Chapter 33: Heavenly Saint, Vasily Valvaroi 4

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About five years passed after their exchanges began.

From Vasily’s perspective, it was a trivial span of time. So short that even the Dark Elves of the village paid it no particular mind. Yet for a human, it was long enough that even a change in one’s living environment would not be strange. Then, one day… As usual, Vasily went out at noon and found Johan lying completely motionless in his bedding of a handmade bed stitched together from animal hides and stuffed with something like cotton.

“…Overslept? That’s rare.”

She murmured and looked closer at Johan. His eyes were closed. There was no movement. Then, suddenly, an unfamiliar smell reached her nose.

The smell of death? What…?

“…Hey. Hey, Johan. Wake up.”

He didn’t wake when she called out. He didn’t wake when she shook him. Growing uneasy, Vasily touched Johan’s cheek. She felt no warmth at all. In winter, such coldness might not have been unthinkable, but it was summer. For this to happen was unnatural. And as she reached that thought, she realized it.

Pale skin. A body that would not move. No rise or fall of breath, just like a corpse.

“…Hey. Johan. You…”

There was no reply. He was like “just a corpse.” She remembered a phrase Johan had once used.

“…So you’re dead. Even though… It was still supposed to start from here…”

Ironically, this might have been the moment when Vasily truly believed Johan completely. Humans could not live eighty years. If they reached fifty, it was considered a long life. In fact, most died before that. Even in Johan’s previous life, where he reached out toward the pitch-black night sky filled with glittering stars, death by illness or injury had been unavoidable.

In a world where even daily meals were a struggle and one couldn’t afford to care for one’s health, reaching fifty counted as longevity. Johan had been taken care of, too. But he was, in the end, just a human. Fortune generous enough to make everything work never favored him.

“…Rest well. We’ll meet again in three thousand years.”

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Johan hadn’t left behind much, but understanding what he did leave took a great deal of time. In addition to what he had prioritized teaching her, there were several things he had told her to read after his death. His homemade journal, made after he insisted on producing paper from tree bark, was packed with the knowledge he had written down over the past five years.

First was information about this world. The claim that it was based on a ridiculous story called “Ryona Ero! ~A World Where Strong Women Are Violated and NTR’d~” was, at this point, impossible not to believe. She didn’t have to believe it but either way, it was a story from three thousand years in the future.

Rather than acting immediately, what mattered was preparing to act toward that distant future. On top of that, human society was ugly. If an attractive elven race member were to slip in, malice would likely be directed at them immediately. Vasily’s sense of danger was dulled because Johan himself had almost never looked at her that way but that, too, was unavoidable.

“My cause of death is ‘being completely defeated by an ability countering from a Demon Lord’s Army executive, unable to move a hand or foot.’ But… my future abilities aren’t clearly defined…”

There were also notes about “flags,” “CG-target characters,” “appearing characters,” and the magic and techniques that appeared. She judged that those could wait and focused only on her own page.

“‘From a game perspective, I used both bow and magic at a high level.’ That’s not much different from now, but maybe I should master other things too.”

As far as Johan knew, weapons and technical systems were also recorded in the journal. She could handle bow and magic reasonably well already, but she was still far from fully competent. As for martial combat—swords, spears, axes, bows—only swords and axes were commonly used in the village. The rest were unfamiliar to her. Fortunately, the journal included illustrations( poorly drawn, admittedly) so she decided to use them as references and moved on.

Next was human society. Eventually, humanity would create ships capable of crossing seas and spread across the world. At that time, conflict and oppression would likely arise. Before that happened, she was to intervene and create a situation where she could control human society itself.

“…You’re asking the impossible. The impossible.”

She couldn’t help but smile bitterly. But Johan had written it in complete seriousness, as a realistic proposal. Thus followed his own thoughts on how to do it, and how to proceed.

“…‘Before nations form, create an organization that does not rely on nations. Gather drifters like me together, and build an organization capable of influencing the entire world.’”

