Why Did You Do It?
When Laktusha turned serious, the dark elf merely shrugged his shoulders.
“Hmm. So the White King’s forces have been halved, then?”
“The main forces never mattered to us from the start. Our only goal is the White King himself.”
The main forces could be killed whenever they pleased. Their greatest interest was, of course, the White King. Kill him alone, and it would be no different from owning the entire North.
No need to mention the Fifth Lord.
Yet Laktusha said nothing about the Fifth Lord. Dae-to-ryong had claimed the Fifth Lord might even be capable of killing the White King, but no matter how he turned it over in his mind, the story was pure nonsense. How strong could a mere Corpse Crow possibly be, even at its peak? It was mildly irritating, but it had to be a fabrication Dae-to-ryong had spun to rattle him.
“If not from the White King’s side, then who?”
“They said the party is composed of a human and a dryad.”
“A completely mismatched combination.”
While everyone was still trading theories about the identity of the first-place party, Laktusha spoke up midway.
“The second floor opens in sixty days. We need to prepare more thoroughly and clear it properly.”
“But we need five people. Aren’t we short one?”
“Mm. We can’t challenge it until we recruit someone new. And it has to be someone who matches the proper ‘rank.’”
This was not about dragging along the likes of Master. This time they needed a perfect party that truly matched the required caliber. Moreover, every one of them already possessed Hidden Traits, so entry itself would not be difficult. The conditions for entering the second floor, however, were two: the entire five-person party must hold Hidden Traits. With Master dead and their number reduced to four, even if the floor opened in sixty days they could not challenge it at once.
“By then the ‘Vessel’ should have stabilized somewhat.”
“Ah, we can bring that one.”
That, too, was no real problem. There was exactly one promising existence.
The Vessel of Despair. Bring him and the second floor will be a sure clear.
Laktusha nodded to himself. If they brought the Death King who had become the Vessel of Despair, something as trivial as the second floor would be cleared with ease.
I quietly stroked my chin.
The insane rewards granted the moment we cleared the floor. A massive amount of SP that could raise talent, five hundred hours’ worth of Golden Rule fragments, achievement points, and honor—all of it now mine. Yet more eye-catching than any of those was still—
Maximum level increased by two.
My level ceiling had expanded to twelve. Humans could normally only reach level ten; anything beyond that required devouring a star and transcending. Being able to climb to twelve without eating a star meant possessing the raw stats of a two-star in and of itself.
Those stuck at their level caps must be thrilled.
Countless players were frozen at level ten simply because they had never obtained a star. The number of stars was fixed; even those who met every other condition could grow no further. All of them would now shoot straight to level eleven.
The problem, however, was me rather than them.
······ When am I supposed to reach level twelve?
I was still only level eight. Even getting this far had required overcoming endless hardships. Experience requirements only grew exponentially; level twelve was a dream I could not even dare to entertain. Still, if I could reach it someday······ the snowball I was rolling would grow that much larger. Unlike everyone else, I could raise the maximum stats per level by an extra twenty percent.
In any case, competition for the second-floor clear will become far fiercer.
What was certain was that the race for the Rift Tower’s second floor, opening in sixty days, would intensify dramatically. A great upheaval was about to begin, one in which every race and every powerhouse would pour in. I needed to prepare well in advance.
Whoosh!
Suddenly a shaft of light poured out beside me. I turned and saw Serengeti’s body glowing.
“······ My level rose.”
Serengeti blinked in surprise as well. It was not strange, however.
The experience she had banked must have finally burst.
She had more than enough stored experience for it. Long years spent as Wilhelm’s closest aide had given her every kind of trial. Even though she possessed the qualifications, no new star had appeared simply because none matched her. Stars, too, had compatibility.
I slowly lifted my gaze above Serengeti’s head.
···Hmm?
Did I misread that?
Level twelve?
She jumped two levels at once.
······ She must have accumulated quite a lot of experience. Still, the situation was a little odd. If she had banked enough experience to reach level twelve, a Constellation should have appeared long ago. Compatibility only mattered at a one-level difference; a two-level gap should have forced a matching star into her hands as a matter of course. Unless the experience had been piled up only recently.
Did enduring the Demon King’s curse cause experience to accumulate beyond imagination?
Ah. Only then did it make sense. The Demon King’s curse. Simply surviving that curse had stacked massive experience upon her. I found myself genuinely pleased by Serengeti’s steep growth.
“But Successor.”
Still flushed from the level-up, Serengeti tilted her head and looked off to one side.
“Why is that giant dragon collapsed over there?”
“Mm.”
I had been wondering the same thing. Even after being ejected from the tower, this was a space where parties could not encounter one another. Yet not far away lay a dragon bleeding out on the ground.
Why is Dae-to-ryong here?
One of the White King’s main forces, the Great Earth Dragon, was dying in real time only a short distance away.
After opening a portal to the Labyrinth City, Saintess Seia treated Dae-to-ryong. The unconscious dragon showed no sign of waking, yet the urgent wounds were closed and the immediate danger of death was averted.
When we later headed for the castle, Hudson came out to meet me with a grave expression.
“Why that face, Hudson?”
“There’s big trouble.”
“Big trouble?”
Trouble, just like that. The city was steadily taking shape. Everything was progressing splendidly. Unless someone was launching an attack, there was nothing that warranted the word “trouble.”
Gulp.
Hudson swallowed hard.
“Isaac is waiting.”
“Isaac returned?”
“Yes. Moreover, he has eaten a star and transcended.”
······?
