Chapter 161: Confession (3)

“……!”

Yuria flinched and took a step back.

Carl, who had been smiling and chatting with her just moments ago, had suddenly changed his expression and was reaching out his hand.

‘No way…….’

Yuria clicked her tongue internally.

To be honest, she was still quite drunk.

Even though the fountain water had sobered her up a bit, she had drunk a considerable amount to confess to Carl that she was a Player.

She hadn’t expected that to come back and bite her.

‘M-Magic.’

She had prepared for the worst.

If she activated the traps and spells she had placed here and there, she could buy herself enough time to escape.

But before she could do that, Carl’s hand landed on her head.

Tap.

Yuria tightly shut her eyes.

But no matter how long she waited, nothing happened, and so she cautiously opened her eyes and lifted her head.

“It’s a joke. I didn’t think you’d be this startled.”

“You son of a—!!”

She nearly cursed out loud.

At the same time, she tried to smack away the hand covering her head, but Carl casually patted her hair instead, as if it were no big deal.

“You’ve done well, Yuria. It must’ve been tough getting here on your own.”

She finally understood why he had always kept his guard up from the start.

Unlike the residents of this world, she was an outsider, so he must have felt that sense of dissonance.

It was probably the same reason why she couldn’t quite fit in with the other cadets at the beginning of the semester.

“…….”

Yuria kept her mouth shut.

Being patted on the head wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.

Her teacher at the Gray Magic Tower often did the same.

‘It’s nothing.’

It was nothing—so why did something rise up inside her like this?

How many years had it been since she came into this world?

After finally pouring out her heart for the first time, she felt as if a weight had been lifted from her chest.

‘It’s the alcohol. Just the alcohol.’

This was all the alcohol’s fault.

Yuria grabbed Carl’s hand that was resting on her head.

Carl noticed and tried to withdraw his hand, but instead, she pulled it down and took a step forward.

Tap.

Then she buried her head into Carl’s chest and began to sob.

Carl said nothing and gently patted her back to comfort her.

‘……Yeah.’

Carl let out a bitter smile.

How flustered he had been when he first awakened in this body after dying in the Central Plains.

He had been a trained assassin.

Even so, until he grasped the situation, he kept his senses on high alert and never let his guard down.

From what she said, Yuria had been an ordinary person before she became a mage.

He had been trained, and yet he had still struggled—so she must have had an even harder time being thrown into another game like this.

“……Sniff.”

She seemed to have finished crying as she sniffled.

Even her ears had turned red, and she kept her head down, too embarrassed to look up.

Yuria rubbed her face, then took a step back and turned to Carl.

“Ahem, ahem.”

She let out a few fake coughs, glanced at him, and then resumed talking as if nothing had happened.

“So, about what’s next.”

“As I mentioned, my memory is incomplete. My current personality might be heavily influenced by Carlos Leipzig’s.”

“Let’s confirm it, just in case. Carl, how far back can you remember?”

“Nothing after Bayern.”

“Hmm.”

As Yuria fell into thought, Carl also began piecing together what this ‘game’ might be.

‘It must be like what happened to me—possessing someone else’s life and living it.’

To think that someone could control another person’s life.

Even in the Central Plains, he had never seen such a method.

“After Bayern comes the Continental War, and then Ragnarok.”

“The Continental War, Ragnarok……”

Heavy words came tumbling out right from the start.

“I’ll explain it from the beginning.”

Yuria lightly reached out her hand.

Then, the mana she released split into three, each drawing a different-colored circle.

One formed the symbol of the Holy Nation with a cross, another a greenish X, and the last tangled like a ball of blue threads.

“You know about the Ancient Era, right? Around a thousand years ago—the time when those now called the Seven Heroes were active.”

“I’m well aware.”

“That was when Ragnarok happened. Three demigods on the continent waged war to claim the vacant seat of the Supreme God.”

“……Demigods.”

Carl already knew of one demigod—and had even fought him in person.

“Azrias, Vertuas, and Kylos.”

“Kylos, as in—”

“Yes. He’s the one who owned the hidden ruin you discovered in the Territory of Tohochu.”

Yuria let out a brief sigh.

“If only you had found the Seed there.”

“What is the Seed?”

“Huh? You went there without even knowing that?”

“Yes.”

When Carl nodded, Yuria put her hands on her hips and gave him a look of disbelief.

“Then you must’ve been ridiculously lucky. Impressive, in a way.”

Shaking her head, she held out one hand wide in front of Carl.

“In the Territory of Tohochu, a ruin event naturally occurs. Players can obtain five Hidden Pieces from it. Three of them are basically junk, but Refri’s Key and the map with the Seed’s location are at least Rare grade.”

“If you plant the Seed, does something grow?”

“Divine Power.”

“…….”

At Yuria’s answer, Carl narrowed his eyes.

“It’s a starter pack for becoming a demigod. If I could’ve gotten my hands on that, I wouldn’t have hesitated to give up magic.”

Yuria stomped her feet regretfully.

“Can a human become a demigod?”

“Demigods were originally human, to begin with.”

“That’s…”

It was something he had never considered before, so Carl was at a loss for words.

“Normally, a human would have to reach the absolute peak of what’s achievable and then break through that limit. Whether it’s swordsmanship or magic. Of course, that’s an incredibly difficult feat. Considering only three in the entire history of the continent have managed it.”

