“The universe is broken. 

“A set of laws and rules set in place for people who don’t know or care about their existence, subtly influencing their decisions, deciding the consequences of their actions even before they are taken

“Freewill exists only in isolation. A single instance in time where actions are chosen based on nothing other than the random fluctuation of quantum probability: a flip of a coin, a roll of a dice. But eventually, even the seemingly random consequences of a seemingly random sequence of actions would be twisted by the rules and laws that were set in place too.

“Eventually, some would come to a grim conclusion.

“No matter how hard you try, no matter how far ahead you plan—it will always end the same way.

“There’s no point. It’s all meaningless.”

“Yes, yes, very dramatic, Master. When are you going to help me though?”

While I silently cross my arms and think about all the various ways to resolve the issue at hand, Master's been going on another long dramatic tangent. I know he won’t talk to me if I interrupt him so I have to just wait for him to finish before doing anything.

“What do you mean ‘help you’? I’m pretty sure you already know what to do in this kind of situation, no, Mister Confident?"

Master sneers at me.

“You just have to keep trying over and over and you’ll inevitably find the exact sequence of actions that lead to the desired result. Don’t worry, we have an infinite amount of time anyway.”

“...”

—Right, right, I get it, I’m sorry for being so arrogant, it wasn’t in my character, will you forgive me if I curl up in a corner and cry?

I’m backed up against a wall, literally and figuratively, looking out into the capital city of Elysian that has returned to the time of the early evening of the festival.

Like a replay of an old video. The movement of the people and even the rushing sounds of the wind revert back to the state it was. 

I sigh, look toward Master, and start to say:

“So, ‘Entropy increases the same way every time,’ huh?”

“Yep.”  Master nods simply and starts taking a few steps forward on the rooftop. ”Entropy is the measure of randomness and uncertainty. But because we exist in a fictional reality… Uncertainty too— is false.

“[False Entropy]~!”

Master spins around and spreads both his hands in a celebratory fashion. 

I only roll my eyes at him.

“I suppose there’s a way around it?”

Master smiles and tilts his head, very deliberately.

“Why do you think so?”

“Because if there’s not then everything you’ve been doing wouldn’t make any sense at all.”

Obviously, since he had already created five [Eternities] prior, there’s no way that this is a problem that Master hasn’t encountered before and already came up with a solution. 

Which is to say that, ever since he first heard my idea, he knew exactly how everything would play out; how my actions would inevitably lead to the Scry boy’s death... and still let it happen anyways.

—At least stop smiling about it for a bit!

“The secret is the [Divergence Meter]. ”

I look at Master and raise my eyebrow. He goes on to elaborate.

“Since it was designed to keep track of the difference between a specific system’s former quantum arrangement and its present. Of course, the effects of [False Entropy] are already taken into account.”

“Basically?”

“Usually it often gets stuck at around 0.99%. Only after you pass each of the 1% thresholds will the events become more malleable.”

—Right. And the space between 0% and 1% is where you find Steins Gate.

“Would have been nice if you at least told me this beforehand.”

“Do you think it would have made any difference? The universe is very stubborn, you know? The percentage threshold isn’t something you can just overcome. There will always be resistance.”

Is that so?

—Wait.

“Didn’t you manage to get the convergence meter over 1% just by saying two sentences earlier or something?”

“Ah, yes. Karwen and Maverick. I did say something to those two.” 

Master props up his chin with the edge of his book.

“Do you remember what I said?”

“Something about a type of sunglasses that protect you against some kind of monsters and uh, a restaurant that sells unsanitary Bicorn steak?”

“Um-hm, um-hm. So, after the moment of inspiration struck, Karwen decide to test his new tool by bringing it on a quest. When the group of adventurers led by Karwen goes hunting the Obelisks, they would later find that not only that their eyes have special properties that are very valuable to certain types of artisans, their chimeric bodies that are a fusion of a snake and a cow are in fact—edible, with a very unique method of processing that required melting off its stone skin, of course.”

“…”

—What kind of butterfly effect nonsense is he talking about now?

“Back in the city, Maverick has just bought the restaurant back from the current owner and is now looking to renovate the place and attract new customers. Ever since the first generations of the restaurant, its main reputation was the serving of exotic monster meat. And now that the previous owner had already ruined its Bicorn steak reputation, the restaurant was going to need a new attraction dish. So he went to the Expedition Bureau and put in a new request. And luckily...”

“Karwen came back with the Obelisk meat…”

I finish Master’s sentence… listlessly.

“Tada~ So he went to the newly opened restaurant and sold his newly created method of meat processing. The new dish was an instant success. Everyone was begging to try it out. It was so popular in fact that the restaurant became the talk of the town overnight.

“And now that the dish is a success. Maverick set up another meeting with Karwen, and the two signed a contract. Karwen would supply meat to the restaurant and not disclose the method of processing the meat to anyone. And in return, he would be regularly compensated.

“But their secret would eventually leak; a traitor inside the group of adventurers Karwen led. A few competitions in the exotic food scene would pop up. Which shouldn’t be a huge problem, after all, if the novelty wore off, people would naturally begin to desire it less. Except that there’s one place where the food consumption rate of their population is unlimited—Marziono. And they really, really like Obelisk meat.

“So, they started hunting…. and hunting… and they kept hunting until the Obelisk’s numbers inevitably began dwindling, casting a knock-on effect on the local ecosystem and eventually led to their extinction and inspiring a certain researcher by the name Zino Zalsar to research ways to recreate the entire species by re-combining cows and snakes far into the future. But that’s a different story entirely.” 

“And you knew that all of that was going to happen?”

“Yeah.”

