Epilogue

(Noah's Pov)

"Aghggggg!"

I stood in front of a guy screaming with all his might.

Who is he? Welp, Harry, Harry Von Fergusa.

What a long name.

"Y-You bastard! Why are you doing this to me? What did I ever do to you!"

Nothing.

Hell, you didn't even need to die.

In the novel, this hidden dungeon is challenged by one of the organizations.

But it didn't matter anymore.

I am the one who challenged it.

And I am using a different method than theirs using all the information.

I pulled my sword and chopped his head off.

It's been 4 months and 27 days since I came to this world. Eliza had said my soul would recover in 3 months as long as I gave it enough rest and I did.

The constant agony has completely vanished and I had managed to make a full recovery.

There was no need to not kill anymore.

His blood stained the ground.

The world around me started to shatter just like before when I had cleared the hidden dungeon.

And the purple screen showed itself as I looked at it

=========================================

Congratulations!

The devil's influence on the world is gone!

You have managed to save the kingdom from being devoured by the Devil!

You have managed to change the perception of the dark magicians!

You shall now be granted your rewards!

*If you have any questions about things you have encountered you can ask the assigned individual of the hidden dungeon.

==========================================

Devil.

That was right. Harry was contracted by a Devil.

In the novel, they decide to go on the route of bringing the devil out of Harry's body and then killing it.

Why? Because they didn't know, severing a contract with a devil by killing the host is much easier but their lack of knowledge resulted in them facing a huge casualty.

How did they learn about it? The observer assigned to this hidden dungeon is ...quite weird. He laughed at them and mocked their stupidity. Well, thanks to that I am safe.

I killed Harry which severed the contract that connected the Devil to this world, resulting in the world being free of the Devil's influence.

I took my eyes off the purple screen and was greeted by the smiling sight of Lea and Eliza who was grumbling as usual.

With the contracts we made last time, she is now kind of like my personal reward-giving machine or something.

"You did great once again! Oh my, you truly are doing one hidden dungeon after another. It's the 3rd one already, will you go for the next?" 

Nah.

You want me to die?

There are only 2 more hidden dungeons left for me to challenge where I know what I have to expect because the protagonist challenged them.

And they both are apparently labeled as easy hidden dungeons.

In other words, after that, I will have to deal with another level shit with no idea of what I should expect.

Besides, the next 2 hidden dungeons are team-orientated, so I first need to gather that for myself.

Yes, team. That's what I will have to gather now.

"Nope. Gonna enjoy school now."

I wasn't lying. This is going to be my first time in high school. I am kinda excited about it even if it's in a different world.

"School? I see. I will await your return. So, any questions?"

"Yeah, my system didn't work inside the dungeon"

Why was I nerfed?

Do you know how hard spy work is? Just because I know how to do it doesn't mean I am okay with it.

"Dumbass, didn't your system already tell you about it?" Eliza chimed in.

"Seriously? So, in a world where the concept of system doesn't exist, I will end up not able to use my system's omnipresence?"

"That's right."

Well, fuck.

Now I am more scared about what to expect in moderate-level hidden dungeons.

Shit, I ain't going there unless I am C ranked or something.

"Well, I guess I have just one question. What happens when you fail to clear a hidden dungeon?"

Silence descended.

Lea locked her eyes with mine, her smile still on her face yet she didn't say a thing for about a minute.

"...What do you think happens?"

"If I failed to clear the one with Enyo, the world would be destroyed I would die, if I had failed in this one I would be devoured by a Devil, if I had failed my very first hidden dungeon I would have died by the hands of the Minotaur. In all those cases I am the 'only one' who dies."

The world outside shouldn't be harmed.

The seven hidden dungeons which were failed to be cleared and resulted in tragedies.

Was it the truth? You see the rewards of hidden dungeons are taken by the government, kept as national property.

If it was me, I would kill all the members of my party, and ask for an explosion to occur in the outside world along with my reward. I mean, an explosion in the outside world shouldn't be that big a deal to affect my reward, would it?

I looked straight into her eyes and she finally began to speak.

A twisted smile formed on her face.

"You see, you still don't know about what risks you took in the first hidden dungeon that you challenged, if you had failed, you would have become a monster, trapped forever in that room"

...

Holy moly...

My first one was that risky?

"As for the others you're right, just know though, when you fail to clear the hidden dungeon you aren't the only one dying, people of that world are too." She said softly and then instantly turned back to her usual character "Well, I can't answer for the ones you haven't challenged or are about to challenge"

"I see. Thanks"

I replied and she nodded.

"By the way, don't you think it was messed up?" She asked while Eliza looked at me with eyes trying to scrutinize me.

"What's messed up? How I make Aurelias have a completely new identity and have him play the role of a completely different person?" I asked

"No, nothing about that. I am talking about what you did to yourself." Lea smiled

...

