I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-303

Ch-303. **Wish**

—

It was the swamp of the mind.

Yet if there was one thing different from before—

it was that a single ray of light, a radiance, was shining down.

It was no more than a lone streak of light added to the place, and yet it was no longer cold, no longer lonely, no longer dark.

“Where are you going?”

I asked the one walking far ahead.

Even so, he didn’t stop.

Silently, he simply kept walking toward the light.

“You damned bastard. If you just go like that, what am I supposed to do?”

Together, we could be complete.

Had I been alone, I never would have reached this point.

Being freed from the gods of Omen and Ash, climbing the Tower of the War God, conquering another Randolph—every single one of those was thanks to him.

And thus, at last, I was able to truly *exist*.

The one who stayed by my side in silence all this time.

The one who kept swinging his sword without giving up.

“Wilhelm!”

…It is because Wilhelm existed that the me of today can exist.

Squish.

As I took a step forward, my foot sank into a deep, sticky swamp.

I forced myself to take another step.

Then another.

And another.

But it wasn’t easy to move forward as I’d hoped.

No matter how much I advanced and advanced, there was barely any progress at all.

“Damn it.”

I bit my lip.

Even though Wilhelm was walking steadily, I was still stuck in the mire.

Flailing, trapped in the swamp.

At this rate, I would never reach him.

Why such a difference existed was painfully clear.

The living and the dead.

We were beings living in different worlds.

That was why we couldn’t meet—why we couldn’t draw closer.

But—

“Come with me!”

…I want to be with you, Wilhelm.

I liked being with you.

Selfish as it is, this time I want us to run toward the end together.

Not just with swords.

Not just through conversations shared while holding blades.

But talking about trivial everyday things together, sometimes sharing a meal, drinking tea.

Badmouthing someone, or praising someone—or if not that, loving someone and pouring out our worries.

Agonizing over trivial things, empathizing with each other’s troubles, laughing together and chatting at ease.

“You are my……”

……I wanted to have that kind of relationship.

And there was a name the world gave to such a bond.

A word that comes easily to some, yet is truly difficult for me.

“My one and only friend, I mean……!”

Friend.

I reached out my hand.

But I sank deeper into the swamp.

Before I knew it, the mire that had swallowed my waist surged past my chest, my shoulders, and finally devoured my head.

And then I realized.

This—this swamp—was the boundary dividing the living world from the afterlife.

I sink.

After sinking endlessly, I would once again return to reality.

I would never face Wilhelm again.

Like this, forever……

Thud!

That was when it happened.

Someone grabbed the hand I had reached out.

And lifting my upper body from the swamp—

“……We cannot be together.”

He—

Wilhelm said.

Whoooosh!

Immediately after, the light behind him grew even more intense.

It was the light calling Wilhelm.

Looking closer at the light, I saw two goddesses there.

“I return to the embrace of the goddesses.”

To the place where he originally belonged.

To find rest within the goddesses’ arms.

I could say nothing more.

I couldn’t ignore the will of one who yearned for rest.

“I have already been saved. So do not look at me with those eyes.”

Those eyes?

What kind of eyes was I making?

And is it really all right?

Is it okay for this to end here?

Is this kind of ending what you call salvation?

“I have no regrets about the time we spent together.”

Thud!

And then, he released my hand.

As if this was not a place for me to remain.

Watching me sink back into the swamp,

Wilhelm softly spoke his final words.

“Damned…… my friend.”

—

Kuuurrrng!

The tower trembled.

And at the same time, everyone knew.

…It was over.

《The champion of the ‘Tower of the War God’ has changed from ‘Randolph’ to ‘Wilhelm.’》

《All curses of the ‘Tower of the War God’ have been purified.》

Wilhelm had won!

Everyone watching raised both hands.

“Wilhelm……!”

“He won!!”

“Hooray!!!”

They shouted in cheers, calling his name.

Because everything he had walked through and achieved ignited a fire in their hearts.

His victory felt like their own.

But—

“Where did Wilhelm go?”

“Then is Randolph dead?”

The victor was nowhere to be seen.

The same was true of Randolph, the defeated.

Both had vanished, as if evaporated.

No matter how hard they searched, neither was anywhere in the tower.

As everyone was left in confusion—

“……This is unexpected.”

A man muttered quietly.

The one who had been with Swordmaster Raktusha and the Ant King Pheromone.

The Dark Elf Lord.

As he collected the corpses of Raktusha and Pheromone, he spoke.

“I thought *he* would finally intervene……”

From the beginning, he had no interest in conquering the tower.

In other words, searching for Baal and the Fragment of Destruction under the Black King’s orders was never his concern.

*The Erased One.*

A forgotten existence.

The Blue Bird who calls himself an administrator.

The being who desires nothing but the destruction of the heavens—he had expected that one to intervene.

“He designed all of this, yet withdrew the moment Wilhelm appeared.”

The gods of Omen and Ash.

They too had been moved entirely by the Erased One.

Otherwise, there was no way those two cowardly chief gods—who had hidden in the ‘Gap’—would suddenly involve themselves in the affairs of the tower.

Only the Erased One knows of the hidden Gap within the Tower of the War God, and only he can head toward it without hesitation.

Through Randolph’s body, he was supposed to reopen the Gap himself and be summoned again.

But when Wilhelm appeared, he hid himself.

