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Chapter 447 - Strong Right From The Start (1)
Jamie went out of the grave site. Before he knew it, the sky was all black, and the round full moon greeted him.
It was an oddly large full moon compared to usual.
He felt a little relieved that he had let out all the things that he had kept to himself until now.
He had never been this open about it before. Actually, it felt so absurd that he confessed all that.
‘There is no way my father could have been real.’
It had to be an illusion, like a subconscious thing.
It must have been that much of a psychological burden on him, and even if it was an illusion, he felt better because it felt like he had heard his voice after such a long time.
If he heads back now, the war will start right away.
The entire continent would be turned upside down. And it would be impossible to predict how many victims there would be.
Thank goodness.
He was able to meet his parents before the war began in earnest.
But he felt something odd about this. Everything that would happen when they lost the war would shackle their lives.
It would be the same as now, but he could eat more comfortably. No, rather than eating comfortably, he could think back on things.
‘If I lose, there will be no future for my family.’
Not just their future, but the future of everyone.
Jamie’s dream was simple, but it was also not so simple.
To live happily with everyone.
Even in the most peaceful world, not many people are happy.
Maybe the hardest thing in the world is to be truly happy.
Jamie smiled and turned his head to the side.
“Someone said it had to be you.”
It was a sickly-looking girl in a wheelchair.
Isabelle P. Friedmore.
The true owner of the now-vanished Seldam Kingdom and the sole survivor of the royal family.
And a swordsman stood behind her. He knew who he was since he had seen him a couple of times.
“He is here too?”
It was the Sword Master, Tarix Pan, who was once known to be the best in Seldam.
Why did they suddenly appear in front of him after disappearing three years ago?
“The eldest son of Welton has changed beyond recognition.”
At those words, Jamie brushed his hair back for no reason.
“I see that it wasn’t sarcasm. I really did change a lot, like you said.”
He actually felt a bit embarrassed.
After Jamie cleared his throat a couple of times, he asked why they appeared in front of him.
“So what is it? You hid so well that you were hard to find, so I didn’t even look for you anymore, thinking you had left the world.”
“I came since it seemed like the time had come.”
“It is time?”
“Yes.”
Isabelle smiled and nodded.
Was there something left in the Seldam Kingdom?
Even so, it couldn’t be much help with all the time that passed. Right, this was the level of humans.
Even if they were the subordinates of Jamie, who had reached the Absolute, not even a speck of dust would have an effect.
“If it is something like a weapon, I will decline. It doesn’t matter much to me.”
“Huhu. Right, because you have turned into someone I cannot guess anymore. Until then, even though it is difficult, I was able to read the future even a little.”
“Right.”
From the start, the foresight that Isabelle had wasn’t that great.
She only had a fragment of knowledge to predict what would happen and not happen.
Even the High Elves who spoke of fate and destiny couldn’t predict Jamie’s fate, so Isabelle also couldn’t.
“It isn’t like a weapon. Follow me.”
The swordsman pushed Isabelle’s wheelchair and walked ahead.
Jamie watched them and followed. For all he knew, they could be up to something, but this was good for Jamie.
Even if they turned into enemies, it wouldn’t be a problem. To him, who became an Absolute, there was no other enemy than Ra.
“I will use the scroll.”
“To the royal castle.”
When the swordsman opened the scroll, Jamie, who grasped the magic circle that was on it at once, spoke about the destination.
The two of them were a little surprised. They probably didn’t think he would know the destination just by looking at the scroll.
It was a skill close to being a God, but to Jamie, it was as easy as eating bread.
With a mischievous grin, Isabelle said,
“Right. Then tear it.”
When the scroll was torn open, the bodies of the three shone under a light.
Jamie stood in a wide place.
The walls were studded with wonderful statues carved by artists.
It was an old place, so it was natural for it to be dusty and the air to be moist, but the atmosphere was okay because it had an antique feel.
But there was one thing that caught Jamie’s attention more than that,
“There is a lot of mana negation here.”
It was a place that was protected so that outsiders couldn’t find it since the mana was designed so that only those who were permitted could enter.
Only then did Jamie realize why he wasn’t able to find them.
They had been hiding here.
He didn’t even know there was such a space under the mansion, but he couldn’t find it even if it were right in front of him because of how thoroughly defended it was.
‘If I really tried to find her, I would not have been able to find her.’
At that time, it was great that he held their hands, considering that they were desperate.
“A little further down.”
The swordsman pushed the wheelchair again.
And when he stopped at a certain point, a large magic circle formed on the ground.
“A subspace? It is class 9 magic. So the royal family had such people with you.”
Mana filled the space, and the location changed again. This time it was much older, darker, and damper than earlier.
Jamie waved his hand, and the darkness, along with the damp air, vanished.
“You managed to do that without saying a spell?”
The swordsman was surprised, but Jamie didn’t bother answering. As he was looking around, he saw a small tombstone.
