Zich narrowed his eyes. Glen Zenard was the one currently using the power of regression; thus, Zich naturally thought that Glen was the person who reactivated it. However, the response he got back was negative, and Zich understood the meaning behind this response immediately. He thought that there could be another mastermind behind Glen, but it was a guess that he couldn’t support or prove at all until now.
“Is the one who reactivated the Brushel System, the mastermind behind everything perhaps?”
“Yes.”
“Then, I guess that guy was just using Glen Zenard.”
Zich Brave nodded, and Zich’s expression turned serious. However, his serious expression didn’t last long and he said, “Well, even if that’s the case, I won’t change my way of screwing him over.” The confirmation of another mastermind just meant that Zich had another person to screw over.
“…I thought this before, but your personality is incredible.”
“Personally, I think your stupid-ass sense of justice is even more incredible.” Zich didn’t hold back on mocking Zich Brave in the slightest. “How is it even possible to use Glen Zenard? He has the power of regression.” That was the number one reason why Zich couldn’t have been sure of the real mastermind’s existence. Then, Zich continued, “Even if that guy tried to use Glen, Glen has the regression ability. Glen should have noticed something given enough time. No, more importantly, why did that guy give the regression ability to Glen Zenard when they reactivated the system?
“The mastermind was the one who handed the regression ability to Glen Zenard.”
Zich opened his wide. Since the mastermind was the one who reactivated the Brushel System, he could understand how they might have the means to give the regression ability to someone else. However, Zich couldn’t understand why they would do such a thing.
“…Why would anyone give the regression ability to someone else? Did they die after passing on the ability like the previous Clowon emperors who passed on their abilities to the next emperor in line?”
“No, the mastermind is alive and well.”
“I can’t understand it at all.” It was utterly unbelievable that someone would have passed on the regression ability even if they weren’t going to use it. Zich thought, ‘I suppose there could be a possibility that they gave up on using it because they began to fear it after using it too many times.’ However, that only explained why someone would’ve given up on the ability rather than passing it on to someone else. How could they do so without knowing what the other person would do with the regression ability or even become mixed up with the other person’s evil deeds?
Zich Brave explained this matter, “You have to know about the events that took place before the Brushel System was reactivated—when you were me and Lyla was reincarnated as Clowon’s princess. The story takes place in the first timeline after Clowon fell and the regression ability hadn’t been used yet.”
Zich looked disgruntled. He didn’t like how Zich Brave said, ‘…when you were me.’ However, he didn’t stop Zich Brave from speaking.
“You know that Lyla was a Demon Lord in the first timeline, right?”
“I know. Lyla was tormented over this fact considerably.”
“…To tell you the truth, I never thought such a terrifying Demon Lord would change this much. Furthermore, to think that she would come to like me…”
“Don’t think I won’t notice if you speak like you and I are the same person.”
“Don’t be like that. Even if you hate it, you and I are the same person.”
“I really should crack your head immediately—”
“Okay, okay. I get it.” Zich Brave pleaded as Zich clutched Windur more tightly. “It’s true I can’t believe that Lyla changed so much. I have suffered immensely because of her in my time. Even if I accept the fact that she had changed, it would probably be impossible for me to hang around her so closely.”
“Like how I am not you, she also isn’t the princess of Clowon. She’s just Lyla. Not only is she quite cute, but she has good skills, beauty, and a great personality. There’s no reason to dislike her. You are just letting your prejudice get in your way of seeing the truth.”
“You are right. Even if I am aware of this fact, I am not confident that I can act any differently.” Zich Brave had experienced all kinds of sufferings and difficulties during the time that Lyla was Clowon’s princess. However, Zich had no intention to understand Zich Brave’s perspective at all.
“You have no determination.”
“What if Glen Zenard changes like her, and another ‘you’ told you to become friends with him?”
“I will have to crack that guy’s head.”
“…” Zich Brave was at a loss for words at Zich’s brazenness. The only thing he managed to say in the end was, “…You must really like the phrase, ‘cracking your head.’”
Zich replied, “Stop saying nonsense and quickly resume explaining.”
Thus, Zich Brave continued, “In the first timeline, everything started when Lyla woke up. As you know, she tried to resurrect Clowon and destroyed everything that stood in her way of accomplishing this goal. The destruction she caused was indescribable. There was a reason why people called her ‘Demon Lord’ and feared her.”
The only one whom Zich judged as having a similar talent as himself was Lyla. If it was her, the event was completely possible. Furthermore, she had extra help on top of her own power.
Zich Brave added, “She used the legacy that Clowon left behind. One of them was the army of monsters she led. Furthermore, her ability to use the World Tree was outstanding. Since she had to maintain the Brushel System, she didn’t use up all the power of the trees. However, using even part of the World Tree’s power was more than enough to inflict terror onto the world. On top of that, there were those with special abilities who followed her.”
Zich immediately thought of a group. “Demon People.” He remembered that the robed figures offered special powers when they tried to create Demon People. “So, you are saying that Lyla led an army of monsters and Demon People, and used the World Tee’s mana on top of her overwhelming talent?”
“That’s not exactly the case, but it was something like that.”
“…You must have had an intense battle.”
Of course, Lyla’s army of Demon People probably didn’t include everyone from the Demon People Era. During the Demon People Era, there were many among the Demon People who didn’t receive power that belonged to the Clowon Empire. The biggest examples of this case were the Demon Lord of Strength, Zich, or the Demon Lord of Magic, Walwiss Dwayne. Yet, even while considering this, Lyla’s forces would have been plenty strong.
