Chapter – 32
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With the dungeon closing, the unprecedented dungeon sync that had occurred in the middle of the Holy Empire finally came to an end.
It had all happened within just two hours in real time.
Only a few adult clergy who had been caught in the sync were found dead in the incinerator. Among the children, there were no fatalities.
Because the subjugation had been carried out quickly while the puppetization debuff was active, the damage remained minimal.
It was nothing short of a miracle in a situation where reinforcements could not even be deployed.
Sensing the energy of Divine Descent once again, the cardinals trembled with excitement.
This time, they believed they might finally be able to identify the one who performed it.
However, among the survivors rescued through the closing gate, there was no one with enough divine power to cast Divine Descent.
In the end, the Council of Cardinals concluded that the caster must have secretly entered the dungeon, defeated the boss alone, and then disappeared without a trace.
A large part of this conclusion came from the testimony of a silver-haired boy who had fought the boss until the very end, who claimed:
“When I came to my senses, the boss had already been defeated.”
The silver-haired boy was an ace among the Stigmata candidates and normally behaved like a guardian of doctrine, so no one even imagined he might be lying.
The Holy Empire soon became crowded with parents coming to reclaim their surviving children.
The Council mobilized all healers to remove the puppetization, treat injuries, and eliminate the remaining parasite marks from their heads before returning the children to confirmed guardians.
However, the pink-haired girl Tesilid had carried out of the dungeon was an exception.
Ailet was unconscious, burning with fever.
The healers judged it to be a stress fever caused by the shock and hardship of the dungeon and gave her an isolated room.
Illnesses related to immunity or physical weakness were not within the healers’ expertise, so no further treatment was provided.
Nor did they call a physician or an alchemist. The Holy Empire’s sense of authority rejected other forms of medicine.
Because they were busy handling the aftermath of the disaster, Cardinal Cattleya also couldn’t visit Ailet often.
Since Ailet’s family lived in a kingdom rather than the Holy Empire, it would take time for word to reach them and for them to come retrieve her.
Just as she was about to be left alone in sorrowful neglect, fortunately there was someone who stayed by her side.
Tesilid.
Tesilid placed a worried hand on her forehead.
“Is this what they call divine fever…?”
He had heard it left no aftereffects, but he couldn’t just sit and watch.
He placed an ice pack on her forehead and even searched his satchel for what he thought might be a fever-reducing potion.
Nothing worked.
Ailet radiated charcoal-like heat as she struggled through each breath.
Her ocean-colored eyes were sunken, far too heavy for a child.
“To give someone an ability that comes with this kind of price… As expected of Order and Good.”
At that muttered remark, chaos erupted in a dimension he could not perceive.
[“The Words that Build the World” is shocked by the harsh insult.]
[“The Scales that Judge Souls” laughs, saying the handsome kid is also well-spoken.]
[“The Cynic who Regulates Balance” says at least they won’t have to worry about heresy trials.]
Tesilid continued to look at Ailet with dark eyes.
“It would be better if the Holy Empire never finds out. They might force you to use your power.”
In truth, that was almost certain.
Some among the Holy Empire’s leadership were closer to politicians than religious figures, and some possessed only the worst qualities of both.
The type who used people as tools and demanded sacrifice in the name of a greater cause.
To them, how delicious a prey would a child capable of Divine Descent be?
At that moment, a young priest entered the room.
“Brother Tesilid, you were here. It is inappropriate to privately associate with an ordinary child.”
“…I will leave now.”
A dry, unsatisfying exit—very much like him.
Left alone, Ailet’s condition did not change. Her heated breaths continued.
Then the pendant Cardinal Cattleya had given her filled with radiant golden light.
[<System> The holy relic “Pendant of Friendship” has absorbed sufficient divine power and is reacting with the “Legendary Saint’s Soul” package.]
Light gathered like a swarm of butterflies beside the bed.
Soon it took human form.
A beautiful woman with flowing golden hair and purple eyes. Even with her translucent, ghost-like body, her holiness felt overwhelming.
She looked down at Ailet and spoke solemnly.
<The saint candidate who awakened me is you… wait, what? You’re sleeping? You wake me up and then go to sleep?>
With annoyance, her long finger poked Ailet’s cheek.
Of course, her intangible form couldn’t actually touch her.
She soon stopped and examined Ailet carefully, as if appraising her.
