Ch.142Chapter 142

I crouched on the floor, clutching my hair with both hands as if trying to tear it out.

Without doing this, I had no confidence in handling this chaos.

Like instinctively curling up when hit directly by cold water.

I tried to organize the memories flashing through my mind.

The people of Lintpia calling me Muzhi Absoluta.

The restaurant owner speaking to me as if he’d known me for a long time, saying I was like his son.

And now, the massive statue before me that seemed to be modeled after me.

“Ugh… kugh.”

Why can’t humans open their skulls?

I desperately wanted to scrape my brain with my fingers.

All of these things were completely new to me.

Yet my body was accepting them as if they were familiar, as if I’d seen them for a long time.

Were these remnants of ‘Raedan Tanthyn’s’ memories?

That couldn’t be.

Memories originate from the soul or mind.

With my soul switched, this shouldn’t feel familiar.

I looked at the statue again.

When I first saw it, it was just painful, like being hit on the head.

But looking at it again now, I realized it wasn’t pain but comfort.

I approached the statue like a person in a trance, without any purpose.

Somehow, it felt like I had to.

It felt like I was being guided to do so.

Then my gaze naturally dropped to a particularly uneven part of the floor.

There was an inscription there.

The inscription had exactly the same handwriting as The Chronicler’s writings.

– Those who reach death shall cross over to another world.

What a strange statement.

Those who reach death cross over to another world?

At least in the Snow Castle worldview, such a concept doesn’t exist.

But why?

Until just now, my brain felt like it was being torn apart, but strangely, just seeing this inscription made my mind feel slightly clearer.

The improvement was minimal, enough to remind me of a temporary measure.

But like finding an oasis after two days without water, I desperately wanted to see more inscriptions.

I looked up.

There were stairs leading behind the statue, and numerous inscriptions embedded in it.

Damn it.

It looked like cheese scattered to lure mice.

My instinct couldn’t resist this.

I felt like I would go crazy if I didn’t see them right now.

I don’t know how unsightly I looked.

I just ran toward the inscriptions.

Rushing forward as if about to crash into the wall, I read the next inscription with trembling hands.

– Returning one who has crossed over will require a proper price.

As I climbed the stairs and read more inscriptions, my unstable mind began to clear and become more firm.

– Nevertheless, if one must be returned.

The stairs seemed endless.

I almost wished I wouldn’t reach the end of these stairs.

– Take away all experiences of the one to be returned, and assign only the mission.

Memories I hadn’t experienced began flooding in all at once.

But now it wasn’t painful at all.

It started to feel pleasant, like recovering a lost part of my body.

– That is the only way to save the world.

My awkward, staggering movements had now almost returned to normal, and I began walking with my own will.

– Muzhi Absoluta, Raedan Tanthyn.

Who am I?

– What was your purpose?

What was I trying to do?

– Where was your original place?

What kind of person was I?

– It is time for you to receive back what you had forgotten.

Yes, that’s right.

That’s how it was.

I thought I was just continuing to experience unjust days.

But that wasn’t it.

– Accept, and the suffering shall disappear.

Finally, the end of the statue came into view.

– Prosch, Muzhi Absoluta!

Prosch, Muzhi Absoluta!

Prosch, Muzhi Absoluta!

Now I recognized that the burdensome prayers directed at me were what I rightfully deserved.

– Revere the return of the one who will lead the world to equality.

No.

There is no need to revere.

For we are, in ourselves, equal beings.

I declare here.

I will realign the rules of this twisted world.

#

“…Haha, you’ve finally reached the truth.”

There was a being observing all of this from afar.

That being wore a wistful expression and placed their hands on their chest.

“…I didn’t really have much to help with. Do you know how hard it was to guide you this far?”

Speaking playfully as if showing off, the being soon relaxed their expression and smiled naturally.

Now, they felt relieved that there was no need to think so complicatedly.

The being snorted and looked back at what they had done.

From the beginning.

No, from before that.

Recalling all the hardships endured for this.

“Well, this was my job anyway.”

The being, rattling their prosthetic hand, extended mysterious tentacles from around their waist, grabbed a pen, and disappeared from that place.

#

After Tanthyn suddenly left the restaurant, The Huntsman had left and was going around places where he could gather information.

The owner said he wouldn’t charge for the food.

His claim was that he owed too much to Tanthyn all this time.

At first, he wanted to look for Tanthyn.

But wandering around an unfamiliar territory could lead to encounters with unsavory groups, so it was better not to do that.

He could only wait for Tanthyn to return to their lodging.

After returning home and changing clothes, The Huntsman was walking around this street.

He paid an informant for information, but the informant returned the money and said:

“What? Why are you paying for such obvious facts? Just go ask the librarian for a history book.”

The Huntsman couldn’t forget the slightly contemptuous expression on the informant’s face.

Not because it made him feel bad.

He was surprised by the keyword “obvious facts.”

Why was information about The Huntsman considered obvious?

Everything was strange.

Why does The Huntsman exist in every territory?

“Ah, there is a Huntsman in this territory too. But in name only.”

Why, unlike other territories, does Lintpia’s Huntsman exist only in name without any activity?

Why does that Huntsman have followers?

To find out, The Huntsman had arrived at the library.

He went inside.

Since he didn’t have much time, he asked the librarian to recommend a simple history book.

The librarian handed him a thin book from her drawer.

“You’re from Rondan? Then you probably treated this as a fairy tale.”

“A fairy tale…?”

“Read it quickly. The author had no choice but to avoid information leakage.”

The Huntsman carefully read the book the librarian offered.

The content was very simple.

It was easy to read.

But because of these advantages, the information literally hammered into The Huntsman’s head.

His hands lost strength.

The book fell, making the sound of paper scattering.

The librarian didn’t complain to The Huntsman.

She just calmly checked his complexion and pointed somewhere.

“The bathroom is over there. Just don’t make a mess.”

He didn’t know how she could tell what he needed.

But he was grateful for the guidance.

Because it was exactly what he needed right now.

Tap tap tap tap.

Quickly arriving in the bathroom, The Huntsman bent over the cleanly maintained toilet.

His abdomen moved involuntarily to ease his churning stomach.

“Ugh.”

Fortunately, the nausea wasn’t severe enough to see the contents.

But the content of the fairy tale was so shocking that he almost wished he could empty his stomach.

The Huntsman had avoided the library, thinking it was full of works written by Outer Gods.

Because of that, he had to take such a roundabout way to learn information that could have been easily obtained.

Rondan’s iron rule?

Though he had hated the knighthood and only dealt with Outer Gods, perhaps he had been subjected to the most baseless brainwashing of all.

And the moment The Huntsman discovered all these facts.

His perception changed.

“…These rotten-headed bastards.”

It was a natural process.

Anyone who read that fairy tale would change their thinking like The Huntsman.

Of course, only those who were ready to accept it as truth.

Taking a deep breath to calm his stomach, The Huntsman finally raised his upper body in alarm.

Even he, who had only discovered fragments of history, was this affected.

But Raedan Tanthyn, who had lost his memories, must now be enduring all the memories suddenly coming back.

“Damn it!”

This was no time to be like this.

The Huntsman quickly left the library to find Raedan Tanthyn.

He could only hope that he wasn’t having extreme thoughts.