Chapter 262

I Favor the Villainess . 262

Feb 20 2021

Equivalent Existences

“It appears that you’ve regained your memories, Rei Taylor . ”

Those were, the very first words, the Pope said to me when we met .

We were in the Pope’s personal room within Bauer’s grand cathedral .

The room was simple without much decoration, but also refined . The room seemed exemplary for a religious leader .

Aside from the Pope, Lily-sama, and I, Sandrine, the Pope’s personal attendant was also with us .

The day after TAIM’s attack, I had received summons from the Pope, and had come to the cathedral together with Lily-sama .

I felt that it was perfect timing, as I also wanted to explain about Claire-sama, but those words from the Pope had started the conversation .

“M-memories… then Pope, you know about the fabricated memories?”

“Yes . ”

“W-what is going on here?”

Lily-sama’s confusion was to be expected .

It had appeared that everyone in the world―even strong individuals like Lily-sama or Manaria-sama had fallen victim to TAIM’s memory alteration . Then why was the Pope okay?

“It’s most likely because I am your equivalent existence, Rei Taylor .

According to the Pope’s explanation, things had proceeded as follows .

At first, the Pope had received the fake memories as well, forgetting about Claire-sama and other related details .

Yet all of a sudden, last night, all of her memories returned to normal .

It would appear, thanks to the insurance that Dor-sama had cast on me―Dor-sama’s Dream Magic, cracks had formed within TAIM’s Suggestion magic . .

“This morning, someone came to confess . Please, come in . ”

“Pardon me . ”

Summoned by the Pope, the one who entered was a nun who looked exactly like both the Pope and myself .

“Irie-san!”

“It’s been a while, Lily-san!”

This nun named Irie, was someone that Lily-sama met on her travels who looked just like me .

She too was one of the Spirit’s lost children . It seems during Lily-sama’s journey for atonement, they had met in Sousa .

Some time ago, Lily-sama had helped Irie sort through her feelings having fallen for another girl . Claire-sama and I had heard that story from Lily-sama .

Now, Irie was staying here in Bauer together with Mari .

It appears that they had come to visit and celebrate the victory with Lily-sama .

“Why is Irie-san here?”

“I mean, suddenly everything became strange…”

According to Irie, she too had felt no doubts until last night, but this morning she woke up to an inexplicable discomfort .

During the celebrations, everyone was sharing tales of the main contributors in our fight against the Three Great Archdukes (more accurately, the Demon Queen), and yet, not a single person had mentioned Claire-sama’s name .

Even though Irie had never met Claire-sama herself, through word of mouth she had heard about the Revolutionary Maiden and also heard stories from Lily-sama, so she had come to find it strange .

It was then that she decided to come to Bauer’s great cathedral to confess .

“It appears that only Rei Taylor and those who are equivalent to her, have recovered their memories . ”

“To think such a thing happened…”

I wondered, what in the world was going on?

“If you don’t mind conjectures, please allow me to explain . ”

“Please do . Right now, I want anything that might help me save Claire-sama .

At this point, I was grasping at straws .

“First, let me start by explaining some background . When I became the Pope, I gained knowledge about the truth of this world . The Spirit Church is a part of the system, in charge of regulating the world’s history . ”

Before the Spirit Church was formally recognized, even before the concept of religion had existed, the system was in place, functioning to regulate human history .

“System? The regulation of history?”

“W-what do you mean?”

Irie and Lily-sama, who still retained her altered memories, had no knowledge of the system, so I explained it to them .

“Such a thing…”

“H-how could I forget…?”

Now that they were caught up, the Pope continued .

“As a Pope, I’ve more or less become one of the system’s terminals . To some degree, I even share TAIM’s memories and actions . She had used an incomplete form of Suggestion magic to change the memories of all humanity . However, because it was incomplete, it appears the effects were shallow on people who held a strong obsession for Claire such as Rei Taylor . ”

Then, once she used the complete form of Suggestion that she had copied from Salas on me, the conditions for Dor-sama’s Dream Magic were fulfilled and the situation flipped on her .

“Due to Dor François’ magic, TAIM has suffered some damage . Though she won’t be forever ensnared by the Dream Magic in the same way as Salas Lilium, cracks have formed within her Suggestions . As a result, Rei Taylor and those equivalent to her have regained their memories .

To me, this was incredible fortune .

Now matter how much thanks I could offer Dor-sama, it wouldn’t be enough .

“Do you know where TAIM is at this moment?”

“The answer to that question is difficult, Rei Taylor . TAIM is but a system, so she is everywhere . It would be best if we think that TAIM is listening to our conversation even now . ”

“!”

“However, it appears TAIM is still suffering within the Dream Magic . I believe that her range of action will be restricted for the next bit . ”

“S-so our greatest chance is now…”

It appeared that right now may be our best chance .

“In that case, what about Claire-sama? Do you know where Claire-sama is?”

I asked the one question I had wanted to ask the most .

“Claire François is… here, in the great cathedral . ”

“Eh?”

Claire-sama is… here?”

“In that case, let’s save her as fast as―!”

“Please wait, Rei Taylor . Though she is here in the cathedral, more specifically she’s in its basement . That place also serves as the location for the Loop System’s mainframe .

“So basically―”

“That’s right . She has already been taken in by the system . ”

“!? …There’s no way…”

Then… then, was there no way to take back Claire-sama?

When I expressed my doubts,

“No, there is still a chance . After all, she’s not dead yet . ”

The Pope proceeded to explain in order .

“The system’s administrator privileges are currently, temporarily in TAIM’s hands . That is part of the process to transfer the privileges between the previous administrator, the Demon Queen, and Claire François . In this situation where TAIM has a hold of them both, the transfer of privileges has been paused . ”

As the administrator privileges had nowhere to go, TAIM was acting as a stand-in .

The Pope explained that TAIM had basically hijacked the administrator privileges by exploiting a loophole within the system .

“Simply put, TAIM would also be in trouble were Claire François to die . If we had an advantage to take, it would be there . ”

“What should we do?”

“We must get Claire François to recover her consciousness . Though she is currently in TAIM’s clutches, if we tear her away, the administrator privileges will certainly transfer . Once that happens, even TAIM won’t have any power over Claire-sama . ”

We had found hope .

One way or another, we managed to bridge together a path to take back Claire-sama .

“In that case, we should gather people as fast as―”

“That is impossible, Rei Taylor . ”

“Why!?”

Even if TAIM has the power of the system, if we took advantage of our numbers― .

“The system mainframe room is only accessible by people who have administrator privileges . ”

In retrospect, if something like that were possible, I’m sure TAIM would have countermeasures in place .

Our opponent had managed history for tens of thousands… no, perhaps even billions of years .

There’s no way that routing such an opponent would be a simple task .

“However, in reverse that means that as long as one is an administrator, they can enter . ”

“But we don’t have an administrator among…”

“As I had mentioned before, the transfer of administrator privileges is currently up in the air . That is to say, the Demon Queen still has them . ”

So that would mean…

“Yes, the Demon Queen―and Oohashi Rei’s equivalent existences such as Irie, I, and you, hold those qualifications . ”

Yes!

Our hopes had connected .

“That being said, the Server Room also has its own defense systems in place . First, we’ll need to break through those…”

“I have a suggestion for that . ”

“? Sandrine?”

In an oddly cold tone of voice, Sandrine suddenly said those words .

“I am currently borrowing her body . I am Oohashi Rei―, no that’s become ambiguous, so I’ll rephrase . ”

With Sandrine’s face, she declared .

“I am the Demon Queen . Though I had very nearly been deleted by TAIM . ”