I Became the Mastermind Who Betrays the Heroines

[Translator - Peptobismol]

[Proofreader - Demon God]

Chapter 62 - How to Cross a Desert (9)

Most people don't fully understand.

War.

How much weight is carried in that brief word.

For most, it’s just another passing term, but for those directly involved, it means nothing less than the end of life as they know it.

An unerasable scar for the rest of their lives.

Was it a holy war fought to realise justice?

Or just a tool to serve the greed of adults?

It was a meaningless question.

By now, it was laughable to even consider the justification.

The only thing that mattered was that a war had taken place, and countless children had cried their hearts out.

The world was drenched in the light of despair.

<The war is over.>

<But calling it a victory feels hollow when so many have died…>

Even after the war ends, the war continues.

The dead may have been absolved of life’s burdens with the release of death, but the survivors are left to pay the price.

Oozing wounds pretend to heal with the mere declaration of peace.

But they rot away, ignored.

<Josh? There’s a letter for you.>

<I don’t know the exact contents. It just seems to be from your homeland you used to sing so fondly about.>

The boy was no exception.

One day, a letter arrived.

Cruel reality spares no one.

When he carefully unfolded the neatly folded paper, even the firmest hopes were shattered into pieces.

The letter was filled with unbelievable words.

[The village has been annihilated.]

A cold, simple sentence.

The boy’s hometown, which he had left behind with lingering attachment, had been reduced to nothing by an enemy nation's annihilation magic.

Pushed to the brink, they had resorted to forbidden magic.

The village had been transformed overnight into an uninhabitable wasteland.

Twisted mana birthed monsters that now roamed freely, while people died one by one, as if stricken by a plague.

A ruined city.

This was the true identity of the desert we had been wandering through for days.

The old man smiled bitterly as he spoke.

“I never meant to deceive you.”

The wrinkles on his aged face were etched with time.

After quietly touching the gravestone for a moment, the old man looked at us, standing there in stunned silence.

“From the very beginning, this journey was for me to meet Rosalyn.”

“…”

“…”

We couldn’t bring ourselves to say anything.

[Here Rests, Rosalyn Meriar.]

The single gravestone standing before us.

The long-awaited reunion of the two people had ended in the sorrow they had least wanted to face.

The old man calmly continued his explanation.

“Isn’t it strange? That there’s only one lonely gravestone standing on this remote hill.”

His cloudy eyes drifted into memory for a brief moment.

It was a memory from childhood.

<If we ever get separated, let’s meet again at the brightest star in the night sky!>

<Are you talking about that blue star over there?>

<What do you think? It’s easy to see, right?>

<But how will we get to the stars…?>

<I don’t know either! But when we grow up, we’ll probably figure out how to reach the stars, don’t you think?>

<That actually sounds kinda convincing.>

<Then, it’s a promise, okay?>

<Yeah...!>

It was the promise they made on this very hill.

Together, lying side by side among the bushes, they had counted the brilliant stars as if they were about to spill from the sky.

It was a moment the boy never forgot for the rest of his life.

And.

“She made them promise… to bury her on this hill when she died.”

The girl hadn’t forgotten either.

Even at the end of her life, she had spent her days reflecting on the 15 years she shared with the boy.

Neither of them ever forgot the other, not even once.

“She was such a fool.”

She should have forgotten such a silly promise.

She should have left that miserable village behind, married a handsome man, and lived happily ever after, blessed with joy.

How could she have reached that age without ever meeting another man?

If only they had known.

“If I’d known it would turn out like this, I would’ve at least smiled when we parted.”

The final memory.

It was of them turning their backs on each other in anger.

It had been such a trivial argument. Why had they wasted their last moments together in a petty fight?

The old man gently stroked the gravestone.

“No one lives a life without regrets.”

In the end, life could be summed up in a single sentence.

After quietly reflecting for a while, the old man regained his composure and turned to look at us.

“Please don’t think too badly of me.”

“Sir.”

“I truly meant it when I said I’d guide you to the nearest city. If you keep walking in this direction for a few more hours, you’ll reach a new village.”

“Aren’t you coming with us?”

“I have somewhere else to go.”

“And where might that be...?”

“I have to keep a promise.”

He smiled, offering no further explanation.

As we stood there in silence, the old man suddenly coughed violently.

Bright red blood splattered onto the ground.

“Cough, cough…!”

It was something we had seen several times already, but this time, his condition seemed far worse.

His legs trembled as if dizzy, and he soon collapsed, leaning back against the gravestone.

It was a pitiful, crumbling sight.

“S-Sir!”

We reached out to help, but the old man firmly refused our assistance.

He simply continued to cough and mutter.

“Cough! I’m… fine.”

“You’re clearly at your limit. Wh-What should we do? If we can at least get you to the village, maybe you can be treated...!”

“I was already… cough… given a terminal diagnosis… At most, I had a month.”

There wasn’t a hint of disturbance in his voice.

He spoke calmly and quietly.

It was the end he had long prepared for, again and again.

