In a Different World with a Smartphone Chapter 402: Reset, and Rediscovery.
âFor things to happen, a trigger of some sort must have existed. That can be called a diverging point of a certain scenario, since without it, the things that followed wouldnât exist.â
âHaaâŚâ
âFor example. If you had not met Suu-kun, and Duke Ortlinde through her, you wouldnât have met Yumina-kun through that same duke. Is that not so?â
âWell, yes.â
I only got to know Yumina due to the dukeâs identity as the kingâs younger brother, after all.
âAnd without your trip from the town of Leaflet to the capital, you would not have met Suu- kun. And to stretch it a bit, the same goes for Yae-kun. If even a single cog had been misplaced in that sequence, you wouldnât be here right now.â
No, well, if you say that, then without that mistake by Kami-sama, I would still be living a mundane live as a high schooler back in Japan, wouldnât I? Eh, donât tell meâŚ
âDo you mean⌠That it can change history?â
âRight. Itâs something similar. However, this âpowerâ weâre dealing with doesnât do something like turning back time. It takes a part of the scenario surrounding the current target, and overwrites it to âbecome nothingâ. Itâs a bit inaccurate, but calling it a âresetâ should be easier to understand for you. Of course, itâs not strong enough to affect the cognition of us divines, though.â
Kousuke ojii glanced towards Anubis. Anubis is behaving normally. He probably doesnât have any idea that something just happened.
So rather than the time rolling back, itâs more like I began anew in a new timeframe, is itâŚ?
Like the reset button in a game. When something bad happens, you reset. You reset as many times as it takes to fix the situation. So thatâs the white [Crown], Albusâ powerâŚ
âNo, if itâs just resetting back into a parallel world with a different divergent point, then the white [Crown] would only move itself, or its master, to that spot, and thatâll be the end of it. Nobody else would be affected. Instead of that, it looks at âsomething that has happenedâ in âthis worldâ, and takes âthe possibility that it didnât happenâ in another parallel world, and stick that onto the current event. Like sewing a patch onto a pair of pants to cover a hole, or grafting a new branch onto a tree with one of its branch snapped off. And with that, the hole in the pants, as well as the broken branch of the tree would technically âbecome nonexistentâ. Of course, anything that follows would change as well.â
The power of the black [Crown], Noir, is to pull in and manifest the thing that it desires from a parallel world.
And the power of the white [Crown], Albus, would be to take a phenomenon from a parallel world, cut it off, and apply it like a patch to this world⌠Would overwriting be a better word?
ââThat reminds me, that time I went to see the pumpkin pants prince, the blue [Crown], Blau, said something like that.
âThe white Crown [Albus] is a special Crown. It is the pair to the black Crown [Noir], and the end. The fool that would return everything to null.â
True, this is a power that would return everything to null⌠Or, to be exact, return everything to a state where it âdoesnât existâ.
The powers of the [Black] and [White] are indeed similar. The [Black] that pulls in various âpossibilitiesâ to itself, and the [White] that returns various âpossibilitiesâ to null.
âThis is only a conjecture, but that white [Crown] probably caused this âresetâ because it didnât want you to remove the G-cube from it, Touya-kun. It shouldnât have that much power since it was in sleep mode, so the bare minimum⌠It probably âresetâ to the point that caused its discovery in the first place. It didnât work on us gods, though.â
As I listened to Kousuke ojiiâs words, I immediately called the Belfast king.
âOh, Touya-dono. What is it?â
In Belfast, the one-horned shark in Lake Palette had already been subjugated. And just as Kousuke ojii had said, they didnât find anything in the lake.
When I asked for more details, there was one point which was different from what Duke Ortlinde had told me back then.
The horn of the one-horned shark didnât break. It was because the horn broke off and sank into the lake, that one of the knights dived down and discovered Albus. So thatâs the point which the white [Crown] overwrote.
âGo and dive into the lake. You should find the white [Crown] there. I think it probably wonât try to âresetâ itself as long as you donât try to take its G-cube out. Well, thereâs also a good possibility that it doesnât have enough power to carry out a âresetâ anymore, though.â
Following Kousuke ojiiâs advice, I used [Gate] to move to Lake Palette.
Thereâs nobody around the place; it seems like the people from Belfast had already finished taking the one-horned shark away.
I tried searching through the lake with search magic, but no reactions came up. I wonder why?
The white [Crown] should definitely be sleeping at the bottom, though.
â[Prison].â
A translucent bluish-white cube appeared around me. The setting is obviously to not let water in while letting oxygen pass through.
