Reset Life – Chapter 177

Chapter 177: Might It Be Helpful? (2)

Aila scratched her cheek with a troubled expression and let out a small sigh.

Her golden eyes focused on me.

“Look at his name. And think about the characteristics of a clown.”

“Name? The name Ahrtzheber…… I know that word exists in the Guard language, right?”

“Actually, that word comes from the ancient Eastern language. And some words in the ancient Eastern language are quite playful when seen as the Common Tongue. What are the characteristics of a clown?”

“They like to play pranks?”

“Combine the two.”

Name and pranks…… The reason Aila is saying this is because his name isn’t his real name. And if you combine the element of pranks, the conclusion is simple.

“You mean it’s a fake name made as a joke?”

“Correct! Now write Ahrtzheber’s name.”

Aila smiled brightly and handed me the stick that Namia was holding.

The reason she deliberately told me to do it myself is probably because it’s easier to understand by doing it yourself than by having someone else show you. It’s a bit of a hassle, but I’ll have to do it.

I wrote his name with the stick.

Ahrtzheber Leh Setrife.

This is how you write it, right? I looked at Aila, and she held out her hand.

“Give it here. I’ll fix it.”

“Huh? This isn’t it?”

“If it’s the Imperial naming convention, it’s a 30,000-point answer, but unfortunately, it’s not. You’ve forgotten the hint I gave you. I said it was some words from the Eastern Common Tongue. What are the characteristics of the Eastern Common Tongue?”

There’s no way I would know that.

I was about to say that, but I still know a little bit about the characteristics as a matter of common knowledge.

So, you mean that because the Common Tongue borrowed a lot of words from the ancient language, the letters are the same, but the way they are read is different, so the same word is read differently?

While I was thinking this, Aila wrote the corrected name below the name I wrote.

Artshaver Re Setlife.

“Huh? Shouldn’t this be read as Artshaver?”

“This isn’t the end. We need to fix the spacing. Grammatically, it’s a bit off, but this is how it should be written.”

She wrote the final corrected text below.

Arts Haver, Reset Life.

The word Haver is a neologism that appeared in the Empire’s literary world 100 years ago. The meaning is owner, or possessor. And Arts is the plural form of the letter meaning special skill or art.

The words after that…… The meaning comes across without having to interpret them.

“The one who possesses skills, the restarted life……! Th-this is?”

“You get it? It’s that bastard’s prank. He used this name from the beginning with the intention of making fun of you. Unfortunately, you’ve been played by him from the start. That bastard probably wished you’d notice, like a newlywed secretly wearing new jewelry without her husband knowing.”

“Th-then what is it! Does that mean he’s the same kind of being as me?”

“To be precise, he’d be your distant senior? At least when I met him, he said it was his 1,611th time.”

“What?!”

My eyes almost rolled back. You mean Ahrtzheber has lived that many lives?

I suddenly remembered what Aila had said about Ahrtzheber before. He is an expert in almost every existing skill.

Parallel dimensions have countless possibilities. That means I might not be the Duke’s son in some parallel dimension, or I might be an orphan.

If Ahrtzheber has lived his life again and again, traveling through such parallel dimensions, even dissimilar ones, it’s clear that he would have acquired numerous skills.

Oh, my God! So that’s what it was?!

“Then Aila…… what are you exactly……”

“By now, you should know who I am, right? I crossed over to parallel dimensions chasing after Ahrtzheber. If you call me the girl who leaps through time and space, I’d be quite grateful. Hehe.”

I had a rough idea from the time she started talking about parallel dimensions. I asked back with a blank expression at Aila’s attitude, which was no different than usual.

“Girl?”

“Ah, that’s a bit much now. Then, virgin.”

“Virgin?”

“Want to get hit?”

Aila raised her fist at me, and I chuckled. Right. This is the kind of atmosphere that suits us. It got too stiff with all the serious talk suddenly.

I took a brief breather. Now I just need to ask Aila one more thing.

“I can roughly guess with this. Ahrtzheber took over your father’s body while crossing over to this parallel dimension, right? So you and Ahrtzheber are father and daughter, but not father and daughter.”

