My Measurement: The Villain Desires a Satisfying Payback

"Cough, cough...!"

"Lud! How do you feel?"

"Ugh, gr-- I feel great...? Wh-what happened? I thought I was a goner..."

"Well..."

As the mage lifted himself off the ground with the help of the party leader, all of the adventurers turned their gazes towards me.

"..."

They were asking for my name.

I was about to answer simply with 'Cipher', but I stopped myself.

Now that I thought about it, I felt repulsed and wanted to disassociate with that name.

This Otherworld is a fake, created through the combined efforts of Yuu Shimura, Saburou, and Azaki Kiryuuin. Thus, it could technically be said that they are the gods―the higher beings―of the Otherworld.

However, even the Earth that those three are from, as well as myself, is a fake created by a higher being―whom Truth had shown to be known as the 'Author', a being who wrote my world into existence.

I don't know how high the chain goes... But I do know one thing.

From what I saw on that day with my recovered memories, I was a character that the Author had personally imagined, designed and created, for whatever reason.

Thus, my name, too, was created by Him.

'Cipher', the name I thought had been bestowed upon me by the Wardens when they realised the identity of my power.

I didn't want a name like that.

That day, I also learnt that there were other characters whom even the omnipotent, omniscient Author didn't know about, however.

Put simply, there is something unknown that fills in the gaps unspecified by the Author.

If I think about it the same way I thought about how this Otherworld was created, it applies in the same way―although those three aforementioned must have designed and manifested the rough outline of the world, they could never have delineated everything in such specific detail.

In the same way, the Author cannot possibly know everything about the world He created; after all, there's no way someone would be able to do something like meticulously design and name many billions of people, even if they are akin to a god.

The things that exist in those places remain unknown by even the creator of the world.

I suppose an apt description for it would be 'the world outside of the Author's view'.

The world―including characters, events, settings and emotions outside of the Author's view―still exists even without the Author's intervention or influence.

Characters outside of the Author's view, for example, would exist whether the Author knows about them or not, and they would experience events and emotions regardless of where the Author's attention was focused.

Characters... Yes, like Ruti.

From what I had seen from the memories, Ruti was someone born outside of the Author's view, and is thus a character He doesn't know.

If such a character was to bestow a name, then since it originated from somewhere aside from the Author's will, wouldn't it be just as authentic as someone's name from the 'highest' reality?

A genuine, authentic name, as opposed to that of a mere character in a book.

Discarding all the previous names and aliases I had adopted―those bestowed upon me by a detestable Author, and those I "came up with" which He had no doubt influenced.

I needed a true name; one that the Author would not have intended.

And there was only one such name that I knew of.

"...Cee."

A name given to me by a character outside the Author's view.

❖─────❖─────❖

On the way back to the deserted city, I probed the adventurers for information.

From what I had gathered, 'adventurer' was a profession that took on a variety of odd jobs from delivery to escorting, to investigating unventured lands, to monster slaying―they seemed to be a vital part of the Otherworld's workforce.

It seemed that adventurers received these jobs, called 'quests', from a place called the 'Guild' and reported back when the quest was complete to receive their reward and to raise their 'ranking', enabling them to take on more important jobs.

Comparing it to Earth, I suppose it functioned as a sort of agency.

"W-wait, Cee, you're not an adventurer?! I thought for sure..."

"No. That's why I'm asking about it."

"I see. It's a damn shame..."

"What?"

"Oh, sorry. It's just, with your level of strength you could easily..."

"..."

The party leader I was talking to kept trailing his sentences off into nothing, keeping me confused. I never realised how annoying it would be to not have Truth in these kinds of situations.

"What he means is that you should register to become an adventurer."

Thankfully, however, the female frontline Elle noticed this and intervened.

"And, personally, I agree. Cee, you showed power no less than that of an A-rank adventurer."

"I see."

According to what I heard from the inn owner yesterday, these people were B-rank. Isn't A only one rank higher? But, from what I saw of them today, they appeared quite weak.

No, perhaps that was simply because they had already been surviving for days.

"Would you recommend signing up?"

"Oh, a hundred percent! The Guild's great. If you're good, you can make easy money, it's fantastic for gathering information and building connections, and it's also great if you just want to have a drink."

Money would definitely be important to survive in this world, but more than that, information.

I still needed information to return to Earth, and that was my number one focus.

"Alright. Thank you."

