Serad nodded.

“That’s our guess. It’s probably the same being that doesn’t want new life to be born in this laboratory.”

“…….”

“If a second generation is born, of course they would want to focus on the child, and that being might be afraid we will neglect managing the hero system.”

Neril cut in.

“But the framework of the hero system was made by Mide, and the rest of the researchers put flesh on it. You and Impelium also contributed quite a bit.”

“Right.”

“……Are you saying that unknown being can even control people’s thoughts?”

“I don’t know what happened or how. It’s all baseless speculation to begin with.”

Mide sank into deep thought.

He unconsciously tried to use the Eye of Omniscience.

But then he realized that Impelium or Serad would have definitely tried to use it to figure this out, and gave up.

‘A secret even the Eye of Omniscience can’t see.’

What? What could it be.

The hero system was established very early on.

If their guess is right, then that unknown being has been with us for a very long time?

“…….”

No. Wait.

No. That can’t be.

No. But.

“Aaaah!”

Mide cried out without realizing it.

His intuition twitched once more.

Even without any evidence, Mide felt a strong certainty in his gut.

“Mide? What’s wrong. Did you figure something out?”

Neril had never seen her husband make that kind of face.

Mide’s whole body was trembling.

It wasn’t from joy or anger.

‘Fear?’

That Mide is afraid of something?

But soon, the trembling stopped.

He spoke in a calm voice.

“Something flashed through my mind, but I don’t think I can say it right now.”

“What? Why. What is it that you can’t tell me.”

“I think Impelium and Serad’s guess is correct. Some existence that transcends our perception is clearly interfering with this lab.”

“So who is it.”

“Saying it out loud right now would be troublesome. Don’t worry about it. When we destroy the hero system, that being will show itself on its own.”

Neril tilted her head.

Impelium asked.

“You still think we can get rid of the hero system? There are barely more than ten researchers left now.”

“Twelve, exactly.”

“No. Exactly ten. The two of us are leaving.”

Neril spoke in shock.

“Leaving? You said earlier you are not here to resign.”

“It’s a bit different from a normal resignation. Hmm…… we are leaving as employees, but we will keep working a bit as freelancers.”

“What are you talking about.”

“Aktion is coming to our world. About 30 years left now?”

“27 years or so.”

Serad said.

“Mide, please keep looking for a way to eliminate the hero system. In the meantime, Impelium and I will take care of Aktion.”

“What?”

“In short, unlike the other retirees who want to be born as normal humans…… we intend to become the hero.”

“…….”

“This will help you too, so you will treat us as freelancers, right?”

For a moment, Mide’s heart tightened.

In truth, they probably wanted to leave as well.

But they were choosing to spend the last of their remaining years helping Mide and this lab.

Neril also spoke,

“Just because you will climb onto the hero system doesn’t mean I can give you special treatment.”

“We know. We will be born as normal humans without memories and build up fame. Hmm, was it Bion who supports the hero?”

“Yeah. She will guide the path through the Eye of Omniscience interface. But only to the one chosen as the hero.”

“She has been doing that job for tens of thousands of years now.”

“Ever since Aktion started destroying different worlds, she has been volunteering to do it nonstop. I guess she wants to stand by the hero so a hero like Aktion never appears again. She feels responsible.”

“I should tell her.”

Neril twitched her eyebrow.

“You are really going?”

“Yes. To convert fame into power in the hero system, we have to give something up, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Our wish is to build a family and have a second generation together. I don’t know if we will remember this or not.”

At that, Mide realized there was nothing he could say to stop them.

Swoosh.

He stood up.

Neril, Impelium, and Serad followed.

Mide extended his hand to Impelium.

“You were truly the best colleague.”

“Neril is standing right next to you, you know. You are going to hear about that later.”

“I will think about later later.”

“Pff. Fine.”

The two clasped hands lightly and shook.