—Isn’t that too hard? Also, If wiping out an entire species only tipped the scale over by one, how am I supposed to get it to one hundred? Wipeout one hundred species?

If that’s really the case then it would be impossible for my idea to work in the first place!

And I was so confident…

“From the beginning, you were too optimistic, Steve.

“What happened after Robert took the Scry boy in? How are VV and the Scry boy going to maintain close contact? How would their relationship eventually go on to transform the political landscape of Kyrias? None of these questions were even on your mind at all.

“Witnessing [its] effects in action, you should probably realize it already.”

I cast my gaze aside, away from Master, but unexpectedly when I look up again, he’s right in front of me.

“We’re not the only writers of this universe.”

“...”

…There’s another force, one that’s more powerful than the almighty whims of the Grand Archive and its illusive Master, grasping at the universe’s throat with stubborn resentfulness, refusing to let it be bent by anyone else.

—What an asshole. Really should’ve just let us be and go waste [its] time on something else.

After staring at me for a few seconds through his blindfold, Master eventually breaks away before a bright, clear laugh comes from him.

“But I’m not saying that there’s no chance for your ‘lovey-dovey romantic comedy’ to work.”

My eyebrows rise up again.

“But you said….”

“Blah, blah, blah, you said this I said that, who’s keeping track really? Stop being so obsessive about the little things, Steve.”

“...If I’m obsessive then what are you?”

I brush away Master’s off-beat sense of humour as the person smiles to himself, and let out a sigh.

“Haaa~ Okay, but with the ridiculous amount of change needed to occur for the [Divergence Meter] to get past the 1% threshold. And the death of the Scry boy that can only be averted after the 1% percent threshold is passed means we can’t establish him as the [Catalyst]

“Is there a way to cause enough change for that possibility to open up within the limited amount of time that we have?”

—Presumably also without wiping out another species.

Master pauses a little; pretends to think. 

“The simplest solution is often the best solution; your way of coming up with ways to solve problems isn’t exactly wrong.”

Just as Master starts to speak, I also start to notice changes in our surroundings.

Bookshelves appear in the corners of my eyes, protruding from the sides of the nearby chimneys and walls. They slide out slowly, before starting to spin around and around in a circle with Master and me in the center. 

—As if a hidden existence's bleeding into reality, [The Conceptors Grand Archive] slowly reveals itself.

“But in this case, it just happens to be the worst way. Using the simplest method that resolves problems directly might be efficient. But if the impact is too small there will be no ripples. That kind of neat and straightforward sequence—it goes down too easily.”

—I did notice that the Divergent Meter was only increasing by the sub-sub-sub zero amount, but I assume that was just normal... 

“Besides…” Master’s lips curl up slightly, showing a sly grin. “Being too predictable, isn’t it kind of boring?”

When Master finishes his sentence, we returned to the Main Observation Room once again.

Master pulls one of the blackboards along the railing to the center of the observation room. With his book opened in one hand, Master picks up a piece of white chalk and starts scribbling some kind of diagram on it.

I move closer to look at what Master is drawing but I only see a bunch of mathematical equations that I don’t understand.

...Ah, it doesn’t matter, I guess?

“When it comes to the problem of the first <1 Percent Threshold>. There are two main methods of tackling it.

“The first way is to dive deep. Since you have no access to a [Catalyst], you would have to find a specific sequence of events that have sufficient setups in place beforehand and simply take the opportunity to jump-start it.”

Master turns to me and explains.

“What you did before with Karwen and Maverick.”

—Look for a setup that has been coincidentally set in place, and deliver the punchline.    

“Yes. The downside of this is obviously that the events that would happen because of something as slippery as that are often catastrophic accidents, and might potentially come back to negate some of the effects of the events that we want to happen around the [Catalyst] later. All and all it’s pretty random.“

“And the second method?”

“Create [chaos].”

Master says simply, snapping his book shut for dramatic effect.

“Deliberately engineer a situation around the potential [Catalyst] where so many people are involved that the cumulative changes combine to rival that of the first method.

“The more moving parts, the better. The more convoluted the steps we take to arrive at our desired destination, the more chances we will have to trigger a chain reaction that will push the divergence meter over the 1% threshold.

“If even [they] can’t keep up with everything that’s going on. We win.”

My eyes narrow. The kind of nonsense so elaborate that even the gods themselves are confused, huh?

“First, let’s zoom out.”

With a single swipe of Master’s arm, the Grand Archive spins and shakes, and a realistic 3-dimensional projection of the Elysian Capital appears underneath my feet.

—The entire capital city, containing hundreds of thousands of people, reduced to a mere [Diorama].

“The first step is to change the route he took. The longer it takes for him to arrive at the determined alley where he would meet VV and Robert. The more people and objects he’ll run into; the more ripples his presence can cause.” 

Using his foot, Master lights up a different path across the crisscrossing streets of The Elysian’s Capital. The old line that was drawn by me earlier slowly fades away.

“Here’s the path that I think the Scry boy should take to end up at that alley where they would meet Robert and VV.”

I observe the newly-drawn line and compare it to the one that represents the route we’ve set for Robert and VV earlier. 

“Is there a particular reason for this?”

“Here’s every person. Every object. And every event that would occur around the time of the Scry boy’s run-in with city guards.”

Numerous light dots begin appearing all over the Elysian Capital’s diorama. And as the thing spins and moves to represent the passage of time, some of them disappear while others appear. 

On the blackboards, countless lines of text and portraits of faces are also scrolling by.

“If we cut out all the personal storylines that don't involve more than two people: old friends and rivals meeting, some random couple confessing their love under the fireworks. We can see that the most concentrated points of high-impact events—that is, places or situations that can affect the most people—are all here.”

