The Protagonist's Party is Too Diligent

Nothing is truly over.

The Emperor had devised two plans, and both were endgames with no turning back.

The world war was an obvious one. No matter how powerful the Empire was, waging war against the entire world would inevitably lead to defeat. Even if he miraculously succeeded in uniting the world, it would be an unsustainable victory. That was why the most crucial element of this plan was the goddess’s power.

And if he failed to seize that power, even if the war ended in victory, the Empire would not be able to maintain its control for long.

The second plan, the one he devised after recognizing my existence, was the same.

It wasn’t as overtly destructive as setting the world on fire, but it disregarded international relations entirely. Marching through Belvur and striking at the heart of the Holy Nation—an act that would mock the very faith that governed it—was an act of terror.

A terrorist act committed by none other than the highest authority of the Empire.

In this scenario, as well, the final outcome hinged on whether he could steal the goddess’s power. If he succeeded, no amount of diplomatic fallout would matter. With the goddess’s power in his grasp, he could simply erase any opposition.

“...So what?”

Charlotte tilted her head, as if something didn’t quite add up.

“The goddess intended to destroy that plan from the start, didn’t she? And she manipulated the Emperor’s mindset to expand her influence over the world.”

While Belvur’s army had already crossed the Holy Nation’s borders, quickly seizing key locations, Iberia had ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) also mobilized its forces along the border. However, out of fear of a direct military confrontation with Belvur, they had yet to make any real moves. Compared to Belvur, which bordered the Empire, Iberia was a less modernized kingdom. On top of that, they were dealing with internal issues related to minority groups, making military action a complicated matter.

Still, as a country heavily influenced by the Holy Nation, Iberia had issued a formal protest against Belvur’s invasion. But judging by Charlotte’s lack of reaction upon hearing the news, it was likely nothing more than a symbolic gesture.

We were still inside the cathedral at the heart of the Holy Nation. Four hours had passed since the battle ended. The Empire’s knights, who had lost their will to fight, had all been restrained. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

The Emperor and his children were also under guard. Not a single one of them had been killed.

...It was a very JRPG-like ending. Neither the main characters nor the major antagonists had died—only nameless soldiers and minor figures had fallen.

Or maybe, rather than a JRPG ending, this was just another example of how Azerna Chronicles played out.

“Sylvia?”

Charlotte called out, snapping me out of my thoughts.

Ah. Right. We were talking about the goddess.

“Yes.”

I answered simply.

“...”

“...”

A brief silence.

“...Wait, that’s it?”

Charlotte frowned, baffled.

I tilted my head. “What do you mean?”

“No, like... You know. You fought over the fate of the world. Shouldn’t there be some kind of greater motive behind all this? A grand scheme? A deeper reason for all those intricate plans?”

“I don’t think there was anything more to it than that.”

I genuinely didn’t understand what she was asking.

“The goddess and the Emperor were competing over the fate of the world itself. The goddess wanted to shape the world into something she found beautiful, and to do that, she needed to remove the device that Fangryphon had created in the past. To eliminate it, she had to plan from that very era—hence, she laid out her strategy centuries in advance. The result of that plan was the Holy Nation’s religious order. Since the device was never completed, there was a window of opportunity for her to interfere in the world.”

And the goddess did interfere through that gap.

Even before the Holy Nation was established, she sent revelations to her most devout followers, creating a false reality to deceive me. She constructed a world that resembled the original story, ensuring that the paths leading to a happy ending were already laid out—just as I had always believed.

And I had walked straight into that deception.

If I had been even slightly more self-righteous, or if I had been the kind of person to accept an orderly world dictated by the goddess, I might have followed her lead.

But I wanted a happy ending that included me in it. And that was what shattered the goddess’s plans.

So how was she able to devise such an elaborate scheme in the first place?

Even if this world functioned under rules similar to the original game, it wasn’t actually a game. There were no system notifications, no status screens, no stats. That was precisely why the goddess had tried to replicate so many aspects of the original game.

It wasn’t unusual for the cities and villages to match their in-game counterparts—Millennium Corporation had gone to great lengths to design them with meticulous detail. But dungeons? Dungeons were different. The odd, unidentified rooms, the mysteriously placed treasure chests containing exactly what was needed at the right time...

The goddess was still a goddess. This world wasn’t the only one she could see.

I wasn’t an expert on quantum mechanics or parallel universes, but I had heard somewhere that if a world could be imagined, then it might exist in some alternate dimension.

She must have searched through countless worlds, found the right variables, prepared the necessary deceptions, and finally selected the right pawn.

That pawn had been me.

...Or maybe, everyone involved in this had been her pawns. After all, my mere existence had disrupted the Emperor’s plans from the start.

Ultimately, the goddess was a divine entity. The fragment of her thoughts that I had glimpsed wasn’t enough to fully grasp her. For all I knew, she could already be scheming from beyond this world, preparing a new plan.

Well, by the time that happens, I’ll probably be long dead. And frankly, I don’t care what happens after that. It’s not my concern, just like it isn’t my concern if some random person on the other side of the world starves to death.

The only people I want to save are the ones I know—and even among them, I divide between those close to me and those who are just acquaintances.

“She used that gap to manipulate her followers and set the stage to reclaim her power,” I concluded.

“So that means the Holy Nation’s knights have been working behind the scenes all over the world?” Charlotte asked.

I nodded.

Or, it could mean that there were many in the Empire who had received divine revelations. That was something we’d need to investigate. The device had driven back the goddess’s power, but that didn’t mean we could be complacent. We still needed to confirm whether any gaps remained.

I glanced toward Sophia.

If there was anyone most visibly wounded from this battle, it was her.

Betrayal. Rage. The feelings of being deceived by someone she had trusted had driven her to charge at Damien without hesitation.

She had been healed significantly by Mia, but...

If I searched the cathedral, there might be divine artifacts capable of healing injuries—ah. Wait. The goddess had been banished. Those artifacts had likely lost their function.

And so had divine magic.

Sophia’s gaze dropped when our eyes met.

I had no idea what was running through her mind right now. She had come this far to oppose the Emperor.

But in the end, I, the goddess’s chosen pawn, had betrayed the goddess and driven her out of this world.

In some ways, that made me an even greater enemy than Damien.

...That conversation could wait.

“I’m not finished with my questions,” Charlotte suddenly said.

I had been lost in thought, but she pulled me right back.

“If you were really the goddess’s pawn, then why did she choose you?”

“....”

Uh.

Because even at the age of thirty, I was still a hopeless nerd, emotionally invested in JRPGs filled with cute girls?

...Maybe it was because I was the kind of fool who empathized with fictional characters and wanted to save them all.

And there were plenty of people like me—hopeless nerds who got too immersed in their favorite stories. The goddess probably just picked one at random.

The problem was, the one she picked happened to be a chaotic shit-stirrer who didn’t care about being “chosen by the goddess.”

“Let me rephrase the question.”

Seeing that I wasn’t answering, Charlotte leaned in.

“Why did you betray the goddess in that moment?”

Because I wanted you all to be happy.

Not a false happiness crafted by the goddess, but a real, earned happy ending.

And maybe, just maybe, I wanted to be part of it, too.

But obviously, there was no way in hell I was going to say that out loud—

“Answer me, Grace’s Black-and-White Lily.”

...Huh?

Wait, what?