Chapter 157 – 157 – At the End of the Lost World
The sound of thunder echoed through the palace. It appears that giant weapons are passing nearby and trampling the ground.
Erina flinched greatly, but did her best to keep her smile. The president’s daughter should not show a scared expression in front of the public. Especially when her father was glaring behind her photographer.
The photographer, who had fallen flat on the floor as if he had mistaken it for a bombing, found courage in her expression and got up and finished filming. The President, who received the photo of his daughter he had just taken on his electronic watch, smiled in satisfaction and patted the photographer on the back.
“It’s okay. Let’s go out.”
“Glory to Etheria and the Capitol of Humanity! Victory to the homeland! Death to the enemies!”
“Yes, glory be to you.”
The President accepted the photographer’s salute as he headed towards the evacuation ship with a kind face. And when she and her daughter were alone in the large room, her face hardened.
In the suffocating silence, Erina suddenly frowned.
‘What? What happened? I was definitely in the ruins of the Colossus maintenance facility?’
“Erina de Soprania. My beloved daughter.”
‘Didn’t you spread a blanket in an abandoned warehouse and kiss a burnt Bantai? What happened? Why is the Presidential Palace, which was destroyed a long time ago, still intact?’
“…Am I not speaking right now?”
Erina blushed and sat up straight. The bushy-bearded president frowned.
“300 minutes left.”
“Yes?”
“300 minutes from now, we, the true human race, Etheria, will send an ultimatum to Evernaum, the land of evil royalists. There is no way these murderous demons, worse than demons, will accept our demand for surrender, so what happens next? “It’s all-out war. Do you have anything to say to your father who is heading to the battlefield?”
Erina heard those words 9 years ago. She knows what will happen.
Heading to the battlefield means being conscious of the guards surrounding them. This is nothing more than bravado to promote patriotism.
Unlike other heads of families who are driven to the front lines, the father goes to the bunker. The safest bunker in all of Etheria.
And because the location of the bunker had already been discovered by the enemy, contrary to his intentions, he exploded before anyone else. Etheria, whose command system has been destroyed, cries out for mutual destruction toward Evernaum and pours out all its means of destruction at each other.
In this way, the last two nations of mankind perish. Like all other countries that have already disappeared.
“W-wish you good luck…?”
“Tsk.”
President Soprania turned around as if he had not expected anything.
In fact, Erina has never kicked his ass. From the moment she was born she was a disappointment. For her father, who wanted his son to be a soldier of steel, Erina was a traitor who robbed the mother of the place where her successor should be held.
Therefore, the commander-in-chief of Theria’s military will not listen to what her sickly daughter says. Erina stood up without knowing it.
“Go, Your Excellency!”
The President turned around with a look of anticipation on his face. She probably wanted to say a heartfelt goodbye.
Erina disappointed him again.
“Are you really going to carry out an annihilation operation just by believing the words of someone called a ‘savior’? It’s definitely suspicious!”
“So, are you still planning to act like an anti-war activist at this moment, which may be your last?”
The president, his face scrunched up in an ugly way, squeezed Erina’s arms tightly. Erina was going to break her bones, she thought.
“If you have taken the Savior’s words to heart, you will already know that if we hesitate to launch the ‘Continent Destroyer’ missiles, their ‘Continent Destroyers’ will only sweep across Etheria. The only solution is to suppress them with a preemptive zero point strike. “While our preparations for war are thorough and perfect, they will urinate and squirm the moment our notice rings out!”
“···It doesn’t work that way. Don’t even believe the propaganda your father made up to deceive others! You’ll all die!”
Erina shouted, trying to shake off her father. The golden medals and decorations that were hanging on the president’s coat fell to the ground in the struggle.
Perhaps thinking that those cold crafts were more important than her daughter, the President threw Erina away, screaming in anger. Erina fell against the velvet chair her photographer had set up for her.
“Everyone will die? Wasn’t it enough for you to make unpatriotic agitations and talk about not supporting the war through World Web broadcasts, and then to humiliate me by being taken to a correctional facility? Your mother and relatives are in Evernaum. Isn’t being killed by terrorists enough? What should I do to make you change your mind?
“Stop firing…”
“Stop firing? Oh, that’s genius, daughter. Then one of the two countries will survive! In a world where true humanity has disappeared, only the descendants of the enemy nation will live with smiles on their faces! Do you think you’ll let that happen? What’s in your blood? “Why are you spewing out such ugly things as a traitor!”
