TL: eristol
<< Previous Chapter | TOC | Next Chapter >>
A messiah? What is she on about?
“Pleasure to meet you. I am Dolores Wynt.”
Paying no heed to my confused state, Dolores spoke to me nonchalantly.
“You already know who I am, and what my family does, don’t you? I am sorry for working you so hard at such a young age, but you see, I need you to work just for a bit longer. Now, come along, I will tell you about your next errand as we walk. The reason we are walking is because we have already crossed through the primordial pattern. We have to get ready for the next destination, or else we won’t make it in time.”
Turning on her heel, Dolores walked to the door of the compartment and opened it, while rolling out a huge amount of information all at once. I hurried after her.
A tablet had appeared on her hand before I knew it. The screen displayed images similar to Hafan’s scrolls and spellcards.
“The latest update is that the Golden Wolf of the past has intervened during the Brad Clochydd’s transition experiment, and the Mad King has manifested in this world, right? Has the Icesilver sword been discovered? Is Harlan Slayson still alive? Yes, he is. And since you made it here, that means you did your running training properly, just as I instructed, right?”
There were way too many questions in rapid succession.
I could only nod my head.
“Well done, you have my compliment. You are a hard worker.”
“T-Thank you … ”
Even though I had so many questions to ask her, I could not speak due to the pressure of the situation.
Ah, that’s right. It is thanks to her that my friends and I made it this far alive, I should take this opportunity to express my gratitude.
“Our objective is the survival of humanity, ousting the Mad King, and the annihilation of vampires in the northern continent of Ichthyes. We also intend to reclaim Brad Clochydd and Claude Lucanlandt in the process. Of course, you won’t be working alone. Your brother and his friend will pick up their friends, and I will assign the other children to assist you and me in guiding humanity to survival, countering the Mad King’s modifications and dealing with the other phantom beasts.”
Dolores seems to be aiming for a come-from-behind victory and survival in this seemingly doomed situation.
I mean, can we even restore Brad to his former condition?
“You will be responsible for ultra-wide range attacks for humanity’s survival and destruction of the vampires. See? Very messiah-like, right?”
I see.
Even though it will take a lot of effort, it is worth doing.
“I understand. In this situation, do I even have any choice but to accept?”
“Indeed. Thank goodness you are smart enough to figure that out. Now, do you have any questions about the information so far?”
“Before that, I have something to say to you.”
“What?”
Dolores continued walking without turning around, fiddling with the tablet in her hand.
“Thank you for helping me all these years. It’s thanks to you that I am alive now and that there is still a way for all of us to survive.”
“Huh?”
Dolores abruptly turned around with an expression as if she had seen a clogged sewerage or garbage heap.
Scary.
“I hate being flattered. Hmph. Did you think I would make a happy expression if you said that? Did you think I would be nice to you? I despise that kind of foolishness.”
I ended up making her angry. I just wanted to normally express my gratitude.
“That wasn’t my intention really. I just honestly—”
“If that is the case, then it is even more troublesome. I don’t care about my pawns, and I am not allowed to. I can never be kind to them even if I pitied them, but … ”
Cutting off her words, she turned back and started walking again.
Then, with her back to me, she muttered, “I will accept your feelings for the time being. Thank you.”
☆
I followed Dolores further and further within the train.
“I am sure you must be confused as to why you are here all of a sudden, so let me explain. This space is something I created in the magical dimension. The me you are seeing right now is my virtual body, my real body is in the world you used to be in before your reincarnation.”
“I thought it was real.”
“It is a realistic reproduction, so it should look real.”
Walking at a brisk pace, Dolores tossed me my leather bag from a seat. This was one I had been using since childhood. I am glad it was returned.
This was a regular leather bag with no space extension. I brought it with me because the site of the experiments was the infinite corridor. There are no supplies or sleeping bags in it, but it has a lot of wands.
“If it is that heavy, then you must have stuffed it full with wands.”
“Yes.”
I hugged my leather bag. This bag has accompanied me to countless places, and I am certain I will be able to make it anywhere if I have this with me.
“Next up is sharing some detailed information. You did realize that I imprinted some information on you in your previous life, right?”