Master uses his book to brush away at the air every time he brings up examples of low-impact events, and little by little, the colorful dots of light disappear from the [diorama].

In the end, only a few bright spots remain.

“Five points. Five locations with the most intersecting causality.”

—Basically, the places with the most event triggers. 

“The question now is how do we chain the sequence of events together in a way that would create enough disturbance.”

Master then starts pacing around the 3D model of the Elysian Capital, opening his book and flipping through a few pages…

“Oh, I saw a line that looks interesting.”

—And stops after exactly six steps.

“Already?”

“Yeah. I mean, the opening is always the easy part, no?”

—Yet somehow I messed it up. I guess I’m just incompetent. 

“Come on now, it’s not like most people usually succeed on their first try, no?”

—Consolation, consolation; weary, weary, recitation.

“Was supposed to be ‘Platitudes... Heard it all before... Please shut up.’?”

—Yep.

The white-haired man laughs. Then spin in place a single time, making the little diorama of the Elysian Capital disappear under the tail end of his long white robes, before turning to me with a question.

“Well then. Shall we start?”

—————..........

Clap—! 

With a clap, the scene around us changes. Master and I are now standing once again on the rooftop of a building where we peered down from with the Scry boy a few hours ago.

In fact, it might even be the exact time. Because right beside us, there’s that small rag-covered figure who I’ve witnessed dying before my eyes twice.

—Back to life, like a replay of an old film.

“The first location is here. Right at the beginning of the Scry boy’s journey.”

Not paying attention to the Scry boy, Master gestures toward the streets below with his books, where countless people are moving about under the orange glow of the decorative lanterns hanging from between the buildings.

“There are a few shops in the area, but the most important thing is that this is where a lot of inns and taverns are in close proximity. Meaning that this is where most of the people who traveled to the capital specifically for the Tournament of the Niles would be after nightfall.

“If we could stir something up here…”

As Master continues to talk. I notice the Scry boy slowly standing up. 

Based on our experience earlier, he’s probably going to try climbing down to the back alley. 

After that, he will dash across the street, steal the bag of bread on the other side, and start getting chased by the guards just like we saw happen before…

“Like I said, Steve. Time is not an issue.”

After saying that, Master walks along the rooftop in the opposite direction of where the Scry boy went. But if I remember correctly, that should be the same direction where the Scry boy would eventually run to after stealing the bag of bread anyway.

I follow Master to the edge of the roof and look down. There, at the corner of the street not too far away from the dense crowd walking in and out of the nearby inns and taverns, three people are standing by a relatively small cart that seems to contain several large wooden barrels full of.. something.

Before I knew it, Master appeared out of nowhere right next to the cart. So I jump down from the roof and float to his side.

Master smiles and gestures toward the three people. 

He also paused the flow of time temporarily, allowing me to inspect their appearances.

“Introducing Alef the Six Suns Inn’s owner. Omar the wine seller. And a very upset young master by the name of Sheshier Sindara who is trying to get absolutely wasted after getting his heart broken by his childhood friend.”

Red, tear-stained eyes, messed-up clothes. Looking at the miserable appearance of the ginger-haired young man... I get that impression, yeah.

By the way, ‘Omar’ seems to be the somewhat fat and bearded man standing next to the cart. While the neatly-dressed uncle standing to the right of him should be ‘Alef’.

When I finish making mental notes about the three of them, the flow of the time resumes, and the conversation they were having is allowed to play out.

“Just give me everything already! I’ll pay you! Hear that?! I want to down the whole barrel!” 

The young master, Sheshier Sindara, yells out while grabbing onto the collar of the wine seller Omar.

“It’s not about the money…” Omar looks toward the neatly dressed uncle to the right of him with a troubled expression. “Say something, Boss Alef.”

“Young Master Sheshier, please listen to him.”

Alef puts his hands on the ginger-haired young master’s shoulder, only to make him choke up even more.

“S-shut up! Just, *hic* just give me some wine already!”

Omar and Alef look at each other helplessly. Eventually, the latter gives the former a nod. 

“Haa~ Okay. I guess since you’re an adult, you can do whatever you want with your life. But you can’t say people didn’t try to warn you.”

Seemingly having succumbed to his sympathy, Omar sighs and drops the handle of his cart to the ground.

“This barrel is from Maziono. Top grade.” Omar smacks the side of one of the wooden barrels in his cart before looking back at Sheshier. “I bet there are some exotic ingredients in there too. But this is the only one I’m giving you. I still need to deliver the rest to the nearby taverns.”

“Whatever, I’ll pay! Gimme gimme.”

Omar lets out yet another sigh and walks to the back of his cart. He then uses both of his hands to lift the heavy-looking barrel and takes a few careful steps back.

—And that’s when Master walks up to him and lightly blows into his left ear.

“Phew~”

“Waaaaaaaahh~!”

Omar loses his balance and falls down, dropping the wine barrel!

Cracks~!

The barrel of wine cracks opens the moment it hits the ground and begins to roll, spraying the entire content of the barrel all over the cobbled streets!

And while that’s happening, the Scry boy turns around the corner and steps right into the pool of wine! He slips and falls into the wine. It makes a splash, and the ragged cloak he’s wearing becomes entirely soaked in it.

The two guards catch up to him. The Scry boy quickly picks up the fallen pieces of bread and continues running away.

“What was that?”

“My wine! Quick! Give me another barrel!”

“Like I said I can’t! Oh, damn it, the cart!”

In the moment of confusion, Omar accidentally kicks the handle of the cart that he had put down, causing the cart to tip over, and the wine barrels to be sent rolling down the street.

