Chapter 127
Chapter 127
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 126
Chapter Title: Retry
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Aria Rias.
The protagonist of a game called Retry, she was a child who lived in a small mountain village and was loved by many people.
The game's developers had released quite detailed settings about her, and her petite, cute appearance was particularly striking.
As you play the game, you naturally fall for her bubbly charm and adorable actions.
But if you ask whether Retry was a success as a game, the answer is no.
In fact.
It flopped so badly that it couldn't have flopped harder.
It was what people called a game that stabs you in the back. The lively character clashed with the worst possible world setting, inflicting emotional damage on players, and it gained notoriety for that.
The gameplay itself could be considered decent.
However, the brutal world setting and depressing story didn't blend together as harmoniously as one might hope.
And the most grating element of all was the attitude of the protagonist, Aria Rias.
No matter what happened, she overcame it.
The girl always despaired and fell to her knees, but she always got back up in the end.
And at the end of it all, she wore a bright, innocent smile.
That felt so out of place to players that it provoked a sense of rejection.
Even so, I couldn't stop playing that game. Even after seeing the ending multiple times, I kept setting out to see it again.
Because that was the only thing I could do.
"The previous playthrough?"
Aria hesitated for a moment, as if unsure what I meant, but after a brief pause, she let out an exclamation and opened her mouth.
"Oh! Right! In the first playthrough."
Aria took a deep breath and answered with a hint of regret.
"In the end, everyone died. As you know, Professor, there are some endings in this world that can't be avoided."
"......"
"Where should I start?"
And so began Aria's story of the first playthrough—a bit scattered and not particularly well-organized.
* * *
The professor came to see me at the end of my second year.
It was right around the time winter break for second year was about to start.
At the time, the professor was hospitalized, but he insisted on coming to see me personally, with Professor Erika guiding him.
"Aria Rias."
Looking utterly exhausted, the professor sat in a wheelchair and let out ragged breaths.
"Yes?"
"Winter break is starting now. Where do you plan to go?"
The question was so sudden that I was a little flustered.
"Home? But who are you?"
"Tch!"
At that, the professor clicked his tongue and weakly struck the arm of his wheelchair with his fist. It didn't seem intentional; it looked like that was just the extent of his strength.
"Head to the Sahar Desert immediately. Now, in winter, is the perfect time. Find Hin, the master of the salt sword, and become his disciple. With your talent, you can master it all over winter break."
"Huh?"
It felt completely out of nowhere.
I was just thinking about going home to eat stew with my family!
"It's for your sake. Erika will accompany you, so go together."
"But, suddenly like this......"
"In the spring of your third year, you'll be glad you listened to me. Now go!"
Looking back now, the biggest reason I followed his words was probably because Professor Erika asked me separately afterward.
I'd heard she had something like multiple personalities and often attempted suicide.
Since it was like her final request, she asked me to just do it this once, so I went along.
Leaving the kingdom, passing through the Marias Great Forest, and arriving at the Sahar Desert, I really did meet Master Hin, the salt sword expert, and trained under him.
Just as the professor said, when I brought yellow crystal grass, he accepted me.
I also learned about my own talent. Turns out I had a knack for swordsmanship!
And then.
Surprisingly.
In the spring of my third year.
At that fresh, green season, the perfect moment arrived for the salt sword techniques I'd learned, as if it had been waiting.
The spring flower festival held in Robern.
A yeti brought by the circus troupe went berserk, and I saved my friend Florensia from danger there!
If I hadn't learned the salt sword, Florensia would surely have been seriously injured, or even died.
I went to visit Professor Deus in the hospital and told him about it.
Then Professor Deus said, quite matter-of-factly,
"You avoided the Florensia death route."
"Huh?"
I didn't understand what he meant at the time, but the professor immediately gave the next instruction.
"You need to take first place in the midterm exams this time. To do that......"
It was a bit sudden, but getting first in midterms wasn't a bad thing for me, so I followed.
Surprisingly, the top student in the year-end midterms got a private audience with the saintess who had visited Robern at the time.
The professor made me memorize exactly what to say word-for-word, and I did as instructed.
It was amazing.
I got to meet the saintess privately and even became close with her!
After that, everything proceeded smoothly just as the professor instructed.
Leorus became a creative genius.
He got good at water-attribute magic too, always giving his all at the front lines for us.
Happy started using a mana rifle from the Clock Republic and her skills improved dramatically.
Florensia's magic prowess reached a level comparable to Princess Elenoa, top-tier even in the academy.
Jin cut ties with his family matters.
No longer an assassin's family, he became an ordinary Jin, showing versatile talents alongside us.
I thought everything was going smoothly. Whenever we followed the professor's words, things really resolved in the best possible way.
Sitting on his hospital bed, he always issued instructions, and when we resolved things as he said, he'd nod as if it was only natural and give the next order.
But then.
During winter break of third year.
