Chapter 438
Chapter 438
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 438
Chapter Title: Off-Road (12)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
****
“Ugh.... Urgh.”
I wasn’t one to trust conclusions based on assumptions. No matter how logical, if the premise was wrong, the conclusion would be a mess too.
.
.
.
.
Bugrrrk!
But what if unprovable assumptions all fit together perfectly? If every piece clicked into place no matter which thread you pulled? Wouldn’t that be worth believing?
“....Fine! Yeah, fine!”
After groaning for ages, I finally threw up my hands in surrender.
“Honestly, all that talk about past lives and reincarnations is still hard to wrap my head around... but! If Ottoman’s story holds up, it at least explains the weird stuff I’ve been through lately.”
[Oh ho. Weird stuff?]
“The ‘desire to seek’ that’s driven me onto the wandering path and tormented me my whole life—it’s probably because of some goal carried over from... way back in one of my past lives or something.”
[That’s right. There’s someone you absolutely have to find.]
“The reason I’m only a half-baked Aura Knight is because humans themselves are kinda incomplete.”
[Aura represents a complete self. Rather than ‘incomplete’.... Hmm.... No, go on.]
“The weird déjà vu, the ghost-like ability to find relics in ruins. That’s because I already know where they are, right? That ‘preparation’ Ottoman’s been going on about. If I’ve lived multiple lives, I must’ve been around when those ‘ruins’ were still active. If I stashed useful stuff everywhere like a squirrel for my next life, then it makes sense I can waltz through them like my own backyard and snag relics.”
It felt forced at first glance, but everything fit too perfectly to dismiss. It was driving me insane.
Familiar ruins? Relic spots clear as day? Coming and going unscathed from places crawling with deadly magic traps?
If I’d really existed back then, and while those places were still functional, I’d gone around thinking, “Heh, this’ll come in handy next life,” and hidden goodies everywhere—it all worked.
It explained my life as a “half Knight” with only the body of an Aura Knight, and even sorta justified the “searching urge” that turned me into a wanderer.
....Alright. So I’m a guy with a past.
“If this is all true, then getting tangled up with the Warlord ties into this too, right?”
[....Why do you think that?]
“Because I was looking for that bastard. If, like you say, my compulsion to hunt for stuff stems from memories handed down from the past, then a guy rampaging like he’s about to tear the world apart can’t be some gift prepared for me. So he must be my target.”
[Indeed. Go on.]
“Taking that as a given, next up is why I can see the Warlord’s memories.... Honestly, no clue. Memories. Shared through keywords.... Was that guy a ‘Hide’ too? Was he searching for something like me? Did he go nuts from it and turn into a mindless killer? Or....”
My thoughts were spiraling when I felt Ottoman’s piercing gaze.
“....What?”
[Nothing. Just reminded me of the old days, that’s all. Forgive me. Old folks get lost in the past easily....]
His eyes, like he was peering into the distant past through me.
[That friend was the same. Tell him one thing, he’d figure out ten. He’d mutter to himself way ahead of us, and when we’d ask what his plan was, he’d snap out of it and lay out some reckless, rambling scheme.]
『Genius often runs in the family. Hide’s innate intellect is certainly comparable.』
“Haha, come on. Just because I pieced together some scraps you dropped....”
.
.
.
.
“Huh?”
Wait. Something was off just now. Did I mishear?
“Ottoman?”
[You called?]
“What’d you just say?”
[You’re weak to compliments, huh? Your innate intellect—]
“No, before that.”
Weird. I swear I heard a different voice. And from a different direction....
“This way?”
I turned my head, but only the abyss-deep blackness filled my view.
No, there was something.
‘The currents are different here?’
The regular pull-push of the currents on my floating body. Looking closer, a patch in the darkness seemed denser—like a cave or something....
『Ah, before that, I said it. You remind me of a guy who looks just like you, no need to think about it.』
‘Whoa. Even the cave talks. The deep sea’s full of mysteries.’
『I wondered if greetings were necessary, but it’s nice to meet face-to-face. Hide.』
Flash!
‘Wha, whoa.... The, the deep sea has, uh, lights on the cave.... Ha, haha....’
A light source bloomed over the cave entrance where the currents flowed in and out, bright enough to illuminate the dim surroundings. Shaped like a vertically slit reptile eye. Whoa, that cover looked just like an eyelid. So the bottom’s nostrils? No wonder the currents felt warm. Not currents—breathing. That’s the eye, this is the snout. Then those huge flat stones gleaming in its gaze must be scales—
Bugrrrrrrrk—!
I dove behind Ottoman at top speed, the fastest I’d ever swum.
“D-D-D-Dr-Dr-Dragon!”
『You’ve got it wrong. Our kind isn’t called ‘Dr-Dr-Dr-Dr-Dragon.’ Just dragon.』
What I’d thought was a valley—or part of a sea valley—began to rise.
