Episode 1052
Chapter 251: The Adversaries (Part 2)

Orgal’s eyes widened.

“…What did you say?”

He leaned in close to the record window, as if burying his face in it. Though he wasn’t well-versed in record magic, he instinctively sensed something different about this record window. An indescribable unease prickled through his entire body.

“Why… why are you only telling me this now!?”

“I get your situation, but cut the nonsense. Why would I have any reason to tell you this? We were enemies, after all.”

Of course, Valeria had already shown this record window to their comrades, but without any meaningful context or clues, it wasn’t something worth analyzing in depth. More importantly, since the liberation of Laprarosa, Valeria had been too busy monitoring enemy movements every day.

“Anyway, if other dimensions truly exist—if multiple worlds are real—and if their origins lie in Zipl’s historical manipulations, then Histerga must have always been Zipl’s biggest headache.”

Hister.

In some ways, Zipl feared that name even more than Runcandel. After all, it was a family that could directly counter their weapon of ‘history manipulation.’

“According to your memories, the histories of these multiple worlds always followed a similar main thread. Most of the time, you played the role of a kind of savior, and only Jin and I were absent. So my ancestors and I must have always opposed Zipl without cooperating with you. And this record window is probably one of the results of that.”

Orgal shuddered and met Valeria’s gaze.

—Solderet always chose Temar. Just like I still choose you now. And above all, his power isn’t greater than mine. It’s unlikely he knew something before I did.

—But if someone else helped him, maybe they recognized the diverging worlds before I did.

Heluram’s words echoed in his mind.

It felt like all the accumulated memories of the multiverse were exploding at once. The reason Valeria never appeared in any of those countless worlds might simply be that he never encountered her—because she always operated beyond his perception.

“But why? I was always Zipl’s greatest adversary. If Valeria’s goal in every world was to destroy Zipl, why didn’t she ever reach out to me?”

Maybe, just as Heluram always chose me, and Solderet always chose Temar…

Could it be that Valeria always chose Jin?

The thought flashed through Orgal’s mind, but every idea ultimately led back to the question: why? There was no clear reason why Valeria would single out Jin Runcandel. In all those worlds, he had always been the best countermeasure.

“My head… it’s spinning. Then why didn’t the Valerias of other worlds join forces with me?”

“Those Valerias are me, but not really me. If I had to guess, I was always in hiding. Maybe I was discovered and eliminated by Zipl while trying to contact you, or maybe our family was completely crushed before I was even born. Or maybe they just didn’t trust you.”

Orgal didn’t have a complete grasp of the histories of all the multiverses. Naturally, what he remembered were only the events experienced by ‘other versions of Orgal,’ and even those memories were often vague.

“That’s possible…”

“Orgal, the important thing now is that Zipl might not be the only one who can interfere with other dimensions.”

Heluram had said that the Demon God faction was somehow supporting Zipl in this world. The recent rapid advancement of the Demon God Stones was proof of that.

But according to Valeria’s hypothesis, the other-dimensional beings influencing this world aren’t limited to the Demon God faction.

“I’m curious about the moment when the Valeria from another dimension made it possible for me to see this record window.”

“Moment?”

“I mean, did they send this message while observing me in real time from another dimension? Or did they use record magic to learn about the future of another dimension and then send it? I think it’s the former. If they already knew everything about this world’s future, they wouldn’t have written it in the record window as if congratulating me.”

The pinnacle of record magic isn’t just uncovering all past events—it’s reaching a level where you can even verify future records. However, those futures aren’t fixed like Az Mil’s; the outcomes can change depending on the choices of the person viewing the records.

As far as Valeria knew, no Hister had ever mastered that ability perfectly.

Among the Histers she found in the family’s legacy sites, none could freely check future records. According to the legacy, Histers considered glimpsing future records by chance as a blessing or revelation.

Valeria herself had experienced such a blessing.

The moment Jin first sought her out in 1795 as a mid-level cadet on Mamit, and the moment they met again in 1799 on Mamit—she had already known both through future records confirmed in the legacy.

