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Translator: thursdays Editor: Yahiko PR: LightBrin
-L-Lord Ox that Harvests Ruins…
The Golden Silk prayed desperately.
-A new… Please give me a new blessing!
Human beings are limited when they are cornered. A person’s mind and thinking rapidly become constricted. So, humans can escape, or they can cling to someone. The Golden Silk was no different.
-I-in return… That’s right. In return, I will dedicate my being to you! No, I will wreck this world, just as you desire! Ruins! Wreckage! Destruction! Mutia loves these things, right?! I’m good at it! Things like that!
Tap. I took a step forward.
-Hiik.
The Golden Silk became more frantic when she heard my footsteps. She backpedaled. As she jumped back, she looked up at the bright red sky as if salvation would come for her even now.
-I-I’m good at it! Lord Mutia! If it’s just smashing things, I’m really…!
But there was no response.
-This is—
Prayer quickly soured to resentment.
-This is a breach of our contract!!
I stepped closer.
-You gave me the power to forge a new destiny! But why?! Why is there some weird, crazy bitch in my body?! Give it back! Give me back my body!
“Ah. You’re wrong,” the Heretic Questioner said happily.
“If you’re talking about me, I’m sorry, but I’m physically male! So, your words are wrong! You need to say I’m a [crazy bastard], not a [crazy bitch], to be precise. Well, to speak more properly, you should say I am a [crazy person]! Healthy words are the root of a healthy mind, Miss Evanail!”
-Asshole!
The Lady of the Golden Silk, no, Sylvia Evanail yelled.
-This is wrong! Yeah, it’s wrong! It’s a breach of contract… I was going to be an empress. I was going to rise to a better position than Raviel Ivansia. That’s what was supposed to happen! That’s my fate. The fate that I made! So… So, you’re breaking the contract… I—
One more step.
-Ugh!
Only then did Sylvia Evanail turn her eyes from the sky. I was too close for her to keep ignoring me.
-You monster!
Sylvia Evanail swung her hammer. Clank! The hammer and the Holy Sword clashed. Sylvia Evanail smashed down the hammer without hesitation; I easily stepped away and countered. As we continued to fight, Sylvia Evanail became increasingly impatient.
An impatient mind was easy to break.
-Ah—
I had been aiming for the opening created by Sylvia Evanail’s large swing. I cut through her wrist.
-Aaaaaaaah!!
Of course, there were no wounds. No bloodstains, not even a speck. There was no red color that testified to her pain, but Sylvia Evanail screamed like she was being torn apart.
She lost her grip on the hammer. Thump! The hammer fell to the ground with a heavy thud.
-Ah, ouch… Ahhh…
I met Sylvia Evanail’s eyes. The dust from the hammer’s impact rose up to our knees.
“Choose.”
-Ch-choose…?
“You’ve already lost your place in this world. Even if you run away like this, you’re no longer the [Lady of the Golden Silk]. You’re nothing more than a Constellation’s apostle.”
-……
“I’ll give you an opportunity.”
Sylvia Evanail held her wrist and glared at me.
“If you want to remain as a servant of the Constellation, do whatever you want. Run away. I’ll let you go. But if you have any lingering attachments to this world, if you want to stay here and do something else, give up your Constellation’s blessing.”
-Why would I…
“And die by my sword.”
I pointed my sword at her.
“You must have seen the battle just now. I can summon those who die by my hand with all their memories from life. Sylvia Evanail. If you surrender, I will summon you in this world so you can once again live as the [Lady of the Golden Silk].”
-……
“Of course, your life won’t be the same as before. Any acts against my lover, Raviel Ivansia, are forbidden. But that’s all. The rest, you can do as you wish. You can choose to marry the prince and live as you please.”
-Why…?
“Because you need to live again.”
The sky was now mixing purple into the red. In the empire, weddings lasted from the moment the sky turned orange to the moment the sun disappeared. I guessed that we had less than 30 minutes left.
-How… can I trust you? W-what if you treat me like a slave after summoning me? I won’t be able to rebel or resist.
“Think about it.”
I looked at Sylvia Evanail.
“Why were the bodies of ‘you’ and ‘your butler’ chosen to be possessed?”
-Huh?
“You gave everything to a Constellation to make your wish come true. Your memory, your body—everything was given to your Constellation. That’s why there was a gap in this world where your place should have been.”
Anybody could have taken her place.
That was probably how the [Corner Librarian] had the Heretic Questioner and me possess these bodies.
“It’s understandable why your spot was left empty.”
However.
“Have you ever thought about why your butler’s space was, too?”
-……
Sylvia Evanail raised her eyes sharply.
“I don’t know the details, but I became the butler once. I was completely immersed in his life. What I realized then was that this man was purely and ardently devoted to you, Sylvia Evanail.”
With that, I could infer what had happened.
“I guarantee that you would never have been happy, even if you were the empress.”
-What…?
“You said so earlier. You don’t want to be the empress because you love the prince but because you want to be better than Raviel. Do you think your life would go smoothly if you became the empress that way?”
I shook my head.
“You’re quite capable but not as much as Raviel. Your family doesn’t have the power and dignity of the Ivansias. You don’t have Raviel’s ability to lead and command a crowd. After you become empress, people will never stop comparing you to Raviel and putting you down.”
-……
“For the rest of your life.”
Let’s say this.
Say that there was a butler.
The butler watched his master suffer for her entire life.
“The butler I know is a man who is willing to give up everything to save you.”
The butler would have thought:
[The Lady of the Golden Silk would have been happy if only she hadn’t been the empress.]
