It was something he could do with his power. St. Marianne gave a little cry.
Jun’s figure soon changed to my original face. I was sitting on a hospital bed. Mom and Dad hugged my figure tightly. My friend who had been drinking with me came running as if they had heard the news late.
Every time they sat on the floor after drinking, they became an adult and said what it was, and when they made eye contact with me, they cried like a child.
[Everyone thinks you have amnesia. But… They’re grateful enough for you to have been brought back to life.]
“That’s a relief…”
I swept my face with my hands several times. My fingertips were stained damp, but a smile of relief spread through the corners of my mouth.
So far, I’ve tried my hardest to ignore it in order to survive and somehow rush to see the true ending but…. I would be lying if I didn’t care about the parents I left behind.
They loved me as much as I loved them, and they will love Jun too. Jun is a good girl and will be a good daughter to her parents.
It would be much better than if their daughter had died first. I realized this and asked St. Marianne.
“Can you say something to Jun?”
[I’ll try.]
St. Marianne nodded. With a small sigh, I expressed one thought after another that popped up in my head.
“Thank you for saving me. Thanks to your ability as a supportive wizard, we defeated the Demon King…And I’ll be living here as “Jun” too…. You too can live there as long as you want.”
I’ll leave it up to you now.
I smiled with a much more relieved heart.
***
When I asked St. Marianne for the general inside story, I finally understood the meaningful words left by the Demon King.
Like Meyer Knox again, or that it was not their first meeting…
I sighed softly and wept.
“In 1st round…. No, I mean the 2nd round.”
[You can say it in your own way.]
St. Marianne said.
I remembered the second round for her, but the first round for me.
I buried it in my memory as if it were a long time ago, but when I tried to think of it, I could remember it vividly like it was yesterday.
“As we proceeded with the first round… Inwardly, I was worried that what if I didn’t remember the first round the second time around.”
Fabian and Meyer were the only ones who had memories of the first round in the game.
Apart from the peculiarity of my being a possessor, it was also possible to lose all these memories over the second round.
I couldn’t sleep well at night thinking about it. So I did everything in my power to see the end of the first round as much as possible. I even tried to kill Meyer… It all failed.
I pretended to be calm, but I woke up in the second round after defeating the Demon King and cried so much that I was relieved that I had a memory.
“I was able to remember all that even though I went back… Is it because of your protection?”
[Yes, that’s right. Of course… There is the inevitable.]
“The inevitable?”
[Meyer Knox is the nucleus of the Demon King, so he is not affected by the regression, but Fabian and you are not. I tried to preserve the memory of you and Fabian… Because I was expecting you two to work together to defeat the Demon King.]
“Then…”
[Yes. There was a little gap in Fabian, and the demon king noticed it and planted another nucleus. Unlike the one he planted in Grand Duke Knox, it was very weak, but it was… It was enough to transform Fabian.]
It was as I had guessed. That would have made Fabian, who stabbed the Demon King, the Demon King.
But he wasn’t as strong as Meyer, so he probably crumbled faster than I thought…
[It was no coincidence that Fabian came to visit you in the first round. I gave him a revelation to choose the dungeon you are in. Because that level of ability remained.]
No wonder.
I thought the regression and memories were somewhat insufficient grounds for Fabian to be convinced that he was the chosen one.
I think he had met Saint Marianne in person enough to be sure.
In doing so, though, he was buried in a false belief…
[But… The second round, no matter how much I tried to make a revelation, it was impossible. The nucleus of the demon king blocked my revelation, and my interference was denied.]
So from the second round, Fabian fell into a path of self-destruction. The revelation of St. Marianne, which was heard, was not heard, and the thought was not solved…
The greater the anomaly to begin with, the greater the disappointment when it was not reached.
I wish I had known in advance that Fabian was not the hero and that I was the crux of all this. Then I would have found a better way than I have now.
I couldn’t help but mumble, knowing that I was late, even though I was sorry.
“You could have told me about this situation in the beginning.”
