Chapter 51: You have encountered a wild Paragon again

No wait.

Alaric suddenly thought of something and leaned back into his chair before heaving a long sigh.

There was already a massive flaw in that hypothesis.

If Alice had actually written Tales of Golden Era, then she should’ve recognised the name when Evan spoke those words out loud.

Alaric remembered that moment very clearly.

Evan had rushed over to them after receiving those strange memories and mentioned the phrase Tales of Golden Era.

Alice had reacted to the memories.

She had been extremely interested in what Evan remembered, how much he remembered, whether there had been anything before or after the fight and even indirectly tried to figure out whether those memories included information about the System.

But as far as Alaric remembered, she hadn’t reacted specifically to the words Tales of Golden Era.

At least, there had been nothing obvious.

Either she is a really fucking good actor and managed to hide her reaction just like I did...

Or she genuinely doesn’t know what those words mean.

Alaric rubbed his forehead.

The first possibility was terrifying.

If Alice recognised the title and had deliberately concealed that fact from him, then she knew far more than she had ever admitted.

But that immediately created another problem.

If Alice wrote Tales of Golden Era in this world, then how the fuck did I read it on Earth?

Alaric frowned hard when he thought of that. That novel had existed on Earth.

It also obviously had an author, but unfortunately he never had the habit of checking author names.

He simply read whatever he liked whenever he had time. So he didn’t know who the author was.

Although, he reckoned that it might’ve been useless even if he knew the game.

If that novel was involved in something this big, then it would be stupid to enter and leave behind one’s real name in the section of author’s name.

The novel itself was nothing suspicious when Alaric had read it on Earth.

Just like any other novel, it had Chapters, readers, comments and everything else a normal novel was supposed to have.

Alaric had read the first volume like any other reader.

Then somehow, he died or transmigrated or whatever the hell had actually happened to him, and woke up inside the body of one of its characters.

If Alice was genuinely the original author of those events, then who had written the novel on Earth?

How had the story crossed worlds?

And most importantly, Alice had already confirmed she didn’t even know what Earth was.

Then she was obviously not the author there on Earth.

Alaric sat there in silence.

This is getting way too fucking complicated.

Unfortunately, the second possibility wasn’t any simpler.

Suppose Alice genuinely had no idea what Tales of Golden Era was.

Then what?

She still knew events which appeared in that novel.

She had known about the mana crystal deposit years before it was supposed to be discovered.

She was helping Evan leave by taking his Certificate of Service, which was clearly the second System quest of Tales of Golden Era.

Her knowledge overlapped with the story Alaric had read.

So if Alice herself hadn’t named the story Tales of Golden Era, then who had?

That question bothered Alaric even more when he remembered Evan.

Evan had never read that novel.

He had never been to Earth.

He shouldn’t even have possessed the slightest idea that his life existed as some kind of story somewhere.

Yet when the strange memories began entering his mind, the name Tales of Golden Era came along with them.

And those memories clearly weren’t ordinary.

As far as Alaric could tell, Evan had received them because he was the original chosen protagonist of this world.

The System had been meant for him.

When Alaric stole that role through whatever strange circumstances had brought him here, the world itself seemed to compensate Evan by giving him memories of the original timeline.

Or at least that was what he had thought back then. Now, he knew that the memories were about the quests he was completing.

Which means the title isn’t something random. It is something even this world recognised.

Alaric slowly tapped his finger against the desk.

If Tales of Golden Era was merely some title invented by an author on Earth, then why would Evan receive the exact same words from whatever force was giving him memories?

Why would the heavens, the laws of the world, destiny, or whatever was responsible recognise that name?

That meant the title itself had some kind of legitimacy.

Or at the very least, it wasn’t merely something created by a random person sitting on Earth and writing fiction.

That conclusion only made everything worse.

Then who named it?

Alaric felt a headache coming.

Alice might’ve written the events but not known the title.

Someone else might’ve somehow obtained those events and written them on Earth.

The title might’ve existed before Alice ever wrote anything.

Maybe Alice’s ability had something to do with it.

Maybe it had absolutely nothing to do with it.

Maybe he was taking one strange ability and building a mountain of theories out of coincidence.

Alaric suddenly slapped both hands onto his face.

Enough.

He stayed like that for several seconds before slowly lowering them.

"I need to calm down."

There were too many unknowns.

He had just discovered Alice possessed an absurd Divine Ability which could apparently bend reality toward what she wrote.

Yes. Right. That does not mean every mystery surrounding this world has to be connected to her.

What if Alice hadn’t written Tales of Golden Era at all?

What if the System had recorded Forced Narrative because Alice used it for some completely unrelated reason?

The recording range was large.

She could’ve activated the ability in some random town while Alaric happened to be somewhere nearby.

She could’ve tested it against some bandit, or used it to avoid danger, used it to accomplish some small task.

Hell, she could’ve used it inside the mansion just to test what her own Divine Ability could do.

Alaric had never kept Alice under constant surveillance.

There were countless opportunities for her to test her divine ability in a private room.

I don’t even have enough information to prove the first step of this theory, and I’m already trying to figure out who wrote a novel across fucking worlds.

That was stupid. He needed evidence.

Until he had any, this entire matter would remain nothing more than a hypothesis.

A terrifying one, admittedly, but still only a hypothesis.

Alaric closed his eyes for a few seconds and forced himself to shift his thoughts toward matters he could actually do something about.

There was Evan.

He hadn’t checked on him since everything involving Mira and Zephyr happened.

Alaric took out his communication device and sent a message.

"How are things going on your side?"

The reply came soon enough.

"Well, the situation is a bit complicated here. I seem to have encountered a Paragon Mage."

Alaric stared at the message speechlessly. His eyebrow twitched.

Are Paragons toys now?

Why are both of my geniuses randomly encountering them?

Do these Paragons have so much free time on their hands?