because Gestalt kept watching over her

└ This is such a twisted pure love story

└ Where does this story come from?

└ Condition: Clear Mephistopheles with over 90% health remaining

-Adella’s frozen, what’s she going to do…

“Sis…”

Adella spoke in a muffled voice, hanging her head.

“…”

“You know… I’m going to pretend today never happened…”

Moisture gathered around her unfocused eyes.

But only for a moment, as she quickly lifted her head to look at the ceiling.

Having pushed her tears back where they came from, Adella spoke calmly with glistening emerald irises.

“I don’t need to hear this… There are people who love me plenty… I’ll just think my mom was a good person too.”

[system: Session has expired.]

[system: Loading World]

[A critical error has occurred: 6a 61 69 6c 62 72 65 61 6b]

“It’ll be okay, right sis?”