S21 The Truth of the World

Ten days had passed since escaping the capital.

After that, we broke through the surrounding soldiers and barely escaped the capital.

Thanks to Reston Senior Brother serving as a decoy.

"We'll buy time. Okasan, meet at the sixteenth hideout."

He said that, then led the unit into the charging soldiers.

I hesitated, but the need to protect Katia, whom I held in my arms, and the pull from Hyarinsu forced me to abandon Reston Senior Brother and escape.

Yet, that was a mistake.

Reston Senior Brother did not appear at the sixteenth hideout, the one we had agreed upon.

I should have held onto Reston Senior Brother by force at that moment.

If I had, more people would have been here now.

Only four people are present at this hideout: me, my master, Hyalins, and Katia.

Reston, Crebera, and every man in your lordship’s unit—none have reached this place.

If I had fought alongside my elder brother back then, the outcome might have been different.

But she knows, deep down.

I could not have fought back then, leaving Katia behind.

Kataria, her mind freed from indoctrination, cast a spell upon herself.

Unleashed a high-damage area-of-effect spell capable of eliminating multiple targets simultaneously.

Would have been instantly killed under normal circumstances.

Though she had been revived, Katia was severely weakened.

He could not fight properly while carrying Katia.

Yes, I understand.

Even knowing this, regret intensifies.

Not just at the time of escape.

Looking back, there had been a sense of unease when speaking telepathically with Sū and Katia.

Sū had seemed off in some way. Katia, even more so—despite the fact that we were alone, speaking only to each other, she had not used Japanese.

Katia always used Japanese when speaking with me alone.

Something was wrong.

And yet, I had not noticed.

Had I noticed, I would not have allowed Yugo to do what he did.

Shaking off the heavy thoughts, I practice sword swings in the room without a blade.

For the duration of movement, there is no need to think.

Lost in the motion, free from unnecessary thought, the door is knocked.

“What are you doing, you?”

“Katia, are you walking okay now?”

Katia, who had been bedridden just days ago, stepped inside.

“Yeah. My body’s fine now. Still get headaches sometimes, though.”

Don’t push yourself too hard. Even if the brainwashing is broken, the effects aren’t fully gone yet.

Yugo’s brainwashing ran deep.

Katia, using her willpower, had regained consciousness for a brief moment—but all she managed was suicide.

She couldn’t have done otherwise. The brainwashing’s hold was that strong.

The influence has since faded, but Katia still suffers from unexplained headaches.

“I’m fine. Uh, actually, I want Shun to assess me.”

“Assessment?”

“Yeah. I picked up a new skill. Never heard of it before. From what I remember, it’s not listed in the Skill Compendium. I don’t know what it does, so I thought I’d have Shun check it out.”

“Oh. I see.”

Activate assessment toward Katia.

A skill previously absent has appeared.

A skill I do not possess.

『Divine Domain Expansion: Expands the Divine Domain』

Assessment yields no clarity.

Attempt further assessment.

『Divine Domain: The深层 realm of soul inherent in Life. The origin of all Life, and the ultimate domain of self-reliance』

Still incomprehensible.

"Sorry. Can't make sense of it."

"Try assessing it?"

"Yeah. Something about the soul, but the effect remains unclear."

Both tilt their heads.

"Anyway. Also, Heretic Resistance has increased."

"Yeah. That's probably due to Yugo's mental conditioning being broken."

"Then there's Parallel Will?"

"That skill, when activated, temporarily induces a dual personality state."

"What's that supposed to mean? Is it useful?"

"One personality fights as usual, while the other casts magic."

“What’s that supposed to be? That’s cheating, isn’t it?”

“Think of it as doubling your combat capacity temporarily. That’s pretty cheating.”

“Ah. So let’s turn it on right away.”

“Ah, don’t do it normally. I tried it when I first got the skill. Keeping it on all the time makes it hard to tell which personality is the real you. Multiple personalities are essentially a form of mental disorder. Keep it off normally. Only turn it on during combat.”

