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Chapter 550: Accompaniment and Observation

The most direct method to gauge the Witness State’s progress was the System’s evaluation.

While this Witness State didn’t have a countdown, Roel could still estimate how far he had advanced based on the System’s evaluation and deduce what he was supposed to do here.

Unlike his previous encounters, this Witness State was triggered by a precious family heirloom that was carefully passed down from generation to generation. There must be something his ancestors desperately wanted to achieve through this Witness State, to the point that they had rigged the magic tool to enable a substitution to occur.

Roel didn’t even know that it was possible to substitute someone inside the Witness State, and he couldn’t begin to imagine how such a spell was formulated. On top of that, this substitution was so potent that it could even deceive the Mother Goddess.

The Kingmaker Clan must have paid a heavy price to make something like this possible. Surely they must have a reason for doing this. What are they after? What do they want me to do?

Such questions floated in Roel’s mind, but fortunately, he was able to decipher a clue from the System’s description and evaluation.

The crossroads of the future and the past, as the sun and the moon vie for the sky. The key to choose has been returned to your hands. Uncover your own path.

Roel slowly read the description in his mind and broke down its meaning word by word.

‘The crossroads of the future and the past’ indicates that something huge must have happened in this era that shaped the future. ‘The sun and the moon’ clearly refer to the Savior and the Mother Goddess. The latter half is basically telling me to make a choice here as the Kingmaker.

As the Kingmaker, Roel had the power to shape the war by choosing whether to side with the Savior or the Mother Goddess, and his choice would bring about vastly different outcomes. The original Kingmaker must have also made a choice back then, and this Witness State provided a second chance to choose another path.

In other words, his mission was to make a different choice from his ancestor. As simple as this sounded, a question arose here: What was the decision made by the original Kingmaker?

The break in the Kingmaker Clan’s legacy through the generations meant that Roel had absolutely no idea what his ancestors had done in the past. This complicated the situation.

I’m supposed to just be making corrections for the test, but I don’t even know what the wrong answer was! How can I ensure that I won’t err on the same part as my ancestors did?

Roel’s heart bubbled with anxiety and frustration, but the positive evaluation from the System calmed him down for the time being.

【Evaluation: Average (52)】

Roel could hardly believe his evaluation score, given that he had hardly done anything. In previous Witness States, he had to clear numerous ordeals in order to reach this evaluation score, but somehow, he had already advanced this far here just by lying flat.

Does this mean to say that I made the right choice by choosing not to fight?

Roel suddenly came to a realization. The more he thought about it, the more sense it made.

The Kingmaker wasn’t just a respected figurehead; he was likely to be a powerhouse too. It wasn’t far-fetched to think so, given how powerful the members of the Kingmaker Clan were. Unlike Roel, who was truly powerless to fight back, the original Kingmaker could have boldly confronted the Mother Goddess, resulting in the escalation of the situation.

Thinking back, Roel was confident that it was none other than his decision to submit to the Mother Goddess that changed Her mind.

But if my evaluation score only rose to this extent, it means that I have yet to sufficiently differentiate myself from my ancestor…

Roel stroked his lower jaw as he tried to deduce what his ancestor might have gone through. A long while later, he sighed.

Well, he’s up against the Mother Goddess, after all. He was probably crushed like an ant.

The Mother Goddess was so powerful that Roel couldn’t even imagine the original Kingmaker putting up a fight against Her no matter how powerful he might be. Another thing to consider was that his ancestors left behind a warning: The Mother Goddess mustn’t be defied.

Why would my ancestors leave those words behind if they won? They must have been beaten into submission!

Roel sighed.

Analyzing the divergence between the current situation in the Witness State and what had happened in the actual history, he believed there was a high chance that the original Kingmaker was beaten to a pulp and dragged to the Mother Goddess’ turf too, though he would have been a prisoner instead of a guest.

That soothed Roel a little.

In any case, he was glad that the situation was developing in his favor. As for his transcendent powers being sealed, he would just have to bear with it for the time being.

The Mother Goddess had already warned him that he could be injured if he tried to resist the seal, and Adola was keeping a close eye on him. Despite Adola’s respectful attitude, she was quite a powerful individual too, likely having reached Origin Level 2. Furthermore, it looked like she would become a High Elf Sovereign in the near future.

To think that someone this powerful is assigned as my bodyguard… Does this show how much the Mother Goddess values the Kingmaker, or are the people of this era simply that powerful? If it’s the latter, I doubt that I’ll be able to roam around freely even if I regain my powers…

“Milord, do you have something to ask me?”

Adola hesitantly spoke up under Roel’s silent gaze. The latter pondered for a moment before shaking his head.

“…No, it’s nothing.”

He decided to put off scouting the Mother Goddess’ military situation for the time being. It would be wiser not to appear too suspicious right after being captured.

As powerful as the substitution spell was, he didn’t want to draw unnecessary suspicion by appearing like an ignorant doofus who knew nothing about the world. For now, his plan was to ‘speak less, observe more’.

Roel fell silent once more, and Adola decided against saying anything either. The war chariot picked up speed and whizzed across the moonlit night.