And like that, I started going into the lake.
As expected of the royal capital Alephis, which is also called the âLakeside Capitalâ, the transparency of Lake Paletteâs waters is very high. I can see things a long distance away even underwater.
âI can see a long way but⌠This is way too big⌠Where do I even start. I shouldâve asked His Majesty the location where the horn fell before the reset occurred. Ah, right.â
I used summoning magic and called Sango and Kokuyou over from Brunhild. The turtle and snake divine beasts floated in the air like usual.
âCan you ask the fishes in this lake to look for a white golem⌠Or something like that at the bottom of this lake?â
âBy your will.â
âLeave it to us~â
Sango and Kokuyou got out of the [Prison], and after they seemingly shouted something in the water, an uncountable number of fish suddenly assembled before them. Uoh. As expected of the kings of the scaled species. Amazing.
When Sango and Kokuyou shouted something again, the fishes immediately scattered. Itâs definitely not because I thought something like âthey look deliciousâ, rightâŚ
When we waited for a while, a few of the fishes came back and stopped in front of Sango and Kokuyou.
âIt sounds like they found something. This way.â
That was pretty fast. I started walking along the bottom of the lake in the direction Kokuyou pointed towards, while being guided by the fishes.
Eventually, I saw something jutting out of the ground in front of me.
I canât really tell what that is from here yet. It looks somewhat like an algae-covered rock. It is a weirdly-shaped rock, though.
However, when I touched it with my hand, some of the moss and dirt covering it fell off, revealing a white body suspended in the water.
As I quickly wiped the rest of the moss and dirt off, it became apparent that this thing that was jutting out of the bottom of the lake is indeed the white [Crown], Albus.
If itâs in this kind of state, then itâs no wonder why my search magic canât find it. The knight who found it before the reset happened probably did it by accidentally touching it or something, too.
Still, it looks to be in pretty good conditions considering the amount of time it mustâve been left here for that much dirt to cover it. Is it because Lake Paletteâs waters are rather clean?
Lake Palette isnât a closed-off lake with no rivers connecting to it like Hokkaidoâs Lake Mashu. The fact that its waters are so clear despite that probably has something to do with spirits.
For now, I pulled Albus up with [Levitation], and returned to Brunhild together with Sango and Kokuyou using [Gate].
âWithout a doubt, this is the white [Crown]⌠To think it was in this world all alongâŚâ
Looking at Albus, who had been brought to Babylonâs [Laboratory], Dr. Elka made a gulping sound and muttered.
âFumu. True, itâs a golem that looks very similar to Norn-kunâs Noir. Well, letâs open it up first.â
I immediately held Professor Babylon by her nape as she excitedly tried to reach out towards Albus, like a kid who just got a new toy.
âGue!â
âWait just a minute. Like Iâll let another âresetâ happen. Before you do anything, first, listen to something from me.â
ââResetâ?â
Both the professor and Dr. Elka showed confused faces, but once I talked to them about the things I had experienced, the two of them sank into thought.
âThe ability to overwrite phenomena⌠Huh. It is indeed similar to Noirâs ability. Although, this one seems like itâll become something horrifying if itâs misused, though.â
âSomething horrifying?â
âGet it? Although it might be accompanied by several conditions for its usage, being able to turn âsomething that existedâ into âsomething that didnât existâ⌠Itâs an ability that can cancel whatever attack it faces, and might even be able to make it so that the entire battle didnât happen in the first place. If something like that was used on a person or a nationâŚâ
âIt might even be able to do something like making it so âthat person was never bornâ, or âthat nation was never foundedââŚâ
I shuddered when I heard Dr. Elkaâs words. Itâs like that one thing where someoneâs parents never married in a time travel series, isnât it.
If the meeting between the father and the mother was overwritten such that it ânever existedâ, the child would obviously not be born.
âHaving said that, itâs too powerful an effect. I donât think it would be able to overwrite things that far off in the past on top of that.â
âI concur. Plus, since this Albus is also one of the [Crown] golems, its ability must come with some sort of compensation. As it doesnât have a master, I think it shouldnât be able to wield its power to âresetâ anymore. âCome to think of it, I wonder what the compensation for [White] is. In Noirâs case, it was the âtime spent livingâ of its masterâŚâ
The compensation for the white [Crown] is most likely not anything mild as well. Isnât it something that can be life-threatening once used? If itâs the opposite of Noir, then it would be the âtimeâ its master âwould liveâ⌠So, the masterâs âlifespanâ?
