Chapter 4

Seeing my confused expression, Sohō tilted her head.

Despite her usually expressionless and rather sharp features, there was something endearing about this gesture.

I thought it would be nice to talk about various things since my favorite character was right in front of me as a real person, but first, I had to address her previous statement.

"Me, the maintainer of the barrier?"

"Yes. I was a maintainer for a long time, so I can tell. There's a protective aura around you, like the barrier. My barrier's protection has been fading for a while, or rather, for quite some time. I thought it was because you were chosen as the new maintainer, but is that not the case?"

"Well, a maintainer was indeed chosen, but it was my sister, not me."

Upon hearing about my sister, Sohō tilted her head again and then widened her eyes slightly.

"You mentioned earlier that you were dealing with the aftermath of your sister. Is this the sister you're talking about?"

"Yes, that's right."

She placed her hand on her mouth as if deep in thought and stared at me intently.

I tried my best to suppress the pounding of my heart under her gaze and returned her look. After a while, she seemed to make a decision and started writing on the paper again.

"Based on what I can see, I still think you are the maintainer. I have one question, though. Is the ritual to find the maintainer still conducted using that unhelpful mirror?"

"I don't know if it's unhelpful, but I was taken in front of a mirror to find the maintainer, so I assume it's the same one."

In the game, the method to discover the maintainer of the barrier was not depicted, so I only learned about it after being reborn in this world.

In this world, humans between the ages of eighteen and twenty are required to go in front of a mirror known as the key to the barrier.

Typically, a group of people who have reached the appropriate age go together, so when I was eighteen and my two years older sister was twenty, we went to the mirror with our peers.

If a maintainer is among the gathered people, a beam of light from the mirror points to that person.

Although the barrier is crucial for protecting the country from monsters, the ritual to select the maintainer requires a significant amount of power from the shrine priest, so it can only be conducted when a group of people is present.

The power of the shrine priests in this world is strong, so the ritual is often scheduled according to their convenience.

At that ritual, the mirror extended a beam of light to my sister's chest for the first time in a hundred years.

The moment my sister was chosen, the barrier resumed its function, and the whole country celebrated.

Among the servants, there were concerns that my sister's selfishness might worsen, but the revival of the barrier that protected the country was a joyous event, and everyone seemed happy.

...Except for me.

I watched Sohō, who was deep in thought.

Even if my sister's selfishness worsens, it's a good thing that the country is protected.

However, if my sister became the maintainer, it meant that the person in this prison was likely dead.

By the time I was born, this person had been imprisoned for nearly a hundred years, and the possibility of them being alive was low.

Still, the fact that a new maintainer had not appeared gave me a faint hope that this person might still be alive.

I wanted to meet this person, my favorite character from my favorite game, which I had wanted to play before my previous self died.

The maintainer is the only one in the world, so if my sister became the maintainer, it meant this person was no longer the maintainer.

Since the role is not passed on to another person while the maintainer is alive, I thought that if this person was in the prison, they must have died.

Of course, the person is right in front of me now.

"Is there something wrong with that mirror? What do you mean by 'unhelpful'?"

"That mirror indeed points to the maintainer with a beam of light, but it has a significant flaw."

"Flaw?"

"Where were you when your sister was pointed out by the mirror?"

"Um... I think I was slightly behind her. I remember looking at her back."

"I was in the same position."

He sighed deeply and continued writing on the paper.

"When my brother was chosen, I was behind him, looking at his back. After investigating, I finally understood that the light stops when it hits a person, even if they are not the maintainer."

"Wait, so it can point to someone who isn't the maintainer?"

"No, if the person the light hits moves to the side, the light extends further behind them. To accurately determine the maintainer, the person pointed to must take a step to the side. If they are the maintainer, the light will follow them. If not, it will point to the actual maintainer. Isn't that unhelpful?"

"Yes..."

"The problem is that even if the wrong person is pointed out, the maintainer is still firmly decided. The barrier is maintained by the power of the actual maintainer, but the person recognized as the maintainer is the one where the light stopped."

Once you know, it seems simple, but in that grand ritual, no one would doubt the person the light points to.

It's hard to imagine the chosen person deliberately stepping to the side, and perhaps many of the maintainers recorded in history were actually incorrect.

"If that's the case, then the possibility that I am the actual maintainer, as you see it, is high, right?"

"To me, you are the maintainer, and I don't think I'm wrong."

I looked at Sohō, who stated this definitively.

If I really am the maintainer, then I might have set a much larger time bomb than I thought.

I had planned for the agricultural and industrial production to decline and cause suffering.

But if I am the maintainer, the barrier's function will gradually decline over time, just like it did for Sohō.

Moreover, I have no plans to go insane or die anytime soon.

This could mean the barrier's function will be lost for much longer than a hundred years.

However, Sohō is still alive, yet the role of the maintainer has been passed on.

Perhaps he knows the reason for this.

To get an answer to my question, I decided to ask him.