A mountain of a body.
Eyes brimming with blue glow that made the mana lamp over my head look pathetic.
Worn and battered, but still the ultimate earthly armor: scales.
And teeth like a warship’s anchor, heading my way.
『It’s been a while. Ha—』
“Spare me! The captain up top sent me! He said there was an airship here! I swear I didn’t know it was a dragon’s treasure!”
.
.
.
.
Ottoman, quit looking at me like I’m pathetic. You’ve died once, but I’m still alive. The living gotta live! Even if it means groveling!
The second I spotted the voice’s owner interrupting our chat, instinct overrode reason. Better to beg than plot an escape in this sluggish underwater mess.
[....He really does look just like him.]
『Even the embarrassing parts.』
As I finally struck the “grand criminal pose” underwater, Ottoman and the dragon exchanged words.
‘....They know each other?’
『It’s not just them two. All three of us go way back.』
“Gasp!”
‘Damn it, dragons read minds too?’
『Normally, if you think that, you wouldn’t use words like ‘damn.’』
“Eeeek!”
‘Ah, I’m done for.’
What a fate. After surviving a brutal past and wandering the world, to die at the hands of an pissed-off dragon at the bottom of nowhere.
As I pondered what epitaph would suit such a death, the dragon sighed instead of striking (nearly blew me back), grumbling.
『....To think I fell for that guy’s coaxing and came all the way here.』
[Congratulations, Aldar. Now you finally get what it was like for me, dragged around by that harsh bastard.]
The dragon shook its airship-huge head, then brought its snout close enough to touch my nose.
『Let’s skip the pleasantries. The failed balancer, Aldar Shax, greets his old comrade and friend Hide. It’s quite pleasing to meet you, single-life kind, after all this time.』
“Uh.... Y-Yeah....”
Weird. Today, names straight out of history books kept ringing in my ears.
Even as my brain rattled from this reality-bending situation, my sharp mind recalled a history tome from years ago.
Aldar Shax. Azure Dragon. Symbol of thunder, sand, judgment, and balance.
The dragon most involved in human affairs, proudly siding with the Western Empire in the Great War of the Two Empires.
It blocked the magic empire’s sky-darkening airships head-on, securing Western superiority, cornering the magic empire, and sparking the “leyline twisting” era.
The one that makes chivalry devotees whisper “Dragon!” and respond with a spirited “Evil!” followed by a rant on loyalty. A legend that etched a page in history with its name alone.
“Why.... are you here?”
『Because you called. You came to me in the desert, ranting about old ties, dereliction of duty, betrayal.』
“Me?”
『Yes, you. You boldly declared you’d fix the world’s imbalance that faltered in my era, so what choice did I have? Lend a hand.』
“M-Me?”
The dragon nodded at my desperate, disbelieving stare with its single eye.
....Kwaaak!
Ow. Weird. Pinching hurts, so why isn’t this a dream? Should I stab my thigh with a knife?
.
.
.
.
Saw three legends today.
Airship No. 1, Ottoman Bodler, Dragon Aldar Shax.
I crashed the first one here, and the other two say I told them to wait here. And they listened.
Whoa, this story alone’d get me free drinks forever. Could make a book out of it.
What the hell do I even call this?
.
.
.
.
“....By any chance, was the past ‘Hide’ a god?”
.
.
.
.
『Getting depressing.』
[What can we do? They’re all that’s left to us.]
I’d been serious, but they just looked even more pitiful.
I was jealous to death of Eggwill, floating asleep over there.
****
The scale was so huge my stomach hurt, but one thing was clear.
“Now I have to believe it, like it or not.”
A war hero risen from the dead was one thing, but when a dragon vouches? What can you do? If a dragon says “This is it—”, even making bread from mushrooms’d be true.
Alright, decision made.
I took a deep breath inside, then slowly approached Ottoman and the dragon, who were whispering about me. And then,
Kururruk—
“Come on, I’m ready! Do whatever you prepared for this moment!”
I spread my arms wide toward them. Totally open.
‘Just like Notum passed memories from my first reincarnation, Ottoman was waiting for me this time. Gotta be.... handing over memories here?’
Unsettling to have unknown memories overlaid on my brain, but with the stage this set, I couldn’t chicken out.
‘Honestly, kinda looking forward to it.’
Followed this mysterious pull—and bam, ancient mythical relic.
The ghost or spirit from it? A legendary figure saying “I’ve waited so long for you,” “I prepared this for you.” Now a dragon shows up? Greets me first with “Ah, good to see you, comrade. You called, so I waited.”
Bards’d call this cliché. Everything screaming “It’s all for you.”
‘....Honestly, someone like me’s gotta be extraordinary! Lost memories surfacing, weird mental issues, tall and handsome—pretty good!’