<Hmm, divine fever? Isn’t this what happens when you don’t exercise and don’t eat properly? A legendary saint candidate shouldn’t be like this. You need intense training.>
Her purple eyes flashed.
Who exactly was this woman?
The system provided the answer.
[<System> The heroic-grade saint ego “Agnes of the Serpent Sword” has awakened.]
Chapter 9 – The Holy Empire’s #1 Instructor
Inside the dungeon farm beneath Count Gillette’s estate.
Pat, pat.
I was crouched in the field planting Elephantipes that I had brought from the Holy Empire.
As I patted down the soil during the final step, Bianca, crouched across from me, spoke with a sulky face.
“You said you’d come back safely. Do you know how shocked I was when you returned burning with fever?”
“Sorry for worrying you. I never expected to get caught in a dungeon sync right in the middle of the Holy Empire.”
“If I had known it was dangerous, I would have stopped you.”
“Come on, Bia. Thanks to me being there, we were able to save a lot of kids.”
“That may be true, but still…”
I felt grateful that Bianca cared about my safety above everything else.
Perhaps deciding anything more would just become nagging, she sighed and swallowed the rest of her complaints.
“Fine. Tell me your heroic story instead.”
“Okay! So what happened was…”
I excitedly recounted what had happened inside the dungeon.
After listening with interest, Bianca gave a short assessment.
“That boy Tesilid was quite helpful.”
“He’s the strongest among the Stigmata candidates. Without me, he would have been the only survivor.”
In the original story, because of Iphail’s malicious behavior, Tesilid would have been the sole survivor, left with deep trauma.
But that disastrous battle royale never happened, and both Iphail and Hestio survived.
Then what happens to the original story after the tutorial ends?
Just as that question formed—
[“Inspector of Heavenly Secrets” scolds you for twisting the original story.]
Right. I knew this guy would show up.
[“The Words that Build the World” gets annoyed, saying the original-story fanatic is at it again.]
[“Inspector of Heavenly Secrets” complains that they’ve never seen a transmigrator create such large deviations during the tutorial.]
[“The Words that Build the World” mocks them, saying they must be new to seeing an S-rank transmigrator.]
[“Inspector of Heavenly Secrets” glares.]
[“The Words that Build the World” glares back.]
It looked like they might settle things with a staring contest, but soon the Words grew angry and began firing messages rapidly.
[“The Words that Build the World” harshly criticizes the Inspector, saying they should quit the transmigration project if they’re going to act like that.]
[“The Words that Build the World” asks why they bothered dimensionalizing the story if they only wanted a faithful recreation.]
[“The Words that Build the World” declares they don’t want a puppet show but want to see living souls carve their own destinies!]
Wow. Carving one’s destiny.
The phrase was so cool it touched my heart. I covered my mouth.
Seriously. How does our Word-god only say the right things? No wonder the word “speech” is in their divine title!
[“The Words that Build the World” feels proud at their #1 believer’s praise.]
[“The Scales that Judge Souls” says the follower matches the god and rolls their eyes.]
[“The Cynic who Regulates Balance” admires your social skills.]
The Inspector fell silent. Clearly convinced by the perfect logic.
The argument ended, but my question remained.
The tutorial is shared, but after the original story begins, the timeline splits into 100 different regressions.
I was assigned to the 17th timeline among those 100 choices.
Yeah… the 17th. The one where the protagonist dies meaninglessly to the final hidden villain…
Let’s not think demotivating thoughts.
Anyway, the tutorial is common, but the original splits into 100 timelines.
So how are the protagonist’s changes during the tutorial reflected?
Only in the 17th? Or…
“Word-god, do the changes I made affect the entire original story?”
The answer felt heavy.
[“The Words that Build the World” says yes.]
I flinched.
“All timelines? From the 1st to the 100th?”
[“The Words that Build the World” says that in all timelines, the protagonist’s friends will survive and the skills you taught will also apply.]
At first glance, that sounds good. After all, I improved the protagonist’s growth environment.
But if my suspicion was correct…
“There’s an exception, right?”
[“The Words that Build the World” says yes.]
This was the important part. I waited quietly.
[“The Words that Build the World” says your soul, as a transmigrator from outside the regression world, is not copied into each timeline.]
“That means…”
[“The Words that Build the World” says you exist only in the 17th timeline as a unique, singular being.]
