40
Chapter 40
'What the hell did Asel give me?'
I couldn't help but think that.
This was a scam of the highest order. It had a grandiose name like the Gospel of the Future, yet the words inside were like this?
How is this any different from a random internet horoscope?
This is seriously just incomprehensible nonsense.
'I guess I can't get a refund or anything....'
I felt like writing a long complaint right then and there, but it wasn't like it would change anything.
[Sometimes it is better not to know.
Keep your eyes covered until the day you are destined to understand everything.]
In the end, I let out a sigh as I looked back at those incomprehensible instructions.
'Well, I kind of expected this to some extent.'
For starters, this was something written by the villain in the previous timeline.
A used item was a used item; the Gospel had less than half a page left in it.
The rest was completely filled with the plans the villain had executed in the previous timeline.
So the instructions couldn't possibly be specific.
It only had enough space for three or four lines of text.
If it detailed the future extensively, it would naturally go onto the next page.
'Besides, prophecies are usually ambiguous by nature.'
You don't understand what it means at first, and only realize its true meaning at a crucial moment.
There are few cliches as standardized as this one.
In that sense, such vague suggestions and instructions could be considered orthodox.
'So how exactly am I supposed to interpret this?'
In the end, there was only one thing I could do in this situation.
I couldn't rewrite what was already written, anyway. I just had to make use of it somehow.
I looked at the text once more and began trying to deduce its meaning.
It is better not to know.
A day will come when I understand everything.
Those were the two points contained in that text.
......Sure enough, the more I looked at it, the more mind-boggling the sentences were. Especially the first part.
Telling me to cover my eyes because not knowing is better for my situation.
It's telling me that I'm ignorant of something, while also teaching me that finding out what it is will be a disadvantage to me.
'What kind of situation would even lead to that?'
I'm missing some important fact, but because of that, things are actually working out better.
Does that even make sense?
I couldn't grasp the situation at all—how such a thing could even happen.
'But then again, it's telling me not to try and deduce this.'
It said it would be better for me if I didn't figure it out.
In the end, the only choice I had was to live as if I had never seen this prophecy.
If I just waited, the day mentioned in the prophecy would eventually come.
And at the right moment, I would realize everything.
It was somewhat ironic.
I had clearly used the Gospel to resolve my questions, but they had only increased.
'I guess I just have to be thankful it didn't say anything ominous and move on.'
For example, it didn't instruct me to kill myself, saying my goal was absolutely unattainable, the world would be destroyed, and I would die a gruesome death.
'It was really like that in the previous timeline.'
Since I would be killed by the protagonist no matter what I did, it had given me advice on how to kill myself for a painless death.
Compared to that, this was an absolute godsend.
At the very least, this meant my future was quite positive compared to what I had thought.
There was a slight possibility that I could prevent the destruction and reach the happy ending I wanted.
Just confirming that was enough.
My feelings of despair had somewhat improved.
'Honestly, it's a bit disappointing that I couldn't figure out the trigger for the destruction.'
Like how someone is a villain, so I should kill them.
Or how killing a certain person would make dealing with the Final Boss easy from the start.
I had been hoping for that kind of content, so it was a little hard to shake off the disappointment.
'But I definitely gained some information.'
That was obvious.
The very existence of that Gospel was telling me another fact.
'There was definitely a Former Hero.'
Skimming through the pages of the Gospel, the person presumed to be the protagonist of the previous timeline was mentioned a few times.
However, for some reason, only their name was strangely blacked out.
Combining that with the fact that locals here like Miss Rubia, Ciel, and Rien had never heard of the Former Hero....
The conclusion was simple.
Some sort of Cognitive Alteration had taken place.
For some reason, the Hero had been erased from this world by someone.
This was a world line that didn't correspond to any of the original story's routes.
Knowing that, predicting the mastermind was easy.
'What the hell are those Empire bastards up to?'
When crazy things happen, pointing the finger at the Empire is right nine times out of ten.
