With the red book openly lying on the table in front of us, Hugh, Kai, and I settled on the sofa encircling it.
Breaking the prevailing silence in the hall, I was the first one to speak up.
"So, you possess knowledge of multiple timelines?" I inquired cautiously. "And what exactly is that book?"
Kai nodded, affirming my claim. "Yes, since you also seem to possess future knowledge, your statement from earlier was true – this world is destined for doom."
Before I could delve deeper and ask some follow-up questions, Hugh interjected into the conversation.
"That book is known as the Book of Prophecy. You can think of it as an instruction manual to save this world," he explained. "Inside that book are a series of instructions, both advising what to do and what to avoid, along with various kinds of prophecies and solutions for different problematic situations."
"An instruction manual, you say?" I inquired, trying to hide the slight hint of absurdity in my voice. "But who wrote it?"
"We do not know," Kai shook his head. "But I can assure you that the Book of Prophecy is authentic."
With my curiosity piqued, I asked Kai, "And just how did you confirm its authenticity?"
"As I mentioned earlier, I have my memories from different timelines," Kai elaborated. "In several of those timelines, I did some things that the Book of Prophecy advises to avoid. And as a result of that, the destruction of the world was fastened or worsened."
Thoughtfully touching my chin, I probed further, "So, this Book of Prophecy, was it present in all your timelines?"
"No," Kai responded, shaking his head once more. "This is the first timeline in which I've seen the Book Of Prophecy. However, that old woman approached me in all the other timelines and returned my memories to me."
What in the world...
This revelation complicates matters far more than I thought. Many of my theories are refuted by this nascent knowledge.
Not only are there multiple timelines for this world, but Kai possessed future knowledge in all those other timelines because of an enigmatic old lady.
But who is this old lady?
And why did she choose Kai?
Kai was merely a minor antagonist in the novel. I don't recall anything particularly remarkable about him.
Or perhaps, his wasn't particularly remarkable precisely because he had knowledge of the future and was trying to stay in the shadows.
But my earlier question still stands – who was this old lady, and why did she select Kai instead of main characters like Nero, Amelia, or Anastasia to return their memories if she had the power to do so?
Shaking my head and shelving this thought for now, I decided to ask another question.
"How many timelines exist?" I inquired.
"This is the eighteenth one," Kai swiftly responded, almost as if he had anticipated my question.
"And do you have any idea why that old lady chose to give you the memories of other timelines?" I inquired.
Kai shook his head once more. "I don't know. In every timeline when she returned my memories, she vanished before I could ask her anything. Honestly, I thought Nero would have been a better choice."
Eighteen times, huh? So he has lived this life eighteen times already.
I know this isn't the time for jokes, but isn't regression supposed to be the cheat reserved for the protagonist?
Clearing my throat, I continued my questioning. "So, did we fail to save the world in all of those timelines?"
"No, we failed," Kai replied, emphasizing the word 'we,' before adding, "You were either in prison, dead, or not very helpful in most of those timelines. That's why I was surprised when you started behaving the way you did."
"...I-I see," I coughed awkwardly, averting my gaze. "Then tell me, why did you try to stop me from changing the timeline? I mean, if you've truly lived eighteen lives then you should know that we can't just sit passively and hope for survival, right?"
Kai shook his head. "As I mentioned before, I didn't have an issue with you making changes in the timeline."
"Then what is it?" I pressed.
"It's because you were trying to change important events," Hugh was the one who answered my query.
"Wait, before I ask what that means, let me ask this: who are you?" I directed my question to Hugh. "I don't believe you were meant to exist at all."
"You're right," Kai chimed in. "Hugh was my childhood friend who sacrificed his life to protect me from an assassin when we were young."
"Encountering one or two assassins isn't particularly unusual for the heir of a noble family. In every other timeline, I survived solely because Hugh died while saving me," Kai explained in a bit of a wistful tone.
"However, in this timeline, I managed to alter that fate. I saved him. You could say he's an anomaly. After awakening to mana, Hugh developed an incredibly powerful Gift. Along with his exceptional intellect, I recruited him into the New World Order," he added with a somber expression, but a hint of relief in his eyes.
"Huh?!" Hugh's upper lip curled up as he spat back in an absurd tone. "You didn't recruit me, we founded NWO together!"
Ignoring his remark as if he has done that several times, Kai continued speaking to me, "About your earlier question - You see, the Book Of Prophecy describes that the Heroes must face hardships so that they could get strong enough to avoid destruction of the world.
"After I recruited Hugh to NWO, we devised the best possible route we could take to reach the end of this timeline.
"Since I already knew Nero was one of the Heroes, we decided together to make him face as many hardships as he possibly can.
"I thought about throwing minor stepping stones on his way at first, then throwing big adversaries like Quinn. That's why I circulated the rumors about his Gift and pushed Chris to create trouble with him and his group."
…I guess that does make sense in a very twisted way?
I mean, after all, in any progression fantasy, the protagonist has to face hardships, right?
It is because of those hardships that he grows strong in order to reach his goal.
Those goals could range from trying to rise against his own family, facing his past, challenging society, or any number of generic stuff like that.
A story where a lazy protagonist who won't have to face hardships and grow stronger wouldn't be much of a story now, would it?
However, it's different when I myself am living inside that story!
"But do you have any idea what'll happen tomorrow?" I shot a question at Kai.
"The vampires will attack with the goal of eliminating Nero. They will dispatch six of their top Squads to achieve that goal," Kai responded.
"...Do you have any idea how many people will die?" I asked, my tone flat.
"Many," Kai replied with a single word. "I know it's not a morally correct thing to do, but you have to believe me, it's necessary. It's an important event for Nero and the other Heroes to grow."
"Insane! You're insane!" I squeezed my forehead with an exasperated look on my face.
But then, as if I suddenly remembered something, I snapped my head to look back at him. "Wait, did you say other Heroes?"