Johan and Vasily were entirely different beings. Johan had been born with knowledge but without fortune. Despite living in an environment where even trial and error was difficult, he didn’t rot. He chose what he believed was best, met someone to whom he entrusted everything, and died.

Vasily had been born fortunate, but without knowledge. Yet by meeting Johan and being given knowledge, she gained the chance to spend immense time experimenting and refining. To overturn a fate that would kill her in the distant future, she would fight alone across a long span of time.

“…‘You shouldn’t just watch out for the original story. Be wary of other Reincarnators as well.’”

If Johan had been born in a later era, or into higher status, the world might have changed. That was how much forbidden 〈Knowledge〉 filled his journal. And if someone lived in the same world as Johan’s past life, they would likely recognize much of its content.

“‘Especially don’t get close to those who use incomprehensible, other-dimensional powers. Avoid cheat original protagonists at all costs.’ …I have no idea what this means, but will I understand if I keep learning?”

Johan’s journal often contained things that “made no sense now, but would later.” Deciphering them would be part of her work, she thought with a wry smile. Countless other notes detailed magic and technologies to develop, things Johan himself didn’t fully understand but said would be useful. What was poured into those pages wasn’t mere consideration for her.

It was regret. Pure regret. Remorse. Shame. A past life spent going nowhere, earning daily wages, spending what little time remained on food and minor entertainment. Living in modern society, the pinnacle built on blood and corpses of predecessors, while lamenting that life was unfair.

Whether by miracle or magic, he reincarnated into another world, yet could not make use of a single piece of his knowledge. A world where violence was valued more than the wisdom that enriched life. Johan hated that world with all his being.

In a society that prioritized crushing others, the reason he still carried even a shred of hope was likely because he didn’t want to hate humanity. In the end, he never directly voiced those feelings. He told Vasily again and again of the world’s ugliness but when she said she would seek out just as many beautiful things, what had he been thinking then? At the very end of the journal, there was only one line.

『I’m waiting for the day you laugh at me.』

From then on, Vasily’s days became overwhelmingly busy. Elves, who lived spans approaching eternity, generally lived at a slow pace. It wasn’t that they never hurried. Rather, urgency itself barely existed. Thus, when Vasily stopped hiding how frantic her days had become, the villagers eyed her suspiciously at first. Soon, they decided she was just at that age and watched her indulgently. She began speaking words no one in the village understood.

Economics. Currency.

On a trial basis, they began abandoning barter in favor of a monetary economy. Naturally, the ore was something she dug from the mountains herself and recklessly melted down. Hunting alone made food unstable, so she obtained seeds from merchants and hunters, began planting them, discovered edible vegetables, and repeatedly refined the strains. Staple grains took decades to gather. She cultivated the one closest to what Johan called wheat, ate it, tested it.

Of course, she never neglected training. Bow and sword went without saying, but she also studied metalworking. Since the journal said new metals could be created by mixing multiple ores, she couldn’t ignore it. And above all, what she considered most important was magic.

Johan had insisted that magic should be mastered above all else. Because it offered the greatest freedom. Being able to convert the body alone into water, fire, wind, and countless other energies was simply too useful. Once she began experimenting, its versatility astonished her.

Attack magic was successfully developed using Johan’s journal. Understanding concepts like temperature and water pressure, she became the strongest mage possible, excluding magic that outright ignored physical law. Still unsatisfied, she continued to build upon her power, determined to catch up to Johan’s past life, who had once reached even toward the moon floating in the night sky.

──Five hundred years after the death of the Reincarnator Johan.

That was the preparation period Vasily set for herself. Having understood eighty percent of the 〈Knowledge〉 Johan had given her, she became a living anachronism in this world. Her long life prevented economic conflict, but she grasped the fundamental concepts. By the time currency had spread among demi-humans across the continent, and no one found it strange that she remained unmarried…

She left the village.

