Chapter 151: How to Write a Proper Ending (3)

I look at the pocket watch placed on the table.

Alain had always been there. Since Parsley incinerated the fortress, and even now, after the Goddess’s resurrection.

He had been watching from inside all along.

Constantly, in silence.

It’s hard to distinguish whether what’s welling up inside me is a sense of betrayal or ridiculousness. Because of that, I decided to just focus on what needs to be done.

I let out a sigh and turn my gaze back to the machine I had been working on.

“So, Rem, you’re saying you’re going to enter this pocket watch and meet Alain?”

“That’s right.”

I answered Clara’s bewildered question without even looking at her.

Originally, Marianne’s plan had been to extract Alain from the pocket watch. Like using some kind of extractor. It would probably have taken about three days to prepare the spell.

But I had a better alternative.

The ‘civil servant’s’ machine that I used to entered Amy’s soul.

If I could enter Amy’s shattered soul with it, then there’s no reason why I couldn’t enter the soul trapped inside an object.

Of course, I had only briefly skimmed over it with my eyes, so I barely understood how it worked. But thankfully, I wasn’t the only mage here.

“Rem, is this magic circle correct? The efficiency seems too low?”

“Replace it with a 98-7 type magic circle. And if it overlaps with the 194 type, then use the Pyra type modified version.”

“Rem, instead of the Magic Stone Transformation Type 78, let’s go with the Holy Magic Transformation Exchange Type 42.”

Mages who once competed for the top three spots at Al-Rain Academy were now stacking magic formulas and assembling parts. Though it’s been years since we’ve worked together, our coordination is flawless.

At this rate, we should be able to finish everything before dawn.

“Hold on, Rem.”

A hand on my shoulder finally made me stop what I was doing. Clara was looking at me with concern in her eyes.

“Are you sure this is okay? Is it dangerous or something…”

“It’s fine.”

I said, firmly grasping Clara’s hand.

“I’m fine.”

Because if I didn’t do at least this much, I felt like I would be choked to death by guilt.

The machine was finished sooner than I expected. Before the moon even reached its peak, we were able to finish the test run of the machine.

It was immediately decided that I would be the one to enter Alain’s soul. It was only natural, having already entered a soul and returned safely, it was the obvious choice.

Of course, Clara and Feya tried to dissuade me… but their worry was excessive.

I didn’t need that right now.

“Are you ready, Rem?”

Parsley, gripping the lever, looks at me with worried eyes. I nodded and looked at the lens once more.

The pocket watch visible beyond the lens.

Slowly, white lines begin to swirl above it. Eventually, the scenery beyond starts to come into view.

Slowly, as if gradually sinking into a dream…

***

When I came to my senses, I was in a pure white space.

A familiar sensation seeps in, and as I search my memories, it immediately comes to mind.

It’s the same space where I met Alain after being killed by the crown prince.

“So, you’ve come in the end.”

I turned around and saw him standing there. Wearing a sorrowful expression, he looked no different from before.

Without realizing it, a stiff tone escaped my lips.

“We meet again”

“Again…? Ah, you must have met the original.”

Original?

Did a question unconsciously appear on my face. A faint smile crept onto Alain’s face.

“What he left here is merely a fragment of his soul, a very small part of it. He’s too busy to be trapped in a pocket watch. Busy saving other worlds.”

I could sense a hint of sarcasm in his tone. I was a bit taken aback, then a sudden unease made me ask.

“Then, don’t tell me you don’t know anything…”

“Ah, that’s not the case. I’m a kind of insurance he left behind. I know what you want.”

He waves his hand toward the empty space.

And then, just like before, a scene materialized in the white space.

But this time, it wasn’t from my past. It was a scene from a much older time.

A crumbling sky,

Below it, the scene of Alain piercing the goddess’s heart.

“The way to defeat the resurrected Goddess.”

Naturally, my heart starts pounding, and my mouth goes dry.

Finally, atonement was right before my eyes.

A way to make up for my mistake, even a little…

“But, I hope you don’t choose this method.”

It felt as though a bucket of cold water had been poured over my head.

Looking down, he mutters.

“That’s why I’ve remained silent until now.”

