"I did it partly because the Commandment of the Seven Heavenly Virtues and Seven Deadly Sins doesn't apply to you..."
Oh, that's right. I was an exception to those rules. He once told me it isn't necessary to restrain himself from his desires when he's around me.
â¬The Scale that Judges Souls says that imbibing is only one of the new liberties he can enjoy and encourages him to explore more things.â
â¬The Eye Overseeing All Chaos bites on their lace handkerchief.â
Our gazes met as he trailed off, and I immediately felt my face grow hot for some reason. Why did I feel so embarrassed all of a sudden?
"Ahem."
"Um."
Unable to continue the conversation, we both coughed and brought the glasses back to our lips, even though we had already drained them some time ago. I was grateful for the raindrops that filled the awkward silence between us. That's when I realized that I haven't felt this relaxed for some time due to dealing with crisis after crisis.
My embarrassment was proof that I now had time to think about other things, perhaps because Tesilid's conversion had relieved me of my greatest concern. My heart was calm and peaceful.
"Things are good," I muttered to myself. Tesilid stared at me, his eyes seeking clarification, so I explained, "I was referring to you and this world."
"I see."
He replied with a smile, but I noted a hint of sadness on his face. I knew my sentiments about this world disturbed him. To him, the world was merely a place where his countless enemies constantly surrounded and tormented him. I remembered the words he whispered while I had been lying unconscious.
"Don't leave me all alone in this world..."
Maybe he was only putting up with the world for my sake. But things were different now. He no longer had to fight the world by himself or hide his identity around me. I wanted Tesilid to know that, even if it meant disturbing the peace we were enjoying at the moment.
"Tez."
My voice sounded more serious than usual, and Tesilid certainly noticed it as well.
"Allie?"
He called out my name instead of asking me what was going on. He set the wine glass down and faced me, his gaze as straight and honest as his character.
Hoping that I appeared as trustworthy to him, I continued, "The world has a god now."
Completing the Seventh Calling of the Grand Priest of Voiceism quest restored the world. It now had a god to oversee it. The laws that had been distorted in the absence of a god were finally corrected to serve their rightful purpose. Now that the world had a god to do their job, the hero could focus on serving their role.
I spoke to him with conviction. "If you destroy the Chaos and Evil in this Loop and save the world... You won't have to return anymore," I explained. "You won't have to force yourself to return just to keep the world alive. This will be the last time you'll ever have to save it."
Tesilid was silent. I could clearly see he was more tense now, but I knew he would react like that. Referencing the fact that he was keeping the world alive through his returns should have been a serious breach of confidentiality. If, that is, the Tesilid beside me was indeed from Loop Seventeen.
"Allie?"
He called my name once again as if to say he had no idea what I was talking about. It was his best attempt at acting innocent, but I wasn't going to buy that anymore.
"I told you how I serve Lord Voice. In exchange, will you tell me more about you?" I asked. "Tell me what Loop you come from. I know you aren't the Tesilid of Loop Seventeen."
Although he still didn't respond, I got something of an honest answer out of him in the form of a long, deep sigh and the stiffening of his shoulders. Tesilid Argente was too naive to fool anyone, and he probably didn't even remember Loop Seventeen since he had lived far too many lives since then.
This wasn't the only time he let subtle hints slip, and I noticed them one too many times while I was with him. He was too pessimistic, too knowledgeable, and too powerful to be in Loop Seventeen. All evidence suggested he had lived much longer than that. Tesilid Argente, the man I love.
What Loop are you really from?
Neither of us said anything for some time. We watched each other in silence. He tried to figure out how much I knew, while I tried to see how much he would be willing to share.
"I..." he started.
But soon, he bit his lips. He seemed terrified, as if his words might bring the world crumbling down around us. I never realized my question might make him feel tormented, so I decided to figure out what Loop he was in myself without inflicting more pain on him.
"Tez."
