As the strength left my fist, the words that had been waiting for my future self to speak continued.

[The 'World-Building Words' admonishes us not to be too resentful.]

[The 'eye that watches over the chaos of all creation' informs him that he is also a poor child who was scammed out of his turn.]

“Future me? Even so, I’m the 101st person to do it, right?”

I was just sitting there with my arms crossed.

[The 'balance-tuning cynic' twitches the corners of his mouth.]

[The 'Trial Skyscraper Architect' coughs.]

[The 'Scales that Judge Souls' laughs sinisterly.]

[The 'eye that watches over the chaos of all things' has a sorrowful look.]

The response that comes back is strange.

"......no?"

['The Words That Build the World' says that you are the 117th person in the future.]

“Oh my god. What kind of a baseless number is that? I can’t even imagine it.”

For a moment, I almost felt compassion.

['The Scales of Justice' whispers to you with dark intentions that there are two leads in that round, so he sent you one and asked you to like it.]

“Ouch! Stop it!”

I threw the statue into the flames with a little nervousness. I think I'm going to lose my temper at this rate.

As I stick out my lower lip and sigh, my bangs flutter.

<Can you be so disrespectful to the gods?>

“It seems like you’re enjoying it since you keep teasing me nonstop.”

Agnes didn't respond to my awkward answer. Instead, she pointed to the side.

<Still, calm down. The patient will wake up.>

"ah."

I glanced at something about five steps away. The object of my gaze was as still and calm as a still life. I felt relieved.

Now I had picked up the 'gift' as the quest required.

When I was saving Reed, he looked at me and lost consciousness. Usually, a person who has fainted should be moved to a comfortable place, but this person was an exception.

How could I bring a great disaster that could destroy the world at any time and in any way to a civilian home? That's why my current location was still inside the sculptor's studio dungeon.

I have laid out a suitable space in which all the blasphemous statues have been burned. If necessary, I may have to sleep overnight.

Reed was tied tightly to the corner with the strings of the Spirit King's harp.

Agnes confirmed that he had lost his three powers due to the gold tattoo on his forearm, but she installed the device for my psychological stability.

<It's scary.>

“No, that’s not true.”

The quest 'Final Dark Curtain Lead Stage 1' that had made me rush here as soon as the tutorial ended had not yet been completed. It seemed that Reed needed to open his eyes.

<By the way, this guy Reed, his face is really like that. Did he go crazy while regressing?>

“Yes. As I explained before, it is because of the ‘strict order and goodness.’”

<Ahem.>

“Would you like to convert?”

<... ... Okay.>

There was a gap before the rejection came back. It seemed like it would come if I tried a few more times.

I saw Reed leaning against the wall. Even his fainting appearance, due to the correction given by the handsome man, had the aura of a meditating seeker.

'A gift... ... . This is a gift... ... .'

I guess my future self would have a hard time handling both leads. So I left behind the ones who seemed to have been rehabilitated, and used the wish-fulfilling artifact to revert the ones who seemed to be having a hard time rehabilitating to the 101st round and passed them on to me.

Did my future self make the right choice?

Reed died to his future self? But he's leaving it to me?

I've been listing various possibilities in my head, but nothing seems very positive.

No matter how much I think about it, it seems most likely that when Reed opens his eyes again, he'll get so angry that he'll try to kill me and threaten to destroy the world.

The fact that he has black hair in a bad condition is clear evidence. If he were going to live a good life, he would have silver hair.

However, since there is a quest, I will just do as I am told.

“Ugh, I can’t tell what’s going to happen next. It’s outside the original.”

<You can just ask him.>

“To Reed? It’s obvious he’s desperate to destroy the world.”

<I have to try to persuade him.>

“Persuasion? I’m not confident.”

In my interpretation of the character, he seems like a guy who can't be persuaded or compromised. I don't know since it's outside of the original work. I still need more information about him.

"persuasion?"

“......!”

I thought my heart was going to drop.

I took a deep breath and looked back. I was met with red eyes staring back at me clearly.

The strings of the Spirit King's harp had somehow become loose, and were more like hanging strings than tied together.

How did you solve it? You said you lost your three powers?

My mouth was dry from the tension.

He got up leisurely, took off his outer garment, and threw it into the blue flame. The Order's knight's uniform was instantly reduced to ashes by the Holy Spirit's holy fire.

