Live the Life You Want

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"Live the life you want."

The words came from Diana's throat, yet they were spoken in my voice. That didn't mean it was some parlor trick of vocal mimicry, however.

Incredible. The sight burned my eyes. A golden current of power blazed before me with such intensity that it hurt to look directly at it. The amount of data was staggering. Descent's senses warned me that it held information so vast it would require condensing the souls of hundreds of people just to begin processing it.

If that were to swallow me... The ego that made me 'me' would melt away and become part of that collective legion of spirits. No matter how powerful my Descent ability or how exceptional my talent, the fact that I couldn't use mana placed a clear limit on what I could endure.

"To be precise, this is the end of the period where things must be forced. From now on, it is solely your freedom, your will, and your responsibility."

Yet that power did not engulf me. Instead, the boundless information melted away like sugar cubes dropped in water. All of it, simply to deliver those words.

"Why? Wouldn't it be more efficient for two regressors to just team up and handle everything?"

But that was that. I still couldn't accept it. Through long years and countless events, this Helio had become almost an entirely different existence from me. Like twins born at the same moment, separated in childhood, and finally reunited. Though they shared the same person, the same face, and the same soul, they had grown into completely different people, as if one had come from the west and the other from the east. The only thing we had in common was our shared root.

I understood it instinctively. If he descended on me, he could seize my body and become a new regressor. Setting aside my desire not to die, it was undeniable that doing so would be wiser, that he had lived longer, and that he was stronger.

"How much meaning could human notions of efficiency possibly hold for a god?"

Yet he didn't do it. Even though he could have taken my body and attempted it all again, he chose not to.

"Meticulous arrangements and coercive guidance only produce the same endings and the same weakness."

He simply lamented and sighed.

"Live the life you want, Helio."

With those final words, he disappeared. Only the glittering light remained to show that he had been there at all. Every single particle was the burned-out remnant of information, the final traces left by that power.

My talent let me effortlessly reverse-calculate the original quantity from those ashes.

He burned fifteen entire lifetimes just to say those words. Assuming twenty years per life, that was three hundred years of information gone in a flash. It drove home once again just how difficult and constrained regression truly was.

"I am already a failure. And not just once, but many times over."

Diana's voice reached me. It was as quiet and serene as always. Yet the weight behind her words was anything but light.

"Your failures don't guarantee my success, do they?"

"Hehe, I suppose that's true."

She acknowledged it.

"However, it's never the regressor who finds something new. It's always been you, the one living in the present. Look, we've only been together for less than half a year, yet you've already brought me Agatram and that promise—things I've never encountered in any of my previous cycles."

"...That..."

To be honest, it was difficult to relate to. I'd simply acted according to my own nature, yet here she was praising it as something miraculous.

"...At the beginning of every event, there was you."

As if she understood exactly what I was thinking, Diana took my hand. Her grip was warm, soft, and full of strength. Every part of it felt like expectation aimed directly at me.

"And so, I'm certain you'll be there at the end as well."

Honestly, it wasn't without pressure. Following a regressor's guidance had its frustrations, but it was also a comfortable path where I didn't need to bear responsibility or think too hard. Casting that aside to act on my own was definitely a burden.

But after seeing that, I can't just sit still.

Diana looked at me with misty, longing eyes. At the same time, she told me she was counting on me. It was a situation that stimulated both affection and passion at once. And I didn't lack the courage to shrink back in fear when faced with something like that.

"Alright, fine. Let's do it! I just have to move the way I want, right?"

"You still must complete the Pilgrimage."

"Well, I wasn't planning on smashing that too... You really are that kind of person, huh."

"…………"

Anyway, I decided to step forward more actively. The first thing to do was simple.

"Diana! Tell me about people who need help!"

I would fill the Spiral of Good Deeds while continuing my chivalrous path! It was the perfect chance to clear every normal and repeatable quest I'd been forced to skip in the game for efficiency reasons.

"Shall we start with the closest one?"

She smiled faintly and answered right away, as if she'd been waiting for the question.

"Uraaaaaah!"

Of course, that was a story for people with weak strength. I shoved my arm into the boulder and heaved. The ground around me shuddered violently.

"Oh my goodness, oh my goodness..."

"Is that even human?"

Amid gasps of shock and admiration, I finally ripped the boulder—buried deep in the earth—completely free.

"Huff... huff..."

This one had been a bit tough even for my strength.

What kind of hole looks like a meteor struck it...?

The boulder had been embedded like the tip of an iceberg, which explained why no one had been ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠able to move it before.

