After that talk, I head over to Orsted's place.
I spend the day there thinking about the situation.
First, Zanoba summoned by his motherland. That never happened in the diary.
Zanoba was always in Sharia.
Right? I don't know for sure, but according to the diary he's always by my side.
The diary never mentions any draft notice.
Maybe Pax's coup failed? No, rather a coup probably never took place.
Either way, this differs from the diary.
In that case, maybe... Hitogami is up to something again.
Now I think about it, for the past year and a half, I have yet to see another 3 Hitogami apostles appear together.
If Pax is an Apostle, then it's reasonable to expect that he has been working in the background during this time.
Orsted has said, [Wait for the opportunity], maybe this is the opportunity he speaks of.
Um, this is it.
It shouldn't be wrong.
I have been training for this exact moment.
To help Zanoba.
"Orsted-sama!"
Orsted is his usual self, busy writing something on a high class table.
"Ah, Rudeus, what is it?"
I explain the situation to Orsted, who looks scary as usual.
That Zanoba has received a draft notice, which didn't happen to Zanoba in the diary.
"Isn't this Hitogami's doing?"
"..."
I said full of confidence, but Orsted just stares at me with his scary face.
Eh?
Weird.
Did I make a mistake?
"According to the history I'm aware of, Shirone Kingdom will be destroyed due to Pax Shirone's coup in thirty years."
Orsted, looking terribly scary, answers the troubled me.
Wait no, he looks no scarier than usual...
".... Thirty years?"
"Right."
Orsted explains to me what's supposed to happen.
The original history.
In other words, when the Metastasis Event never occur and where I was never involved with Shirone Kingdom.
In that history, Pax took advantage of the kingdom's slave market to gain allies and a war chest, taking hostages against his enemies.
And finally, initiates a coup.
The coup was a success, and Pax became king.
But by then, Pax has lost his drive and burned out.
After becoming king and gaining complete freedom, Pax starts questioning his kingship.
He vacated the throne and proposed a republic.
Thus, the Shirone Republic was born.
Shirone Republic went on to become a powerful nation.
It managed to swallow about half of the current strife zone.
Thus, Shirone Republic became the fourth power of the world and a hindrance to Hitogami.
"Hitogami hates that, thus he manipulated you to head to Shirone Kingdom, and used you to exile Pax from Shirone Kingdom. But..."
Because I followed Hitogami's advice, the situation in Shirone Kingdom changed.
Both of them were exiled from the country, and the cause of Pax's kingship disappeared.
Shirone Republic won't be born.
"If Pax becomes king, it'll give birth to a republic."
Orsted looks troubled.
In other words, this is exactly opposite of what Hitogami wished for.
"This time with Kingdom of Dragon King as his backing, maybe he won't propose forming a republic?"
"No, that won't change. I have seen similar situations before, in the end Pax always made that proposal."
Regardless of history, as long as Pax becomes king, he'll propose a republic, and Shirone Kingdom will become Shirone Republic.
Kind of like Ariel's situation.
The conclusion is destined by fate.
As soon as he's king, the rest is set in stone.
"Huh? What about Pax in the future diary?"
"Perhaps Pax did not initiate a coup, like Hitogami originally intended, and Shirone Kingdom remains a small nation."
In other words.
Past timeline: [Pax coups, becomes king, gives birth to a republic.]
Diary timeline: [Because of Hitogami's manipulation, Pax loses the kingship, the republic becomes stillborn.]
This timeline: [Pax coups, becomes king, likely gives birth to a republic.]
Something like that?
In other words, this time Hitogami is purposely changing the scenario to what it supposed to be.
"Why would he?"
"It's a trap."
Orsted's words add another layer of fog on the situation.
"Maybe Hitogami is willing to trade-off returning to the original situation to kill you off."
Like in mahjong where you break your own hand to ruin the opponent's. [1]
Something like that?
"Thus, if you go, Hitogami will likely have a sure-kill trap set for you."
"Can his target be Orsted-sama?"
"That is a possibility, but Zanoba Shirone is your friend, so he's the bait."
"..."
Pax summons Zanoba home.
It's pretty much confirmed to be a trap, but Zanoba resolves to go regardless.
Even though Hitogami shouldn't be able to predict whether I would go or not, but I'll probably take the bait if Zanoba has a high chance of death.
Hitogami really knows me well.
... Hitogami is rather clever this time.
"Zanoba makes your equipment. Even if you don't go to Shirone, Hitogami probably thinks getting rid of him would help him down the line."
Two birds, one stone.
If I come, he'll take care of both of us.
If not, just one is fine.
"Chances of Zanoba as an apostle?"
"Unlikely in this scenario. He's pretty much a nobody in the history of Shirone Kingdom."