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"Hello, Eleonora-san."
A few days later, upon arriving at the Explorers Guild, I greeted Eleonora-san, the guild staff member who had been kind to me ever since I became an explorer.
"Oh my, Orun-kun. Hello. It's been a while. I heard you went to conquer several labyrinths within the country. Does this mean you finished everything safely?"
Eleonora-san noticed me and returned my greeting with a happy smile.
"Yes, everything went smoothly."
"As expected of you. Good work. So, are you here to report to the Guild Master? He should be here all day today, but let me check. Wait just a moment."
Before I could even state my business, Eleonora-san guessed it and disappeared deeper into the building.
Left with nothing to do while waiting for her to return, I headed to the reference room inside the guild.
This was the place where large numbers of reports submitted by explorers were stored. Any explorer could freely browse them.
Relying on my memories, I wandered around until I found the report I was looking for.
I picked it up and checked its contents.
"Hahaha… Looking at it again, it really is a clumsy report."
What I was holding was the very first report Oliver, Luna, and I had written after becoming explorers.
We had struggled to put it together while receiving guidance from Eleonora-san.
Reading it now, it was terribly written, but the words still conveyed how lively and full of energy we had been as new explorers.
After our village was destroyed by the Order's attack, our comrades taken from us, and our memories rewritten, Tsutrail had been where we ended up.
Even the dream of conquering the great southern labyrinth had been deliberately planted in me by Philly.
Now that I had regained my memories, it would be a lie to say I felt nothing about that.
But the me from back then was still undeniably a part of who I am now, and I shouldn't deny that.
There were also many things I had gained precisely because I had come here.
I had made many precious connections.
I really don't want to lose this place.
Even if I can never return, as long as everyone can live freely as themselves, that alone is more than enough for me.
"Ah, Orun-kun. So you were here. The Guild Master is waiting for you in his office. Could you head over?"
While I was lost in thought looking at the report, Eleonora-san, who had come looking for me, called out.
"Understood. Thank you for going out of your way."
After thanking her, I headed to the Guild Master's office.
"Excuse me."
"You came at a good time, Orun-kun. I heard a brief summary from Eleonora-kun. It seems you successfully completed the conquest of several labyrinths. Good work."
When I entered the Guild Master's office, he greeted me with his usual smile and words of appreciation.
"…Thank you."
"Still, you could have just reported to Eleonora-kun. It's very conscientious of you to come all the way to me."
"Actually, while I used reporting as a convenient excuse, the real reason I came was to talk with you about something else, Guild Master."
"Hmm. You want to talk with me? What exactly is it about?"
"Before that, may I ask you one question? What do you think about the guild's true purpose?"
At my question, the Guild Master's expression remained unchanged, but his eyes were no longer smiling.
"The guild's true purpose? You mean the guild's ideal of 'managing the labyrinths and supplying magic stones to every region without fail'? I consider that very important. In today's world, magic tools are indispensable to daily life. Ensuring a steady and sufficient supply of magic stones—the power source for those tools—is the mission the Explorers Guild must fulfill."
What the Guild Master said was not wrong.
The Explorers Guild, which extended its influence across the entire world while belonging to no single nation, could fairly be called a neutral organization acting as a balancer for the world.
But that wasn't what I wanted to ask about. I wasn't interested in the public-facing ideals.
"What I want to know is not that textbook answer. You should know the real reason the Explorers Guild exists."
The Grand Master of the Explorers Guild, Beria, was a person who had lived since the era of the fairy tales.
Back then, he had fought alongside August-san against the evil god, and after the evil god's sealing, he had helped create the world of art principles.
Even after coming to this world, he had supported August-san as his close aide when August-san became king of the Hitia Kingdom.
And yet—he had suddenly betrayed him.
Immediately afterward, the [Recognition Alteration] user of that time had sacrificed their own life to rewrite the recognition of the world's people through the art principles.
The contents were: making people forget about the outside world, forget the significance of the sanctuary, and believe the evil god had already been defeated.
Those three things alone were troublesome enough, but the most extreme part was that people could no longer recognize August-san's existence.
Because of that, even if August-san stood right in front of someone, they could no longer see him, hear his voice, read his writing, or perceive anything he did—whether moving or destroying something.
Beria, who had betrayed August-san, aimed to revive the evil god and began taking action to conquer the sanctuaries—now known as the great labyrinths, the sealing devices for the evil god.
August-san, now unrecognized and treated as if he didn't exist, had added mechanisms to the sanctuaries that would permanently prevent Beria from entering, even while feeling defeated.
Since Beria could no longer conquer them by himself and his followers could never defeat the final guardians of the sanctuaries, Beria founded the Explorers Guild.
To use the people living in this world to conquer the great labyrinths.
In the eyes of the world, the Explorers Guild and the Cyclamen Order were recognized as separate organizations, but that was incorrect.
Both were organizations run by Beria with the goal of reviving the evil god.
"…Orun-kun, as I said earlier, the Explorers Guild's ideal is to 'manage the labyrinths and supply magic stones to every region without fail.' Nothing more, nothing less."
It seemed the Guild Master intended to stick strictly to the public-facing stance.
At this rate, we would just keep talking past each other.
I had wanted to hear his stance first before speaking, but it couldn't be helped.
