Chapter 34: Terra's Old Tale ① — Towa and Hametsu's Exchange Magic, Part 1

"Hey, I want to know about how 'Chaos' came to be, too. It might come in handy someday."

"Sure~. I guess I'll let my best friend know about it."

This happened back when the setting for "Tierra As" had not yet been fully completed.

I was asking questions while staring down a fantastical window.

I made sure to collect even the smallest bits of information about the world. After all, they might directly lead to settings that could earn votes.

"Ahem. This is the story of foolish humans. A ridiculous and stupidly funny tale."

The being who would later be named "Terra" readily agreed, then cleared her throat once.

After that, she slowly began to tell her story.

"Once upon a time, long, long ago, there was a certain world."

Long ago, there was a certain world. It was a world where a technology known as magic existed. The principle behind this magic was simple, yet it was an extraordinarily convenient and miraculous technology.

By offering something of value to the world as payment, something else of equal value could be created in return. In a single phrase, it could be described as "Exchange Magic."

What made it even more remarkable was that this "value" was not equivalent to "value to humans." It was "value according to the world's standards." That was its greatest strength.

After all, by offering a certain amount of scrap iron, one could create a gold ingot. Humanity used this difference in value to advance its civilization.

Civilization continued to develop until it reached the height of its prosperity. Around that time, a president elected in one particular country declared:

"Be proud! Humanity has conquered everything!"

His words stirred the hearts of people throughout the world.

It had been an incredibly long time since war or famine had last occurred. Everyone was satisfied. Everyone had enough.

And yet, there was still one thing.

One domain they had not reached.

That was "immortality."

At the time, countless researchers were seriously studying it.

But no matter what they sacrificed from around the world, they could not achieve immortality. The researchers continued conducting experiment after experiment, scratching their heads in frustration.

Then, one day, a young genius proposed an idea.

"What if we sacrificed the world itself?"

The genius first presented this idea to her only blood relative.

But the answer she received was:

"My sister's smart, but she's an idiot, isn't she? How could you possibly keep living after getting rid of the world we're living in?"

Even when the idea was presented to the public, she received an overwhelming amount of criticism similar to that of her family member.

After all, sacrificing the world meant making matter, laws, and everything else cease to exist. It was only natural that people would think they could not survive if the world itself disappeared.

However, the genius said that it was possible.

At least, the calculations said it was.

She also said this:

"If we're truly going to become immortal, then surely we'd be able to survive even without a world."

And finally, she concluded:

"If we cannot abandon the common sense we have now, humanity's greatest dream will never be fulfilled."

As the genius continued to insist on her theory, discussions gradually became more frequent. Experts and ordinary people alike became involved, and debates were held day after day.

Then, at a certain point, the tide began to turn.

The president's earlier words began spreading among the people once again.

In other words:

"We have conquered everything."

As a result, humanity, drunk on its own sense of omnipotence, gave the go-ahead for an experiment to sacrifice the world.

There was still fierce opposition, but it was swallowed up by the will of the masses. Politicians, business leaders, researchers... countless talented people supported the experiment.

Everyone wanted eternal life.

Even those who opposed the experiment must have wanted immortality if it truly were possible. The fact that opposition decreased as more papers demonstrating its actual feasibility were published made that clear enough.

And so, the experiment was finally carried out.

To give the conclusion first, the experiment was a success.

However, there was one extremely important additional detail.

Humanity went extinct.