“But if one has the Seed, the path to demigodhood opens?”

“Right. It still wouldn’t be easy, but it’d be far more feasible than the standard method. Sigh, now that I think about it, I regret not getting first place in theory. If I’d gotten the special reward, I could’ve elevated my mastery of magic even further.”

Carl nodded.

He was curious about what the reward for top theory score would have been, but that was a question tied to internal affairs at Bayern.

Since it could raise suspicion toward Yuria, he suppressed his curiosity.

‘So this is the divergence point.’

There were three things Carl had yet to reveal.

The existence of NOX, Kylos’ divinity, and the fact that he had come from a different world than Yuria.

Of course, he had no intention of ever mentioning anything about the Central Plains.

It was more convenient for now if she believed they were both just Players.

“Then in the Ragnarok that happened a thousand years ago—who won?”

“Azrias. She’s now called Gaia, Goddess of the Earth. You know how even the Holy Nation and more than half the continent worship the Earth religion, right?”

“Then isn’t that the end of it? ……Wait. If the Goddess of the Earth is firmly in place, then for another Ragnarok to occur—”

Carl looked at Yuria, realizing something.

The Continental War and Ragnarok.

Those were clearly events that hadn’t happened yet.

Yuria nodded in response.

“The seat of the Supreme God isn’t absolute. So the next cycle of Ragnarok will settle it once and for all.”

Azrias would want to solidify her hold on the Supreme God’s seat, while the other two demigods would wait for their chance to claim it.

“A Player chooses one of those factions and leads them to victory. Then the game ends. I figured if I make it to that point, I might be able to return to my original world.”

“Yuria, do you…”

Carl looked at her.

“Do you want to go back to your original world?”

“……Honestly, I don’t know.”

Though she had been speaking so boldly, Yuria couldn’t give a clear answer this time.

She avoided Carl’s gaze, looked down at her feet, and began fidgeting with the hem of her clothes.

“I’ve grown attached to this place in my own way. There’s my master, the other people at the Gray Magic Tower, Laysis, and… and you too, Carl.”

“……”

Carl asked himself the same question.

And he had already arrived at the answer long ago.

‘First, secure a way back.’

To be honest, he had no intention of returning to the Central Plains immediately.

He’d only consider it after his mastery of the Primordial Unity Divine Art reached the heavens and NOX’s power had stabilized.

‘To thank those who sent me here.’

And wouldn’t blood be a fitting price?

He had already killed Naraksal and his trusted subordinates with his own hands, so now it was time to take revenge on those like the Killing Veil Clan Head who were involved.

“……Carl?”

“Ah, my apologies.”

Carl shook his head, dispersing the killing intent that had unconsciously leaked out at Yuria’s call.

“Could you tell me about the other two?”

“Sure. One of them is a demigod called Vertuas. He’s already formed a large underground organization, and the Holy Nation is keeping close watch on him with intense scrutiny. They even use an inquisitor named Dominion and an extermination unit to track them. I’m pretty sure one of his informants is in Bayern too. I think there’s an episode about it.”

“So the Holy Nation and Vertuas are like oil and water.”

Carl nodded.

The organization that had attacked him before—Lucas’ group—was most likely a cult that worshipped Vertuas.

Didn’t Besha call them heretics?

If the main faith was the Holy Nation, then Lucas’ side would be considered heretical.

“And Kylos…”

Yuria paused in thought, then shook her head.

“You don’t need to worry too much about that side. There’s no real faction to speak of. That cult was originally built around the demigod himself.”

“Nothing at all?”

“There are some followers, but they’re not significant. It’s usually just the Holy Nation and Vertuas as the two main camps. You can think of them as the masterminds behind everything.”

“Which faction will you choose, Yuria?”

“Of course I’ll go with the Holy Nation. It’s the cleanest option, at least. The Vertuas side uses divine power too, but those guys are sketchy as hell.”

Yuria furrowed her brows.

They claimed to believe in a god but committed heinous acts without hesitation.

Those with weaker stomachs often vomited multiple times when playing through that storyline.

“……I see.”

Carl nodded.

When he had followed Yuria into this garden, he thought it was just another minor incident, but it had become the most valuable time he’d had since entering Bayern.

“This has helped me a great deal.”

“No worries. We’re going to be cooperating from now on, right? You’ll help me too?”

“Of course.”

Carl nodded without hesitation.

Yuria’s importance was rising rapidly in his mind.

She might have other valuable information besides what she had already shared.

“Are there any differences between the game and this world?”

“Hmm, I don’t think so. ……Ah, wait, there’s one.”

“What is it?”

“Originally, there were only Four Heroes in ancient times, right? But now there are Seven Heroes. I wonder if the other three were Players like us.”

“……That’s actually a very plausible idea.”

“I thought it was interesting too, so I looked into it, but I couldn’t find any detailed information. Well, they’re ancient heroes, so what can you—oh.”

As they walked and talked, Yuria tripped over her feet.

If Carl hadn’t caught her, she would’ve fallen flat.

“Sorry, I let my guard down.”

“It’s understandable. Shall we stop here for today?”

“That’s probably for the best.”

Yuria nodded.

The sounds from the surroundings were gradually getting louder.

If they stayed longer, it might get uncomfortable, so they decided to leave.

With Carl escorting her, they returned to the banquet hall.

“……Ah.”

Running into Laysis on the way back had been completely unexpected.

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