My fame had surpassed that of the Celestial God.

The words that left my mouth carried the same weight as the oracle.

There could be no better timing than this.

I drew in a light breath and spoke.

“Where shall we begin… yes, this first.”

“……”

“Idria was raising Kaeld to be a hero.”

I explained everything in detail.

The reason Idria tried to make Kaeld into a hero.

Why the Celestial God lent passive cooperation.

The fact that the Celestial God was in truth a human named Adin Pres.

And the battles that had existed in an unrecorded, forgotten age.

The Demon King of the previous era, Velosian, and the hero of that age, Impelium.

“…And that is how it came to be.”

Contrary to my expectations that he would be shocked, the Emperor managed to remain rather composed.

He closed his eyes and slowly steadied his breath.

Serein, who had been keeping silent so as not to interfere, asked,

“Your Majesty. You’re not surprised?”

“Huhu. Miss Serein, even here you are as consistent as ever.”

“You can just speak comfortably with me. We are already bound by many ties.”

“No. My manner of speech isn’t something I put on. I simply feel, instinctively, that treating you in this way is the ‘right thing’ to do.”

“……”

“The same goes for Lord Mide’s words. Even without presenting evidence, your words sound like truth to me.”

I felt a chill.

To believe a tale that sounds like an ancient myth, without a shred of proof…

Simply because ‘Mide Mohan said it.’

Of course, I had expected this, but hearing it proclaimed directly by the Emperor was enough to make my skin crawl.

‘Ah. I want to retire.’

[Now, of all times? You gave up on retiring.]

‘I’m regretting it fiercely right now. No matter what I say, being stared at with such reverence makes me uncomfortable. Well, I’m on the receiving end of the benefits this time, but still.’

[…]

‘Enough. Complaining won’t change anything.’

At that moment, the Emperor opened his mouth.

“What must I do?”

Instead of answering him, I first turned to Adwin.

I had revealed most of the world’s secrets to the Emperor, but not all of them.

Adwin quickly caught on and gave a subtle movement of his lips.

Soon, we were able to speak through our souls.

[Neril. You can still use fame as power, right?]

[Seems like it. But what do you mean ‘still’? I fooled the laws of the world perfectly with the Branch of Corruption.]

[I will explain later. Anyway, if that’s the case, can you show the vision I just stored in Append View to everyone on the continent?]

[I have already displayed illusions with magic. Showing something that really happened is even simpler. Easily done.]

Good.

Neril, seeing the satisfaction on my face, spoke.

[I see what you’re thinking. You want this conversation to spread across the whole continent, don’t you?]

Exactly.

Soon, the people of the continent would know many of the world’s hidden secrets.

Hidden lies would be exposed.

And that would weaken Idria.

No, further still…

I spoke aloud.

“This truth will weaken Velosian.”

“Indeed. Above all, the fact that the Celestial God was human is an enormous lie. And that lie belongs to Velosian.”

“Right. We weaken Velosian as much as possible, and then we enter the special room and kill him.”

I turned to the Emperor.

“As I just mentioned, beyond the door beneath this imperial palace lies Velosian’s lair.”

“……”

“Soon, a battle will break out there. Of course, the fighting will take place beyond the door, but who can say how the aftershocks will spread? So…”

“I shall relocate temporarily. Not just myself, but everyone dwelling in the imperial palace.”

Good, he was quick to understand.

But I shook my head and corrected him.

“No, you must evacuate the entire capital.”

“T-the entire capital?”

“Safety above all else.”

“You said three months, didn’t you? Finishing the preparations before then will be difficult. If you would permit…”

“You may leave right away. In fact, don’t bother asking permission for such things.”

The Emperor, with a look of awe, said,

“How could I do otherwise, Hero?”

Please, spare me.

We mounted Agril and took flight.

Without Mime’s aid, we slowly left the capital.

“Now we need to decide our destination. Where is Idria hiding?”

“Hmm. Wait a moment.”

I told Trail,

“Show me Idria and someone… well, her secret with Kaeld. Something tied to where she is hiding.”

[Alright.]

The Eye of Omniscience has been activated.

The current level of the Eye of Omniscience is 5. You may view secrets up to S rank.

Selection condition: ‘A secret between Idria and Kaeld Wake.’

The relevant secret is grade B. Accessing.

A screen appeared.

The time shown in the corner revealed it was some time ago.

But the location was the same cave I had already seen multiple times in Idria’s secrets.

Unless she had moved recently, she was still there.

On the screen, Kaeld spoke.

“Where are we?”

“What a ridiculous question. Has something gone wrong in your head? Not that you were ever normal.”

“I was asking if we’re far enough from Mide. He cut my head off. You revived me, but as I am now, I can’t face him.”

Ah. This was not long after I first killed Kaeld in Hasphil.

Idria chuckled.

“No one expects you to fight Mide.”

“Spare me the talk. Just answer, where are we? Surely far enough from Hasphil?”

“No matter how far, with Agril, they could arrive quickly. But if you really must know, we are in the Sacred Forest. Does that ease your mind?”

“…Yes. That is quite far.”

Snap.

The screen cut off.

Truthfully, I could have found Idria’s lair long ago.

I simply hadn’t been certain I could kill her before.

‘But now it’s different.’

My fame had skyrocketed, and I could wield my fame as power.

Idria was no longer my match.

“She is hiding in the Sacred Forest.”

Xenia, having finished her calculations in an instant, answered at once.

“Less than an hour away.”

“Good.”

Everything was perfect.

If there was one matter of concern…

I looked to Neril.

“You still have the Branch of Corruption, don’t you?”

