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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Peptobismol]
[Proofreader - Demon God]
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Chapter 99 - Merlin Trivia (1)
Merlin Trivia was a girl who knew how to put others first.
She had always lived her life more for others than for herself. Because of this, she had never learned how to doubt, or to hold anyone accountable.
While she was naturally inclined to kindness, she also had a tendency to justify everything as God’s will.
Because God existed.
Because all humans were equal.
For her, “belief” always took precedence over “thought.”
The world was peaceful, and each day passed with flawless precision, like perfectly interlocking gears.
Truly, they were happy days.
At least, Merlin herself had no worries.
And in some ways, that was a shame.
A person’s life has its limits, yet Merlin had spent nearly all her time solely for others.
So, when she faced her first regression, the situation she found herself in felt rather… no, overwhelmingly welcome.
She thought it was a reward for her life, which had been marked by regrets.
She believed it was God’s answer to the faint longing that lingered in her heart.
Ah, at last, my chance has come.
At last, my prayers have reached the heavens.
Immediately, Merlin used her knowledge of the future to amass the empire’s resources, seizing enormous wealth and fame.
But, as they say, people don’t change so easily, and even as she became the wealthiest person in the empire, Merlin didn’t keep the wealth she accumulated to herself.
She wanted others to enjoy life as much as she did.
So, she shared, distributed, and gave away the wealth she had accumulated.
After all, one’s true nature always shows in the end.
Of course, not every moment was happy.
When those dear to her, including her parents, left her one by one, it felt as if her soul was being torn apart.
To live a life that repeated itself… ultimately meant that goodbyes would repeat, too.
Her second life ended in that way.
She thought that was the end of everything.
Though it was still a bittersweet conclusion, she reasoned that she’d lived a new life, and that was enough.
Perhaps that’s why—
When she opened her eyes… the feeling she had, once again facing a familiar ceiling, was beyond words.
Merlin dared to consider it a blessing.
A third chance had been granted to her.
The opportunity to live a life more perfect than the previous round.
After three, then four, then five, then countless repetitions—
She realized it had all been horrid arrogance.
— Surely, not again…?
Her heart sank into an abyss.
The pounding of her heartbeat echoed in her ears.
A life that repeated endlessly was no longer new.
The familiar ceiling she woke up to no longer felt welcoming.
The words, expressions, and actions of the people she encountered—all played out in her mind like clockwork.
She knew exactly what kind of personalities they had, what weaknesses they hid, and what secrets they held.
All of those answers were already etched perfectly in her memory.
Even the smallest mistakes, even the slightest turns of phrase, were always identical.
The people around her treated her as if they’d met her for the first time, and in that perfectly synchronized routine, Merlin felt as though she had become the one, creaking gear.
— Something’s wrong… something’s terribly wrong…
In the seventh round,
For the first time, Merlin began to have doubts.
There was no way this could be a blessing. No, it was closer to a curse than anything else.
— Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!
— Why. Why is this happening? Why am I being brought back again and again? I don’t want this! I’m sick of it! Just let me die!
In the eighth round,
Unable to bear it, she didn’t pray to God; she cursed Him for the first time.
— What’s the point of living… if it’s all just going to repeat…
— Please… just let it end…
In the ninth round,
The fury in her voice faded into emptiness.
— It’s happening… again…
In the tenth round,
Merlin lay like a lifeless husk, barely lifting a finger.
Why did it keep happening?
Had she done something wrong?
She lay there, silent, combing through her memories.
She had considered herself special.
She had thought of herself as unique, different from others, someone capable of repeating her life endlessly.
She had dared to think of this as a blessing.
How foolish—only she could remember the past that had already passed.
Every breath she took felt like a knife stabbing her lungs.
Each time she closed her eyes, she opened them to see the same scenes repeating.
At some point, every person she encountered carried a stench unique to their soul that made her head pound.
People no longer seemed like people to her.
The changes in herself were horrifying.
When would it end?
Did it have an end at all?
If there was no end, would she be trapped like this forever?
In fact, was eternal rest…
Was it never meant to exist?
Merlin’s smile as she muttered this looked horribly twisted.
Crunch—
The sound of her soul shattering echoed like thunder in her ears.
— Heh, heh heh…
Her own breath disgusted her as it left her lips.
Even if she did nothing, it came without effort.
So, she gave up.
Even feeling anger or resentment was too much of a bother.
The whetstone of resignation sharpened every emotion she had into a single blade.
Sharp enough to kill someone with just a touch.
And in that eleventh round,
— I’m so tired of this.
Merlin finally chose death of her own accord.
****
Merlin repeated her death over and over.
The difference was that this time, she was the one choosing to end her own life.
She climbed buildings and threw herself off; she took up a sword and plunged it into her own heart.
Despite her expectations, she was surprisingly calm.
The screams from the intense pain only lasted a moment.
The pain of her body being torn apart was somehow bearable.
Merlin repeated her death over and over.
The methods and means didn’t matter.
Some faint hope that if she continued dying like this, she might one day see an end—that sliver of hope kept her spirit aflame.
It was on her way to find a building to jump from again.
In the distance, she spotted a strange man following her.
At first, she ignored him.
Perhaps he was just traveling the same path by chance.
But in the next round, and the one after that, the man continued to follow her without fail.
As if he’d been sent to uncover her secrets.
— Kyle Winfred…?
The one who had sent someone to investigate her was none other than the bastard of Winfred, Kyle Winfred.
It was the first anomaly she had encountered in any round.
However, Merlin did not immediately go to meet Kyle Winfred.
She still had one plan left.
— No matter how many times I die, nothing changes.
Death, death, and death again, but nothing was different.
In the end, even death itself was part of the endless cycle.
— Is that how it is?
Merlin chuckled.
The mocking laughter that escaped her throat sounded bitter and harsh.
This cursed world.
A world like this should never have existed.
So, she destroyed it.
She poured all her holy power into creating the relic, the Rosario, and used its power to summon the black mist, warping the world’s causality as she pleased.
The Papal See. The Imperial Family.
Nobles, commoners—no one was spared.
Not a single soul was able to escape the sudden apocalypse.
But.
— Why! Why! Why won’t it end?
The world repeated once more.
The world she had destroyed with her own hands had returned, mocking her efforts and ridiculing her defiance.
She was speechless before the overwhelming malice of this world.
She could barely breathe.
It made her stomach twist and her chest clench.
Even this didn’t work?
Then how long… just how long would she have to be trapped in this world?
Surely there was a way out?
There had to be. There couldn’t not be.
After muttering to herself for a long time, Merlin finally reached a conclusion.
— Kyle Winfred…
Yes, Kyle Winfred.
The man who had been tracking her movements in such an odd way from a certain point.
The one unique anomaly in this endlessly repeating world.
She was still mostly suspicious, but Merlin had reached the point where she would do anything.
With blind resolve, she went to the Winfred Ducal Estate.
She hoped that her doubts would finally turn into certainty.
And Kyle Winfred, when she met him—
— I was just watching.
He told her, in a calm voice, that he had been watching her all along.
— Because your situation is similar to mine.
He understood her.
More than she’d thought… he knew that she had been living repeated lives.
Her suspicions soon solidified into certainty.
— Are you planning to destroy the world again this time?
It was the first time in her life.
A man who remembered previous rounds so vividly.
She had thought she was always alone.
She had thought that no one remembered this life that kept repeating.
— There’s no need to worry.
That day, she learned for the first time.
— Someday, you’ll leave this place too.
That one man was watching as she continued to die, again and again.
— March 11.
She finally realized.
— …Remember.
That she was not alone.
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Peptobismol]
[Proofreader - Demon God]
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