Packing what mattered into spatial magic she had taken nearly fifty years to perfect—the “four-dimensional pocket” Johan had wanted, she traveled the entire continent. She walked across the ocean using magic and searched for other continents. After crossing many islands, she found a continent where humans similar to Johan lived, and nations were only just beginning to form.

She founded an Adventurers’ Guild, a place where people could gather regardless of power or status. Following Johan’s parting words that “an otherworld means an adventurers’ guild,” the organization spread rapidly. Though it faced conflict and oppression, she protected it, distributing grains and vegetables brought from her village through the guild and expanding its influence.

She worked tirelessly behind great turmoil to minimize damage. She built ships, took trusted people, and crossed continents. She established footholds early. One by one, carefully, she crushed futures that would lead toward the 〈Knowledge〉 she’d been shown.

What was right? What was wrong? With no one to consult, Vasily pushed forward recklessly. Was what she was doing correct? Was this truly right? Was there a better way?

Because no detailed history was recorded, she had to think through everything herself. Even so, troubled as she was, she continued forward. Humanity advanced across the continents once ruled by demi-humans.

East, west, north, south. Countless nations arose and vanished across lands of distinct climates and terrain. Vasily’s homeland, too, was destroyed before she realized it. Powerful monsters began to appear in great numbers, making habitation impossible. Because she had warned them in advance, total annihilation was avoided but many lives were still lost.

The deadline crept closer. She hadn’t been able to completely prevent the events written in 〈Knowledge〉. Even if persecution of elves and dwarves was suppressed, a period of discriminatory thinking still emerged. If even elves had it, humans believing “humans alone are supreme” was hardly surprising.

This world was built on a story. Johan’s words grew ever more real. The fact that his journal continued to exert influence only reinforced that. The prophecy she’d heard from Astrogonoff, who had already appeared, also aligned with 〈Knowledge〉.

『You will die.』

『You exist to plunge the protagonist and observer into despair.』

『You will die after despair, humiliation, and catastrophe.』

The words of the Prophet never failed. Thus, she half gave up. If she had done this much and still failed, then perhaps that was fate.

This may no longer be stoppable…

With a hundred years remaining, Vasily began to think more deeply about “original story knowledge.” The arrival of the Demon Lord’s Army couldn’t be predicted. It couldn’t be stopped for certain. Then wouldn’t it be enough to secure a method to kill them for certain?

In the nature of the story, the protagonist grows from beginning to end, and the equipment and magic obtained in the latter half are accordingly powerful. If she taught those from the start, wouldn’t even the one meant to kill her be defeated?

The Hero awakens through a sword called the Holy Sword. She could even gather companions ahead of time. That was why she existed. She had built so much into the world already. Using Johan’s journal, she searched tirelessly for the Holy Sword. When she finally found it with twenty years remaining, she couldn’t help but cry from overwhelming emotion.

All that remains is to find the girl living in a western village… Arianrod.

Her only known traits were blonde hair. But a name and hair color were enough. She searched desperately through western villages. Impatience and despair slowly burned at her heart. She began to fear the shortness of each day, something she had never worried about before.

Twenty years.

Nineteen.

Eighteen.

Seventeen. Sixteen years, ten months. Sixteen years, five months…

How many years remained? How many days? How much longer could she continue like this? If nothing worked out, what then? Would she die? Toyed with, violated to the utmost, and die?

She had seen it countless times along her journey. She had saved many from such fates. Because they were within her reach. Because if she could help, she wanted to. Now she understood why Johan had despaired of the world. And yet, Vasily knew. Even in a world full of despair and malice, there were still bright, dazzling places.

That’s why… I can’t break yet…

The future wasn’t over. Her fate wasn’t decided yet. Until she met that person, it would never be decided.

Telling herself that, she rallied her breaking heart and kept searching.

────Approximately two thousand nine hundred and ninety years after the death of the Reincarnator Johan.

Vasily met Arianrod Mona, the protagonist of the original story.

She met her. The one who would finalize her death… The original story’s protagonist.

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