“Ugh, if you think rationally… Joining forces against monsters… Comes first. Most of humanity’s territory was taken over by monsters, and they were driven to this narrow island, calling each other non-humans. “Are you saying that the same people are killing each other?”
“Ebernaum takes our right to survive first-“
“I’ve heard so much that they’ve been fighting back and forth for a long time. But what can you say? Even then, they didn’t fight each other with the intention of completely eradicating each other from the face of the earth. There weren’t like now, when there were only two countries left in the world! They’re going extinct, Father! Humanity is disappearing from this land!”
“I can’t listen to you. Drag me out. Be thankful that you were born a woman. If you weren’t a woman’s body, I would have tied a magic bomb to your body and sent you to the trench!”
The guards, who were watching the father and daughter’s argument with tension, helped Erina to her feet. And then, holding on to Erina tightly, we headed towards the evacuation ship.
The last sight of her father in Erina’s memory was saving a picture of her daughter on the desktop of her electronic watch and kissing her daughter’s screen.
However, my current father expressed anger instead of love by kicking and breaking expensive filming equipment and silk chairs.
That’s it. That was all the difference Erina could make upon returning from her doomed future.
Erina could not change the tide of her time.
So that’s it. After 300 minutes, everything will disappear in the flames of magical engineering.
The continent destroyer will destroy the last descendants of the world. From the Presidential Palace to public restrooms, all buildings, high and low, will equally be turned to pitch black powder. The spark of magic engineering, which was fading due to the decline of humanity, will also be completely extinguished. Universities, the cradle of learning, will all be flattened.
The Ark on the web, where countless people’s joys and sorrows are stored, and the series of popular blockbusters that made people laugh and cry will soon be forgotten. Like a brief rain that passes between seasons.
When everyone was looking for the ranked game or the musicians who were playing George, the atmosphere of the end times suddenly increased, so the speed of work suddenly picked up momentum. However, the masterpieces released so hastily will soon go out of print. An alternate history novel that contains a longing for the shadow world where ancient humans lived will also not be published no matter how much avid readers like Erina wait for the next volume.
Well, there is a positive side. You won’t be able to listen to any more nonsense from ‘Savior’ fanatics.
Anyway, everything Erina loves or hates will disappear. And Erina has no power to do anything about it.
In fact, he couldn’t even support his sprained shin from being beaten by his father. He was very weak when he was young, and at that time he was not a fit porter, able to stand on just one toe.
It was around this time that the unbearable feeling of helplessness slowly began to well up in my tear ducts.
“Erina?”
I heard his voice. Erina was startled and raised her head.
Her guard, who was supporting Erina’s left arm and looking down at her with contemptuous eyes, was caught by a grappling hook that came out of nowhere, causing her to scream and rise up. The guard who was supporting Erina’s right arm looked up at her ceiling in confusion.
Tan, who quietly sat down behind the guard using the guard as weight, rushed at him without missing the opportunity. A guard who was struck by a 120 kg porter’s backpack on his defenseless chin rolled his eyes and collapsed. When Tan let go of the grappling hook, the guard hanging from the ceiling also screamed and collided with the floor, fainting.
As soon as her support disappeared, Erina, who had injured her leg, fell down, screaming out loud. Tan panicked and ran to Erina to help her.
Tan was dressed neatly in military uniform. Erina was wearing a dress for her shoot. The way she supported Erina’s back as lightly as her feathers made it look like she was dancing at a social party.
The porter, who was good-natured enough to be mistaken for a woman, looked down at Erina and swallowed her saliva, wondering what she was thinking. Erina asked awkwardly.
“···What happened to us?”
“I’ll tell you if you promise not to hit me.”
“If you help me up, I promise I won’t hit you.”
Tan helped Erina up. And she spread her distance exactly the length of Erina’s arms.
Erina, limping on her feet and leaning against the wall, narrowed her eyes and raised her fists as if boxing. Tan, who was a little shorter than Erina, swallowed her saliva, unsure of her height.
“They said they wouldn’t hit me.”
“I promised I wouldn’t hit you, but seeing you back away doesn’t mean you did something that deserves a hit? Please explain.”
“This is your memory, Erina. The symbol of the Goddess Ishtar engraved on me has the power to trace the memories of those it touches. Lilith told me about it, but that power malfunctioned… So I was pushing you too hard. In the meantime, the power of consciousness ran wild…”
“Ah, I remembered. You son of a bitch, why don’t you put your hands in your pants first because we’re following the order!”
“Sorry···.”
