BXBX NOVEL Chapter 391: D-3
Chapter 391: D-3
“Lord Frey!!”
Struggling to open my heavy eyelids, I saw the faces of Aria and Vener standing over me.
They both looked haggard. Has something happened?
“Ah.”
Thinking that, I remembered the events right before I lost consciousness, and my expression went blank.
Aishi transformed into the Demon King.
The harbor of the Western Continent is frozen solid.
The Hero Party is under attack.I had revealed myself to protect them from Aishi’s onslaught.
What happened after that?
It was hard to recall as I was losing consciousness due to the side effects. My last memory was boarding the ship the main heroines had secured.
Looking out the window at the sea, it seemed we were still on the ship.
“…Haha.”
I turned my head and saw my left arm was missing.
Normally, this would be shocking, but I felt nothing. It just confirmed that shielding Aria from the ice shards wasn’t a dream.
Am I becoming desensitized to such things? But the Curse of Mental Weakness should still be in effect.
“Sniff, sniff…”
Turning to the right, I saw my sister holding my hand and sobbing.
“Aria, stop.”
“Sniff, sniff…”
My sister looked ugly when she cried.
Why ruin such a pretty face?
“Hmm.”
Smiling at her to reassure her, I glanced at the calendar on the far wall.
“This is bad…”
I had been unconscious for a day.
That left only three days.
Time was slipping away too quickly.
“B-brother. I, I…”
“Calm down. I’m fine.”
Seeing my eyes waver slightly, Aria spoke urgently, so I reassured her in a soft voice.
“I was planning to remove my left arm anyway. It wasn’t part of me anymore. It’s good I saved you.”
“…”
“Heh. It’s so awkward talking to you like this after so many years.”
Hearing that, Aria began to cry again, making her face ugly once more.
“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry, brother…”
“I’m sorry too, sister. For dragging you into this tragedy.”
“Waaah…”
“I told you not to cry.”
I had so many things I wanted to say if this day ever came, but none of them came to mind.
My mind felt blank.
“Ugh…”
“Don’t die… Please… It’s all my fault… Please don’t die…”
My entire body felt like it was vibrating, and Aria clung to me, soaking me with her tears.
“Stop clinging to me.”
“Eek…”
I pinched her cheek, a childhood habit, and she stared at me blankly.
I used to do this to my chubby-cheeked sister often. It felt nostalgic.
“…I love you, sister.”
Smiling at her familiar foolishness, I felt like I needed to say it now.
“I’m sorry for being a lousy brother.”
“Sniff…”
And just like that, I made her cry again. I didn’t want to be a bad brother until the end.
“Aria, go out for a bit. I’ll see you in the dining room.”
“I don’t want to… I still…”
“Please. And Vener, could you gather everyone?”
Patting Aria’s back, I sent her out of the room and spoke to Vener.
“I have something to say… before it’s too late.”
- Thump, thump…
Cold sweat ran down my body, and my heart pounded.
The Curse of Mental Weakness drained my mental resilience, pushing me into the terror of impending death.
The moment everything ends.
The moment everything becomes nothing.
When I cease to perceive or exist.
“…Grr.”
Realizing this, chills spread through my body, and I started trembling.
I’m scared.
Terrified to the core.
I wanted to run away.
My complete annihilation with no afterlife, and no second chances, was terrifying, but most of all, the thought of never seeing my loved ones again scared me the most.
“Please, Vener?”
But this was the path I chose.
It was laughable for me to be afraid now.
Suppressing those feelings, I forced a smile and asked.
“…”
But they had seen my moment of panic. Vener and Aria were looking at me with vacant eyes.
“…Understood.”
Vener gently pushed Aria forward and closed the door.
“Alright then.”
“Young Master…”
Waving my right hand at her as she left, Vener turned and whispered.
It felt strange to hear her call me Young Master.’
“If you die, I will end my life as well.”
“…What?”
Her lifeless declaration left me with a slightly awkward expression.
“A sword that has stabbed its master should be discarded.”
“Wait…”
“Well then, goodbye.”
Leaving those words, Vener quietly exited the room.
“…”
And then came the silence.
“…Hey.”
I didn’t have the energy to get out of bed, so I sat down in a daze. I tilted my head when I saw someone peeking out through the slightly open door.
“Ah, hello…”
The Youngest Paladin, her eyes now glowing a golden hue, was looking at me.