A couple of people are able to quickly dodge out of the way of the rolling barrel, like that beast-eared girl who dresses like a thief, but a few unfortunate ones end up stumbling or falling over because of it.

[Kyrias——0.000…0121…%——Divergence]

“At least some people will be lucky enough to get free wine delivered to their doorsteps, eh, Steve?”

—I’m sure they’ll be super thrilled about a giant wine barrel smashing into their face when they open it...

“Well, now that we have the ingredients ready, let’s move on to the next scene.”

My eyes follow the figure of the Scry boy, who disappears after reaching the top of a series of steps. And even though the timing and location are different, just like last time, the lady who almost fell over because of the Scry boy is caught again by one of the guards before they continue to chase after him.

Snap—!

But with the snap of Master’s fingers, the entire scene changes again. And we’re now standing in the middle of the streets surrounded by people; laughing, eating, taking in the sights of the numerous stalls under the decorative flags and lanterns. 

“The second location where the most casualties intersect is this food market street. Since it’s currently the most crowded part of the whole city by a large margin. There are plenty of things that could send the crowd into a frenzy. 

“For example: That Desmunese Necromancer who suddenly has the bright idea to try to resurrect fish bones, or that Mazionian slime monster trying to sell parts of its body for money.”

Master takes a few steps forward, phasing through the people who are completely unaware of our existence.

“But for this occasion, we’ll be mainly using those two.

“Kei Sera, an Umaran boy who can’t seem to catch a break.”

He points toward the black-haired, blue-eyed boy who’s waiting in front of a noodle stand in the distance.

“And a living Giant Fire Squid that’s currently being displayed at the front of that store that sells spicy squid over there.”

“...”

—How the hell did I not notice that being there before?!

Not far away from where we’re both standing, there’s a gigantic wooden tub of water where a giant squid-like creature occasionally pokes its head and tentacles out of the water. There’s also quite a crowd gathered around the squid watching it with interest.

—Why is there a Giant Fire Squid or whatever in the middle of the street? Isn’t anyone afraid? What if it just suddenly reaches out to grab someone and eats them?

“It’s been surrounded with cold water and sedated. So it’s basically harmless.”

—That doesn’t seem like the only problem, is it?!

“Well, it’s there.”

I take a deep breath and rub my temple: “Okay… So how are you planning to use it to cause a commotion?”

“Well, what most people don’t know is that. Even the most weakened of the Fire Squids can be invigorated by a particular type of chemical compound found in one species of aquatic plants native to the seas of Maziono.”

“A plant?”

“Yeah, the people called it March Grapes. And sometimes, they are fermented and turned into wine.”

“Ah. I see.”

—Wait… 

“Wait, wait, wait, what are you planning to do exactly?”

Like it was timed perfectly to my question, the Scry boy appears, holding a bag of bread and running through the crowd to where Master and I are standing. 

—And that’s when it happens.

“Aah!”

To the shock of everyone (including me), one of the Giant Fire Squid’s arms reach out from the depths of the wooden water tub and grab onto the Scry boy’s ankle! 

The Scry boy struggles, and eventually, a small piece of the rag covering him is torn off by the Giant Squid’s arms before he's able to break free!

As the Scry boy picks up the fallen pieces of bread and continues to stumble forward again. The Giant Squid drags a piece of rag all the way to its mouth and rinses it—causing a drop of dark red liquid to fall...

Then slowly, the entire body of the Giant Squid slowly straightens. Its skin begins to turn red, and the water around it that was put there to keep it soothed is slowly turning to vapor.

Every onlooker is too speechless by the scene in front of them to do anything. 

Until eventually…

“KaaaaaaAaaarrrRghh~!”

—The Giant Squid bursts into the air and propels itself forward using the fire that’s spewing from its mouth like a jet engine!

“...” 

“Kyrias really has some wild creatures.”

“Who the hell allowed this thing to be displayed?!” 

“It made for a good showpiece, look how many people gathered in front of the shop, Steve.” 

The Giant Squid slams into the ground after staying airborne for a few seconds. Looks like it can’t just continuously propel itself forward using its flame—meaning that it can’t catch up to the Scry boy who’s running at full speed that easily. 

—However, the speed at which it spews forth another burst of flames and launches itself into the air again is frankly terrifying!

The two guards arrive at the now empty wooden tub. Look around confused for a bit. Then the older one yells at the other two guards who are already stationed around the corner to “stay and protect the civilian” before the two of them break off running again.

Meanwhile, the pure heat radiating from the Giant Squid's breath catches on a few of the stalls’ roofs and causes a few lanterns to burn up… which then slowly spreads to the ropes, which then spreads to the flags, which then spreads basically everywhere!

Moreover, some other types of live ingredients also began to gain life because of the commotion and start wiggling and jumping out of their confinements: some fish, some crickets! All the store owners sent their staff to take care of the problems!

—Why are there so many of these shops, by the way? How much do you guys like live food? 

Back in the front, in the middle of the street where countless people are running in the opposite direction of the flying Giant Squid spewing flames all over the place...

—Kei Sera, an Umaran boy who can’t seem to catch a break, looks down at the fallen bowl of noodles with a pitiful face. 

“My… noodles…”

It seems like the commotion that caused people to run away from the Giant Squid had somehow robbed him of his meal again. Poor guy. I wonder what Master—who’s currently walking toward him—will whisper into his ears to make his day even worse.

“—Giant Squid with spicy noodles sounds absolutely delicious.”

Kei Sera’s body suddenly stiffens.

After a few seconds...

His eyes flare up with blue-ish light!

