Fled Without Realizing I Had Prevented the Apocalypse

“……”
After Kyle silently left the room, the two women remaining in the room fell into silence simultaneously.
It wasn’t because of an implicit agreement between them.
It was simply because they were taking time to assess each other.
It’s natural that knowing about the person you’re talking to before having a conversation makes the conversation flow more smoothly.
If there’s given information, you can use it to understand the person’s tastes or tendencies, and use that to connect the conversation.
In that sense, it was natural for the minds of the two superhumans to be busily rotating.
It’s because they were seeing each other for the first time. Although they had long since grasped all the given past history and information, a person isn’t someone who can be understood simply by past information.
Therefore, at this moment of seeing each other directly,
The two began analyzing each other simultaneously.
Of course, if Kyle, who had just left, knew this fact, he would be shocked and wonder why they were doing such a thing, but for the Emperor and the merchant, at least, it was natural.

“So.”
And the one who won this battle of analysis was.
“What is your reason for wanting a private audience with me?”
The Emperor.
She spoke with a faint smile of victory on her lips.
“Normally, a request for a private audience wouldn’t be accepted even after a year. Consider it an honor for your family and attend the meeting.”

At the Emperor’s words, Beatrice’s eyebrows twitched.
As she said, normally, to seek a private audience with the Emperor of the Empire would be impossible even after a year.
No matter how important the matter to be reported, the current Emperor hadn’t left the imperial palace since the Northern conquest, and all affairs were being handled by the Empire’s prime minister.
However, knowing that these words were meant to provoke her, regardless of the facts, Beatrice maintained her composure and opened her mouth.
“It’s because Your Majesty the Emperor is meeting alone with the mercenary I personally commissioned. It seems my petty side has shown, worried that the Emperor of the Empire might be trying to take what belongs to others.”
Unlike when Kyle was present, Beatrice began to provoke more directly.
Although she knows that the person in front of her is the Emperor of the Empire, she is also a merchant.
And a merchant should never give away what they have without proper value.
Especially if it’s what she considers most precious.
“The owner of one of the top five guilds in my Empire showing a petty side. Truly modest words.”
“No matter how modest I may be, how could it compare to Your Majesty the Emperor, who personally descends to exchange such esteemed views with me?”
Verbal spears and swords are exchanged.
Although no blood is shed, the eyes of the two women couldn’t be fiercer.
“…If you try to possess something beyond your means, you’ll surely choke. Guild Master.”
The one who broke this atmosphere was the Emperor, who had first created it.
She looked at Beatrice, slightly softening her previously cold gaze.
“My First Star is too big for your guild to hold.”
“Former.”
“What?”
“The former First Star, Your Majesty the Emperor.”
However, Beatrice continued the conversation with the same sharp voice as before.
“And I prefer to try putting it in my mouth even if it tears, at least once.”
“Reckless.”
“Challenging, I’d say.”
Beatrice smiled as she opened the fan in her hand.
The Emperor looked at Beatrice’s fan for a moment before bursting into laughter.
“Haha, hahahaha!”
“……?”

At the Emperor’s sudden laughter, Beatrice made a puzzled expression, completely devoid of any smile.
Unless she suddenly went insane, why such laughter all of a sudden…?
“Ah… Challenging, you say. If your previous words were meant to make me laugh, you could say you succeeded.”

At the Emperor’s words, Beatrice maintained her silence.
One must understand the opponent’s provocation to counter it.
But she couldn’t respond because she not only didn’t understand but didn’t even know the reason.
Seeing that Beatrice couldn’t respond, the Emperor continued speaking.
“It seems you don’t understand. He must have taught you this, so you probably didn’t listen to the lesson properly.”
“…What are you talking about?”
“Your mental image.”
As the Emperor slowly stood up, she simultaneously pointed towards Beatrice’s heart area.
However, it didn’t simply mean her heart.
The foundation for building ranks and advancing to the next. The origin of the tower one will build.
The answer one gives to the world about oneself.
“Challenge is an opportunity given to those with courage. But when a coward who hasn’t even decided their own answer and hides away talks about courage, how can one not laugh?”
Beatrice hasn’t decided her mental image.
No, to be precise, she couldn’t decide.
The Emperor had noticed this fact.
Whether it was because they were both manipulation magicians, or whether it was detected through her conversation due to the experience gained from being an Emperor, was unknown.
“I thought we were rivals looking at the same thing, but you’re just a junior who hasn’t even reached that point yet.”
But one thing was certain: the Emperor had found a weakness that she didn’t have.
With that, the match was decided.
This private audience was Beatrice’s defeat.
Realizing this fact, Beatrice wore a dumbfounded expression.
If one knows that managing expressions is a basic element of being a merchant, one can immediately understand how shocking this defeat was to her.
Therefore, realizing this, the Emperor looked at Beatrice for a moment before opening her mouth.
“Still, as a senior, it’s only right to give some advice to a junior.”
“……”
“Many superhumans offer vague and complex views about mental images. The answer one gives oneself. A cry towards the world. The qualification to hang in the sky. The origin that forms the tower of ranks, and so on…”
It’s unclear whether Beatrice is listening.
Perhaps she’s not listening at all.
She might dismiss it as the victor’s provocation towards the loser.
However, the Emperor continued speaking without minding.
“This applies to my First Star as well. After all, a mental image is oneself. It’s not something you can learn from others.”

