Chapter 135

Chapter 135

I quietly gazed at Cassis.

Whenever I saw his pale white face, I always thought he looked pale, but if I had known how he looked now, I never would have considered him pale before.

Even under the yellowish lighting, seeing Cassis so gaunt made me feel uneasy.

I sat quietly in the chair beside the bed, then slowly leaned forward. My face drew closer to Cassis’s.

Cassis had returned with his chest nearly torn apart by a demonic beast’s claws, and that night he had overcome several critical moments.

I couldn’t bring myself to go to the hastily assigned barracks and just stood there blankly, watching the situation unfold.

Numerous people came and went, and Luka, whom I had urgently contacted, came running.

Urgent voices mixed with panicked ones, the sound of magic incantations blended with priests’ prayers.

I stood there in a daze, checking the System several times, but there was nothing I could do immediately.

[I’m sorry.]

[We should have prepared medicine or something in advance.]

[But don’t worry too much.]

[It’ll work out fine.]

Only after they finally succeeded in stopping the bleeding and finished emergency treatment, confirming that Cassis’s breathing had stabilized, did Luka collapse from exhaustion.

From then on, I had been staying by his side continuously.

“Lord Cassis.”

I whispered softly.

As I waited for Cassis to open his eyes, my mind raced so much that a part of me wished time would freeze in this moment.

I felt continuously uneasy.

Though he had said at the end that he came here of his own accord, it was still because of me.

I had taken it for granted that he was a hero and treated him as such. There was no way my attitude hadn’t put pressure on Cassis.

“Did I make you like this?”

I felt suffocated.

I also felt guilty.

I felt so sorry that it was hard to even lift my head.

Roen told me I should rest, but even when I lay down on the bed and closed my eyes to rest, I couldn’t sleep at all.

This was better.

I had naturally assumed the original story was right.

“…Huh?”

The original story.

In the original game, it had definitely succeeded.

I thought that was a future that hadn’t happened yet, and that it was a completely twisted future because Cassis Luwin went bankrupt after I possessed this body.

But… if this is the case, what about the past that Leilyranda experienced?

Ding!

Just as I was feeling confused, the System chimed.

[SYSTEM | Quest ‘System Error – Irina (3/4)’ has arrived.]

I froze at the quest fragment.

This quest was talking about the secrets or truths of this world.

The fragments themselves could be collected through people deeply involved in the world’s truth.

But this collected quest fragment had my name ‘Irina’ attached to the end.

“A truth related to me.”

I wasn’t sure if it was a truth related to me, or a truth related to Irina, the original owner of this body.

Whatever it was, I was scared.

I was just someone who had possessed this body and gained the System, with no secrets like Cassis or Leilyranda before me. Why was I being mentioned like this?

[Isn’t possession itself… quite a tremendous truth?]

[I suppose so.]

Anyway, since I had collected it, I decided to think of it as a good thing.

I was still missing one more quest fragment, so I couldn’t immediately set out to understand the world’s truth.

“Sigh.”

I closed all the System windows and turned my attention back to Cassis. I could intermittently hear his steady breathing.

I sat properly in the chair and turned to the book in my hands. It was a book I had tried to read several times but ultimately failed to finish.

This time I tried to focus and read it, but I was bound to fail again because of Cassis showing movement for the first time.

“Lord Cassis?”

“…I..rina.”

It was the first word he had uttered since collapsing.

He had fought death for nearly two days, then spent three days unconscious.

Luka had said there was no telling when he might wake up.

But the fact that Cassis had regained consciousness, however hazily, finally gave me relief.

I immediately approached Cassis and grasped his hand. His hand was cold. Drunk on sleep and medicine, he held my hand.

“Irina…”

“Lord Cassis. Are you somewhat conscious?”

“I love you.”

I had jumped up to immediately call a physician and priest, but I froze at Cassis’s single statement.

One of my hands was still extended to his thin arm.

Cassis held on tightly as if I were a lifeline and mumbled in a voice drunk with sleep.

“I love you.”

“…”

“I love you.”

To dismiss it as a mistake, he mentioned it too clearly, three times in a row.

“I felt like I hadn’t said this to you, so I tried my best to survive somehow.”

He confessed in a voice that was continuously slurred, heavy with sleep.

