An Unbearable Future (1)
When the topic turned to the continent's strongest swordsman, one name invariably came up: Kiel, the Sword Saint.
For well over a decade, he had never once been defeated, no matter how renowned his opponent.
Since no one on the continent could best him with a blade, he was called the Sword Saint.
But when the topic turned to the continent's strongest warrior, the story shifted a little.
The Martial King, Ashe Baltar.
Every nation outside the empire unhesitatingly called Ashe Baltar the mightiest warrior alive.
The reason for that now lay right before Kiel's eyes.
"..."
Mikavel—a great city nestled in the heart of a sheer mountain range.
There, a man was compacting the mountains with his bare fists.
Sssssssss.
A colossal boulder turned to dust and vanished in a single blow.
A muscular man straightened up amid the cloud of dust.
'...He's big.'
No word fit him more precisely. His muscles, his height, his sheer bulk—one could almost mistake him for a descendant of the ancient giants.
His energy was violent, yet immaculate at the same time.
He was a martial artist worthy of the title "King of Those Who Walk the Martial Path."
In the next instant, his gaze met Ashe Baltar's.
A low, sharp breath escaped the man, and with a savage grin, he was in front of Kiel in a flash.
He laughed heartily and spoke.
"Kiel, I knew a man like you would see through my intentions and come here. As expected of the wisest warrior I've ever acknowledged."
"I do not know what you are talking about. I came here on a personal matter."
"..."
A brief silence settled between them.
"Did you not come because you realized why I was being so obstinate during the negotiations?"
"No."
"Hrm..."
Ashe Baltar scratched the back of his head.
"...Then what is this personal matter?"
"A question."
"Do I look like someone who answers just because——"
"Ashe Baltar, are you, too, a regressor?"
Silence fell again.
But it was a different sort of silence from before.
A crushing wave of energy erupted between them.
As the auras of two warriors who had reached the Pinnacle clashed, space itself began to warp.
"You have made a mistake. You have 'yet' to acknowledge me."
"..."
Shnnng.
Kiel raised his greatsword. An aura as black as his hair coiled around the blade.
"And since when does a dull-witted barbarian get to decide whom he acknowledges?"
At those words, Ashe Baltar grinned.
"Hahaha! The Empire's watchdog has grown quite bold!"
A crackling sound came from Ashe Baltar's neck. He tore off his upper garment and flung it aside. The bitter mountain cold was nothing more than a means to sharpen his senses.
Ashe Baltar thrust his right fist forward. Then he waggled two fingers.
"Come. Today, I shall beat that insolence out of you."
Before anyone could say who moved first, they had already launched themselves at each other.
*****
Another day in the Repentance Cave had arrived, same as always.
With Rebekah nestled in her arms, Olivia stared out the window.
-Ccccrrrrk!
The sky was splitting into two in real time. At a glance, it looked as if a dragon was tearing through the firmament.
But if that were the case, the Holy Kingdom could not possibly be this quiet. A dragon was an entity capable of annihilating an entire nation.
Nor could it be called a natural phenomenon.
No matter how biting the wind, it could not split the sky into a perfectly straight line.
'...Kiel.'
That sword strike was all too familiar.
A blade that carved through space itself.
The fact that Kiel had used that technique meant he had encountered a foe so formidable that he could not afford to hold back.
'...Is there anyone who fits that description?'
The last time Olivia saw Kiel, his level had been a mere 83. At that level, he was weaker than not just Melina but even the current Rebekah.
Even if he used his regression privilege, he would only reach 93.
At first glance, Kiel seemed weak, but that was a miscalculation.
That was because Kiel was one of the few late-blooming NPCs in Lactea.
Given enough time, he could easily surpass the other regressors.
The reason his level stagnated in the early nineties during the Genocide Run was that Olivia had subtly obstructed his growth.
What if there had been no interference?
The Genocide Run would surely have ended in failure.
After all, a Kiel who had advanced one step beyond 'Sword Saint' could even fight the Demon King to a draw.
'If that direction is...Mikavel.'
Having determined where the sword strike had originated, Olivia nodded to herself.
If the location was Mikavel, the slash made sense.
Because the Martial King was there.
Ashe Baltar.
If asked to pick the simplest person among all the regressors, one hundred out of a hundred would choose Ashe Baltar.
To speak favorably, he was a chad who lived for bloody combat. To put it bluntly, he was an uncontrollable idiot who knew nothing but fighting.
And Olivia's assessment usually leaned toward the latter.
Ccccrk...
The sky gradually returned to normal. Apparently, the two of them had finished their fight.
Ashe Baltar was likely the victor.
The slash of the Spatial Sword—Kiel's ultimate technique—had been visible, but the Fist Strike—Ashe Baltar's ultimate technique—had not appeared.
A few years from then might have been different, but at the moment, Ashe Baltar outranked him by a full tier.
Ashe Baltar held an overwhelming advantage in both years lived and experience.
He probably had not killed Kiel. To Ashe Baltar, Kiel was the sole warrior who could make him feel the exhilaration of battle. He would not kill him, if only because he would consider it a waste.
'...The future is changing faster and faster.'