The elegant index finger unfastened the button that was squeezing his neck, loosening his shirt. All traces of the perfect and restrained paladin were gone.

He stood straight toward me, having pretty much erased the past.

Another dry spit ran down my throat.

<Don't be scared, Eyelet!>

Yes, Agnes. Thanks for your support.

“.......”

“.......”

A quiet moment passed while I was receiving the gaze that was staring at me intently.

As is usually the case with people who have just woken up, he was quite calm. I didn't want to provoke him, so I just left him alone even though I knew he was looking at me with an exploratory gaze.

[The 'Inspector of Weather Leakage' is very curious about the psychological state of the final mastermind.]

Me too.

I wanted to find out what kind of state he was in when he closed his eyes in the 100th episode. That must be how he felt when he opened his eyes in the 101st episode.

'The future me killed him, and now he's looking at the person who killed him.'

My response is determined by what kind of reaction comes to mind when I see that dry, expressionless face. In the worst case scenario, I might have to immediately summon my divine power.

Finally he responded.

"say it."

"what?"

“Proof that you are Ailet Rodelin.”

“......Do I have to say something like that? You can tell just by looking at it, right?”

“I’ve been living a life of deception. Please.”

The eyes looking at me narrowed as if they were closing.

“If I get fooled again... I think I’ll be very disappointed.”

“What happens if I get disappointed?”

“I guess I’ll have to play around and destroy the world.”

“.......”

I regret it. Why did I bother asking that, hoping to get a good answer?

The tension that had almost disappeared as we briefly exchanged words rose to the top of my head again.

I am sure that those innocent eyes speak only of sincerity.

The quest's failure penalty, 'world destruction', feels like a red alarm is ringing in my head.

[<System> You have completed the quest 'Final Dark Curtain Lead Stage 1'. The success reward '???' will be automatically received.]

There was a sense that the system was acting in a hurry, as if it was something that needed to be used right away.

[<System> You have acquired the 'World Destruction Meter'.]

[<Function> 'World Destruction Meter'

A new feature built into the Iceman support system.

It gives you an intuitive number of how much the target villain wants to destroy the world.

Applies to: Lead]

I glanced up at Reed's head.

The bright red numbers floating around are... ... .

[<Status> World Destruction 90%]

Eek! Were we on the verge of destruction?

Whether it was out of consideration for my mental health or not, the numbers quickly blurred immediately after I checked.

Anyway, I felt the need to hurry.

“I’m Eyelet. I’m totally Eyelet. The Eyelet Rodelin I met when we were kids!”

I tried my best to prove myself by even making a pigtail with my hands.

“Do you remember playing with fire together at the Toy Mansion? We even shared our skills and learned them separately. You’re the Guardian of Attribution, and I’m the Healer of Attribution. Yes?”

“.......”

“We fought together in the Holy Sword Dungeon! Do you have the Holy Sword, or rather the Demon Sword, that you obtained back then?”

“.......”

What happened during my tutorial period is common to the regressor's memory regardless of the round. I unraveled two anecdotes that he and I shared and waited for a response.

His eyes narrowed again.

“No more?”

“Is this starch?”

“Oh, right. This timeline has just begun, so those are the only points of contact between you and me.”

The already dark and heavy atmosphere of the lead became even more subdued.

“I have to live my life remembering only myself.”

There was a faint hint of long-standing disillusionment in his voice. The world that always resets itself after leaving me behind. The past that only I remember has become a layer of sediment piled up so deep that I cannot know its depth.

The 101st step he took might have been a layer of rock as big as a grand canyon.

That would be the most fascinating point of regression.

I decided not to open my mouth. I was the one who killed him in the previous episode. Anything I said would definitely be provocative.

For now, it's better to wait for him to separate the me he met in the 100th episode from the me in front of him and accept it.

As I sat there with that thought in my mind, the system wanted to give me more information.

[<Quest> 'Leading the Final Dark Curtain' will automatically update from Stage 1 to Stage 2.]

'Oh, again.'

Again, with a feeling of dizziness, a specific place unfolded in my mind. The pastoral village surrounded by blue mountains like a huge fence seemed familiar.

'Greenwall Village?'

The area where the return begins. I quickly recognized it as it was the place I had to pass through to enter the current Atelier dungeon.