“Yes. Ah, don’t tell me…”

“That’s right. Hand one out to each of us.”

Neril, looking a little tense, distributed the branches.

She had originally made ten of them.

Among them, once when sealing the Gem of Destruction in Hasphil.

Once when we faced the insect giant in Dronoar.

Once, not long ago, when we cast an illusion spell across the whole continent.

Three times in total.

The remaining seven branches were distributed evenly among the party, excluding Neril.

That left two.

I spoke.

“Impelium said this: the validity period for deceiving the world with this is one month.”

Neril let out a regretful sigh.

“Come to think of it, when we were talking with the Emperor you asked if I could ‘still’ use them. I never thought we could fool the world forever, but… a month is way too short.”

“There are still spares left, so it’s fine. You have done more than enough.”

“Hm.”

“In any case, since no more Branches of Corruption can be made, don’t waste them recklessly. Of course, when the decisive moment comes, don’t hesitate to use them either.”

Xenia asked,

“If worst comes to worst, you mean we should break this and use our fame as power, right?”

“Exactly. Though, of course, it would be cruel of me to tell you to give up your wishes just to preserve these branches.”

“No. If anything, I should be accomplishing things without help from something like this.”

“If that happens, I will just get mad again. Just like when Neril did it behind my back before.”

Neril’s face flushed slightly.

I went on explaining.

“I will deal with Idria. But her lackeys won’t just sit back quietly.”

“Yes. We will handle the Fingers of Lies.”

“First, we need to deal with Pirensha. Serein, I’m really sorry.”

Serein blinked.

“Sorry for what?”

“Well, it’s just…”

“I don’t think of Pirensha as my sister. And besides, I never even met the ‘Serein Magnus’ who died.”

She pressed on firmly.

“Something personal like that won’t get in the way.”

I scratched my head.

Come to think of it, worrying about that might have been an insult to her.

“My apologies.”

“If you’re sorry, pay me. You have barely given out any special allowances lately.”

“Since Mime joined, there hasn’t been much need for you to supply holy power to Agril, after all.”

“……”

“Do you miss it?”

“A… a little.”

She used to complain about being reduced to a lunchbox.

I cleared my throat and gathered the party’s attention again.

“Before the fight, I plan to talk with Idria first.”

“To use her against Velosian, right? Like you mentioned before.”

“Right. If she obediently listens to me, things might play out differently. But the chances that a Demon King would ally with the one trying to kill her are slim, so we should assume battle from the start.”

“……”

“Just don’t die, all of you.”

The party smiled gently.

Then each gave a firm answer.

“I won’t die. Not until Lisel learns Serad’s recipe. And until I can taste that dish again in the real world.”

“Why say something like that with such tragic weight.”

“Adwin, you have been quiet lately.”

“Hehehe. At last, the time has come for me to erase the world’s lies with my light.”

“Well, might as well take this chance to sever the bitter tie with my master.”

“Didn’t you say before he wasn’t your master?”

Correction.

Not exactly firm answers, but… this party always had nerves of steel.

[But how are you going to use Idria? Don’t tell me you’re planning to team up with her and storm the special room.]

‘Of course not. You think I would trust her enough to watch my back?’

[Then what?]

‘Wait a sec. I should tell the party one simple thing first.’

[Eh? Alright.]

I said to the group in an even tone:

“By the way, if Idria dies, Trail dies too.”

“…?”

“Don’t tilt your heads. I mean exactly what I said.”

Everyone was shocked.

But the most shocked was Trail himself.

[H-hey!]

‘They need to know sooner or later anyway.’

[Why do they need to know?!]

‘Just watch their reaction.’

Sure enough, Xenia burst out with a look of disbelief.

“How could you wait until now to tell us something so important?!”

“Is it that important?”

“Of course! Trail is already one of us. This is about our comrade’s life!”

I said to Trail,

“They are calling you a comrade. Not bad, eh?”

[I…]

‘Go talk to Adwin. Use his mouth to speak directly.’

I gave Adwin a look.

Quick on the uptake, he let Trail in at once.

Trail stumbled awkwardly as he was pulled in, then spoke through Adwin.

“Uh, um…”

“What Mide just said, was it true?”

“Yes. Well.”

“Then why didn’t you say anything?”

“I just… didn’t think you would care that much.”

Their faces all darkened.

Trail hung his head like a guilty man and mumbled,

“I mean, it’s not like I have been with you guys for that long or anything.”

“But you were the first one to meet Mide. Which means you have been with us the longest too.”

“N-not like I really talked with you or anything…”

“And that’s supposed to be an excuse? Then what, since we don’t really talk with Agril either, we shouldn’t care about him?”

“…Sorry.”

Neril pressed on.

“You’re with us. Even after all this is over.”

“Neril…”

“No arguments. We will talk about this again later.”

Shhhk.

I motioned to Adwin.

Trail returned to me.

[Stop making me do things like that.]

‘Feels good, doesn’t it?’

[Yeah.]

The blunt honesty actually startled me.

[It feels really good. I mean it.]

‘…’

I scratched my head.

Somehow I was embarrassed too, so I changed the subject.

“Xenia. Let’s go.”

Xenia nodded and called out.

“Mime!”

“Why are you calling Mime, Xenia?”

“Ah, right. Then Lisel, why don’t you call Agril?”

“No.”

There was a brief mix-up about roles, but soon we were soaring at tremendous speed.

Heading straight for Idria.

Along the way, Neril asked,

“Tell us while we are traveling. How exactly are you going to use Idria?”

“As a sacrifice.”

“…?”

Not only Neril, but everyone tilted their heads.

I explained further.

“As a sacrifice to raise my fame even higher.”

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