I guess she means the method of information sharing she had set up before I reincarnated.
“You mean the interference through Liber Monstrorum?”
“That’s right. Vampires always interfered whenever I tried to give your younger self any information. That’s why I had to directly give information to your soul in a previous lifetime, and so I chose this reckless method. This is all because you are related to Oswald Bort … in other words it’s the Wynt family’s fault.”
Saying so, Dolores quickly explained what she had done in my original world.
After transferring to my world, she used magic to disguise herself and obtain an identity in Japan. She then searched for a leyline and then drew mana from there to cast more complex magic, namely foresight and clairvoyance, to pinpoint the location of the person, who will later be reborn as Erica Aurelia, and move on.
“Can magic be used in this world? Can you use external magic and generate internal magic?”
“If you have the necessary equipment and fulfill the requirements, then yes. But it was still impossible to identify an individual.”
Even though she ran into a dead end, she did not give up.
Using the power of her foresight, she saved the life of an individual who, unfortunately, was fated to die prematurely, and requested him to be her collaborator. That individual seemed to have a talent for storytelling and programming, so he later went on to start his own game company.
“In short, I saved a talent who was fated to die without being able to see his talent blossom, and used that situation as a foothold.”
The first five games were made to earn money. The fifth one, in particular, was a surprising hit, which earned him a lot of money and popularity.
When the business took off, Dolores prepared a big-budget sixth game, spending on illustrations, music and voice acting. Apparently, she had incorporated my tastes and interests into the game, which she had acquired through clairvoyance.
“I could barely make an assumption from the vague information I received in the room through clairvoyance. You being a gamer helped me find the right track.”
“What would you have done if I hadn’t played games at all?”
“I would have taken a media mixing approach. I would’ve made an anime, a novel, a comic, a play or a live-action film. If you were someone who wasn’t interested in any of these things, then I probably would’ve continued the clairvoyance observation a bit more … and just adjusted my plans to reach you somehow anyway, whatever the method may be.”
A game made perfectly suited to my taste and preferences with Dolores’ foresights incorporated in it…that was Liber Monstrorum.
It was made possible eight years and seven months after Dolores’ transition to this world. The game had beautiful character designs by my favorite artist, and four voice actors who had voiced characters from the games I had played before.
Popular previous works, top-notch character design and voice actors … thinking back on it, those aspects were what motivated me to buy that game.
They are scary … the Wynt family!
“It was worth the time and money I spent. You played the game, just as I calculated, right?”
“Yes … but I only managed to get up to the middle of the third scenario.”
“What!?”
Dolores had a surprised expression.
“Well … I was killed by a stalker right after it came out … ”
I looked away.
It was really difficult for me to say I had not finished the work she put so much time and effort to prepare for me.
“Wait, what!? What do you mean? Alright, you must have at least seen a walkthrough for strategy information and found some spoilers right? Don’t worry, I don’t mind. This is the only way to efficiently collect the illustrations after all.”
“Nope, I didn’t … the only spoiler I came across was that if you picked the hidden route of Cain, you would get a spectacular merry bad ending.”
Dolores wrinkled her brows and grunted.
“Haaaaaaa!! What the hell is that!!!”
Dolores rushed over to me.
“It was still useful though. Thanks to this, when I was a child, I was able to befriend several people and phantom beasts.”
“Did Eduard discover the Icesilver sword after finding the fog golem in the alchemy workshop? Did he gift the sword to Chloe?”
“Well … I was the one who found the golem by accident, and told Chloe to keep the sword.”
Did I ruin my brother and Chloe’s event flag?
It seems like I have been unknowingly ruining a lot of scenarios. I would have liked to see them myself if possible.
“Elric Actorius must have put the nails back into his body in order to protect Chloe, right?”
“Well … he did put them back … but that was because he suffered severe burns during the Cursed Sword of Fire incident.”
“Cursed Sword of Fire! Isn’t it that artificial spirit activation device in Knot Reed? I don’t know anything about this development!!”
What? She didn’t know?
I broke Actorius and Chloe’s event flag too? Dolores looks puzzled. How did everything work out?
