Chapter 126: Four Idiots (7)

[126] 19. Four Idiots (7)

Amidst the smell of dust and blood, a sense of dissonance arose.

“A ritual for the Goddess’s descent?”

What came to mind was Skuld’s diary.

It clearly stated that the Goddess was the one who tried to destroy the world.

“That’s right, originally, this world was protected by the Goddess Clarice. But she was sealed away due to Alain’s scheme.”

The two statements oddly clash. My brows furrowed without me realizing it.

“Why?”

“Because Alain wanted to become a God. The Heavenly God is proof of that.”

Heavenly God, even in the diary, he was described as an artificial god. But this was the first time I heard that Alain himself wanted to become a god.

“Actually, there wasn’t a ‘Goddess Resurrection’ route in the game. It’s the only way to save this world, a method I barely managed to find after searching through countless documents.”

Something is off.

The story doesn’t add up.

It feels as though someone forcibly inserted a needle and twisted everything.

“So you plan to resurrect the Goddess to stop this so-called Demon King? Then what about the price of fate?”

The fate Irene was talking about was the original game’s storyline. In other words, according to her, this world’s destruction was fate.

Then what was the price for deviating from that fate?

Especially if she were to do something as drastic as resurrecting the Goddess?

Irene had tried to make her city prosperous,

But the price of fate took that city away from her.

So what kind of disaster would befall her if the target was the entire world?

“…How does Oppa know about the price of fate?”

“Just answer the question.”

“…Haa.”

Irene sighed and shook her head.

“I don’t know where you got that information from, but there’s no need to worry about that. The Goddess is the ruler of fate, you see.”

Ruler of fate. The meaning was clear. She was saying that the Goddess could control fate.

But if that’s true… Hold on.

[However, recently, we have discovered a way to avoid our tragic fate.]

“What about before the Goddess is resurrected?”

Irene’s eyes narrowed. Realizing I had hit the mark precisely, I pressed on.

“Before that, what you’re doing right now, isn’t that also defying fate? No, isn’t what I’m doing right now also going against fate?”

The price of fate, as I understand it,

was something you had to pay when you defied fate.

However, if fate, as she claimed, was leading this world toward destruction.

And if the game’s storyline was fate itself.

Then right now, both Irene and I, who are directly opposing it, should have had to pay the price. Putting everything else aside, there was no way two reincarnators would appear in the original storyline.

Even if we were cleverly twisting fate, we shouldn’t be an exception.

Even the previous Skulds, who knew fate inside and out,

Even though they only made minimal interventions to prevent destruction,

They all died young, paying the price.

“So why haven’t you and I paid this so-called price?”

“Oppa, aren’t you being a bit too direct?”

A bitter smile crossed her face. However, her eyes held a sharp light.

“I’m trying to persuade you right now, not reveal my weaknesses.”

“…Persuade?”

At that moment, I forgot the question that had been filling my mind. I could feel a heat rising in my throat.

“You colluded with cultists, killed people, and deceived me all this time, and you say you want to *persuade* me?”

My voice, which had been rising steadily, finally cracked. At some point, I was gripping my sword so tightly that it felt like it might break.

“After killing all of them?”

“I told you, it was necessary.”

Irene coldly shot back at my words.

“Colluding with cultists, killing people. It was all to ensure that the original storyline played out. If it hadn’t, fate would have been greatly twisted…”

“Because you were scared this world might end up like yours?”

Irene’s face twisted horribly.

“This is more complicated than you think, Oppa. The price of fate is…”

“You killed Amy.”

Those words crawled out of my mouth as if they had a life of their own. Irene’s expression hardened to an ashen color.

“Clara, Parsley, Feya, and Captain. You killed them all.”

“Oppa, it was for the sake of this world…”

“I’m going to tear you limb from limb and feed you to the pigs.”

It felt as if my mouth had become a furnace, spewing flames instead of words. I chewed up the words, feeling the tears running down my cheeks.

“No matter what bullshit you spout, no matter how you try to justify yourself.”

“…”

“*I* will make you pay.”

I felt my words stabbing deep within Irene. I could tell from her sickly pale complexion.

“…Right, I was prepared for it to end up like this…”

However, Irene didn’t stay broken for long. Returning immediately to a calm expression, she raised her hand.

“It doesn’t matter anymore. I’ll be dead once this plan is over anyway. So if you wake up, you can do whatever you want with my corpse. Feed it to animals, or use it as fertilizer.”

Mana rose from the floor, following her hand. Instinctively, I knew she was planning to stop time in this space.

Turning the entire room into a display case.

“I gave up hoping for a peaceful death when I started getting blood on my hands.”

I ignored her bullshit and slipped my hand further into my bosom. I clutched my ‘trump card’ and glanced around the room with my peripheral vision.

The three lying on the floor as if dead,

But they were within range.

I chanted the spell inwardly while looking at Irene. She looked at me with a sad smile.

“Goodbye, Oppa. It was fun, though.”

To that, I had only one response.

“Fuck you.”

And with all my might, I threw my ‘trump card’ to the floor.

*Crack-!*

The blue stone shattered as it hit the floor.

