Free Web NovelTo obtain something, one had to give up something else.
That was an unchanging truth of this world.
Even grasping a profound source power like time did not grant exemption from it.
Each reversal of time allowed everything to begin again, but only the price remained. It was merely that the point at which it had to be repaid had been pushed into the future.
So Muen’s resets were equivalent to taking out loans over and over.
But loans always had to be repaid.
“I can roughly understand what you were thinking. Your first reversal of time should have been at the moment the Lord of the Stars descended, so that was the original point at which the price needed to be repaid.”
“Although with your repeated reversals, the repayment point has drawn closer and closer, as long as you could solve the problem before that point arrived, then everything would be fine.”
Gaius’s kindly gaze swept over Muen. At the same time, he glanced at Afrella, who was cowering beside them in terror. His snow-white brows lifted slightly, revealing a faintly meaningful look.
“After all, whether it is the Church, the Empire, or even the Kingdom afterward, they probably would not allow you to be devoured by that price. They would help you pay it.”
“Don’t talk like I’m some scumbag kept man who only knows how to live off women!” Muen sneered.
“Heh.”
Gaius neither confirmed nor denied it, and continued:
“I must admit, your understanding of time is excellent. At the same time, you also made use of me. Inside Saint Blancfazesiya, which has been completely severed from the main flow of the river of time, the price you paid for each repetition was far lower than it would have been in a normal timeline. Yet Saint Blancfazesiya’s final result would still affect the entire river of time.”
Just as a tiny whirlpool, after churning again and again, could ultimately become a great wave that swept everything away.
Rewriting the flow of an entire river of time was difficult, but as long as a single stone could be successfully dropped upstream, waves would inevitably rise downstream.
“But how many times have you repeated it? A thousand? Two thousand? The ripples in time have already become clear enough for even me to detect. I imagine the number can’t be low.”
“You absolutely cannot repay all these prices with your own strength alone. And more importantly...”
“Even though you clearly knew the ending was defeat, it seems you never even considered the possibility that you might lose?”
“It was a gamble. Of course there are only two outcomes, win or lose. I kept moving toward the direction of victory. Is there a problem?” Muen asked expressionlessly.
“But you can only lose.”
Gaius said, “If you win, you still pay an enormous price. If you lose, you fall into eternal ruin. For you, what you give and what you gain are not equivalent. Even exchanges with Evil Gods are equal, yet this exchange of yours is not.”
“You never needed to step onto this stage in the first place. Just as I invited you before...”
“Muen Campbell, you were originally only an audience member.”
Gaius’s sigh echoed through the cramped safe room.
As though he could not understand Muen’s choice.
Yes.
An audience member could not touch the story onstage, nor influence the ending unfolding there.
But likewise, an audience member did not need to bear the price and calamity happening on that stage.
At the point where the Salvation Society succeeded, Muen had not needed to do anything. None of this had been his fault. He could have swaggered away without guilt.
Yet he had still walked up.
He had walked onto this crumbling stage, fully aware of what a foolish choice that was.
“Mr. Bruce...”
Behind him, Afrella widened her watery eyes as she looked at Muen. Although she had seen, through some connection, the images of Muen repeating everything again and again, she had not realized that before even that, he had already been carrying something far heavier than she had imagined.
“...”
After a moment of silence, Muen’s expression still did not change much. He merely sighed along with him.
“You’ve rambled on and on, but what does any of this have to do with you? Does the mighty Holy Lord of Salvation also worry about every little thing like some nagging old mother?”
“I’m merely curious. People always have curiosity, after all, though curiosity is also one of humanity’s original sins.”
“And at the same time...”
Gaius smiled with even more warmth and kindness than before.
“You’re right. I am concerned about you, Muen Campbell. I’ve taken a liking to you.”
“Hah?”
Muen shuddered. Although he could not move and had no sense of touch, he still had the illusion that every hair on his body had shot up like some punk hairstyle, with goosebumps falling everywhere.
