episode_0016

The world is split apart and then reassembled again.

Everything stops, and then everything moves back as if in reverse.

In a situation where everything is going backwards, the only one who moves normally is Yulisse.

She looked around with a puzzled face.

It didn’t take long to figure out the situation.

Well, it’s so intuitive.

‘Time···.’

[Search for save points!]

[View Player Log!]

‘I’m going back.’

One day, two days.

It’s rewinding. She who was poisoned, she who was surrounded by bugs, she quickly disappeared.

As time went by, it had already reached the point of a fierce battle with King Chung.

Her week, which had seemed like an eternity, disappeared in the blink of an eye.

The miracle didn’t stop there.

The warrior who was pierced by Chungwang’s thorn disappears, and the party members who were surrounded by bugs disappear like an illusion.

[Viewing log······]

The time that had been passing so quickly had become a single scene and was beginning to show fragments of the past.

The appearance of a warrior being ignored by party members.

A picture of a warrior bleeding from poison.

Even the appearance of the warrior who had been coughing the whole time after being cut down by the Minotaur, etc.···.

Each image passes by as if the film was cut and played.

As Yulis watched this situation, he was able to realize one ‘standard’.

Every single one of those scenes.

‘Everyone is turning back to the hero···.’

Yes, that’s right.

All the scenes that were played out were centered around Luke.

She observes it as if she were a ghost, just floating around and watching.

She asked him inwardly.

‘Is that you, warrior?’

The person responsible for causing this scene.

She knew it instinctively, having studied history and heard stories about warriors since she was young.

All warriors of all time have one or two abilities that they received from the goddess.

And those abilities were so great that they could be compared to miracles of God.

Yulis thought that this sight was the power of the gods cast by the warrior. Otherwise, he would not have been able to show such a sight.

She continued to watch the scenes, quietly reasoning to herself.

The scenes that followed soon began to show her the appearance of a warrior she had never known before.

A warrior deliberately gets bitten by bugs to build up his tolerance to poison.

A warrior practices swordsmanship late at night, alone, while everyone is asleep.

After being cursed at by everyone… the image of a warrior hiding alone in a quiet place and crying, etc…

The warrior she had never seen before was a very hard worker and also very human.

“it’s tough···.”

His smiling face, which seemed like it wouldn’t bleed even if you stabbed him with harsh words, easily crumbled in a place where no one was looking.

“Haa… I’m so frustrated. I’m going to die.”

Whenever there was a conflict of opinion and they started arguing, he would go to a corner by himself and complain.

『The distance to Chungwang is not far now… I have to somehow improve my skills before then.』

And yet, he never let go of the sword in his hand.

Angry, sad, tired, and yet still working towards the future.

There was not a single sign of her colluding with the Demon King’s army or using any tricks as she had thought.

“······.”

The saint felt her heart ache as she looked at the sight.

If I had to say, it was guilt.

The saint who should have defended the innocent more than anyone else ended up causing misfortune to the innocent.

Yulis frowned whenever he saw himself gossiping or teasing a warrior.

The way I looked at myself from a third-person perspective was so mean that it was hard to even look at myself properly.

She muttered with a face filled with self-loathing.

“I really hate this···.”

Of course, there are excuses.

There were traces of evil deeds that could not be hidden on his body, called ‘sinful traces’. She also hated him because of that evidence.

Of course, that didn’t make what she did disappear… but it was undeniable that she had a justification.

In fact, she wondered why there was a trace of sin in him, why she felt unpleasant whenever she saw him.

I still don’t understand.

However, it was inevitable that I would realize this as time passed.

[View the first log!]

Soon the scene changes to show another warrior from the past.

It was a back alley in the imperial city.

There are mountains of discarded trash bags everywhere, and the streets are littered with cigarette butts and broken pieces of liquor bottles.

At that intersection, a vagabond wearing a turban was sitting.

In just a few seconds, the saint knew who the vagabond was.

‘ah.’

He is a warrior.

A warrior, a warrior before becoming a warrior.

Even though his face was bruised and his head was covered with a hood, she could tell right away.

Well, there was no way I wouldn’t recognize the black hair and red eyes I’d been seeing for half a year.

He was looking up at the night sky with deep eyes, as if thinking about something.

『···If I’m not here, they’ll die.』

After staring blankly for a while, he suddenly opened his mouth.

“No, it’s fortunate that it ends with just death.”

One by one, he mentions the deaths of his party members.

Each of their deaths was horrific and in itself terrifying.