Exactly one year since we'd met.
He made a request of me.
"Find a black mage. Specifically, a necromancer."
It was the first time.
Professor Deus, who always gave commands, was asking without providing any information this time.
"There are only trivial gains to be had this winter break. So it doesn't matter if you do something else."
Professor Deus, who said that, looked even more emaciated, and the scars on his wrists had multiplied.
According to Professor Erika, he was now attempting self-harm even with injections administered by nurses.
He often screamed that the body belonged to someone else.
My friends and I set out to find a necromancer. It was quite difficult, but with the saintess's help, we eventually found one.
"Yes, I knew a day like this would come someday."
A grown woman in a black robe with purple eyes.
The necromancer, her face below the nose covered by a translucent black veil, faced death with a hollow voice.
"In the end, there might be no true end."
Her voice, filled with futile lamentation, made us feel uneasy, as if we were doing something we shouldn't.
But anyway.
The necromancer died, and we delivered the book she wrote on the basics of necromancy to the professor.
Then, exactly one month later.
The professor was discharged.
He said he'd completely eradicated the other personality inside him.
I had no idea what that meant at the time.
"From now on, I'll be traveling with you all."
He began acting as our guardian. Around that time, I had immense trust in the professor.
Thanks to him, I'd escaped death multiple times, and he always gave me exactly the skills I needed just before incidents happened.
But even that professor always seemed anxious.
Even when I perfectly carried out his orders, he never showed joy.
Instead, he'd bite his lip and repeat the same words.
"This won't do if it continues like this."
Why?
Even though we'd done our absolute best as he instructed, why was the professor always dissatisfied?
Time continued to pass like that.
In the spring of fourth year.
Professor Deus married Professor Erika.
However, the wedding was quite modest, and it felt more like a marriage of necessity than love for Professor Deus.
The Verdi Family didn't approve of him, after all.
He said he needed to form ties with the Bright Family to avoid being abandoned by his own.
Still, Professor Erika had no regrets. The woman who'd nursed him through all his illnesses truly loved Professor Deus.
And I think I was a little jealous too.
Because it felt like the professor, who always worried for me and made the best choices on my behalf, was being taken by someone else.
Maybe that's why.
I always wanted the professor's approval. No matter what great feat I accomplished or strong foe I defeated, he'd hear it calmly as if it was natural and move on to the next topic.
"Subjugate Dante, but do not kill their leader. Accept some level of sacrifice."
The black mage group we'd clashed with multiple times. We didn't know their goals, but they claimed to fight for the continent's salvation.
I thought this was my chance.
I thought I could resolve it exactly as the professor hoped.
When Dante's leader took my friends hostage.
I cut off the Dante leader's head without hesitation. Otherwise, everyone would have been in danger.
And so Dante was destroyed.
Their goals were utterly grandiose, but they certainly had the power to achieve them.
When the professor heard the story.
Bam!
He slammed the desk hard once and gestured with his hand.
"Get out."
"P-Professor?"
"Get out now. You no longer need to come see me."
Why?
Considering all the evil deeds Dante had committed, exterminating them was the natural thing to do.
"Was it because I killed the leader? But if I hadn't, my friends would have been in danger!"
"What does that matter!"
Bam!
Once again.
The professor slammed the desk violently and shouted.
"In the first playthrough, for you to save this world, you had to accept that level of damage! To avert the end of this damned world, some sacrifice is inevitable!"
"First playthrough? Huh? W-what do you mean?"
"You just had to follow my words, that's all!"
Professor Deus swept his hand over his forehead and said.
"It's over."
The professor was truly a mysterious person.
Everything happened just as he said.
Just a few weeks later, the continent truly became a hellscape.
There was no more room for the dead to lie.
The dead awoke and began wandering the continent without sleeping.
Evil spirits who died harboring grudges easily slaughtered the living.
Neighboring countries, with some knowledge of black magic, managed to cope for a while, but with too many dying, they gradually collapsed too.
Naturally, the kingdom that lost function first—and in an instant—was.
The Griffin Kingdom, which had blindly rejected black magic.
People died helplessly.
Mages, knights, priests.
Unable to even respond to the hordes of evil spirits, the kingdom fell.
Those killed by evil spirits became evil spirits themselves, unleashing their grievances on the dead and the living.
And in the end.
The professor fought against the evil spirits to protect me, whom he'd called his last hope until the very end.
Because he was a necromancer, he could at least resist them somewhat.
He even abandoned his fiancée.
That back of his as he saved me.
But his body had always been frail, and he'd learned necromancy late, and on his own at that.
The professor was pierced through the heart by an evil spirit and looked at me.
"If you get another chance, then......"
That was the end.
The professor fell to the evil spirits, and I too closed my eyes, unable to overcome the transcendent beings.
"If I'd listened to the professor, I could have saved everyone?"
With that regret.
It started over again.