Sequel: The Fake Saint Is Off to Japan 6

While the guy from the Saitou Naruta Empire had appeared with all the flair of a hidden final boss, he'd been surprisingly easy to defeat. After he kissed his ass goodbye, I grabbed the throne—as well as a couple of other things, including jewels and engraved slates—and made my way to Aiz's place. I dumped it all on him so he could take care of the tedious historical research.

I'd started this journey to understand why a locomotive existed in a world that clearly hadn't reached that level of technology. Now that I'd found my answer, I'd lost interest.

To be fair, I wasn't sure I even cared much about the real reason the world had created the witch, or why the amount of unpleasant emotions in Fiori had increased. The "witch" was already gone, and so was the lump of negativity it had been holding on to. So what was the point of hearing out a whole new boss who wanted to rehash the same old story?

So, anyway, I decided to stop thinking about the what's-its-name Empire and headed to Japan again.

My goal for today was to get a set of gardening tools, a book about home gardening, and some seeds. I mainly wanted to grow fruits—currently, I was thinking of blueberries and olives. Needless to say, I'd probably use healing magic to help them shoot up in a jiffy.

I'd done that many times already to regrow forests and orchards to alleviate the food shortage.

Why was I trying to pick up gardening, then? Well, mainly because the fruits on Fiori weren't all that good. They hadn't been selectively bred for generations, which meant that bananas, for instance, were hard and not the slightest bit sweet. Several fruits had also disappeared altogether because of the witch.

That was why I'd decided to import some from Japan before I closed the rift for good.

I knew that introducing alien species could have dire consequences on ecosystems, so I was planning to keep the seeds I brought back in my personal garden.

Perhaps I'd spread sweet potatoes, though... They grew easily on rough land and would help prevent famine. Besides, sweet foods were mostly rare and pricey, making them hard to access for commoners in Fiori. If I popularized sweet potatoes, they'd have access to something sweet.

As I'd already mentioned, I intended to close up the rift for good soon. It had been there for so long that I didn't think it could influence the people of Fiori all that quickly, but there was still a risk the negative emotions from Earth would eventually add up to dangerous levels. To be safe, it was better to get rid of it altogether.

I also assumed that I'd transmigrated into this world because of the rift. If I left it as-is, there was a chance malicious transmigrators could appear.

Anyway, I felt like it was safer to get Alfrea to seal the rift properly. I'd only do so after going back and forth a few more times and getting everything I needed, though.

Speaking of things I needed to do, there was one person I absolutely wanted to see while I could, so I decided to look for an internet café first. If you walked around a station, you were bound to stumble into a couple pretty quickly.

As I walked through the streets, the howling of sirens echoing around me, I searched for an internet café. If you were wondering why it was so noisy... Well, it was because a nearby house had just burned.

I'd witnessed that right after I'd arrived, actually. I'd walked out of Fudou Niito's old apartment, only to see that the house on the opposite side of the road was on fire!

I was scared that if I left it alone, the fire would eventually spread to my old flat, so I rushed into the house, rescued the little girl that had yet to escape, and created a vacuum around the building to extinguish the fire.

I didn't live in Niito's flat anymore, but it'd be a pain if it burned down. I did have some lingering attachment to it, and—most importantly—the room concealed the rift! Without it, the press would surround the place twenty-four seven. Not to mention the government would most likely declare it a restricted zone. After all, the rift was pretty damn visible—it was an actual crack floating midair. There was no way the government would leave it alone.

Anyway, after I'd brought the little girl to her family, I got them and the crowd that'd been staring, dumbfounded, to promise not to mention me to anyone. Then, I left.

There was nothing much I could do about the damage. Oh well, I'm sure your insurance will take care of that anyway. I hope you guys can be satisfied with the fact that no one got hurt for the time being.

As soon as I found an internet café, I went in, paid at the counter, and headed to my private booth.

First, I looked up "Kuon no Sanka Emperor Saitonaruta."

I didn't remember anything about an empire from my own playthroughs, but I'd only ever truly finished the first version of the game. As Fudou Niito, I'd also played the second version, of course, but I hadn't been able to go further than the appearance of the "witch."

Yamoto Tamaki had written the scenario based on what she'd seen in her previous life. She'd told Niito herself. Now that both parts of my soul had merged properly, I knew that too.

Yamoto Tamaki, the scenarist, was the reincarnation of Profeta.

I remembered her saying that she'd always been good at making predictions, even in her past life. Profeta had also told me in Fiori that—if she ever felt like it—she could easily predict what would've happened if Verner had fallen for Marie or Eterna instead of me.

I wasn't the brightest bulb in the box, but even I could draw the right conclusion from all of the evidence. Yamoto Tamaki was Profeta—I was sure of it. In fact, I didn't see how anyone else could've come up with alternative explanations.

If the Saitonaruta Empire or that emperor appeared in the game, it meant that Profeta knew about it.

The first search suggestion was "Emperor Saitonaruta pitiful."

Huh?!

I ignored that and clicked on the first result.

Emperor Saitonaruta

Profile:

A character of the game Kuon no Sanka ～Fiore caduto eterna～.

Only appears after the main route has been cleared.

Emperor Saitonaruta is the sovereign of the Saitonaruta Empire, a nation that was brought to ruin by Eve, the first witch, and submerged into the sea.

