Chapter 19: Letter

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“To Nonoa,

If by some twist of fate you are reading this letter, then it must be after the Demon King has been defeated—and by now, I am no longer in this world.

As you know, the Demon King was my father's nemesis, and it was my duty to defeat him. You, however, accomplished it in my place. First, I want to thank you. Thank you.

I do not know the details of your battle with the Demon King, but it was undoubtedly a fight beyond imagination.

Knowing the fact that I could never have defeated the Demon King myself, I ended up passing this responsibility onto you.

And now, I cannot personally praise you for your victory over the fierce battle. I hope that this letter conveys at least a fraction of my regret.

I don't know if this letter will ever reach you. Writing it is, in part, mere self-satisfaction. But if fate allows you to receive it, I would be grateful if you read it to the end.

If you have received this letter, it means you must have met my mother. I know you're not the type to harbor resentment, but if you visited her to vent your feelings about being expelled, I ask you to hold that back. You can hold any resentment against me as much as you like. I am a person deserving of your anger. After all, I used a part of your life for my own goals. You may not have known, but I did so many times.

Many, many times.

There is something I hid from everyone in the party. I want you to keep this story just between us. It may sound absurd, and even if you told others—or even you yourself—you might not believe it immediately. So it's fine to think of it as my idle words.

I had a skill separate from my Swordmaster abilities: “Guide.” It has two effects.

One, it can summon a book in which all the various events I experience are recorded, showing which actions lead to the Demon King's death.

The second is, if I die at age twenty and the Demon King survives, I would return to the day I obtained this book.

I acquired this book along with my Swordmaster skill on the day I came of age, at fifteen. The truth is, I repeated the years from fifteen to twenty over and over—more than a hundred times.

With each repetition, the book recorded the causality required to bring the Demon King to death. This causality may not make sense at first, but it is what I must do to defeat him.

Forming the “Dragon Fang's Bite” party, taking you and Lena as companions—everything I knew was dictated by this “Guide.”

Searching for this causality through repeated days was, if I say so myself, incredibly difficult. I faced death countless times, groping for the right path, and in that process, I met Phalan, Lena, and you, Nonoa.

And I learned from the book that expelling you from the party was essential to bringing the Demon King to death.

Your awakening of the “Master of Numbers” skill after being expelled allowed you to defeat the Demon King. There was no other way for the Demon King to die.

Overcoming my repeated deaths and taking the next step was never something I could have done alone.

You, Lena, Phalan, and many others became my companions. Witnessing their deaths and regrets, receiving their words of encouragement, vowing together to defeat the Demon King and restore the blue sky, and most of all, their unwavering trust in me—each of these gave me the strength to move forward.

Among them, Nonoa, your clumsy yet determined dedication to the sword inspired me the most. Watching you give your all gave me the courage to keep going. Your commitment pushed me forward.

I thank you again. Truly, thank you.

You may wonder why I kept the existence of this book a secret. In truth, telling anyone about it would have ensured the failure of the Demon King's defeat. I don't know why, but the book records “things not to be done.” One of those things is revealing this skill to others. Doing so would trigger unforeseen causality, and the Demon King would survive. That is why I could never tell anyone about it.

But now that the Demon King has been defeated, I believe it is safe to tell you—another reason I am writing this letter.

Perhaps I shouldn't have written it at all. Perhaps it would have been enough for you to know that you defeated the Demon King.

This knowledge may only confuse you.

Yet, I want you to understand. I passed the mission of defeating the Demon King onto you. You may think me cowardly, or even audacious.

But I had to tell you. Though all I could do was see you off as you went to defeat the Demon King after being expelled, you should know—

You were, in spirit, fighting alongside me all along.

Someone you know will likely have played a role in my death. Whether it becomes public, I do not know. If it remains unknown, that is fine. There is no need to search for the culprit. I accepted that I would be killed by her. I even think it was justified.

However, if it becomes public, please do not blame her. It is all my fault.

If that person struggles with the guilt of killing me, it may be complicated for you—but if possible, please help her.

Lastly, defeating the Demon King was undoubtedly your achievement alone. But know this: I consider you my comrade.

From Erius.”

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What the letter revealed—

Erius had repeated life and death countless times. He possessed a skill that summoned a book recording his actions. Revealing this skill to anyone would have caused a restart, so he could tell no one.

Because his own strength was insufficient against the Demon King, he had no choice but to expel Nonoa, passing the mission onto her, and he apologized for doing so.

And yet—

“You may not realize it, but I have been fighting alongside you all this time.”

Those words alone brought back to Nonoa a flood of memories from her days in Erius's party, one after another.