Even if I scour all my knowledge of the previous timeline, I can't pinpoint the method. But at least it's obvious who did it.
'As I thought, I need to look a bit more into the Empire.'
However... unfortunately, it was hard to find a suitable Informant.
Miss Rubia said her relationship with the Empire had soured a bit after she canceled the cure deal last time.
She had forced her way into disrupting the deal between the Mastermind and the Empire, earning their bad side.
Besides, she didn't look like a Spy at all. With that personality of hers, it would be stranger if she *could* be a Spy.
'I guess I have no choice but to put this on hold.'
That was the conclusion I reached, but...
Something was strange.
I had a bizarre hunch.
A person with some ties to the Empire, who wanted to cooperate with me, and who was somewhat skilled in acting and politics.
A weird hunch that such a person would just walk right in on their own two feet.
'Is this thing even working properly?'
I couldn't help but doubt the performance of the Whispering Earrings. This thing definitely should have an intuition-enhancing function attached to it.
Yet for some reason, there was no difference from last time.
It was missing the mark to a suspicious degree.
Was my intuition just so poor that even when enhanced, it was only at this level?
It was completely incomprehensible.
*****
After finishing organizing the Artifacts, I called in Miss Rubia and Rien.
The Black Market hadn't just yielded Artifacts.
Thirty children.
We needed to discuss various things regarding the Slaves we had rescued.
Ciel was still resting and recuperating.
I didn't want to bother her while she was resting, so I decided to just talk with the other two for now.
And.......
"Why on earth are you so nervous?"
Miss Rubia, looking completely terrified, caught my eye.
We were just having breakfast and discussing a few things.
If anyone else saw this, they'd think the actual Cthulhu was sitting at the dining table.
"A-ah, no, I'm not nervous or anything!"
Miss Rubia denied it so unconvincingly.
Seriously, I couldn't read this woman's mind at all.
'I thought she was scared of me, but that wasn't it either.'
Since she always had strange reactions when talking to me, I'd made the foolish guess that she was scared of me.
I told her I had no intention of harming her and that I was always grateful.
I even brought up a 'Mana Oath,' telling her to let me know if I ever became a burden or if there was anything she wanted me to change.
Yet, that hadn't worked either.
'I guess I just have to hope that throwing money at the problem actually works.'
I don't know what she's worrying about, but I just hope her mood improves once she starts making a fortune.
Eventually, I returned to the main point and brought up the children.
There were many things that needed to be decided.
After all, I was taking responsibility for raising thirty children.
Naturally, I had no experience with something like this, so there were many things we had to put our heads together to figure out.
Because of that, I thought this part might be more difficult than expected.
That was certainly what I was thinking when I started the conversation.
'...What is this?'
The result was completely unexpected.
Miss Rubia, who always seemed clumsy and had the strangest reactions, suddenly changed her expression and began laying out various plans.
She looked like a completely different person from the one I had known.
Every discussion was handled swiftly and perfectly.
Complex details, such as the training location and schedule, were settled in an instant.
All I had done was mention the Prestigious Family Secret Training Method I had seen in the previous timeline.
With just that, everything fell into place perfectly.
'...I guess she didn't become a successful Entrepreneur for nothing.'
She might be clumsy in other areas, but she seemed incredibly professional when it came to work.
"S-so, is that everything then?"
Miss Rubia asked me after finishing all the tasks in the blink of an eye.
I was still in a state of shock, so I stood there dazed for a moment...
Then, I finally regained my composure and spoke.
"No, the most important part is still left."
It was only natural.
Those slave children probably still think I'm the Leader of the Black Fang.
It was unavoidable given the circumstances at the time, but I needed to correct that now.
Besides, if the training methods of the prestigious families that I knew from the previous timeline leaked, it could lead to unnecessary misunderstandings.
I wanted to avoid any situations where they might quit halfway through.
Therefore, I had to confirm their willingness to participate once more.
Whether they truly intended to join our side and if they were definitely ready for it.
"We need to tell them properly who we are and confirm their resolve."