Chapter 326: How To Console Your Ex On The Way To Your Date!

When I awakened my past life’s memories in this life, I didn’t get a golden finger like you’d expect from most protagonists in similar stories as this one.

All I had was knowledge of the future.

And that was enough.

Even now, it was enough.

Because while my memories of the game’s plotline were still as vivid as ever, the recollection of my actual playthrough was getting hazy.

That meant the person absent among us was definitely one of the main characters. A

male

main character, to be exact.

The process of elimination from there was simple.

This was my trump card in all of this. Unlike everyone else in the group, I alone remembered things that hadn’t even happened yet.

That meant I could triangulate the absence.

By thinking about the arcs that were still supposed to occur, I could determine which role was missing to reach a satisfactory ending.

"Okay, let’s see," I muttered under my breath, feeling the cool air brush against my face as I walked around the camp we’d set up after deciding to take a rest day.

The next major arc was supposed to be the

Assassination of the Royal Twins

.

After that, the story would take a sharp political turn, which I had absolutely no interest in participating in, by the way, because I despise politics.

Anyway.

From there, multiple events would snowball into the opening conflict between the five Monarchs.

A conflict that would later be dubbed the

Total War

.

The

Corruption of the Northern Safe-Zone

and the

Awakening of the Queen of Black Rot

would soon follow.

And finally, the Spirit King himself would descend upon Earth.

I rubbed my chin as I thought about it all, and the longer I did, the more my hands began to tremble.

"...What the fuck?" I breathed.

The Spirit King...

Who the fuck was supposed to stop him?!

Me alone? Oh, fuck no!

How was I supposed to stop him? By dancing in front of him?!

In most iterations, the False God wasn’t outright defeated. He was sealed within the void.

...But by whom?

I narrowed my eyes, trying to remember.

There was supposed to be a great sacrifice. By... by someone...

Someone who had made countless mistakes in his life, yet spent an eternity repenting for them.

Someone who harbored vile evil within himself, but tried desperately to do good anyway.

I remembered hating that ending.

Because someone had to stay behind in the void.

And someone did. Someone so irritatingly altruistic that he annoyed the everliving hell out of me, even through my computer screen.

Because he had a choice!

He

could

have chosen a happy ending with the person he loved, but he didn’t. Because he was just that painfully selfless.

That righteous decision made me want to strangle him.

Because I

knew

it wasn’t what he truly wanted.

He wanted to stay with his wife. He wanted to damn the world. He wanted to say,

screw it all

.

But he didn’t.

Because that

"wouldn’t be right."

So he sacrificed himself, leaving his friends and beloved, eternally alone and forgotten, unable to die or even end his life.

What a load of bullshit.

He wasn’t a good guy!

He didn’t have to do that!

He was a... a Demon in the Saint’s Skin!

A—

...A Demon?

Wait.

A Demon!

"The protagonist!" I exclaimed all of a sudden.

Right!

The one who was missing was the protagonist of this damned world!

And he was contracted with a Demon Prince.

But which one?!

I closed my eyes to focus, only to stop when I felt a familiar headache creeping in.

Damn it.

The world didn’t want me to remember, it seemed.

...But that was fine.

A slow smile pulled up the corner of my lips.

Because if that was the case, then I knew exactly how to find him.

All I needed to do was speak the name of the Demon he was contracted with.

•••

On my way back to the shelter I’d crafted, I spotted Lily sitting on a flat rock nearby, her expression blank.

Her knees were drawn to her chest, arms loosely wrapped around them. The wind tugged at her hair, but she didn’t react.

For a moment, I hesitated. Should I go over there or leave her alone?

Then she sighed out a sigh so profoundly soulful that it made me sigh too, though mine was a lot more exasperated.

Resigned, I walked closer, my boots crunching softly against the gravel. She didn’t seem to notice me until I was right beside her.

"...You look like someone just told you the world’s ending," I said lightly.

And got no response.

So I sat down next to her, careful not to crowd her space, and followed her gaze.

She was staring over the cliff at nothing in particular. Just the treeline blocking the view of the shattered sky.

After a long pause, she finally spoke. "I’m sorry for making you all worry."

