Roughly ten years.
In the past, after Chronoa vanished, I had hardly shown myself across the continent at all. But now, together with three [otherworlders], I made a public appearance for the first time in decades.
My first disciple, Izawa Shizue, who had now fully grown into a true hero.
And the two new disciples she and I had taken in.
Sakaguchi Hinata and Kagurazaka Yuuki.
"...You two..."
The first thing I felt when I saw them was... pity.
"You really are a strange person, Teacher. Just like Teacher Shizu... To still hold onto convictions even in a world like this..."
A girl whose family had been destroyed and who had suddenly fallen into another world.
"...Haha... I envy you. With your power... you could easily change absurd rules like these with your own hands."
And a boy who had lost his parents in an accident and come to question the world itself.
...
Those two children... were my past self.
My previous life, where I lost my family in an accident and in the end even lost my own body.
Just like the person I used to be, someone who had gone through suffering no one should have to endure, then hurled that hatred and rage at both myself and the world.
When I had only read about them in a book, I could not truly sympathize with them.
How one twist of fate could turn someone cold-blooded, or make them dream of conquering the world.
But after I myself had thrown my whole being into this world, I had no choice but to understand.
A world where the strong devoured the weak.
A world overflowing with monsters and other races, a world where helplessness existed, yet only force held any truth.
And into a world like this, they had been cast alone, with nothing but the body and mind of ordinary students.
"...Death was a release for me, when I couldn't even control my own body... but those two are different."
For some, this world was liberation. For others, it was a prison.
And with that thought, a question rose in my mind.
Later... in the distant future... could I really leave these children to die?
A question utterly unfit for a demon.
"...Why am I hesitating now, of all times?"
I had already experienced killing.
By now, I had done it too many times to count.
Corrupt nobles and royals, fallen majin, even thugs who falsely claimed the name of Hero.
I had spent a long time beneath the sun as a [Hero], and the number of deaths had trailed after my shadow all the while.
And yet, I had never regretted any of it.
Those I killed were criminals who had committed sins worthy of death, whether judged by modern standards or by the standards of this other world.
And I was not human. I was a demon.
...
Maybe I was tormenting them with false hope.
Because I knew an undecided [future] could still be changed, I kept wondering whether they might somehow live better lives than the ones I knew awaited them.
"...How stupid."
It was the kind of impossible fantasy only a child overflowing with hope would cling to.
...And yet—
"...You can do it. No... you two can, too."
—why was I teaching them?
Why was I passing on everything I could do?
Hinata dying at the hands of the rampaging Chronoa was something already decided in the [past], but Yuuki...
"...As long as [Cerberus] exists, Yuuki's [sin] won't disappear."
...Even though he had chances to change, he went too far.
He built a criminal organization with his own hands and rose to its top himself. That sin could not be erased.
He used mercenaries to carry out filthy work, turned elves into slaves, and even kept [the clowns] under his command.
"Most likely... in the end, I'll be the one who kills him with my own hands..."
I could not place that burden on Shizu, so I would have to bear it myself.
And because of that, I had secretly wished for it all along.
I already knew the outcome, and still I believed.
That a peaceful [future] might come, one where I would not have to kill my own disciple.
Time never slowed down.
As if trying to return to its original course, Hinata left Shizu and me and became one of Ruberios's [Crusaders].
But not everything could remain exactly the same.
Unlike in the novel, Hinata failed to inherit all of Shizu's and my swordsmanship.
Part of that was because the gap in skill between Hinata and me was simply too great, but the bigger reason was that Shizu had grown so strong that, despite being in the body of a sage, she had surpassed most saints.
Recently, even after stepping back from active duty, she had gained not only the epithet Ruler of Blazing Flames, but also new ones like [Sword Princess] and [True Flame Emperor].
Still, that did not mean Hinata had become weak.
She was learning both Shizu's swordsmanship and mine at the same time, so it simply took longer. Even so, I could feel through her soul that she had definitely grown stronger than in the original timeline.
And then there was Yuuki.
He transformed the Mutual Aid Association Shizu belonged to into the Guild and became its [Grand Master].
Using Ingrassia as his center, he expanded his influence, created facilities like the Free School for young [otherworlders], and reproduced machines from Earth through magic stones. With the privileges that brought him, he steadily raised his name as one of the West's key figures.
...All while continuing to hide from Shizu and me the existence of his [Unique Skill], [Creator].
But I did not point it out.
I had no intention of fighting Yuuki already, and I too was hiding many things.
Besides, whatever his true goal, it was thanks to Yuuki that Shizu became a teacher at the Free School, and through that, she formed ties with the otherworlder children there.
Misaki Kenya, Sekiguchi Ryota, Gale Gibson, Alice Rondo, and Chloe O'Bell.
Just like Shizu when she first fell into this world, they were children living on borrowed time because the amount of magic power inside them exceeded the limits of their bodies.
These children were the true beginning.
A new point of origin that would connect Shizu and me to that slime, Rimuru Tempest.
And that beginning was right now.
The moment I had waited three hundred years for had finally come close enough to touch if I only reached out my hand.
"...So this is the starting point at last."
My heart began to pound with anticipation.
At the same time, worry and fear rose up as well, but I paid them no mind.
The instant I had longed for over so many years, the moment I had imagined again and again, would surely crush feelings like those—
"—Isn't that right, Rimuru Tempest?"
[...Rep...ort... The unregistered skill [????] has once again... confirmed... ■■...]
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