Drink your justice(2)
"...Demian." I couldn't help but feel a touch of bitterness as I called the hero's name. The hero who knew the future. The one who had come closest to this world's truth. ...In the original game, the reason he obsessed over the female characters and tried so desperately to form couplings—perhaps it had all been the frantic struggle of a single person. That thought crossed my mind.
"Yes, I do." Demian answered while pushing the porridge toward my mouth. Because the game was set in a medieval fantasy world, it had the soggy, coarse texture of oatmeal. Still, I couldn't refuse. After all, this was all out of concern for my body, and even when I tried not to eat, he kept forcing the spoon on me.
"Do you know everything?"
"Let's finish the porridge first, then talk. Besides... I'd rather speak when no one else is around."
Demian glanced at Raybi, who was leaning against the wall inside the inn room, watching us without leaving.
"...Why must you speak only when no one else is present? I am your comrade as well."
The Saintess. Why wasn't she leaving? Watching someone feed an invalid couldn't be entertaining. Maybe Raybi was worried about me too.
"If you knew, you'd go mad or die." Demian warned her. Cthulhu. A being from beyond—this was forbidden knowledge by its very nature. In Lovecraft's original works, those who learned the truth almost always broke.
"...Me? The Saintess chosen by the Heavenly God? That cannot be." Yet Raybi wore a confident expression. Perhaps receiving the First Saint's recognition had boosted her self-assurance.
"Still, it might be dangerous." I tried to dissuade her. ...The most important thing in the Cthulhu Mythos was humanity's powerlessness. Like an ant being crushed, unable to resist as it marched toward ruin.
"When the Cardinal tried to devour you, you lost consciousness... I can't say you're safe either."
Besides, the one warning us was Demian, who knew the future. If simply telling people about Cthulhu could have resolved things, he would have done so already.
"...Must I really leave?"
"Raybi, didn't you already spend private time with Shade-nim earlier?"
Raybi looked ready to cry, but Demian countered her.
"...I believe I've been quite considerate already."
He was saying it was time for her to step aside. Perhaps he was trying to prevent Raybi and me from growing closer. Knowing the future, maybe he didn't want his destined lover stolen away.
"Raybi, just step out for a moment." I asked her again to give us some space. This conversation wasn't meant for outside ears. ...After all, we would likely have to discuss the original game's story.
"Understood. If Shade-nim is worried about me, then I have no choice." Raybi finally smiled faintly and nodded. It was an odd reaction. Almost as if she were revealing which of us—Demian or me—she valued more. ...Their expressions were so starkly different that I couldn't help but think that way. They were usually good at managing their faces, but those masks had cracked. Why?
"Shade-nim, please don't pay any mind to how Raybi approaches you." The moment the door clicked shut behind her, Demian spoke.
"She's simply confused. She's mistaking gratitude for saving her life for something else."
In other words, keep your distance.
"I already know that much."
"It's called the suspension bridge effect. People develop feelings for those they share a crisis with."
Few people actually fall for someone just because they were saved. Of course, I had helped ease some of Raybi's trauma... but that didn't mean she liked me. Probably.
"One moment, Shade-nim." —Thud! Demian kicked the door hard before sitting down. -Kyaaah! Raybi must have been pressing her ear to it. A bizarre sound came from the other side.
"...Shall we get to the main point, then?"
The main point. Demian spoke with a calm expression. The hero's face was composed, as if he had repeated this scene countless times—resolute and nonchalant.
"How exactly do you know the future?" I asked him. Like a Zen dialogue, I needed to understand this world's truth. "...Did you know about Cthulhu from the beginning? Is that why you approached me?"
When we descended into the underground cavity to save Raybi, Demian had said as much. The color out of space. The sole hope among countless futures. ...That was me.
"Yes, that's correct." Surprisingly, the hero admitted it readily. Perhaps realizing he could no longer hide it, his face looked almost relieved.
"My ability is... more accurately, close to 'future foresight.'"
"Close to it?" I frowned slightly at his wording. Saying it was "close to" future foresight might mean even he didn't fully understand his own power. ...Just like Raybi had suggested my ability might not be simple copying.
"Yes. I see countless worlds like hallucinations. Many of them never come to pass."
