“I have nothing left, now. I’ve either lost everything or shattered it with my own hands. But it seems like you still have something precious left to trade.”
“…….”
Just moments ago, I became certain.
This bastard knows I’m right.
If I were to extract and magnify the darkest part of my inner self, it would resemble this guy.
A piece of garbage that sees everything with pessimism and regards all the people here as nothing but mere letters or objects.
That’s Schlus Hainkel of this world, which means me.
“Oh. Of course, I’m not telling you to decide right away. You can say goodbye to each other. Feel free to spend enough time here. Just remember that you must leave Julia behind when you go.”
“Sch, Schlus….”
“Did you call for the radiant times, or did you call for me? Which was it, Julia?”
“Ah, um….”
Julia held my hand tightly, trembling.
I decisively pulled my hand away and stepped back.
Then Julia collapsed forward, looking at me with a face full of despair.
I shouldn’t let my heart weaken.
I averted my gaze and moved closer to the Schlus of this world.
“Have you finished your decision?”
“Of course. There wasn’t even a value to think about.”
“Really? I thought if you were the Schlus of radiant times, you’d ponder a bit longer.”
“I think you’ve misjudged the timing. It seems the Schlus Hainkel you’re thinking of is from a past version of me.”
He was misunderstanding.
It looked like he thought of me as the guy who was seducing Emilia and engaged to Iris.
Back when I viewed Emilia and Iris merely as tools for a marriage alliance.
But that version of me no longer exists.
I can love someone fervently once again.
“So the decision is—”
“Of course, it’s a rejection, you bastard. Even if you said you’d send me back to the real world, I would have refused.”
“W-Why… Why?”
His face revealed pure bewilderment.
Why? Are you really that curious?
There’s no way I would hand Julia over to a lunatic like you and skip back happily on my own.
If I did that, I would utterly lose my humanity.
The pain of losing Han Ah-reum still stings in a corner of my heart, and if I were to offer Julia up myself, I’d surely go insane.
“Is Julia an item? Something to trade? Eat a ! You damned destruction-loving bastard.”
“How… how could I… give up on seeing the ending? Give up on returning to the real world…?”
His pupils shook rapidly.
He obviously wasn’t in a calm state.
If I was going to strike, now was definitely the time.
‘Selection and Concentration. Spend one second each on Agility, Strength, and Power.’
In an instant, my Agility, Strength, and Power stats surpassed 300.
At that moment, a raindrop seemed to hang in the air before me.
It was as if time had stopped.
But even in that moment, his eyes followed my movements.
A split-second ambush.
If I missed this moment, there would be no more chances.
I immediately twisted my body and kicked towards his jaw.
*Thwack!*
“Khagh…”
With a sound of bones cracking, his neck turned heavily.
The impact made his whole upper body bend backward, but he held his ground instead of flying away.
If he were a normal person, that strike would have separated his head from his neck…
Yet still, his pupils kept chasing me, fixed on me, which was utterly bizarre.
Even as he was falling backward, he slowly reached out a finger toward me.
The amount of mana accumulating there was enormous.
Just before the black flash shot towards me—
‘Selection and Concentration. Spend one second on Mana.’
I activated the Teleportation Technique.
To switch places with the bird where I had previously implanted the spell.
*Whoosh?!*
In a flash, my sight filled with blue skies.
I noticed a dove flying alongside me.
I immediately used the Teleportation Technique again.
This time, it was the spell to switch places with Julia.
*Fwoosh…!*
“Schlus Hainkel!!!”
In about 0.03 seconds, the Schlus of this world appeared incredibly furious.
The spot I had just occupied was swept away, creating a massive crater.
If I had been hit, I would have died instantly.
His fingertip moved in my direction.
Just before it unleashed that massive mana glow again—
“Return Julia—”
“ off.”
I raised my hand in a halt gesture and activated the Teleportation Technique again.
This time, I swapped places with the dove that had been flying next to me.
Suddenly, I found myself plummeting back through the skies.
This time, with Julia.
“Ahhhh…! Hm?!”
“Don’t make a sound.”
I hurriedly covered Julia’s mouth, who was falling beside me.
Then, I bent my knees to lessen the impact upon landing.
Thanks to my reinforced Internal Circuit, my feet were fine, but my knees were completely destroyed.
I immediately had to drink a low-grade Recovery Potion.
Once I removed my hand from covering her mouth, Julia looked exceedingly dizzy.
“Wh-What just happened…?”
“It’s an application of the spell I used when I rescued you last time… It’s a long story.”
While exploring the ruins, I had caught the two birds flying alongside us to implant spells.
Using that, I first switched with one bird, then with Julia, and finally swapped with the other bird, ensuring that we both escaped safely.
All of this happened in less than a second, so it was no wonder Julia was disoriented.
“For now, we need to hide—”
*Boom!*
From a distance, I heard vibrations and sounds rumbling like thunder.
It seemed the Schlus Hainkel of this world was quite angry.
I wasn’t sure exactly how powerful he was, but I was confident he could easily find any man or woman carelessly roaming about.
So, to avoid being detected by this omnipotent being, I had to be as crafty as possible.
I quickly ran with Julia in my arms toward a nearby rocky area.
Fortune smiled upon us as I discovered a small cave.
