“Yeah.

Given the timeline, that really must have been around when Idria first appeared.

After sealing Velosian and Aktion.

Before Grade defeated the Demon King of Destruction.

Tak.

Bion brought up the screen window again and spoke.

‘From here on, it’s better if you watch it yourself.’

About a thousand years passed after Impelium sealed Aktion and Velosian.

Mide, as always, was engrossed in his research that day.

That was when it happened.

Kwaang.

Without even knocking, the director’s office burst open violently.

It was Neril.

With a face drained completely pale, she practically shouted.

“Mide, come to the situation room. Now.”

“Why? What happened?”

“Hurry!”

Mide had never seen Neril this agitated before.

Almost being dragged, he was pulled to the situation room.

There, the remaining researchers in the lab were staring blankly at the screen window.

“What is this…?”

“A Demon King has descended.”

“Impossible. The negative energy levels were still within normal range!”

Mide quickly worked through possibilities.

“Which Demon King? The highest reading we had was… the Demon King of Destruction?”

“No. The Demon King of Lies.”

“That can’t be. Velosian is sealed.”

“A new Demon King of Lies was born. Even though the negative energy in the world isn’t nearly high enough to allow a descent.”

Mide’s face hardened.

He spoke without thinking, almost as if declaring it.

“So it’s confirmed.”

“…”

“That Demon King is proof that an unknown entity is interfering with this world.”

“We think so too. In the end, you were right. As always.”

But Mide laughed.

He was laughing.

Lepia asked carefully.

“Have you finally lost your mind?”

“You say some harsh things sometimes, Lepia.”

“Because this is no time to laugh.”

“No. It is. I just got a great idea.”

Everyone tilted their heads.

Mide opened his mouth.

“I found a way to get rid of the Hero System.”

“…?”

“But before that, let me ask one thing.”

“Go ahead.”

“Do all of you trust me?”

Everyone tilted their heads again at that.

Mide swallowed once and continued.

“I mean, do you trust my belief that destroying the Hero System is the right choice?”

At that, everyone let out soft laughs.

“You are asking that now?”

“If it’s your plan, it’s probably right.”

“Besides, I also felt like something was going wrong.”

Bion added softly,

“If anything… all of this happened because of the mistake I made.”

Mide turned to her.

“Don’t say that.”

“But…”

“We know for sure now. Something unknown has been meddling with this world. That thing threw you off.”

“…”

“Originally, you are someone who prioritizes stable equilibrium over risky infinite growth. For you to propose spreading humanity across the universe, that wasn’t you.”

It was due to the intervention of some existence.

Mide was certain of it.

Bion wiped away the tears forming in her eyes.

“A-Anyway… what’s the method to destroy the Hero System?”

“It’s obvious once you think about it. You just don’t let a Demon King descend.”

“…?”

“If we add a new rule that gathers all negative energy into a single Demon King, what do you think happens?”

Everyone here was deeply knowledgeable about the Hero System.

They immediately found the answer.

“Then no more Demon Kings would descend.”

“Right?”

“But the Demon King who receives all negative energy will become invincible. Just like the one that destroyed our era.”

Everyone’s expressions hardened again.

The idea itself had no major flaws.

But there were two problems:

Whether it was realistically possible.

And the immense risk.

Offense interjected.

“That breaks the cornerstone law: ‘Each Demon King hosts only a single negative source.’ You think you can get majority approval for that?”

“Not really, but I will figure something out. Don’t worry too much.”

“Well, exploiting loopholes is your specialty. Same as when you sealed Velosian and Aktion in the Special Room.”

“Somehow that doesn’t sound like praise.”

“Because it isn’t.”

Mide ignored the remark and continued.

“The real problem isn’t majority approval. It’s deciding who will become the invincible Demon King that absorbs all negativity. I intend to use the Demon King that just descended.”

“…What? Her?”

“Yeah. And then we set up a hero who can endlessly monitor and suppress her.”

“…”

“A hero who grows stronger as Idria grows stronger. A hero who shares the negative energy funneled into her and converts it into their own strength.”

Everyone frowned.

“A hero powered by negative energy? Not fame?”

“Yeah. A hero who doesn’t need fame at all.”

Silence fell for a long moment.

A Hero strengthened not by fame, but by negative energy.

Sharing negative energy with the Demon King.

For people accustomed to the Hero System, this was an idea beyond imagination.

And the first person to voice it was the very creator of the Hero System.

There was no greater irony.

Serein spoke.

“That won’t work… Not just for heroes, no human can grow using negative energy. You set it up so that only fame empowers humans.”

“…”

“Right now, what you are proposing is basically saying, ‘I’m going to make a Demon King.’”

“Hmm. More or less.”

“Huh?”

“Serein, you are right. Humans can’t grow stronger with negative energy. Not in principle.”

So.

“Let’s try copying Idria’s soul.”

A silence fell so heavy it felt unreal.

After a long moment, Neril carefully asked.

“You want to copy the soul of a Demon King?”

“Yes. While Adwin was creating the underworld, the research on souls was progressing steadily, right? It must have been put on hold recently because things have been so busy, but if we push a little harder, soul duplication will definitely be possible.”

“No, even so.”

“There is nothing particularly special about a Demon King’s soul. The duplicated soul will lose its memories anyway and be born anew. Bring that soul into the Embrace of this world.”

“…….”

“And after explaining the situation, we ask. Ask it to watch over Idria.”

Asking a soul born from Idria to watch Idria.

To the others, it sounded absurd.

But not to Adwin.

He thought seriously for a long while, then opened his mouth.

“It might actually be possible. That.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Just as I said, a duplicated soul is basically a different person. It may resemble the original a bit in temperament, but……”

Tak.

