Having traversed countless realms, can you possibly be as clever as me?

Having passed through the trials of the past, Subaru Natsuki now faces the trials of the present.

However, due to a certain demon, Echidna, who was exploring the possibilities of the Book of Wisdom, decided to increase Subaru Natsuki's strength.

Thus, Natsuki Subaru began to experience a story of possibilities that had never happened before.

He experienced all of this from a first-person perspective; he had no control over it, no choice in it, but he could see and feel it.

"You should know what the world looks like from that being from another world."

Echidna looked at Subaru Natsuki in front of her and said with a smile.

"So simply showing you those possibilities probably doesn't constitute a trial. So, let you experience firsthand what would happen if you made different choices without the 'devil'?"

Before Natsuki Subaru could respond, the pure white space shattered instantly, and the realm of illusion and dreams unfolded in an instant.

The first story could even be described as beautiful for Natsuki Subaru.

This is a timeline he has never experienced before. Here, there are no demons. He lost face and broke up with Emilia when he was chosen as king. In the end, he eloped with Rem and escaped everything, and went to live in Kararaki in the west.

They settled down, married, had children, and lived a simple but happy life. Subaru found a job as a male servant, while Rem stayed at home, and the two had a son and a daughter.

Ordinary, warm, and simple daily life, perhaps with occasional minor troubles, but in the end, everything turns out alright.

And so, their happy and ordinary life continued for decades, until the moment Subaru Natsuki died—just before he returned to the capital and fled.

At first, Natsuki Subaru even felt a little embarrassed, as if he was fantasizing about a shameful story.

But when he finally returned, he remained silent.

Because he saw the corpses of Emilia, Ram, Petra, and others—without him, they faced death and their end.

And then there's Crusch, who failed in his campaign against the White Whale, and those who perished in countless calamities because of his absence—what he saw was exactly what his lazy self had envisioned.

Is that all?

Natsuki Subaru pressed his hand to his heart, suppressing the overwhelming guilt and sadness that welled up within him, and gritted his teeth as he yelled at the witch before him.

"While I don't agree with what Lao Da said, I wouldn't feel guilty about something that never happened!!!"

If Tsurugi were here, he would just kick him and tell him not to think too highly of himself. Some people are just meant to die and don't need to bear any burdens.

Natsuki Subaru disagreed with the idea, but Tsugumi's influence ultimately prevented him from feeling guilty about something that hadn't happened yet.

This outcome, which he chose because of his own 'laziness' and let everything go unchecked, certainly saddened him, but it wasn't enough to break him down.

In the end, it's just an illusion!

"Hehehe, don't be in such a hurry." Echidna appeared in front of Subaru, covering her mouth and chuckling with delight.

"This is merely the lightest possibility, the very first choice..."

"And I must tell you, just because this never happened doesn't mean it's an illusion~~~~~~"

The pure white world shattered once more, only to be rebuilt a second time. The second development occurred during the disagreement at the mansion.

This is still a world without demons. After being cursed, betrayed, distrusted, tortured and killed by Rem, in the cycle after dying from torture, he did not have the courage to face everything.

He failed to save them and instead caused Rem's death. He was cursed and hated by Ram, and finally escaped the mansion with Betty's help.

He completely broke down, driven by the hatred and pursuit of Ram for causing Rem's death, and by the extreme despair he felt for himself and the fear of pain. He became violent and insane.

He began to suspect that everyone who was kind to him wanted to kill him; they were all liars. He hated these people and was convinced that they harbored ill intentions towards him.

So he began to seek power and opportunity, using his death and modern knowledge to become a tyrant known as the "Purge King" within two years.

He accepted Cecilus, a swordsman nicknamed "Azure Lightning," and persuaded him through hundreds of deaths and resurrections to give him the opportunity to fight Reinhard.

He also accepted the powerful Kararaki, known as the 'Praiser' of Helibel, who was his neighbor in a previous possibility. He had gained the Kararaki's trust by bestowing favors upon him through many reincarnations.

With these means, coupled with any ruthless methods, he amassed immense wealth and status in a short period of time, openly murdering a staggering 120,000 people. He eventually returned to Roswaal, killed the pathetic clown, imprisoned Emilia and Ram, and tricked and personally killed Beatrice.

923 >>

He still loved Emilia, even though he was always afraid she would scold him when he came over. In his eyes, she was the only person with color. She didn't depend on him; she would never change her heart.

At that time, he only believed those who harbored anger and resentment towards him, thinking that such ugliness, laid bare in the open, was the only real possibility.

All these atrocities finally came to an end with the arrival of Reinhard.

As the King of Purification, he had long been the target of the common enemy of the four great nations. He killed countless challengers, but in the end, he was punished by the Sword Saint.

He made thorough preparations, sealing the opponent's power with the Pandemonium made of special minerals, giving Blue Lightning a chance to confront him head-on. But even so, Reinhard still defeated Blue Lightning, shattered his sword, and easily destroyed everything that Subaru Natsuki had built.

Faced with absolute power, even if he could start over infinitely, Subaru Natsuki would not be able to do what he truly desired.

In the very end, it was only through Emilia's backstabbing of Reinhard that he truly managed to wound this invincible swordsman.

With her hands stained with the bewildered blood of Reinhard, Emilia confessed her love to him and asked him to die for her—

He refused the process and chose to go to the room where Ram had been imprisoned, where, in front of the only girl with color now, he would let her strangle him, over and over again, in an endless cycle.

The development of what was called anger thus ended in the agony of being killed countless times, like drowning.

"Wow, did you see that? If you abandon those unnecessary principles, you can achieve feats that countless others cannot!"

