Omniscient First-Person’s Viewpoint
Chapter 328: The Land Where the Senile Old Man Wanders

The scenery changed drastically after passing the wall.

Artificial structures began to pop up around the landscape here and there.

The surroundings grew more complex and before long, the Catafract had ended up in the middle of a city.

On one side, neat brick houses lined the streets while a four-story pavilion overlooked the world in the distance.

The road stretched far ahead, paved with smooth, gleaming stones.

It would have been a prosperous city, where even the bricks seemed meticulously planned.

If there were any people living inside it.

Though there was a city, there wasn’t a single trace of human life within it.

There was no workforce to run the city and no food supply to sustain it.

This too was simply another work of the Golden Lord.

“Amazing. A mere human created an entire city all by himself…”

Tyr’s eyes sparkled like a child’s.

It seemed even a ghost town was fascinating to a vampire who had been asleep for 300 years.

In fact, it wasn’t just Tyr. I felt something similar, though my feelings were a bit different from hers.

“Hey, Mr. Shei. Now that I think about it…”

“What is it, all of a sudden?”

“The ceasefire agreement… it’s for the Golden Lord, right?”

“Probably? That’s how it’ll go, I guess.”

“But do you think a ceasefire is possible? Seeing the Golden Lord’s powers up close, he seems even more overwhelming.”

The Golden Lord’s power, a type of alchemy close to creation itself, had limitless potential.

It could create gigantic cities and fortresses on a whim, with bricks that were each unique in shape.

Truly, it was the alchemy of creation.

This raised an important question.

The Regressor said that the Military State would win against the Fallen Dominion, probably against the Golden Lord.

But how did the Military State become so powerful?

Was it just with its army?

“What if the Golden Lord doesn’t accept the ceasefire? What if he finds us arrogant and turns us all into gold, then marches triumphantly to attack the Military State?”

This was an important issue.

The Regressor was confident that the Fallen Dominion would accept the ceasefire.

I, having read the Regressor’s memories, was indirectly influenced and joined this journey.

However, now that I’ve seen the Golden Lord’s powers with my own eyes, I’m starting to feel a bit doubtful.

He looks incredibly powerful.

If he built a fortress over my head and crushed it, I’d be squashed like a bug.

“The Military State, being a relatively young country, doesn’t have any significant Arcanes to speak of, but the Fallen Dominion has alchemy and the Golden Lord. Mr. Shei, can we really beat the Golden Lord?”

“…Well, if we give it everything we’ve got.”

The Regressor’s response wasn’t exactly confident.

Let’s see, what’s she really thinking?

｢The Golden Lord isn’t someone you win or lose against. He’s more alien than Tyrkanzyaka, but I don’t know how to explain it and if I scare them, it’ll only make things harder…｣

See? Even you’re not confident!

In cases like Tyr’s or Ria’s, I preferred to make powerful allies instead of opposing them.

What’s the easiest way to win a 17-on-1 fight?

The answer is to become one of the 17.

How can you win against 17 people alone?

Anyway, while I do have my reasons for meeting the Golden Lord, I don’t need to approach him the same way the Regressor does.

The ceasefire agreement contains the seeds of conflict.

If we end up fighting the Golden Lord and he collapses a city on top of me, I won’t even have time to react before I’m gone.

“Be honest with me. I’m prepared for it.”

But the Regressor must know something.

She wouldn’t be so confident otherwise.

When I pushed her for answers, she seemed to reconsider and finally spoke.

｢Yeah, this guy whines but will still walk into a minefield without a second thought. Even if he’s not confident, he won’t run away.｣

After coming to her own conclusion, the Regressor thought back to her previous encounter with the Golden Lord and answered honestly.

“We probably can’t win. The Golden Lord’s powers are bizarre, almost… alien in a way. Even with Jizan, we probably wouldn’t be able to touch him.”

“I see.”

Just as I thought.

You had no confidence from the start.

After nodding for a while, I turned to Hilde and ordered.

“Hilde, turn the Catafract around. We’re going back.”

“Yes! Turning back now! Yay! Time for war!!”

“No, wait! Hold on!”

The Regressor hurriedly grabbed my collar and shouted.

“Hey! You said you were prepared!”

“I’m prepared to run! I’m prepared to throw away my worthless honor and save my precious life!”

“That’s not how you’re supposed to use the word ‘prepared!’ What are you going to do if we go back now?”

“I should be the one asking that! What’s the point of going if we know we can’t win?! We’re just going to die in vain!”

I tried to shake off her grip, but she was too strong so I ended up whining as I shouted.

“You’re all cocky because you managed to take down the Military State, but that’s not even a real country! It’s a pseudo-state without any Arcanes or king with special powers, just a complicated, fragile structure! The only reason we could tear it apart was because of how weak it is!”

“Hehe~ that’s true, but it’s weird hearing that from a Military State citizen~”

The only reason the Military State hadn’t fallen already was because the Saintess was protecting it.