“Is that what you wanted to show me?”
“Right. Go check it for yourself.”
What was this tombstone that required them to bring him here after their three-year hiding?
Jamie went closer.
The tombstone was written in an ancient language that was much older than Diablo’s time.
When he read it, he couldn’t believe its content.
“This.”
He squatted down and brushed off all the dust that had covered the tombstone so he could read it more clearly.
[False world. It will be maintained by hiding the failure and deceiving the reality. Everything is an illusion. Put an end to the era of the fake that had been created under these pillars.]
He couldn’t understand what its content meant.
So Jamie read it over and over again, but he couldn’t figure out its hidden meaning. Jamie looked at the headstone and asked Isabelle,
“When did you know about its existence?”
“When I was crowned as the Queen.”
“It seems to have been handed down from generations only for the King title holders. So why show me this?”
“Because I realized that it wasn’t right.”
“Wasn’t right?”
“You were always imperfect.”
“Ah.”
Isabelle knew that Jamie would be overtaken by darkness. She didn’t know how, but she did predict that he would turn into a dangerous entity.
And she even told Jamie to be careful. But fate couldn’t be avoided, and Jamie was a monster until a couple of days ago.
So telling him about this at the time was dangerous.
In a situation where it wasn’t clear what the tombstone meant, she couldn’t readily offer the secret of their family to someone called the Demon King.
Isabelle approached Jamie and looked at the tombstone.
“I have thought a lot about what this means, but I cannot figure it out. Yet I waited because I thought you would know.”
“Hmmm.”
A false world.
Hiding the failure and deceiving the reality.
Everything was an illusion.
Fake built under the pillar.
‘Is the pillar written here the same one I am thinking about?’
Looking at the context, he couldn’t think of anything else.
In reality, Bless was a world created under a pillar.
If so, was this a fake world created by some failure?
The problem was that he didn’t understand what the failure was. What was false, what failed, and what was deceiving reality.
Jamie had never thought that the world he was in was a lie. It was the same even now that he had become an Absolute.
‘Maybe it has something to do with what Gaia is hiding.’
Gaia was hiding something until the very end. And it seemed that the information was on this tombstone.
Perhaps this was something connected to Ra’s purpose.
“Do you know whose tomb this is?”
“Huh. Only that this has been passed down from generations.”
Jamie got up and touched the tombstone as he tried to read the memory of this object.
But maybe because it was old, he couldn’t figure anything out.
“I will find out more.”
“And Jamie.”
At Isabelle’s call, he turned to her, and she was playing with her fingers with an embarrassed look and said,
“I feel like my mission is done after showing you this. I am no longer a Queen, but a simple girl. So…”
“So?”
Jamie tilted his head, and Isabelle shouted with her eyes shut.
“Become my friend! From now on, do not use honorifics and speak casually… You don’t need to be so formal.”
At those words, Jamie stared at her.
When there was no answer, Isabelle’s eyes turned red, and she lowered her head.
“Ah, no. I was wrong. Act like you didn’t hear that…”
“Eh, Isabelle.”
Isabelle looked up in surprise, and Jamie’s broad back greeted her.
He waved his hand roughly and said,
“Let’s meet again.”
Just like that, he disappeared with light around him, and Isabelle looked at where Jamie had disappeared and smiled.
At the same time, she greeted him back even when he couldn’t hear her.
“Let’s meet again.”
Born into a royal family and never having friends her entire life, she had a friend for the first time in her life.
The swordsman smiled heartily, as if looking at his granddaughter from behind.
Ricky was meditating.
His Goddess no longer existed in the world. After giving everything to Ricky, who was her Apostle, she chose to vanish.
It was like breaking the promise she made to Jamie three years ago, saying she would live devotedly until her sins were forgiven, but Ricky accepted it all. And so, the current God of Mercy and Punishment was Ricky.
“Brother.”
And his only sister, Anna, went up to him.
Ricky opened his eyes and looked at his sister.
“What is it?”
“Just. You seemed so worried these days.”
“It would be weird not to worry.”
Anna, who was a lot more mature now, sat across from Ricky and tugged on his knee.
“If there is a war, many people will die, right?”
“Yes.”
“Is a fight without sacrifice difficult?”
“It will be impossible. A war needs to cost a lot of sacrifices for it to end peacefully.”
“I hate wars.”
“So do I.”
Ricky stroked her hair.
“If I could, I would prevent you from taking part in the war.”
“But without me, many would die.”
Anna had the ability to feel the flow of the world. It was an ability that was best used in war to minimize the damage to allies.
So, whether he liked it or not, she had to participate.
“Brother cannot die.”
“Of course. How can I die and leave you alone? I should watch you get married.”
“Brother should get married too.”
“Brother cannot. I am a God now.”
“They say Gods can get married.”
“Who said that?”
“I read it in books.”
“What new romance novel did you read?”
“A fun one.”
The siblings chatted about such things for a while.
Two days later.
The war began.