Chapter 132: The Grand Deception (6)

[132] 20. The Grand Deception (6)

When you reach the last page of a book,

When the hard cover is visible beneath the open page.

What emotion settles in our hearts.

Amy silently picked up the holy sword.

The Holy Sword, Abraxas.

The sword with a pure white blade seemed to glow faintly even inside the dark tent. Reflected on that blade was Amy’s haggard face.

Soon, everything would be over.

Amy would plunge this sword into the Demon King’s heart and resurrect the Goddess. And she would offer her life to the resurrected Goddess in exchange for a wish.

The final atonement.

That the boy’s past would be rewritten with happiness.

That her own detestable existence would become something that never existed in the first place.

Because if it hadn’t been for her, Rem would have lived a happy life.

An emotion she couldn’t tell was relief or sorrow pierces through her heart.

“Amy.”

A frivolous voice. Amy answered without turning around.

“Betty Ailleyde.”

“Did you have a good rest?”

Amy didn’t answer. Instead, she sheathed the holy sword and stepped out of the tent.

A dilapidated castle rising in the middle of a green prairie.

And below it, crowds of people gathered noisily.

“Do you think this will work on the Demon King…”

“For now, let’s prepare everything just in case…”

“Hey! Don’t let that bastard drink any alcohol.”

It seemed that Amy was the last one to arrive.

The Rose Rem Mercenary Group,

Their captain and the barbarian who led the front,

The three women who were once her companions in the hero’s party,

And…

“Rem, you don’t have to go out there and fight.”

“But all of this is because of me…”

“Just shut up and stay here, Rem.”

Amy forcefully turned her gaze away from the boy.

It was easy to make excuses, saying it was the last time. It would be a lie to say she didn’t feel such an urge.

If she could run to him and hold his hand one last time, she could die happy.

But Amy knew that she had already missed her chance. She knew that she had lost her right a long time ago.

If only she had apologized the moment she met him, maybe things would have been a little better.

“Lady Amy.”

Irene, who had been naturally taking command of the mercenaries, approached her. She asked with a slight smile.

“Did you rest well?”

“Yes.”

It’s a simple lie. Amy hadn’t been able to sleep properly since she obtained the Holy Sword.

But whether she believed the lie or didn’t care if it was a lie, Irene smiled brightly.

“Then this is really… the end.”

Irene’s eyes trembled slightly as she pronounced ‘the end’. Amy knew she was suppressing her excitement.

But Irene was a meticulous woman.

“Then let’s depart right away. We don’t know what the Demon King might do if we delay any longer.”

Irene, her face now calm and collected, turned her head to look up at the Demon King’s castle.

“It’s time for us to witness this story’s ending.”

It strangely resembled a pilgrimage.

82 members of the Rose Rem Mercenary Group.

Rose, the Captain of the Rose Rem Mercenary Group.

Feya, the attack front of the Rose Rem Mercenary Group.

Parsley, the current Tower Master.

Clara, the Saint and Pope.

Amy, the Hero.

And the two survivors of House Ailleyde.

Lined up in single file, they march toward the castle, keeping pace with each other. Their weapons in hand are their faith, and their armor their conviction.

Determination was in their eyes as they looked at the castle.

Believing in something, throwing themselves into hardship, how were they any different from pilgrims.

But it was at that moment.

As the sun began to set, the castle’s shadow fell upon them. The wind shifted, carrying winter’s chill.

“Huu…”

An inexplicable uneasiness filled everyone’s hearts. A sudden doubt grips their hearts. Maybe, just maybe, all of this was a mistake…

“Opening the gate.”

There was no time to prepare their hearts.

The moment Irene spoke, the castle gates opened.

As the fact that they could no longer turn back sinks in, doubts fade away. The entranced pilgrims entered the castle step by step.

And, at the end of the empty corridor.

He sat on the throne there.

“Genius…!”

A voice trembling with excitement.

The pilgrims, turning to look at the voice’s source, were bewildered.

“Finally…! Finally…!!”

It was Betty, who until now had only been smiling. The woman who had seemed frivolous was now laughing frantically. That smile, which seemed to stretch her lips to the point of tearing, didn’t look sane.

“Calm down, Betty.”

Irene steps forward and strokes Betty’s head. She mutters while embracing her with a sad expression.

“It’s over now. You just need to endure a little longer. Just a little bit…”

Then, she looked at Genius and smirked.

“I’ve only heard stories, this is my first time seeing you in person. Advisor, Genius.”

“…”

The knight in black armor did not answer. At this, Irene raised a mocking smile.