“A demon king will show up in our world within a few years. Hmm…… Neril, what’s the next predicted one?”

“The demon king that appears most often.”

“The Demon King of Lies. How many times has that bastard appeared now.”

Swoosh.

Mide released his hand and spoke.

“While you are at it, take care of both the Demon King of Lies and Aktion.”

“The demon king too?”

“No choice. With nearly all the researchers retired, we are shorthanded. It takes way too many resources to establish a hero the normal way.”

“I’m losing my memories too, you know. I have to start from the beginning as well.”

Serad cut in.

“Impelium. Study.”

“That’s the first nag I have heard in 100,000 years. Are we hitting a rough patch?”

“Stop spouting nonsense.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“The biggest resource sink in the hero system is ‘finding a person suitable to be a hero.’ Using the Blood Script and the Eye of Omniscience to search for someone who can best serve humanity takes ages.”

“Hmm.”

“We can skip that step, which will help a lot. We need to take down the demon king as well.”

Impelium scratched his head and agreed.

“Got it. But then I will receive a new world as a gift according to the system. Don’t you want to abolish the hero system?”

“No choice. I will tolerate it for you.”

“Haha. It’s not exactly a gift I have been dying to get…… but if they are giving one, I guess I can’t refuse.”

“I will visit. Your world, I mean.”

“Anytime.”

And so, Impelium and Serad also left.

Neither the ones leaving nor the ones staying imagined even for a moment that they would fail.

Even if they lost their memories, with Bion supporting them, how could they fail?

Besides, this world is designed so that a demon king can never defeat a hero.

The degree of hardship varies, but in the end, Impelium will succeed.

“……But as you all know.”

“They failed. Impelium and Serad.”

Tap.

Bion turned off the interface window.

Because I asked her to.

My eyes felt strangely blurry for a moment.

Xenia let out the breath she had been holding and said:

“Those are incredible stories.”

“All those researchers, and in the end only we are the ones left, right?”

“What was it that Mr. Mide realized in the end?”

“If we are watching through the fully awakened Eye of Omniscience, why can’t we see what he realized?”

At Offense’s final question, Bion answered:

“Because the one who created Eye of Omniscience was also Mr. Mide. He gave himself a bit of special treatment.”

Trail shouted:

“Don’t tell me even the name Eye of Omniscience was…?”

“Of course Mr. Mide was the one who named it.”

At those words, the party members all stared at me.

For some reason, their gazes stung a little.

“I think I just discovered your first flaw.”

“Don’t say anything.”

“It’s fine. It’s human. Kinda nice, actually.”

Adwin said:

“Hyung. You know those techniques you always use…”

“I said don’t say anything.”

“Did you name those techniques too? What did you call them?”

“That’s not important right now.”

“That answered it well enough.”

Lisel asked:

“Ms. Bion, what exactly is that ‘blood-script’ you mentioned earlier? I have a rough idea, but I’m curious.”

“It was created to check how much negative energy had accumulated. By linking it with the Eye of Omniscience, we could figure out what type of sin was most common in the current era.”

“Oh. To predict which Demon King will descend next?”

“Yes. And also to find the hero or heroes most suitable for that era. Even the heroes who left after receiving the world’s gift use a similar method to predict the Demon King and choose a hero.”

So that was it.

I scratched my head and said:

“Then why could I only see the blood-script? I didn’t have the Eye of Omniscience.”

“…….”

“And who even is Trail? Trail isn’t there among those researchers.”

“Before I can answer that.”

With a sigh, Bion continued.

“When Mr. Mide realized that Impelium and Serad had failed, he became convinced.”

“Of what?”

“That without a doubt… even beyond themselves, humanity was being watched and interfered with by the unknown existence.”

“…….”

“Even if Impelium had lost all his memories, he is not someone who would lose to guys like Aktion or Velosian. Same goes for Serad.”

Our expressions hardened.

“So this unknown existence interfered in their defeat?”

