LightReader

Chapter 121 - Expose Myself First! - 121

"My dearest Kiana... tell me, who do you like more, me or Jyahnar?" Elysia edged a little closer, gently nudging Kiana with her slender shoulder, a playful yet utterly lethal question in her tone.

But!

Was Kiana someone you could just push around so easily?

She glanced at Elysia. "Of course it's Jyahnar."

"Hmph!" Elysia knew full well Kiana was joking, and she knew that Kiana knew she was joking, but hearing that answer still left her feeling a tiny bit put out.

She puffed out her cheeks, looking utterly adorable.

It was a blatant, unashamed pout, just like a child sulking.

"Well then, go live with your precious Jyahnar!" Elysia huffed in mock annoyance.

Kiana simply chuckled, letting the matter drop.

Her eyes drifted back to the live broadcast, where the reporter finally managed to reclaim her microphone, and Kiana couldn't help but laugh out loud. The way the reporter became extra cautious afterwards, guarding her mic like it was gold, was genuinely amusing.

--+--

[Uncle, you moved house pretty decisively!]

[What choice did I have? Wait for the Honkai to drop right on my head?]

--+--

[Miss, what's your take on the official evacuation warning? Weren't you skeptical at all?]

[Skeptical about what? If a major Honkai eruption doesn't happen around here, great. If it does, then isn't this move exactly what saved us?]

[But if nothing happens, all this back-and-forth would be a real hassle, right? Doesn't that bother you?]

[Whether it happens or not, can you afford to gamble? Staying alive is what matters most.]

--+--

Now that was a clear-headed way of looking at things.

Of course.

There were also those who grumbled and resented the official evacuation order.

After all, people are different. Sometimes the gap between one person and another is wider than the gap between a person and a dog.

You can't expect everyone to understand the policy, nor can you expect everyone to comply willingly.

They certainly didn't dare curse the Young Lady.

But they could curse their local government.

In fact, this was already commonplace abroad. Cursing the president, cursing the country, even protests and demonstrations were the norm.

For a nationwide evacuation of this scale to happen without major protests was entirely due to the Young Lady's influence. Her position was absolute, not something to be challenged.

Those protestors aren't stupid, after all.

They know exactly what's fair game and what isn't. Unless driven by some real sense of mission or something else, most of the time they're just making a lot of noise.

Elysia grew slightly quiet.

"What's wrong?" Kiana asked.

"I was thinking... everyone supports you so wholeheartedly now because your prediction for the Third Honkai Eruption was incredibly accurate. Nagazora and the surrounding areas really did suffer a disaster at that exact time..."

Elysia sounded worried.

"But what if... what if there's a mistake this time? What if the Fourth Honkai Eruption doesn't hit New Zealand at all, but instead strikes a nearby area precisely because people evacuated there, causing even more casualties..."

"What do we do then?"

"..."

Kiana understood Elysia's concern.

"First, you need to understand," she said. "I am the Herrscher of Finality. No one can make me unhappy, and no one is willing to make me unhappy. Even if I myself were willing, the people around me wouldn't allow it."

Then, Kiana paused for a moment before continuing.

"Even if the prediction is wrong, even if the Honkai plays us for fools and erupts not in a place like New Zealand where there are clear, gradual signs, but somewhere else entirely, exploding without warning..."

"It doesn't matter!"

She said.

"You know, I'm not revered across the world because I can predict Honkai Eruptions or their timing."

"They have no choice but to revere me, simply because I am the Finality."

Yes.

No matter what their personal thoughts might be, they had no choice but to show reverence.

For the sake of a better future?

For the sake of having a protector now?

Or perhaps to pacify this terrifying bomb, to keep it from accidentally going off?

Any reason would do.

They could interpret it however they liked!

Kiana didn't care. Both sides understood the situation perfectly.

Honkai Eruptions were inherently unpredictable. An accurate prediction was good, but if a prediction was wrong, who would dare try to make an issue of it?

Did they think this was some ordinary palace intrigue drama?

When a person's identity, status, power, and everything about them far exceed ordinary imagination, they gradually become deified.

When that happens, even if they make a mistake, the fault lies not with them, but with the mortals themselves.

Kiana was certain of it.

She felt no pressure.

Even if something did go wrong, the various nations and organizations would be more anxious than she was, and they'd be far more efficient at cleaning up the mess.

So the problem Elysia raised... it wasn't something she ever worried about.

She didn't care in the slightest what other ordinary people thought of her.

Because the only ones she cared about were the people by her side.

"But speaking of which..."

Elysia nodded, her eyes still on the interview livestream, as if a thought had just occurred to her. She asked, seemingly offhand,

"Jyahnar... still no movement?"

"Should be soon, right?" Kiana thought about it and gave that reply.

Because, in essence, Jyahnar was an element Kiana had transplanted from another worldline.

Although in that original worldline, a planetary-level Honkai beast born alongside the Finality did exist, in this world, there originally was none.

Transplanting her here created a peculiar situation.

It was simple.

Before a certain point in time, it was as if she didn't exist at all. No matter how hard you looked, you couldn't find a single trace of her.

But after that specific point in time, she would exist. And from that point as an anchor, the past and future would converge, making it seem as if she had always been there, and her future would also belong to this world.

You'd just be left wondering, 'That's strange, how did I not notice she was there before? Was I blind?'

This was also why the various nations and organizations, having dispatched their astronomical observatories to scrutinize the Alpha-Centauri system repeatedly, had still found no sign of Jyahnar.

Even Kiana couldn't say for sure exactly when she would appear, all because of this.

This system of hers was farsighted.

Once things started getting close to the present timeline, it went blind.

Kiana could only be sure that Jyahnar's timeline had already entered the system's 'blind spot'. It probably wouldn't be much longer.

In fact, precisely because it was a future causality being reversed and drawn in, Jyahnar was coming from the future, while Kiana was now in the past.

Gradually moving towards the future to meet each other really did count as a love story of two people rushing towards one another.

It wasn't a matter of passively waiting for a long, long time just to see each other.

And Kiana, well, she was actually quite looking forward to it.

--+--

T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.

20+ advanced chaps on my patreon.

[email protected]/AspenTL

If you guys wanna check it out.

More Chapters