Ch.24So What Exactly Is That Clue? (2)

With the familiar sensation of transfer, my consciousness flickered.

“As I thought, I was right.”

As I slowly opened my eyes, a familiar landscape unfolded before me. The Wood Realm, Euran.

The administrators had a plan all along.

[Accessing memories of Imperial Year 992.]

– Time limit: 10 minutes

The time limit had even doubled. I never imagined they would make such arrangements.

A crescent-like smile bloomed on Olivia’s lips.

“Did something good happen?”

Olivia turned her head toward the voice. Kiel was sitting on a tree stump, repairing his equipment. His body was covered in monster fluids as if he’d recently been in battle.

Wait, battle?

Last time, weren’t we camping?

Olivia surveyed her surroundings with drowsy eyes. The area was littered with monster corpses strewn about.

Some of them were completely shattered like broken ice.

Olivia reached out to poke one frog-like corpse and wrinkled her face.

This one hasn’t been dead long.

There’s no way I would have missed such a disgusting stench last time.

‘The location is different.’

Originally, these frog bastards appear on the outskirts of the Great Forest. I don’t know where the campsite from the previous memory was, but it definitely wasn’t the outskirts.

How do I know? When you look up and can see the sky like now, it’s the outskirts; if you can’t see it, it’s the center.

“…Damn. What’s this supposed to mean?”

“What are you muttering about…”

Grab!

Olivia suddenly seized Kiel’s wrist.

“Kiel!”

“U-um?”

Kiel looked bewildered. Though he had spent months with Olivia, he had never seen her this aggressive.

“What day is it today?”

“…”

“No, that’s not right. I shouldn’t ask like this. Remember when I acted strange like this before? When was that?”

“…Strange?”

Kiel frowned.

This seemed like the strangest moment of all.

Such sudden questions were extremely odd.

Hadn’t she been sitting normally just moments ago?

“Calm down and speak slowly. We have plenty of time to talk.”

“No, there’s no time.”

“It’s fine. There’s no one here to—”

“No!”

“…”

Kiel reached out and placed his hand on Olivia’s forehead. He thought she might be delirious from some endemic disease, but fortunately, that didn’t seem to be the case.

Was she affected by frog poison then?

Olivia appeared to be trying to explain something with gestures.

“I, uh, you know, just…!”

She definitely wasn’t in her right mind.

But Kiel couldn’t bring himself to tell his companion she was acting strange.

“You haven’t really acted strange before?”

“This is so frustrating! Last time when I said I was going to look around, remember?”

[Time remaining: 8 minutes 54 seconds]

Time was still passing even during this exchange. But Kiel, unaware of this circumstance, could only tilt his head in confusion.

“Looking around… Ah, I think I remember.”

Kiel finally nodded.

Indeed, Olivia had been a bit different that day. She suddenly wanted to explore the surroundings alone, and she kept sighing deeply.

It was as if she were a slightly different person.

Of course, she quickly returned to her “normal” self.

As for when that was…

Kiel slowly searched his memories before speaking.

“Three days ago.”

Olivia frowned as if this made no sense.

“Three days? It’s been three days? I was only gone for 5 minutes?”

“…I don’t know what’s happening, but please calm down.”

Calm down? Do I look calm right now?

“Damn, what is this? What is this supposed to mean? Think quickly. Think, think…”

Olivia bit her lip slightly.

After peeking at a 5-minute memory, three days had passed.

Now that the time limit had increased to 10 minutes, the next time she accessed a memory, twice as many days—six days—would have passed.

Then 12 days, then 24 days, then 48 days…

It’s currently 992. And Kiel dies 6 years from now.

Olivia’s mind raced frantically. Then, as if struck by lightning, she widened her eyes and let out a sigh.

‘…I only have eight chances left.’

The plan to keep fainting indefinitely until she figured it out was scrapped.

The one fortunate thing was that the time she could spend in the memories was also increasing.

Of course, it still added up to less than four days total, but that was better than nothing.

But, but…

‘What’s a hundred times? I was planning to retry a thousand or ten thousand times until I found the answer!’

Now that method was blocked.

Olivia looked up at the sky with empty eyes.

What did I do so wrong!

Why am I the only one who can’t catch a break!

You damn administrators!

“Hoo, hoooo…”

Olivia plopped down on the ground and took deep breaths.