“Huh. That’s a core skill.”

“By the way…”

“Yeah?”

“Isn’t she close?”

Cathia is right in front of me.

The distance is extremely short.

I’m taller, so I’m looking down at her—angle-wise, her chest is… visible.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“No, I can’t help but notice. She was male originally, but now she’s female.”

“Hm. So you see me like that, Shun? Huh.”

“Ah, no, I mean—this, um, the male nature thing. You know what I mean?”

“Hm. So you react like this when something like this happens?”

Katie steps forward again, pressing her chest against my body.

“Gib! I surrender—stop teasing me!”

“Naive.”

Katie laughs, stepping back.

“How’s that? Feel a bit better now?”

“Ah, yeah. Right. Thanks.”

That’s what it was.

Katie deliberately did that—intentionally eased my tension.

Truly, she’s perceptive.

“Hey, one thing—I’m curious. That healing magic you used back then… it wasn’t just a regular healing spell, was it?”

Katie asks.

[So, Reston’s execution is three days from now.]

[Yes. Please, above all, do not let Shun find out.]

I was about to respond when I sensed that conversation through telepathy.

I panic and bolt from the room.

"Teacher! Is it true that Reston-sama is to be executed!?"

"Shun-kun!? How did you—ah, eavesdrop on my telepathy like that!?"

"Doesn't matter. Is it true that Reston-sama is to be executed?"

"Shun, calm down. That is indeed true."

"Then I have to go save him!"

"It's a trap."

"Eh?"

"Most likely a trap. Even so, you still wish to go?"

"I will go. Reston-sama stayed behind to let us escape. Now it is my turn to save him."

Hylins sighed deeply.

"Even if it goes against Reston's wishes?"

"Yes. I will go anyway."

"No."

"Teacher. No matter how much you say it, this time I cannot listen."

"No."

"I will go even if you say no."

"I said no!"

The teacher activated a binding spell.

A magic that severs the opponent's freedom by manipulating wind.

But the magic you just used won't affect me right now.

A single swing of the arm disperses the wind-based restraint.

“Wha—!?”

“Teacher, stopping me is pointless. I’m going.”

“It’s impossible! You’ll definitely die if you go now!”

“Teacher, don’t you see? I’ve become much stronger. I won’t be killed so easily.”

“That’s not it! Strength doesn’t matter to the Administrator!...Ah.”

The teacher’s expression shifts to one of regret.

“Teacher, what exactly is this Administrator?”

Kathia’s sharp voice.

“Is that why you’ve been moving around in secret all this time?”

“That information… I cannot reveal.”

“Teacher, you can’t just refuse at this point. If you can’t tell us, then you have no right to stop Syun.”

“Gh!”

"I will state this clearly. Teacher, you are not trustworthy. In this situation, with no explanation provided, your actions have been suspiciously excessive. Syun trusts you unconditionally, but I cannot trust you. If you continue obstructing Syun's actions without explanation, I will become your enemy."

"That's—"

"Katie, calm down. Teacher, too."

I soothe the heated Katie and comfort the bowed-down teacher.

"Teacher. I don't intend to become your enemy. But I do have things I want to hear from you. If possible, I'd like you to tell me."

I speak as gently as I can.

The teacher appears, at first glance, as a younger girl.

Elves mature slowly, but in actual age they are the same. Combined with past lives, the teacher is even older.

Yet right now, the teacher looked nothing like that—only like a girl of the age she appeared, on the verge of tears.

Silence.

Time passes without a word from anyone.

The teacher bows her head, troubled.

Katarina stares intently at the teacher like that.

Syrilis observes the unfolding events.

"I understand. I will tell you everything."

After a long period of deliberation, this was the answer she reached.

"First, Syrilis—I must say this. The three of us are reincarnated souls. We died in another world and were reborn into this one."