“Hmm. So the veil of my secret has been lifted. I feel strangely naked.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You haven’t even said the really important things. Spill it before I call you Maya.”

“Sorry. Just wait a little longer.”

Aila seemed genuinely apologetic. What I asked was who Ahrtzheber is. Now that the story has come this far, I don’t even know his true identity.

But if she can’t even talk about that…… Hmm. Is there a reason, like, an Aila-like reason?

I shrugged.

“Fine. Then forget about that, and tell me about you. Everything about how you ended up in this parallel dimension.”

“Ugh. I guess I have no choice. You’re going to strip away even my last bastion. Sob, sob. I feel like I’m being violated.”

“Aila, want to get hit?”

Levidian smiled brightly and half-drew her sword. Aila flinched exaggeratedly at the sight and quickly waved her hands.

“No, it’s okay. I’ll pass. I’ll just tell you. Geez. So, the beginning was……”

“Hold on a minute.”

Just as Aila was about to start talking, Lea raised her hand. I hadn’t paid attention to him until then because he had been listening quietly. People turned their eyes to him.

My proud priest spoke up confidently.

“What were you talking about just now? I don’t understand a thing. Please explain it again.”

It took about two hours to properly educate Lea.

Aila crossed her arms and began her story.

“I was living in a branch that stemmed from the origin of this parallel dimension. My family had been producing famous psychics for generations. Psychokinesis was discovered right after the Empire was founded, and our family was at the forefront of that. I grew up quite comfortably. Ahem.”

“So you were the daughter of a noble family. Go on.”

“Tsk. Your reaction is too bland. Anyway, my dad was an amazing psychic too. My mom wasn’t related to psychokinesis at all, but she got along well with my dad. To the extent that they would go out to play, leaving their daughter behind. You have no idea how hurt I was at a young age……”

“Your parents had a good relationship. I understand.”

Aila glared at me again and continued her story. (It turned out that the ‘dad’ she mentioned was referring to her biological father.)

I don’t know how often the origin of the parallel dimension changes, but anyway, the era of the parallel dimension she lived in wasn’t much different from the parallel dimension I lived in before I died.

The only difference was that there were people who used a completely new power called psychokinesis.

As you can see, Aila was a child overflowing with talent there as well.

Her achievements quickly surpassed her peers and threatened adults, and by the time she reached adulthood, she had become a psychic recognized throughout the continent.

“My dad was one of the best psychics on the continent. Even so, he was always relaxed and humble, so people liked him a lot. He may not have been able to inherit the family, but maybe that’s why he was freer. And maybe that’s why he got along so well with my older mom. Anyway, the person who was like that, when he returned from the villa where he went to do research one day, he had changed.”

Listening to Aila’s story, I couldn’t help but feel a chill.

I’m glad I flowed into the origin with a similar historical background and upbringing. What if I had been transferred to a completely different parallel dimension?

The ‘me’ there would have his own life and relationships, and a life he had been living. What if my current soul suddenly entered that body?

That would mean I’m killing the ‘me’ who was living there. I wish I could remember the people there, but I probably wouldn’t.

According to Aila, the soul that pierces through dimensions has a high spiritual density, so it ends up devouring the soul that was already there.

So, I came here after devouring my own soul that was in the origin.

It makes me nauseous. Even though it’s like I entered my own body…… I still crushed my own other possibility. My mouth tastes bitter.

“Having crossed countless parallel dimensions, he must have known. He would have been circling inside the parallel dimension that branched off from this origin. Risel, you know? Unless something major happens, the parallel dimension that branches off from the origin basically follows the same route. The society and lifestyle are all different, but you marry the same person and have the same children. The person who was the Emperor in all those dimensions might be a servant in a manor, but his wife and children are the same.”

“W-wait. Then what about death?”

“Death? That’s different. But the possibility of creating new life is limited. The parent-child relationship between people is matched to the origin. Even if that dimension is 100 years ahead of the origin.”