"I see. So you agree with it, then. With the guild's true purpose of reviving the evil god."
The Guild Master, who had barely shown any change in expression until now, frowned.
"...I never expected you to actually know the guild's true purpose, Orun-kun."
It seemed he had thought I was just fishing for information.
But now that I had clearly stated the answer, he no longer seemed inclined to keep pretending he didn't know.
This was a gamble.
If he was someone who affirmed the guild's true purpose, then Beria would learn through him that I had regained my memories before I could make the first move.
In that case, although I didn't want to, I would have to consider using [Recognition Alteration].
Given the Guild Master's personality, I believed he was someone who held a negative view of the guild's true purpose, so it wasn't an especially bad bet. But which way would he lean?
Would he affirm the guild's true purpose, or reject it?
"...I—detest the guild's true purpose."
The Guild Master murmured as if forcing the words out, his body trembling slightly.
"I see. I'm relieved to hear that. In that case, please cooperate with me. If things continue as they are, Tsutrail will soon be ravaged by the Order."
The Guild Master's eyes widened in shock and he stepped closer to me.
"Tsutrail!? Why!?"
"To eliminate me, I suppose."
"It's true that the Order's executives are a heartless bunch with no sense of morality. They wouldn't hesitate to destroy an entire city just to kill one person. But why exactly are you being targeted in the first place?"
"Because I am a throwback to the [King of Ability Users]."
"—!?"
"I am a human who possesses the potential to bury the evil god."
In truth, Oliver also carried that potential, so I wasn't the only one, but that would complicate things, so I left it unsaid for now.
"The [King of Ability Users]… So you are the reincarnation of the [Hero of the Fairy Tales], August Sans?"
"No. My soul and August-san's are separate. I am simply heavily influenced by his abilities through bloodline."
"I see. I think I understand now. So that's why the Grand Master was paying such close attention to you."
"Last year, the western great labyrinth was conquered, and they began moving seriously to eliminate me. We don't have much time left."
Nearly six hundred years had already passed since Beria founded both the Cyclamen Order and the Explorers Guild.
Even with his ability [Eternal Invariance], which effectively granted him immortality, this was taking far too long.
Because of that delay, the appearance of someone like me—someone who was nothing but trouble for the Order—had been allowed.
The reason they had taken so much time was probably to wait until the magical power density of this world had increased sufficiently.
Their ultimate goal was the revival of the evil god.
However, in the world of art principles, where magical power density was thin, the evil god's abilities would be severely restricted.
To put it simply, it was like a saltwater fish being placed in freshwater—an unsuitable environment.
For hundreds of years, the Order had conducted experiments and caused incidents across various regions to raise the magical power density while waiting for the right moment.
Now that they had used the [Hero] for a rehearsal of conquering a great labyrinth, in the previous timeline they had schemed to eliminate both me and Titania—the greatest obstacles to the evil god's revival.
There was almost no doubt that the magical power density of this world had already reached the required level.
"I want to protect Tsutrail and the things I hold dear. Please lend me your strength! I beg you!"
The Guild Master closed his eyes and slowly looked up at the ceiling, seemingly lost in deep emotion.
"…I detest the guild's true purpose. However, no one can deny that the Explorers Guild is indispensable to today's society. That is why I continue to work here. Simply for the sake of those innocent people who live believing that tomorrow will be just like today."
The Guild Master lowered his gaze from the ceiling and looked at me with sharp, piercing eyes.
"What do you fight for?"
"To seize a future where I can live smiling."
I answered the Guild Master's question without hesitation.
"To do that, the people I care about must also be able to smile and live as themselves. And those people I care about have other people they care about in turn."
The people dear to those I care about may have someone I don't know who is precious to them.
That someone may be a complete stranger to me.
Even so, that stranger is also someone I want to protect.
"…I believe people only become truly 'human' when they form bonds with others. The future where I can live smiling is one where everyone living in that world can live as humans. That is why I will fight—to seize a world where everyone can smile and live as human beings."
Someone might dismiss this as impossible.
But whether I'm laughed at or told it's impossible, I will keep saying it.
"I will seize a future where I can live smiling. To do that, I will defeat the evil god and create a world where everyone can smile."
After hearing my answer, the Guild Master smiled gently.
"It sounds like the naive words of a child. But… yes. I think it's wonderful. I also hope such a future will come. —Understood. I will cooperate with you, Orun-kun. Let us aim for it together—a future where everyone can live and smile as human beings."
"Thank you. That's very reassuring."
"So, what should I do?"
"First, please let me into the transfer room that only the Guild Master is permitted to enter."
"That's fine, but why the transfer room?"
"Because the Order will use that transfer array when they attack Tsutrail. So I will tamper with the formulas of the transfer array in advance to prevent them from transferring here."
"You can do something like that…? No, if you possess the same ability as the [Hero of the Fairy Tales], it's not strange that you could. Understood. I'll show you the way."
After that, the Guild Master led me to the room where the transfer array was inscribed.
Just as Grandpa had done in the previous timeline, I tampered with the transfer array engraved there.
So that they could not come through from here.
With this, Tsutrail would neither become a battlefield nor be ravaged by them.
**Okay, that part's done. Time to move on to the next phase.**
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