85
I Killed the Demon King. It Was a Mistake.
Chapter 85
Caesar paused for a moment, then opened his mouth.
"However, the time paradox problem still remains unresolved. If the future is continuously being written, why isn't the 37th Arch Duke present?"
That was the most puzzling question.
Laar Arch was originally supposed to die next year, with the 37th Arch Duke succeeding him.
However, in that conference room, the 37th Arch Duke was not visible.
"Originally, the 37th Arch, my son, would have presided over the meeting. But shortly after the Demon Realm War broke out four years ago, the 37th Arch suddenly disappeared."
"Do you mean he didn't appear in the conference room at all?"
"To be precise, he hasn't appeared since exactly 6 AM after the conference. Even more strangely, all records of the 37th Arch Duke's participation in the conference were completely deleted from the Akashic Record."
"I don't understand what that means."
Laar Arch pointed to the Akashic Record.
"Didn't I say? The Akashic Record contains all records of what happened in this Great Ark Library. In other words, the Akashic Record is already a completed history, whether viewed by the 1st Arch or myself or the 37th Arc. It can be considered like an already completed storybook."
Caesar felt goosebumps.
"What you mean is..."
"Yes. Originally, this Akashic Record was destined to be severed and destroyed during the 37th Arch Duke's generation. I don't know exactly how it would be destroyed, though."
"But the Akashic Record is still being written now. Does that mean it won't be destroyed?"
"No one knows. But what's certain is that from my perspective, the future changed immediately after the Demon Realm War broke out four years ago. We call that point the 'singularity'."
Laar looked at Raven and Caesar.
"That's why I never expected you two would find Moonflower. And I didn't expect you to find the Akashic Record. Because it wasn't written that way."
"Then how were you already waiting for us?"
Laar handed Caesar a small notebook.
"You two handed this notebook to my past self and explained it. Later, when you return, hand it over to me."
Laar took out a handkerchief and coughed.
The deep cough suggested he wasn't in good health.
"Returning to the main point, we are searching for that singularity. We don't know if it's an object, a person, a demon, an animal, or an event. But what's certain is that this singularity is exercising real-time influence significant enough to distort the Imperial history."
"Do you have a reason to be so certain?"
"The Demon Realm War is a prime example. Originally, the Demon King was not supposed to die in the Devil King's Castle, but was destined to die at the Black Coast in the southeastern end of the Demon Realm."
Caesar now felt he could experience the butterfly effect of his actions.
Killing the Demon King in the Demon King's Castle while in Barre's body.
The butterfly effect of that action had led him to stand here.
"However, after the Demon King died in the Demon King's Castle, the nobles and soldiers lost their fighting spirit, and with the sickly crown prince, the war dragged on and eventually ended with a secret ceasefire negotiation with the demons."
This was the critical point.
The story flow Laar described was identical to the game flow Caesar knew.
But with the generation of the singularity, this flow itself had been completely reversed.
That means...
'No matter how I look at it, am I the singularity?'
Laar coughed again and then spoke.
"That was the future the 37th Arch saw. Wizard Raven, that Barre you cherished, was originally destined to die in the Devil King's Castle."
"...How was he supposed to die?"
"I don't know. The 37th Arch didn't explain it to me. Anyway, we are contemplating how to handle this unpredictable, real-time changing future. To make that judgment, we believe we must precisely identify what this 'singularity' is. And we have already identified several candidates."
With those words, Laar maintained eye contact with Caesar for quite a while.
He seemed to understand without using psychometry.
If the end of the Akashic Record matched one of the game endings Caesar knew, the original 'Caesar' was a character who never stood out.
In any of those endings, 'Caesar' never appeared.
Laar probably considered Caesar a promising singularity candidate.
...Because Caesar had been so conspicuous.
Of course, the reason they couldn't definitively confirm Caesar as the singularity was that it remained unproven, and also because Caesar was a 'doppelganger'.
"Especially you two have deviated significantly from the future trajectory we know. That means either you two are the singularity or deeply influenced by that singularity."
Cough, cough.
Laar coughed again.
"Sorry. I'm not feeling well."
"Not at all."
"So I want to ask you two a favor. Find out what that singularity is. If we can properly utilize this singularity that changes the future, we might be able to prevent the continental war that's about to come."
Raven tilted her head slightly.
"The continental war?"
"I'll refrain from speaking about that future. Because my words could significantly distort your future."
Caesar felt he knew the nature of this war without having to hear about it.
It was the 'Demon Flood'.
After all, the reason for creating the Ark was to prevent the continent's destruction due to the ‘Demon Flood'.
Caesar decided to ask one last unresolved question.
"I have one thing I'm curious about."
"Go ahead! Ask."
"How do the current Arch Duke and other dukes remember the 37th Arch Duke? If it's not written in the Akashic Record, shouldn't they not remember it?"
"That's the strange part."
Laar coughed again. This time, blood came from his mouth.
He wiped the blood with his handkerchief.
"That conference room is fixed at a specific time coordinate. When entering the room, it's magically designed so that you precisely enter the 'visiting time' of the 1st Arch Duke."
"We definitely saw the 37th Arch Duke from the 0:00 AM meeting to the 6:00 AM meeting. At that time, the Akashic Record also stated that the 37th Arch Duke was present."
"But after the singularity occurred, suddenly all content related to the 37th Arch Duke disappeared."
Laar spoke while looking at the Akashic Record that was still being written.
"This has never happened before. An error in the Akashic Record. I'm not sure if it's a flaw in the great dragon's magic or if we saw an illusion. But it would be too strange to say that all 36 of us were mistaken."
"So what do you plan to do?"
"We've concluded that the Akashic Record has been broken by the singularity. So it's important to find this singularity."
"What do you plan to do once you find it?"