Well, “protecting” might not be the right word—more like she was covering up all the possible futures where it collapses.

The Military State was always teetering on the edge of destruction.

Even the Saintess was so weakened that she had to rely on Signallers as substitutes.

Anyone who tried could have toppled it in no time.

After all, it nearly fell when just three people teamed up.

But the Fallen Dominion was different.

Even if we ignored the country’s size and scale, its roots were strong.

The Golden Lord, Democrias.

He is the Dominion, and the Dominion is him.

Even if you killed every single human in the country, as long as the Golden Lord remained, the country would eventually recover.

And as long as the Golden Lord can’t be defeated, handing him the ceasefire agreement is like placing my heart in his hands.

If he crushes it, we’ll die on the spot.

“I won’t fight! I’m going back! I don’t want to die!”

“Listen! We won’t be fighting the Golden Lord!”

“Oh, really? Then I’ll sit back down.”

Jeez, you should’ve told me that from the start.

I trusted you all along, Regressor!

“Your attitude changes too easily!”

“Let’s call it flexible adaptability, shall we?”

Isn’t it obvious?

When the situation changes, your attitude should change too.

Still, it’s good to know the Regressor has some sense.

I thought we’d have to fight the Golden Lord.

Even if she can regress, she wouldn’t charge in without a plan.

“So why won’t we be fighting him? Is he the type to just sign a ceasefire?”

The Regressor shook her head and reluctantly shared what she knew.

“No, the Golden Lord won’t cooperate with us, but he won’t attack us either. He’ll probably just… ignore us.”

｢I couldn’t even get a conversation with him in the last timeline. He’s more distant than anyone…｣

The Regressor recalled her previous encounter with the Golden Lord.

In her mind, she saw the distant figure of the Golden Lord from a past timeline.

Before the King of Sin appeared, the world was on the brink of destruction, and the Golden Palace’s guardians gave the Regressor a chance to meet the Golden Lord.

She climbed to the top of the palace and entered the grand, empty hall, where she pleaded for his help.

But the Golden Lord didn’t look at her.

He didn’t listen to her.

He was lost in thought, creating something through alchemy without pause while useless trinkets piled up behind him.

The Regressor tried to get his attention, even resorting to force.

But as she approached, a force field pushed her away.

The Golden Lord’s force field was so powerful that it repelled even a Regressor powered by the finest treasures she collected.

A literal wall of separation.

The Golden Lord continued his alchemy as if the approaching apocalypse had nothing to do with him.

The Regressor had tried to strike him with Jizan, but as soon as she broke through the force field and touched the Golden Lord’s domain, the world reacted to remove her.

The Golden Lord’s power was alchemy—alchemy so extreme it touched upon the concept of “Creation”.

The creations turned against the Regressor, attacking her.

She nearly died at that time.

After that, the guardians drove her out before she could try anything else, but the experience was valuable.

It was crucial information for a regressor who could come back after death.

“The Golden Lord is mad.”

Ah, so if I say the wrong thing, he might erase me from existence?

Got it.

I stood up again.

“I’m going back.”

“Wait! I don’t mean he’s a crazy tyrant. He’s just obsessed with creating things right now. That’s why he’s filling the Fallen Dominion with junk!”

“Why would you hand a ceasefire agreement to a lunatic? That’s unrealistic.”

“I’m telling you it’s not like that! We didn’t bring the ceasefire agreement for the Golden Lord. As long as we can convince the guardians of the Golden Palace, we can stop the war! The Golden Lord doesn’t care what happens to the country and the guardians are the ones really running the show!”

Now I get it.

The Golden Lord is powerful, but he’s just a wandering, senile old man.

The guardians are the ones in charge?

You should’ve told me that from the start.

The Regressor is hard to read. I can’t see information from her past timelines, so I have to make her recall it in real time, which is exhausting.

“Why didn’t you say so earlier, Mr. Shei? If you’d explained it like that from the beginning, I wouldn’t have worried.”

“…It’s commonly known that the Golden Lord rules the Fallen Dominion and that the guardians are loyal to him. It didn’t seem necessary to explain the details.”

The Regressor stammered out an excuse, but I could read the hidden thoughts behind her words.

｢This is the hidden truth of the Golden Palace. Unless you meet the Golden Lord personally, you can’t know this. If I explain too much, I’ll raise suspicion about being a regressor. Thankfully, it doesn’t seem like anyone’s caught on yet.｣

Hmm, are you sure?

Isn’t it getting dangerous by now?

Anyway, this works.

If the guardians are the real power and they’re at the Golden Palace, that’s where I need to go.

I won’t get many opportunities as a foreigner to walk up and read the Golden Lord’s thoughts.

I have to go.

I need to read the Golden Lord’s mind to learn how Elric, the King of the Golden Empire and the descendant of the Five Sovereigns, was defeated.

Or, to be more precise—

I must find out why the Five Sovereigns, who stole power from the King of Humans, were abandoned by humanity.

That way…

I can reclaim my rightful throne.