"Good heavens."

"No wonder nobody could clear it. Tsk tsk."

Among the onlookers, some were simply stunned by my strength. But since I hadn't turned anyone into a bloody pulp or collapsed a cliff, no one looked at me with terror.

Using strength is fine, but I should be a little more selective about how.

It was a lesson I'd learned the hard way.

"Whoa! Warrior sir, you're incredibly strong!"

"Goodness, thank you so much, my lord."

"Haha, this much is nothing!"

Thanks to that, I got to enjoy some pleasant praise. Righteous actions aren't supposed to seek reward, but human motivation is born from satisfying desires. Even my heart, which normally stirred at the sight of injustice, was quite generous in this regard.

Because of it, I was able to leave the village while pretending to be completely unfazed.

"Can you cast a soundproofing spell?"

"I can't use it myself, but I have a tool for it."

The boulder I had brought with my bravado rolled nicely down into the valley. Thanks to the silencer attached to the rock, there was no crash, but a light earthquake still shook the area for a moment.

"Next, next!"

"This way, please."

The next target was a bear that had settled nearby.

"Grrrrraaawr!"

The bear charging at us the moment it saw us didn't look like it was simply angry about territorial invasion. What filled its eyes wasn't fear or wariness, but pure joy.

"Is that a pet bear?"

"Yes, that's correct. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠It's the Narsos family's pet bear."

"What a shame."

Crack.

The bear that had been rushing toward me had its neck snapped instantly by a single flick to the bridge of its nose.

It was one of the man-eaters from the underground arena.

A beast used in cruel blood sports had no hope of rehabilitation. The only solution was to slaughter it on sight.

"We should deal with the ones who used it, too."

"Don't worry. I've already taken care of it."

"As expected of a regressor."

The Narsos family was a picture-perfect villainous noble house. If you had the information, taking them down wasn't difficult. In the game you'd have to visit their territory to gather intel and advance the quest, but since I already knew everything, there was no need.

Even if I remove them, their traces and roots will keep showing up...

Since she'd already cleared the way, I could simply handle them as they appeared.

"In your next life, be born as something cute."

I gave the bear a modest burial and offered a light prayer for its rebirth.

"This time it's over there."

Following Diana's guidance, we arrived at a valley on the mountain slope.

"It looks extremely dangerous at a glance."

"When it collapses, it causes the worst landslide, one that sweeps all the way to the main road."

It had once been a proper valley. Now it seemed completely blocked by a landslide that must have happened long ago.

"The water's built up incredibly high... If I tried this with my bare body, even I might die."

The problem was that being blocked didn't mean the water had disappeared. Stones, dirt, trees, grass, and fallen leaves had formed a natural dam, holding back a massive reservoir. The day that water overflowed would be the day of the catastrophic landslide Diana had mentioned.

"It's something that can be handled in advance with the right tool."

Triggering it now was still dangerous, but it was better than leaving it alone. I embedded Agatram into the natural dam.

The Agatram, which had been in the shape of a small pebble, began to swell according to my command. Perhaps this situation itself hadn't been designed by anyone but had simply formed by chance. The swelling Agatram inside the dam created small cracks, and then—

Crack. Rumble!

In an instant, the water burst forth in a flood.

"It's washing away nicely."

"It's incredibly dirty water, though."

"Hmm... Yeah, it does look hard to use as drinking water."

The reason we'd noticed this ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠dam was because a nearby village had asked for help with their water shortage, so it was something I needed to be mindful of. The muddy torrent sweeping away right now carried dead trees and all kinds of debris.

"We shouldn't let anyone near it for two or three days."

Since it was temporarily accumulated water, the dangerous rapids would soon subside, but it would still take some time before the water became clean enough to drink.

"What about Agatram?"

Diana was concerned about the steel balloon that had been swept away along with the trash.

"It's fine. I can retrieve it."

Agatram and I were connected spiritually through Descent. That meant I could sense its location no matter how far away it was.

"Hup."

"Whoa."

And it meant that as long as it wasn't too far, I could pull on that connection to retrieve it anytime.

"The more I see it, the more amazing it is."

"I'm more amazed that I never noticed it before..."

It was an item that had existed in Academy Great War, so there was no way I wouldn't have known about it.

"Who knows? It might not have existed in previous cycles."

"...Is that even possible?"

"…………More importantly, this is clearly an all-purpose weapon. Why don't you use it as your main tool?"

It seemed she had run into its restrictions. I went along with Diana's awkward change of subject.

"That's because there are restrictions."