He's a giant with a muscular build, a white beard and a trident in hand.

He believes that negative emotions are necessary for humanity to evolve and advance. He and his people developed dark magic through extensive research.

They made use of these powers to open a rift that linked Fiori to another world. Negative emotions poured in from the gap, rousing the fighting spirit of the people of Fiori who were otherwise pacifists. Their competitiveness resulted in the fast development of the empire.

While these events took place a thousand years before the main story unfolded, the Saitonaruta Empire had acquired advanced technology on par with early modern Europe.

Their behavior did not go unnoticed by the world which decided to create a proxy—the first witch—to stop them.

After a fierce fight with Eve, the first witch, the empire eventually lost, unable to resist her ever-growing monster army and superhuman powers.

Much like the "witch," Emperor Saitonaruta refused to let go of his grudge. He remained in his palace for a thousand years, appearing in front of the protagonist who'd come to explore the ruins.

Backstory:

Emperor Saitonaruta appears to be the main cause of the tragic cycle that plagued the world of Kuon no Sanka for centuries.

His actions gave birth to the first witch and to dark magic, making him the true villain.

Likewise, the overload of negative emotions that drove Eve crazy can be attributed to the rift created by Emperor Saitonaruta and his people as the world had not accounted for an energy that was originally scarce in Fiori (still, some players have raised the point that since the witch was created after they'd already started drawing negative emotions from another world, the world should have taken that parameter into account).

It is believed that Eve's Excessive Circulation Syndrome would not have driven her mad in the original environment of Fiori.

Players have also theorized that Eve was given Excessive Circulation Syndrome—which her successors did not suffer from—because a regular mana supply would have made it impossible for her to take down a nation as powerful as the Saitonaruta Empire.

Some also guessed that, as the first villain, Emperor Saitonaruta himself also suffers from Excessive Circulation Syndrome.

Boss fight:

While Emperor Saitonaruta's description makes him sound like a powerful foe, players do not consider him such, as it is possible to have Ellize in your party at the time of the fight.

Ellize's stats remain the same as her stats during the final battle against the "witch," so as long as you have her in your party, losing the fight is practically impossible.

While Emperor Saitonaruta has the most HP out of every enemy—besides the witch with a whooping 99999 HP—Ellize's damage output with the spell Aurea Libertas easily passes 100000 regardless of her equipment. This allows her to one-shot him.

Not to mention that, after her awakening during the "witch" battle, "Light of the people's hearts" is automatically cast alongside every attack. As such, no matter which attack you use, the damage will be doubled thanks to the sensitivity of Emperor Saitonaruta to positive emotions. Even without using Aurea Libertas, you will only need two spells or three normal attacks at most to defeat Emperor Saitonaruta.

As a result, the much-awaited hidden boss fight becomes an instant win, and many players have expressed their surprise at this denouement. This has also led many to view Emperor Saitonaruta as a pitiful character rather than a powerful mastermind.

It is possible to enter the fight without Ellize, but since her presence is necessary to visit the underwater ruins, you must also bring three other allies along and modify your party composition before the start of the fight.

The BGM of the fight against the emperor is the same as the one of the "witch" fight, Never-ending Tragedy. The contrast between the dramatic BGM and the anticlimactic fight is regarded as humorous by many, especially considering the fact that the fight ends for most players before the intro of the BGM can even end.

Countless memes have been created by players, making Emperor Saitonaruta a beloved character often nicknamed "the gag emperor."

Oh my...

Poor Saito-something had apparently been turned into a meme because of me.

But it's not my fault, is it? That guy was just way too weak...

He was far stronger than Alexia, but compared to the "witch"... Well, he was a small fry, to put it nicely. To be fair, it wasn't like the grudge of one weird old man could compare to a thousand years of grudges accumulated by the most powerful beings of this world—witches.

As far as I was concerned, the peaceful, post-clear world didn't need any more bosses, so it didn't matter.

Still, this meant that Profeta had known about that gag emperor all along. She'd never mentioned it...but then again, while he was the true cause behind everything that had happened, it wasn't like he'd been much of a threat. I could see why she hadn't felt the need to warn me about him. Unless someone with strong mana randomly decided to visit the depths of the sea, he had no way to do anything. Going out of our way to defeat him would have been overkill. In fact, needlessly meddling with him was riskier than leaving him alone, so Profeta must've decided to keep her mouth shut.

Anyway, enough about the gag emperor.

My next step was to get in touch with Yamoto Tamaki. As you may have guessed, the person I hoped to see while I was in Japan was our resident turtle's reincarnation.

I didn't have any actual reason to see her, but...I wanted to. I'd only survived the last battle with the "witch" because of her—because she'd given me her life. I wanted to thank her properly at least once.

I created a free email address and sent her a message. A random mail risked getting ignored, so I made sure the sender's name appeared as "Fudou Niito."

"Ellize" would've been fine too, but I was worried she'd assume I was a fan role-playing as myself. There were plenty of similar social media accounts...including tons of bots. Even if they didn't role-play, it wasn't rare for people to use their favorite character's name as their handle.

Rather than an email from one of the many Ellizes online, I figured my old name would catch her attention more easily.

As for the subject line, I wrote "I'd love to continue our discussion about timelines."

I didn't have anything to do while I waited for her answer, so I decided to read manga while enjoying some soft serve.

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