“Dieeeeeeeeee! Stupid squid!”

—Then he sprints after the Giant Fire Squid and the Scry boy with the face of someone who’s been starved for centuries!

…Maybe I should’ve noticed it earlier, but is there something wrong with this kid? Really.

Far in the front, people are screaming and trying to run away from the Scry boy’s path after seeing what’s coming after him. While all around, most of the decorative lamps and flags hanging from the buildings are getting caught on fire.

And with the two guards and Kei Sera chasing after the Giant Squid with a vengeance while constantly barraging it with shards of ice that he conjured up from thin air, the food market street is now in a complete uproar...

[Kyrias——0.0053220….%——Divergence]

—And it didn't even do much...

“Well, it’s only the beginning.”

While the corner of my mouth is still twitching, Master says and uses his book to swipe the air, and we’re immediately transported to a different location.

This time, Master and I are standing on a part of the street that leads to a large clearing where, in front of the huge crowd gathering here, there’s a large improvised stage in the middle of a performance.

“Third location. The public theater at the main plaza.

“There’s a new and upcoming actress by the name of Richea Rivellu—an extremely talented [Dream Walker] from Carinaru who left a path of becoming one of the most powerful [Dream Witches] in the world to pursue a career in acting. This is the first time she’s ever performed in front of such a large crowd.”

Master gestures toward the woman who’s currently performing on stage. She has curly blonde hair and is dressed in a frilly, high-society attire.

When I was here before, I didn't look around all that thoroughly.

Since this is probably one of the main attractions of the festival, there are easily over a few hundred people of all races and sizes here—I can even see those fur-ball-looking things again. Some people are standing against the walls of buildings watching the show, while some are sitting directly on the ground.

The lamps and lanterns on the nearby streets seem to have been deliberately put out by the crew, making the public stage the only place that’s being lit up.

—It's quite fancy.

“Annnnd, right on cue.”

"...?"

Masters mumbles something when I hear the sound of footsteps from behind me. 

Pat~ Pat~ Pat~

I turn around and see the Scry boy’s tattered appearance running this way at full speed, still desperately holding on to that bag of bread.

The guards and the Giant Squid seem to have not caught up just yet. Although I can still see the faint glow and smoke coming from above the buildings further behind him. 

As the Scry boy continues to run, none of the people watching the performance in the darkness pay any attention to him.

Master decides to run along with him. Naturally, I follow them.

When the Scry boy reaches the side of a small line of fences that's clearly been placed there to separate the backstage area with all the tents from the street, Master whispers in his right ear.

“This way, please~” 

And points to the tents.

"I see… since the Scry boy's only focusing on running, we can make him sneak into the back of the theater area without realizing it."

"Yep, yep."

We follow the Scry boy a bit more as he runs through a few tents, goes up a few flights of stairs, rushes past a few people standing in front of a curtain, and enters it.

—Before he knew it, the Scry boy appeared on the stage before the massive gatherings of people. 

“...!”

He looks left and right in panic under the orange glow of the stage lights, holding that bag of bread, not quite knowing what to do.

—I'm confused too, to be honest.

“So what exactly is supposed to be happening here, Master?”

“Shhh~ Look over there.”

Master points to the woman who’s standing in the middle of the stage.

After seeing the Scry boy's appearance on stage, Richea’s face shows a small sign of panic—but only for a moment. Within a few seconds, an expression of calmness and elegance returned to her face.

“Oh, lost lamps. May I ask what brings you here on this one fateful night?”

While speaking in a tone that befits her appearance, Richea smiles and holds out her hands…

Pa!

—And the Scry boy slaps her hand away immediately.

Richea: “...”

Me: "..."

The Audience: "..."

The Scry boy, who notices the frozen smile on the face of the woman in front of him, backs away from her slowly, then breaks into a run and jumps down the front of the stage before weaving his way through the crowd. 

Probably because no one knew whether or not he was part of the performance, nobody tries to stop him either.

The Scry boy appeared and disappeared in a blink of an eye, leaving behind only prolonged, awkward silence to hang in the air.

.....

After a while, the audience begins to murmur.

“This is bad. We’ve paused too long. The crews are also confused. Is our first performance going to collapse just because of this?"

Back on stage, Master walks right next to Richea who also seems to be in quite a shock.

“But as long as you’re here, you won’t let it end like this. Isn’t that right, Richea?” 

Master pumps his fist and whispers into the right ear of the blonde-haired woman. 

“The show must go on! Fight-o~!”

In the next moment, Richea’s eyes light up with determination. 

But as she turns around to address the crowd…

Kroooomm—! 

—The Giant Squid bursts through the stage props behind her, destroying the set, and lighting the curtain on fire! 

"..."

“““AaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAaahhhHHH—!!””” 

The Giant Squid stops for a second to scan the horizon for the Scry boy, then immediately launches into the air once it finds its target and propels itself forward again!

This time, the audience who were only confused before immediately starts screaming in terror and running away!

Back on stage, Kei Sera also appears from behind the burning curtain.

He glances around for a bit, then looks at the petrified Richea.

“Oops, sorry, auntie.”

—And then he just leaves.

Plob~!

Richea, as if a woman who’s just lost everything, falls to her knees with her head slumped over her shoulder. 

“So, Master, is there a reason you decide to ruin her day in particular, or is this going to become very important somehow.”

“Although I feel really sorry—like, really really.“

Master walks over to pat Richea on her shoulder.

“Richea Rivellu’s emotional outbursts have the tendency to create interesting situations.”

When she looks up again, from her irises, mysterious purple lights begin to shine.

Bang—!

