Volume 3 - CH 4

Alright, then I have one thing to do.

I tried to pounce on the boy in front of me, but before I could move further I was pinned down from behind.

Too fast. Was he expecting me to make a move? And the force he used is stronger than I thought.

“Patrick, let me go! I won’t kill him!”

“You’re going to die, get out of here! I can’t hold her for long.”

“O-okay.”

After listening to Patrick’s warning, Remn finally moved. For some reason, he came closer… huh, he’s trying to escape using the shadows. Coincidentally, the shadows are both his escape route and the source of my attack.

“Shadow Lance.”

Numerous black lances burst from my shadow as Remn about to jump in. all those lances rush towards him. There’s no way he could avoid it.

An unexpected thing happened the moment I was sure of my victory.

Just as the lance’s tip touched Remn, the shadow lance disappeared. The dark magic dissipated, vanished, like it was absorbed by him.

“…Why?”

“Fufufu. There is no way you can hurt me, the God of Darkness, with dark magic when I am Darkness itself, right? Ah, stop being impatient.”

Remn gives a spare smile.

Dark magic doesn’t work against him? Would Black Hole at maximum power be ineffective? I’m not giving up just yet. If magic doesn’t work, then we do it the old-fashioned way….

“Run! Don’t think that nullifying her magic will stop her!”

“Onii-san?”

“Let me go! If magic doesn’t work, I’ll physically hit him!”

“Wow, that’s a lot of power.”

“Uaaaaaaa! Let me goooo!!”

I already proved that physical attacks are effective against Remn before Patrick’s arrival. Even God can be defeated with a punch.

If he comes near my shadow to escape, I will kick him. My legs were flapping while I was being restrained from behind.

With no way to escape, Remn’s expression became tense. I didn’t wanna hear him begging for his life.

“H-hey, Onee-san. How do you like being hugged by dear Onii-san?”

“All of a sudden… get the hell out of here!”

Patrick yelled at him to run when he heard Remn’s taunting voice.

His frustrated voice can be heard close to my ear. Ah, his soft voice is nice but this kind of voice isn’t bad either. His voice might sound angry but was actually gentle because he was worried about Remn’s safety.

Also, the volume of his voice was much louder in my ear. It’s like the loudest noise possible at a movie theater.

On second thought, I’m being held from behind. Our bodies are pressed closer together than ever before.

Such a bold thing to do… in front of a small child watching. He hugged me so tightly that it hurt, not really. But let’s just say it is. It hurts.

“Patrick, don’t hug me too tightly, it hurts.”

“Ha?”

“It’s still early, um, but if you insist—”

“Huh?”

“But Remn is watching… it’s embarrassing, I prefer if we do these things alone.”

I relaxed and leaned back into Patrick and he slowly pulled his hand away from me. Huh? We could have stayed together forever.

When I looked back at Patrick, he sighed with a very tired face. Remn sighed at the same time, overlapping the sounds. Stop making that noise.

“Phew, I really thought I was going to die.”

“Sorry. However, I don’t think she would stop at that.”

“Hmm, Onee-san likes to use—”

“Aaah! Is it true that if I defeat Remn-sama I will level up?”

He was about to reveal something that happened in my dream, so I drowned out his voice by speaking loudly. If I bring up that topic, the conversation will go off on a tangent.

While I was bracing myself for another outburst, with a huge vicious smile Remn said.

“I lied.”

“…Eh?”

“Do you wanna test it out? That said, defeating me won’t remove the level cap. If people are the branch’s dwellers then I’m the administrator. Each parallel world has one and they aren’t much different from humans.”

“Does this mean you have the level cap too?”

“Yup, I’m just a weak boy in this single world.”

What, I’m gonna lose my temper. Don’t you just get tired of wasting your time, Patrick?

Being the biggest victim, he said in a voice that exuded suffering.

“You can’t joke about level and strength with Yumiela. Please refrain from doing it.”

“Sorry, Onii-san. I don’t think it would blow up this far out of proportion.”

