episode_0157

In a vast empire, somewhere hidden in secret, a meeting was taking place.

A grand round table meeting of the leaders of each race.

From the Emperor of the Empire to the Queen of the Elves and the Chieftain of the Water Tribe.

It was a historic moment, with all the great people gathered in one place.

“Take responsibility!”

The king of the red-furred water people. Bakht raised his voice and slammed the round table.

The Elf Queen also looked at the Emperor with a very depressed face.

“Barus. You were the one who said that this time we could finally end the demons. But what is this?”

The queen continued speaking with sad eyes.

“Do you know how many of our elite soldiers died because of your wrong judgment?”

“That’s right! Didn’t all our brave warriors lose their lives in vain because of you!”

Under the intense pressure from the leaders of the two races, Varus frowned.

“Of course I was the one who suggested it. But didn’t you also agree with what I said and provide troops?”

“What?”

The King of the Watermen bit his lip and growled, but the Emperor continued speaking calmly.

“Now, pretending not to know and blaming others… shows that you have no sense of responsibility as a king.”

bang-

“Weren’t you sure that you would win unconditionally?”

Finally, the king of Suin, unable to control his anger, overturned the round table and lifted the emperor by the collar.

The Emperor’s knights immediately pointed their swords at the Water King. In response, the Water Tribe’s guards also revealed their sharp claws.

“Stop it.”

A standoff that occurred in an instant.

In this situation where it wouldn’t have been strange for a fight to break out at any moment, the Elf Queen raised her voice.

But as the tense atmosphere still did not ease, the Elf Queen grabbed her pounding head.

“Don’t you know that if we fight among ourselves in this situation, we’ll only be helping the demons?”

“….tsk”

Unable to refute the Elf Queen’s words, the Water King released the Emperor’s collar, turned his back, and began to walk out of the conference room.

“I won’t blame you, but from now on, our people will not follow your thoughts. You’d better not expect our help anymore.”

The Suin tribe left the conference room, leaving only a silent message that they would break off the alliance.

As they left, only a quiet silence filled the conference room.

After a while, the silence was broken by the Queen of the Elves.

“Our elves have no intention of breaking off the alliance, but for the time being, we will be setting up a barrier in the forest and building a defensive line, so we will not be able to provide any additional assistance.”

“I don’t know what’s different from what King Suin said.”

“Although it may be our fault. More than half of our elite soldiers died under your orders. Are you going to avoid that responsibility?”

“…..”

When Varus refused to remain silent, the Elf Queen let out a short sigh and rose from her seat.

“You have Athena on your side, but we have lost our troops and are in dire straits right now.”

“…I understand.”

At the Emperor’s words, the Elf Queen nodded once and greeted him.

“I will pray to the World Tree that we will meet again alive. Then.”

After the Queen’s last words, the elf troops leave one by one.

Barus, who was left in the conference room like that, lay back on his chair and looked up at the ceiling.

“…..I’m at a loss.”

* * *

“Cluck..! Cluck..!”

I fell to the ground and coughed. A mouthful of blood came out of my mouth.

“Sigh…huh…”

Looking at the sunlight coming in, I can tell that morning has come already.

I don’t even remember what time I went to bed last night.

I was definitely treating people until dawn. I just got home.

After that, I don’t remember much.

“Ugh..”

Maybe I’ve been pushing myself too hard lately.

I’ve been feeling a little pain in my heart area.

Let’s look in the mirror. It’s a condition that can’t even be described as good.

His hair has become disheveled, there are shadows under his eyes, and his lips have turned pale.

“….I want to rest a little.”

I wonder how my colleagues are doing now.

Since they were all good people, they must be living under the care of the goddess.

…..I’m a little jealous.

Boom-Boom-Boom-!

– Your Majesty! The wounded have arrived from the front lines!

I heard a soldier calling me urgently from outside.

“Yes…I’ll be there soon.”

I got up on my wobbly legs and started preparing to go out again.

No matter how hard it is, there’s nothing I can do.

As I rest in peace, other people’s deaths approach.

This is what I have to do.

Duties as a saint.

Of course, I have no intention of being lazy.

But why is that?

What Athena said before keeps lingering in my head.

-You should live for yourself too. What will you get in return if you try so hard for others?

‘Wake up, Iris.’

You are a saint.

Your job is to make sure no one dies.

You can’t do anything with such weak thinking.

Before I knew it, I was in front of my room.

