9 – Trial of Wisdom

“…”

Was it because my tone changed?

Or was it because he didn’t understand what I said?

I don’t know which, but Evan seemed quite surprised by my sudden words. Well… I guess it was understandable.

I had been maintaining the Saintess persona all this time, and now I was suddenly dropping the act and speaking in a normal tone.

I didn’t initially intend to speak like this, but I thought it would be better to talk seriously in this situation.

More than anything…

‘Everything will feel like a dream anyway…’ It’s not certain.

There’s just a script in the game that says it feels like a dream after completing the Trial, so I’m only assuming that’s how it will be.

Honestly, I was surprised.

I didn’t know everything about this Trial dungeon either.

I could only make predictions based on my experience playing the game, and I didn’t have any definite information about what this Trial demanded from us.

Even in the game, it was just about finding the differences in pictures or solving puzzles, so there was no way I could know what this Trial required of us.

But if it becomes reality, the story changes a bit.

Specifically, at the very end of the game, there’s a scene where the player is directly asked.

‘It asked if I would sacrifice myself to save this world.’

And I had to answer using words that affirmed my willingness to do so to receive the notification that I had overcome the Trial of Wisdom and could escape this world.

If I failed to answer correctly there, I would face a bad ending where I would be trapped in this world forever, which was infamous for its ruthlessness in not allowing even a single typo.

At least, I could correct it before pressing next, but the moment I moved on without realizing I had made a typo, it was over.

No matter how I wrote it, if I didn’t write it correctly without any typos, it was the same as not clearing the Trial.

Of course, it was a direct path to the bad ending.

No matter how diligently I had been playing the game, the moment I made a single typo in that Trial of Wisdom, the game would end right there.

It was even more notorious because the save file would be deleted as if to prove that I would be trapped in that world forever, making it impossible to load the save file and continue the game.

So, it was bound to be infamous. But now it has become reality.

I know that the game and reality are completely different, but they must be somewhat similar.

Combining all the information I originally knew about this dungeon from my time here, it turns out that this dungeon ultimately wants one thing.

Will I give up everything I enjoy in this world and return to my original world to subjugate the Demon King, or am I unable to give up the things in this world?

It was a truly simple but terrifying Trial that would trap you in this world forever unless you made up your mind and vowed to subjugate the Demon King.

And…

‘It’s probably because of me.’ Evan is upright.

That’s how he is in the game settings, but the ‘Evan’ I’ve seen so far, this man, is too upright.

Yeah… Even without me, he will eventually grow and be able to subjugate the Demon King.

And Stella and Uriel, and other companions who will one day be with Evan, will be charmed by that aspect of him.

There’s a reason he’s called the Hero.

Being upright isn’t always necessarily a good thing, but he’s the kind of guy who will bravely step forward to subjugate the Demon King even if he has to bear the burden of being the Hero at such a young age.

However…

‘I’m still amazed that I’m in a romantic relationship with Evan…’

I never once wanted to be in a romantic relationship with Evan. I can say that with certainty.

Of course, Evan feels a little closer to me than Stella or Uriel, and I feel a little strange when I see Evan getting along with them, but that doesn’t mean it’s because I like Evan.

It’s very… different. Probably…

For now, as Evan said to me earlier, this world is a world where the things that Uriel, Stella, and I wanted in our hearts have come true.

In such a world, the fact that I’m in a romantic relationship with Evan can only be explained by someone wanting that kind of relationship, but of course, Stella and Uriel wouldn’t want that, and I wasn’t hoping for that either…

‘Could it be…’ No way?

Evan likes me?

Honestly, I didn’t think that was possible.

I mean, there are so many girls around him who are prettier, more feminine, and have much more voluptuous figures than me, so the fact that he would pass them all over and like me is strange, and there’s no way I would believe that.

But with the situation escalating to this point, I can no longer shield him.

Since I couldn’t possibly have such feelings, it’s practically a foregone conclusion that Evan likes me.

“…”

Looking at Evan’s expression, I think I understand a little now…

I used to dismiss it, thinking it couldn’t be, but now that I see that embarrassed expression, I’m even more suspicious.

‘I want to believe it’s not true…’

If it’s true that he likes me, it’s not easy for me to accept it in a positive way.

He’s a character I like, and of course, I would be happy if that character liked me, but if it’s a matter of him liking me as a man likes a woman, then the story changes a lot.

…

I was originally a man.

Of course, it’s not easy to accept that.

To be honest, I still keep wondering if this is the right thing to do.

But…

‘That’s not what’s important right now.’

There’s something more important than that right now.

I was going to apologize for deceiving them all this time. “First… I want to say I’m sorry.”

“Sorry… for what?”

“… Actually, I knew from the beginning what this Trial requires…” I didn’t know everything completely.

To escape the Trial, you had to complete a specific event and directly type in the chat to show your will to return, and only then would the Trial

dungeon acknowledge it and send us back to our original world.

Seeing Evan roughly guessing how to return, I also had the same thought, ‘Maybe?’

In that case, you could say that I didn’t know, so I decided to push through with the idea that I knew from the beginning.

Well, it’s not like they can tell if I’m lying again here… “…”

Evan stared at me with a blank expression. Yeah, it’s going to be shocking.

It’s shocking even to me.

It seemed like a really happy world, a fun world, but Evan, who was thinking about returning, must have been frantically searching for things with an urgent desire to return as soon as possible.

I wasn’t looking for anything. There was no need to look.

Since I knew almost everything about the dungeon, there was no reason to search for information when there wasn’t any proper information available.

“… So you lied.”

At Evan’s words, I silently turned my head and nodded slightly. I lied.

It had been a while.

Seeing the world with my own eyes, hearing the sounds of the world with my own ears.

For almost three years, I had come to this world and worked hard only to subjugate the Demon King and return to my original world.

Maybe I was a masochist, or I liked being in pain… Of course, it was fun at the time, but in the end, my original goal was to subjugate the Demon King and return to my original world.

Maybe that’s why.

This world was the world I originally lived in, the appearance of my original world.

It’s clear that I, who had a disability, can now see and hear. “I wanted to stay a little longer…”

I didn’t want to go back right away.

If I went back, I would have to return to the darkness where I couldn’t see or hear, and who would want that? In this world where I can play to my heart’s content without any worries…

I should be able to take a break, right? “I wanted to rest…”

After all, time doesn’t flow while I’m here… No matter how long I stay, I can go back to that time when I return.

Most of the time spent here is treated as a dream, so no matter how long I stay, my sense of time doesn’t change when I return.

It’s a very convenient setting, but that’s why it’s a game. That was all.