Chapter 25: The True Purpose

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Translator: Soafp

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“You did well. This is everything that happened.”

As he said that, Shiro lifted his finger from her forehead. At the same moment, Nonoa collapsed weakly to the ground.

Without thinking, she reached out with her right hand and touched her left arm.

Erius' experience, which had ended with pain felt until the very last moment.

Though not as intense as at the beginning, Nonoa's face was still smeared with bodily fluids, and her entire body was drenched in even more sweat than before.

“…Water Ball.”

Wanting to calm herself down, and to wash away the unpleasant sensation, Nonoa used magic to generate water and poured it over her head.

“…Dry Wind.”

She cast another spell, generating heat and wind, merging them to dry her wet hair and clothes.

Since awakening to “Master of Numbers,” she had been able to use mana to instantly construct appropriate magic suited to the situation.

This, too, was one of the powers Nonoa had gained by studying books she had bought at the antiquarian bookstore she visited together with Erius.

“Yeah, impressive. You're using your skill well.”

Shiro said admiringly as he opened the book he was holding.

There, written in Erius' final hand, was a single line:

“Nonoa meets Shiro and learns the truth.”

“Thanks to him writing this at the end, I can talk to you like this. I don't have much power left, you see. Without support like this, it would be pretty difficult.”

As Shiro finished explaining and closed the book, almost at the same time Nonoa finished getting herself together.

She stood up, fixed her gaze on Shiro, and asked:

“That guy… no, you people… just what are you?”

At her question, Shiro nodded once before speaking.

“Alright, I'll start with myself. I'm an existence that grants ‘skills' to you humans.”

“Skills…? Then does that mean you're a god?”

“Hmm, I don't really think of myself that way… I'm not omniscient or omnipotent, after all. But well, that might be the easiest way to understand it.”

With a faintly lonely smile, Shiro continued.

“This is a rough explanation, but… I grant skills to people. In return, I receive the positive emotions people feel as they live their lives—joy, hope, things like that—convert them into power, and then grant more skills to people. I oversee that kind of cycle.”

“…I don't really understand.”

“Yeah, I figured. So it's enough if you just understand that such a cycle exists. And right now, that cycle isn't working properly.”

“Why?”

“The great tree in your birthplace village, the one broken by the Demon King—that tree's role was to gather that positive energy and deliver it to me. Right now, the energy that's gathered is being used to restore the great tree. That's why the cycle won't function again for a while.”

“Eh… then does that mean humans won't be able to acquire skills anymore?”

“No, that can be managed somehow. But for that, I need to conserve what little power I have left. Safe mode… no, let's skip the complicated explanation. In any case, without support like this, I can't use my power. Interrupting the deal between Erius and Kuro was quite a gamble, you know.”

The image of that great tree standing proudly was a distant childhood memory for Nonoa.

When she left the village, she had seen new buds sprouting from the broken trunk, but it would still be a long time before it regained its former majesty.

“Alright… I can't say I fully understand you, but I think I get the gist. Then what about that man, Kuro?”

“Kuro was an existence opposite to me, one who governed people's darker emotions—anger, despair, things like that. And as he continued to come into contact with them, he changed.”

“Changed? You mean he became different?”

“Yes. He came to find pleasure in personally deceiving people, tricking them, and making them fight one another.”

“Deceiving… tricking…”

“Exactly. Kuro is a liar. He has repeatedly worked behind the scenes of history, skillfully weaving truth and falsehood together, nurturing suspicion among people and driving them to conflict. You can tell that from how he led Erius toward a false fate even after being forbidden to lie, right?”

“That's…”

She had heard of it before.

An evil god who deceived people, made them fight, and committed countless atrocities.

She had thought it was just a fairy tale, but…

“The evil god said to have been sealed by the Saint in the past—that is Kuro.”

Shiro paused briefly, as if waiting for Nonoa to digest those words, then continued.

“When I say ‘the original history,' it might sound misleading, but…”

What Shiro went on to describe was the fate that would have unfolded if the deal between Kuro and Erius had never been made.

“Erius becomes a ‘Sword Saint' at twenty-three. Two years later, together with Phalan, whom you know, and a young man named Nick, he defeats the Demon King. And one year after that, he meets Saint Lena.”

