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[Translator - Tangrine ]
[Proofreader - Seeker ]
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Chapter - 26: The Earth is round
The flames of the Burning Ceremony. The fire that consumes sin.
The flame of the 'God of Justice' heats and hammers the blunt lump of metal called a soul into a sharp sword.
Because human sin has no end, and the flame shall never be extinguished.
Zara was a girl who bore all the sins of this world──
["The more difficult a vow is to keep, the greater the power it may grant... but what truly matters is not power, but the vow itself."]
A single person’s flame was enough to set the entire world ablaze.
["Only make vows you can keep with your own strength."]
Within the flame that devoured the world, Zara faced her past.
Just like that day when she vowed not to harm herself, the flame shimmered like a mirage and revealed her past.
A shameful past.
Zara’s face flushed red, perhaps from the heat of the flame or perhaps because of a past she could not look away from.
"…I know. I will keep it. Because it’s a vow…I made it."
Zara thought this flame was admonishing her.
She had bad thoughts. Harbored a wicked heart. Spoke sinful words. And tried to act on them.
She had tried to break her vow.
That was a truly shameful thing, and it was only natural that her face would flush red.
"… isn’t it okay to just feel a little sad…? These are my own emotions… and denying your own emotions is something only cowards do…"
There are times when you just want to cry—utterly, bitterly, without end.
So Zara wept. Though she knew sitting down and crying was a shameful thing, she cried anyway.
She cried so bitterly she could hardly breathe, as if nothing else could be done──
"……."
Her vision blurred from the tears that streamed down.
Her ears rang from the sobs that caught in her throat.
The past she saw before her eyes melted away.
Flame, light, and memory mingled into a golden sunset.
Only then did Zara understand why people compare the past to the setting sun.
One by one.
Everything disappeared, leaving only Zara behind.
"……."
And now a fierce strength flared—the power to not lose herself.
Though tears clouded her sight, her own figure alone remained clear and unwavering.
She cried so hard her ears rang, yet the lies she had once spoken and the malice within her were clearly audible.
["Today was a lucky day."]
Everything else disappeared, only Zara and the malice within her remained.
["The me of yesterday was a more shameful person than the me of today."]
"…Huh?"
Zara was talking to herself.
["I wish my misfortune wasn’t something I brought upon myself…"]
"Why is this…"
Someone who should undoubtedly have existed in her past──
Gigachad was nowhere to be seen. His voice could not be heard.
And Zara’s own figure appeared so vividly.
The voice of the malice within her whispered so clearly.
But Gigachad had vanished, as though carved away with a sword.
["I really hate this world!"]
"……."
Something was wrong.
Zara stopped sobbing. She wiped the tears that clouded her vision. Slowly, she took a deep breath and faced the sin before her.
Only then did she see clearly everything that was not her.
The smoky chimneys, the carriage racing toward her, the bald man who tormented her, and Gigachad.
["I’m Gigachad. Your inner self. The potential within you."]
"…Liar."
The message of the flame was simple.
Gigachad… was not her 'inner self' at all!
["Only you can change yourself."]
"Fraud. Scum. Bastard…"
Every word Gigachad had ever said turned out to be an outrageous lie.
From the very beginning, only malice had existed within her.
["You’ve become a better person."]
"Why did you lie to me…? Why did you come to me…?"
She had been born wicked.
That malice was horrifying because it remained unchanging, and miserable because it could not be washed away.
Yet, she had come to believe she could still stand tall despite having been born wicked.
Because Gigachad had said so, and she’d come to believe another potential existed within her.
Because he had told her it was okay.
"You could’ve just… left me to be miserable. People like me… shouldn’t be told to try to be happy…"
If all those words had merely been the deceptions of a con man—
If such a possibility had never existed to begin with—
If it was nothing more than a malicious lie meant to torment her.
["Zappy. You don’t need me anymore."]
Then Gigachad’s final words must have been a lie too.
Zara still needed Gigachad.
"Liar..."
It was truly a miserable situation...
"Heheh. Ehehe. Ahahaha!"
Zara laughed. She laughed so hard she cried. She laughed so forcefully that it hurt her stomach.
It wasn’t because she was happy.
Zara had never laughed out of happiness, not even once.
"Heheh…"
Zara is unhappy. Today, she is more unhappy than yesterday, and tomorrow she will be more unhappy than today.
If she only laughed when she was happy, Zara would never laugh again.
The kind of happiness others have is not something Zara is allowed.
So, whenever she wanted to be happy, Zara simply laughed.
Not because she was happy, but because she wanted to be.
Fairy tales that end with the line 'And they lived happily ever after'… they always close with a smiling face!
"Today was a lucky day."
Zara laughed again because she wanted to be happy.
Happiness would never come to Zara.
What she truly wished for would never be hers—that was her fate.
"Gigachad. I am out of luck, so I probably won’t find you today…"
So, she would have to go searching for happiness herself.
"Maybe tomorrow you’ll be even farther away. Since the me of tomorrow will be even more unhappy than I am today."
Even if she never found it, that was okay.
But she had to try to find happiness.
Because Gigachad had taught her that this was how to live with pride.
"So, if the me of tomorrow is farther from you than I am today…"
And, you never know—
"I'll go all around the world to find you."
The world is round.
As long as she didn’t stop, she could circle the entire world someday.
"So please wait for me. Heheh."
And just like that, another fated destiny was twisted.
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"Hm?"
"Something happened?"
"Didn’t the world just flare up for a second?"
"Pardon?"
I swear I saw a flash of fire just now.
Was it just my imagination?
"Could it be that you mistook the burning passion of my heart, set ablaze by my desire for gold, for something else?"
"…Is that so?"
"…I was joking."
"It was convincing, though!"
One doesn’t have to suffer from madness to see hallucinations.
Sometimes, those who desire something with great intensity see it too.
I once hallucinated the end of the world after playing Endless three nights in a row without sleep.
"Wasn’t that just sleep deprivation? Don’t stay up—get some proper rest."
"Yes, Mom."
"Who’s your mother?"
I collapsed onto the bed from exhaustion.
Endless is a trash game.
It takes more than average mental fortitude to endure its nonsense.
"Still, at least we’ve passed the hardest part."
"The hardest part?"
"Mentally, I mean. This is usually the point where most people quit."
After passing this hurdle, there aren't many who drop out due to mental strain.
Not because things get easier, but because anyone who’d quit because it's hard would have already done so by now.
The ones who remain after this are masochists who keep shoveling down this garbage game.
People like me.
"…So does that mean Zara’s alright now?"
"Well, I think she will be. Zara’s a strong girl. She’ll use herself as a lantern and keep moving forward."
"That’s a relief."
"We should worry about ourselves. There are still a few more triggers left."
After months of receiving Zara’s malice via telepathy, my head is pounding.
I buried my face in the pillow.
"Still, let’s rest for today…"
"Your Grace."
"Yes, Kana."
"You haven’t paid me today’s wages."
It’s nothing new that Kanaria is a total materialist…
But she’s especially annoying today.
"Kana."
"Yes?"
"You’ve wounded my pride…"
"Pardon?"
I pulled out a gold coin from my cloak and tossed it, then activated telepathy to fill the room with gold coins.
Kana flinched as she was buried under the flood of gold.
"Only one of those is a real gold coin. Try to find it."
"…Hrrng."
"Kana?"
"Would it be alright if I just lived in this room forever…?"
Ah, damn.
I might’ve accidentally rewarded her instead.
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[Translator - Tangrine ]
[Proofreader - Seeker ]
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