Yulis felt a chill run down his spine for a moment as he listened to his monologue.

‘how?’

Do they know so much about their own end?

Did you just expect that? Or did you hear something from the goddess?

Or else······.

A lot of questions are popping up in my head.

But those doubts didn’t last long.

Because the next scene was even more shocking.

『System.』

Finally, the determined warrior calls upon his abilities.

Although Yulis couldn’t see the system window, he could at least tell that he was looking at something.

Eventually, he began to use his power to offer up what was most precious to him.

It’s fate.

As he spoke the words in return, countless lights surrounded him from all sides. Some were dazzlingly beautiful, others were red enough to make one shiver.

The saint knew instinctively where the ‘sliver of sin’ she had seen had come from, and why she felt an unpleasant sensation whenever she saw him.

It’s all because the warrior sacrificed his fate.

As such, he became a hero and at the same time a villain.

Of course, he has never committed any evil deeds, but the world will look upon him as a villain in the future.

Just as he was.

‘iced coffee···.’

Yulis felt a shiver run down his spine.

This feeling was… a thrill, so to speak.

──There is a prophecy that has been passed down from long ago in the Sun God Church.

Long after, when chaos comes to the world again.

It is a prophecy that a warrior stronger, more noble, and braver than anyone else will appear.

She, Saint Yulis, had always thought the prophecy was wrong. She had thought the goddess had chosen the wrong warrior.

He thought he was neither strong, noble, nor courageous.

no.

I was just so stupid that I just didn’t see it.

He was more noble and courageous than anyone else.

How can one call someone who has chosen to walk into hell on his own as not brave?

Who would dare say that someone who is willing to sacrifice everything for the sole purpose of saving the world is not noble?

“······.”

The saint watched the scene for a long time as if possessed by something.

Then, at one moment,

Suddenly the world turned black…

[Player Log Viewing Complete!]

[The turning point has been confirmed.]

[Specify a save point.]

The saint has returned.

*

“Huh?!”

“Hmm, are you awake?”

“You must be tired, so sleep a little more. It’ll take quite some time for the warrior to finish dismantling it anyway.”

When the saint opened her eyes, she was inside a tent.

Inside the tent were members of their own warrior party, each of whom was spending their time either cleaning their weapons, meditating, or resting.

Perhaps because she had just woken up, the saintess felt confused.

“Huh, how? You all must have died···. Definitely by bugs···.”

It feels like I’ve had a long nightmare, or maybe I’ve just had a brief illusion.

It was so absurd that the things he had experienced so far did not feel real.

“What? Phew! What are you talking about, Yulis! Are you still half asleep?”

“···Don’t say things like that, even as a joke.”

“You must be tired. Get some rest. Stamina is important.”

“Oh, no, that’s you···.”

But after a moment of confusion, she realized that this was not a dream.

Of course, it’s impossible to have such a vivid dream.

The feelings I had back then are still vivid. The despair I felt back then and the time that seemed like eternity could never have felt like a dream.

Thanks to that, she was able to admit it quickly.

That he had returned to the past.

*

A few days have passed since returning to the past.

Although several party members seemed confused by Yuris’s slightly changed attitude, they all seemed to adjust after a few days.

She returned just a few days before the Minotaur tore his body in two.

The very moment when the Demonic Realm expedition began to go wrong.

The saint, who had been wondering how to save him for several days, was eventually able to rescue him safely.

Now we’re here.

‘Poor guy···.’

She looked at the warrior who was lying asleep in a pool of the Minotaur’s blood.

Even now, he is having such a hard time, so it was hard for him to even imagine what it must have been like back then when his body was cut in two.

Perhaps because the person in question had come back to life, the effects of the curse that had disappeared for a while also seemed to have returned.

Whenever I see him, I get a strangely unpleasant feeling.

“······.”

but.

‘are you okay.’

He now knows that these feelings are fake.

I know that these are manipulated emotions created by a curse.

Even the traces of sin that still rise behind him are the price he has paid.

If that was the case, I could easily overcome this level of unpleasantness.

She looked at him and clasped her hands silently.

‘May your future be blessed.’

There is no way to rescue him from the hell he has chosen.

It may not be possible to be a huge shield to keep him from suffering.

He was too weak to do that…

But… at least I can cheer you on.

It may not be a shield, but it could at least be an umbrella that can block the wind and rain.

I will forever bless your future as you walk towards hell.

Saint Julius von Eugracia decided so.