------------------
[Translator - Tangrine ]
[Proofreader - Seeker ]
------------------
Chapter - 25: Rely on your own light
The player's tormenting Zara is a kind of trigger.
Even the sole companion capable of loving Zara ends up abandoning her.
Zara was born into happiness, only to grow more miserable with each passing day.
Even the player’s abandonment becomes the abyss of misery that Zara ultimately reaches, falling deeper day by day.
“So, I have to be the one to finish this.”
“……”
“So, you’re the only one who loves that unfortunate child.”
“Mm. If you mean fondness, then yes.”
Zara’s a likable character and it’s hard to hate her in any way.
Any player would end up falling for Zara.
Then, shattered by the maliciously designed storyline crafted by the developers, they quit the game.
“……Loving that child, yet being forced in the end to let go of her?”
“Hm?”
"Isn't it painful for you?"
“……”
Well, I once had days like that too.
“Kanaria.”
But with that kind of mindset, you can’t conquer Endless.
Because Endless is a trash game.
“Pain doesn’t really matter. The fact that this world is full of ruin, a trash heap designed solely to torment the player, isn’t what’s important. The fact that I’m such a pitiful fool I’ve come to care about this damn world? That doesn’t matter either!”
Zara is just the beginning.
From here on, the player must endure endless suffering and relentless misfortune.
If I was going to quit just because it hurt, I wouldn’t have kept playing until I saw every ending.
Trash games are made for masochistic bastards who get off on suffering anyway.
“……Then what’s truly important?”
“That since I started this, I have to be the one to finish it.”
There was a game that trended in my past life where they said, ‘It’s not about seeing it through to the end.’
But……That’s something only a god-tier game can afford to say.
A trash game has its own trash saying.
“Seeing it through to the end is important.”
“……”
“Because every story must come to an end.”
===========
Zara returned to the city.
To the wicked city that tormented and despised her.
Once again, she brought planks to repair the ruins of her shelter, checked houses that needed chimney sweeping, bought cheap snacks with a few coins, and spent the day strolling through the city.
There had been many hardships and misfortunes.
But none of them could shake her.
Because the only one who could truly hurt her was herself.
"Gigachad! I finally got paid a full day's wage today. Heheh."
-"Good job. You should be proud. That’s not just money—it’s proof you stood up to injustice.
Let’s eat something good today and get some rest. My daughter."
"Yes!"
And so, not being paid, getting hit by a carriage, being hated by others were not misfortunes to her anymore.
Even the world’s cruelty had begun to glance off her, little by little.
The only true misfortune she could suffer now was the pain she inflicted upon herself.
For calamities or abuse from others could no longer force her to harm herself.
"Today was… a day I worked hard."
The only one who could save her was herself. The only one who could cause her pain and make her unhappy was herself.
"I really tried to be happy. The inside of the chimney was pitch black and full of dust, but even the smoke didn’t feel unpleasant. Because what matters isn't the result, but the process and standing proud before myself. Because the harder I work, the more confidently I can demand fair pay. Even the deep, stubborn soot felt almost welcome. Heheh."
Getting hit by a carriage isn’t a misfortune.
Not because tomorrow might be worse or because she was lucky enough to survive.
The reason it isn’t misfortune because it doesn’t take away her ability to be proud of herself.
“Today might have been an unfortunate day or a lucky one. But that’s not what really matters, what matters is that I tried to make today a ‘better day’!”
Zara had gained an awakening.
As long as she didn’t forget this realization, nothing in this world would be able to make her suffer.
-“Where did the coward go, the one who couldn’t even ask for a single coin? Now there’s a true Alpha standing in her place.”
“Ehehe.”
As long as it wasn’t herself.
-“Zappy, you already know this. The only one who can change you is yourself. And that means the one who made you who you are now is also you. The only way to become a better person is to change yourself. And you have changed. You’ve become better.”
“Yes!”
-“Zappy. The person you are now… doesn’t need me anymore.”
"……Huh?"
Gigachad was the voice within her. The Alpha inside her. The strongest voice that led her forward.
When the malice she was born with whispered only murder and hatred to her, only Gigachad spoke of change and courage.
That’s why she had been able to change herself and believed she could change.
She realized that the possibility of change existed within her.
-"As long as you don’t forget how you feel today, and keep trying, you’ll become a better person."
“What do you mean…?”
She had changed.
Now, she no longer was swayed by the voices within.
She realized that even the malice she was born with could no longer hurt her.
As long as she tried to pursue her own happiness, that effort alone was enough for her to stand proud.
She could stop being ashamed of the malice she was born with.
Now that she was no longer at the mercy of the darkness inside her...
-"Use yourself as your lamp. Rely on yourself as you live."
Wasn’t it only natural that even her inner advisor was no longer needed?
In the end, It was a simple truth.
-"Under one sky, there is no need for two Alphas."
"I… I…"
-"Farewell, My Daughter."
Zara lost Gigachad.
Because she had come to stand tall on her own.
Because she no longer suffered from the world’s misfortune or cruelty.
Because she had become a better person.
"……Gigachad?"
If the only one who could hurt Zara was Zara herself then surely, this too was something Zara had chosen.
Because if it weren’t her own choice…
"……"
Why would it hurt this much?
"……Hhuek, ngh…"
The world turned blurry. Her cheeks were wet.
It felt like her heart had been gouged out with a dagger.
Something important had suddenly gone hollow.
No… Come to think of it, her heart had always been hollow.
-How am I supposed to live in a world without Gigachad?
-I want to die.
-You’re a coward who can’t do anything on your own.
A half-formed thing, born with nothing but malice. That was who she was.
She just went back to the beginning.
Nothing had changed.
“Hhuek…”
No, It had gotten so much better.
She cleaned chimneys, got properly paid, didn’t get run over by a carriage, became a hero, and──.
No, none of that mattered at all.
The truth is…
“Hic… Hhuek… Gigachad…”
She had wanted to end this story with the words that she lived happily ever after.
She had wished for this one day to repeat endlessly.
To receive Gigachad’s guidance, to become a better person day by day, to live with pride in herself.
If only every day could have been just like today.
If only time could have repeated like this. That’s what she thought.
-It’s your fault.
-You ruined everything again.
-You don’t deserve to be happy.
-You should’ve just died.
But that was a dream that could never be granted.
A dream she was never meant to wish for.
Not because she was unhappy but because someone watching over her unhappiness refused to allow it.
Zara could not have her one, single wish.
-This world is evil!
-Kill them all!
-A world without Gigachad should just burn.
Because this world was a place where the things she truly wished for would never come true.
A fragile, shabby world maintained by the misfortune of a single girl.
A world like this should be better off destroyed.
-I want to die.
“…I want to die.”
-I wish everyone would just die.
“…I wish everyone would just die.”
-A world without Gigachad…
“If only this whole world could’ve just ended today…”
But even that kind of despair was not permitted to Zara.
Because she was a hero.
“……”
What she received in exchange for vow…
[I will not harm myself.]
Was the strength to not lose herself.
A vow that what truly mattered would never be taken from her.
In that moment, Zara’s soul shimmered.
A furnace-like flame surged within her.
The fire of burnt offering engulfed her.
It was a power even the one who governed this world had not foreseen.
“……”
In the very end, the world could not break her.
------------------
[Translator - Tangrine ]
[Proofreader - Seeker ]
------------------
