Ch.360[Epilogue] Even Across Dimensions (4) (Main Story Complete)

I’ve done all the research I could.

From now on, it was a long period of endurance.

I’m waiting for Eidel’s reply from somewhere in another world. That’s why Ireh was staring blankly at the screen.

Yesterday, today, tomorrow.

Just endlessly staring at the monitor like retail investors trapped in stocks.

“Is Hazlen still doing that?”

“She’s waiting for her advisor. She says she won’t accept guidance from anyone but Professor Rheinland, and won’t graduate without him…”

“But he’s already deceased. Shouldn’t she start looking for someone else?”

“Shh.”

Undergraduate students whispered as they passed by the half-open door. Yet Ireh remained motionless, like a dead person.

In truth, she knew. That this was a wait without promise.

Still, she held onto the faintest hope that something might appear. She waited because he was someone she wanted to meet again, even if it meant dedicating her entire life.

Today ended in disappointment again.

“Hmm.”

Sleepy.

Ireh lay down on the makeshift bed. It was called a bed, but without even a mattress, it was no different from a stone floor.

She covered herself with a hole-ridden blanket and lay on her side. Even in the last moment before her eyelids closed, she kept her gaze fixed on the monitor.

And then.

A miracle happened.

[I can’t hold back any longer. Leaving a comment.]

“…Huh?”

Her mind snapped to attention. Ireh was so surprised that she hit her little toe on the edge of the bed as she tried to get up.

“Ah, aaaaargh!”

An empty cry of pain echoed through the lab.

“Why is that senior acting like that?”

“Don’t you know? They say she’s been in love with Professor Rheinland since he was her college senior. Apparently they were in a relationship where they did everything together, secretly.”

“So they had a CC relationship despite being teacher and student? Wow.”

“But I heard that professor was married. So that means adultery…”

“Shh, shhh.”

The whispering of the undergraduates didn’t even register. A reply, a reply had come. Ireh pinched her cheek to confirm she wasn’t dreaming. It wasn’t a dream.

Ireh took a deep breath.

She still didn’t know. Perhaps it wasn’t Eidel but a message from some other entity. So it was too early to be certain.

However, the next message that arrived:

[I want to see the protagonist, Ireh Hazlen, become happy. Initially, I wanted to see her overcome difficulties and hardships.]

It was enough to bring tears to Ireh’s eyes.

– I wish you happiness, sister.

Wasn’t it exactly like what someone used to say habitually?

[It seems Eidel has become a helper in this remake. Seeing the prologue titled ‘Epilogue’s Prologue,’ it appears to be a story after defeating the foreign gods.]

[It’s called a remake, but I understand it as an epilogue of the cycle that ended the loop. I have no major complaints up to this point. My issue is with the protagonist’s situation.]

[Humanity avoided extinction. But Ireh herself isn’t happy. It’s a happy ending, so why must she continue to suffer?]

[Is there no scene of her overcoming? What about reuniting with Eidel? You’re not planning to end it like this, are you?]

[Please, I beg you, make these kids happy.]

It was closer to a plea than criticism or condemnation. That plea resonated in Ireh’s heart. She found herself shedding tears without realizing it.

This kindness, how long had it been?

Meanwhile, in the 7th dimension.

Cartesia received a similar message.

[Cartesia.]

[This novel is probably the ‘journal’ you sent to me. You scattered it randomly across dimensions, regardless of location.]

[I’m doing well. Not abundant, but not lacking either. I earned my PhD here too. The circumstances are more complicated, but I’m working hard to become a university professor.]

[I want to see you again, but if it’s too difficult, there’s no need to strain yourself. Take care of Seti and your wives more than me. As your contractor, I ask this of you.]

[Comfort those children a little.]

“How amusing.”

Cartesia drew a curved line at the corner of her mouth. Along with the message from the person presumed to be Eidel, a massive amount of information had arrived.

Receiving so much information meant that the sender’s location could be determined that much more accurately. She had pinpointed the coordinates she so desperately needed.

As a result.

“…Found him.”

Cartesia could be certain. That he was alive, not dead. He had merely been thrown back by the anti-graviton cannon to the world where he originally belonged.

It was according to causality. A person returning to the world where they should be. But Cartesia’s observation had caused a crack in that causality.

“You want me to make the kids happy?”

Cartesia snorted and wrote a reply.

[Come do it yourself.]

Kuuuung.

The anti-graviton cannon began to operate once more.

***

I was in a very perplexed state.

After speed-reading the Foreign God Slayer remake, all the chapters had disappeared. And a new chapter had been uploaded.

[NEW EP. Epilogue]

I clicked on that chapter.

Then a new space appeared.

Literally a gate, a dimensional door. The existing space was cut sharply and opened vertically, forming a gap.

The split gap was large enough for one adult man to enter.

“Uhh…”

Am I hallucinating?

Even after rubbing my eyes and looking again, it wasn’t. I’ve never done drugs, so this was undoubtedly reality. Something unreal had appeared, violating the laws of physics.

Gooooo.

The space beyond the dimension seemed to beckon me to come.

Uuuung.

My smartphone rang.

[Come back.]

The gate didn’t seem able to hold for long. If my guess was correct, maintaining this was consuming enormous energy on the other side.

This door could probably only last a few minutes at most.

Honestly, I was afraid to jump right in. How could I know what was inside?

But.

“…I should seize the opportunity when it’s available.”

It wasn’t reason or logical analysis. I knew by instinct. If I missed this chance, I might never meet them again.

I turned on my smartphone and immediately transferred money to one person.