“Excuse me…”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Yes? What is it?”
Without asking for permission, the Sun God came into my room, sat beside the bed, and started looking at me with a sad expression.
“Aren’t you concerned about the original personality of that child? It seems like she’s almost always possessed.”
“Ah…”
I asked her something that had always been on my mind, and the Sun God scratched her head as she responded.
“Actually, that’s me too. It’s my form before I became a god.”
“Excuse me?”
“The church summoned me, sealing me in my past form before I became a god. Even though the memories are gone, it’s still essentially me, so it’s okay.”
“Hmm.”
I think I discovered something quite unexpected. Who would have thought that the Youngest Paladin was the Sun God’s past self?
Well, now that I saw her again, she was quite mysterious and the Sun God’s foolish appearance was evident in her.
“Anyway, why did you come here?”
I asked, watching her as she hesitantly approached me.
“I came to check your condition.”
She answered with a somber expression.
“So, how do I look? Do I have any chance of surviving?”
Forcing a smile, I asked, and she bit her lip and shook her head.
“I figured.”
I laughed slightly, but inside I was crumbling.
If it weren’t for the Curse of Mental Weakness, it wouldn’t have been this bad. I’m worried that I kept showing people things I didn’t want them to see.
“May I ask you a question?”
“…What is it?”
Sighing and closing my eyes tightly, I held the Sun God’s hand and softly asked.
“Was I wrong?”
“…”
She fell silent upon hearing my question.
“About the decision to sacrifice myself instead of Ruby.”
“Hmm…”
“It seemed like that eye wanted me to kill Ruby. It felt like it was part of it scheme.”
“…”
“But now, looking back, it feels like a really selfish and pathetic decision.”
When I pierced my heart, the expression of that eye-bastard had definitely wavered.
But was that just my imagination?
Things were getting worse and worse.
If I disappeared like this, everyone would fall apart. Just looking at Vener earlier made that clear.
I didn’t want an ending where everyone ended up unhappy.
Was my choice truly right?
Maybe my selfishness brought about a terrible outcome.
“That’s not true.”
The Sun God shook her head firmly, reading my anxious expression.
“If you had killed Ruby then, the fully recovered main body of that eye would have been released to conquer other dimensions.”
“…Other dimensions?”
“Yes, and it would have quickly devoured dimensions even faster with all the power it accumulated.”
“…”
“The destruction of all dimensions, including ours, would have been just a matter of time. Any happy ending you fought for by killing Ruby would have ended with your descendants at best. There would be no afterlife, no eternal happiness.”
The Sun God gently hugged me and whispered.
“Eventually, you were right. That eye became even more obsessed with swallowing this dimension, and it even directly embedded itself in Aishi. We finally succeeded in luring it onto the stage.”
“That’s an exaggeration. If the Star God hadn’t intervened–”
“Let’s just look at the result.”
“Even if that’s the result, it doesn’t change the fact that I was selfish.”
Although she spoke gently, for some reason, my heart felt uneasy. I kept wanting to find fault within myself.
Was it because of my anxiety about the choice I made? Or…
“So what if you’re selfish.”
“…”
“You have the right to be.”
“I-“
“Even if you combine Ferloche and Ruby’s Retry attempts, it won’t surpass yours.”
As she said that, she patted my head.
“You were always kind, even though I never set it up or designed it that way. So it’s okay to act selfishly once in a while.”
For some reason, my heart felt warm.
Was this how it felt like to be coddled by a mother?
“If I disappear, everyone will fall into despair. I can already see the signs.”
“…”
“And before I disappear, I need to prepare for the future. At the very least, I must neutralize the Demon King.”
In that case, maybe I could indulge a little longer.
It was kind of weird to be coddled by the Sun God, but it couldn’t be helped.
“I hope no one is unhappy, even if I disappear.”
“Umm…”
“So, maybe you could erase the fact that I existed, or something like that…”
“No.”
The Sun God, listening to my words, shook her head with a firm expression.
“To be honest, I want to live. Is there no way?”
“I’m sorry…”
“I want to stay by everyone’s side, even if I have to inhabit a spirit or animal or become a thought form or artifact. I don’t care what form I take, as long as I can stay with everyone until the end.”
Hearing those words, the Sun God quietly closed her mouth.
Seeing that, it seemed that it was a plausible solution to some extent.
It was just a guess, but from her expression, it looked that way.
