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The black-winged ruler, Ruphas Mafahl.

200 years ago, in the year 2800 of the Midgard calendar, a supreme being wearing the appearance of a lovely young girl distinguished herself.
With a swing of her arm, she could sever the necks of dragons the size of mountains. With a matter of moments, she could traverse the distance of a thousand miles.
Haughtiness and unparalleled cruelty. No matter who rose up against her, she crushed them mercilessly.

The weak barely had the strength to stand in her presence. The strong were torn apart like flimsy scraps of paper and discarded along the roadside. As the only person who the Demon King avoided, many scholars insisted that if she had continued to hold the reins of the world, the Demon King would have already departed from the realm of the living.

Powerfully, powerfully, she pressed forward.
And that power brought forth the unification of the entire world.
However, overwhelming power gave birth to fear.
It was an era during which people were not as weak as they are now. At a time when it was still possible to oppose Ruphas, a group of heroes gathered their courage and stood in defiance. The people began to rise up in opposition to the supreme ruler.

I dare say that this was the first time since the dawn of history that mankind was so unified. Even as the dictator they stood against, only she was able to achieve a feat of this scale.

Tied together by bonds of steel, the heroes penetrated the Overlord’s defenses.
Having finished off the 12 generals under her command, they were finally able to drag Ruphas out to the battlefield.

The battle spanned over one day and one night.
The overwhelming pressure that Ruphas exerted forced the weak to their knees, crushing the wills of 7 million of the 8 million warriors who stood to confront her.
Slashing, stabbing, and crushing. Ruphas fought at the border between life and death while taking on a multitude of heroes at once. With cuts and burns covering her body, she finally landed a fatal blow against the heroes’ forces.

However, the heroes stood back up.
And harboring the power of hope, they set their sights on victory again.

What followed was an all-out attack from the heroes.
Even Ruphas Mafahl would not be able to get out of this predicament unharmed.
But even so, she smiled. And with a pleasant smile spread across her face, she shouted.

“Magnificent! Magnificent, my heroes! You have done well to surpass my abilities! I express my deepest respect for your unyielding courage and overwhelming strength! However, you must not forget the darkness that still remains in this world. This party may stand a chance against that Demon King, but in the event that you lose that battle, the world will be engulfed in even more darkness than it is in now. Whether your future holds hope or misfortune, I will ascertain with my own eyes from the darkest depths of hell! Kuhahahahaha… haaahahahahahaha!”

Thus, the era of Ruphas Mafahl’s rule came to an end. The already overthrown ruler was then sealed into a separate dimension, never to set a foot in this world again.
Supposedly.

Then how exactly do I explain this? How am I supposed to explain the black winged girl standing right before their eyes?

“So, how long are you going to make me wait? You—you didn’t explain the current situation to me, did you?

The pitiful figure of the king’s advisor sat facing Ruphas in the royal hall. As a young elf who succumbed to the overpowering pressure expelled by the Supreme Ruler during the battle that took place 200 years ago, the advisor pondered to himself.

When attempting to summon a hero, did divine punishment rain down instead?
Ah, but the benevolent Goddess of Genesis Alovenas would never…
Reviving the Overlord in an attempt to summon heroes was a bit too…

Without any regard to the advisor’s mental distress, Ruphas crossed her arms and thought.

These wings are going to be a real nuisance when trying to sit down.

〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜

It took several minutes to successfully prompt the beautiful long-eared man to begin speaking.

At certain intervals, he would quickly glance at me and then immediately avert his eyes and tremble in fear. Somehow, little by little, he confirmed my approval and finally decided to speak. I have summarized the contents into these three main points.

After the span of two hundred years, the Demon King remained undefeated.
Ah, I know! Let’s summon a hero using the X-gate system.
Somehow, the last boss appeared instead of the hero… ←here we are.

…so short. For this to take ten minutes to explain… am I really that scary? I had a slight impression that this was inside of the game. On the other hand, I wonder how much Midgard has changed over 200 years. I’m actually feeling a bit excited about this predicament. I have an optimistic personality to begin with, so as long as I can enjoy myself, minor setbacks won’t bother me at all. I am able to walk the splendid world of X-gate online in the body of the character I poured my heart into making. To online game addicts, this is already the highest form of reward.

Ah, one thing. The name “X-gate online” was derived from X-gate magic, which played a major role in the original game’s storyline. Dating back to before the game was made into an MMO, the protagonist was an average high schooler. The student was summoned through the X-gate, and until he was able to defeat the Demon King, he was to remain that world. Well, as an MMO, the only thing that remained of this backstory was the name and the bare existence of the magic.

Come to think of it, don’t heroes appear around year 3000 of the Midgard calendar? Isn’t that right now? I don’t know if any heroes from a different world will appear, but if I ever get the chance to meet them, I’ll definitely try to get their autograph… yeah.

On that note, I should probably consider my next course of actions.
The elf advisor and the king have been trembling in that corner for some time now.
First of all, I should demonstrate my harmlessness by leaving as soon as possible.

