Late at night.
At Esdinas Academy, in one of the faculty rooms of the main building, three instructors had gathered.
“We’ve arrived, Professor Ederson.”
“Instructor Esta, you came in person? You could’ve just participated via magic transmission.”
“Someone had to be in the Old School Building in person. Instructor Kadisha is on standby there.”
Instructor Esta held up the pad in her hand, and on it, Instructor Kadisha was waving—
With an extremely, extremely tired expression.
“So. What’s this about?”
“It’s about Phoenix’s [Orphanage Project].”
“I’ve actually been wanting to talk about that too. Perfect timing. Let’s get straight to the point.”
Professor Ederson of Academic Affairs adjusted his posture with a serious face.
“The illusion Phoenix showed us—what did you two make of it?”
“…At first, I thought he was messing with us.”
Instructor Esta replied in a slightly irritated tone as she sat across from Professor Ederson.
“I thought it was trying to provoke or emphasize a particular view about the Church of the Goddess, or even the angels and the Goddess themselves, based on some hidden truth.”
[Do we really need to sugarcoat this? I thought Phoenix was revealing some bizarre s*xual preferences through that illusion.]
“…At least we can be sure he’s not gay. That’s a judgment I can make as a fellow man.”
“But you found it unsettling too, didn’t you, Professor?”
“…Such things could happen. But it’s far too complex to chalk up as a mere warning to be cautious.”
Professor Ederson drummed his fingers on the table in silence for a while, then exhaled a low hum.
“Instructor Kadisha. You saw an illusion far more bizarre than the others. What was it like?”
[It felt like seeing the future. A truly horrific future. The kind of grotesque world where humanity had to go to such extremes just to stand against the angels.]
“Yeah. Grotesque. Bizarre. Strange. Even words like that fall short of describing what we saw. The children… no, let’s leave it at that.”
About the various forms of the orphanage.
About the vision Phoenix had shown them—one that felt like a glimpse of the future—the three instructors came to an unspoken agreement not to go into details.
“Honestly, we could just laugh it off. Phoenix may be regarded as a sort of prophet in this area, but he’s still only seventeen.”
“Officially, yes.”
[But if those ten years he spent in the Demon World were actually a hundred, then who knows.]
“…Right.”
Professor Ederson raised two fingers.
“There are two main possibilities we can narrow this situation down to.”
“I’m listening.”
“One. That he’s been heavily ‘demonized.’”
“…A demon.”
At the word “demon,” Instructor Esta furrowed her brows deeply.
“There was a boy who fell into the Demon World ten years ago. Suppose a lust demon held his soul hostage, stole his memories and knowledge, and returned to the surface? Suppose it’s spreading slander against the angels of Heaven and whispering sweet temptations to make humanity worship demons and seek out devils?”
“That would be horrifying. Everything Phoenix suggests is irresistibly sweet—anyone would fall for it.”
[And his hostility toward Heaven instantly has a rationale. He’s a demon. That one word alone is enough.]
“Exactly. If that’s the case, then all the virtues he’s shown us until now… could just be a devil’s deceit. A fiend’s true nature surfacing in the form of illusions, leading to this so-called ‘sudden escalation.’”
[Sudden escalation, huh.]
“Malicious illusions. Things we usually associate with demonic depravity, like multiple people engaging in obscene acts in some chaotic orgy. If that kind of nature just suddenly manifested…”
[We can’t say for sure that it can’t happen.]
That possibility alone was enough for the three instructors to consider taking action.
Even if Phoenix had contributed much to Esdinas Academy,
Even if he had begun uncovering the secrets of the world—
“…Professor Ederson.”
Instructor Esta looked him in the eyes and spoke seriously.
“To be honest, aren’t you leaning more toward the second possibility?”
“…Yeah.”
But why was that?
Was it because they didn’t want to believe Phoenix was some embodiment of demonic lust and madness?
Or was it because of the self-sacrificial image Phoenix had shown for the sake of humanity?
Or perhaps—
There was a single possibility that, once considered, made everything seem like it fit together too well to ignore.
“What if Phoenix… came from the future?”
“…”
“And not just a single future, but from a future that repeated over and over again?”