She slapped me on the shoulder a couple of times. "Eii, it's no problem. You saved us! Say, three rounds on me."

"No."

In any case, on the topic of information.

Read exclusives on mvlemp _y,r.

"Can you tell me about magic?"

I asked the mage of the party, Lud, but he made a complicated expression. "That's... a bit of a vague question. What do you want to know specifically?"

"Everything."

"..."

It turned out that magic was a much broader subject than I anticipated, and in the end, I was left realising that I would need more than just a single mage to find out if it was possible to use magic to return to Earth.

"Using teleportation to travel to another planet... Hmm..."

"Theoretically, it's possible if you somehow have the spatial coordinates of where you wish to travel, but the sheer amount of magic energy one would require to cast such a large-scale spell... It's something not even most mythical and transcendent beings would be able to accomplish."

The first half of his explanation made me almost discard the notion immediately, but then he mentioned something odd.

"Mythical and transcendent beings?"

"Ah, does your village not have such legends?"

I had already used the excuse that I was from an isolated village, but they obviously didn't believe it.

Perhaps after witnessing what I did to the Nightmare, however, they didn't want to pry.

Lud continued. "Well, not all of them are legends, exactly, but anyway, there are a few extremely powerful beings who live in various places around the world."

"Mythical beings are those who either don't live in a fixed location or who appear only rarely, such as the Nameless Flood or the King of the Wandering Forest; and transcendent beings are those who, on the flip side, live in a fixed, known location and are relatively more well-known. They include beings such as the World Tree or the Demon King."

"How powerful are they? Well... It's tough because there's a lot of variance, and strength isn't the only factor that determines a being's transcendent status. In the first place, none of them are really supposed to be measurable in terms of power."

"It's hard to say exactly, but most transcendents are probably capable of wiping out a medium-sized nation by themselves..."

Hearing Lud's explanation, there was a lot to consider. From what he was saying, it seemed there were a total of twelve such incomprehensible beings who existed in this world, known collectively as the Twelve Transcendents.

Most of the twelve decided to reside in their own corner of the world so as to not spark conflict with each other, but there were a couple who enjoyed travelling, it seems.

If they were that strong, then I'm certain at least one of them would have the power to return me to Earth, or at the very least, possess knowledge of how to do so.

I guess I know where I'm headed now, then...

"Which is the easiest of the twelve to talk to?"

I had expected to wait a while after asking to hear anything worthwhile, but surprisingly, the answer came quickly.

"That depends. Most transcendents are impossible to meet for a normal person for countless reasons."

"There are transcendents whom you would never be able to hold a conversation with for one reason or the another, usually because they're either a monster like the Sojourned Storm of Slumber or who just hate humans altogether like the Demon King."

"There are also transcendents whom you couldn't meet even if you wanted to simply because of the environment in which they live. Actually, this is the case for quite a few of them; the Dragon King lives in a land riddled with volcanoes; the Northern Star lives in the freezing snowfields of the north; the Leviathan of the Abyss lives in the deepest depths of the vastest ocean, and so on."

"Aside from that, there are those who are typically seen as more benevolent and easier to actually see in person, such as the Lord of the East, Vagabond Knight, or the World Tree."

Taking in all the new information, I narrowed down the results to those most likely to be of any help.

"Then, do you suggest I visit one of those three?"

"Hmm... Well, those three are certainly known to be the friendliest of the bunch. The only problem is actually getting a meeting with one of them."

"What's so difficult about it?"

"First of all," Lud started. "The Lord of the East rules over the Eastern Empire. He is an emperor, so obtaining an audience with him is naturally impossible."

"You run into the same problem when planning to meet the World Tree―although seeing her can be done from any dozens of miles away, to meet her in person would mean travelling to the elven forest of Alfheim where she resides. The elves aren't the friendliest when it comes to dealing with humans, and even if you manage to get on their good side, meeting the World Tree is a whole other issue, so that's also difficult."

"Finally, the Vagabond Knight; although he is only one person, and has never rejected a conversational partner in the past, the problem is finding him. He travels all over the world at random."

It would be like trying to find a specific needle in not just a haystack, but a city.

Indeed, I can see why meeting one of them would be difficult.

But, it's not like I have a choice.

I'm going to return to Earth, and nothing in this Otherworld is going to stop me.

The biggest obstacle standing in the way of that objective, it seems, is the existence of these Twelve Transcendents.

How should I go about this, then...