Ch.316Chapter 316 – The Truth According to Epitrina

“Perhaps, you came to find me because of the facility that was used by demons until recently… and the diary you found there. Is that right?”

“That’s correct.”

In Epitrina’s temple, I was discussing with her about secrets that might still be unknown to this world.

“You must have many questions. But since it would take a long time to explain everything one by one, I’ll show you everything through a vision. Would it be alright if I explain afterward?”

“That would be fine. Seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times.”

When I accepted Epitrina’s proposal, she smiled and placed her right index finger on my forehead.

Then, a planet appeared before my eyes.

‘Is this… Earth?’

Not every planet with blue oceans, green land, and white clouds is necessarily Earth.

But the clearly distinguishable shapes of the African and American continents, even from a distance, made me realize that this planet was indeed Earth.

Earth was peaceful. At least, it appeared peaceful on the surface.

Seeing spaceships and space stations with UN flags traveling throughout the solar system with faster-than-light engines, it seemed that Earth had developed considerably compared to the era I had lived in.

But an unexplained explosion on the moon split it in half, causing it to crash into Earth.

The terrifying sight of spaceships and space stations in Earth’s orbit being destroyed one by one by fragments of the broken moon pulled by Earth’s gravity was horror itself.

Shortly after the largest fragment hit Earth, the blue planet turned into a red one.

The planet that had been home to hundreds of billions of lives disappeared, becoming a dead planet where nothing existed.

The spaceships and space stations that were outside Earth’s and the moon’s orbit survived. They gathered together to form a massive spaceship and initiated a faster-than-light jump toward somewhere.

As this spaceship traveled through space via faster-than-light jump, it failed due to an unexplained space-time distortion and crashed on unfamiliar land.

It was a planet with three continents. This was the world I had been reincarnated into.

The number of survivors from the crashed spaceship was at most around 1,000.

Even then, most were injured.

Unlike other continents, the land where they crashed was extremely barren.

In this desolate land, to escape the scorching sun, the survivors used various equipment from the spaceship to build an underground base.

Yes, that base was the one that demons had been using as their stronghold.

The survivors who built the base tried to survive there somehow, but they suffered from resource shortages after an explosion of cargo of unknown origin that remained in the wreckage of the destroyed spaceship.

To make matters worse, the incident I discovered in the diary occurred.

An anomaly in the reactor forced them to seal off the passage.

After this incident, all humans from Earth succumbed to endemic diseases and various problems, and the place was abandoned.

By the time the last humans fell and even the spaceship wreckage on the surface had turned to dust and disappeared, demons appeared in this land.

And that’s where the vision ended.

“Can you explain what this is?”

I asked Epitrina what I had just seen. The planet was clearly identical to the Earth I had lived on, but its appearance was very different from what I knew.

“Since coming to this world, you’ve probably learned something. That worlds don’t exist singularly but are placed on parallel lines that never intersect.”

“So, what I saw wasn’t the Earth I lived on, but an Earth from a parallel world?”

“That’s right. It’s not the world you lived in, but Earth from another world. One where science and technology had advanced enough to explore various parts of the universe. But for some reason, universes that should have remained on parallel lines and never overlapped did so due to some incident, causing the moon to be destroyed and resulting in the catastrophic destruction of Earth.”

There was something in Epitrina’s explanation that I didn’t understand.

Why did universes that should have remained parallel overlap?

“Are you curious about why parallel universes overlapped? Strictly speaking, it could be said that it’s related to you.”

…I’m related to that incident?

“Don’t worry. It’s not your fault. When the Demon God was sealed during the time you were a hero in the past, his power, having lost its place, affected another world. This caused parallel universes to shift slightly and overlap, resulting in the physical overlapping and destruction of the moon.”

Huh. I hadn’t expected this at all. To think that my past self’s defeat of the Demon God caused such a major incident in another world.

“As the Great Goddess who witnessed everything, I can tell you that you have no reason to blame yourself. If you hadn’t defeated the Demon God and prevented the parallel universes from overlapping, humanity in that world would have self-destructed due to a war with AI.”

Why does the thought of self-destruction through war with AI seem even more frightening?

Either way, it seems humanity in that other world was destined for extinction.

“With Earth destroyed by the moon’s destruction, humanity had nowhere to return to, so they built a large spaceship to explore lands where they could live. But faster-than-light travel basically involves moving outside of space—that is, moving through areas where the flow of space-time is not constant, allowing travel faster than light.”

“Since they move outside the universe, they would naturally be affected by events in other universes.”

“That’s right. Events that occurred in the past of other worlds can affect that space. Incidentally, the space-time distortion they got caught in was the very phenomenon that caused parallel universes to overlap in the past. The cause of the past catastrophe that made them attempt faster-than-light jumps was what sent them to another universe.”

“And the planet they crashed on is this world.”

Epitrina nodded at my words.

“Then, is this gun also from that spaceship?”

“To be precise, it was a self-defense tool contained in a survival pod ejected from that spaceship. Most things burned and disappeared, but the box containing that item was safely protected and fell there.”

It was somewhat shocking, but after hearing Epitrina’s explanation, everything made sense.

“The world is truly a mysterious and terrible place.”

“A phenomenon that might be an object of curiosity and observation for some could be a terrifying disaster threatening the lives of others. Like, for instance, the very ability I gave you.”

Hmm…

“So, has your curiosity been satisfied?”

“Yes, it has. Thanks to you, I can now let go of everything with a clear mind.”

Just then, a thought crossed my mind.

“Oh, Epitrina. What happened to the Earth I was living on?”

“The world you lived in is fine. There are large and small wars happening here and there, but the real superpowers aren’t engaging in proper wars. The country you lived in, South Korea, is also safe and continuing on.”

I see… Because of the destruction of Earth in another world, I was curious if anything had happened to the world I lived in.

But after hearing Epitrina’s explanation, it seems like the Earth I knew is still the same, which is a relief.

“The Demon God has been eliminated, and all demon remnants have been swept away. What will you do now?”

“When I came to this world, I thought it was just a game world, so my goal was to meet the heroines from the game.”

Well, I did meet my favorite heroine, Mina Endras, and also the saint, Eterna, so I’ve achieved what I aimed for to some extent.

“In the process, I found someone I love, and now that everything is finished, my goal is to build a family and live a peaceful life.”

“A peaceful life…”

Epitrina nodded at my answer.

“I thought you would choose such a life.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Even when you were active as a hero in this world, your dream was to live a peaceful life. However, with the appearance of the Demon God, you put your own peaceful life aside and brought peace to others.”

It’s difficult to judge exactly what kind of person I was in the past.

But at the very least, the fact that I stood up for others suggests I might have been an altruistic person.

“Both your past self and your current self have saved this world. So now, live peacefully with the people you love.”

“I understand. Thank you for sharing this story with me.”

“I’ll be looking forward to the new story you’ll create in this world.”

With that, Epitrina turned into particles of light and disappeared before me.

Well then, shall I head back?