Chapter 72
Chapter 73
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 72
Chapter Title: The Truth of the World
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Words I heard with my own ears, yet couldn't believe.
The words from Melissa's mouth were enough to shake the foundations of my common sense.
"Yeah. First time hearing it. Both House Noir and you."
"...What do you mean? Our house is one of the Founding Houses... one of the seven families..."
"No, that setting didn't even exist in the first playthrough."
Melissa said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Without a shred of falsehood.
As if everything she said was the absolute truth.
No way.
That couldn't be.
The continent's greatest magitech powerhouse, Ethersia.
The seven Founding Houses that established this nation
were the foundation of Ethersia itself—the very starting point that allowed this country to exist.
And our House Noir's founder...
A notorious phantom thief known even across the neighboring continent.
On nights when the moon hung in the sky,
with the power to steal anything in the world—
he provided decisive aid to Ethersia's first emperor in founding the nation.
Though the fact that our house's founder was a thief was top secret,
it was widely known truth that House Noir had made enormous contributions to the founding.
But... Melissa denied it all.
The feats recorded in history,
in folktales,
and in the imperial chronicles.
She declared they had never existed in the first place.
'A lie... It's a lie...'
Yes.
An absurd lie.
A nonsensical ploy to confuse me.
It had to be.
Yet House Noir's intuition told me otherwise.
Everything that woman said... might be true.
House Noir had been a lineage of thieves for generations.
Our sense for distinguishing truth from lies in others was sharper than anyone's.
An innate bloodline trait.
Training from the house itself.
Stealing futures and true feelings was merely concrete proof.
Even without those powers, our senses pierced to the essence more keenly than most.
And that House Noir intuition told me
that her words, unbelievable as they were, were undeniable truth.
'...No way.'
Clinging to my last hope, I stole Marian's true feelings.
「I only learned after possessing this body. That beyond the game world I knew, this world has its own unique history and culture. I thought the seven houses were there from the start, of course.」
What? Game?
Linking this world to a game...
Did Marian see this world as... a game?
'Or... could it be?'
Another unexpected piece of information popped up.
Trying to suppress the confusion
only fanned the flames, and my head began to throb.
'Calm down. Tackle it one piece at a time.'
For now, set aside the game talk.
Focus on the claim that Ethersia's Founding Houses never existed.
Just moments ago—
Marian's true feelings.
They seemed to agree with Melissa,
yet weren't fully convinced her words were truth.
I steadied my breath discreetly and sorted my chaotic thoughts.
'Stay calm. Rash certainty is poison.'
I reviewed in my mind what House Noir needed to guard against.
Agitation.
Narrow vision.
Rash certainty.
Just in case, I peeked deeper into Marian's true feelings.
「Well, there were other unique orders to this world too. But once I learned that, I couldn't treat it lightly as just the game world anymore. I learned how desperately my sister and Xenon oppa had endured.」
Xenon.
That name again.
Who the hell was this Xenon?
Once more, I stole Marian's true feelings.
「Well, from the moment a gate connected to this place opened in my original world, it was hard to take it lightly anyway. The boundary between game and reality completely collapsed.」
「And if we fail to clear it... a disaster hits my home world directly.」
My eyes widened at Marian's true feelings for a split second.
...Disaster?
A disaster occurs?
I reviewed the information in my head again.
Clear.
The condition: defeat Ruena.
They'd failed that... at least six times,
and as a result, a disaster struck Marian's world?
Why repeat it six times?
If failure triggered a disaster each time, there'd be no reason to fail six times over.
'Wait.'
Then it hit me.
The reason Xenon made them repeat this.
'It's not rewinding after failure—it's rewinding right before failure.'
Suddenly, the puzzle pieces clicked perfectly.
Xenon wanted to prevent the disaster.
That disaster would ravage Marian's world and this one alike.
In the futures I'd seen, the Ruena who killed me always stood alone amid ruins.
For now, assume everything they said was true.
The disaster doesn't occur.
But failure never ends.
Because Xenon kept looping this world somehow.
At least six loops.
I'd thought they were identical repeats,
but each time, changes they called "variables" occurred.
"Yeah. Seventh regression, first time hearing it. Both Celen and House Noir."
"Right. Celen Noir. I know of you, but you're a first for me."
"Looks like you're this playthrough's variable."
Melissa called me a variable.