Yeah, accept it. Fate’s not whispering—it’s screaming in my ear. Time to embrace it!
I closed my eyes, opening my heart wide. Now, a mage’s fingertips unleash radiant light, lost memories and true power awakening!
[....]
....Power?
“Um.... Hey?”
[....What are you doing?]
“Uh.... Isn’t it? You said you’d give memories or....”
The dragon looked beyond exasperated, like it might cry.
[You got it wrong. Whatever you’re expecting, memories aren’t passed like that. Possible in a current life, maybe, but a dead soul’s ‘cycle’ wipes them irretrievably. Even I, who touched magic’s miracle in my final years, and Notum, who reached the peaks of shamanism and soul arts—impossible.]
“But earlier you said Notum restored my memories.”
[No one can recall what the ‘cycle’ erases. Like rewinding time—it’s beyond reach, past and memories alike.]
[We didn’t restore them. You had them from the start, from the moment your new life began. Per Notum, when you first met her, you were like a dam full of memories with cracks. They were already leaking, trapping ‘Hide’ in obsession to find something, wandering the world. See? Rings a bell?]
“Ugh.”
Not a bell—spot on. That’s how I lived.
[If I told you your past life word-for-word accurate, could you accept it? As the real ‘you,’ the true self you don’t know? Hearing an epic tale—what’d you think?]
“Hmm.... Intriguing?”
[And?]
“Depends on how I lived, but maybe impressed.”
[And?]
“Uh, um....”
[See? That’s it. Memories can’t be ‘recalled’ no matter how long someone talks. They just become new knowledge.]
Suddenly anxious. This flow—does it mean no past life story after all? Not even halfway!
“Th-That’s not something you know without trying, right? If you’re saying ‘You’ll have to recall it yourself, so no teaching!’—that’s kinda unfair?”
I protested, and Ottoman shrugged helplessly.
[Fine? Then I’ll tell you. Your past-life Hide was a vicious, scrawny woman with dozens of iron rings piercing her face. Smashing heads with a huge club was her joy.]
“Cough! Hack!”
[Walking made the rings jangle, her body reeking of rotting human blood and fat. Horrific. I hid this brutal truth for your sake. Well? Can you accept it?]
“Th-That, um....”
[Don’t like it? How about this: Hide was a tall, sculpted royal adored by all, great crown prince who raised his nation through trials, sung praises by ten thousand. Better? Acceptable?]
....Is this a joke?
[Not that? One-eyed assassin? Potbellied drunk? Bard? Kindly chef?]
“No, Ottoman! This isn’t the time for jokes—”
[Or!]
[In chaos, to keep the world from crumbling, sacrificed life after life! Despite lives of plenty, preserved memories beyond soul-bleaching with unknown means unknown to mages or soul arts, just for two short years! All that effort for one perfect encounter, said a certain knight.]
Crunch.
[Could you truly call that ‘me’? That form, resolve, choices. Endless crumbling world, using life and death as tools for endless wait—all via my words alone!]
[....If you can recall from that, I’ll tell you.]
The kindly old man’s sunken passion overwhelmed me.
Eyes sunk deep, deep. Who was that old man seeing beyond those retinas?
[It’s hard. ‘Knowing’ and ‘recalling’ differ. Like a mage’s enlightenment—explanation makes true grasp harder. I won’t waste words and ruin your long prep. As one who respects and admires Hide, never.]
Ottoman stated firmly.
[Frustrating and curious, I know.... But you’re not ready. Not for all your pasts, not for the plan,]
[Not for facing what’s coming head-on.]
By now, the currents raged.
Ottoman looked up, face full of regret and pity.
Finally reached this near-impossible task’s end.
[Too soon. Far too soon.]
Hide wasn’t ready to face them yet.
『What now?』
[What else? Wasn’t this arranged for such a moment? Part of the flow.]
The old man and dragon nodded, steeling themselves.
In place of the plan’s oblivious mastermind, to greet the guest at the door.
Kudududuk!
Rocks blanketing the airship crumbled like lies, as dragon and mage stepped forward.
Two figures amid shattered debris.
[One longed-for face, one not.]
『Long time, Saladin. And.... traitor.』
The dragon’s lone eye flashed rage.
The one who left indelible scars.
The one who made the world thus.
Their enemy.
Usurper.
System.
She answered Aldar Shax’s spat words.
“....As a resident of this world, I’ve been granted a proper name. Please use the accurate one.”
『Overkill for the likes of you.』
“Judgment’s personal.”
Brushing off the dragon’s fury, she glanced past dragon and old man.
“First time meeting. Hide.”
The System treated him politely, as with all players.
“Administrator System. Current name: World.”
“Call me World.”
The System beamed a dazzling, unreal smile, introducing her new name.
****