“This is what I believe.”
-My butler… My butler regressed?
“No.”
The butler wasn’t a regressor.
“You made a wish for yourself. But that wasn’t what the butler did. He made a wish for your sake. He didn’t want to redo his life. He only wanted you to go back.”
-What do you mean…?
“You. Do you remember your butler’s name?”
-Huh?
Sylvia Evanail frowned.
-Of course. My butler’s name is…
However.
-…Huh?
Sylvia Evanail couldn’t say his name. Her eyebrows furrowed even more. After a while, her frown dropped a bit. Sylvia Evanail’s gaze drifted into the air, flustered.
-W-wait. This can’t be. Ah? …Uh? Uhh…?
I calmly watched Sylvia Evanail.
That was right.
In this world, the butler had never been called by name.
Not even Sylvia Evanail called him by his name. He was her one and only butler and childhood friend, but she only called him ‘butler.’ There was no need to call him that when they were alone in her quarters.
『Butler.』
Raviel Ivansia also never called the butler by name. All the information in the empire was within her grasp, so she couldn’t be unaware of someone so close to the Lady of the Golden Silk.
『Butler.』
The one whom I possessed.
The barony’s servant had his name erased from this world.
Because he really dedicated everything to a Constellation.
I also didn’t know his name, despite becoming completely immersed in his role.
I couldn’t remember or recall it at all.
-……
Sylvia Evanail’s expression crumbled.
-Then, what…?
Just like a sturdy tower crumbling from the top.
-Are you… saying that the butler is gone?
“Yes.”
Most likely.
This world had regressed three times.
First, Sylvia Evanail wished to a Constellation to return to her past.
The Constellation who granted her wish was [The Ox that Harvests Ruins].
The Constellation who governed destruction and re-creation granted Sylvia Evanail another life.
Sylvia Evanail beat Raviel in becoming the empress.
Then, the ‘butler’ made a wish to another Constellation.
The Constellation who granted his wish… I’m not sure who it was.
The butler devoted all of himself to the Golden Silk, and as a result, the world returned to its former state, to the time before the Lady of the Golden Silk married the crown prince. To the past when nothing had been decided yet.
Finally, Raviel caused a regression.
The Constellation who granted her wish was a fragment of the [Guardian Goddess].
Because of this regression, the world was trapped in ten days, looping forever.
And it finally caught up to now.
“We can’t learn the butler’s name. Ever.”
-……
“What was the butler thinking as he served you his whole life? What was he thinking when he prayed for you to return, sacrificing his everything? We can never know. Because he’s gone.”
But.
“The butler would have wanted you to live a different life.”
And that was why.
“I want to grant the butler’s wish.”
-……
“Sylvia Evanail. In a time you don’t know, someone whose name you don’t know sacrificed himself for you. He loved you more than anyone and wanted to stay with you more than anyone, but he gave up everything.”
That was the way in which a nameless butler loved her.
“Live again.”
It wasn’t too late yet.
“Live again like he wanted you to.”
Sylvia Evanail said nothing.
Her hands trembled. She opened her mouth and closed it again, not saying a word. Her vocal cords were shaking. There, a life was twitching. A cursed life. How cruel was it that nonetheless, someone still wanted her to live?
-……
Sylvia Evanail slowly lowered her head. She no longer had the strength to face forward.
Slowly, light began to escape from her whole body.
She was renouncing the Constellation’s blessing.
“All right.”
I lifted my sword high.
I cleared off the Sword of Compassion and called forth the Sword of Idols again.
The scorching red sunset.
The shadow of my sword on the ground was long.
The shadow sword swung.
[The apostle of ‘The Ox that Harvests Ruins’ has died.]
The sun went down.
All of the other worlds’ apostles had been subjugated.
The beings that threatened this world disappeared.
[Stage cleared.]
A voice rang out, announcing the news.
It was likely that in this place, only the Heretic Questioner and I could hear it.
[Today.]
[The 25th floor Stage has been cleared.]
It was the voice of the Tower.
[Announcing to everyone again.]
[Today, the 25th floor Stage has been cleared.]
[Calculating challengers.]
[Calculation complete.]
[The three challengers are being announced.]
People started to open their eyes. Preta. The Demonic Cult members. The wedding guests. One by one, the people who had been caught in a dream by the apostles’ song woke up.
“Ahhh…”
“What the hell…?”
Words floated above them all.
+
[Level of Contribution Rank]
Rank 1. Death King
Rank 2. Heretic Questioner
Rank 3. N/A
+
“……”
I looked at the text silently.
Two people had entered this stage.
The [Corner Librarian] had only sent in the Heretic Questioner and me.
However, the Tower stated that there had been three challengers.
‘N/A.’
The name of the third challenger, who shouldn’t have existed, did not appear.
I stared up into the sky for a while.
“Mm.”
Raviel came to my side and held my hand. Our shoulders leaned against each other. Then, Raviel slowly looked around at our guests.
“My wife will be the Duke Consort of Ivansia.”
The guests who just woke up from their dreams blankly looked at Raviel and me.
“Is there anyone who is against this marriage?”
No one could open their mouths.
Some may have been unhappy with it. Surely, there were people who wanted to object. But that possibility was left in the past.
The existence of alien worlds itself was awe-inspiring, and the guests had witnessed me defeating these alien beings.
The guests silently submitted to Raviel’s words.
“Good.”
The person who had aimed for that and set today as our wedding day.
Raviel, my bride, nodded deeply.
“I pronounce my marriage to this man complete.”