MIIS 4

Chapter 4

I already had a perfect picture drawn in my head.

Azel would be confused by my sudden appearance. Then Yulia and her group would arrive, throwing the situation into even greater chaos.

And that’s when the defining trait of a regressor would reveal itself.

Mentally half broken, but insanely fast at handling crises!

Whenever faced with a new development they had never experienced before, regressors always made lightning-fast judgments.

There was only one decision Azel would make at this point.

He’ll prioritize talking to me over dealing with the familiar Yulia group.

I was the one who had mentioned the Stone of Gaspata—his secret.

On top of that, I’d made several suspicious, loaded remarks.

At this point, awakening doesn’t even matter! He can always awaken later, anytime he wants!

Anyway, that aside—

In other words, Yulia and her group’s role in this plan was to amplify the confusion. To make the situation more chaotic and push Azel into making an impulsive decision.

But then…

What the hell was this?

“Until now, foolish as I was, I didn’t understand. I didn’t know why God would bestow such precious power upon such a lowly servant. But now I do. It was His holy will—to cleanse the world of trash like you.”

“……”

“So please, quietly die by my hand, Azel Viots.”

Could someone explain why the heroine suddenly changed jobs—from pure saintess female lead to deranged inquisitor?

…Is this a dream?

I’d asked her to stir up confusion for the final boss, and instead she was randomly stirring up my confusion.

What was even more shocking was that I seemed to be the only one flustered.

“You’re still all talk. Jabbering on like an annoying little pest.”

Azel replied as if annoyed, looking far too accustomed to this situation.

After staring at me for a long while, Azel finally removed his hand from my shoulder.

I staggered briefly from the recoil. Then, as the two launched into a sharp exchange, I staggered again—this time mentally.

“As expected, there’s no reasoning with you. I’d get more out of talking to a beast.”

“So the esteemed Saintess can converse with beasts as well? How impressive. God truly bestowed you with a precious gift.”

What is wrong with you two?

As I barely managed to hold back the urge to shout, a memory suddenly flashed through my mind.

Now that I think about it…

Right before I possessed this world—

That is, the last time I played this cursed game.

—

“Whatever, it’s all gone to hell anyway! I don’t care! Let it all burn! Hahaha!”

—

At the same time as I remembered myself repeatedly choosing the worst dialogue options, the scene from the monitor back then resurfaced.

An illustration of Yulia, staring down Azel with madness in her eyes.

“Ah.”

My face turned sheet-white.

That’s right.

This was all my karma.

Gasp!

Startled, I clamped a hand over my mouth hard enough to make a dull sound, suppressing a scream—when I suddenly felt someone’s gaze.

Azel, who had been facing Yulia, was now looking at me.

“You—”

“I see no reason to continue this meaningless conversation with you any further.”

But Azel’s words were cut off. Yulia stepped forward, delivering a line befitting an inquisitor.

My anxiety spiked.

We’re doomed!

If this really followed my last playthrough, Yulia was about to draw the worst possible aggro.

“You wear the skin of a human, yet you don’t even know what human emotions are. Any further conversation with you would be a waste.”

The atmosphere grew so cold it felt as though the air itself had frozen.

…Wow.

I had no idea where to even begin fixing this.

Talking about “human emotions” to Azel was basically pulling the trigger.

In a normal dating sim, this would’ve deepened a love-hate romance route—but Azel was different.

This guy genuinely doesn’t remember what human emotions are!

Sure enough, Azel’s red eyes darkened to the color of blood.

The perfect sign of an impending explosion.

Why is his ignition point so damn low?!

The apocalypse button I’d barely managed to delay flickered back into view. No—forget the apocalypse. At this rate, everyone here was going to die on the spot.

How do I know?

Because it actually happened!

—

“This run’s ruined anyway~! Fine, everyone die! Die! Hehe~ I’ll just quit after this!”

—

The image of my past self, half-crazed and cackling, flashed through my mind.

But—

Damn it! This is reality now!

I couldn’t die so meaninglessly.

I had to divert Azel’s attention or drive those people away—do something, anything, right now.

The decision came fast, and my body moved on instinct.

I rushed toward Azel in desperation—

Whoosh!

At that moment, the sharp sound of slicing wind pierced my ears.

…Huh?

A powerful force grabbed me, and a massive shadow fell over my body.

When I came to my senses after a heavy impact, I was already in Azel’s arms.

No—“arms” wasn’t quite right.

As I lunged forward, Azel caught an incoming arrow, and we ended up in an awkward, half-embrace.

Insane.

By sheer coincidence, someone had fired an arrow at Azel at the exact moment I charged at him.

Thanks to that, I now looked like some lunatic who’d randomly rushed at him for no reason.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Naturally, the look Azel gave me was cold enough to be unbearable.

Why did she do that?

Azel found the woman before him suspicious.

A hundred lifetimes.

In all those endless lives, he had never seen a woman like her.

The curse had taken many things from him. Forgetting was one of them.

Yet despite living through countless repeated lives over a long stretch of time, he had never once forgotten anything.

In that sense, the woman before him was suspicious in every way.

—

“Azel.”

—

The way she called his name so gently.

—

“You forgot me.”

—

Those fragile eyes, wounded by his gaze. There wasn’t a single thing about her that didn’t irritate him.

—

“No matter how many times the world ends, it won’t truly end. Once you wished upon that stone, your curse was destined to repeat forever.”

—

A woman who spoke with certainty, as though she had witnessed the world’s destruction countless times.

There was only one reason he had let someone who dared say such things live.

—

“I came here to save you, Azel. For you alone.”

—

The woman knew something.

He couldn’t believe her claim that she had come to save him—but it was undeniable that she knew something.

Until he found out what that was, he would let her live.

But then—

“Why did you do that?”

Her action—throwing herself forward to block the arrow—confused Azel.

There was no calculation in that movement. No hesitation.

Only an indescribable desperation.

I don’t understand.

He truly didn’t understand.

With a desperate expression, with movements that seemed driven by pure instinct, she had rushed forward to save him.

As if she were afraid he might be hurt by something as trivial as a single arrow.

Maybe I should just die.

Enduring this horrific silence might be worse than death.

But the bastard who fired that arrow—him, at least, I’m killing before I die.

Killing the worst villain imaginable, and he uses an arrow? Not even some meteor-level ultimate attack?

That just made how ridiculous I looked—charging in to block it—even worse.

Not that that was my intention. The problem is, that’s how it looks right now!

I could feel Azel’s subordinates and Yulia’s group staring at me like I was insane, which only made me angrier.

“So you weren’t a hostage after all.”

At that moment, Yulia’s clear voice shattered the silence.

“I hesitated, thinking an innocent civilian was being held captive. But it seems there was no need.”

You didn’t hesitate even once!

But now wasn’t the time to nitpick. Yulia had opened the door herself—now I had to ride the momentum and push through this crisis.

“That’s my line. How dare you lay a hand on this person—right in front of me.”

I lifted my chin confidently, pretending my embarrassing moment earlier had never happened.

“Hm?”

Yulia tilted her head at my bold attitude. But she clearly found no interest in the words of someone who looked so weak.

“So a mere subordinate of Azel Viots dares act without fear.”

But I knew exactly what to say to strike a nerve.

“I’m not foolish enough to fear a saintess who has lost her faith.”

Yulia’s expression froze instantly.

Granted, I’m the one who shook her faith.

But so what?

No one knows anyway.