“You don’t even want to speak to someone like me? Well, I suppose that’s understandable. After all, you too…”

“Enough with the nonsense.”

Irene’s face hardened. It was due to a sudden sense of familiarity.

But she wasn’t given time to ruminate on that familiarity.

“Right, let’s end this quickly.”

Amy stepped forward before Irene. Pulling out a sword that emitted pure white light, she looked up at Genius.

“Come at me, Demon King.”

“…”

At that moment, Irene’s brow furrowed.

The Demon King’s movements became unnatural. His hand, which had been reaching for his sword, suddenly changed course toward his helmet.

And at last, when the Demon King grasped his helmet.

Irene’s eyes grew wide as she realized the identity of the strange familiarity.

“No way…! Op…”

The Demon King removes his helmet and tosses it aside. The helmet bounced down the stairs with a clear sound. It rolls on the floor for a long time before stopping at Amy’s feet.

“…”

But for that long time, no one could open their mouths. No one could come up with proper words.

It was only after a long while did Irene finally managed to cry out, as if vomiting the words.

“Oppa…!!”

(Rem Pov)—————–

I looked down at my companions, who were frozen in shock. They all wore expressions as if they were in a dream.

Of course, everyone, except for that Big Nose bastard who knew about the fake Rem. That bastard was desperately trying not to laugh while pretending to be surprised.

What an asshole…

“What’s going on?”

Irene, barely having gathered her wits, glares at me. However, her eyes still trembled, unable to fully suppress her confusion with anger.

“Why are you sitting there, Oppa?”

“Why do you *think* I’m sitting here?”

Irene’s face turns pale.

“Don’t joke around. That kind of thing…”

“Everyone is seeing it as it is. Why else would I be wearing this unnecessarily heavy armor?”

“Oppa, I don’t know what you’re doing right now, but you’re being deceived. Snap out of it! I’m…!!”

I ignore Irene and looked down at Amy, who was pale-faced.

Meeting her for the first time in a long while, Amy looked haggard, as if she was ill.

Ignoring the aching in my heart, I opened my mouth.

“I’m the Demon King, Sister Amy.”

Amy’s eyes tremble.

Her arms shake as if about to drop the sword at any moment.

Forcefully swallowing the sharp guilt, I spoke.

“Sister Amy, can you stab me with that sword?”

“Ah… Uh…”

“Me, who is your little brother?”

Amy finally dropped the sword.

***

“You’re going to do *that*?”

Hearing my plan, Clevens looked at me with a disgusted expression. I nodded and replied.

“This is the safest plan. Even if the price of fate turns out to be a lie, this plan should still work.”

“But isn’t that a bit…”

“Yeah, it’s shitty.”

I gave a bitter smile and shook my head.

“Well, I’ll beg for forgiveness later until my hands become feet. And…”

I put down the communication magic tool that was still connected to the Big Nose on the table. Looking at Clevens and Shafiq, I continued speaking.

“Let’s divide up our roles.”

“What?”

Clevens, voicing his confusion.

I’ll assign his role first.

“First up, Clevens.”

“Huh?”

“There’s something bothering you, right?”

“…”

His silence was an affirmation.

I nodded understandingly and said.

“Go investigate.”

“What?”

Clevens looked at me as if I were insane.

“You want me to leave on my own in this situation? Does that make any sense? Just assume my gut feeling is wrong, and let’s just go together…”

“Clevens, when has your gut feeling ever been wrong?”

Clevens, the man I trust most in our mercenary group when sober, had a knack for getting to the heart of a problem.

How many missions were we able to solve because of him.

I looked at Clevens with trust in my eyes.

“Clevens, go investigate and find out the truth. That’s an order from your Vice-Captain.”

“…You son of a bitch.”

The worry and unease I could read from that curse.

I chuckled.

“Right, you’re a useless baldy anyway, so just stay out of this. I’ll take care of this idiot myself…”

“And Shafiq. You stay here too. That’s also the Vice-Captain’s order.”

“Whut.”

Shafiq’s smug face immediately turns stupid. Soon, he shakes his head and looked at me with a harsh expression.

“Don’t say stupid things. You’re not planning on selling me off to that old hag again, are you…”

“Shafiq de Fasitao Rodiner si Olaminea kun Dinar.”

Shafiq’s eyes grew wide.

“Vice-Captain, you remember my name…”

“The idiot who smugly spouted that nonsense about some fish only being able to live in muddy water.”

“…”

“I’ll swear on the memories of those times. This isn’t something like that.”