Echidna, who had just appeared, looked at Subaru, whose face was now extremely pale, and said with a smile.

"...Don't try to sway me, I won't make that choice, I..." Subaru's face turned pale, and he clenched his teeth as he spoke.

"Really? I don't believe it." Echidna smiled happily, covering her mouth and chuckling softly.

"You never admit to your abnormal mental state, but haven't you always been extreme? It's just that you become different extremes under different stimuli."

Natsuki Subaru wanted to argue, but he couldn't, because Tsugumi had told him more than once what an arrogant soul he was.

—He was never a normal person. Natsuki Subaru was never a soul that could be described as ordinary, normal, or common.

His mental state was actually more unstable than that of the madmen in the mental hospital.

"So, let's see what happens if you sign a contract with me?"

Echidna gave a sly smile.

"In my opinion, this is a very good ending~~~~"

The white light continued to flash, and this time, Subaru Natsuki experienced a long story.

A story that is longer and more painful than the previous two combined.

He made a contract with Echidna, who was supported by Subaru Natsuki behind the scenes. In pursuit of the perfect ending of "saving everyone," he completely instrumentalized the "Return by Death" ability, even committing suicide once a day to confirm save points.

Countless deaths and Echidna's whispers tormented him, eventually numbing him to a state of rationality, much like Echidna herself.

As long as I survive, that's all that matters. Nothing else matters.

So he deprived Emilia of the opportunity to confront her past, made Garfield hate himself for being unable to resolve his inner conflicts, and forcibly took Betty out of the forbidden library...

It's okay, as long as we survive, that's the perfect ending, even if we lose growth and all possibilities.

Even if all your companions become like zombies, even if they don't open up to you, even if you live in emptiness and pain.

This time, Subaru was truly terrified. He screamed in terror, and the surrounding scenery flowed and distorted like melting wax. Finally, when Subaru regained his footing, he found himself standing in a library.

A vast, boundless library. Bookshelves stretched out in all directions like a forest, each book's spine etched with golden lettering. The air was thick with the smell of old paper and ink—the scent of knowledge, and also the scent of death. For in the legends Subaru knew, every book in this library recorded the life of a dead person.

In the very center of the library, on an ornate armchair, sat "that version of myself".

Subaru almost didn't recognize himself at first glance. Because that person's expression was too pure—no anger, no sadness, no happiness, no pain. That expression was like pure water that had been distilled countless times, so transparent that nothing could be seen or touched inside.

"You've arrived." Subaru looked up, a polite smile on his lips, like a librarian greeting a guest. "Welcome to my... well, how should I put it, my office? My home? My prison? Anything is fine. Have a seat."

923>>>>

Subaru didn't sit. He stood before the man, staring into those eyes—eyes he had seen countless times in the mirror. Now, those eyes were empty. Not lifeless, not hollow, but a deeper, more unsettling… void.

"You sold yourself to Echidna."

"Correction," the man held up a finger as if to begin a sophisticated mathematics lesson, "I chose to cooperate with Echidna. It's a mutually beneficial agreement. She helps me with her wisdom, and I provide her with research data through my death regression. You see—"

He casually pulled a book from the bookshelf beside him and opened it to a page. Subaru saw the words—his own experiences, every death, every pain, every struggle of his, all recorded in detail and calmly, like an experimental report.

"Everyone is alive," Subaru said, his tone as flat as if he were stating the weather. "Emilia is queen. Puck is still by her side. Betty left the library. Ram and Rem are alive. Garfield and Otto are alive too. Everyone you care about is here—alive."

Subaru opened his mouth, only to find his voice caught in his throat. Because he knew it was true. In Subaru's "greedy" narrative, everyone had indeed survived. No sacrifice, no death, no pain—at least on the surface.

"And you?" Subaru finally found his voice. "Are you happy?"

Subaru, driven by greed, paused for a moment. His expression was blank, like a piece of paper whose writing had been erased, waiting for someone to write the answer on it again.

"Happiness...?" he repeated, as if savoring the taste of an unfamiliar word. "The concept is a bit vague. I'm not sure if I'm happy. But I did achieve my goal. Isn't that enough?"

"Not enough," Subaru said. This time, his voice was more resolute than he had anticipated, like a nail finally driven firmly into a long-lost spot.

"You achieved your goal. But you lost yourself. You sold yourself to this contract, to her—you don't even know if you're still alive."

"But aren't you the same?" Subaru Natsuki, driven by greed, tilted his head and asked.

"Didn't you also go to save them time and time again? What's the essential difference between us?"

Natsuki Subaru fell silent, then clenched his fist over his heart, an overwhelming sense of panic and suffocation spreading through him.

Those countless 'deaths' and the outcomes of his choices began to make him question himself and wonder if he was really an abnormal person!

"The devil was right, we are indeed abnormal." Subaru Natsuki, consumed by greed, looked up at the sky above the library and murmured.

"Actually, I think that we all follow the path of 'arrogance,' only with many other original sins attached to it."

At this point, he opened the other half of the book and placed it in Natsuki Subaru's hands.

"Alright, let's go through the last one, which is also the one most in line with 'arrogance'."

"Now that we've seen this, let's talk about it properly."

Subaru Natsuki, driven by greed, spoke in an unquestionable tone before sending him into the last possible world line.

924

We highly recommend this book to you: "Traveling Through Multiple Realms, Can You Be Smarter Than Me?", available to read at http://

643. The most likely candidate for arrogance

Cold, shivering

Natsuki Subaru woke up from his dream and found himself in a familiar alley.

He remembered it clearly: the alley, Mr. Rom's shop, and the entrance to that damned apple stand.