The Reincarnated Lizardman Wants a Hamburger

Dagdak

Dagdak

A few days have passed since the journey to the Spine Empire began.

The carriage had already left the Holy Kingdom and was approaching the nearby city-state of Omerta.

The carriage we had taken to the Holy Kingdom before was decent, but it couldn’t compare to the one provided by the Holy Kingdom.

Unbelievably fast, no need for a coachman, it could find its own way, and the seats were incredibly comfortable.

It was a luxurious carriage that even most nobles wouldn’t easily experience, yet my expression inside was deeply troubled.

The reason was the notebook I had received from Tierra before leaving the Holy Kingdom.

I had read the notebook when I first found it, but it was so damaged that there was hardly anything legible.

However, with the restoration skills of Seiri, an excellent archaeologist, and the technology of the Holy Kingdom, the notebook was miraculously restored to a great extent.

The contents of the notebook were shocking.

And at the same time, it was clear why Tierra immediately believed Lakia’s prophecy after reading it.

With a troubled expression, I checked the contents again, which I had already read several times.

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Imperial Year □□□, Month □, Day 13

The day of destruction has finally come to this world.

But I somehow managed to escape from the imperial capital.

However, everyone else was twisted.

It was inevitable. I couldn’t die too.

Using the national treasures I stole while fleeing the capital, I can at least survive by deploying a barrier.

I will survive.

Even if this world perishes.

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The part I read when I first picked it up in the cave, the early part of the old notebook, seemed to be written during the fall of the ancient empire.

The content itself was of great archaeological value and importance, but for me, who already knew the detailed circumstances of the empire’s fall from the ruins, it was just a review.

I quickly skipped the parts I already knew from the ruins.

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But even after setting up the barrier for survival using the national treasures, I couldn’t relax.

The stolen national treasures were defense mechanisms to protect the capital.

By stealing them for my survival, it meant the people of the capital were left unprotected.

Surely, because I stole these treasures, countless people in the capital are suffering terrible pain, better off dead, without the protection of the defense mechanisms.

The national treasures were originally a set of two.

One, ‘Ainshil’s Bronze Shield,’ distorts space to isolate the inside and outside of the barrier into different dimensions, creating an absolute spatial disconnection.

The other, ‘Sephiron’s Wooden Clock,’ which I stole, twists the flow of time inside and outside the barrier, making hundreds of years pass inside in a second, or making thousands of years outside pass as a second inside.

The capital’s defense mechanism originally used both ‘Ainshil’s Bronze Shield’ and ‘Sephiron’s Wooden Clock’ to create an absolute fortress, theoretically invulnerable from both time and space.

By activating both treasures in the sanctuary, the fortress could endure any disaster without damage, as hundreds of years would pass outside while only a second passed inside.

But since I stole ‘Sephiron’s Wooden Clock,’ the defense mechanism is only half complete.

It would still be powerful against physical impacts from outside, but inside, people would be unprotected against dangers like division and resource depletion.

Conversely, with only ‘Sephiron’s Wooden Clock,’ I am exposed to the opposite danger.

Damn, I shouldn’t have done that.

I should have stolen both treasures!

Then I wouldn’t have to worry about the barrier being damaged by external shocks!

Time was too tight!

If I had just a little more time, I could have stolen both treasures and set up a safer barrier!!

But it’s too late for regrets.

At least I’m glad I stole ‘Sephiron’s Wooden Clock’ instead of ‘Ainshil’s Bronze Shield.’

The ability to manipulate time is something even I, the highest-ranking royal mage, can’t replicate alone, but creating a physical barrier without distorting space can somewhat substitute for spatial disconnection.

Now that the barrier is set up, all that’s left is to hope no one discovers this cave for thousands of years, or if they do, they can’t break through and leave.

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The owner of this notebook seemed to be a royal mage of the ancient empire.

Come to think of it, the footage in the ruins also mentioned a royal mage betraying and stealing artifacts, making it impossible to fully deploy the barrier.

Could it be that the traitor was the owner of the hidden cave I found?

Normally, that alone would be a surprising coincidence, but it wasn’t enough to feel troubled. After all, he was from thousands of years ago.

But the next page’s content made it impossible to dismiss the notebook’s owner as just a figure from the past.

The next page seemed to be about using the artifact ‘Sephiron’s Wooden Clock.’

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What have I done?

The next page had only that one line written large.

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No.

It wasn’t my will.

It wasn’t me.

I didn’t abandon the empire.

I shouldn’t have.

Please, Your Majesty.

Forgive me. It wasn’t my true intention.

Please.

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I should have died.

In a moment of madness from fear, I did what I shouldn’t have.

My foolish actions led to the empire’s fall, and I survived.

I should have died.

Why did I survive?

Anyone would say I should have died, so why did I survive?

I killed them.

The citizens of the capital I loved.

His Majesty the Emperor, to whom I swore loyalty and devoted my soul, and the noble bloodlines.

I killed them all.

I am still in hell.

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The handwriting was rough and large, showing he was deeply guilty about surviving alone.

Similar content filled several pages, and after turning many pages, I reached another part with different content.

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Over several days, I carefully ventured out of the hideout to look around.

I could confirm that the terrible disasters that had led the world to ruin were all gone.

But what’s the use?

After using ‘Sephiron’s Wooden Clock,’ thousands of years have passed, and this world is not the one I remember, nor does it remember us.

Walking around, I saw monsters mimicking humans, like elves and dwarves, and beastkin living among humans as if they were human.

No one remembers the empire.

This is not the world I know.

This world survived.

But my world perished.

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Life has no meaning.

No, I died long ago.

I was just a foolish ghost, unaware, mimicking life with a body still breathing.

So, by cutting off this living corpse’s breath, I will finally approach complete death.

Traveler, if you find this notebook in the distant future.

If you pick it up, laugh loudly at this fool’s stupidity.

And to avoid living a failed life like mine, quietly keep my pitiful failure story in your heart.

Let your memory of a foolish man be my grave.

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The notebook’s content then began to hint at his suicide.

But there were still a few pages left.

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No.

It’s too early to die.

I drove countless people to death and ruined the world.

I lost everything.

But there’s still something I can do.

The numerous non-human races that didn’t exist before.

The creepy non-humans mimicking humans.

Their origins must be from the dimensional rift caused by the empire’s great dimensional gate.

To repair the rift caused by the great dimensional gate, this world itself brought similar terrains from other dimensions, and these races are byproducts from those dimensions.

All this is the aftermath of my sin.

I ruined everything and lost everything, but I can still make amends, even if late.

Facing death comes after that.

I will fix everything.

To a time when no intelligent races other than humans existed, and beasts were below, not beside humans.

I will restore it.

That is my mission and atonement as the last royal mage of the Dragnity Empire.

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“….”

With that, the old notebook’s content ended.

But even after reading it all, I couldn’t easily close the notebook.

No, I couldn’t even breathe properly.

After reading the notebook, it was clear why Archbishop Tierra believed Lakia’s prophecy.

Behind the Spine Empire lies the ghost of the ancient empire from thousands of years ago.

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