From the fragments, an intense ripple rises.

“A return stone? How did you…!!”

Ignoring her shock, I activated the magic tool I had deliberately saved. Instantly, my companions’ bodies were pulled towards me.

I caught their bodies, disregarding the pain shooting through my broken arm. I forcibly shouldered them and moved my legs.

“No! Op…!!”

Leaving the scream behind,

I threw myself towards the ripple with all my might.

And…

*WHOOSH-!*

“Ugh…!!”

Groaning at the impact felt on my back, I rolled around. I barely opened my eyes to look at the ceiling.

The magic tower’s distinctive, flashy ceiling that changes patterns depending on the viewing angle.

When I turned my head, I saw familiar, yet stupid faces foaming at the mouth. Not a single one missing.

Only then did I let out a sigh of relief and mutter weakly.

“The return stone… It was a good thing I researched it while I had it…”

And so, we returned to the Magic Tower.

***

Surprisingly, it didn’t take long for the three of them to recover. Or rather than not taking long, there wasn’t much to treat in the first place.

Clevens, Marianne, Shafiq, all three had only lost consciousness, their injuries themselves were minor.

Whether that was Irene’s own form of consideration, I don’t know. In fact, I didn’t want to know either.

Anyway, the three soon woke up, and I immediately gathered them to explain everything from start to finish.

“Hah, so that’s what you were doing all night. Making that?”

Marianne was the first to speak after I finished my explanation. She let out a hollow laugh as if dumbfounded.

“To think you’d make a knockoff of that precious return stone, as expected of our honorary top student…”

“I had a chance to examine it up close.”

Thanks to Irene,

I cut off the words I was about to say. The reality that I was using Irene to screw Irene over, it was a cruel irony.

“So in the end, we got nothing from this trip?”

It was Clevens who said that. When I looked at him, I saw his face twisted in frustration.

“Damn it, I thought we finally found a clue…”

“No, we did get something.”

Clevens’ suspicious eyes landed on me. I pulled out my writing magic tool and began writing words in the air.

“Let’s organize the story. First, what’s the most striking claim that Irene made?”

“That… That the Goddess is actually a good person?”

I nodded.

“Right, it directly contradicts what was written in Skuld’s diary. So what does that mean?”

“That one of them is either mistaken or lying.”

Clevens naturally picks up my words. However, he immediately frowned and added.

“So you want to find out who’s lying? When the captain and the others might have already arrived at the Demon King’s castle by now? Rather than that, shouldn’t we just chase after them now…”

“No, wait, I’m not finished yet.”

Interrupting Clevens’ words, I put a question mark at the end of the letters I was writing in the air.

“What the hell are you writing, Vice-Captain?”

“A simple deduction process.”

—

1. The Goddess is the ruler/master of fate.

2. Alain, who opposed the Goddess, defied fate.

3. However, there’s no record of Alain paying the price of fate.

4. Moreover, the document that the strange creature found stated that there *is* a way to avoid the ‘price of fate’.

5. Furthermore, even now, both Irene and I should be paying the ‘price of fate,’ yet we’re not.

6. Irene avoided answering this question.

7. What’s the probability that Alain and Irene avoided the ‘price of fate’ with the same method?

8. And what’s the probability that we can stop Irene by destroying that method?

—

“…That seems like a bit of a logical leap, don’t you think?”

“It’s not ‘a bit’ of a leap, it *is* a leap, Miss.”

Clevens’s tone was cold, almost sharp. His sharp eyes pierced through me.

“How can you be so sure that everything Irene said is true? What proof is there that everything written in Skuld’s diary is true? Your deduction falls apart if even a small part of their stories is false.”

“But there’s an overlap in their stories.”

I held up two fingers.

“The ‘price of fate,’ and Alain’s victory over the Goddess. These two elements appeared in both stories. In other words, it’s highly likely that it’s the truth.”

“So what the hell are you going to do about it?”

Shafiq, who was rubbing his temples as if still suffering from the aftereffects, grumbled.

“I don’t know what the hell you guys are talking about. My head hurts, so just get to the conclusion.”

…Or maybe he just couldn’t keep up with the conversation.

Swallowing a sigh internally, I spat out the conclusion.

“What I’m saying is, let’s find someone who would know about these things.”

“…Alain died 200 years ago, and we just buried the last Skuld last week, didn’t we?”

“No, there’s one more person. Someone who would know all of this.”

“What the hell are you talking about? Alain died 200 years…”

Then, as if finally understanding what I meant, Clevens’s expression goes blank.

“No way…”

“Yes, you’re probably thinking right.”

The person who fought alongside Alain 200 years ago against the Goddess.

The person who has a deep connection to all these events.

And the person who, if things go well, might even be able to solve all of this.

“The Demo…”

“My mom?”

Everyone’s startled gazes converge on one point.

Shafiq was looking at us with a confused expression.

“Why are you looking at me like that? My mom is 421 years old this year. Of course, she was alive 200 years ago too. Of course, she had connections with Alain too.”

At that moment, I couldn’t help but ask.

“…You had a mom?”

Shafiq threw his bow at me.