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Evan D. Sherden, Realization and Leap Forward (2)
Great flooding didn’t end just in one or two days. The catastrophic appearance of monsters lasted anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. However, the prospects for this great flood were expected to be bright thanks to the orc legion being crushed on the first day.
“Sir Evan summoned a meteor and destroyed the orcs?”
“I think he only destroyed about half.”
“I saw a huge meteorite falling under the sunset glow. It was awe-inspiring… he’s an archmage, obviously.” And the name that everyone talked about was, of course. Evan D. Sherden.
“It’s really ridiculous, no wonder Sir Matthew was trembling. I feel sorry for him to have to face such a monster.”
“The Pellati family saw his magic and tried to make him their son-in-law?”
“In the decades to come, no one will dare lift their head in front of Sherden.”
“If he openly supports Princess Anastasia…how will this go? Won’t the next duke need to maintain a good relationship with Sir Evan?”
The rumors were being expanded and reproduced endlessly. Evan went to the battlefield the following days to avoid people’s attention. However, if there was something he hadn’t considered, it was that the knights and soldiers were even more interested in him after witnessing his performance. In the end, Evan continued to work as a commando to avoid the eyes of the people.
“The effect wasn’t that great before.”
Evan burst the head of a mole monster rising from the ground with a bead and grunted.
“Isn’t it because you summoned it from a high place? The battle bead was also stronger than before…”
“The higher level of existence and magic power must’ve also had an effect.”
Both Shine and Belois were right, but the problem was that the increased power was far beyond Evan’s imagination.
“Now, can you feel the difference between your power and that of others?”
Shine narrowed his eyes and teased him.
“Well…”
Even though Shine said that, he expected Evan to make another ridiculous excuse like, ‘Strangely weak monsters came out this time.’
“Yes.”
“Hey, I thought you’d say that…yes?”
Evan’s actual response was even more surprising.
“I know the difference. The other soldiers, knights, and even the duke are weaker than me…probably by quite a bit, too.”
“Uh…huh?”
“Unbelievable.”
Everyone listening stiffened in shock. This was because it was an issue they all wanted to talk about clearly.
“Everyone sit down for a minute.”
“Yes, yes.”
“….Okay, master.”
Except for Dain, who was busy protecting Evan, everyone else sat down with him.
“I’ve been organizing my thoughts for the last two days, so listen. When I first encountered this world as a game…”
“When you first predicted the future of this world.”
As they listened, Shine was converting the contents of Evan’s talk of his previous life into a more appropriate form. Evan was stunned but quickly decided to use the ‘Shine translation service’.
“At that time, of course, I was focusing only on regular characters, especially ones raised to be efficient by the player.”
“He was concentrating only on the beings who could be intervened with the power of the master and enlightened.”
“Since I repeated it a hundred times, I’ve come to think that even the regular characters’ existence can become strong.”
“As he looked into the future, he suddenly became aware of one in which everyone grew strong thanks to him.”
Previously, Evan was surprised to learn that Leo and Bernard had only cleared the dungeon to the 56th floor. That was because the 56th floor was the level of the beginner’s playground that could be broken through with ease. But the reactions of the others weren’t that way. Clearing the 56th floor was a legendary feat that most humans couldn’t imagine. Since the criteria for judging strength was different in the first place, a sense of discrepancy began to occur.
“Because the future he observed is only one possibility, there is no guarantee that everything will go as he had observed.”
Now even Arisha was chiming in. But as he faced their serious expressions, Evan felt like throwing up. Well, he felt that they had gone too far already to deny the words prophecy or future. Evan trembled as he continued.
“From there, the illusion started. I came to think that it is natural for everyone to become stronger than me. It was a little unusual for me to think that even the monsters met that standard.”
“Not just a little.”
“But when I came to this Duchy, I saw characters like the duke and his knights. Then, I realized it when I saw the orcs get wiped out by the Heaven Throw.”
No, that wasn’t all. Evan thought of the faces of everyone he had ever met. Those days he had tried to trick himself by saying it was because they were ‘too old’ or they were ‘too young’ that their abilities were so different from when they appeared in the game…but it couldn’t be denied anymore. The faces of those looking up to him in amazement as he swept away a thousand orcs in an instant were burned into his mind.
“It was just that this world was too weak!”
Evan let out that arrogant declaration. Had the duke heard it, he would’ve been furious.
“The vast majority of beings that made up this world aren’t growing efficiently…! That’s why everyone is weak! Yes, even the regulars!”
Shine desperately wanted to tackle Evan’s words, but he held back.