Adwin activated the Eye of Omniscience.

There, Idria could be seen, just newly born into the world.

Unlike the Demon Kings of the past, who thought only of destroying the world the moment they descended…

Idria was afraid.

Like a lost child wandering a bustling city after losing their parents.

“Just from looking, Idria seems different from a typical Demon King. Probably because she was born when the world’s negative energy level was still far below the danger threshold after Velosian.”

“Mm.”

“Humans can’t grow stronger from negative energy, so you duplicate the Demon King’s soul so that it grows stronger as Idria grows stronger…… it’s not a bad idea.”

“In that case, wouldn’t it be easier to just summon Idria herself here and convince her?”

Neril frowned.

“That won’t work. Then who is going to persuade humanity to give their majority approval?”

“Ah.”

“There is no way the Demon King herself will agree to a rule that makes her stronger. We need a ‘human’ who will speak on our behalf.”

Everyone nodded.

It seemed their opinions were finally converging.

Mide spoke, his expression filled with resolve.

“Let’s hurry. Before another interference happens.”

Tak.

Bion closed the screen window.

Trail blinked and spoke.

“Uh, stopping there……”

“The rest is just more tedious days of research. I will just tell you the conclusion.”

“…….”

“Trail, you are a person created by duplicating Idria’s soul.”

Trail’s mouth dropped open.

“I thought I was someone Adin made and sent into the world.”

“That was Adin’s bluff. Adin didn’t know where you came from either.”

“…….”

“But he was the kind of human who even lied about creating the Hero’s sword himself. Trying to use a suddenly appearing Hero to raise his own status, it was exactly the kind of thing that man would do.”

Huh? But Adin also claimed he gave Trail the Eye of Omniscience.

Back at the starting line when they first met, he even controlled Trail’s system window.

As if reading his thoughts, Bion continued.

“There was one problem. Things like the Eye of Omniscience or Blood Script are given only to a person designated as a Hero. The laws of the world can’t grant those abilities to someone with no fame at all.”

“Mm.”

“Of course, since it wasn’t a cornerstone law, we could have modified it with some work, but we were running out of time. We had no choice but to use Adin.”

They used Adin?

Bion went on.

“First we gave Adin the Eye of Omniscience. And we wrote on it that this was the secret weapon granted by the great Impelium whom you admired so much. Well, the word ‘admired’ is something I’m adding now.”

“Huh.”

“And we told him to use it to kill the Demon King of this era, Idria. But as you know, Adin……”

“Can’t leave the starting line.”

“Yes. So we coaxed him to appoint a proxy. Saying that it would create the perfect image of a celestial god granting a Hero for humanity.”

It’s exactly the kind of reasoning Adin would fall for.

“In the research lab, we couldn’t directly grant the Eye of Omniscience to a person with no fame, but a Hero who already possessed it could transfer it to someone else.”

“Why did you even make that rule?”

“There were Heroes who wanted to give their abilities to their party members. They didn’t care about knowing all the world’s secrets, they just wanted to use it to check their fame, while letting a trusted party member handle the rest.”

“There really were all kinds of Heroes.”

“Well, it was many long ages.”

Anyway, Bion continued.

“Thanks to that, Adin passed the Eye of Omniscience to Trail without a single suspicion. Believing he could reclaim it later.”

“He couldn’t reclaim it, right?”

“Of course not. Even if someone tried, I would be the one to reclaim it, not hand it back to that wretched man.”

“So Adin was completely being played by you.”

“That was Mr. Mide’s idea.”

I let out a laugh.

“We considered transferring Blood Script the same way, but Mr. Mide stopped us. He said that even briefly giving the Blood Script to someone like Adin would be unacceptable.”

“Well done, past me.”

If they gave both, Adin would definitely have tried to keep one.

Knowing his personality, it’s too easy to predict.

At any rate, I was apparently quite good at tricks back then.

I muttered unconsciously.

“At this point, my title shouldn’t be the Swordmaster of No Killing, but the Swordmaster of Loopholes.”

Then Trail spoke.

“You really don’t want to give up the title ‘Swordmaster,’ huh.”

There was a hint of emptiness in his voice.

I looked at him.

“So I’m someone created by your plan? Created out of ‘necessity’ to bring down the Hero System.”

“Trail.”

“No, I’m not complaining. Just getting a little sentimental.”

“That’s a word that doesn’t suit you.”

“Uh, thanks for the comfort?”

That wasn’t what I meant to say.

I scratched my head.

Then Bion spoke.

“There is something to add, Trail.”

“Yes?”

“Mide summoned your soul into the Embrace of the World. And from there, he raised you.”

“Raised me?”

“Creating an empty body was easy. You spent thirty years there. We all acted as your parents and cared for you wholeheartedly.”

We were all surprised, but no one more than Trail.

He blinked rapidly.

“With another interference possibly coming at any time, why go that far?”

“Mide insisted we had to wait until you were fully educated on the circumstances, until you could decide on your own that it was the right thing to do.”

“But once I descend to the world, my memories would be wiped. Even the memory of agreeing would disappear.”

“He said it still had to be done. And thirty years later, you gave your consent.”

Trail looked stunned.

Bion, on the other hand, seemed puzzled that he was surprised.

“Isn’t it obvious? Considering Mide’s personality.”

“Well, yes.”

“That man never forces anything.”

And at that, all the party members nodded.

I felt my face grow warm.

Then…

“So I really chose it myself. Hah.”

Trail burst into a refreshing laugh.

There wasn’t a trace of lie in that smile.

Tok.

He tapped my shoulder.

“Thanks, Mide.”

“You are thanking me? For what?”

“You gave birth to me.”

He continued with a faintly warm smile.

“And thanks to that, I met all of you.”

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