Finally understanding the meaning of his words, Regia’s eyes welled up with tears as she stood frozen.

The old man smiled.

“Why do you all look so sad?”

“…”

“S-Sir…”

“Cough… It would be nice if you could smile for me.”

His transparent eyes remained unchanged.

Carried on the soft dawn breeze, his voice reached us quietly.

“It may seem like I’m dying, but that’s not really the case.”

“…”

“As you know, stars are very far away, aren’t they? This body can’t take me there. It’s too heavy.”

The star where they had promised to meet.

The old man—or rather, the boy—was finally going to meet the girl he had loved so dearly.

“So, can’t you celebrate for me?”

It would be a beautiful scene.

When the old man looked at the stars, all the stars must have looked like wells with pulleys attached.

And each star would draw him water to drink.

This wasn’t death.

It was merely preparation for a long journey.

Now, the boy from 50 years ago would sprout new wings and set off toward the brightest star in the night sky.

Just imagining it felt like turning the page of a beautiful fairy tale.

“Thank you for accompanying me on this long journey.”

“The honour was ours.”

“S-Sir… sniff.”

We said our farewells.

As we listened to the old man’s continuing coughs, a soft light began to radiate from his body.

It was a mystical colour.

Fssss…

The sickly body slowly turned transparent and then started to dissolve into a soft, white light.

Like dust being swept away by the wind.

The old man’s form scattered into the remnants of the desert.

“Ah.”

A faint exclamation escaped.

The old man’s eyes, now cloudy, stared blankly at the sky.

As if he were watching the stars, just like he used to.

Whiiiii...

The deep black sky was dotted with glittering points of light.

The sea of stars peeled away the curtain of night.

A million stars, spread across the sky, erased the loneliness with a million lights.

Perhaps that was—

The axis of time that symbolised his life.

The old man reached out toward the sky.

His trembling hand pointed to the brightest star in the night sky.

He whispered faintly.

[IMG here]

"I’m coming to meet you, Rosalyn."

And with that, the old man gently closed his eyes.

His body, now fully broken down, floated freely, scattering into the air.

On its way to the star where the girl was waiting.

***

We stood in place for a while.

The old man had embarked on a long journey.

Regia was quietly weeping.

After all, they had shared a bond over the past ten days. It was enough to make the girl cry at the old man’s parting.

Even these fleeting moments would serve as nourishment for the protagonist’s growth.

“Sniff, hic…”

For some, it was the dawn of a long journey, but for others, it was the morning that marked the end of one.

We had finally escorted the old man safely to his destination.

The episode’s clear conditions had been fulfilled.

At the same time, a signal announcing the end of the episode filled my ears.

Creeeeeak—!

A sound like creaking hinges echoed out.

As I looked up at the sudden noise, I saw a small door open in the sky.

A door floating in the middle of an otherwise clear sky.

It was a strange yet mystical sight.

It was time to leave this world.

I took the hand of the sobbing girl and led the way cautiously.

Step, step.

A staircase unfolded as if made from the folds of the night sky.

As we steadily climbed the invisible steps, the door above welcomed us.

Beyond the door, a brilliant white light swirled.

“It’s finally over.”

Glancing back with some hesitation, we turned toward the light and stepped forward.

Our vision filled with dazzling brightness as everything faded to black.

[EP???. How to Cross a Desert]

- The Door in the Sky, The Boy Who Walks Among the Stars -

The episode had come to an end.

***

When I opened my eyes again, we were standing in an empty alleyway.

“Hm.”

“Wh-Where are we…?”

We looked around quietly.

It was a familiar sight.

We had returned to the Academy.

Though it had been ten days for us in the book, it didn’t seem much time had passed in reality.

At most, maybe two hours.

“…”

I scanned the area.

Before we left, we had been inside an old shop, but now the building had disappeared without a trace.

All that remained was an empty lot.

It was as if the shop had never existed in the first place.

It seemed to follow the pattern of the original story.

Once an episode ended, the shop would be erased from the field, leaving no trace behind.

All that remained for the player was the reward item.

And the strange book we had picked up at the start.

“M-my lord… what do you think happened?”

“Who knows.”

I picked up the book lying on the ground.

It was an old tome covered in worn leather.

The cover gleamed with gold letters that read “How to Cross a Desert.”

I gently flipped through the pages.

Shrrrrk—

At the very end, there was a single illustration.

A drawing of a boy and a girl.

Below it was a simple title.

[Josh and Rosalyn]

The two of them were embracing each other with radiant smiles, as if they had just reunited in a world as beautiful as the night sky.

A faint smile appeared on my face.

As I fiddled with the page, I turned to the girl beside me and gave her an answer.

My voice, soft and warm, coloured the dark backdrop.

“It was just the end of a fairy tale.”

I closed the book.

At some point, a new line of text had appeared on the cover, replacing the original title.

It must have changed while I had looked away.

I whispered the words to myself.

[Thank you.]

It was a message of gratitude from someone unknown.

We silently gazed at those letters for a while.

[Translator - Peptobismol]

[Proofreader - Demon God]