…

Roel’s previous world had a pretty fervent scene for night racing despite the dangers. Heck, there was even a tofu deliveryman who challenged himself to clear a mountainous path full of many sharp turns in record time!

But none of that came anywhere close to being as dangerous as night sky racing in the Sia Continent.

Weng!

Under the moonlit sky, the war chariot released a powerful mana pulsation that formed a luminescent barrier. It warded off ten black tendrils that had risen from the shadowy ground to encircle the war chariot.

“Back down! This is our Mother Goddess’ esteemed guest!”

Adola rose to her feet and berated the tendrils coiling outside. The pegasi pulling the war chariot trembled ever so slightly as they neighed in unease and nervousness.

Roel’s face turned slightly pale as he thought about everything he had sensed along the way. The war chariot had raced ahead after he concluded his conversation with Adola, but who could have thought that the journey to the Mother Goddess’ chamber would be fraught with dangers?

From time to time, Roel sensed an assessing gaze from the shadowy ground that presumably belonged to the lord of the territory. Most of them averted their gaze upon recognizing the war chariot, but it nevertheless felt awful to have others looking at him with such predatory eyes.

Roel had no idea what was lurking on the ground below, but he knew that it was a monster that surpassed his imagination. Even its aura was already on par with Peytra’s.

Is it a demonic beast? I didn’t think that the monsters in this era would be this powerful. They must have been even more frightening back when Sia was still around… Roel grimly thought.

He suddenly felt that Peytra had downplayed how harsh the ancient era had been. A world full of such eldritch horrors was no different from a nightmare.

Despite Adola’s warnings, the tendrils continued to creep closer, to the point where Roel could clearly see the suckers on them. Adola’s complexion turned awful, and the war chariot’s rumbles began to crescendo.

Just as a fight was about to break out, the silver moon suddenly glowed more brightly than ever. This phenomenon stirred an indescribable feeling within Roel—one that he was oddly familiar with.

It was the Mother Goddess’ gaze.

But what was different from before was that this gaze was tinged with salient rage. An invisible pressure crushed down from the sky, suppressing every aura in the vicinity. The pegasi stopped their neighing, and the war chariot’s rumbles halted.

As if they had been struck by lightning, the tendrils shuddered in fright before retreating into the shadows in a panic.

It took a few moments before the moon slowly reverted to normal. Only then did the kneeling Adola rise back to her feet. She wiped off her cold sweat as she turned to Roel to explain herself.

“My apologies, Lord Roel. I shouldn’t have chosen this route. This is the dwelling of the evil gods. They have been in a restless state recently…”

“It’s fine. Do such incidents happen often?”

“Erk. No, not at all…” Adola looked visibly troubled by Roel’s question. She lowered her head before further elaborating, “Your aura must have reminded them of the war between them and the saint beasts, which led to them being unusually aggressive. There’s no need to worry about that anymore since our Mother Goddess has already warned them.”

“Warned them? You’re referring to that earlier gaze?”

“Indeed. The war chariot’s thunder is usually enough to scare them off, but today was an exception…”

Adola looked envious when she said those words. The Mother Goddess had never used Her Moon Gaze even when her brethren were harassed by the evil gods, because this spell was a huge energy drainer. On top of that, the fact that the Mother Goddess made a move before the fight even commenced hinted that She had been paying attention to them all this while.

“Our Mother Goddess cares deeply about you.”

Adola felt conflicted when she recalled the rage she had sensed from the Mother Goddess. Never had the Mother Goddess behaved in such a way before; it was almost as if She was a mother protecting her own child.

Had the evil god’s tendrils really touched the war chariot, the Mother Goddess might have very well torched every being in the vicinity to cinders. It was fortunate that Roel didn’t react much to the situation, displaying no displeasure or fear, and that prompted Her to hold back a little.

Adola exhaled deeply before looking at Roel in gratitude.

However, Roel was too busy thinking about other stuff to notice her gesture. No matter how he looked at the Mother Goddess’ army, be it the Blood Clan, the Undead, or the Scalemen, they simply didn’t look like the good guys. Add in the demonic beasts and evil gods whom he had stumbled upon earlier to the mix, and that practically screamed ‘villain’.

In contrast, the Savior’s forces looked much more like the good guys here.

If this was what he was thinking, his ancestor might have harbored the same thought. In fact, the original Kingmaker was likely to have a much poorer impression of the Mother Goddess after having fought with and been captured by Her.

To be frank, Roel had a better impression of the Mother Goddess after She stepped in to intimidate the evil god.

She’s earnestly trying to protect me, be it from physical injury or mental trauma, he thought.

The latter half of the journey was smooth sailing. Even the strongest of the evil gods dared not to bare their fangs against Roel under the moonlight after the Mother Goddess’ intimidation. As aggrieved as they might be, they dared not raise their heads and openly express their emotions.

Even the mightiest of dragons would do well to lie flat under the moonlight.

Just like that, Roel finally arrived at the Mother Goddess’ home base. It was a vast city built around a lofty tower that shot up to heaven.

Roel was amazed by the spectacular sight before him. He turned to check on the System’s notification, and it was just as he had expected.

【Evaluation: Average (59)】