This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Rita briefly finished explaining her history with Foolishness and the Foolishness Game, then looked at Quiet Mountain Foolishness expectantly, waiting for her answer.

Quiet Mountain Foolishness returned the four bullets and kept her promise.

"The second method," she said, "is to permanently kill a Quiet Mountain god."

Rita: "..."

That was indeed a method.

But if she could kill a Quiet Mountain god, wouldn’t all the Starsea gods already be watching her anyway?

Forget killing a god. Even in the final battle, there was no way the Starsea gods wouldn’t be watching.

Her face flushed slightly as she forced out,

"So by that logic, once I become a Starsea god, I can just call a meeting, gather all the Starsea gods, and... let them watch me?"

Quiet Mountain Foolishness nodded seriously.

"That would work."

The two stared at each other in silence.

After a long pause, Rita finally said,

"You seem... purer than my Foolishness."

At the last second, she swapped out "shameless" for "pure."

Quiet Mountain Foolishness chuckled at her expression, then stopped joking. She raised the revolver toward the sunlight and explained,

"This gun is special. It is full of coincidences and accidents.

"The moment you completely break away from your identity as a Starsea player, you will never gain new special bullets again.

"Only the bullets formed during your growth phase will continue to return to you when you act against your instincts."

Rita frowned slightly.

"So if I want all six bullets, I have to get them before fully comprehending my divine talent word?"

"Exactly."

Rita couldn’t help asking, "You seem to know a lot about this gun."

"Of course," Quiet Mountain Foolishness replied. "This is a toy created by Starsea Foolishness and me, after we went through both Quiet Mountain and Graveyard of Bones together.

"It contains a Quiet Mountain Order Emblem, a Chaotic Starsea Gravestone, and... two of our eyes as the original bullets."

Rita had been thinking about what a "chaotic gravestone" was, but that last sentence completely derailed her thoughts.

"Two... of your eyes?"

She stared at Quiet Mountain Foolishness’s eyes.

Those blue, glass-like pupils...

Quiet Mountain Foolishness was not the type to speak carelessly.

Rita immediately sensed what she meant.

Quiet Mountain Foolishness confirmed it.

She adjusted the monocle over her left eye.

"We each lost one eye back then. Later... she gave me her left eye.

"Her reason was that she did not want two flawed gemstones to exist in this world."

Rita fell silent.

The relationship between Starsea and Quiet Mountain players was always complicated.

For people like Foolishness, who were extremely rational, even after everything they had gone through, they wouldn’t hate their other self.

The conflict between them came from the future of their respective worlds.

Their victory or defeat would determine everything.

So why would Starsea Foolishness give part of her power to Quiet Mountain Foolishness?

Rita didn’t bother speculating further. She asked directly,

"What happened after that?"

Quiet Mountain Foolishness watched her for two seconds, then smiled.

"I’m starting to understand why she lets you use the Foolishness Game.

"The gun is called Foolishness Game. We are both Foolishness. But what we hate most... are idiots."

Rita ignored that and pressed again,

"What happened after that?"

Quiet Mountain Foolishness answered,

"After everything ended, Quiet Mountain fell silent, and Starsea returned to chaos. She came to my Graveyard of Bones."

She lifted her hand and removed the monocle.

At first glance, both eyes looked the same, equally radiant like glass.

But with Rita’s current perception, the difference was obvious.

The patterns in the pupils were slightly different.

"Just like no two Vineborne share the exact same Vine, no two Brilliance share identical eyes.

"Even flowers of the same type grow differently. Their vines, branches, and petals are never arranged the same.

"Gemstones are no different.

"She gave me her last remaining eye, even though I no longer needed it."

Rita couldn’t hold back.

"So instead of having two flawed gems, she just... shattered both of them?"

She pictured Starsea Foolishness’s emotionless gaze.

Strangely, she wasn’t surprised at all.

That was exactly the kind of thing Foolishness would do.

Quiet Mountain Foolishness looked pleased.

"So you really do know her."

She swung the revolver casually, almost childishly.

"When others hear this story, their first reaction is always the same.

"They think she felt guilty.

"What a stupid conclusion.

"Why can’t it simply be about making the gemstone whole?"

Her tone sharpened slightly.

"We cannot tolerate defects or inferior products."

As she spoke, she carefully observed Rita’s reaction.

There was no confusion. No objection.

That pleased her even more.

She leaned forward slightly, clearly in the mood to continue.

"Do you know how Deceitful Bloom reacted when she heard this?"

Deceitful Bloom?

From what Rita knew, Deceitful Bloom and Foolishness weren’t even from the same era.

So why would she come here just to hear this story?

Was she really that bored, or did she simply enjoy collecting stories?

Rita followed along, curious.

"What was her reaction?"

Quiet Mountain Foolishness set the revolver aside and casually rested her elbow on empty air, as if there were an invisible table there.

She leaned her chin on her hand.

Her posture turned elegant.

Her expression softened.

Even her tone slowed, becoming almost languid.

"A flaw?" she said with a faint, lazy smile. "So if you dig out your eyes and give them away, that makes you flawless? Is lying to yourself really that fun?"

To be fair, the imitation was nearly perfect.

The expression. The tone. The rhythm of speech.

All of it captured Deceitful Bloom’s essence.

But the feeling was completely different.

Vines and gemstones were fundamentally different things.

When Deceitful Bloom spoke like this, it felt like flowers blooming. Her very existence embodied beauty.

When Foolishness did it, it felt like a lab-bound genius suddenly possessed and acting out of character.

Rita held it in for a few seconds.

Then she burst out laughing.

B80 silently felt relieved that Nivalis wasn’t here.

Otherwise, there was no doubt.

She would have learned this on the spot.