Even the two chief gods of Omen and Ash switched their tracks toward convergence.

Nothing went as expected.

From beginning to end, everything was thrown into chaos by Wilhelm.

“……It seems I’ll have to make the board bigger.”

The Dark Elf Lord pondered seriously.

If he was to draw out the Erased One again, expanding the game seemed unavoidable.

At that moment, one method came to mind.

*Erase the Church of the Goddess.*

If the Church of the Goddess were erased, he would have no choice but to appear.

The Blue Bird—the Erased One—was closely tied to the two goddesses.

Besides, it was already underway.

Leaving the Tower of the War God and heading somewhere devoid of people, he quietly closed his eyes.

At the same time—

《You have logged out.》

《Logging in as ‘Mint Chocolate is Delicious(4)’.》

—

—

 

The Empire.

Inside the vast imperial palace, within a room so lavish it was overwhelming.

“…….”

A man stood staring into a mirror.

One wearing a golden mask.

The supreme executive who led the Reaper Cult.

Slowly, as he gazed at the mirror—

he removed his mask.

“…….”

The man’s expression hardened.

And beyond the mask was a face that felt strangely familiar.

“Wilhelm.”

The face of the man who had just conquered the Tower of the War God.

Why was the one who vanished after conquering the tower here in the Empire?

And wearing the golden mask, no less.

“I am the real one. You are nothing more than a fake who imitated me.”

The fake who had been driven out of the imperial palace as a child.

The imitation with the exact same face.

That was Wilhelm.

Which was why he had never removed his mask since childhood.

Because an existence with the same face as his own was roaming the outside world.

That deep-seated disgust and hatred—

it stirred an unbearable irritation.

“……There is no place for you here.”

Frowning, he put the mask back on.

It was his own face, yet he truly couldn’t stand to look at it.

Even so, that face was the symbol of the Empire.

Proof that he carried the Emperor’s blood.

Slowly turning his gaze outward, he spoke.

“Please…… I beg you, do not return. Even if you do, the salvation you seek will not be waiting for you.”

—

—

Serengeti cried out.

……Knight King.

My one and only liege.

Where are you going, leaving me behind?

– Serengeti! You must protect the Captain!

– Our ‘Round Table’ exists solely for the Knight King!

– We trust you with it, our youngest!

– Don’t cry, you punk! A man shouldn’t—ah, sorry. Were you a woman?

Voices rang out.

They belonged to those who had already passed on.

Knights who had died and vanished.

All were dead, leaving Serengeti alone.

And so Serengeti cried out.

Why?

Why is it that, after we finally reunited, you leave me alone again?

At that moment—

– You are not alone.

– Your king is alive.

– So live, and deliver the message.

Another voice was heard.

Not the knights’.

Nor the Knight King’s.

It was a memory.

A sealed memory within Serengeti resurfaced.

The memory after Serengeti took on Wilhelm’s curse in his stead—

after Wilhelm was killed by the Demon King.

Back then, someone had helped Serengeti escape the Demon King’s castle.

And said—

– Revive the ‘Round Table.’

– Call them from the ‘Sanctuary of Honor.’

– They are waiting at the boundary between life and death, heeding only the king’s call!

You are…….

In his hazy vision, Serengeti seemed to have asked.

He was sure he had spoken the question of who they were.

And then the man smiled and said—

– I like fishing.

– Sometimes I fish up people in danger like you, and sometimes unexpected things from countless boundaries.

– Someday, in some sea—or at some boundary—we’ll meet again.

– So please, convey this to my ‘savior,’ to your king.

—

—

 

It felt like I had been dreaming for a long time.

I was running without stopping.

Toward some unknown place, running with foolish determination.

How far was I trying to go?

At the end of this run, was there truly an ‘end’?

I don’t know.

But one thing was certain.

I cannot stop.

I must not stop.

In order to achieve my dream.

To fulfill my one and only wish.

Of course, at first, I had no wish at all.

I began because I was told any wish would be granted, yet I myself didn’t know what I wanted.

Even when I stood at the peak as Phantom.

Even when I was summoned after being possessed into Pangaenia, I had no concrete dream.

But now, I do.

A wish I want to fulfill has come into being.

Ah.

Yes, I am running toward my wish.

I am running toward you.

I may never arrive—but if I keep running without giving up,

then someday, I will surely reach it.

“Are you awake?”

…A voice snapped me back to my senses.

No—I was already waking up little by little.

Blurry vision.

“Mm.”

I frowned unconsciously at the intense sunlight.

Lifting my upper body and shaking my head once, my surroundings finally came into view.

“Where am I?”

This wasn’t the tower.

It was far removed from the scene I’d seen atop the Tower of the War God.

A lavish room.

Air that felt oddly familiar.

“The Empire……”

This was the Empire.

And the imperial palace.

I couldn’t help but feel confused.

Why was I here?

Come to think of it, someone had called out to me.

So when I turned my head further—

“Feeling clearer now?”

……There was, as expected, a familiar face.

Raiga was there.

The reason I hadn’t recognized the voice at first was because it had changed so drastically that it was hard to believe it belonged to the same person.

His voice was split and hoarse beyond measure, making it impossible to immediately identify him as Raiga.

And it wasn’t just his voice.

A pale complexion.

A gaunt face and eyes that looked half-dead.

Raiga stared at me, looking no different from a corpse.

 

 

---