The Protagonist Already Knows

Chapter 12: Butterfly Effect

As I glanced back at the sound of footsteps and paused momentarily, a strand of white hair flashed across my vision, distinctly standing out against the night sky.

It was her.

Lily, the daughter of the current strongest Hero in the world, but more importantly, the genius who would go on to decipher the mana wave gates sent off upon their descent, alongside creating many other inventions.

Her vital gate discovery would allow The Grove to detect gates before dregs start pouring out, enabling heroes to respond to gate tragedies more quickly and save millions of people who would otherwise have died.

Currently, however, she was focusing all her attention on another project: Mechanic Magic.

Glancing at the long metal sleeve on her right arm, I paused for a moment.

Although I had no idea how she had managed to decipher mana waves, I did recall in the novel how she managed to solve her current dilemma with mechanical magic.

If I helped her now, wouldn’t she be able to move on to her other projects quicker and thus decipher mana waves faster than in the novel, potentially saving thousands of lives?

But...what if the butterfly effect caused by me helping her leads to her doing something else, and perhaps never deciphering Gates’ mana waves!?

Before I could continue arguing with myself, a stringent and sharp voice reverberated behind me, like that of a king speaking to a servant

"Move, dumbass. Some people actually have things to do."

Ah, right...most of the main cast were stuck-up, pampered children before they met Ren.

Not taking the words personally, I casually stepped back and naturally asked.

"Oh, like what?"

Not even looking back at me as she entered the dorm building, Lily practically hissed back.

"Not crying themselves to sleep in the dorm room alone."

"..."

Now standing outside alone, I glanced at my reflection.

Dark eye bags, pale skin, chapped lips, grim expression....I really did look sort of depressed.

Entering my dorm room, I collapsed on the bed and groaned.

What was I even supposed to do here? In this world?

Sighing, I angrily muttered, actually considering going out on my terrace just to find a happy person and mark them.

"Butterfly effect, this...butterfly effect that."

I said I wanted to take action and improve the world using my knowledge... but when I thought about doing something, the potential butterfly-effect consequences scared me off.

This world already had a good ending with Ren as the main character and actor.

Any action I took could possibly mess that up.

However, my entire existence was a butterfly effect, itself. Ash wasn’t here: I was, a transmigrator from another world.

There was no way to avoid the butterfly effect...When I literally was it.

And yet...the image of a black-haired boy popped in my head, his...wide-open azure blue eyes and bloody corpse on the Specter’s scythe.

That was my fault...his death wasn’t in the novel.

In the novel...he could have been happily leaving with his parents and grandparents, but because of me, he was dead.

I should have cleared out the Tartarus building before muttering the transfer phrase.

Peril’s death was a result of my reckless conviction.

Conviction and goodwill meant nothing if it wasn’t effective.

I had immediatly rushed to inherit Anubis’s gift to gain enough power to act on my oracle knowledge after the gate incident.

I should have been more cautious...more careful.

Taking a deep breath, I rested my head on the pillow.

If I could help the world with my knowledge, I had to do something, regardless of potential butterfly effect consequences

If I stopped now, Peril’s death would have been for nothing.

So, it was settled: I was going to attempt to help Lily with her current experiment problem, so she could move on and begin researching gates’ mana waves faster.

But, I was going to take every precaution neccesary.

*BAM*

*BAM*

Fireworks blasted up into the sky and exploded, illuminating the night sky a dark blue.

*BAM*

Sighing, allowing my consciousness to slip away, I muttered, my head aching.

"What a liar I am..."

*BAM*

I didn’t know if Peril cared whether or not I bettered the world. I was just using his already-established death as a reason to continue moving forward instead of giving up.

*BAM*

Honestly... if I were to meet a revived version of Peril, he would probably despise me for sentencing him to death.

After all, even now, I was using his death as an internal justification for my battered-up mind.

*BAM*

I was no hero, in the literal and figurative sense.

...

...

...

*BZZT*

*BZZT*

As my smartwatch alarm blared, instantly waking me up, I groaned and sluggishly showered before changing into the academy uniform.

Scratching my head, I headed down the elevator, instantly smelling the savory and pungent fragrance of crispy bacon and scrambled eggs as I stepped onto the ground floor.

Various students gathered in the dorm’s dining hall, excitedly discussing before their first official day of classes.

Notably, though, one student seemed to be at the center of all discussion, even with Lily present in the room.

"Where were you during the entrance ceremony!?"

"How did you already move up a rank before school even started...?"