3

 The sun was going down.

 It would be about an hour or two before the dazzling sunshine eased up a bit and the sky was dyed with the setting sun.

  “Heyy, Kai. Where is this? The smell of devils is everywhere.”

“What’s with all of these ruins? Is this also a human city?”

 Rinne and Reirin looked around the abandoned building.

 Beckoning the two who followed with curious expressions, Kai continued along the paved road overgrown with weeds.

 Asphalt crushed by magical beasts.

 There was a huge crater where the trees used to be, and windows of the buildings were shattered without a trace. It looked like an apocalyptic scene.

“Kai, what is that building? It’s really big.”

“……It’s the main station terminal. It doesn’t work anymore, but there was a base where vehicles called trains, which were many times larger than cars, would come and go.”

“Hmm?”

“The Ninth Main Station Terminal. It was the place I was before when the world reincarnation happened.”

 It was unrecognizable.

 There was an intersection here. The last sight Kai saw in the canonical history────

“Executing the ‘overwrite’ of the world──”

 The intersection where I was walking with Jeanne on the way to shopping.

 Everything in front of me was sucked into a dark spot in the sky. And when I noticed, I was standing here alone.

“I’ve heard about the world reincarnation from you too……”

 The elf shrine maiden walked lazily down the cracked road.

“I don’t know no matter how many times I ask. I understand you aren’t lying, but it doesn’t make sense that the Five Races War ended with a human victory. And I don’t know how it got overturned.”

“Jeanne said the same thing.”

 Even humans──

 Even Jeanne, a female childhood friend, was skeptical. There was no way an elf of another race could honestly accept it.

“Since this is a good opportunity, let me ask you in-depth. In the first place, who caused the world reincarnation, and how? And for what?”

“I told you earlier, I don’t know the answer to the second part of the question either.”

“You think you know the first part?”

“Rath=IE said who caused it. You also heard, Reirin.

“The Great Founder tampered with fate.”

“You were also looking for the cause of the world reincarnation, weren’t you?”

“The Great Founder……or something like that?”

“I only know the name. I don’t really know what kind of person the ancestor is, what his purpose is, and how he brought about the world reincarnation. What about Reirin? Sidhes live much longer than humans.”

“If there were such suspicious people, they’d have already launched an all-out attack long ago.

“I see.”

 In the words of Rath=IE.

 ──The Great Founder is the ruler behind the scenes of history.

 Not even the sidhes know his true identity.

 Of course, I didn’t know as well. I knew almost all of the records of the Five Races war left by the Human Protection Agency, but I couldn’t think of anyone who was the Great Founder.

“You said Rinne didn’t know either, right?”

“Yeah. I’ve never heard of him or her either.”

 Rinne looked up at the broken buildings.

I remember from when we were still fighting the Five Races War. But I……was alone until I fought Dark Empress Vanessa, so I’m not familiar with that at all.”

“I see.”

“……Sorry. I can’t help at all.”

“No. Rinne’s ‘I don’t know’ is valuable testimony.”

 The world reincarnation happened in the canonical history.

 If that’s the case, then the “Great Founder tampering with fate” must have also been an event in the canonical history. In other words, the Great Founder existed in the canonical history.

 The clue was the Prophet Sid of the canonical history.

 ……Sid predicted that world reincarnation would occur.

 ……If the world reincarnation was the work of the Great Founder, then Sid must have known the Great Founder.

 But.

 There was no Prophet Sid in this world.

“Kai, are we going to end up fighting that Rath=IE?”

“I’m planning on it. The steel machines too, even if we don’t want to be attacked by them, we will be attacked by them.”

 Cooperating with the Humanity Rebellion Resistance in this world──

 When I made my decision, my goal of defeating Rath=IE had not changed.

“The west is being attacked, so let’s focus on battling the cryptids first. About the Great Founder……we still don’t know anything about him or her after all.”

“Mhm. I’m also here to avenge Heavenly Lord Alfreyja’s death. It’s the cryptids first.”

 The elf turned around.

 To the west where the sun was setting──

“Next time, I’ll really get into it with Rath=IE.”