Yeah, from the start, things were weird.
In games, novels, comics, or movies, the ‘story’ usually completes itself. You can’t just jump in from the outside. It’s just another finished piece of work. If something interferes from the outside, the original story loses all meaning. It’ll just become something completely different from what it was.
Yet, I still felt this world was a ‘story.’
To be more precise, I felt it was ‘a story’ while also feeling it was ‘reality.’ In terms of common sense, this world was indeed ‘real.’
In games, there’s no time limit. Morning and afternoon are separate, but within that ‘event,’ it doesn’t matter how many times you visit an area, or even if you travel a great distance; unless you purposely choose a specific trigger to let time pass, you can do whatever you want within the morning.
You can pop into shops to gear up or sell unnecessary items. You can chat with characters, hunt for hidden events, or tackle side quests.
But reality is different from games. To do all that in the ‘morning,’ time was clearly short. Leo and Claire were so diligent that they managed to handle everything by waking up at dawn… But what if something else happened to those two? Then those events might not have even triggered in the first place.
That’s why I couldn’t see this world as just a simple game.
In games, you can sell items at shops. It’s a game element added because if your funds are too low, clearing the game becomes a pain. Naturally, in this world, you can’t just walk into any shop and sell whatever you have. Unless the shopkeeper is a strange person who’d allow it.
Like sticking a Marmaros into equipment, or ordering items that are out of stock and waiting. There were way too many troublesome parts that felt more realistic than a game.
Yet, there were also many aspects in that situation that made me feel this world was ‘in a game.’
The geography was too similar to that in games. Places that could be called ‘dungeons’ looked almost exactly like I remembered. The types of magic are the same. Even the names of the basic equipment you can buy are the same.
There were even suspiciously odd things for reality. A healing device right in front of a room where enemies were clearly waiting. A valuable item sitting around for an incredibly long time, with no clue who brought it there or why no one has taken it.
What existed in the game for ‘user convenience’ was boldly present in this world.
…Who made all those ‘illogical’ things? With what intention were they made? Was there any reason to match the content from the ‘game’ I remembered?
No, what reason was there for a character named ‘Sylvia Black’ to exist there?
Snap, a sound echoed in my head.
Alice’s blue eyes were still staring at me.
That expression was chillingly blank. It was not an expression Alice would show me.
As if it were natural to be waiting for me there.
‘As if it were obvious for me to come here.’
…What if the character ‘Sylvia Black’ was inserted into this world by someone’s will to change it?
Then this ‘Alice’ is—
The future emperor’s messenger sent for his victory.
—But why did I think that?
Why did the one who sent such an existence have to be the emperor? Did he think that?
Or was it because of this ‘Alice’ that my powers were being sealed? The emperor might have created her to suppress or usurp the goddess’s power that protects the Fanggriffon—
—And if so, if the goddess broke that protection…
The chaotic future is unknown. It’s a story I heard as a side note long ago, but ‘knowing the future by grasping the movements of all particles in the world’ is impossible. There was something about quantum mechanics involved, but I didn’t understand it properly and just brushed it off.
The Fanggriffon succeeded in breaking the goddess’s order. But that was a half-success. I have no idea what would have happened if Fanggriffon had directly entered that place to complete the device, but before that, the goddess destroyed the protection.
The order was not fully broken, and the world did not plunge back into perfect chaos.
And if the goddess governed that order…
…Since when had the prophecy book deep in the imperial palace existed?
Who, and for what reason, had written down so many prophecies to keep them safely guarded?
The Fanggriffon must have longed for chaos. But I can’t believe he would have written and stored such prophecies. …I couldn’t think that way.
I speculated there were two protections. One was created by the Fanggriffon to usurp the goddess’s power, the other… I don’t know how it was created, but it contained the goddess’s power.
Ultimately, it was correct that there were two protections.
I realized that now.
But that protection is not ‘something originally there.’
This ‘Alice’ brought it here somehow.
The emperor believed it was a piece of protection he had been searching for, combining it with the other pieces he had already found.
If the goddess could push a being called ‘Sylvia Black’ into this half-finished world—
Then, if she could ‘deceive someone’…
…Wouldn’t it be strange to assume she couldn’t do such a thing ‘one more time’?
I reached out to ‘Alice.’
Into the mechanical device. Into the device that was glowing with light.
Inside the mechanical device, ‘Alice’ reached out.
