Leave a comment

Project GB is an official initiative by Re:Library.

Victor let out a raw cry from the soul, prompting me to sigh.

“Is being popular with women really that important to you?”
“Yes! I would gladly offer my life if that makes me popular! I would even make a deal with the devil to be popular!”

He declared this without hesitation, though he was already dead, and the devil betrayed him…

“There’s no reason for wanting to be popular! It’s a man’s instinct! Laugh if you want, call it a loser’s grudge! But this passion of mine will never burn out! My research? It started solely because I wanted to attract women! Advancing magic, exploring alchemy’s potential, creating a prosperous future—bah! I don’t care about that anymore. None of it means anything if I’m not popular!”
“Yikes…”

I suddenly understood why this man didn’t have much luck with women. It wasn’t about his appearance—his personality was the real problem.

“But what’s the point of being popular with random people? Don’t you want to be with someone you truly love?”

“Hah!” He laughed through his nose. “That is the kind of nonsense only people born lucky would say! When you cannot even reach the starting line, you must aim for popularity with anyone who will spare you a glance! I do not need to hear that from a born winner like you!”

I wouldn’t say I was born lucky… In fact, my nickname, “the Ragweed Princess,” is still widely known across the continent. Ugh, just thinking about it gives me a headache.

“Anyway, it all started eighty-eight years ago… wait, maybe it was ninety-eight years ago? Whatever. Back then, I was a promising young researcher, hailed as the town’s child prodigy. That is how I ended up attending university in the capital of the Amitia Republic, Alra. I had to say goodbye to my childhood friend, Karina, with whom I shared a mutual, unspoken love. I swore to become a great scholar and bring her to Alra someday. But that wretch! Within six months of me leaving, she gave birth to another man’s child! And that man? None other than Jim, my younger brother-in-arms, who lived next door! They were flattering me to my face, all while laughing at me behind my back in bed!”

This conversation was completely off track.

Victor was lost in his own world, while Eren, seemingly amused by the gossip, nodded along and listened intently.

“………”

I quietly stepped away from the group—Vier, concerned, followed closely by my side. Pressing my aching head, I wandered toward the area where the fountain of the seal had once stood. Gazing into the water’s surface, which still groaned with an ominous rumble, I peered down.

Fortunately—or perhaps that’s not the right word—the bones that had been submerged at the bottom of the pool seemed to have either been swept away by the impact or buried under rubble. At least, they were no longer visible.

Even so, now that I stood close enough to sense the cursed energy and ominous aura of the “No-Life King” sealed below, my skin prickled. Back when this facility was intact, I had only felt a vague discomfort. But in hindsight, even then, the power had been leaking out little by little. Perhaps that’s why Coppelia had acted so erratically, offering sacrifices—it’s possible she’d been driven mad by the accumulated magical waves from this place long before Professor Victor’s personality came to the surface.

As I pondered this, I noticed my hand, which I had just taken away from my head, was smeared with blood. Hidden beneath my hair, I hadn’t realized I had sustained a rather deep wound.

“I am the cure to your ail—Heal.”

I cast “Heal” on myself, closing the wound, and then, almost unconsciously, I washed my bloodied hand in the water at my feet.

At that moment, a crack formed across the cross held in the chest of the crumbling statue of the saint, though I failed to notice it.

♦♢♦

—The seal… broke?

How long had he been screaming in anguish?

The being, once known in his prime as both “Igor the Sorcerer” and “Igoronak the Evil God,” had expended nearly all of his remaining power to send out mana waves from within the seal. Despite all his efforts, the unyielding seal had shown no signs of weakening, leaving him on the verge of giving up. Yet, at that moment, he suddenly sensed a small crack forming in the seal. Instead of joy, he first felt confusion.

Could it be a trap?

The seal’s binding still extended deep into the core of his very existence, so no matter the cause, this was his one and only chance. He couldn’t afford to let it slip away.

—Whoever made this possible, I don’t know who you are, but you’ve fulfilled my long-standing wish. For that, you shall be praised!

For a brief moment, he thought of his servants, his literal puppets—the homunculi—but such trivial matters were unimportant now.

The crack was still small. Most likely, only a few drops of the blood from the saint—the key to this seal—had spilled out.

—But, even the smallest crack will lead to the seal’s complete collapse! That woman, the Saintess, must have trusted in the seal’s power without question. Yet it was her folly to underestimate my strength and persistence. The miasma and cursed energy that filled this sealed space, like a balloon ready to burst, would press against the seal, and the slightest flaw would bring about its destruction!

In an instant, a beam of light from the outside world pierced through the darkness that had enveloped him.

—Oooooooooooohhh!!! I’m reborn! I have returned!!!

His voiceless, maddened thoughts of joy reverberated through the darkness surrounding Lake Quartz.

The spirits and animals, faces twisted in terror, fled in all directions, while the monsters, driven to a frenzy, began to rampage indiscriminately.

“What the hell is this?!”

Luke, Cestlavie, and the other adventurers, along with even the undead who had been fighting at the defense point of St. Campbell Church, stood momentarily paralyzed in shock from the overwhelming impact.

Support Us

Unlock Early Access ------- Select Project ------- Project Gender Bender Project Necro ∴ Support your favorite series and unlock chapters before the public release.