As Erina snorted, her tan took half a step back.
“···Anyway, in the meantime, I think we both fell into Erina’s consciousness.”
“I’m experiencing all kinds of strange things because I’m with a human being who is receiving attention from God. I’m glad I didn’t return to the past just because there was a runaway of dangerous artifacts… Wait a minute. It’s still a little early to say I’m lucky.”
Erina recalled a movie she saw when she was young. Then he ripped off one of her decorative buttons from her dress, placed it on the floor, and spun it like a top.
When Tan frowned as if asking what he was doing, Erina urgently asked.
“If I die here, won’t I be able to return to reality?”
“No. Whatever happens here has no effect on you in real life. If you fall or die in a dream, you wake up, right? It’s the same. Let’s think of it as a more realistic dream.”
Lilith, who walked out from behind Tan, said. Erina’s button fell down as if wondering what on earth she was thinking.
Erina sighed deeply in relief.
“···Where did you get those clothes?”
“I knocked down one of the guards, took off her clothes, stole them, and put them on. But these people didn’t know what the salute slogan was, so I thought I would get caught, so I hung on the ceiling and hid. If Lilith said, I would go find Erina who would be nearby. “I was wandering around.”
“Why did you carry out your infiltration strategy with so much sincerity? If you get caught early and are beaten to death quickly, isn’t it beneficial because you will wake up from your dream quickly?”
Erina jumped up and stretched her legs. Perhaps because she realized it was a dream, her injured leg no longer hurt.
“Let’s see, let’s find a way to explode it quickly. There are probably some explosives buried under the Presidential Palace. The military said they couldn’t let the enemy take over the palace, so they laid it down. Now, shall we go detonate it?”
“···Really?”
“This is not the time to just be dreaming. The road is long and there is a lot of work to do.”
“Isn’t this the time when you’re dreaming? I snuck in in good faith so as not to shatter your dream.”
Erina tilted her head. Her tan smiled slightly.
“Don’t you miss the good old days? The movies, the music, the novels you never finished reading.”
“···I did. But-“
“Freshly brewed draft beer that can’t be compared to canned beer. Shaved ice ice cream. And…A theme park.”
The memories I had shared with Bantai while I was drunk without realizing it came back like a boomerang.
Erina, who didn’t even know she had said it, flinched at the keyword she hadn’t thought of before. Draft beer, ice cream, theme parks.
Her memories aren’t all about the things she always thought about. Even though she didn’t know she wanted it, things she secretly longed for also stimulate her nostalgia.
Erina could no longer say that she had to hurry back. Only then did Tan grin coolly.
“Actually, I was curious too.”
“Shouldn’t you save your friend?”
“I heard it wouldn’t even last a few seconds in real life anyway. Is that right, Lilith?”
“That’s right. It’s still raining acid outside.”
“That’s right.”
Tan held out her hand as if to escort Erina. Erina hesitated, but then she took his hand.
“What did you want to try the most?”
————-
“You can find everything at the amusement park, Erina?”
“Hmm. Just look ahead and drive.”
“…But why is it so far? Do you know that 240 minutes out of 300 were used? I don’t know if this is a good idea…”
“···Front! Hey, front!”
Mr. Erina quickly took off her red brand headset and pointed in front of her while screaming.
Tan freaked out and swerved her bike onto her side. The unlicensed driver, who narrowly avoided the barrier bar, slowly reduced his speed, which was not fast to begin with, and stopped.
And I ended my accident-free career with a very basic mistake. The bike tilted to the side, throwing Erina and Tan down in an awkward manner.
“Ouch.”
“···Very good. Now I get to spend the remaining 60 minutes before the dream world ends in a missile war with the throbbing bruise I just got on my shoulder.”
“···There’s a lot to expect from a beginner who is driving such a scary thing for the first time in his life. Shall we speak up again?”
“Is that so?”
Tan, who woke up grumbling that she was complaining, was amazed by the scenery of another world that unfolded before her eyes. Satisfied with her hillbilly expression, Erina picked up her ticket at the empty amusement park reception desk.
She then grabbed Tan’s hand, who had a blank face, and ran towards the entrance of the theme park, smiling cheerfully.
The atmosphere of the theme park definitely had an emotion that reminded me of the good times, but it wasn’t the rides or souvenirs that kept reminding me of the theme park.
What really bothered me was ‘what I could do within it’. It was also something that had never been done in a time when the world was normal.
Erina secretly wanted to go on a date at an amusement park.