“…I see. I understand now. So, the Demon King is still going strong. Isn’t he a tenacious one?”

Because it was mainly my fault he went from being the Demon King to being called the Demon King (LOL), I’m rather relieved that he’s still in good health. Then, when they attempted to summon a hero, I popped out of the gacha instead. So how do I say this… sorry, I guess? I might have just ruined the hero’s debut into the story.

“Ah, do not fret. At this point in time, I no longer intend to take any drastic actions against this world. A body which already tasted defeat is a body that’s stopped dreaming… it is too late for me to try to achieve something.”

“Ca—Can we believe those words?”

“Definitely. Although I was defeated, a battle of that scale has left me satisfied. While I am a bit disgruntled that the individuals that overthrew me were unable to defeat the Demon King… well, it’s fine. More importantly, I would like to travel this world and admire it from afar.”

I’ll leave dealing with the Demon King to the heroes for the time being.
Instead of taking up some meddlesome quest, I would rather explore the world of Midgard. I want to journey across it on my own two feet and see it with my own two eyes. In all honesty, it’s taking all of my willpower just to refrain from taking off in excitement.

“A king without any followers and an abandoned throne. Insisting on a monarchy now would be comical, wouldn’t it? The Overlord Ruphas is no longer of this world. I am little more than a girl with shattered dreams.”

I don’t feel like going as far to name myself the Supreme Ruler in this world as well.
That’s the direct path to earning a wanted poster. I simply want to lead a carefree lifestyle, enjoying life to its fullest potential here. And I’ll ponder about how to return to my world while I’m at it.

“Therefore, there is no need for you to panic. Just forget about me and keep summoning heroes or something.”

I’ll have a mental breakdown if I remain here any longer.
I stood up from my seat and pushed open the nearby window.
It was a wonder how I knew how to move the wings that I only just received.
But somehow, my body understood the fundamentals of flight.
From a scientific perspective, a pair of wings cannot support the human body weight in the air. However, my instincts had flashed me the green light anyways.

“Well then, I will be leaving. If fate will have it, I’m sure we’ll meet again.”

“Wa—wait!”

Ignoring the voice calling out to me, I beat my wings.
And with a push of my legs, my magnificent form took to the skies.
In the blink of an eye, I separated from the ground and the castle shrunk to the size of a grain of sand.

Woah…
Flying… I’m flying!
Traversing the skies and piercing the heavens!

I wonder how I can express these feelings in words.
Freedom—exactly, it’s freedom.
The delight from removing the shackles of gravity.
Feet not touching the ground, I escaped to the boundless world above the clouds.
Spinning, soaring, and gliding—I flew to my heart’s desires!

“Fu, fufu…… hahahahaha!”

From above the clouds, I swooped dangerously close to the ground. And just before coming into contact, I ascended back into the skies, where you could see the land stretching infinitely into the horizon. Right here, right now, these vast skies belong to me and only me. There were no crowds nor traffic to get in the way. I could go anywhere humanly possible.

“Fufu… it feels good to fly through the sky like this. Now then, where shall we head first?”

With so many choices, I was barraged with indecision. Well, first of all, this country isn’t an option. On the chance that the elf advisor or king ordered their citizens to capture me on sight, it would be a real pain in the ***. I want to travel this world in leisure after all.

“…hm? Wait, isn’t that… I see, so it still remains.”

Troubled, “that” rose into my field of vision.
It was an obsidian black tower that pierced the skies.
As if challenging the heavens, the building stood boldly against the vastness of the sky. There is no way I would ever forget its dauntless appearance.
It was the symbol of our influence that we built together after all.

The skyscraper “Mafahl”.
My… no, the base that we erected together.

“I guess the first destination has already been decided, huh?”

I redirected my course of flight, flapping my wings.
Estimating the distance to the tower was difficult because it was visible from almost anywhere on the map. It was probably a fairly long distance to cover, but with my current abilities, it posed no problem. I had wings capable of carrying me to the heavens after all.

“Hup!”

I flew towards the tower with all of my might, achieving speeds surpassing that of a bullet train. The landscape blurred by at tremendous speeds and the wind pressed at my cheeks. With flawless vision, I sighted birds in the way, but with a twist of my body, they were effortlessly evaded.

Ah, this is so satisfying.
My heart feels light and carefree.
I never knew something as simple as flying would be able to bring such freedom and satisfaction!

However, everything eventually comes to an end.
Just minutes after taking off, I came to an abrupt stop. The air quivered, and violent winds accompanied my arrival.

This time, I ascended.
Far above the clouds, I set my eyes on the summit of the tower, where only a select few could reach. According to the myth, when Icarus drew too close to the sun, his wax wings dissolved and he fell to his demise. But the quality of my wings are not to be compared to simple wax. Just sunlight would never be enough to damage them. Many thousands of meters above ground, I made my way to the only entrance.

There were two ways of entering the building. The first was to enter from high altitude. The second was to open the gates from the inside. For the first time, I realize how impractical this is.

While recalling these memories, I stepped into the tower and headed towards the room reserved for the guild master.