Taken a liking to me?
Could this old bastard be one of those too...
“You seem to have made a rather rude misunderstanding, but the ‘liking’ I mean is not in that sense.”
Gaius extended his hand toward Muen and got straight to the point.
“Muen Campbell, you have great potential. Your strength, your state of mind, and your future possibilities all far exceed my original evaluation of you. You are not merely a playboy who reached this point by relying on a good teacher or a crowd of women. You will become someone capable of changing the world.”
“So... I will ask you again. Do you want to join my Salvation Society?”
“Hm?”
Muen froze again.
He had lost count of how many times he had frozen today.
But this daze did not come from the pressure of the Holy Lord of Salvation. It came from... having no idea what fit of madness this old bastard was throwing now.
For the moment, he ignored Gaius’s words about him relying on women to climb upward, which was clearly fake news at a glance, and asked in shock:
“You’re seriously inviting me to join the Salvation Society? This isn’t some conspiracy?”
He vaguely remembered that when their souls had met before, Gaius had already invited him to join the Salvation Society. Of course, Muen had flatly refused that time, but he had not expected the man to come again.
“This is not a conspiracy. Right now, I also have no need to use any conspiracy against you.”
“Then I don’t understand. I killed so many of your subordinates.”
The current Saint Haze Palace might not have a single drop of blood or a single corpse left, but that was only because Muen’s black flames had cleaned up the battlefield.
In reality, Muen had cut his way from the south gate all the way to the bedchamber, blade rising and falling again and again. The Salvation Society members he had killed were enough to form a reinforced regiment.
Never mind the few minor nobodies he had killed before in Belrand.
Muen did not think this was the kind of grudge that could be settled with a handshake.
“There is no need to mourn them, nor any need to blame yourself. They sacrificed themselves for this world. They were great, and I believe they would be willing to witness this scene as well.”
The Holy Lord of Salvation continued to gaze at Muen with that same kindly smile. So kindly that even after so many subordinates had died, he still did not think there was any problem.
“...”
This brainwashing rhetoric again.
What exactly was this guy planning?
Muen narrowed his eyes. He did not believe a single word Gaius said, but precisely because of that, he could not make sense of him at all.
“Why not think of it more simply? I am inviting you. That is all.”
Gaius seemed extremely sincere.
“After all, bringing more people to join me in the work of saving the world has always been one of my principles. Muen Campbell, you have that qualification. This is also why I am saving you. As long as you join me, not only can all past grievances be wiped away, I will also help you pay the price!”
Thousands of repetitions.
One could imagine just how enormous that price was.
Yet Gaius still promised it outright. Combined with the fact that he had personally spoken the words, this sincerity could not be called small.
“Heh. You make it sound so nice now, but who was it that sent the Witch of Repentance to keep chasing me before?” Muen sneered disdainfully.
He still had not gotten over the whole being-hunted incident!
“I merely told her to pay a little attention to you and not allow you to affect our plan.”
As he spoke, Gaius looked somewhat puzzled.
“She certainly did chase you a bit too enthusiastically afterward. What did you do to her?”
“...Nothing much. I just stabbed her once and mocked her a few times.”
Muen snorted.
“The mighty Crowned has so little tolerance. What a waste, when her chest is that big.”
“...”
The corner of Gaius’s eye twitched.
Who among those capable of becoming Crowned did not have pride?
At that level, probably few could tolerate being mocked right to their face by some weakling they could crush to death with one hand.
And this weakling happened to be slippery as hell, impossible to catch no matter what.
Putting himself in her place, even he would get a little angry.
“As for Repentance, I will help mediate between you and her. She is also someone who spares nothing of herself for the great work of saving the world. If you are willing to join us, not only will this hatred be completely erased, even if something somewhat different happens between you and her, that is possible as well.”
Gaius tempted him patiently, like an old fox with smiling eyes.
“Are you trying to seduce me with the Witch of Repentance?” Muen raised a brow.