“Could it be that dream too… was a message sent by me from another world?”

Suddenly, Valeria recalled the prophetic dream she had had most often in her teenage years.

Are you just going to keep lying there?

Go away.

Pathetic. Jin, your proud brothers would love this.

“What? How do you know my name?”

“Looks like you still have some lingering attachment to the world. Follow me. I’ll forgive you for pointing a knife at the throat of the one who reached out to you.”

Valeria only realized that the dream’s protagonist was Jin after the Holy Kingdom incident revealed his identity to the world. That’s why, when she met Jin on Mamit, she called his name as if it were familiar.

Her thoughts then drifted to memories of Honka Island—the legacy site of the Mariet Hister—where she had walked along the beach with Jin.

Back then, she confessed to Jin about prophetic dreams and future records, saying:

—I believed those dreams and future records were all arrangements and fate left by my ancestors. Probably, the future records my ancestors saw included that I would need you to reach the end of my mission.

“Maybe the one who left those arrangements after seeing the records about Jin wasn’t my ancestors… but me from another world.”

The dreams, the future records, even the record that revealed ‘Jin had died once’—all could have been messages from Valeria in another dimension.

Her thoughts wouldn’t settle easily.

But one fact became clearer and clearer: the Hister family and Valeria chose only Jin Runcandel as the key to eradicating the great evil called Zipl.

Naturally, Valeria’s gaze landed on Jin.

He looked weighed down by guilt.

In truth, hearing the truth about the multiverse, he was overwhelmed by a sense of debt as a returning soul.

He wondered if, in those worlds, even after meeting Valeria, he might have lived like a broken man. That’s why he never fought alongside Orgal, and why Valeria never shone as brightly as she did now.

Then, without warning, Valeria strode over to him.

Orgal and the others, confused by the complex truth, flinched and stared. Valeria quickly stood face-to-face with Jin, who looked wide-eyed and caught off guard.

“Ugh, what’s with her? Hey! Red hair! Can’t you move away? My head’s about to explode here!”

“Jin.”

“Hm?”

“I turned my back on the world as a teenager and lived only for my mission as a Hister. Then I met you, chose you, and entered your world. Thanks to that, I’ve changed enough to accept noisy and annoying people like Sandra as comrades.”

“…What? Suddenly this is getting interesting. After revealing the world’s terrible truth, now it’s love?”

Orgal got a nudge from Luna, and Hedo covered Sandra’s mouth before she could curse.

“And every Valeria definitely chose you. And none of them ever regretted choosing you. Even if countless worlds were destroyed or fell under Zipl’s control, the Valerias of other worlds never once lost faith in you.”

Of course, Valeria had never seen such records.

But she was certain. Her heart knew, even without record magic.

“Maybe this world will meet the same fate in the end. But even then, I’ll still think the same thing—that choosing to be with you was the best thing I ever did in my life.”

“Wow, that’s almost a public confession—uh, uh.”

“Shut up, Orgal. This is an important moment.”

“Uh-uh uh-uh-uh uh-uh-uh Hedo, let go! Die! Uh!”

Except for Sandra, everyone’s heart was pounding at Valeria’s sudden words. Especially Enya, whose face had turned bright red as her eyes darted around nonstop.

“Ahhh, what a stroke of luck! What will you do, Lord Jin? How will you respond?”

Everyone was waiting for Jin’s answer just as eagerly as Enya.

But Valeria wasn’t expecting a reply.

“So don’t make that face. We haven’t lost yet in this world, right? I’m going to step out for a bit to clear my head. Anyway, I think Orgal has heard everything important.”

Valeria walked away calmly.

“No! Lord Jin, are you just going to stand there? You have to follow her! As the president of her fan club, I’m very disappointed in your attitude right now!”

“Well, our kid never really avoided romance, huh? But now he just keeps quiet and stays still. Hey, do you not like historians? Not satisfied?”

“Uh-uh! Ugh!”

Jin felt dizzy as he looked at his comrades.

“Everyone, calm down. It’s not me who’s embarrassed—Valeria is. Let’s finish the meeting first.”