"What?"

"Listen carefully. What I am about to say must not leave this room."

Hyrilis looks around at us, startled by the sudden revelation.

I hadn't expected her to begin there, not at all.

"My first action after reincarnating in this world was acquiring language proficiency. Once I had a basic grasp, I used skill points to unlock telepathy. I attempted communication via telepathy with Potimas, the elven elder. He listened to my request and volunteered to search for the missing students. By the time I had grown sufficiently, numerous students had been located and safely brought to the elven settlement. Once I could move, I joined the search myself. Four cases were beyond recovery. Some were born under powerful figures—too dangerous to interfere with. Those were Shun and Katia, and Yugo. Yuri was born an orphan, but when we found her, she already bore the mark of a saint candidate from the church. Ideally, we would have protected Shun and the others as elves, but political constraints prevented it. The reason for protection is simple: to minimize exposure to this world’s system. Did you ever question the existence of skills, stats, or levels in this world? Hyrilis, having been born here, likely never did. In our original world, such constructs did not exist. Skills, stats, levels—those are only found in games. Their presence in reality is impossible. This world is a game. Controlled by those called administrators. They incite conflict between humans and demons, forcing people to develop combat abilities through struggle. They extract the power from souls of the deceased and use it to strengthen themselves. This is the system. Heroes and villains are merely pawns created by administrators to efficiently drive human and demon conflict. The church is no different. The skills they promote, the belief in hearing divine voices—all were engineered by administrators. The church’s involvement in this incident likely stems from administrator manipulation. Yugo is attempting to use the church, but is instead being used. The execution of Reston, orchestrated through Yugo—this is unquestionably an administrator trap. It targets Shun’s rapidly increasing strength, far beyond what any resident of this world should possess. Therefore, Shun cannot be sent. The teacher does not wish to see students killed by administrators—by these incomprehensible forces. Do not go. Please."

Silence.

The heavy mouth opened first.

"According to your account, the hero—Julius—was made to fight pointlessly, at the behest of some administrator?"

"Yes. We elves have sought to end that pointless conflict. We petitioned both humans and demons to cease hostilities. The previous hero and the previous demon king accepted the proposal and reached a truce. Secretly, we had also been preparing to challenge the administrator. Both the former hero and former demon king were rare practitioners of dimensional magic. They intended to force open a rift and transport themselves to the administrator’s domain. That attempt failed. The rift connected to our world instead. Our deaths were caused by the magical explosion."

"Wha—!? Such a thing!?"

We do not know the extent of the administrator’s involvement in that incident. But the fact that we died there meant we were drawn into this world’s system. We were reborn here. The skill points and skills we possess—normally not innate—stem from the fact that we are outsiders from another world. The power etched into our souls at the time of death was not recovered by the administrator.

So, our deaths were the result of the hero and the demon lord?

Indirectly, yes. The administrator behind it all. The administrators are the lowest kind of beings. They consume this world—and us.

Why did the teacher never let us meet the other students?

Other students are kept from acquiring skills whenever possible. To avoid attracting the attention of administrators. But Catia and the others are already far too strong. The elven village is protected by a barrier so powerful even administrators hesitate to interfere. It is completely isolated from the lower realm. Yet if we were to take Catia and the others along, the administrators' attention might extend to the other students within. That was the concern.

What is a Dominator?

A Dominator is, by nature, an entity that serves administrators. They can access a small portion of the world's system power. Becoming a Dominator requires acquiring a specific skill. I obtained one such skill and became a Dominator. I am not under the administrator's influence, however.

What about the teacher's actions all this time?

I acted to avoid war between humans and demons. And to prepare the means to defeat the Administrator.

Can you defeat him?

I don’t know. I didn’t even know where the Administrator was located.

The teacher turned back to me once more.

"Shun-kun, I understand your desire to save Reston. But you must not go. If you go, you will die."

Under that earnest gaze, I….