Richea punches the floor with her bare fist then casts her gaze straight toward the Giant Squid and Kei Sera, and whispers a sentence.

“—Get them.”

In an instant, the panicking audiences below the stage simultaneously stop their movements!

Then slowly, from one person to the next like a spreading virus, they turn to Richea—purple light begins to shine from their eyes.

“““As you command.”””

Then they all turn around and begin stampeding after the Scry Boy, the Giant Squid, and Kei Sera.

—Every. Single. One. Of them.

“For Lady Richea!”

“Get out of the way!”

“Get that squid and those two kids! Capture them!”

Back on stage, the two guards eventually catch up to lay eyes upon the unfolding scene of carnage, absolutely terrified! 

"..."

[Kyrias——0.06533…%——Divergence]

Master smiles after hearing the Grand Archive’s notification and opens his book, letting it rifle through its own pages.

“Good, good, it looks like the ball’s started rolling already.”

—I'd argue that's kind of an understatement.

Even from here, I can see how the waves that started right here at the public theater are quickly beginning to have a rippling effect on the Elysian Capital.

Half of the people on the streets are running after the Giant Squid and the Scry Boy… while the other half are trying to run out of the way of the crowd. 

“Next scene, next scene—”

Snap—!

Master’s book snaps shut. And we’re once again transported to a different location.

“Fourth location. The Fireworks Warehouse.

“There should be some time before they arrive. But we should still be quick.”

This time, we’re standing by the side of a building that... looks like a warehouse. There are several of those warehouses around here actually, so I supposed this part of the city is some kind of storage area.

I look back in the direction of the public theater. Even though we should be a little bit far away from the main attraction of the festival, there are still quite a lot of people walking around in the streets. Most of them seem to be transporting stuff in and out.

—Which makes me dread the oncoming wave even more.

When I look back again, Master's already walked around the nearby corner to the side of the warehouse. And I follow him to see two suspiciously looking people tinkering with the door handle in the dark.

They’re… quite small. But judging from their attire, they look more like craftsmen than simple children. 

—Soooooo… [Dwarfs]? 

“Dimitri Melies, a young dwarven craftsman who’s very upset about the fact that his fireworks were deemed too dangerous to display, and his younger brother who’s trying his best to comfort him.” 

Master begins to explain, walking to the side of the dwarf that’s doing something with the lock with a serious expression on his face while the other one is nervously looking left and right over his shoulder.

“During the evening, they came up with a plan to break in and ‘retrieve’ their fireworks, put them in the cart, transport them outside the city, and then launch them without risking having to go through the procedures. 

“Unfortunately, when they reach the door of the warehouse, they are blocked by a 5-number lock with 90,000 possible combinations which the two of them only have a 0.01% chance of getting right.”

“It’s pointless Kolas, let’s just leave before anyone notices us.”

“Don’t worry, Big Brother, I feel like I’m getting close….”

 “—[22545]”

  Click—! 

“Oh, it seems like luck is on our side today.”

“How is this even….?” 

I cast a narrowed gaze at the blatantly cheating Master as the person continues to smile to himself self-satisfied-ly.

After unlocking the door, the two dwarven brothers quickly move to transport the fireworks inside into the cart they’ve brought with them. 

But while they're doing that, behind them, a small figure cloaked in a wine-smelling and slightly-burnt rag, runs by.... followed by a giant squid propelling itself forward by constantly spewing fire, followed by a black-haired boy throwing shards of ice after it, followed by a few dozen knights.

“What are they doing?”

“Some kind of… chase?”

—Followed by a horde of mind-controlled audiences from the public theater!

“W-what the hell is going on?”

“Big Brother, the cart!”

“Ah!”

For a moment, the older brother's so distracted by the stampeding crowd that he forgets to hold on to the cart full of potentially dangerous fireworks!

It rolls out of the alley into the main street, somehow turns right on its own, and continues to travel down with the two panicking brothers running after it!

Master teleports both of us onto the roof of a nearby building, giving me the opportunity to look at everything happening from a distance.

“—Oh, by the way, Steve, when the event manager who took care of the fireworks displays said that their fireworks were too dangerous...”

As Master begins to explain calmly. The cart hit a bump, and one of the balls of fireworks fell out. 

The ball of gunpowder rolls on the ground before igniting due to the trail left behind by the Giant Squid’s flame-spewing...

Booom—!

The thing explodes, sending a shockwave across the streets, knocking down some of the parades that came from the public theater along with some innocent passersby as well as breaking a few windows before sending out colorful sparks of light flying everywhere!

“—They were right.” 

“Aren’t these just explosive then!?”

“Very colorful explosives.”

—Rolling down the road, destroying everything in their path.

Booom—!  Booom—! Booom—!

The shockwave of fiery explosions continues to travel down the streets of the Elysian Capital. 

The sky lights up with light.

And also debris…

[Kyrias——0.712….%——Divergence]

I gently rub my temple that’s starting to ache and voice my concern to Master.

“Hold on, Master, with everything that’s happening, how do you make sure no one gets severely injured?”

“Hope.”

“...”

—Brother, you couldn't even be more heartless even if you try!

“Wasn’t the whole point of asking for my help in the first place, was to change this world without any sacrifice?”

I sigh and remind him. Even though Master probably doesn’t need to be reminded of anything. 

“Tch, fine, I’ll make sure nothing too serious happens to anyone.”

I was expecting some snarky replies. But somehow, he gives in quite easily.

After that, Master and I teleport all over the Elysian Capital to whisper into the ears of people who are in danger: a lady running away from the commotion with her daughter, a young man who got caught in between the wave of people.

“Back, back. Don’t get hit by a falling tree pot..”

