The split body slid apart and fell.
Watching that, Tesila clenched both fists and cheered.
“We did it! We got him!”
“......No.”
Oscar shook his head and kept his guard up even while staring at the corpse sprawled limply across the ground.
Because he was certain Varkan wouldn’t die from something like this.
There was a reason he’d only generously estimated his odds of beating that bastard at thirty percent.
—A plague never disappears. It merely retreats for a while, then inevitably returns.
It was the phrase Varkan constantly repeated like a habit, words that were practically the philosophy behind his very existence.
And in truth, Varkan never died no matter how many times his body was slashed apart or burned by swords and magic.
Even in his previous life, he had only barely managed to erase him after carrying out the “Plague Eradication Operation” together with the Order.
When would it be?
When would he stitch that body back together and rise again with that unconcerned expression on his face?
A scene he had witnessed countless times in his previous life flashed before his eyes.
The soldiers who died beneath that sickening smile.
Even the image of his own powerless self, unable to protect them, overlapped with it.
“I know you’re not dead. Get up.”
Oscar glared at the two halves of Varkan as he warned him.
But even after a long while passed, he did not rise.
[Completion Rate 100%]
[Clear Conditions Perfectly Achieved]
Instead, only a brief notification appeared.
“......What?”
As Oscar stared blankly at the message in disbelief, Tesila spoke.
“What do you mean ‘what’? We beat him.”
“T-This makes no sense.”
If Varkan could really be erased this easily, they wouldn’t have struggled so horribly against him in his previous life.
No, he never would’ve even been evaluated as a monster ranked directly beneath the Four Great Counts in the first place.
Nor would he have been capable of holding back an entire front line by himself.
‘Could my memories be wrong? No, impossible.’
He wore a confused yet unsettled expression for a moment.
Then Oscar let out a short sigh as he watched the corpse dissolve into tiny particles of light.
“Ah.......”
Right.
This place was ultimately still a dungeon.
No matter how real Varkan looked, he was nothing more than a replica created through illusion magic.
No matter how faithfully they tried to imitate him and recreate his strength, there was no way it could ever be identical to the original.
To think he had overlooked such an obvious fact.
Oscar pressed firmly against his throbbing temples.
‘......I must’ve gotten too immersed without realizing it.’
Part of it was because the dungeon called Utopia felt so realistic, but more than anything, the village and battlefield used as its setting were deeply tied to the memories of his previous life.
‘Still, I didn’t expect it to feel this empty.’
The moment he realized everything was over, all the tension drained away and strength left his entire body.
How should he put it?
It felt like he alone had taken everything seriously and made a fool of himself.
Oscar stared at the words “Completion Rate 100%” for a long while before speaking in a tired voice.
“Let’s leave the subspace for now.”
After emerging onto a battlefield now left perfectly clean without a single soldier remaining, he asked,
“So with a completion rate of 100%, the Windless Zone belongs to me now, right?”
“It already belonged to you at 8%.”
Tesila puffed out her cheeks slightly before honestly voicing her thoughts.
“If you ever need help from our adventuring party, just say the word. We’ll help you once.”
“Only once?”
“......You don’t look it, but you’re pretty greedy, huh? Do you even know our party’s standard commission fees are measured in hundreds of millions?”
“If not, then forget it.”
He had only tried asking on a whim anyway.
Even if they helped only once as she said, it would probably be enough to solve almost anything.
An adventuring party with a top-class adventurer among its ranks was stronger than most organizations.
“The real problem now is the dungeon I’ll be entering next. Difficulty 3 was far harder than I expected.”
“Hm, was it really that difficult?”
“......Ah, I almost got a little offended there.”
To begin with, this dungeon was impossible to clear with a 100% completion rate unless one could use spatial magic.
The designer likely knew that too, which was why they had made it possible to obtain the Windless Zone with only an 8% completion rate.
‘Then...... since I managed to reach 100%, maybe there’s some kind of additional reward.’
He fell into thought for a moment.
Then suddenly, when he no longer sensed Tesila’s presence, he turned around.
“If you’re looking for the woman named Tesila Windroar, I already sent her out.”
The Guide stood there.
Oscar shrugged and opened his mouth.
“I’ve felt this for a while now, but you’re pretty arbitrary.”
“Well, I did hear that rather often.”
A faintly nostalgic expression crossed the Guide’s face for an instant before he spoke.
“Would you walk with me for a bit?”
“......Sure.”
As they walked toward the encampment, the Guide asked,
“You’re quite skilled for your age.”
“I hear that pretty often myself.”
“Usually, even those blessed with talent lack real combat experience.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment. May I ask a question this time?”
“Go ahead.”
“Why did you give me a scenario like this?”
A dilemma where one had to choose which side to save.
Without spatial magic, it was physically impossible to clear.
And on top of that, Oscar had never once shown the ability to move through space in the dungeons he had previously entered.
Meaning the Guide had presented him with this challenge without knowing he could use spatial magic.
“First, let me formally apologize.”
The Guide answered candidly.
“I’m supposed to provide challengers with conditions that allow them to grow further, but in your case, I ended up giving you a path where failure was impossible. Without realizing it, I shook your convictions and forced my own views upon you.”
“Why?”