Lee Taeyeon.

The closest person to me in this world.

I sent him the money for the meat we ate on graduation day, with interest added. Senior Taeyeon had said it was fine, but it had still been bothering me, so I sent it now.

There was no one else I needed to contact.

My advisor?

No need for that. My advisors are Professors Feynman and Stranov.

I couldn’t delay any longer. The gate was losing power and about to disappear. I threw my body, my life, toward the dimensional door.

Huuuung.

My body stretched like taffy, and spacetime repeatedly rounded and thinned like kneading flour.

I was completely disoriented.

I saw myself. Maintaining the original form but with yellow eyes and a sharper jawline. The feeling of switching world lines was vivid.

Eidel had been my original self all along. Not possession, but transference.

And finally, I was able to arrive in a familiar space. It was dark and without visible boundaries.

“This is…”

“A 7th dimensional world that a mere youngster like you can neither fully perceive nor understand.”

A familiar voice was heard.

“Welcome to the imaginary space.”

A familiar pressure. Simultaneously, a feeling of joy.

“…Cartesia.”

“Well, who might you be to dare know my true name?”

A girl in a European-style frilled dress approached. Strange tentacles followed behind her. Navy blue. Her blue eyes twinkled like stars in the night sky.

The girl gradually increased her speed, then pounced on me.

“Aha, I wondered who it was.”

I wasn’t even given time to escape. I was caught by the tentacles with nowhere to go.

“So it’s my companion.”

Now I had become bound to this place.

No need to go through professor appointment twice.

I lifted Cartesia up in my arms. Her tentacles writhed powerfully, then gently loosened.

Cartesia summoned something from the void.

A pair of rings embedded with non-uniform polyhedra.

“Put it on.”

The broken contract was established again. Beyond death. Beyond dimensions. I was now bound to her by an unbreakable bond.

While able to read each other’s thoughts, long words were unnecessary.

We descended one step at a time to the lower dimension.

Beyond causality.

It was time to return to where we originally belonged.

***

Ireh checked the location of the receiving coordinates. The place where the Rheinland family home was located. A small spacetime distortion was observed there.

She hurriedly left the lab and headed there.

It was late dawn at the Rheinland main residence. The planet Rheinland-3 was blocking the sunlight. Ireh very carefully disabled the front door lock and entered.

“Ireh unnie?”

Seti, who had been earning money even through the night, came out. She asked in surprise.

“What brings you here at dawn? Didn’t you say you wouldn’t leave the lab for a while?”

There was no time to answer. She was too out of breath. Her heart was so elevated that she felt pain from being unable to calm it down.

“Haa, haa…”

“Are you okay? Want some water first?”

It was just as Seti was about to go to the water purifier.

In the darkness. Someone was pouring water into a cup. Seti doubted her eyes. Was she seeing things because she hadn’t slept for so long?

“Geez, I come back after so long and look at the state of you? Go wash up.”

The man passed by Seti. Seti was so frozen she couldn’t even turn her head. The man then approached Ireh and offered her the cup.

“Drink quickly. You’ll collapse at this rate.”

Ireh received the cup in a daze. Her hand trembled. Likewise, words wouldn’t come out.

The man gave a slight smile and entered the master bedroom as if it were his own home.

Three wives were sleeping in the master bedroom. Rustila and Zernya had no energy after coming home from working late. While working hard, they could forget their deceased husband.

But night was different.

“Waaaah!”

Sometimes a two-year-old child cries suddenly. When they have a scary dream, or if they hear even a slightly uncomfortable sound.

“Daddyyy!”

“Huaaang!”

“What is it now…”

Sonia got up, rubbing her eyes. It was entirely her responsibility to soothe the princesses who had nightmares in the middle of the night. With only two children but three or more wives, childcare itself was actually convenient.

But Sonia stopped in her tracks.

The children’s crying suddenly ceased.

“Daddy, daddy.”

“It’s daddy.”

There was a person. Too tall to be Seti or Ireh. The previous head of the family, Arnold, was on a business trip, so there was no possibility of him being here.

Then.

Could it be.

“Did my princesses miss daddy?”

Sonia’s thoughts froze.

“Mmm.”

Rustila and Zernya also turned their heads at the commotion. They had been having dreams every day lately about Eidel disappearing. It had been days of nightmares.

So they couldn’t believe the being in front of them when they woke up.

“Are you awake?”

An affectionate and gentle, yet familiar voice.

Zernya gave a hollow laugh.

This must be an auditory hallucination. That was the only explanation that made sense. Zernya muttered self-deprecatingly.

“I should visit a psychiatrist today…”

“Why go to a psychiatrist? Are you sick somewhere?”

“Huh?”

Rustila sat up abruptly. She activated ‘Inner Sight,’ a technique of the Rear Faction. A skill that could infer the other person’s mental image and character.

Rustila saw it. It was a familiar form. But unlike before, no strange energy was visible. A being with a purely good heart.

Inner Sight distinguishes between reality and illusion. It cannot examine the mental image of something that doesn’t exist.

“…Ei, del?”

Click.

The mood light turned on. They could see each other’s faces. The wives’ dazed faces with dried tear stains crossed with the husband’s bitter smile.

That’s when Zernya also realized it wasn’t a dream. The sense of dissonance, which must be felt in a dream, did not exist.

The five women moved slowly, unable to speak.

“Is it really, really you, Eidel…?”

The man answered with action. He grabbed Rustila’s waist tightly and kissed her lips. The definite sensation sent shivers down Rustila’s spine.

The man who parted his lips smiled bitterly.

“…I’m back.”