I took a deep breath and opened the door.

“Please guide me.”

But until the moment you step out the door.

I couldn’t get Athena’s words out of my head.

*

My stomach churned at the changing scenery.

“Ugh…”

“Are you okay? Let’s take a break and see.”

I covered my mouth with a feeling of nausea. The goddess gently embraced me and patted my back.

I was dizzy. Not just inside me, but also in my head.

The sights the goddess showed me left my head in a state of total confusion.

“You might be a bit confused because you’re looking at the past timeline. Please eat this.”

A goddess handing over a cup filled with water.

Perhaps it wasn’t ordinary water, but as soon as I drank the water she gave me, my stomach calmed down.

“Thank you..”

“No. I’ll give it to you whenever you need it.”

The goddess speaks with a strange expression for some reason.

But I didn’t have time to worry about that. As soon as my mind returned to normal, I asked her.

“..What I just saw really happened in the past..?”

The goddess nodded with serious eyes in response to my words.

“That’s right. That’s the future I’m trying to prevent.”

“That…that kind of…”

I couldn’t believe it.

The sight the goddess had just shown me was so dilapidated that I couldn’t believe it was from the original novel.

The Demon King and the self-destructed warrior party. But it doesn’t end there, and other disasters appear everywhere.

Countless lives are dying because of it.

Really…really this happened in the past..?

“This is…strange…the novel clearly had a bright atmosphere…”

The author himself clearly stated that the novel would have a happy ending.

The story will never go in this direction…

“Reader, I’ll say it again, this is not a world in a novel.”

My trembling heart calmed down a little as I looked into the goddess’ mysterious eyes, who was clearly looking at me while holding my cheeks with her hands.

“What you have read is just one of the stories created by the Heavenly God.”

“Yes..? A story?”

The goddess nodded once at my words.

“The Heavenly God travels across all dimensions of the universe, recording the stories of each world. And he shares them with other dimensions in some way.”

“You’re recording stories..? Like history..?”

“Yes. There is no history that is not helpful. It is a thought that came to mind from the Creator God who considered past experiences important. Of course, He personally takes a little care of stories about the dark future..”

As I stared blankly at the goddess, she smiled faintly and snapped her fingers together, making a snap sound.

Then, a crack slowly opened in the air, and various books poured down in front of me.

“This is probably a familiar story to you, readers.”

I picked up a book, my heart pounding with bewilderment at the goddess’s words.

“This..this is..”

– God of the sea.

A book title that at first glance might seem like a historical fantasy.

But the content inside was a story that was very familiar to me.

Born in a country called Joseon, this is a story about the horrific war known as the Imjin War.

The story of a hero who defeated 200 enemy ships with only 13 ships.

A great man that every Korean person can absolutely not know.

It was the story of General Yi Sun-sin.

With a trembling heart, I looked at other books.

The story of General Hitler, the mad, worst hero.

A book called The Greatest Loser, which tells the story of Einstein.

These were all stories of famous people from the Earth where I lived.

“What you have read is no different from this. However, it is a record of the world of the previous time period.”

“…A novel that tells Robin’s story.”

“Yes, that’s right. The book you read is a story about a warrior from a previous era.”

Honestly, I couldn’t believe it.

But if the goddess’ words are true, then it explains why the current situation deviates from the original.

The novel I read was the world of the first episode. If the world I live in now is a world where time has been turned back, then I understand.

The problem is, it doesn’t seem like there’s anything I can do about it…

As if she had noticed my feelings, the goddess smiled faintly and stroked my head.

“Would you like to see the rest of the story?”

“……Show me.”

I answered the goddess without hesitation.

Yeah.. honestly it was hard to accept.

The world where the novel I read actually exists.

And that it is a world where time has already been rewound once.

All of these stories exceeded my expectations.

But it didn’t matter.

As always, what I long for most is their happiness. If I could only get that, I didn’t need anything else.

Their happiness. First of all, for that, I had to find out how the story went in the past.

The content serialized in the novel is only the content up until just before Robin heads to the Demon World.

I have no intention of foolishly missing this crucial opportunity to find out all the events that followed.

“I want to see you till the end.”

As I spoke with a determined voice, the goddess smiled kindly as if she found it peculiar and placed her hand on my head again.

“If you feel dizzy, please tell me anytime.”

Just then, a bright light began to appear around the Goddess’ hand.

My consciousness was sucked back into the past again.