“Yes. It felt as if it intentionally left behind a disaster in the world, so that Mr. Mide wouldn’t be able to devote himself fully to abolishing the Hero System”

“…….”

“Aktion and Velosian were barely sealed in the special room, but that was only thanks to Mr. Mide’s cleverness… without that, he wouldn’t have been able to focus on the Hero System at all.”

“The rule we added to seal them in the special room? That was my idea?”

“Yes. I only conveyed the idea.”

Bion explained in more detail.

Originally, after killing a Demon King, the negative energy released would be used to create a new world.

But since Velosian didn’t die, they had no choice but to use the energy stored in the lab to create a new world and invite Impelium and Serad there.

Then, by making them inherit the system, they fulfilled the condition and added a new rule:

To seal Aktion and Velosian.

“Oh! So that’s why you said it was a loophole back then.”

I remembered that when Impelium used the Eye of Omniscience, the message window added, “A slight loophole was used.”

It really was a loophole tricking the system.

“That’s right. Since Mr. Mide was the one who built the foundation of the Hero System, he naturally knew best how to deceive it.”

“…….”

“Just like how this time we obtained a majority vote to ‘spare Idria’ through a ‘loophole.’”

“I was a genius.”

“…It’s annoying because it’s true.”

With a familiar faint chuckle, Bion continued.

“In any case, it was clear the unknown existence interfered with Impelium. The problem is, we can’t determine how it interfered. At least when watching through the Eye of Omniscience, there wasn’t a single sign.”

“A secret that even Eye of Omniscience can’t see. Then you really can assume it’s an existence sitting above everyone in the lab.”

“Exactly. That’s why Mr. Mide focused even harder on researching a way to abolish the Hero System. He said that was the only way to break the unknown existence.”

I swallowed a gulp of saliva.

Bion continued:

“The following Demon Kings were similar in pattern. During the Demon King of Destruction’s era, Mr. Grade insisted on handling it as a hero, like Impelium. And Ms. Lisel followed him.”

The party quietly looked at Lisel.

Her face turned bright red, and she shouted:

“Wait… why did I even do that back then!?”

“You chose Mr. Grade over Mr. Mide.”

“Can’t you phrase that less directly and more… smoothly?”

“Well, Lisel did hesitate until the very end. But Mr. Grade desperately wanted it. I think he even kneeled and begged her to come down with him.”

Serein let out a small laugh.

“But why as a slave? If she could choose, she could have just been born next door to him.”

“If you think like that, Mr. Grade should have chosen to be born with royal blood from the start. But as you saw, with all researchers retired, we were desperately short on manpower…”

“So even choosing where to be born was difficult.”

“Yes. They had no choice but to leave it to luck and send them randomly. At that time, we were doing day-night two-shift rotations nonstop.”

Just imagining it felt horrific.

Bion spoke with a strangely distant look.

“Back then, Neril’s skin got super dry.”

“Stop saying useless things.”

“It’s an important detail.”

“Anyway, so Lepia and Leon were in the same situation?”

“Yes. By that time we practically had to beg them to descend. We didn’t even have the resources to search for party members for Lepia or Leon.”

So they had to find their partners with their own power.

“So that’s how someone like Iori ended up in Lepia’s party.”

“Uh… yes.”

“Finally it all makes sense. I always wondered how that guy got accepted into a hero party.”

“Uh… yes.”

“You are not denying it.”

Anyway, the long story finally approached the present era.

“Go on.”

“Yes. With those methods, Velosian, Destruction, Greed, and Corruption were handled somehow.”

“…….”

“But the real problem was something else. Between Velosian and the Demon King of Destruction, something happened that no one expected.”

She sighed once and continued.

“Mr. Mide said this: ‘That Demon King is proof that the unknown being is interfering with this world.’

“That Demon King… wait, don’t tell me!”

With a heavy expression, Bion nodded.

“Yes. It was Idria.”

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