Wait. He hadn’t run away from home—he had gone to devour a star? And he had transcended?
Could it be······.
Then had Isaac also recovered his memories the way Isabella had? But Isaac’s case was completely different from hers. The countless evil deeds I had committed while playing the Isaac character—just to check whether the game company was actually monitoring anything—would all be revealed as acts he had never chosen. Where would that rage be directed once he learned none of it had been his own will?
Judging by Hudson’s rigidly frozen face, this might well be related. Otherwise there was no reason for “big trouble” simply because Isaac had come back. And if, by any chance, he had discovered that the one who moved him was me, no greater crisis could exist.
“······ You’ve finally returned, Lord Randolph.”
A voice sounded right beside me. I turned and saw a familiar face.
······ Isaac.
He was staring at me with eyes full of rage.
A heavy voice. An expression stiffened to match. Yet the fury flowing from his eyes was unmistakable. The cause of the rage he was pouring toward me without preamble needed no investigation.
······ Because he had transcended.
Like Isabella, he must have regained his memories the moment he transcended—the memories of being used as a game character, of moving against his own will, of the countless atrocities he had committed. Isaac looked at me and slowly opened his mouth.
“Why did you do it?”
··· Suddenly asking why I did it? A phrase heavy with implication. Had he learned not only the memory of his body being stolen, but everything beyond it? He might have recognized that I was the gamer who had controlled Isaac. The memories obtained through transcendence could easily be more detailed than Isabella’s. I had no way of knowing how much he remembered or how much he understood.
“What do you mean?”
Even if he had figured it out, I could not admit it myself. The moment I admitted it, it would become truth, and once it became truth only catastrophe would remain. There was a reason people said ignorance is bliss. Had I known it was never a simple game, I would never have played the way I did.
When I played dumb, Isaac’s expression grew even more murderous.
“You know why I’m like this, don’t you.”
··· I truly don’t. I understand it is because of the memories recalled through transcendence. Whether it is because he knows the gamer was me, or for some other reason, I cannot easily tell.
“Is it because of the transcendence?”
I cast the line. Isaac nodded.
“I believe you already know through Isabella. That she, and I, possess hidden memories······.”
“It seems so.”
“I have always wondered. How Lord Randolph, whom I had never even met, found me hiding in Kramdel. Why you insisted on hiring me just as you did Isabella.”
I had not gone looking for him on purpose. ······ This was deep. He had dug deep. Once a single doubt took root, everything became suspicious. Realizing that his situation was identical to Isabella’s, he had begun to question me.
“Lord Randolph knew everything about me from the first meeting. Isabella must have been the same. You phrased it roundabout as being a Constellation, yet after meeting a true Constellation it became certain that was also a lie.”
That, too, was correct. When I first met Isabella and Isaac I had called myself a Constellation—claiming I knew everything about them because I was one, that I could see the secrets they hid because I was one. Meeting a real Constellation had exposed every word as falsehood.
“Well, wasn’t it proven true inside the Demigod Trait Dungeon?”
The Demigod Trait Dungeon. In the Room of Truth we had once held a truth confrontation. The question of whether I was a Constellation had appeared, I had affirmed it, and the Demigod itself had accepted the answer as truth.
“Yes. That is why I found it strange as well. Yet Lord Randolph······ you do not exist on the Constellation register.”
A Constellation register. Did such a thing even exist? And how had Isaac managed to see it?
“It’s fine. You might not be a Constellation. But Isabella and I both suffered the same ‘Divine Illness.’ Did you truly hire us by pure coincidence?”
Divine Illness. The name of the affliction I had first heard from the Dercian young lady who shared Isabella’s name. I never expected to hear it again from Isaac. An illness whose very existence most people across the continent did not even know. I had personally hired the two who had suffered it. Was that truly coincidence?
“It is a coincidence.”
“Those afflicted with ‘Divine Illness’ lose their memories and have their bodies controlled at will. I was the same. When I came to my senses I had already committed countless sins. Not knowing any of it, believing every act was my own, how much I······.”
“Isaac. So what exactly are you trying to say?”
“······ Why did you do it?”
He kept asking the same thing. Why did I do it. Was he asking why I had lied? Was he asking whether I was the one who had moved his body to commit those sins? ··· The distrust in his eyes only grew larger. I quietly met that gaze.
Then Isaac continued, voice thick with emotion.
“Even though you already knew everything, why on earth······!”
There was no more room for excuses. Isaac spoke as though he was certain I had known it all from the beginning. Knowing the two had suffered Divine Illness, and digging into the reason I had gone out of my way to hire them, left only one possible answer: that I was the gamer. The sinner. The player who had controlled them both. That was why he was pouring out this rage. I should perhaps count myself lucky he had not drawn his sword on the spot.
Yet the words that followed were completely different from anything I had expected.
“Why did you make Isabella······ meet the Dercian young lady?”
······ What?
The Dercian young lady. The woman I had met at the Imperial auction had, upon learning I was an executive of the Death God Religion, dropped to her knees and begged for her life. In exchange for sparing her I had made several demands: investigate those within the Dercian family who had suffered “Divine Illness,” and afterward seek out Hudson in the Golden City of Arcana.
While I was climbing the Rift Tower, the Dercian young lady must have found Hudson.
The timing had split in a strangely convenient way. It seemed she had located Hudson precisely while I was inside the tower. Moreover, Isaac—whom I had assumed had simply run away—appeared to have returned around the same period. In the process, Isabella had ended up meeting the Dercian young lady.
Two women who shared the same name and the same origin.