Before I knew it, I found myself asking in a rough voice

“The hell do you mean? Didn’t you say you were the insurance Alain left behind.”

“…Have you ever heard of the Trolley Problem?”

A strange, out-of-the-blue question. Finally, anger boils up within me.

“I’m not in the mood for pointless riddles.”

“It’s not a riddle. It’s a problem you absolutely must consider.”

“Is there a need to think about it? If left as is, the goddess will devour the entire world. Shouldn’t we stop her before that happens! By any means necessary…”

“Even if the result means killing a hundred thousand people?”

I was at a loss for words. Alain, no, Alain’s fragment continued, looking at me with intense eyes.

“You already know. That Alain killed hundreds of thousands to defeat the Goddess. And you think the method he left behind won’t require any sacrifice?”

Alain’s fragment waves his hand in the air once more. Frightened faces appear one after the other, materializing against the white background.

“Why do you think Alain founded the Empire? To stop the Goddess with a mere army? Do you think he’s that stupid?”

Marks appear on each of the faces. The marks on their foreheads had various shapes. And I recognized those shapes.

“Sacrifices…”

“They were branded from the moment the Empire was founded. To their children, and to their children’s children. For what purpose, you ask?”

Alain’s fragment waves his hand again.

The frightened faces melt away while screaming. They turn into red poison and seep into the ground.

Not just into the ground. It seeps deeper. To where this world is rooted, to the center of this world.

“After all, a god is an entity connected to the world. When the world becomes sick, so does the god. If all those people become poison and damage the world, the goddess too will be unable to move a finger.”

The scenery changes once again. The land that was once a prairie has become a red wasteland. Monsters created by the sickened goddess roam, repeating a cycle of starving to death and living.

“In exchange, the one hundred thousand branded people will die, and the eastern part of the continent where they gathered will become a place where humans can never live again.”

The excitement that had been rising within me had turned into a chilling coldness. Feeling a coldness that seemed to cut through my chest, I blankly stared at Alain’s fragment.

“Rem, are you willing to make that choice?”

***

“That’s how it turned out.”

As my explanation ended, everyone sank into a heavy silence. I think it would be more accurate to say they were weighed down by the silence. In the end, everyone bowed their heads.

But we didn’t have the time to wallow in silence.

Already, a third of the continent was gone. By next month, everything will be inside the Goddess’s belly.

If we were to make a decision, it had to be now.

“That spell you mentioned, how exactly does it work?”

It was the Captain who asked. I answered weakly.

“We just need to make a simple magic tool and activate it near the Goddess. The magic circle is already prepared in the Imperial Palace. As soon as the magic tool activates…”

“A hundred thousand people will turn into a red poison. And the eastern region will become uninhabitable.”

There was a rare bitterness in Shafiq’s tone. Suddenly, I remembered that the World Tree was close to the east. The choice placed in our hands was a cruel one.

Even more so, because there were no other options.

“We have to do it.”

Everyone’s eyes turns to Clara. With a fierce look in her eyes, she continued as she looked at each of us.

“It’s unavoidable, isn’t it. There are 70 million people living on the continent now. And tens of millions more will be born and live on this continent in the future. Compared to that, a hundred thousand is a small price.”

“A small price?”

There’s a sharpness in Parsley’s words.

“Can you really say that to those hundred thousand people? That their lives are a small price compared to saving the world?”

“Then, are you going to let Rem die?”

Parsley looked as if she had been slapped. Clara continued, pressing Parsley.

“This isn’t about whether the world ends or not. It’s about whether Rem and we can live together. And if I can live with Rem, no, if he can just live…”

Clara’s eyes gleamed. The same look in her eyes when she had gone mad with guilt.

“I don’t care if it’s a hundred thousand or a million. I will gladly sacrifice them.”

It was a statement that, because it was spoken with such warmth, made it all the more painful. Maybe because of that, a gloomy expression unconsciously crept onto my face. Clara, noticing this, flinched. Then she lowered her gaze.

“I’m sorry, Rem, but my feelings won’t change. Not now, not ever.”

“Then, Clara, would you sacrifice them even if Rem was among those hundred thousand?”

Clara’s red eyes glare back. Sister Amy was looking at her with a stern expression.