“Then I…… don’t have children? Because I died in the war in the previous parallel dimension.”

Aila looked at me and chuckled. It was an expression that seemed to say not to worry about such things at all. She said,

“Ahrtzheber was involved, right? It’s no different. Who knows? Maybe you would have met Sister Ibi there if it weren’t for Ahrtzheber.”

“Thinking about it, that might be true. If I wasn’t Risel, I would have been wandering the continent. Since I’m not afraid of battlefields, I might have met her. That’s exciting, isn’t it? If the parent-child relationship is the same, it means the couple is the same.”

“But Unni, you’re adapting strangely well. Normally, you wouldn’t believe it.”

“A lot has happened, you know. It would be stranger to be in denial.”

After Lea understood the situation, we moved and are enjoying a leisurely tea time. Things like parallel dimensions, or me dying and coming back to life, somehow feel small.

As Levidian said, I think I’ve become immune because of the continuous barrage of overwhelming truths.

Aila let out her usual light laugh and continued the story.

“Anyway, at first, I thought maybe Dad was in a good mood because he had succeeded in another strange experiment. But as the days went by, I could see that wasn’t the case. What should I say, a family feeling? It’s hard to believe, but this person isn’t the dad I knew. That feeling hit me hard. Mom felt it too. But we couldn’t say anything. There was no proof that he wasn’t Dad.”

Aila’s dad started another research project. And she added an explanation.

Psychokinesis transcends human limitations and manifests will into the world. Human will is sometimes so amazing that it can produce effects beyond magic with individual power.

Her biological father was the strongest psychic of all time, and it was said that there was no one who would challenge the Empire because of his existence. Aila seemed quite proud as she said that.

The subject her father was researching was the study of parallel dimensions, a world that psychics naturally had to know about. Psychokinesis is a technique to draw out one’s inner strength, but there was a rather philosophical reason that one could know oneself by knowing the world.

“At first, I wondered why he was so engrossed in research. But Dad was a bit of a loner, so Mom and I just let it go. But the doubts didn’t disappear. Then one day, I happened to see it. What Dad was researching. It was a methodology to cross over to parallel dimensions. Do you understand what I mean? Ahrtzheber, who was able to take over Dad’s skills, was planning to cross over to parallel dimensions by means other than death.”

Even if you know the shape of the world, it’s difficult, almost impossible, to transcend it. In the first place, since the selves living in each multiple space-time collide, it was stipulated that no one could cross over to parallel dimensions unless they were beings outside the world.

Whatever the rules are, you have to put in a lot of effort to break them.

Especially if it’s a rule made by God.

“Ahrtzheber…… That bastard knew an incredible amount of skills. Of course he would! It was his 1,611th life! He combined psychokinesis with magic, holy spells, and even curses to come up with an absurd way to escape the world. You know what that is?”

I shook my head.

I can’t even imagine it. It’s a realm too far beyond my comprehension. I can only guess that it’s the reason for Aila’s terrifying outburst of anger.

She spoke as if she were spitting out fireballs.

“He stopped time.”

“What?”

“Time. No parallel dimension can escape the cycle of time. You can’t shake off the causality of creation-maintenance-destruction! But he did it. He used all the power flowing in the world to freeze the entire world. The world that stopped like that was freed from the laws that even God is bound by, so it could ignore any rules made by God. If you could just move there, it would be possible to escape the world and move to parallel dimensions. Because Dad was the best psychic of his time. ‘Skills’ are remembered, and the body does them automatically. The opposite is also possible. In other words, you can use skills even if you only move one of your body or soul. In the case of psychokinesis…… it’s much easier to get used to it if you take over the body.”

Perhaps Ahrtzheber had been a psychic in one of his many lives. That might have made it easier to use. But to stop time?

What kind of absurd talk is this!

Even gods are affected by the causality created by time. God’s power doesn’t work where time has stopped. Since the higher system has stopped, the lower system doesn’t work.

Even if time returns, a system that has stopped working once doesn’t recover easily. Because the system itself has deviated from the framework of the world.

Aila continued her story with a devastated expression.