[You are an otherworldly soul, so there are limits to what I can interfere with. I can say this with you now because your soul straddles the circle of samsara just before it moves into it.]
“Oh, my…”
Then so be it. It couldn’t have been that easy to solve.
Thanks to the kind Saint Marianne, everything that had been bothering me had been resolved. I sighed and leaned back against the back of my chair.
“But, well… It’s refreshing to get to know the truth before you die.”
Is this what the holy Buddha is all about… Meyer was always on my mind, but there was nothing I could do about it now that I was dead.
Shall I ask St. Marianne to pass on a will to Meyer? I have already asked her to give Jun a message, and while we’re at it, I can get another person…
When I was about to take my chance, St. Marianne smiled softly and said,
[You’re not dead yet.]
“But now you say I am just before I move to the circle of reincarnation. I have already used the ultimate technique…”
At that moment, my body began to glow white. Puzzled by the sudden situation, I flapped my arms and legs, but felt nothing. It was as if I had lost my limbs.
Beyond the piercing light in my eyes, St. Marianne added with a vague smile.
[Just before you completely died, I held you for a while. Anyway, you’ll be back soon…Now the time is slowly running out.]
What are you talking about? You said you couldn’t save a person with your abilities!
I couldn’t understand it, and I vented my doubts, but no sound came out of my mouth. It was as if the light had already eroded to the tip of my tongue.
St. Marianne whispered to me in front of me as I faded away.
[Once again, thank you for protecting this world.]
***
Meyer sat still for a moment, holding Jun in his arms, as if his soul had been stolen.
Grief hung over his shoulders. His whole life had been a waste.
In his heart, he wanted to lie with Jun by her side. Wouldn’t it be so lonely and desolate for her to walk through death alone…
He wanted to go along with her and be her companion, but Jun’s will was not so, so he was in conflict without being able to do so.
He could not take away his life, which Jun gave her life to save, because he just did not have the right to take it away with his own hands.
He wanted someone else to kill him. He wanted this life of terrible pain to end.
Meyer tried to rub his rough cheek against Jun’s cheek, but he was scared that Jun would wear out and replaced it with a forehead to forehead contact.
If he could breathe in to save Jun, he would have opened his lungs and given them to her…
Axion, who couldn’t bear to see Meyer like this, sank down and called out to him in a lowered voice.
“Now we have to return, Your Excellency. The expedition members will come to meet you soon… We must send the Vice Commander Jun in awe.”
Send? Who?
Jun? Why?
Meyer tightened his grip on Jun. No one could take Jun away from him…
At that moment, a light suddenly struck from the sky. The light gradually grew larger and whiter and whiter.
They closed their eyes and opened them to see a pure white being with hair hanging down like a veil, looking down at them in the air.
Blue eyes and white eyelashes hung down like frost.
A holy and intimidating presence that seemed out of this world, a figure they have seen many times through sculpted statues. The Black Knights looked up at her with their mouths wide open.
“Saint Marianne…?”
[O valiant warrior who defeated the Demon King. I stand here to honor your merit.]
St. Marianne spread her arms and stared at Meyer. Meyer’s eyes, clouded by St. Marianne’s words, came into focus.
This was probably the only opportunity he had been given.
Meyer hurriedly crawled up to St. Marianne on his knees, bowing his head and shouting.
“Jun, please save Jun. Saint Marianne. Please!”
His head, which had never bowed in his life, touched the floor.
It was an uncharacteristically desperate and servile appearance, unlike the most powerful man in the world, who would kill the Demon King and become the emperor of the empire.
All the other expedition members who were letting go were alert to Meyer’s actions, and everyone else went on their knees and bent their heads.
“Please, St. Marianne! Please save the Vice Commander!”
[Raise your heads, warriors. You who have saved the world need not be so polite to me.]
When St. Marianne pointed her hand upward, their heads raised as if someone had lifted them.
[I want to do your favor, but alas, it’s not in my capacity.]
St. Marianne shook her head in confusion.
[I am the god of this world but… I have lost my power to keep the Demon King in check and am not omniscient any more. All that remains is the power to give power to humans.]