“Look to your left. There’s a sharp icicle coming at you.”

“Better stay in place for, you know, in case the roof caves in for some inexplicable reason.” 

—Even though Master spent barely a second on each person. In the end, a few dozen people are barely able to avoid disaster because of him.

“Happy?”

“I guess?”

Some of the knights that stand guarding all of the nearby areas are also starting to organize a way to minimize the number of people getting injured.

—Unfortunately for those hard-working people, there’s still one more turn left for the Scry boy to make… and one more location on Master’s list. 

“Fifth location, the rail station for transporting cargo between the rings.” 

After quickly finishing the debacle with the firework brothers, Master and I reappear again on another fairly open plaza.

In front of us, there’s a station that serves as an access point to two large stone platforms connected to some kind of ‘rails’ for movement.

The entire mechanism for it seems to be built-in to the side of the steep mountainous terrain of the Elysian Capital, cutting all the way through several layers of the city, with numerous walls separating the moving section from the rest. Even though I don’t see any kind of gears or pulleys, those stone platforms seem to be able to slide up and down along those predetermined paths very efficiently.

—It looks quite advanced. But I’m not going to ask how it works because Master’ll probably give me a lecture.

I look around a bit more and notice that despite there being only a few people here, there are a few interesting points that caught my attention.

For example, there’s a group of people gathering around what looks like an ancient mechanical device some distance away. And an old man who's just sleeping with eyes closed—in the middle of the street, wearing nothing but old shabby clothes with a stick by his side.

“Hmm~ Since this is the final stretch, let’s finish it off with a bang. So, let’s go with these three instead.”

When Master finishes his sentence. I’m teleported along to the front of one of the elevated stone platforms.

Here, one of the people in uniform is currently talking to a figure wrapped in so many layers of cloak that his, or maybe its, appearance is entirely hidden.

More importantly, the figure is holding onto the rein of a giant—positively massive—lizard-like creature that’s also carrying and dragging along several stories worth of boxes of cargo behind him.

“Marka, a wandering merchant from the land of Desmundheim—stuck at the middle ring platform because he over-encumbered the weight limit. Anya, a very annoyed platform operator who would rather be doing anything else right now. And a large Cargo Beast who’s very hungry and having to wait very long for his owner to talk out his deal with the platform operator.”

Master explains to me the basics of the situation while walking closer to the side of ‘Marka’ the wandering merchant. 

“H-how much do I have t-to pay… I-in order to get my cargo up into the inner ring?” The bundle of cloaks shaped like a person begins to speak. Though, I don’t know why he’s stuttering.

The person in front of him, Anya, a normal-looking young man with straight brown hair and brown eyes, sighs in response.

“We don’t accept bribes. It’s not service time. Plus there's only me here and your entire cargo is obviously too much for the automated system to handle.”

“But my Cargo Beast is hungry, can’t you see?”

“Then feed it.”

“I can’t! Not until the cargo is considered delivered! You Elysians must know about [contracts] better than anyone!”

Marka the Wandering Merchant holds his hand and begs, desperately trying to convince Anya to help him.

Eventually, the brown-haired young man lets out yet another sigh.

“Haaaa~ Fine, I’ll help you,” says Anya as he writes something on the piece of paper in his hand. “I’ll form another contract and change the conditions so that when the platform reaches the next station, it'll consider yours as fulfilled. Since my authority is higher in the eye of His Majesty Ense, it should be able to overwrite your existing one.”

“Thank you so much~”

Receiving permission (I think, I don't really get it), Marka skips forward happily and begins leading the Cargo Beast to drag all of its hauls onto the stone platform.

Meanwhile, Anya walks over to… what seems to be some sort of terminal. It’s made of stone, and there are dials and levers on them that I think are supposed to be tied to the movement of the stone platforms somehow.

Anya puts his hand on the terminal and the platform, along with Marka and the Cargo Beast, slowly moves upward. 

—That’s when Master walks to the right of him and whispers into his ear.

“Focus. Focus, Anya Ophelp. You need to pay attention or else everything on the platform will go flying—by the way what’s that sound?”

“After them!”

“For Lady Richea!”

“Get out of the way!”

Suddenly, out of nowhere, impossibly loud shoutings came from the main street—along with sounds of explosion and colorful, blinding light!

Anya's unable to resist turning around to the source of the sound. But the moment he does, all of the massive stone platforms—not just the one that Marka is on—instantly shoot up with incredible speed, causing everything that was previously on them to get launched into orbit!

“NOoooooOOoooOOOOooooooOOOO—!”

I hear a scream from the wandering merchant. And in a literal blink of an eye, Master and I appear by Marka’s side on the stone platform that’s rapidly traveling up. 

As Marko desperately tries to fix the ropes that tie all of his hauls together, Master calmly walks to the Cargo Beast and places one hand on the side of its scaly face. 

“—Can’t be fed… doesn’t mean you can’t hunt.”

And then, for some reason beyond my comprehension, the massive Cargo Beast breaks into a full sprint and lunges directly off of the platform.

“StooooOoooOOOoop!”

“ROoooooOR~!”

“Kaaaaaaarghh~!”

The Cargo Beast plunges down from the sky! Its trajectory lines up exactly with the path the Giant Squid is traveling through the air!

KaraaAaaaAAaaAAAaAaaaMmmMmmm—! 

The two beasts collide violently in mid-air, causing the both of them to immediately tumble to the street below!

The Scry boy stumbles due to the shockwave from the impact, but after picking up the fallen pieces of bread from the ground again, he is able to continue running without looking back! 

Kei Sera manages to avoid directly getting crushed by the bodies of the two beasts, and the rest of the guards try their best to get in the way of the stampeding crowd.

