Chapter 277: What Lies In the Abyss

"Phew..." I exhaled my breath as I looked at the horizon from the tall wall near the church training area.

Juriel's last question made me throw away all the others I had.

But my answer was the one that baffled me.

"I am not interested, huh?"

For some reason, I immediately answered as such, making her smile and saying that today was enough and she was tired. After she apologized, I gave her a stamina potion in case she needed it and left the room, going on top of this wall.

I knew better than the others that my thoughts couldn't be influenced. But most probably, Juriel had a skill or a title that made me answer her honestly. Yes, that was the feeling I had when answering her questions.

And she even wished me luck in finding the clues the Goddess told me in the four borders. How much did that Goddess spoil Pope Juriel? Indeed she was beautiful and kind, but there was a limit to spoiling one subordinate, no?

I also spoiled my subordinate, so I couldn't say anything. But...

"What a scary Pope. Even I, who have many titles and skills, still answer her honestly. Is that the perk of being an Angel? No, maybe that's her perk as a Pope of the Castitas Church." I muttered.

Did she do that to help me find the answer myself? I was curious about the clues the Goddess told me located in four borders.

My desire to return home disappeared slowly as I lived in this world. At most, I only wanted to know what happened to my original world, especially after I saw that thing in the World-End Waterfall.

I took out the [Teleportation Gem] I set on that flying island in the World-End Waterfall and raised it to the sky, inspecting the shiny gem as it reflected sunlight.

"Will there be something similar in the other borders? I should let Tristan take a look if that's the case."

"Take a look at what?"

A voice belonged to a young girl answering my muttering. I looked at the source of the voice and saw Tristan in casual clothes. She was wearing a white shirt and a black skirt connected to her shoulders. Bending over, her face was close to my face.

"What do you plan to do, Arthur? You keep so many secrets to the point it's unhealthy." Her expression turned sour as she pushed me over to the side and sat beside me. "So, what is it with me taking a look at something?"

"Hahaha, there is nothing," I replied with a playful tone and put the [Teleportation Gem] inside my inventory. "I want you to take a look at new clothes. But I don't think that's necessary. You look cute in those clothes, Tristan."

"That won't work on me." She replied dryly.

However, her face had a shade of red, and the corner of her lips curled up slightly in happiness. She was lying when she said it wouldn't work on her.

'Still the same tsundere,' I thought as my mouth formed a smile.

"But seriously." Tristan raised her voice as she looked at me.

"You keep too many secrets from me or even those girls who love you. Don't try to keep them by yourself and share them with us sometime. So, what are you thinking right now?" She asked with narrowed eyes, scrying me without giving me room to say otherwise.

"I know." I nodded at her, putting on a solemn expression. "It doesn't seem like I have any desire to return to my home except for seeing my real body's condition right now. My talk with the Pope earlier just made me a little bit honest, and I answered that I wasn't interested in returning home anymore."

"Hmm... So that's your problem." Tristan hummed as if this wasn't a problem, to begin with.

"You survived Horizon Online and killed the last boss alone to return home. As for me, that desire has long gone, and I just want to live happily. Well, that wish was granted a few days ago. So don't take it away, please." She smiled softly, looking at me with a hidden meaning.

She leaned her head against my shoulder. A soft breeze of wind hit us, ruffling our hair.

Somehow, I wouldn't be surprised if someone thought of us as long-lost siblings due to our similar hair color. Well, I guessed some church knight thought of that. But that was only due to Horizon Online only having a few customization and blond was the favorite color besides black and red.

"If you say it like that, I just lost one more reason to return to my home," I replied with the same smile. "Well, about the thing I muttered earlier, it's about the thing in the World-End Waterfall. Did you remember that I suddenly felt danger and fled from that place?"

"I do." Tristan nodded.

"I said that I saw something, right?"

As I continued, Tristan moved away and looked at me seriously. She urged me to continue with her eyes which had a deep curiosity in them.

"The cloud that was created from the waterfall was what I saw first. It was beautiful, and I enjoyed it. Rather, you also saw how beautiful it was, right?"

"Yes. We can't find any waterfalls like that anywhere. That was truly beautiful, although there were many monsters behind us at that time." Tristan giggled cutely as she remembered the sight of that time.

"That made me question if the world has an edge and it's only an abyss beyond that. Why would there be a cloud rising from the waterfall?" I asked while looking at Tristan seriously.

That was what made me peek inside the abyss, to begin with. Well, I planned to take a peek, but the cloud made me curious enough.

Tristan kept listening seriously as she had a confused look. She held her chin and fell into deep thought, thinking of how that was possible.

In our previous situation, many monsters surrounded us, and we had no leeway to even think of that.

It was just a coincidence that I managed to find the strangeness of the giant waterfall.

"Before the feeling that even made me wary of being attacked, I managed to take a peek at what lay behind the abyss. That monster or creature that gave me that feeling probably tried to stop me from seeing further before I visited the other borders." I continued, looking down at the Academy City bustling with activities.

"What did you see? I always asked about this before, but you dodged the question."

"Hahaha, forgive me. I just couldn't accept it at that time." I laughed and patted her head. She didn't dodge and let me caress her hair. "This is also why I am curious about other borders. I want to know whether I can find that thing again or not."

Taking a deep breath, I looked at Tristan seriously.

I didn't know how she would react to this. My eyes seemed able to pierce the darkness for some reason, while she couldn't.

It probably was also my relationship with that person behind the system and the Goddess. It could also be because of my perk and my skill that made no ill status, illusion, or even anything that fooled my perception work on me.

"What I saw in that abyss was..."

Tristan looked at me, waiting for me to finish my sentence. I gulped once again, squeezing the word out of my mouth.

"...Destroyed Earth."

Her eyes widened in horror.