Something tightened in my chest, so I deflected with humor like I always did.

"Worry? Please," I said, waving it off. "The one I’m actually worried about is Vince. I swear to the gods, he’s starting to look more like a zombie than the actual zombies outside my father’s sanctuary."

I laughed.

...Lily didn’t.

Which prompted me to press on. "So... what’s really going on with you?"

She opened her mouth, closed it, then did that a few times like she was testing different answers internally, trying to find what she could say and not sound completely insane.

Eventually, she did manage to speak. "I... I feel like I had a huge fight with someone I cared very deeply about. The most important person in my life. But before we could patch things up... they vanished. Now I’ll never get to make up with them."

Her voice wavered as she continued. "It feels like I’ll never see them again, which doesn’t make any sense, because there’s no one like that in my life. Somehow, all that makes me think of my father, and then I just start crying more..."

Her words trailed off as tears again began welling up in her eyes before sliding down her cheeks in wet trails, catching the crimson light as they fell.

That was the exact moment I regretted sitting down.

Don’t judge me! I’m not good at consoling people!

She sniffled. "I don’t know. I think I’m losing it. Or maybe the prolonged hunger is triggering my depression."

"Aww," I gave her my most sympathetic look. "Girl, I don’t know how to tell you this, but no amount of hunger could cause—" I gestured vaguely at all of her. "—

this

much depression. The most logical explanation is that you

are

just losing it."

She slowly turned to me and gave me a long, deadpan look. "I see you’re as good as ever at comforting people, Lord Theosbane."

I threw my hands up. "I’m sorry! I’m sorry, okay? You know I’m bad at dealing with sad, crying girls."

She rolled her eyes, but there was the faintest hint of a smile as she looked ahead again. "Oh, how could I

not

know? Remember when my grandmother died and I came crying to you, you just said

’uh-huh’

twice and walked away."

"Oh, for the love of the Monarchs," I groaned. "Will you ever let me live that down?"

This time, she finally chuckled into her fist, her smile slowly blooming wider. Then she shrugged. "Don’t worry. You’re getting better. The way you comforted Alexia that day was... very touching."

My own smile dimmed slightly as I sighed at her words, "Yeah, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep the promise I made to her. I’m destined to die here, after all."

I wasn’t sure why I said that.

Maybe because, despite everything that was going on, the

supposed

inevitability of my death had been weighing on me.

Before I could dwell on it much longer—

Lily spoke up with the kind of stubborn resolve that I hadn’t heard from her in days. "You won’t."

I blinked in sudden surprise. "I... what?"

"You won’t die," she repeated matter-of-factly.

I stared at her profile, then let out a quiet scoff. "As sweet as that is, Lily, you heard Vaeghar. The prophecy’s already been made. My fate has collapsed—"

"Fuck the prophecy!" she snapped around to face me. Her haunting violet eyes were no longer dull or unfocused. They were clear and sharp, gleaming like cut gems. "I am Lily Elderwing. The first true seer of Luxara in generations. My kind has a long history of stating the will of heaven and defying it."

Before I could respond, her hand shot out and clamped onto my shoulder, forcing me to meet her gaze.

"So I don’t care how accurate that demon’s prophecy was," she spat fiercely. "I’m making one of my own right now. You will

not

die an untimely death. I will personally reject that fate. Just listen to me and don’t do stupid things when I tell you not to."

Her grip was way too strong for someone who looked so ready to break down mere moments ago. Yes, her fingers still trembled, but her eyes... her eyes were unyielding.

I stared at her, searching for a crack in that resolve, or some hint that this was just emotion talking.

I found none.

"...You know," I said calmly, "even

if

I survive, my fate will still be collapsed. Death will always be one step

ahead

of me. Do you plan to babysit me every waking moment of my entire life?"

"Sure," Lily replied without hesitation before finally letting go of my shoulder and looking back ahead, like the matter was settled.

I waited a few seconds to shake my head with another quiet scoff.

"You’re an idiot," I said as I stood up.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

Hmm.

Good question.

Where

was

I going indeed?

I had a long-awaited follow-up date with the demon of my dreams.

So I supposed I was going—

"...To sleep."