Shafiq was about to say something, then clamped his mouth shut. Crossing his arms, he glared at me and shoot back.

“Then what is it?”

“Someone needs to stay here and stop that machine when I give the signal.”

“…Can’t we just turn it off now?”

I shook my head.

“According to my deductions, Irene isn’t the only one who should be paying the price of fate. And according to Clevens’s suspicions… all of this could be a deception.”

Clevens nodded grumpily.

“Honestly, there are too many things that don’t add up.”

“Right. So stopping that machine needs to be left as a last resort. I’d like to stay and investigate myself, but…”

I looked at the communication magic tool that’s still connected to Big Nose. Now that they’ve reached the Demon King’s castle, there was no time left to waste.

“Fine, let’s say I stay here to stop that machine. Then you, Vice-Captain, are planning to go there alone to do ‘that’… ”

Shafiq’s sharp eyes turn to me.

“How do you plan to get to the Demon King’s castle in the first place. The Demon King’s castle is literally at the northern end of the continent. Even riding a dragon from here would take 3 days.”

And there weren’t even any teleportation coordinates to that area. Actually, even if I left right now, I’d still be late.

[B-Brother…! If I set up the teleportation coordinate here now…]

“No, that will still be too late. Plus, you might get caught.”

I shook my head vigorously.

“And in the first place, I’ve already had something in mind for this since I returned to this world.”

“What?”

I pointed with my thumb out the window.

“See that tower in the distance?”

“…That strangely shaped tower? I’ve been seeing them pop up here and there lately…”

“It’s a relay station connecting this world to another world.”

I knew that as soon as I came back to this world, just by looking at the tower’s shape. It was identical to the towers that had been set up to bring me to the world where I died.

“Those are probably the towers Irene built to bring the Goddess’s body, which was sealed in subspace, to this world.”

“That’s… amazing, but how is that related to our current situation?”

I pulled out Alain’s pocket watch from inside my clothes and placed it on the table.

“When did you…”

“Marianne gave it to me before we parted ways. And.”

I pull out a stack of papers from inside my clothes and place it on the table. It was covered with incredibly complex magic circles, even to my eyes.

“Didn’t I tell you that when I was kidnapped to that world, I woke up in the Great Plains of the West. My original location was the Magic Tower, in the center of the eastern continent.”

“…You … did?”

“How was that even possible, you may ask?”

“Who cares?”

Ignoring Shafiq’s disgruntled voice, I continued.

“My coordinates shifted as I moved between worlds.”

“…Vice-Captain, couldn’t you just tell us the answer already?”

…This is why people who aren’t mages are no good. I sighed and gave him the answer as he wished.

“If we can reverse engineer that coordinate shift?”

Finally, a flicker of understanding crossed Clevens’ face.

“If I use the pocket watch to travel between worlds and those towers as relay stations, I can manipulate the coordinates and teleport to the Demon King’s castle?”

“…Isn’t that too random?”

“No, I already know how to manipulate coordinates to some extent. I told you, there was a plan to create a permanent passage between worlds, right? How would that be possible without coordinate manipulation?”

At those words, Clevens wore a completely dumbfounded expression. Well, Shafiq had been wearing a similar expression from the beginning.

“If I travel between worlds about three times, I should be able to manipulate the coordinates properly. I might be able to arrive inside the Demon King’s castle by tonight…”

“Weren’t there penalties for traveling between worlds?”

Startled, I looked at Shafiq. He had a stern expression as he pointed out the things I had deliberately left out.

“Parsley, that human, almost had her soul erased from traveling between worlds. And those women from the world where you died lost their physical bodies completely.”

Shafiq’s sharp eyes turned to me.

“Won’t you also get considerable penalties from traveling between worlds like that?”

I bit my lower lip and lowered my head. Shafiq’s words fell upon me.

“In the end, you’re just itching to push yourself to the limit again. Seriously, you’re so fucking…”

“This entire incident happened because of me.”

Those words scraped at my throat as they came out. With effort, I looked at Shafiq.

“So I have to set things right, no matter the price.”

Shafiq and my gazes clash in midair.

But it didn’t last long.

“Well, it would be ridiculous to try stopping you at this point.”

Shafiq dropped his head with a sigh. I smiled bitterly and said.

“Thanks.”

“Go eat shit.”

With a bitter smile, I looked around at the people here.

“So, does everyone remember their roles?”

They each nodded in their own way. I clapped my hands and show a grin.

“Alright, let’s move.”

It was finally time to counterattack against Irene.