Chapter 761: Lost in Thoughts

Mia found him several days later.

"You’ve been staring at people again."

Zero looked toward her.

"What?"

She pointed toward the street.

The two were standing outside a restaurant.

Several adventurers had gathered nearby.

Zero had been silently watching them.

"You’re doing it now."

"I’m not."

"You are."

Mia crossed her arms.

"What are you looking for?"

Zero considered lying.

Then decided against it.

"I don’t know."

Mia stared at him.

"You don’t know?"

"I’m trying to understand something."

"What?"

Zero looked toward the adventurers.

"They completed a mission this morning."

Mia blinked.

"Congratulations to them."

"Who do you think people will remember?"

She stared at him.

"What?"

"The group completed the mission."

"Yes."

"Who will people remember?"

Mia’s expression slowly became confused.

"Probably the strongest one."

"Why?"

"Because..."

She stopped.

Zero waited.

Mia frowned.

"Why are we talking about this?"

Zero didn’t answer.

She looked toward the group.

One adventurer was speaking loudly.

The others were laughing.

Several people nearby were listening.

"That one, I guess."

"Why?"

"Because he’s the one talking."

Zero remained silent.

Mia slowly looked back at him.

"Seriously. What is wrong with you?"

"Nothing."

"That’s becoming less convincing."

*************************************

That night, Zero found Earth Zero again.

This time, the other Zero was sitting on the edge of a tall building.

His feet hung above the street.

He didn’t turn when Zero arrived.

"You figured something out."

Zero stopped behind him.

"You’re measuring attention."

Earth Zero smiled faintly.

"That’s a strange way to say it."

"You don’t care about the outcome of the attacks."

"I care about outcomes."

"Not the military outcome."

Earth Zero remained silent.

"Not the political outcome either."

The wind moved between them.

Zero stepped closer.

"You care about what people remember afterward."

Earth Zero finally looked over his shoulder.

Zero continued.

"How much they talk about Hiro."

Earth Zero said nothing.

"Whether Hiro was present."

Still nothing.

"Whether he becomes the symbol of what happened."

Earth Zero’s expression changed slightly.

Zero stepped closer.

"And whether Mia does instead."

For the first time, Earth Zero’s calm expression disappeared.

Only for a moment.

But Zero saw it.

"Be careful."

Zero’s eyes narrowed.

"Why?"

Earth Zero stood.

"Because you’re beginning to confuse understanding with knowing."

"Then tell me what I don’t know."

Earth Zero looked toward the city.

Below them, thousands of people moved through the streets.

"You’re right about one thing."

Zero waited.

"I care about who occupies the center."

His words were quiet.

But they felt heavier than Zero expected.

"Why?"

Earth Zero didn’t answer immediately.

Then he said—

"Because eventually, everything else begins moving around them."

Zero frowned.

"What does that mean?"

Earth Zero smiled faintly.

"You’re asking better questions now."

Zero’s patience disappeared.

"Stop—"

Earth Zero interrupted him.

"Tell me, Zero."

Zero fell silent.

Earth Zero looked directly into his eyes.

"When people remember an event, what do they remember?"

Zero frowned.

"The event."

"No."

Earth Zero’s voice remained calm.

"They remember someone."

Zero didn’t respond.

Earth Zero continued.

"A war. A victory. A tragedy. A discovery."

He looked toward the city.

"Years pass. Details disappear. But a name remains."

Zero remembered the reports.

Mia.

Hiro.

The others.

Earth Zero looked back at him.

"And eventually, the name becomes larger than the event itself."

Zero stared at him.

"What are you trying to say?"

Earth Zero stepped backward.

"That the center is never just the center."

Then space distorted.

Zero moved immediately.

But Earth Zero disappeared.

Again.

Zero stood alone.

The words remained.

Eventually, everything else begins moving around them.

**************************************************

The following week gave Zero another chance to test his suspicion.

A major mana disturbance appeared near one of the old border regions.

The War Council immediately sent several forces.

Mia was among them.

Hiro was not.

Zero watched from a distance.

The situation was resolved quickly.

Mia took control of the operation.

Her strength ended the threat.

The soldiers praised her.

The official report named her as the central figure.

Zero waited.

For Earth Zero.

Nothing happened.

No attack.

No interference.

No hidden movement.

The story spread through the capital.

Mia’s name appeared across several newspapers.

Zero continued waiting.

Still nothing.

For three days, Earth Zero remained silent.

Then—

Hiro returned to the capital.

His presence immediately drew attention.

Not because of anything he had done.

People simply wanted to know where he had been.

The newspapers mentioned him again.

Guild members discussed his next mission.

Within a day, the conversation had shifted.

Zero stared at the reports.

Then slowly looked toward the city.

Earth Zero appeared beside him.

Zero didn’t turn.

"You were waiting."

Earth Zero said nothing.

"For Hiro."

The other Zero remained silent.

Zero’s voice became colder.

"You didn’t care that Mia resolved the crisis."

Earth Zero finally answered.

"That’s not what I said."

"But you didn’t interfere."

"No."

"Why?"

Earth Zero looked toward the distant streets.

"Because the crisis was over."

Zero turned toward him.

"That’s all?"

Earth Zero smiled faintly.

"No."

Zero waited.

But Earth Zero didn’t continue.

Zero’s eyes narrowed.

"What?"

The other Zero looked toward the newspaper in Zero’s hand.

Then toward the city.

"You’ll understand why some events matter more than others."

"Then explain it."

"Not yet."

Zero’s mana rose slightly.

Earth Zero sighed.

"You’re becoming predictable."

"You’re avoiding the question."

"Yes."

The answer made Zero’s expression darken.

Earth Zero stepped away.

Before disappearing, he looked back.

"Watch more carefully."

Zero stared at him.

"What am I supposed to watch?"

Earth Zero smiled.

"Not what happens."

Then he vanished.

"Who remains after it."

******************************************

Zero remained where he was for a long time.

The words repeated inside his mind.

Who remains after it.

He looked down at the newspaper.

Mia had resolved the mana disturbance.

She had been the strongest person there.

The soldiers would remember her.

The War Council would remember her.

For several days, the public remembered her too.

But already—

attention was moving.

Hiro’s name was appearing again.

Zero looked toward the capital.

For the first time, he understood the shape of Earth Zero’s objective.

Not the reason.

Not the danger behind it.

But the objective itself.

Earth Zero was deliberately watching the world.

Watching every major event.

Watching where attention went afterward.

And whenever that attention moved away from Hiro—

Earth Zero acted.

Not always directly.

Not always immediately.

But eventually.

He moved.

Zero clenched the newspaper in his hand.

"You want him there."

At the center.

At the point where the world looked.

He didn’t know why.

He still didn’t understand why attention mattered.

Why memory mattered.

Why Earth Zero spoke as though the center controlled everything around it.

But Zero now knew one thing with certainty.

Earth Zero wasn’t trying to win the war.

He wasn’t trying to destroy the peace.

And he wasn’t simply creating a hero.

He was restoring a position.

A place at the center of events.

A place Earth Zero believed belonged to Hiro.

And Zero was beginning to fear what Earth Zero would do—

if the world refused to give it back.