“…Anyway, please help everyone to overcome my absence. Don’t let the world suffer tragedy because I’m gone.”
“I’ll try.”
Only after hearing those words did I start to feel reassured.
“Right now, the main heroines are trying to find a way. Maybe they could bring a miracle, so I’ll wait until the last day.”
“Okay.”
“But as soon as the system recovers and the penalty window appears, I’ll keep drinking the helper potions received from the First Hero Party and head towards Aishi.”
“I see.”
“And if I have time, to the Sun as well. I don’t know if it will work, but I want to at least make a dent in it.”
The Sun God, nodding, looked down at me with dark eyes.
“…Help me up. I need to go out for a bit.”
As I extended my right hand and asked her, the Sun God took my hand and lifted me up from the bed.
“Please take me to the dining hall.”
It might be a bit late, but I had to try to complete my bucket list as much as possible.
For example, laughing and chatting while having a meal with the children.
Or experiencing a normal academic life.
“Please.”
Even if just for a day.
.
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Meanwhile, at that time, in the dragon lair area of the Western Continent…
“You… You think you can do this and get away with it…”
Floating in mid-air, legs crossed, the fully matured Aishi looked down at the baby dragons frozen in place.
“A puny half-blood demon… How dare you…”
“These lizards talk too much.”
Aishi, surveying the dragons trembling in the cold air that filled the dragon lair, muttered in a cold voice.
“Submit.”
“Grraargh…”
“Grrr…”
When she raised her hand, the dragons groaned as their hearts began to freeze.
“Stop.”
At the front, the leader, a dragon several times larger, snarled in an angry voice.
“What exactly do you want from us…”
“It’s simple. Your entire species must become my servants.”
“How dare you…!”
The leader’s eyes widened, prompting Aishi to raise her hand higher.
“Grraargh…”
“Grrr…”
“If you fight me now, the baby dragons behind you will be in danger.”
“You…”
“These baby dragons behind you are the last dragons left in this world, aren’t they? I could kill all of them except you.”
The leader dragon swallowed hard at her words.
“What do you want us to do.”
“It’s simple. I need you to attack a certain place.”
Aishi whispered to the dragon in a low voice.
“I need a boss monster to destroy the academy.”
“…”
“Well then, I leave it to you. Oh, and only I can thaw their hearts, so don’t try anything foolish.”
With that, Aishi covered her mouth with her hand and smiled as she left the dragon’s lair.
“…Hmmm.”
Upon leaving the lair, she stopped abruptly.
“This feels strange.”
Aishi murmured with a suddenly expressionless face.
“This is the first time I’ve possessed such a lowly being.”
She then started moving her body here and there with a curious expression.
“It’s a new experience to participate in the story I used to just watch. It’s not ideal to imitate a lowly dimension’s female, though.”
A smile spread across her face.
“But it was getting boring. It’s far more fun than just watching. This is the most enjoyable moment since I was born as the proxy of my sleeping main body.”
As she spoke, her eyes turned black. Then, she suddenly frowned and stopped walking.
“How annoying. You should have quietly disappeared instead of resisting. Because of you, your personality is seeping through.”
“…”
“Tsk.”
Annoyed, she clicked her tongue and quietly raised her hand.
“Resistance is futile. Everything is under my control.”
Various forms began to appear above her hand.
Among the many faces of people, her gaze was fixed on one place.
- Scree…eek…!
“Star God. Even your last hope.”
A disheveled Glare was fighting monsters in the rough sea.
“If I can’t read fate, I just need to intervene until the outcome becomes obvious.”
As she said this, she started to walk away.
“As a mere character, act according to your role…”
She suddenly frowned again.
“What is this?”
Next to Glare, a completely dark screen was visible.
“Why can’t I see it?”
Her eyebrows furrowed.
“Another being whose fate cannot be read?”
As she spoke, she reached out to the screen.
“What an annoying management system. If it weren’t for this, I would have devoured this dimension long ago…”
She tried tapping the dark screen, shaking it, and eventually pouted her lips.
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Meanwhile, at that time.
Solar Room
Lunar and Stellar not allowed!
- Click, click…
In a dark room, Roswyn was hunched over, staring at something and moving her hands quickly with a weary look in her eyes.
Learning Coding Easily for Elementary Students
Earth Culture Instruction Manual!
In her lap was a book full of the Sun God’s notes.