It was a pure question.
The Guide remained silent for a moment before abruptly stopping in place.
Then he looked around the desolate battlefield, so empty it even felt lonely.
“......In actual history, Varkan won tonight, and most of the soldiers on the battlefield died. It was such a disastrous defeat that only a mere two-digit number survived and managed to retreat.”
“I know. The White Tower’s forces had been withdrawn due to a request from the Imperial Family.”
“Exactly. And despite abandoning the battlefield like that...... they couldn’t even save the villagers.”
As if recalling something too unpleasant to look at, the Guide shut his eyes tightly.
“They failed to save either side. That’s what I wanted to teach you.”
Soon, the Guide slowly opened his eyes and looked directly at Oscar.
“That with half-baked confidence and good intentions, you can save no one.”
“......You thought that would help me?”
“More than help you, I believed it was an experience you absolutely needed. And I still haven’t changed my mind.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because we are humans, not gods.”
The Guide’s expression darkened.
“When you gain one thing, you must surrender another. That is the law governing all things in this world. But the more talented someone is, and the kinder their heart is, the more they try to defy that law. On the surface, it looks admirable. Heroic. People will praise them as heroes and champions. But human eyes can only look forward. Someday, no matter when it may be, there will inevitably come a moment when you must turn your back on one side.”
This wasn’t a matter of good or evil.
It was a matter of whether it was structurally possible or impossible.
“I’ve seen far too many people collapse because they couldn’t endure that reality.”
That was precisely why he believed it was necessary.
The bitter experience of being forced to abandon one side.
The vaccination called failure.
Oscar slowly nodded.
“So you thought I would break just like them.”
“The fact that you saved both the village and the battlefield is certainly impressive. But someday.......”
“You’re quite fearful.”
“......What?”
“You think I wouldn’t know how difficult it is to carry this kind of resolve through to the end?”
“No, you don’t.”
The Guide shook his head.
“You merely think you understand right now.”
“And why do you get to define that?”
“Ah, of course I understand hearing this would upset you. Still, think about it rationally.”
“About what?”
“For example...... yes, imagine you were Oscar Sage, the one leading the White Tower. Right now, you stand at the edge of a cliff overlooking the Great Emperor’s Fortress. And you must make a decision. Will you save humanity, or will you save the White Tower? Which option would you choose?”
“I’d kill the Great Emperor and save the White Tower too.”
“There. See? Exactly this.”
The Guide let out a small laugh.
“This is why I say you understand nothing. You don’t comprehend the weight of that choice at all.”
Oscar stared directly at him before asking,
“Then do you understand that weight perfectly?”
“Of course.”
“How? Are you Oscar Sage or something?”
“That’s not the case, but.......”
“If you’re not, then what the hell makes you think you understand it perfectly?”
“Haha.”
The Guide wore a somewhat awkward expression at the words that struck like a dagger.
He seemed to ponder how he should explain it before eventually making up his mind about something.
“Well, I suppose it would be difficult for you to accept otherwise. It can’t be helped.”
Along with the sudden change in his tone, his appearance transformed instantly as he became wrapped in particles of light.
Pure white robes and pale golden hair cascading over them.
Lastly, a monocle covering calm yet sharp eyes.
“Ahem.”
The Guide cleared his throat before slowly speaking.
“Let me introduce myself again. My name is Magiro Wilson. The mage once known as the White Tower’s strategist.”
“Uh, hm. You seem even more shocked than I expected. Well, I guess that’s natural if you think about it. I am your great senior, after all.”
Like paints wildly mixing together on a palette, the thoughts inside his head tangled into chaos.
‘What is this? Am I hallucinating right now?’
Calm down first.
This could simply be magic imitating the appearance of someone whose face his memories wished to see.
Or maybe someone had coincidentally impersonated a senior mage and hit the mark by accident.
Ah, perhaps it was simply a trap laid by the demons.
He knew.
On the night the Great Emperor died, Magiro died as well.
He had volunteered himself as bait to create an opening, and his heart was pierced through.
Even now, Oscar vividly remembered the smile Magiro forced himself to show him moments before dying.
He knew.
Inside his head, countless possibilities passed through his mind explaining why the being before him was not truly Magiro.
But right now, none of that mattered.
Fwoosh!
“U-Uhm.”
He could feel Magiro freeze awkwardly in place as Oscar hugged him tightly.
Magiro’s eyes rolled around uncertainly before he spoke in an uncomfortable tone.
“Um, junior? I’ll give you an autograph, so could you let go of me first? Sudden physical contact like this between us is a little much. I’d rather not say it myself, but I’m somewhat of a germaphobe too.......”
“......Magiro.”
The moment he had first opened his eyes in little Oscar’s body.
The instant the evolved scenery of Sirin filled his vision.
The very first thing that came to mind was his companions.
Because it hurt so much that he alone was monopolizing that beautiful sight.
And though it would never happen, if he ever got to meet those bastards again one more time, there was something he had desperately wanted to say.
“Right, right, it really is me, the White Tower’s superstar and sack full of knowledge, Magiro Wilson, so first let go of this—”
“I’m sorry.”
The words that escaped his lips—
Were the first tearful words he had spoken since awakening in little Oscar’s body.

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