I Reincarnated as the Villain in an Eroge, But Before I Realized, I Became a Capture Target
Translator: Reo
Editor: PalenMisha
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Luca POV 12 (Part 2)
The turning point came when I was twelve.
That day, I was at the library, about to borrow a book, when I ran into the minister of finance and the minister of administration. As it was past working hours, they must have just come to the library to read for fun.
As all the great ministers treated me like family, they of course called out to me when we ran into each other.
“Hey, Your Highness. Are you going to read a bit before dinner? How admirable.” (Finance)
“Good evening, Your Highness. That book in your hand… a volume about space, I see. Quite a complicated subject you are looking into. Are you interested in space?” (Administration)
He opened the conversation and even pulled out a chair for me, so I sat down without protest.
They were both authority figures and were very punctual, so they’d probably let me go when it was time for dinner.
I placed the book on the table with the title facing up so that the ministers who had settled on each side of me could see it.
“Rather than space, I’m interested in space-time. Things like parallel universes and time leaps. Though, of course I understand that those aren’t real.”
The truth was that this was the world of a game and what I thought was a parallel world was actually the real world. Me being able to go back in time was possible because this world was a piece of fiction… I was a piece of fiction.
The time loop was caused by irrepressible forces and it was unclear when it would end. However, I might be able to break out of it at some point. And in that case, I wanted to go to the real world.
Because of that hope of mine, I kept desperately trying to learn more. Even though I knew it was pointless.
“Let me take a look.” The minister of finance picked up the book and quickly flipped through the pages. “Hmm, so they call it physics these days? Funny how times change.”
Though he was flipping through the pages at quite a fast pace, he seemed to have a proper grasp of the book’s content. He set the book down on the table and tapped the cover.
“A long time ago this ‘space theory’ was closer to a ‘World theory.’ For example, it was said that if it was the World, time leaps were possible. Though I guess someone who could actually experience them only came along once every hundred or so years.”
“A person… who could experience them? Please tell me more!” I bowed, begging for more.
As I did, the minister grinned. Perhaps he’d already planned on telling me everything from the start.
“Sure. Let’s see, should I start by explaining the concepts of Akasha and the Akashic records? Those are crucial to understanding the World theory.”
Akasha was the so-called “Library of the Universe.” It was where the history of the universe and all those that existed inside of it were recorded. It was a library on the same scale as the universe.
If Akasha was the library, then the Akashic records would be the books that lined the library. A single volume contained everything about a person’s past, present, and future. Of course, there were times when a person’s life was recorded in more than one volume or on a stone tablet. It was also highly likely to be recorded on different objects, like the asteroids that drifted in space.
And it seemed that only the World knew where the Akashic records of the people who lived in this world were. Also, even if one wanted to read their own Akashic records, they were scattered across time and space – places one could never reach. They were things that only the World’s eye could reach, which was why the Akashic records were also called the World records.
“Well, in other words, it’s a theory that claims that every person’s past and future are predetermined from the start.” (Finance)
“It would be great if you dropped dead soon.” The minister of administration muttered under his breath.
At some point, he’d picked up and started reading the book.
“Hahaha. How ‘bout you die, you bastard?” The minister of finance quickly shot back.
I knew the two got along well, but I wished they wouldn’t bicker with me in between them. They glared at each other for a bit, but then it was over.
“Still, herein lies the problem,” the minister of finance continued. “According to the Akashic records, there is fundamentally only one available route per person. But in rare cases, there are people with multiple routes. For those people, the World was able to interfere with their predetermined fate. By the way, we call a person like that a ‘singularity.’”
The World could interfere with the life of a singularity and take them back to the junction where their routes began to diverge… in other words, they went back in time. And, when a singularity went back, minor changes were made to their record as they continued living their lives. This was because they still remembered the route they took before and it was impossible to go down the same exact route again. However, drastically changing the course of a route was hard due to the Akashic records being anchored in place by the singularity’s personality and standing, as well as the presence of those around them. If the singularity’s environment did not change, it would be difficult for them to change. Though, after the second, third, fourth, etc. loops, the record would be altered.
“Simply put, the World is rewriting the Akashic records by allowing the singularity to jump through time.”
“Rewriting the records…”
Was that the real reason for this never-ending loop? It wasn’t because this world was just a game?
“Why… would the World do that?”
“Well, that’s probably because the coming future isn’t ideal for the World. Like maybe the World collapses? If there were something the World wanted, it would probably be that, no?”
For such a stupid reason… no, but I didn’t actually know what would happen after I cleared the game. Even if you told me that the world would collapse after the ending, I wouldn’t be able to refute it.
Could the world really be ending? Was that why I…?
“Anyway, as the singularity repeats time, their Akashic records, and of course the records of those around them, change little by little. If this continues, the World would be able to interfere with the lives of people other than the singularity, allowing for more drastic changes to be made. Something that would be hard for the singularity to do alone, would be possible by working together with others.”
In other words, the reason Zagan had repeated time was because I’d tried to save him, thus allowing the World to interfere with his fate?
In that case, the fact that the starting point of the game in this loop also changed drastically made sense. After all, I’d already gone through more than thirty loops. Because I, the singularity, wanted to save Zagan, and the only way to do that was to go back to the time before he became a killer—before he was abused. Which was why the World had turned back time to when Zagan was a baby.
What the World wished for was a significant change in the Akashic records. For the destruction of the world to be stopped.
Preventing the destruction of the world wasn’t something that I could do alone. It was too much of a burden for me, who had gone through more than thirty loops and made little change, to bear. But, if Zagan was with me, would it be possible?
“If there was a singularity who repeated time again and again, then the moment when the loop ends…”
“Of course, that would be when the Akashic records are rewritten according to the World’s wishes. The moment when the future had changed to what the World wanted.”
“……..”
Was it ok for me to believe? That if I could change the future, this never-ending loop would end?
Was it ok for me to believe that this world wasn’t fiction but reality after all?
I wanted to believe… truly I did. But I was scared.
If I grabbed onto this small hope and it shattered, I would never be able to get back up again.
I’d resigned myself to the fact that I couldn’t escape, but, somewhere deep inside, I couldn’t fully abandon hope. Which was why every time I went back to the start, it stung. For over thirty years…
How horrified, how devastated I had been when I realised that I was living inside a story, and now they told me that my assumption that this world was just a game was wrong? Wasn’t that a bit too convenient?
But could it be? Was the world with the tsuki, the information about the game… were those my Akashic records?
No. I shouldn’t fall for it that easily. I needed to always be aware that my hopes could very well be crushed, and protect my heart.
The minister’s words were definitely convincing, but maybe that too was just part of the game. After all…
“It’s a fun theory, but… in the end it’s not like we’ll actually ever see the Akashic records, right? Besides, only the World can turn back time and the key to that is the singularity who only appears once every hundred years. There’s no way to prove that this is actually true.” (Luca)
It was just a fanciful theory. I couldn’t help but be suspicious of it.
The minister of finance, however, burst into laughter.
“Of course it’s true. I heard about it directly from the godde— OW!!”
