0% Dreams co suddenly.
Floating unconsciously with eyes closed, I regained awareness like a fish cutting through water.
It was a dark plain.
A world deprived of sunlight presented a bleak spectacle. In this place, where all life had vanished, even the faintest movent was scarce.
Turning my back on the absolute silence, I took a step forward.
Corpses and weapons were strewn together, forming a lifeless forest. A world where not even crows cried out was this desolate.
A man stood alone amidst it all.
Until I drew near, he said nothing. Even his breath was inaudible, making question whether or not he was truly alive.
Then, his voice broke the silence.
“They’re all dead.”
The voice he spoke with was indifferent.
An emotionless tone, perfectly fitting with this monochro world.
Finally, I parted my lips. Warmth finally returned to my mouth as I spoke.
“Why did I end up here today?”
At my question, the man’s gaze briefly shifted towards .
His golden pupils had now settled into an icy stillness.
And yet, they reminded of flas.
Because in a world sketched in black and white, they were the only color that shone.
“Consciousness isn’t a fixed place. It’s broader and stranger than you imagine.”
“But previously, it seed I was always called to the sa place.”
The scenery that flashed through my mind as I spoke was of a landscape swallowed by cracked voids and endless darkness. After all, that’s where I’d always t him before.
Yet today, inexplicably, I encountered him in the middle of an open plain. Naturally, it puzzled
The man, however, showed no particular interest in my confusion. His gaze, which had briefly turned to , shifted back to the corpses.
“Because I was keeping it that way.”
His words were as succinct and direct as always, leaving no room for discussion.
But he never explained everything clearly either.
In the end, I frowned and had to ask another question.
“...But not anymore?”
“Delphirem is coming.”
It wasn’t the answer I wanted, but I could feel the heavy emotions behind his words.
Fatigue, hatred, regret, despair—and beneath it all, a seething intent to kill.
With an unbearably weary expression, he continued,
“I thought I had more ti to prepare. I believed if I gradually prepared, at the very least, you would be able to stop Delphirem sohow. But you accelerated things too quickly... That monster’s presence is growing stronger.”
His words spoken with calm resignation, pointed like a compass needle in a single direction—
And it was certainly not a path to survival.
I was montarily speechless, absorbing his warning.
“Having consecutively lost two servants, she must be frustrated. She might have thought it was a coincidence at first, but now her gaze will definitely be upon you.”
“Are you telling to be careful from now on?”
“No, there’s no need for that.”
At last, the man turned fully toward , directly facing .
And then made a declaration without the slightest trace of doubt.
“Because caution won’t change anything... Can you block out the sun with your hand or avoid the moonlight?”
Isn’t that far too pessimistic?
I wanted to ask him that, but in the end, I kept my mouth shut.
Because his gaze, locked onto , was impossibly solemn.
In the past, I might have missed it.
But now, I understood how desperately he’d struggled.
Yet, he had lost so much.
Though I’d chosen a different path, his wasn’t so pathetic as to be mocked.
Such was the path he had taken.
Instead, I finally voiced the question that had been lingering in my mind.
“Is this place a battlefield?”
“Probably.”
His response was unusually vague.
I examined the corpses strewn across the land. From unidentified monsters to demonic beasts and even humans—beings of all kinds had t their end here.
In truth, this diversity was exactly what puzzled .
On a typical battlefield, it was rare to see so many different species’ corpses piled together.
After all, different races naturally struggled to cooperate.
What would happen if allies fell into infighting? Or if a particular species ignored strategy and acted recklessly?
That was why this landscape—where so many different kinds of corpses were mixed together—felt so unnatural.
Even if multiple races had sohow been gathered into a single force, they wouldn’t end up in such chaotic disarray.
It didn’t take long for my question to be answered.
Because the man provided the answer himself.
“I killed them.”
It was a confession devoid of emotion.
For a mont, it almost felt like I was listening to a soulless murderer indifferently recounting his cris.
That was how abrupt his admission was.
I looked at him, slightly taken aback.
“All of them... are the sins I’ve accumulated. It seems all the enemies lingering in my mories are gathered here.”
“This many?”
As I spoke, my eyes inadvertently drifted to so of the corpses scattered around .
There were plenty of monsters and demonic beasts, but nearly half of the bodies on this plain belonged to humans.
At the very least, there were hundreds—if not thousands.
Perhaps realizing what my gaze implied, the man replied in a blunt voice.
“Yes, this many... I had plenty of reasons to kill them. Though I’ve long since forgotten most of them.”
His calm statent weighed heavily upon .
My vision began to tremble slightly.
Was this truly how much life had to be taken?
All for that supposed noble cause—the idea of saving the world?
The man rely watched in silence.
As my trembling eyes wandered between the corpses, he quietly began to speak.
“That man conspired with the Dark Order and sold orphans. He denied it to the very end, but the evidence was undeniable. His family insisted on his innocence until the very end, condemning as a murderer... And that girl—she was just another test subject for the Dark Order.”
One by one.
His voice, listing the reasons why each had to die, was eerily even—like a priest clinically reciting the causes of death over the dead.
It was unsettling.
Yet rational.
There was a valid reason behind every life he took.
The longer he spoke, the quieter I beca.
That was when my wandering gaze finally ca to a halt.
I felt my eyes drawn irresistibly to a certain corpse.