“I’m glad I could tell Irina… that I love her.”

“Lord Cassis, I—”

“Irina, don’t say anything.”

He spoke firmly despite not being able to open his eyes properly.

“I didn’t say it to hear an answer, nor did I return without dying for that reason.”

“Yes…”

“Good.”

After saying this much, he fell asleep again. I approached him, wondering if something might be wrong, but was reassured by his raspy breathing and could step back.

The strength gradually left Cassis’s hand that was still holding mine, and soon his fingers completely released my hand.

I carefully withdrew my hand so as not to wake him.

And I thought to myself:

‘W-what is this situation?’

My mind is in chaos!

Ding!

[SYSTEM | Quest ‘System Error – Cassis (4/4)’ has arrived.]

[SYSTEM | All ‘System Error’ fragments have been collected!]

[SYSTEM | You can now view ‘The Truth of the World’.]

After confirming everything, I lifted my gaze blankly to look at Cassis again. He was sleeping peacefully.

“…The time here stops while I’m viewing memories anyway, right?”

[That’s right.]

Then it would be better to watch it now.

I was curious about the content anyway, and based on the previous memories, it seemed to be significantly related to the world’s destruction.

[SYSTEM | Viewing of ‘The Truth of the World’ will begin in 5 seconds.]

[SYSTEM | 5, 4, 3, 2, 1]

[SYSTEM | Viewing of ‘The Truth of the World’ begins.]

* * *

Originally, bugs appearing in the world and creating the risk of destruction isn’t particularly special.

It’s quite natural.

Idelbach and Arschen knew this too.

That’s why usually, heroes who fight against such threats of destruction are naturally born in worlds.

However, the case with Sian Terezia and this current situation were unusual.

For the destruction that came this time, the twin gods planned to just repeat while changing conditions.

But the bugs’ evolution was faster than expected, and as they began to influence the world through Leilyranda Jackmüller, the twin gods realized that at this rate, the world would be beyond saving.

<What do we do?>

<Let’s raise a hero!>

<We’ve repeated this so many times, and if we’re still in this state, it means there’s no proper hero in our dimension this time.>

<…What do we do?>

<…>

The two gods faced a dilemma: either abandon the world as it was, or somehow placate the people inside and try to prevent destruction.

But then help came to them.

<Idelbach, I heard your dimension is screwed.>

<…It’s not screwed yet.>

<You’ve repeated hundreds of times and it’s still the same. That’s screwed.>

<Hmph. Sis, please help me.>

Actually, Idelbach had grabbed onto a god from another dimension who had come to observe and wouldn’t let go.

Thus, the twin gods made a contract to bring someone destined for heroism from another dimension.

<They were born with a hero’s destiny, but my dimension is peaceful these days. There probably won’t be any wars or anything for them to go to.>

<…!>

<Take them.>

And so ‘Kim■■’s possession journey was decided.

“…W-wait a minute. Really? Like this?”

[Yep!]

I was so flustered that I immediately called the System in the middle of the quest. I could see the System cheerfully responding “Yep!” from far away.

I had many more things I wanted to say, but the quest pulled me back in.

<But the environment is so different, will they be able to adapt well?>

<They seem to like games, so let’s help them adapt through a game.>

I couldn’t close my mouth.

So even the fact that I played the game was already planned among the gods?

Anyway, I was able to adapt to the world I would possess through the game, and as soon as I finished adapting, I immediately opened my eyes as ‘Irina Seike’.

The gods were kind enough not to immediately throw me into disaster preparation.

They helped me adapt to the world through what they called a tutorial.

“But why did it have to be a debt-paying game?”

Since my possession was predetermined, couldn’t they have put me into a different game—one less about settling debts?

Or even in the same world setting, they could have sent me to a family that didn’t have to pay off debts.

I felt wronged and immediately looked for the System, but the System also spoke in a very aggrieved voice.

[Actually, we had you try so many games.]

“Huh. Really?”

[…When we had you play dating sims, instead of dating like you were supposed to, you made money, got promoted, and even started businesses.]

I had nothing to say.

There were games hoping to be recognized for developing territories, farming, and profiting through trade in healing games, but I tackled even those healing royal palace management games aggressively.

[…Since you were so impressively good at paying off debts, we prepared it in a debt-paying format.]

“…”