In there, we could hide from the eyes of other animals.
Since in this world, even the eyes and ears of animals could be watched by him, we had to be careful.
It felt like an Erwin was spread all over the continent.
“It seems we’ve shaken him off for now.”
“Yes…”
Maintaining silence, we sat still for about five minutes.
For the moment, we were able to feel at ease.
Five minutes would be enough time for him to circle the continent and more.
*Grrrr…*
“Ah.”
At that moment, a cute noise escaped from Julia’s stomach.
She was bound to be hungry.
She hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday afternoon.
“Shall we go and hunt something?”
“Didn’t you say we shouldn’t be spotted by animals?”
“That’s why we should target those without eyes.”
Inside the cave, I detected faint movements.
Any creature living in such dark places must have either devolved their eyesight or have none at all, only able to sense the presence of light.
Even if I killed it, there would be no way to tell whether I was the one who did it or if it fell prey to a predator.
“Stay right there. Stay still… Ah!”
“I got it! Yes, I caught it!”
“That one’s poisonous! Don’t touch it!”
“Ah?! Really?”
Hunting was quite challenging.
That little guy must have been gathering Mana Ripple Effect more diligently than anything else, so I couldn’t use magic at all.
I tried to make a spear out of branches to catch insects, but even catching a few scorpions took quite a bit of time.
Then, I carefully gathered dry branches outside the cave and ignited them.
Of course, it took some time as I couldn’t use Ignition Magic either.
In the end, we were finally holding one roasted scorpion each, impaled on a stick, sizzling golden brown.
“Ugh… Is this even edible?”
“It should be.”
“Have you tried it?”
“No, never.”
“…….”
I heard that people eat these in China.
There must be some taste and nutrition, or they wouldn’t sell them.
Though I was also hesitant about the scorpion, I felt I had to at least pretend to enjoy it for Julia’s sake.
“Ummm…”
Summoning my courage, I tore off its legs and took a bite from the abdomen.
As I chewed, it didn’t taste bad at all.
The flavor wasn’t particularly notable, but the texture was definitely tender and meaty.
Seeing me, Julia seemed to gather some courage, slowly bringing her trembling hand near her mouth with the scorpion.
“Ah….”
But just before reaching her mouth, that little hand dropped the stick.
She picked it up, tried again, and it fell once more.
At first, I thought she was just unwilling to eat the scorpion.
But soon, I realized her arms were too weak to bear even the lightness of it.
She had become so weak she couldn’t even hold onto something so light for long.
“Here, let me take the meat off for you. It’s quite tasty.”
“Thank you…”
I peeled the meat for Julia and fed it to her.
At first, she looked remorseful and sorry, but once she tried the scorpion meat, her eyes widened in surprise.
She hadn’t expected it to taste so exceeding pleasant.
Indeed, it was remarkably better than expected.
After about ten days of starvation, it would feel like a gourmet meal.
“What should we do now?”
“Ha… good question.”
Julia’s words made me feel heavy again.
It was truly a hopeless situation.
The guy, akin to a god in this world, was furious and actively searching for us.
We had no way to resist him…
We certainly couldn’t spend our lives hiding, catching bugs to eat.
As I pondered deeply, I happened to glance at Julia, who was smiling brightly while looking at my face.
“What’s up?”
“Oh, nothing… It’s just my first time experiencing something like this.”
“Right. Coming into a parallel world and being chased by a transcendent being is also my first.”
“That’s not it….”
“Then what is it?”
“It’s my first time coming this far out and eating food, just the two of us.”
“…….”
Well, considering Julia had been ill since childhood, it was probably the first time she’d been far away from home her entire life.
Not even once throughout her hundreds of years of reincarnation.
And I was the one who had crafted that fate for her.
“Do you resent me?”
“Why would I hate Schlus?”
“Because I designed this world. All the reincarnations you have gone through are all because of me.”
“Hmm. I feel a bit resentful, but that’s about it. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have been born at all. I’ve felt that life can be painful, wishing to end it… But since I met you, I’ve felt grateful to be alive, to have been born. I think maybe I’ve been living through all that pain just to meet you, just for today.”
“…….”
Julia hugged her knees and smiled bashfully.
The feelings were complicated.
Here she was, having lived such a long time in agony, and yet she forgave me.
She’s on a different level from some beings who whine about their loneliness after wiping out humanity.
“…….”
The moment our eyes met, both arms spread out without hesitation.
I embraced Julia and sat her down on my lap, hugging her tightly.
In the chilly cave, we shared our warmth.
I buried my nose in her slightly sticky hair and took a breath.
The scent that was completely hers tortured me.
Meanwhile, outside, the sun was slowly setting.
‘I must return.’
I steeled my resolve.
I will definitely capture Schlus Hainkel of this world.
He must have hunted Majin in a human form as well.
Is it really impossible for me?
If I fully prepare and strike with surprise, it should be possible.
And just like he did, I’ll rip out his heart and steal his Majesty’s Authority.
‘No, I will definitely send Julia back.’
With that power, I’ll open the dimensional rift and send Julia home.
I’ll remain in this empty world, along with my wretched self.
With two of us, it won’t be boring.
We can chatter away until his lifespan runs out.
And when he dies, I’ll become the master of this world and live alone for thousands of years.