As if it possessed its own gravitational pull, I found myself stepping toward it unconsciously.
The body lay face down.
The body was not too badly damaged, and from its back alone, I could roughly make out its build.
It felt familiar.
The instant that thought crossed my mind, I staggered and fell to my knees.
A sharp crack echoed inside my head.
It felt like shards of broken glass were coursing through my brain’s blood vessels. The pain was unlike anything I had ever experienced, forcing to grit my teeth.
“T-THAT CORPSE... UGGHHH—!”
I couldn’t even manage a scream—only fragnted words tumbled from my lips.
That corpse.
Just what... was that corpse?
The man cast a detached glance at as my vision gradually started turning red.
Blood was streaming down from my eyes.
As if I had seen sothing I was never ant to witness.
Only then did the man react aningfully, letting out a quiet “Ah.”
“That corpse is...”
My vision blurred, and like a puppet whose strings had snapped, my body collapsed onto the ground.
No, could you even call it collapsing?
I felt no impact, only a sensation of drifting again.
Like dreaming, my senses dulled.
It was as if everything within my physical shell was evaporating.
Only a distant voice lingered in my mory.
“The person you must kill from now on.”
And then, gasping for breath, I awoke.
In the familiar confines of my dormitory room.
Feeling the lingering ache, I grabbed the canteen I always kept beside my bed, filled with cold water.
Because it made mornings after drinking much easier.
As the cool water rushed down my throat, a familiar change in my peripheral vision caught my attention.
A letter had arrived at so point.
With a sigh, I checked the calendar.
More than a week had vanished again. This ant my future self had taken control for longer than before.
Perhaps he’s finally recovering from the aftereffects of the last summoning?
Back in the Percus territory, I forcefully summoned my future self. As a result, he had been unable to manifest for so ti. But now, it seed he had regained enough strength to take over for an entire week.
It wasn’t a bad thing.
After all, one way or another, his assistance was undeniably useful.
Thinking that, as I reached to tear open the envelope.
Knock, knock.
Soone knocked on my door.
I tilted my head slightly and glanced out the window.
The twilight of dawn still lingered. Few people would co looking for at this hour.
I was curious about the contents of the letter, but I couldn’t leave my visitor waiting.
Yawning, I rose to my feet. And in just a few sluggish steps later, I reached the door and pulled it open.
Beyond it stood the Saintess.
Her eyes were filled with exhaustion.
In her hand, she held an envelope.
As I stared at her dumbfoundedly, she scowled in irritation.
“What are you doing right now? Take these docunts already. And if you don’t properly explain yourself right this instant, I’ll—good heavens, Ian?”
She was grinding her teeth in frustration as she spoke, but then—her eyes widened in shock.
The mont our eyes t.
I was wearing the perfect expression of soone who had absolutely no idea what was going on. Seeing this, the Saintess seed to imdiately realize sothing.
That my original personality had returned.
And the very next mont, she crumbled, her voice trembling with relief.
“O Lord... Thank you. For ridding of that damnable scoundrel, though even tearing him to pieces wouldn’t be enough to appease ...”
“Uh, he hasn’t exactly left for good yet... But more importantly, what’s going on?”
As I helped the Saintess to her feet, watching her frantically make the sign of the cross, I couldn’t suppress my unease and asked again.
At this point, I had no choice but to realize it.
I had done sothing again.
Or rather, the Ian Percus from the future had—while I was unconscious.
Finally gathering herself, the Saintess stepped into my room,
As if about to discuss sothing secret, she carefully shut the door behind her before silently handing an envelope.
Her deanour made it clear. The answer to everything was inside.
Though I only needed to reach out, an inexplicable unease kept frozen in place.
Instead, I decided to throw out a few guesses.
“Did I perhaps hit soone?”
She shook her head.
Seeing her denial, my voice trembled even more as I asked my next question.
“T-Then... Did I kill soone? If so, it must’ve been justified, right?”
“I said no! Just take the damn docunts already!”
For so reason, her patience was unusually thin today.
Her raised voice instantly made shrink back. I’d only get scolded if I pushed her any further.
Resigning myself, I carefully took the envelope from her hands.
The letter was sent by the Holy See of the Holy Kingdom.
Perhaps that was why the Saintess had it personally delivered.
I tore open the seal, and the docunts that erged were formatted in a way I had never seen before.
My eyes imdiately scanned its contents.
Several seconds later, my reaction was simple,
“...What the hell is this?”
“It’s a notice informing you that you’ve been summoned for an Inquisition.”
I clamped my mouth shut.
An Inquisition?
Did that an I’d been summoned as the accused?
A surge of indignation shot up my throat.
“No, does this even make sense?! On what charges...!”
The Saintess didn’t answer my questions.
She rely gestured toward the docunt with her eyes.
Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to read through the lines, my eyes bloodshot with frustration.
It didn’t take long for the answer to appear.
‘Charge: Blasphemy (Sexual Harassnt)’
Silence followed.
I had no idea how much ti passed with neither of us saying a word.
Then, a gritted growl broke the silence.
“That absolute lunatic....”
My hand trembled as I clenched the docunt, unable to do anything but mutter under my breath.
I thought my future self was supposed to be helpful?
Forget that.
He is nothing more than a bastard set on making my life miserable.
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