Well, there are exceptions, but anyway.
The Emperor, briefly recalling someone else, pulled out magic threads from her hand and said,
“Instead of such vague and poetic advice, I’ll give you one question.”
The Emperor’s magic threads move quickly.
The colorless threads, invisible in form, quickly flew and snatched the fan Beatrice was holding.
Towards Beatrice, who was taken aback by having her fan taken without resistance, the Emperor asks,
“I ask you, are you one of the Empire’s Five Major Guild Masters, the spider that bites gold coins? Or are you just a woman named Beatrice?”
“…What.”
Beatrice wore an expression as if she didn’t understand what was being said.
“If you can answer this question, perhaps your worries will be somewhat lessened.”
The Emperor said this as she slowly left the room, leaving Beatrice behind.
“Until then, I’ll keep this fan.”
With Beatrice’s fan open in her hand.
**
“This is driving me crazy.”
Three days have passed since the Emperor left.
I stood alone in the training ground, regulating my breath.
It was closer to a means of stabilizing emotions rather than simply for the purpose of injury or training.
After calming my heated emotions like this, I recalled what the Emperor had said.
“One week, was it?”
The words she left as she departed from the guild.
I couldn’t know what words were exchanged inside the room, but the Emperor, who came out of the room before Beatrice, looked at me waiting and said she would give a one-week deadline.
She didn’t leave any other words, but probably if she returns after a week, she’ll hear my answer to her proposal.
And in fact, I had no justification to refuse her proposal, so it could be considered as good as confirmed.
The name Khan itself is a problem from the start.
One of the final boss-like entities related to the game’s destruction.
The great invasion from the North was also one of the scenarios for this world’s destruction, so naturally, I had to prevent such a scenario.
Fortunately, the entire continent is sensitive about the North, so it could be ended without much trouble, and I also confirmed the Khan’s death, so I wasn’t paying any attention to that side…
“What’s this about a second Khan?”
This is also content I never saw when playing the game.
If there had been at least some bait for a sequel, I might understand, but there wasn’t even that, so it could be considered purely an event happening in this world.
Fortunately, it was still within the range I could handle so far, so nothing big had happened, but who knows what might happen in the future.
In the game, I knew the future so I could prepare in advance, but now there’s none of that.
Moreover.
“The frequency is increasing.”

In the game, scenarios built up over decades naturally exploded along with the player’s growth, but looking at this recent Arlea incident or the second Khan, there’s none of that.
It feels like events suddenly explode with just a slight precursor.
It’s quite strange considering that events are happening in succession in less than half a year.
Especially considering that all the exploding events are directly related to the destructions I prevented in the past.

“One week…”
I muttered the deadline given by the Emperor and glanced upwards.
In the direction I looked was Beatrice, who still hadn’t come out of the room.
She had stayed in the room for three days without any movement.
I heard that she didn’t come out even when branch managers came to discuss guild matters or even when her secretary personally visited.
Beatrice, who locked herself in the room without revealing any reason.
As if she’s doing closed-door training like in martial arts novels.
I frowned and looked at Beatrice for a moment before regulating my breath again.
In the remaining week, I was planning to do my best as a tutor to get her as close to 6th rank as possible.
“With the student in such a state.”
Isn’t it meaningless?
I let out a deep sigh and used the empty training ground alone.
And.
Beatrice, who had entered closed-door training like this, came out of the room exactly three days later.
It was six days after the Emperor left.
Beatrice, who broke her seclusion exactly one day before the promised one week when the Emperor was to return, immediately came to find me and said,
“Stay with me for just one day.”