Our hands touched for the first time.
Her hand was cold as a corpse.
“…It wasn’t Alice.”
I was deceived.
There was no reason to ponder time paradoxes or anything. If she was a being from ‘the other side’ like me, then she wouldn’t have to be a future being at all.
Through the cracks where pale blue light poured in, as soon as I touched ‘Alice,’ I finally understood the ‘intent’ of the being waiting for me.
Once long ago, the moment when the order was about to fall apart again.
The goddess thought.
Then, she just had to think a little longer.
Start from the beginning over and over again, preparing step by step, preparing for some events that would take place in the far future.
The light-filled gap closed, but the faith of those who still believed in the goddess remained firm.
Through that faint connection, the goddess slowly and leisurely began to re-establish order.
She scattered faith across the world, increased her followers, and expanded her influence. Under her power, she re-established order and created opportunities to intervene in the world.
She spread facts about the future based on order, ensuring people’s confidence in phenomena, and completed the necessary stages one by one.
Like enjoying a game of chess all alone.
Like a child joyfully piecing together a puzzle.
And finally, when that stage was set, the goddess placed her lovely chess pieces on the board.
—Even a goddess cannot turn back time.
But, that was not a problem.
If you can’t turn back time, then you just change the rules.
According to the flow of order moving under her will, she rearranged the positions of the stars that had already moved and returned the axis of rotation. She put back the crawling bugs and returned the aging beasts’ cells to their original state.
The one thing she wouldn’t change?
Her lovely chess pieces, placed on the board, would not lose their way; their memories would remain intact.
Many times over and over.
Until she finally reached the conclusion she desired.
So, dear, come.
The ending you wanted is right here.
Everyone can be happy. No one has to suffer. I will make it that way with my power.
The poor souls groaning under the colonial empire.
The people who are lost in opium and suffering from reality.
The children who are sold without choice and are abused.
They won’t exist in the world I will create. Everyone can live happily.
Under perfect balance and order.
So, this story ends here.
This is the predetermined ending.
Who decided that?
I’ve been thinking ‘happy ending,’ happy ending all along, so it looks like someone misinterpreted that; but what I think a ‘happy ending’ is not like that.
People groaning under the colonial empire? They have nothing to do with me. I feel sorry for them. I hope they find freedom and happiness.
But so what?
Children being sold without choice are pitiful. I do have thoughts about wanting to save those children, who are repeatedly dying and suffering at the hands of adults who should be protecting them.
So, what does that mean?
People who are wrapped up in opium, robbed of their belongings by landlords, exploited through labor—
Is that my problem?
That was the same in the world I originally lived in.
In the end, people can only see themselves and those around them. The happy ending people think about isn’t a perfect world where no one is hurt and everyone is happy. It’s about the protagonist and heroine getting together, or defeating the demon king to end the war, or finding the hidden villain—
No one wants to hear about how ‘what about the economy after the war, and how are taxes affected’ in stories about defeating the demon king.
People—
—So.
I.
What I want to hear is.
A story in which everyone I like survives in this war and wins.
And, of course, it’s a story in which I proudly participate.
That’s what I think a happy ending is.
Anything else is none of my business. Don’t just decide how it ends.
Yeah, I could say that sounds a bit hypocritical, considering I said democracy looked just and all, but so what?
I’ll judge by my own standards.
And you know.
Why did a being capable of turning the world back to its original state numerous times not step in themselves, but instead create a fake Alice?
While disturbing my powers and even lying.
…They still can’t fully intervene in this world, can they?
Could it be that the ‘real protection’ actually has some effect?
The gathering thing the church was supposed to do was just a way to push the emperor to find an easier path, right? If the church gathered fervently and rebelled, the emperor would come up with more tricks. Plus, it could ensure the scattered protection pieces, which the emperor might have had a chance to discover, would be safely secured.
Sending the ‘fake protection’ made by ‘you’ through the fake Alice and getting hints from there to trick the emperor into falling for their own tricks.
Wasn’t he afraid of how much ‘protection’ might become complete?
“Why don’t villains just spill the whole plan at the last minute? They always give the chance for a counterattack.”
I pushed away the hand of Alice—I mean, the fake, no matter how much she looked like Alice or what thoughts she had, this was not Alice.
She was just made to act that way.
“Sister!”
Claire’s scream echoed.
Someone roughly grabbed my shoulder, and at the same time, I heard a thump.
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