This was something I had been pondering on for some time. Infinite Returns to Save the World was supposed to end on Season One, which portrayed Tesilid's life from Loop One to Loop Eighty-Five. It was the Strict Order and Goodness' fault that it got stretched to Season Two, which was a collection of irregularly segmented timelines from Loop Eighty-Six to Loop One Hundred. The understanding of the previous seasons gave rise to another possibility.
If Infinite Returns to Save the World already has two seasons, why can't there be Season Three? What if there were timelines that went beyond Loop One Hundred in the original story?
"Allie...?" Tesilid asked in confusion as I searched my inventory.
Then I brought out an item that was shaped like dark sunglasses, whose powers were transferred into my eyes when I raised them to my face. I opened my eyes after rubbing my palms over them. I gazed at Tesilid, slowly working my way up from his chest, to his chin, then passing over his lips and nose. Eventually, my gaze slid over his trembling eyes, though I tried not to make any eye contact.
I continued making my way up past his forehead to see the space just above his head. An astronomical number hung before my eyes. The number of sins he had committed was beyond that of Reed, which would only be possible if the Tesilid in front of me had lived beyond the end of Season Two.
"Allie!"
I had been expecting something like this, but seeing the proof of it knocked the breath out of my lungs. A desperate cry reached my ears.
"Don't look at it!" Tesilid shouted.
"Please don't. Allie, please..."
Only then did I realize how tightly Tesilid was hugging me. The sound of the rain outside grew louder. It reminded me of how it had rained when we headed into the forest of human-faced woods within the territory of Evixinous after stealing the matching rosary rings. The rainwater of the Demon Realm had brought evil beings out of the ground, spectral illusions like ghosts of the dead. I finally realized why all those spirits had avoided Tesilid back then.
"You must not look at it..." he muttered as his arms squeezed me tighter.
I could no longer see above his head once he brought me close to him. But he probably didn't realize I could see a bronze cross over his shoulder reflecting a number in the billions. It was only after Loop One Hundred that he had caused so many sins, so it was clear that he was Reed, one who had witnessed the end of the world.
Again, I tried to guess his Loop. I suppressed the swell of emotions and managed to ask him a question.
"Are you on Loop One Hundred Seventeen?"
â
How did she know? Tesilid's mind went blank. It felt as if his brain had stopped working altogether. His arms slipped out of the embrace once his desperate effort to stop her from figuring out his secret failed.
"How did you know?"
The naive sinner unconsciously admitted to the accusation. Realizing what he had just done, he shut his mouth, but it was too late. Now that she was free from his embrace, she could turn to look at him.
Tesilid was terrified. Panic, confusion, and anxiety welled in his aquamarine eyes. But unlike what he had imagined, she didn't loathe him. He could see her summer green eyes well with tears over the hand she was using to cover her mouth. He had never seen her make that face before.
"Oh..."
His clear voice rang out in astonishment through the air. Even though she was about to burst into tears, she looked as lovely as ever as she tried to confirm her guess once again.
"I-I was hoping I wouldn't be right..." she admitted. "So, is it true, then?"
He couldn't find the words to respond. Ailette started trembling, as if his anxiety had now been transferred to her. But seeing the shock on her face made Tesilid stop quivering. Instead, he gazed at her with eyes as calm as the reflective surface of the water. He then raised his hand and wiped his face down. He tried to make sense of things.
Loop One Hundred Seventeen. How could she know the precise Loop he was on? Was it Reed who had told her? But he had to answer her first before asking her how she had found out.
"How did you know?" he asked, his tone subdued.
This time, he admitted it on his own, making Ailette take a deep breath even though he was only confirming what she already knew.
She managed to calm herself down. Then, she glanced over his head and met his gaze. "I saw it, that's why."
"What did you see?"
"I saw something in the rain of spirit illusions in the territory of Evixinous," she explained.
What had she seen? Was it the countless victims he had killed? But that wasn't it.
"Almost all the spirits there were staring at you, but one of them stared at me. Do you know who it was?"
"..."
"It was you."
He was the only person she had ever killed, and he had the face of Tesilid Argente.