The seven houses were one too.
House Noir, with me in it, included.
Once more—
I reviewed Melissa's words.
"Possessors never side with Ruena Eliad."
"Outsiders who possessed bodies, and people like me repeating regressions in this world—they see Ruena as a disaster that must be eliminated."
"She has to die for this damn loop to end."
"That's the clear condition, according to the outsiders."
It probably stops only when Ruena is gone.
If they can't defeat Ruena, this hellish loop continues.
Melissa's words.
Marian's true feelings.
All consistently pointed to one truth.
Ruena Eliad.
She was the culprit endlessly destroying this world.
Unconsciously, I bit my lip.
Right then—
Melissa looked at me and smirked again, one corner of her mouth rising.
Her shrill voice grated unpleasantly in my ears.
"Yeah, from that look, your head's finally turning, huh?"
"......"
"I get it. Hard to believe. This world's truth, or that you originally never existed. All of it."
Her gaze unpleasantly probed my chest.
That reaction was pure triumphant glee, savoring my turmoil.
Experience from seven regressions.
Her overconfidence based on it was disgustingly arrogant.
I stared silently at Melissa.
On the surface, it looked like I was utterly cornered.
But coldly analyzing... it was far from that.
On the contrary—
I held the advantageous cards,
and she was shaking me to steal them.
Yes.
That thing Marian called a status window.
I grinned and seized ownership of the status window.
Then,
without hesitation, pressed '↺'.
Marian, who had been fine moments ago, rapidly weakened.
As if the energy drained from her body in an instant, she staggered and collapsed to the ground.
Seeing that, I smirked, lifting one corner of my mouth.
"Aaaah—! Mine—!"
"......"
"Yours? It's mine now."
"...You bastard."
For the first time, the leisure vanished from Melissa's eyes.
As expected—
In this situation, I held the initiative.
They had a huge weakness exposed to me,
while I'd only suffered conceptual confusion, no real loss.
'Actually, perfect. They don't even know I'm from a thief family.'
I chuckled, pretending to fiddle with the panel right in front of Marian.
Another scream echoed.
A bit more deflated than before pressing '↺', but still.
I hurled the panel with all my strength.
It lodged perfectly into a withered tree at the edge of the courtyard.
I grinned at Marian, who stared blankly at it.
"There, I tossed it. Go get it."
"Urgh...!"
Ownership was still mine anyway, so touching it wouldn't help.
Marian trudged off,
a bit faster than a turtle, toward the withered tree.
Seeing that, Melissa's face twisted even more than before.
As expected.
That panel was probably...
something they absolutely couldn't lose, core to them.
Whether they lacked learning ability, thick skulls,
or hadn't realized I could steal ownership too.
Their desperate grab for it made the answer clear.
'From the moment that woman appeared before me, it was obvious anyway.'
I beamed at Melissa.
Not wearing a shameless mask,
but repaying her earlier mockery in kind.
Indeed...
My revenge hit perfectly.
Melissa, smile utterly gone, opened her mouth with a murderous glare.
"You bastard..."
"Bastard? Senior, mind your manners. I'm from a Founding House, you know."
"Ha! Didn't you hear me earlier? Celen, Noir? That baseless..."
"No. Enough with the baseless settings, nonexistent origins—spare me the nonsense."
I straightened my disheveled sleeves from throwing the panel.
House Noir's intuition.
Aide to Eliad.
That was my position, the foundation that made me who I am.
It might be a nonexistent setting to them,
but to me, it was reality—my entire life.
Father, Mother.
Sister Rapina, Trisha.
Eldest brother Aron and the utter scoundrel second brother.
My daily bloodsucking boss who
leads Eliad—Kasian Eliad, Ruena's father.
And... my one and only childhood friend, Ruena.
Every part of my life wasn't so flimsy as to be denied by someone's words.
Having straightened my attire, I smirked and spoke.
"I'm Celen Noir. Fourth son of House Noir, symbolized by the moon, and aide to Ruena Eliad, next heir of House Eliad."
"......"
"Just one thing, senior."
I strode toward Melissa.
My large frame and shadow completely engulfed her.
Shedding all pretense, I looked down at her coldly.
"Regression, possession, whatever."
"......?"
"Don't mess with my job."
House Noir hates having things stolen from us.
Recalling the instinct flowing in House Noir's blood, I glared icily down at Melissa.