Laar made an unreadable expression.
Should he just close his eyes and use psychometry this once?
...No.
It's too dangerous right now.
"We'll have to have a meeting."
Caesar heard it as words that could mean ‘we might kill it.’
The Arch Duke staggered slowly towards the armchair.
"Are you feeling okay?"
"I need to rest a bit now. This is the end of what I wanted to say."
Laar waved his wand.
A path appeared.
"The timing is just right. Follow this path to find me. And tell them to hand over the notebook and that I'll be waiting at the Akashic Record at exactly 6 PM."
Laar sat in the nearby armchair.
"Don't forget my request. Find out if the singularity is a person, a situation, or an object. If you do, I'll support you with all my power."
The Arch Duke looked at Caesar with weak eyes.
"Can you do that?"
Caesar and Raven nodded.
"We'll look into it."
"Thank you. We'll meet again later."
Laar lay comfortably in the armchair and closed his eyes.
Like he was dead, Laar fell asleep instantly.
***
Raven and Caesar walked without saying a single word.
Both were lost in deep thought.
'Now I understand why the Arch Duke welcomed the protagonist so warmly in the game.'
Starting as a wizard and reaching the Akashic Record, there are only two possible endings.
One is the first hidden ending called the 'Ark Ending'.
The other is the bad ending due to death.
The Arch Duke somehow knew the devils would devour the continent, and had therefore been manufacturing the 'Ark' for a very long time to save a select few humans from the devils.
By starting as a wizard and faithfully performing the tasks assigned by the Arch Duke, the Ark would be completed before you know it, and escaping the continent on it would be the Ark Ending.
If you fail to create the Ark or it gets destroyed by devils, it becomes a bad ending resulting in death.
If we consider the bad ending as equivalent to a game over and thus not a viable option, the Arch Duke in the game would have confirmed the success of the 'Ark Ending' through the Akashic Record via the player.
That's why the Arch Duke would have actively helped the player.
‘I know too little.’
Although I have lived in this world for four years and have seen all the endings of the Valent saga, I feel that there is more that I do not know than what I do know.
In the first place, since the future that Caesar originally knew has completely deviated, there will be even more unknown things from now on.
Is it just an illusion that the situation Caesar is currently experiencing seems very similar to the situation the Arch Dukes are experiencing right now?
At that moment, Raven called out to Caesar.
"Sir Caesar."
"Yes?"
Caesar looked at Raven.
Raven was looking at Caesar with eyes that seemed to have made a decision.
"Do not meet with the Arch Duke."
"...What?"
What nonsensical statement is this?
If Caesar and Raven do not meet the Arch Duke, the future they had met with other Arch Dukes would completely disappear.
"I cannot understand. Can you tell me why?"
"What time is it now?"
Caesar checked his pocket watch.
"It's 7:55 PM."
"What were you doing around this time?"
"Um... I would have just arrived at the library and be wandering around every corner."
To be precise, it was the moment when he was searching for the 'Blue Edge Shadow' to find the Moonflower.
"Right now, the Arch Duke would be in a meeting with the heads of several families, including the Redfield family. The meeting will probably end around 10 PM."
"How do you know that?"
"Because I was in that meeting room."
Only then could he understand the reason why the Arch Duke made a time slip at 11:59.
The point at which Caesar met the Arch Duke was later than the point when Caesar and Raven arrived at the Akashic Record.
"Immediately after the meeting ended around 10 PM, I entered my private room and read a book, and Sir Caesar came to my private room less than a minute later. Then one hypothesis arises. If we are a singularity, no, if one of us is a singularity, we can change this future."
"What are you talking about? The Akashic Record at the current point has been completed. It means it has already been written."
"No. We do not know when we met the Arch Duke. Only the Akashic Record and the currently resting Arch Duke know that."
Caesar immediately understood what Raven was trying to say.
"The barrier of ignorance. You're suggesting we cause a time paradox using that?"
"Yes, that's right. Even if the magic entangled in this Great Ark Library pushes us, if we do not open our mouths, the Arch Duke will not know that we came from the future."
"But there's also the barrier of history. What will happen will happen. Even if we try to deviate, we will eventually have to meet the Arch Duke."
"Of course, that hypothesis is also correct. But that was when there was no singularity."
Caesar slowly traced Raven's words and organized his thoughts.
"If one of us is a singularity... No, precisely speaking, if we are an existence that can change even a predetermined future, it means we can create events that would not have happened."
"You understand quite quickly. How about it? Do you have thoughts of trying?"
To be honest, he's a bit scared.
What if a bigger problem erupts from this?
'How would my past self have acted?'
He would have certainly received the same proposal from Raven.
If he accepts, Caesar will follow the future flow that the Arch Duke saw, and if he does not accept, he will either pioneer a new future or inevitably meet the Arch Duke due to the 'compulsion' of the Akashic Record.
'How to do this... Just a moment.'
Caesar suddenly felt his range of thinking had expanded.
Certainly, the Arch Duke told Caesar that 'Caesar knows as much as Caesar tells him'.
Assuming that statement is true, it means the Arch Duke might not have known that Caesar knows how to use 'psychometry'.
Because the Arch Duke does not perfectly know about 'words', he might not have understood the word 'psychometry' itself.
If the Arch Duke's words are a lie, it means he can interpret 'psychometry'.
Then he would have no need to say such a thing.
Because he would almost know everything about Caesar through the Akashic Record.
So why did he say that to Caesar?
'What if he threatened to reveal all of Caesar's information that cannot be interpreted by the Akashic Record?'
If we assume he deliberately said this to instill this sense of pressure, it makes sense.
Caesar has never felt this pressured since falling into this world.
Caesar clenched his fist.
"Let's do it. If we succeed, we can screw over the dragon's legacy, right? Sounds interesting."