“Lies, lies, lies! None of it went as I calculated, rather it was all purely because of luck? I have failed. I should have observed the viability of the subject on a shorter span of time. Middle of the third scenario, oh gods, that’s too little information! It was as if walking on thin ice … this scale of mismanagement can’t even be called causal interference by the Wynt family!”
After grabbing her head in dismay, Dolores abruptly snapped back up.
“Well, no matter. Being lucky is also part of your ability. Since we still have a chance for victory, I will graciously accept it.”
“Ah, yes … right.”
Was it really luck that saved my life? No, no, no, isn’t it because Dolores, I and everyone did our best? Oh well, let’s just think of it this way.
But I couldn’t think of it so simply when I think of Brad. He had gone to the extremes to prevent his body from being taken over by the Mad King. If I had been better aware of the situation, I wonder if I could have done something about it sooner.
“Well, from here on, it’s a race against time. There are three things I need you to do.”
“Three things?”
“At this moment, several of your friends are caught up in the worst possible situation. Harold, Auguste and Klaus.”
Those three were not supposed to be at the academy building at that time.
I wonder what happened.
“What do you mean?
“They are an obstacle to Cain, the Mad King, so he is trying to rewrite their existence from that world as it is now. They are being expelled from their original world through the primordial pattern and merged into an alternate version of themselves from another possibility. In other words, they are being merged into a body and soul that has followed a different life in a different timeline, one that is closer to the game you know.”
Does that mean they are no longer the Harold, Auguste and Klaus that I know?
“No way!”
“If my niece had not interfered at that point with a constriction Geas, the same fate would have befallen Eduard, Elric, Palug, and Zaratan. It would have been quicker to just kill them, but he went to all this trouble because he wanted to give them a taste of suffering and despair worse than death.”
“Terrible … ”
“I have a job I want those three to do, and if I don’t get them back, my plan will fall apart. So, you will bring them to me.”
“Alright, but how?”
How should I interfere with a world which is already diverging?
No, this is a person who has already analyzed and used the primordial pattern. In other words—
Dolores stopped and pointed.
On the floor, a seven-colored pattern had spread out and continued to expand.
“Run straight on the pattern I have set up and then change to another train. I will explain the situation as you go.”
“Alright.”
Dolores pointed to an empty compartment, and I began to run.
The light on the floor scattered, redrawing the design of the pattern. An ever fluctuating and expanding vortex. Dolores’ voice echoed in the compartment as she made an announcement.
“Destination, Liber Monstrorum, the Third Scenario.”
“Name of victim, Harold III Nibelheim.”
“Name of the monster, a human.”
“Raised by his guardian, Lord Harlan Slayson, as his successor, he is far from the boy you used to know. One of the Knights of the Military order, he is a man who embodies wealth, connections, love, hatred, affection and bond.”
“His weapon of choice are a pair of revolver-style pistols, with runestones and snowsilver ores for bullets. His preferred tactics are drugs and the art of deception he has picked up from Harlan.”
“The location is on the banks of the Kullat-Nunu river. The timing is around the moment of your death.”
A single train passed us by. In one of the compartments, I caught sight of a red-haired boy dressed in mourning clothes. He was weeping, his eyes swollen.
The train abruptly came to a halt, and I fell near the doorway. The door of the trained opened. The other train also came to a stop.
—This is …
“Now, change trains, Erica Aurelia.”
Kicking the floor, I immediately jumped into the train that had stopped across the street. At that very moment, the scenery around me distorted.
A dark, dimly lit area, the sound of insects could be heard nearby, the bustling sight in the distance, the feel of cobblestones underneath my feet, fireworks going off in rapid succession—the vision I saw for a brief moment was one I recall seeing many times before …
I was standing on the banks of the Kullat-Nunu river on the night of the All Soul’s Day.
<< Previous Chapter | TOC | Next Chapter >>
Eristol: Lol poor Dolores going nuts over everything that could have gone wrong. Now, up next we will get to meet Harold Alter.
Consider joining the discord server for updates.
Starry Night Translation 
My, it isn’t easy to take timelines. 🤣
LikeLiked by 1 person