‘My ex-subordinates, Vampire, Succubus, and Werewolf, were all probably on that side at least.’
However, there definitely must have been some people unleashing chaos in the world during the Demon People Era, which helped Zich Brave in the original timeline. Furthermore, the whole world would’ve probably collaborated with Zich Brave to fight off Lyla, so it wasn’t completely disadvantageous for Zich Brave either. However, even with all these things considered, it was true that Zich Brave had experienced an astounding fight.
“I didn’t think you’d ever be impressed by me.”
“I admit what’s true. I’m not the type of person who rashly acts on personal emotions.”
“…If I point out the faults in your words, I’ll end up as the loser, right?”
Zich waved his hand for Zich Brave to just continue explaining. Zich Brave complained as if he couldn’t accept Zich’s treatment, but he explained, “Anyways, our fight with her was really arduous, but in the end, we won.”
A sense of pride appeared briefly on Zich Brave’s face, but this only lasted for a short time period. “When I thought our fight was finally over, everything went wrong.”
“The mastermind must have stabbed you in the back.”
“Yes.”
“Who was that mastermind?”
“That is…” Zich Brave’s appearance began to shake. It looked as if a shadow reflected on a lake was being distorted. Zich Brave also seemed to be surprised by this as he looked startled. He opened his mouth, but Zich could only hear a few words that were cut apart, and he couldn’t even hear those properly either.
“Hey, what happened!” Zich shouted at Zich Brave, but he couldn’t get a reply. The situation began to worsen. Zich could no longer hear Zich Brave’s voice, and his figure began to grow blurrier. Even while this was happening, Zich Brave pointed at Windur, and he looked very desperate as he did this.
“You’re telling me to follow this guy?” Zich asked as he stared at Zich Brave’s mouth. It seemed as if Zich had guessed correctly because Zich Brave made a slightly relieved expression. However, it was different for Zich. He moved one step at a time towards Zich Brave’s body and reached out with his hand. His hand passed right through Zich Brave’s body. Zich Brave’s body was slowly breaking up into fragments from the flow of mana.
Zich realized that Zich Brave was going to disappear soon, so he shouted in frustration, “Hey you punk, why the hell are you disappearing like this!”
Zich Brave’s expression looked apologetic, but his face soon changed into dismay at Zich’s next words. “You told me that you’d let me crack your skull after finishing your story!” Zich’s cries made him sound extremely frustrated. Was this really a matter to be so emotional about? Zich Brave disappeared while making a baffled expression. However, Zich Brave’s thoughts were of no concern to Zich.
“You damn bastard! How dare you break your promise!”
Zich huffed in anger and jumped around where Zich Brave disappeared. However, even if he did this, there was no way that Zich Brave would come back after he turned into mana and faded into the air.
In the end, Zich stopped getting worked up, but this didn’t mean that he’d given up. ‘He told me to follow this guy. Then, I might be able to meet Zich Brave again if I keep following where this guy leads me.’
Zich had already met him once. Who said it’d be impossible for him to meet Zich Brave a second time? ‘If I meet him again, I’m going to crush him for sure.’ Zich swore to himself as he tightly clutched onto Windur.
* * *
Clank!
A hard sound rang in the air. A gaze that was cold enough to instantly freeze all those it landed on scanned a machine in front of him.
Clank!
The sound rang out again. If one listened closer, it was the sound of a finger tapping the top of a certain mechanical device. The person who was tapping on it was a man. Considering that he was deeply furrowing his brows, he looked to be in an extremely bad mood.
“Sir, what is the matter?” An underling politely asked the man.
“Something went wrong.”
“Sir, are you talking about the system?”
“Yeah.”
The underling’s face also became serious. The main basis of their organization was the system; a problem in the system meant a problem in their organization.
The man got up from his seat. “Let’s go.”
“Sir, where are we heading?”
“I must go to Glen Zenard.”
The underling slightly narrowed his eyes. He didn’t like Glen Zenard—Glen’s hypocritical personality was despicable, but the way he also treated their master as his underling was even more infuriating.
‘That idiot doesn’t even know he’s being used!’
However, following Glen Zenard had been their master’s orders. The underling politely bowed his head. “Sir, I’ll make the necessary preparations.”
After the underling disappeared, the man began walking towards the opposite direction from his underling. After a while, his eyes landed on a huge tree, an enormous tree that was surrounded by boiling magma.
‘I must find the reason.’ The man looked at the original World Tree with intent eyes. He was the same man who stared at Zich and his companion’s statues at Violuwin in the past.
* * *
For the past few days, Glen continued his attempts to befriend Lyla. He worked hard to earn her favor with his kind face and words. It seemed as if his words were not completely in vain since he could now talk more easily with her than before. However, this was the extent of his efforts. He wasn’t able to get even a glimmer of information about her past, which was the information he most wanted. In order to change the past, he needed to know the past when turning back time. For that reason, he was annoyed that Lyla didn’t open up about her past. However, he never expressed his annoyance on the outside, and Lyla’s attitude sparked his fighting spirit instead. ‘I’ll definitely make it so that you only look at me!’
It didn’t matter how long it took. The amount of time he had was limitless anyways. However, there was something that completely destroyed his leisurely attitude.
‘…This is a dream.’
Glen comforted himself many times like this, but it was not easy. The figure in front of him was his past self—a person that he absolutely detested.