“He meets Lena? She doesn't fight the Demon King?”

“No. During that time, she stays at the church. Through those experiences, she grows into a far more mature person than you know—a person truly worthy of being called a saint.”

“Huh… that Lena…”

With a wry smile at Nonoa's words, Shiro spoke as if defending Lena.

“She was originally a good person. But in this version of history, being taken out into the world by Erius before she had matured, and getting tangled up in her feelings for him, caused her to develop the personality you know—exactly as Kuro intended.”

“As he intended…?”

“You know his specialty, don't you? Leading people into suspicion and making them fight… In the end, Lena kills Erius.”

There were parts of that she could understand.

Lena often flaunted her own skill, especially toward Nonoa.

And the cause of that rivalry was probably… Erius.

“Because Erius treated me kindly?”

“That's right. You're aware of it yourself, but you're a handful. So Erius ends up constantly looking after you, and Lena ends up…”

Nonoa couldn't deny that she had complicated feelings toward Lena.

But right now, what came next mattered more.

Sensing Nonoa's thoughts, Shiro continued.

“Let's get back on track. At that point, I used part of the power I had been conserving and met Lena. I told her, ‘The being once sealed by the Saint of the past will soon manifest again.'”

“Then at that time, that man was still sealed there?”

“Yes. So, to prepare for what was coming, she sought out Erius, who had defeated the Demon King, as a collaborator. That's when she first joined his party, and together they began fighting Kuro.”

“…”

As she listened to Shiro describe the ‘original history,' Nonoa felt a faint sense of alienation.

Four people who would surely be called heroes.

She wasn't among them.

In that fate, just like in Erius' initial experience, she would have accomplished nothing and quietly died in the gaps of history.

Unintentionally though it was, she herself was the one who had brazenly pushed aside the ‘true heroes' and taken their place.

She felt a slight irritation toward herself for that.

“…Why didn't you take action against the Demon King? Wasn't there something you could have done to protect the great tree?”

“Well, about that… it might sound like an excuse, but I avoid intervening in matters that Kuro isn't involved in. I want human history to be decided by humans as much as possible. You could call it a rule I set for myself… or just selfishness.”

“And that led to all of this.”

“That's right. You can blame me for it.”

Though he admitted it plainly, Shiro's expression was dark.

Seeing that, Nonoa realized she had gone too far.

“…I'm sorry. That was just me taking it out on you.”

“No, I understand how you feel… and I feel pathetic for not being able to respond to those feelings.”

As an awkward silence settled between them, Shiro continued.

“And during the fight against Kuro, Erius first became aware of his ‘heaven-bestowed skill,' ‘Guide.'”

“Wait—hold on.”

That didn't make sense.

His heaven-bestowed skill was supposed to be Swordmaster.

She had heard that directly from Erius; there was no mistake.

“Yes, actually… his skill ‘Swordmaster,' and even the ‘Sword Saint' he was supposed to obtain later, are ‘acquired-type' skills. He didn't receive them in the coming-of-age ceremony; it was just that the skill he had acquired was identified then. That ceremony you all go through mainly serves to indicate what you're suited for.”

In other words, Erius' skills weren't simply given to him—they were the crystallization of his own effort.

Perhaps if the Demon King's endurance had been greater, and Erius had trained to overcome that reduction, he really might have become a Sword Saint.

Now, there was no way to know.

“Then that ‘Guide' was his true heaven-bestowed skill?”

“Exactly. It was meant to remain dormant, never to be perceived until the battle with Kuro. That skill was originally one of the trump cards I prepared specifically to fight Kuro. Overcoming death again and again is a fate that any ordinary person would give up on. I created it to be granted only to someone with the mental strength to endure that… but still. I never imagined he'd accomplish that at such a young age.”

Shiro's judgment had been correct.

That it ended up like this was deeply ironic.

As Nonoa thought that, Shiro seemed to be thinking the same, sighing as he continued.

“But Kuro sensed it, and instead decided to use it for his own sake. He proposed a deal, customized ‘Guide' for use against the Demon King, and made Erius use it for Kuro's benefit.”

“Then that man's true goal was…”

As she spoke, Nonoa began to realize it.

That man's true objective.

Shiro nodded, affirming her thought.

“Eliminating Saint Lena. That was his goal—his true objective.”