The two of them looked at me in unison. I was wondering earlier if I’m being seen as someone who only thinks about leveling up? I’m not that kind of person.

No, it’s not the time to think about something like this. Let’s get back to the topic.

“So, I have to defeat a god that’s higher ranking than you? Well, I’m just going to defeat them.”

“…You haven’t given up yet. Right… There are indeed gods of a higher rank than me, gods who have influence over all of the many parallel worlds. I guess you could call them the tree’s administrator. But those guys rarely make an appearance.”

“Those guys? They’re like your bosses, right?”

“I might not be an exemplary god but don’t lump me in with them. Onee-san, if they say anything to you, don’t believe them, okay?”

“It’s okay. I’m already listening to what you have said with a grain of salt.”

“…It’s better to be safe than sorry. But you don’t have to say that in his face, it will hurt him.”

Is it not realistic to unlock the level cap? The likelihood of me meeting a god higher than Remn seems extremely low.

Wait, did I hear it wrong or he said there are more than one gods?

“Other than that, what could I do to unlock my level cap?”

“Wow, you’re really hung up on this.”

“What is it?”

“All right, I’ll tell you.”

I felt like we had this similar exchange many times. And every time, this boy gets really difficult.

He prefaced that before answering my question.

“Basically, you just need to get rid of yourself from other worlds and be the only one.”

“So, I have to defeat myself from another parallel world?”

“Exactly. You don’t have to defeat every single one of them. If you can defeat even one of them and become someone that belongs in two worlds, the level cap will be removed.”

It’s going to be a battle royale where me from parallel worlds have gathered. The last one standing will reign as the strongest. This is starting to sound like a curse.

That’s not really realistic. Killing your parallel self even if it’s for the sake of leveling up is kinda…

“That sounds crazy. You can’t justify killing someone for leveling up.”

“…What? Didn’t you just try to kill me earlier?”

“Remn, you aren’t human.”

What is he talking about? Humans and gods are two different things.

For some reason, he looks bewildered after hearing what I said. He looked over to Patrick as if asking for help.

“No, I don’t understand it either. And here I thought I understood her moral value….”

“Are you going to marry this kind of person? You may want to reconsider.”

“That’s… I’ve already decided to spend the rest of my life with her. There’s no other choice. I have resigned myself to it.”

Oh, I could hear him clearly. I’m also ready to spend the rest of my life with him. Patrick’s love is strong. I’m in so much trouble.

Patrick has grown to love me more than he can accept because of me. I should be the one taking responsibility. Haa, I’m in trouble.

…This is bad. I was about to lose my mind. The problem would have to be dealt with later, but for now, the first priority was to get more information from Remn.

“Hear me out. Hypothetically. Hypothetically, how do I get into the parallel world?”

“You haven’t given up yet….”

Both Patrick and Remn look dumbfounded. That’s why I said ‘hypothetically’ as a preface….

If there’s a door to the parallel world, I’d like to have the opportunity to visit. And I could meet myself from the parallel world… and we could figure out what to do next. After discussing with the other me, I can make a choice with no regrets.

But, is the other me in the parallel world the same as me?

Is she also someone who has memories of her previous life or is it the Yumiela from the game? That will change the story quite a bit.

These assumptions are just meaningless armchair theories unless I can visit the parallel world. Judging from what I’ve seen so far, it looks like it isn’t possible for Remn to open a dimensional door or something.

“It’s impossible for me to travel to a parallel world.”

“Haa… I knew that.”

“Although I can communicate with another me in a parallel world to some extent, I don’t think I can physically travel between worlds.”

The answer was as expected. Aaah, it won’t work after all.

It seems unlikely that I will ever meet a higher being. I can’t even meet myself from a parallel world. My bright future looked bleak.

“Other than those two, is there any other way to unlock the level cap?”

“You’re really bad at letting things go.”

“Is there any?”

“If there is, I‘m not aware of them..”

After letting all my expectations get the better of me, God sent me into the depths of despair.