The Giant Squid seems to have been injured quite severely when the Cargo beast lunged at it. And now, instead of being hell-bent on chasing after the Scry boy, it’s trying to run away from the Cargo beast and Kei Sera who are running at it at full speed!

The Cargo Beast roars. Kei Sera continues to throw shards of ice. And the Giant Squid occasionally fires back jets of flame to attack its pursuers, causing even more of the fire to spread to the surroundings. The horde of people from the theater is now chasing after them too!

Right now there are two monsters fighting. People chasing them. People who are chasing after the people chasing after them. People running away from them. And people who are running away from the people running away from them and all the other stuff that's seemingly falling out of the sky, while the fireworks and explosions continue on endlessly!  

—Wait, fireworks? I guess the fire got into the warehouse somehow? 

Yeah, might as well….

Meanwhile, the fire that was started at the food market street has already spread so much that the smoke and flames can be seen all the way over here.

—Along with all the screams.

"Dieeeeeeeee, you stupid squid!"

“Capture them! For Lady Richea!”

“Who the hell hit me?! One of you did, who the hell was it?” 

“Yeah, it was me! It was an accident! What are you gonna do about it? —Agh! Bastard, you want to fight?!”

“My shop! My goods!”

“This wine tastes amazing, *burb*, doesn’t anyone have more? Oh, what’s that barrel rolling down—fghhgh!”

“ROoooooOR~!”

“Kaaaaaaarghh~!”

“Fire! Someone put out the fire!”

“Fire?! Who cares about a fire!? I got hit by a random shard of ice and now I can’t feel my hand, help me first!”

Booom—!  Booom—! Booom—!

Looking at the ridiculous state of the city below, somehow, it makes me want to laugh.

“Is this... really the best way to do this?”

“Yep.”

Master smiles and says simply.

As the fireworks continue to shoot into the sky, this entire part of the capital has been turned into pandemonium. 

[Kyrias——1%——Divergence]

—And just like that, the 1% threshold has been thoroughly smashed to smithereens.

—————…..….

“It’ll only get harder from here, though.”

After observing the city from above for a little while, Master decides to turn around and walk in the opposite direction.

“Where are we going now?”

“The Scry boy has taken advantage of the opportunity and ran to hide in an alley already, sooo…”

Master lightly taps his chin with the back edge of his book twice and smiles.

“Back to the beginning, I guess?”

With each individual step Master takes, the surroundings peel away. 

Eventually, the scenery around us changes into that of a dark alley where, a little further away, a boy with messy black-haired breathes ruggedly in the shadows. 

His hands—no, his entire body is shaking. The dirty rag he used to cover himself with is torn and shredded; fairly severe bruises can be seen on his arms and legs.

Despite his miserable appearance, right now, the Scry boy seems to only care about the piece of bread that’s holding in his hands. After such a long and arduous journey to obtain it, the Scry boy is able to stuff the piece of bread into his mouth.

But immediately after taking one bite, the Scry boy starts coughing violently and ends up dropping the bag of bread to the ground.

The pieces of bread roll around, dirty and covered in mud.

However, when the Scry boy tries to reach out to them, he finds himself unable to do so.

That's when I notice that, on the Scry boy's chest, aside from the bruises, there's a small area covered in frost. 

—Did a piece of Kei Sera's ice shard hit him anyway?

"Master, isn't this bad?"

"No, rather this is what we wanted to happen. Because we have done all the necessary preparations, he's going to not drop dead immediately. Plus."

The Scry boy’s thin, shaking arm falls back down, his body that is completely drained of strength after running for so long slumps against the cold, hard wall of the building, shivering with every heaving breath. 

—He can no longer move.

“Robert and VV will pass by soon enough.”

As those words are spoken by Master, at the entrance of the alley that we’re in, a few figures cast their shadows. A man, and a little girl, talking to two people in plated armor.

Because of how small the alley is, even the smallest of noises echo, so every single word of their conversation can be heard very clearly.

“Hello, Mister. You are a guard, right?”

The one who’s asking is a blonde-haired young guard who was one of the original two that begins chasing after the Scry boy. His name is Charles, I think. And the old man's name's Kyle if I remember correctly.

“Robert. I’m off duty.”

The two guards quietly look at the figure of VV hiding behind Robert while holding his hand and decide not to press the issue. Conveniently, walking around with a little girl seems to increase your trustworthiness. 

“There was a Scry boy running this way after stealing a bag of bread.”

“A Scry?”

Robert raised his voice suspiciously. At the same time, a loud scream can be heard, along with the roars of the two monsters.

“Is he the reason for all this commotion?”

“Well, no, but yes? It’s complicated. Anyways, have you seen anything?”

Charles scratches his cheeks awkwardly.

After a pause that is neither too long nor too short, Roberts gives him an answer.

“Ah, I think I saw a small shadow going into that alley.” 

Robert points to another place a little further away from where we are. The two guards nod to him and promptly leave.

After they do, Robert immediately turns his attention toward the darkened alleyway.

Within the small space that is seemingly isolated from the rest of the world, the sound of footsteps reverberates.

“There’s our cue.”

Master walks over to the Scry boy and squats down in front of him. 

Staring at his face, Master quietly issues a command to the Grand Archive.

“Establish [Catalyst]: ESPD-20033.”

[Authority Confirmed: Permission Granted to the Sixth Master of the Grand Archive.]

[Catalyst Role: Established.]

“From this moment on, we’ll be relying on you for a lot of things…”

As the footsteps resound louder and louder, and the voice of Master falls, the Scry boy slowly closes his eyes.

“—Kirell.”