As she tried to control her anger, something flashed through her mind.

‘Wait a minute.’

The location changed?

If the clue were an object, and if the method involved finding a hidden item, the location shouldn’t change like this.

‘Then we should have started at the first campsite every time.’

Since the location changed, it’s not an object.

This is a clue for the main quest. They wouldn’t have made something so important so carelessly.

Focus on what hasn’t changed. That might reveal what the clue is.

Location? Different.

Time? Different.

The situation—literally everything—was different from before.

But there was one thing that remained unchanged.

‘…Kiel.’

Only Kiel was still in the same place.

[Kiel Rothschild]

– Level: 88

– Job: Sword Master

– Affection: 52

– Titles: Duke, Wandering Swordsman, Seeker of Sword, Dragonslayer, Ruin Explorer…

If anything had changed from before, it was the affection level. It had increased by 2 since last time.

At this point, Olivia was in the middle of what you might call an “affection operation.”

The goal was affection level 90. That was the level at which an NPC would be willing to “sacrifice their life” for a user.

There was no special reason for doing this. It was just to make the genocide ending a little easier to achieve.

‘It was a method discovered by some user. If you backstab someone after building up affection, their response is much slower than usual.’

The higher the affection, the greater the effect.

It makes sense when you think about it. If a stranger approaches with a weapon, you draw your own weapon in response, but if a close friend approaches with a weapon, you first assume it’s a joke.

Imperial Year 998. That’s how it was on the day Olivia committed her first murder in the genocide run.

Even when she deployed magic in the middle of the imperial palace, no one suspected anything. Even when that magic was aimed at the Emperor.

Until the Emperor died, Kiel, Melina, and Aria stood still for a long time, unable to comprehend the situation.

I won’t deny it.

That was truly something no human being should do.

‘I really couldn’t do that again if asked.’

The aftermath of seeing the genocide ending was so severe that I quit the game for months.

Anyway.

‘So the answer is to be found in Kiel?’

This reasoning seems correct no matter how I think about it. After all, this is Kiel’s memory.

‘But what?’

I asked Kiel a similar question before. I asked if he was hiding anything.

Kiel answered like this:

-Hiding something? I’m not sure.

Kiel isn’t the type who’s good at acting. If he’s plotting something, it shows on his face immediately.

Which means the clue isn’t some kind of secret…

[Time remaining: 5 minutes 23 seconds]

After all that, I’m back to square one.

Olivia bit her fingernail. Blood formed at the tip of her carelessly torn nail.

“Olivia. Calm down.”

Kiel firmly gripped both of Olivia’s shoulders. Surprised by the sudden weight, Olivia looked up.

Kiel was looking down at her with an extremely serious face.

“Pull yourself together and get up. This isn’t like you.”

“That hurts, you idiot.”

“…I’m sorry.”

Kiel removed his hands from her shoulders. Seemingly embarrassed, he cleared his throat a few times before speaking in a calm voice.

“Tell me what’s going on. You were like this last time too. I let it go without saying anything then, but I won’t this time.”

“…”

Olivia checked the timer.

[Time remaining: 3 minutes 42 seconds]

There was still enough time. Three minutes was plenty to explain.

But she didn’t know where to begin.

Should I say I’ve entered your memory and don’t have much time left?

That one of the clues to the main quest is related to you?

I’d be lucky if he didn’t dismiss it as nonsense.

“Is it a matter of trust? If it’s a personal issue, I won’t pry further.”

“…”

Facing Kiel’s resolute expression, Olivia squeezed her eyes shut as if resigned to whatever might happen.

‘Oh, whatever.’

This is just a past memory anyway. Whatever I say here won’t affect the present Kiel who’s trapped in ice.

‘Kiel remembered the nonsense I did last time.’

Those things that happened three days ago.

‘Wait a minute.’

Olivia stopped just as she was about to begin.

He remembers?

What happened three days ago?

If that’s true, doesn’t it mean the memories are being overwritten?

Does it mean he’ll remember what I say now six days later, twelve days later, 24 days, 48 days, and even years later?

Olivia’s eyes widened.

Which means…

‘…I can change the memories of the genocide run?’

[Time remaining: 13 seconds]

‘If what happens here is remembered by the present Kiel?’

This needs to be tested.

“Kiel.”

“Hmm?”

“Let’s meet six days from now.”