External Records (5)
Blessing of the Chain God
During this playthrough, the character will absolutely obey the player's commands.
This was the blessing I had been needing all along. To control that fool Alan as I pleased.
And so, I began my 101st playthrough.
'With Absolute Obedience, he should at least be able to handle a few wolves.'
Alan usually froze up and couldn't do a thing whenever he encountered a wolf, but with Absolute Obedience, that much was easily solved.
I was a bit annoyed that he had gone ahead and learned Swordsmanship (B) on his own, but since this was an important playthrough, it was better than him dying some absurd death. Besides, having a swordsmanship skill he could use right away seemed better for him now than the Precocious trait.
After that, Alan moved much more cleverly than I expected. No, actually, it was mostly just as I had planned.
'I knew he grew smarter with every playthrough, but...'
It was even more pronounced in this playthrough. Perhaps he was relying on my Absolute Obedience, because he began forging new paths much more aggressively. Thanks to that, he became the first Alan I had ever raised to enter the Trial.
Every hero faced a different Trial. Among them, Alan's Trial was one I had never seen before. A trial of crossing an endless desert on foot.
Alan walked through the desert for a very long time. I only intervened with Absolute Obedience occasionally, like when he needed to drink more water.
For some reason, I felt more inclined to just watch him rather than help. The sight of Alan walking through the desert somehow overlapped with my past self. The proof I was trying to establish by raising Alan—it felt like this was a miniature version of that struggle.
Walking like that, Alan eventually collapsed. It wasn't that he had reached his absolute physical limit. Based on my experience raising him, I knew Alan still had the strength to stand back up. But whether he actually would stand up was uncertain. After all, I had faced a similar situation myself. And back then, I had ultimately failed to stand up.
That was why I kept watching him. I was curious to see if he could stand up on his own.
I waited and waited... and just as I was about to use Absolute Obedience on the wolves lunging at him—
Alan, who had been still for a moment, stood up on his own. Then, he used his Holy Relic to drive the wolves away.
It felt as if the first button of my proof had finally been fastened.
Alan's adventure continued after that. Though he made mistakes at times and made decisions different from what I would have chosen, I decided to trust him. I only helped him with Absolute Obedience when he truly needed me, or in moments of dire crisis.
Perhaps because I had raised him through a hundred playthroughs, there was a strange sense of kinship between us. Thanks to that, I could immediately understand why he made certain decisions in most cases. Even when it was hard to understand, guessing the reasons behind his choices was entertaining in its own way.
But eventually, a problem arose.
It happened around the time I was minimizing my interference with his swordsmanship, after seeing Libero's dialogue about how the swordsmanship I was helping him with had its limits. Still, when I got frustrated, I couldn't help but trigger Absolute Obedience.
The real issue was the Absolute Obedience I used during one of Alan's crises.
Lately, Alan had been making decisions contrary to mine more and more. The trigger was when he complacently spared a bandit's life. I couldn't let Alan die, so I used Absolute Obedience.
And ever since then, Alan became wary of Absolute Obedience.
This wasn't what I wanted. I had already been trying to limit its use as much as possible, precisely because I was worried he would grow wary of it.
'Damn it.'
As various unresolved problems piled up, Alan headed to the Trial. Of course, I thought that was a good decision too.
His Trial began. I immediately recognized the setting of the Trial, because it perfectly matched the 1st to 100th playthroughs of the Alans I had raised.
But of course, that wasn't the biggest problem.
'Absolute Obedience is banned?'
It made sense, of course. The Alans up to the 100th playthrough never had a trait like Absolute Obedience.
I was anxious. Could Alan really do well without Absolute Obedience?
Making my worries look foolish, Alan navigated the Trial perfectly fine without it. This Alan was stronger than any of the Alans I had raised in the previous hundred playthroughs.
There was only one difference I could think of.
'Was it the first Trial?'
When Alan stopped in the desert. What had happened to him then?
Come to think of it, that was exactly when Alan had truly started to change.
'What was he thinking? What was he feeling?'
There was no way for me to know. But one thing was certain: because he stood up there, he was able to make it this far. If he had given up back then without even trying, this present would never have existed.
Treating the records of the previous playthroughs as his past, Alan fought desperately to change it, and finally succeeded in seeing through the Trial.
But just as it was about to transition to the Trial's reward screen, something unexpected happened.
A loading screen appeared again, and Alan was sent back to the 13th playthrough.
'Why?'
My question was answered before long.
He sought out Libero and began training in swordsmanship. It was the same in the next playthrough, and the one after that.
'He's putting in an unbelievable amount of effort.'
Looking at that effort, which bordered on madness, I minimized the app player on my computer screen.
My own reflection stared back at me from the dark desktop.
The version of me who had lost his legs, using the excuse that he could no longer run, trying to prove something through Alan.
'What on earth was I doing?'
The proof had been established long ago. While I hadn't taken a single step forward, Alan had grown so strong.
I hovered my cursor over the minimized app player to look at Alan again. Even without me, he had become better at swinging his sword than ever before.
'Maybe I should start studying coding again.'
I didn't think it would be easy. Just like swordsmanship, it was a field teeming with geniuses I might never catch up to, no matter how hard I tried. But it was still better than giving up without even trying.
'Before that.'
I looked around my messy room.
'I should clean up first.'
My eyes fell on the cigarette butts piled in an empty chicken bucket. After dumping them all into a trash bag, I hesitated for a moment before tossing the unsmoked ones in as well.
It was then. Suddenly, my smartphone vibrated.
I turned on the screen, swiped away the low battery warning, and saw a text message.
'What is this?'
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