“It’s not that Parsley or I don’t want to protect Rem. I’m sure no one here wants him to die. But Clara.”

Sister Amy’s brows furrowed.

“If we choose this method, we become murderers of a hundred thousand.”

“…I don’t care. Even if I have to fall into hell…!”

“It means *we,* including Rem, will have to carry the weight of a hundred thousand deaths on his shoulders.”

A familiar guilt is read in Amy’s face. It was the burden she still carried, that she had dragged me into her misfortune.

“Do you want Rem to live with such guilt too?”

“…”

“And we’re not saying we’re giving up on saving the world. We’re just saying we should look for another way.”

It was a perfectly logical argument. But that was all it was.

“But what if there’s no other way?”

Feya’s voice trembled as she spoke. Her shaking eyes turned to me.

“What if, while we’re searching for another way, it becomes too late? What if something happens to Big bro while we’re doing that?”

“…Don’t assume the worst.”

“But I can’t *not* think about them.”

The Captain comes to stand beside Feya and looks at Amy.

“Hero Amy’s words are right. Finding another method is probably the right thing to do. But… we can’t bet Rem’s life as the stake.”

*Because we’ve already lost him once,* the Captain added with a bitter smile.

“Besides, isn’t the goddess targeting Rem right now? What if Rem gets captured or harmed while we’re trying to find this so-called way?”

“If so, then Rem can just stay here and wait…”

“Our Vice-Captain? Wait? Leave us behind?”

“…Rem.”

Sister Amy looks at me with pleading eyes. But I can’t bring myself to nod. It was the moment when she stepped back, wearing a somber expression.

So, at some point, the room had divided into three groups.

Parsley and Sister Amy.

Clara, Feya, and the Captain.

And the four who haven’t yet voiced their opinion.

“I’m on Parsley’s side.”

…No, three.

Marianne embraces the dejected Parsley from behind. Clara looked at her with sharp eyes, but Marianne shook her head apologetically.

“I think the Saint’s words have merit, but I’m sorry. After all, I am Parsley’s friend.”

“I too cannot agree with this method.”

Sharik, who had been silent until now, finally steps forward.

“I’ve already tried to bring peace in this way once. I spent 200 years ruminating on that sacrifice, constantly asking myself if it really was the right thing to do, if there hadn’t been any other way.”

The 200 years added weight to his words. He looked at me with firm eyes as he concluded.

“And after all that rumination, the conclusion I reached was that it was wrong. There’s no meaning to peace obtained in such a way. It won’t last long, either.”

4 to 3, the once-balanced scale tilts. Now there are two people left. Naturally, everyone’s gaze turns to Shafiq. After tapping the desk silently for a while, he finally looked at me and said.

“I’m sorry, Vice-Captain.”

And then he went to stand on Clara’s side.

4 to 4.

Now I’m the only one left.

Which way will I tilt the scale,

An unwelcome choice is placed in my hands.

No, it had already been placed there from the very beginning.

Even if everyone else had made a different choice from mine, they would have ultimately followed my decision. After all, just as the Goddess said, I was the one who brought everyone here. I was the helmsman of this group.

That’s why Alain’s fragment asked me if I was prepared.

In the end, it was *me* who had to choose.

Feeling everyone’s gaze on me, I look down at my hands.

Hands already stained with blood and soot. Hands that had repeatedly committed wrongs while believing it was for the best. Hands I could no longer trust, nor want to trust.

However, still, after much contemplation, I make my choice.

Because I could never be satisfied with a decision handed down by someone else.

“I…”

***

Would it have been different if we had a little more time.

Would it have been different if we had a little more leeway.

Would it have been different if we, no, if I… had been a slightly better person.

I set down the completed magic tool.

Dark red in color, it was shaped like a round egg.

If this breaks tomorrow, I will be both a murderer of a hundred thousand and a hero who saved the world.

Suddenly, feeling tears flowing down my cheeks, I looked up at the ceiling. A hopelessly blank ceiling. The weight on my chest feels even heavier.

So, I just closed my eyes.

As I always had in the face of hardship, I decided to focus on what needs to be done.

Tomorrow, we go to kill the goddess.