“On the other hand, although I’m an extra, I picked techniques that were less used and trained them with maximum efficiency. I don’t know how or why, but I somehow have grown much stronger than Evan in the game…!”
In the game, Evan was able to somehow grow to a level where he could participate as a porter in the final dungeon. Of course, without meticulous care, he would quickly die from the flood of death flags. But regardless, he was able to get stronger!
“Because Master Evan is a talented person, regardless of being an extra or a regular?!”
“Shine, this is the problem.”
“The fact you are overflowing with talent?”
“No, the fact that the people in this world are all weak.”
Shine’s eyes narrow as if to say, ‘What sort of bullshit is this guy saying with that serious look?’
Evan took care of the monsters approaching them from afar with his beads.
“Now, you only have to deal with weak monsters as weak humans, but not forever.”
“You mean in seven years, when you’re twenty years old?”
“You remember. That’s right. At that time, humanity, as a whole, will face a great crisis. That’s the problem.”
Not just that, either. The main events of Yo-ma Great War 3, 4, and perhaps even 5, which may have something to do with the devil rune. Crisis after crisis that the weak humans can’t overcome would come one after another.
“Think about it, Grandpa Leo and Bernard also fought the terrible Mahwa. The crisis that will strike the world will be at least three times more grave.”
“But those two managed to get through it somehow.”
“No, the damage to humanity was far greater than we know, and it wasn’t completely overcome. Yo-ma Great War 3…yes. There were no remnants of the Mahwa in the future I originally saw.”
Unlike the in-game heroes that the player raised, this Leo and Bernard were lacking. They were still great heroes, but they were by no means perfect. But what was the worst thing here was that the variable of the environment was far greater than in the game.
‘In other words, it means the regulars after the third game are likely to grow weaker than Grandpa Leo and Bernard. We’re screwed! The enemies of the third game are stronger than the Mahwa tribe!’
Evan had recruited many talents and started their education early, but had he not, they might have appeared weaker than in the game.
“I was looking for a way to survive by myself; the main characters will do the rest. I just needed to settle down in the extra position…I was thinking that.”
“You mean that was just a prelude, amazing.”
It wasn’t that he didn’t try, but rather now he was saying that it wasn’t enough.
“The world will be in a state that it wouldn’t be strange if it perished…that can’t be allowed. We have to make mankind stronger!”
“More than now?”
“More.”
Evan’s purple eyes shone ominously as Arisha spoke up.
“So, what are you going to do, specifically?”
“I will make as many people as I can reach… strong. First of all, I should start with our territory. We have to discover and nurture people we can grow to trust.”
“More than now?”
“More!”
As Evan shouted with his fists clenched, the eyes of those around him were firmly prepared.
“And finally…”
He really hated it; he didn’t even want to get close to them initially. There were even times that he thought it would be nice if they never knew of him.
“I have to raise the main character myself.”
“Oh, that…have you been searching all this time?”
“Yes, because at this rate, the world will perish. Regular characters are weaker than the extras, but I won’t give up! I have to make them strong somehow!”
It was the moment when the boy Evan, at the age of thirteen, declared his true purpose. It wasn’t much different than what he’d been doing, in fact, but no one dared to say that out loud.
“It was a good thing for you to finally rid yourself of your illusions…”
“…Yes, but it seems like he has a new one.”
“Evan, you’re so cute…oops, you didn’t hear that.”
The three people looking at him knew that he was still mistaken. That was because the standard of strength that Evan aimed for far exceeded what humanity, or even perhaps the Demon King, could imagine.
“Because you can’t accept that you are superior to others, you are now trying to elevate the others to a level that suits you forcibly. No matter what, there couldn’t be a person stronger than Evan.”
“It’ll be a great discomfort for those he finds…”
“Finding and raising the main character…I’ve never seen anyone who suits the role of the main character as much as Evan.”
If all the main characters could become as strong as Evan hoped, then the Demon King could be defeated.
“It’s not a bad thing to be strong, regardless. I will try as hard as I can to be stronger.”
“More than now?”
“More.”
“This guy…”
While Shine and Arisha were looking desperate, Belois was the only one with the same resolute expression as Evan. In a way, she was more terrifying than he was.
“I haven’t met the Demon King yet…but I’m feeling bad for him.”
On the very day he came to grasp the present level of humanity and his own level, Evan’s goal was revised to only be larger than before. It was the moment dark clouds formed in the demon’s future.
On a side note, throughout all of this, Dain had no clue as to what they were saying and instead was busy cutting down the monsters around him.