“That’s…”
[If someone came from a past timeline, we call that a ‘returner.’ Are you saying Phoenix is some kind of infinite returner?]
“If that were true, wouldn’t a lot of things start to make sense?”
At Professor Ederson’s words, the two instructors from the Old School Building fell silent.
“The secrets he knows about the Old School Building… would make sense if he obtained them in a future timeline.”
“…”
“You know, the fact that he seems to know quite a bit about you two… maybe that’s also because of this. The way he acts like he already knows everything about the Old School Building, or even Esdinas Academy as a whole. And didn’t he even uncover the Seal of the Four Founders under the Balzac Barony? Do you really think that’s prophecy?”
[You’re saying it’s because he already knew—because he came from the future?]
“That’s right. And maybe… the future he showed us really did exist. Perhaps, to him, it’s a memory of the past. Something that appears to us as a ‘nonsensical future’—an illusion.”
“…Are you saying that horrific future actually happened?”
Both Esta and Kadisha shuddered as they recalled what they had seen through the illusions, yet they couldn’t bring themselves to refute Professor Ederson’s words.
“If not that… then how else are we supposed to explain someone like Phoenix?”
“…”
“I’d rather believe that. At the very least, he doesn’t have the eyes of someone possessed by a demon. There’s a clear will in those eyes.”
“What kind of will did you see?”
“Like… a determination not to turn the women in the Old School Building—including you two—into beings that would give rise to such a twisted future. That kind of will.”
Professor Ederson nodded with conviction.
“If he really were possessed by a demon and wished for everyone to indulge in that kind of depraved demonic pleasure… then wouldn’t he have tried to bring at least one male student into Azure Dragon Class in the Old School Building? Share a room with him, live together as roommates?”
“……”
“Student Council President Julius, for instance. He’s the type who’d willingly sacrifice himself for the Empire, or even for world peace.”
“Ahem.”
[We do know that Keyarnim is that kind of student, but… Hah. Alright. I’ll go along with your interpretation, Professor Ederson. Honestly, it’s the one that makes more sense to me, too.]
“An infinite returner, huh.”
Instructor Esta fell into deep thought, his face serious.
“If we were to pinpoint the moment of regression… no way…”
“Is there something on your mind?”
“No. It’s just… if he really did return from the future to the past, and decided that playing the role of a prophet was the right answer…”
Gulp.
“Then I can’t even begin to imagine how many pasts he had to bury in his heart just to reach this present.”
* * *
[So that’s what they said. What do you think, nyah?]
“I think they’re not exactly wrong.”
I confirmed through Fenrir that the instructors—those adults—were swallowing the bait completely.
“I mean, how many simulations do you think I ran before enrolling in this Academy with Changyeom?”
[I already know you died in quadruple-digit numbers, nyah.]
In reality, I was just talking about all the times I reloaded, cleared, or game-overed before entering the Demon World—like a video game.
[Infinite returner, huh. Well, even if that were true…]
“Just go along with the idea that this is my first time reaching the Demon World, okay?”
[I’ll go with that, nya. If it’s not, that would mean you’ve failed over and over again until now.]
“Good. Glad you’re on the same page.”
I’m not an infinite returner—
But I can pretend to be one.
[But… could that really happen? A future filled with futanari?]
“If the Apocalypse of F*tanari awakens, sure.”
I didn’t come from the future—
But I could fool people as if I did.
“Being ruled by angels isn’t the only way the world can end. Abandoning humanity itself just to resist the angels—creating a world more extreme and grotesque than anything else—that’s another kind of apocalypse.”
[Like a world where all men get turned into traps to defeat the angels?]
“Exactly. That’s why I’m warning them—so that kind of future never comes to pass.”
Luckily, the strategy was working beautifully.
“The more bizarre and unnatural they think it is, the more that future loses its power. And what comes next…”
[Kyun-Kyun?]
“Is a bright future filled with normal love between men and women, peace in families, and happiness.”
I have to keep showing them.
“The way you avoid a bad ending once you know it.”
All the different forms of apocalypse.
“If you avoid every bad ending. Then that, ultimately, must be the happy ending.”
And if we can reach even a single sliver of hope within the countless ends, then that alone can be our happy ending.