âThat reminds me, if the event was âresetâ, then why do you remember what happened, eh, Touya-kun?â
Giku. This girl, whyâd she have to notice thatâŚ
I havnât told anyone besides the fiancĂŠe group about my relationship with the gods. How should I get out of thisâŚ
âC, coincidenceâŚ?â
âFuunâŚâ
The professor looked at me with half-lidded eyes. Sheâs definitely super suspicious of me right now, isnât she!
âWell, whatever. Still, what do we do with this guy?â
Un, we can just destroy it before it does anything troublesome, but I want to avoid that as much as possible.
Iâm still not sure about it, but this white [Crown], Albus, was probably the one who mended the world barrier both 5000 years ago and 1000 years ago.
It must have erased the fact that âthe barrier was brokenâ using its powers.
If itâs capable of using that power again, then it shouldnât be impossible for it to mend the currently-broken world barrier of this world.
Right now, the world weâre in is defenseless. We donât know if an invader from a different world like the Phrase would attack us in the future.
âIs it possible to restart it without touching the G-cube?â
âIt probably set up a protection in order to prevent the data of its previous master from being wiped. As such, as long as we donât try to register a new master to it, it shouldnât be impossible to wake it up. However, that would mean we have to face an active golem without the master present to restrain it. If it goes on a rampage, without the masterâs command authorityâŚâ
âWeâd have to stop it with force⌠In the worst case, weâll have to destroy it, huh.â
The ârampageâ she talked about probably wasnât referring to its reset ability going out of control, but a ârampageâ in the base sense of the word.
Thereâs a chance it may recognize us as âenemiesâ due to some coincidences, and attack us. And thereâs no master here to stop it.
âWell, I can seal it with my [Prison] in the worst case.â
âUn. Thatâs probably the safest option. Well, itâs not like itâll definitely rampage once it wakes up.â
The professor nodded slightly.
âAlright, then letâs restart it.â
âNo, letâs contact Norn before that and ask her to bring Noir here. It may become a restraint to Albus.â
Right. Itâll be a reunion between the [White] and [Black], after a thousand years, huh.
Since I canât call Nornâs group to Babylon, and it might get dangerous, we switched locations to the large training field to the north of the castle.
While explaining the situation to Nornâs group who we called over, we proceeded with the operation to reactivate Albus.
âMan, just how did you go out and find a new [Crown] like that? I canât understand it at all.â
ââŚâŚ [White].â
Norn muttered under her breath while sounding exasperated, while Noir stood in front of the inactive Albus; it probably had something on its mind even if it has no related memories.
â[Open].â
Dr. Elka opened the chest compartment of Albus like what I did before the reset happened.
Inside, the G-cube slowly rotated in a transparent sphere while releasing green phosphorescence; the exact same sight that greeted me once before.
Without touching the G-cube, Dr. Elka took out a small stick-like part behind it. It somehow looks like a fuse.
âSorry, but can you fill this with magic power for me? If we tried it, it would take too long, so.â
âIn this? Eh, alrightâŚâ
I held the fuse I received from Dr. Elka between my thumb and index finger, and poured in magic power.
I had been pouring it in slowly at first, and after quite an amount went into it, a small light lit up in the middle of the fuse.
Since it looked like itâs full, I returned the fuse to Dr. Elka, who then placed it back into its position inside Albus.
And finally, she pressed a button-like place deep inside with something like a screwdriver. The rotational speed of the G-cube got faster for an instant, but it immediately returned to normal.
âAnd weâre good with this.â
Dr. Elka closed the chest portion of Albus, and poured in magic power again.
Once she did that, a low hum began coming out of Albus, and small clicking sounds could also be heard here and there.
âCrown Series, model number CS-01 [Illuminati Albus], reactivate.â
After a mechanical-sounding announcement came out from Albus, its visor suddenly opened, and it began surveying its surroundings with its camera eyes.
Albus raised its upper body, and slowly stood up. Its eyes turned to Noir, whoâs standing in front of it.
It then tried to take a step towards Noir, but tripped on its own feet, and had its balance broken.
âAh.â
The white [Crown] slipped and hit the floor face-first in front of our eyes.
â⌠Overturned. Incomplete restoration of functions. A shame.â
ââRight after reactivation. Acceptable behaviour.â
Read Latest Chapters at wuxiaworld.eu
Albus let out a voice while still flat on the ground, and Noir replied to it.
âNo need to comfort. My heart is hurt.â
âUnderstood.â
âŚâŚUn, I donât think itâll suddenly attack us or anything. Somehow, it feels that way.