Ah, she was talking about 'that'

"Manipulating your own memories, you are beyond saving." Eliza looked at me as if looking at a weird creature.

Manipulating my memories.

I couldn't manipulate other people's memories, I couldn't even take hold of their brains.

But I can do it for my own.

Only a little though.

So I did.

I manipulated my own memories.

I mean, I spent 3 months in the world of Enyo and 5 months with Aurelias and Sofia. 

If I keep doing hidden dungeons then at some point I would end up spending far too much time doing this shit than the amount of time I have lived in my own world.

And, surely, at that point, it would be ridiculous of me to go back to my world.

My very reason would vanish or turn into an empty reasoning.

I can't have that.

So, I removed everything that was not necessary for me to remember. I didn't remove all of them.

That would be too cruel of me towards the people who cared for me.

So, I simply removed everyday small talk that holds no significance, the taste of food, going to the washroom, and all the crap.

And like how you read a novel, I concised all the information in my brain.

Even though more than 8 months have passed since I came to this world I feel like it's only been 2 weeks at best.

This was necessary.

For my own sake.

And that's what I did.

Nothing more, nothing less.

'...Not like it would have mattered for someone like me

"So, how many failed hidden dungeons are there out of those 20 that have been attempted"

I asked, diverting the topic and directly asking the main question that I have been harboring in my mind.

"23. That's the number that has been attempted. You just cleared 3, don't forget that, add those numbers"

"Mine were all successful. I am asking the 20 that I didn't attempt, how many of them were failures" I asked.

"I can't answer that" She simply shrugged.

I guess, that answers my question.

Welp, that's all there is to it for now.

"Give me my reward, 'Myst' book to learn about it"

I asked what I couldn't get last time.

"Sure." She snapped her fingers and a book appeared in front of me. I put it inside my inventory and now it was completely full.

"Well, see you later," I said.

"...Let me give you some advice if you don't mind." Lea paused before continuing "They have taken interest in you, I don't know how you knew exactly what needs to be done in the hidden dungeons but tread carefully or you will be swallowed up whole"

...

It was natural that she had noticed it.

She is the observer, the game master in a sense.

But what about the 'spectators'?

They must be going crazy about me right now.

It's good.

Everything is working just as they are supposed to.

"Thanks for the advice"

I replied.

And soon after, I found myself standing in the night sky.

It was over.

I started walking.

"System-san, do you know where our home is? Take me there"

I asked the system.

What? I don't know where I live or more accurately Noah lives.

It's time to pack my stuff since I will live in the academy's dormitory soon enough.

I stretched my hands and ran all the way to my home.

The night breeze hitting my face felt cool.

There was just one more thing left to do.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

While I have been away from making sure I cleared the hidden dungeon, several days passed by. There are about 2 days left for the academy to begin.

I spent one day just sleeping and ordering clothes, I also had to go for the hair cut, even though I don't age when I am in a hidden dungeon, my hair still does grow, rest of the days, I just waited for my deliveries browsed through internet, watching memes and stuff.

Currently, I am wearing a white bracelet, an expensive one at that, with lots of space.

But it's not special like my soul-bound one. Well, this one is for everyday use.

I put lots of stuff from my inventory into it.

My inventory now shows 6/25 as it's storage.

Good.

The novel I have been publishing that I had left with a timer on chapters to be released was becoming quite famous too.

And I am earning decent enough for starters.

My bank account now has about 900 million left in it.

Yes, I bought expensive stuff for my academy.

I mean, my trolley bag can even survive a fucking blast and keep everything safe inside of it.

A new laptop, and a smartphone with a sim, I also had to make a passport.

Unfortunately, I will have to travel to other places to deal with hidden dungeons, no longer will they be in reach.

That was one of the reasons I cleared those 3 specifically, they were simply near me.

And now I am making my towards the academy with all the luggage prepared.

What? Why 2 days earlier?

Well, why not?

I will explore the academy and the campus till the opening ceremony. Besides, I am sure many students have already gone there.

The academy allowed students to move in a week before the opening ceremony which is going to be held in about 2 days.

But before going there, I decided to visit a graveyard.

Yes, a graveyard. I am visiting the grave with the name 'Noah' on it.

I don't know if Noah is alive inside of me or if he died or if he is in my body just not responding or unable to do anything.

I have no clue.

But since I have been in control for more than 8 months with no reaction from the original Noah, there's a chance he died.

Of course, I can't guarantee anything, it might be that we simply exchanged places.

But even so, since there is no guarantee I decided to build a grave.

That was the least I could do.

Putting the bouquet of flowers on it I finally decided to take my leave.

I have changed a lot of things so it was obvious that many things about the novel will change too.

That's why, all I know for sure is that the main story is about to start.