Demian nodded lightly at my words. So it was foresight, not regression or looping. That explained why covering his eyes had let me bind him with steel threads... and why his reactions to attacks had been strangely delayed. It all fit.
"So that's why it's 'close to' foresight? Because you also see possibilities that don't happen."
"Exactly."
"Hmm..." Something felt off. Imperfect future foresight. ...If he could only see probabilities and possibilities, why had the hero been so fixated on me?
"Then why ask for my help? The future you saw might not even come true."
"...Because some things are certain."
Demian bit his lip. "Among all those possibilities, there are shapes that appear in only one way."
"...What are they?"
"The god from outside, the Great Dreamer, the Sleeper of R'lyeh, the Lord of the Depths... You recognize those names, don't you?"
They were all epithets of a single being. The most famous entity in the Cthulhu Mythos—the one most frequently borrowed in popular literature.
"Cthulhu."
"Yes. A being whose very name one must be cautious about uttering."
When I spoke the Outer God's name, his expression darkened further. For the first time, I glimpsed despair on the hero's face.
"The first time I saw the world's end, I was about seven. Everyone around me started looking like corpses."
"......"
"Faces half-torn, bodies melting into liquid, merging with others into grotesque masses... It was horrific."
Demian let out a bitter sigh. His words carried countless emotions, like a silent scream.
"...Do you know what's even more absurd? No matter how hard I tried to change the future, the people around me only died in more terrible ways."
"You had proof?"
"Yes. At first, animals in the streets died. Then the servants in my household began falling ill."
"...Is there no chance it was all coincidence?"
But I remained cautious. No matter how I thought about it, Demian's foresight was too dangerous to accept at face value.
"Thirteen years ago, the Demon King personally led monsters and demons here, remember?"
"He did."
"What if that was an attempt to kill me? Would you believe that?"
Demian brought up the past. It must have been during the time I was resting nearby after ending the war with the neighboring country. I had saved people from the sudden monster and demon incursion back then. His words weren't wrong.
"...But they retreated right away."
"Well, yes. Perhaps a reason not to kill me appeared."
But that created a contradiction.
"A reason? Weren't the Demon King and the hero fated to fight?"
The original game's story was simple: the hero had to defeat the Demon King. Of course, every eight weeks the season reset, and new story chapters were released with each new season... along with new gacha character backstories and settings.
"As far as I knew, that was the case."
Some games had succeeded with this method—hellish live-service games that drew from various literary works and attracted new fans with each story update. But You Want to Become a Hero Like Me! hadn't. From the start, the original work had earned Demian the stigma of being an NTR game.
"Haha, Shade-nim, you really haven't noticed? I thought you'd figure it out by now."
Demian took my hand in both of his as he spoke. His grip trembled slightly, as if trying to hide his anxiety. Then the words that left his mouth were—
"...In truth, my real goal was never to meet and kill the Demon King."
It was a rather shocking statement.
"After becoming your comrade, Shade-nim, you never heard me mention that even once, did you?"
...Thinking back, that was true. He had only mentioned recruiting me as a comrade at the very beginning. Even while knowing the truth about R'lyeh beneath the Holy Kingdom, even while knowing of the Blood Knight's appearance, he had deliberately kept secrets and pretended his only goal was the Demon King.
Then what? Don't tell me... the true enemy of this world wasn't the Demon King, but... Cthulhu?
"Don't tell me—you're trying to eliminate Cthulhu..."
No. I stopped myself. I needed more time to think. 'There has to be another reason.'
If that were all, he wouldn't have handed Einherjar over to me so readily. He could have wielded it himself as the hero and slain the being. The sword named after Odin's warriors, prepared for Ragnarok. Even the Saintess Raybi's ravens were named Huginn and Muninn to match.
"Something like that. What do you think?"
Demian wore a bold smile. Seeing it, I racked my brain, pulling together everything I knew. The predetermined end, fate, the infinite loop... If there was a single hope, there was only one possibility. Demian had said this wasn't a gamble, but a choice for the future.
"...Don't tell me you believe I'm the one who can kill Cthulhu?"
In the end, I gave Demian the proper answer.
"Yes, that's correct. Because among all the futures I've seen, only you, Shade-nim, have ever changed the one that was certain."
With that, everything fell into place.