Within the Clue, Rebekah and Esti had met. In reality, Kiel and Ashe Baltar had met. Melina was even stationed in the north.
'And Aria is suspiciously quiet.'
It was getting harder and harder to predict.
At this rate, by the end of this year at the earliest—or by early next year at the latest—the future would warp in completely unpredictable directions.
Before that happened, she had to win at least one more person to her side.
Olivia placed her hand on the head of the soundly sleeping Rebekah.
A notification window she had seen dozens of times rose before her.
[Clue #3]
[Use the memory of Imperial Year 993, July?]
As always, her consciousness flickered.
*****
"Urk."
The moment Olivia opened her eyes at the seashore, the first thing that welcomed her was a stench that stabbed at her nostrils. An enormous number of dead fish were underfoot, and each time her shoes crushed them, they delivered a ghastly sensation.
'...What's with this downpour?'
Torrential rain, ominously heavy, and the stench.
It was a horrific environment, but if that had been all, she could have just grimaced and moved on.
"What is that..."
Visibility was poor because of the driving rain, but amid the fish carcasses, she could make out human shapes. Olivia approached the shapes, and the next moment, words failed her.
Corpses so bloated that their features were barely recognizable. The only identifiable thing was the pattern embroidered on their clothing.
...They were Ikail people.
Olivia examined the bodies scattered haphazardly about.
The corpses numbered easily in the hundreds. Every last one was in a horrific state, as if they had been left unattended for an unthinkably long time.
Even if a massive cluster of bodies had drifted in from the open sea, a functioning city would have at least one cleaner on the scene. But she saw no cleaner.
She did not even sense any sign of life.
As if the entire city had died as one.
"...Wait."
Suddenly, an ominous premonition struck her.
A deeply, deeply ominous premonition.
[Skill 'Levitation' activated.]
Olivia immediately rose into the sky. And then she saw it.
Ikail, reduced to ruins.
"...Why is this place."
A single sentence surfaced in her mind.
⌜That day, half the capital sank.⌟
It was a familiar sentence.
Part of Esti's past, which unfailingly surfaced every time Olivia started her favorability grind.
⌜The sunken half became a Demon Realm.⌟
⌜And the remaining half came to be called Ikail.⌟
The collapse of a kingdom that had once been the hegemon of the east was recorded in the history books in only two lines.
A squelching footstep sounded. That footfall was so terribly familiar that it sapped her of the courage to turn around.
When she slowly turned her head, she saw Esti, drenched in blood.
In her hands, she held the bloated corpse of a man.
It was the body of the King of Canis.
In that instant, Olivia knew by instinct.
That 'Olivia' had chosen the worst possible method.
-Crunch.
Esti dumped the body onto the ground and looked her way. On her face, which had always remained perfectly composed, a smile bordering on madness was now etched.
"Heeu, ha, euhahah!"
[Esti Aquar]
Level: 93
Favorability: 80
Job: Wave Sorcerer
Title: Wave Catcher of Ikail, Princess of the Fallen Kingdom.
Within the tempest, the only sound was her manic laughter.
Olivia kept her mouth shut. Esti seemed to be yelling something at her, but she could not hear it clearly.
She did not want to hear it.
'...Why? How did it come to this?'
The first step in Esti's favorability grind was to silence the 'voice' ringing in her ears.
And the fastest way to silence that voice was to annihilate the very thing Esti had to protect.
This was the result.
Yes, she had certainly attempted this method during one of the countless runs.
But that had been so long ago that she could barely remember it anymore.
A time before she had even attempted the No-Kill Ending, let alone the Genocide Ending.
"...What about Rebekah?"
"Heu, heu..."
"Where is Rebekah?!"
Only then did Esti tilt her head.
"...The Saintess? Did you not hurl her out of the barrier with your teleportation magic?"
At those words, Olivia's head snapped up.
Just as Esti said, Ikail was isolated beneath a translucent barrier.
And Olivia instantly realized who had created that barrier.
'...Olivia.'
Olivia shoved past Esti and made for the city's outskirts.
The closer she got to the barrier, the more the bodies multiplied. Their faces clearly showed what they had felt in their final moments.
But 'Olivia' would have simply watched them die.
Because the things Esti had to protect included them—the people of Ikail.
Only after they had all been wiped out could the favorability grind for Esti truly begin.
She had not killed anyone. She had merely erected a barrier.
If there was a sin, it was only that she had not lifted the barrier.
Olivia's hands trembled faintly.
She had no idea what 'Olivia' had been thinking when she committed this atrocity, but one thing was absolutely clear:
What Rebekah must have thought when she saw it.
-Clank.
Then Olivia’s Ki Sense picked up movement.
The familiar clank of armor. Thousands of paladins in pure white armor stood arrayed in formation.
Among them were faces she knew.
But there was no hint of their usual good cheer.
[The ancient magic, 'Heavenly Prison Barrier' is being lifted.]
From the center of the paladins, a girl in full armor strode forward.
In her hand gleamed the Holy Spear that condemned evil.
"...Archmage Olivia."
['Saintess Rebekah' activates 'Angelification'!]
"I will judge you."