“Yes,” Gaius answered very frankly. “If that is how you understand it.”
“Heh. Do you think I’m the kind of man who can be easily tempted by women?” Muen scoffed.
“Are you not?”
Gaius stroked his beard in confusion.
“According to our intelligence, you should have no resistance at all to women’s long legs in black stockings...”
“...”
Muen’s cheek twitched.
Damn it. It was bad enough that his romantic gossip was spreading everywhere, but why was even something like his preferences leaking out?
And with this kind of slander too. Was he... was he the kind of person who couldn’t move his legs the moment he saw black stockings?
Heaven have mercy. He liked white stockings just as much, okay!
“Spare me that nonsense. I will absolutely never join you.”
Muen restrained his expression and spoke seriously.
To be honest, he even found Gaius’s act of inviting him extremely ridiculous.
Because no matter whether from the perspective of identity, stance, bonds, or anything else, he, Muen Campbell, did not look like someone capable of betraying everything he had and joining the Salvation Society, a terrorist organization reviled by the entire continent.
It was simply impossible.
“I knew you would say that.”
Gaius was not surprised in the slightest and said, “However, let us postpone that answer for now.”
“Hm?”
“I know the reason you made such a foolish choice was probably to save this city. You are a good person, and this is also one of the reasons I am so patiently persuading you.”
“Good people are exactly the ones who should join my Salvation Society.”
“???”
Muen’s face practically filled with question marks, and Gaius’s statement left him even more confused.
Good people should join the Salvation Society?
Are you serious?
Why don’t you go look at what the royal capital looks like right now? Why don’t you go look at the disaster and wailing outside?
“The definition of good people is relative. To humanity, we are unquestionably villains. But in a certain respect, I believe that we... are also good people.”
“Good people through and through.”
Gaius waved his hand.
In an instant, the scenery around them changed.
Deep darkness enveloped Muen’s vision. Only a mysterious, enormous arc of light appeared at the edge of his sight, radiating a sparse warmth.
By the faint glow scattered from that arc of light, Muen vaguely saw a sphere located within its embrace. The sphere was majestic and vast. Just looking at it made Muen feel his own insignificance.
Like dust.
Yet Muen could not see the sphere’s specific appearance clearly. Some mysterious force obstructed his sight. No matter how hard he tried to look, he could only make out the mottled colors on the sphere’s surface, as though paint had been splashed randomly across it.
So much so that only after observing it carefully for a long time did he finally realize...
This was a planet.
“This is...” A faint guess surfaced in Muen’s heart.
“Our world.”
Gaius opened his arms, his face intoxicated as he said leisurely:
“The world we depend on to survive.”
As expected.
Although he did not know what method Gaius had used, he had somehow allowed Muen to gaze upon this planet from the perspective of an observer.
“What do you want me to see? I can’t see anything from here.”
“Of course you can’t. The world barrier can even obstruct the gaze of Evil Gods. What are you or I compared to that?”
Gaius suddenly lowered his voice.
“Shh. I want you to listen.”
“Listen?”
Muen was puzzled, but under Gaius’s guidance, he still held his breath, focused his mind, and listened carefully.
Then, a faint, distant, indescribable sound entered Muen’s mind directly without passing through any of his senses.
Muen could not explain what kind of sound it was.
Because it was not a sound a human, or any living creature, could produce.
It was not high, not low, not long, and not short. It had no special frequency and no unique cadence.
It was simply a sound.
But Muen could feel a certain emotion from it.
That was...
Pain.
Unimaginable pain.
Like the wail of a terminally ill person at the edge of death, soul-rending agony wound through that sound.
Just listening to it made one feel despair.
Made one feel sorrow.
“What... is this?” Muen could not touch himself, but he could feel warmth at the corners of his eyes.
Without realizing it, he had begun to shed tears.
“You still don’t understand? This is weeping.”
Tears streamed down Gaius’s face, his expression sorrowful.
“The weeping of this world itself.”
