Once again, Ian finished moving without incident. Cecilia had helped, and since he already remembered the entire furniture arrangement, there was no need to agonize over what went where, so he was able to finish relatively quickly.
Well. This, too, must be one of the charms of regression.
“Phew……”
He sat on the living room sofa and wiped the sweat beading on his forehead.
The season between spring and winter was still cold, but not cold enough to steal away the heat of labor. He gulped down cold water and looked back at the large TV.
A black screen that looked as if a little star might drift out at any moment, accompanied by a photograph of the moon. But the TV remained quiet, and only ordinary music flowed softly from the latest-model speakers. There was no trace of Mozart’s specter or the sound of sirens.
It was proof that the timeline had returned perfectly. Ian leaned back against the backrest and looked up at the pure white ceiling.
‘……As expected of a god, she really regressed everything perfectly.’
He had already finished confirming everyone else’s survival. The Godmother, of course, as well as Han Yuna, Lee Seoa, Kim Yul, Kim Iseo, Albert, Benjamin, and the rest. Everyone he was acquainted with was living ordinary lives.
The problem was that the vampires were alive as well, but that, if anything, served as proof that no tricks had been played on the timeline. It seemed that, quite literally, only Earth’s time had been regressed.
‘I’ll just have to be satisfied that it isn’t back to the point when Eddie and that unicorn bastard are alive.’
Thinking that, Ian summoned the Hand of Re-creation. The pure white grimoire always gave off a brief vibration whenever it was held in his hand, but this time it did not. It was still, and quiet.
“……”
Leah had said that using the grimoire would be difficult for a while. He could still use re-creation magic three times a day, but it was impossible to fire it off like a madman the way he had before. That alone was enough for it to perform its function, but still, he couldn’t help feeling disappointed.
‘Well, if that’s the price for summoning an outer god and regression, it’s pretty cheap.’
Ian set the grimoire down on the table and let out a long breath. After a moment, he took a cigarette and went out into the yard.
The bike parked in the corner of the yard ran its engine on its own to prevent the battery from draining. It wasn’t very loud. If he didn’t pay attention, he wouldn’t even hear it.
The Cartel’s custom low-noise tuning was certainly worth the money.
Chiiik.
He put the cigarette in his mouth and lit it. The gray sky was gloomy enough to pour down snow or rain at any moment, but the flame at the tip of the cigarette was only bright.
He leaned against the wall and blew out gray smoke toward the gray sky.
“……It does feel a bit strange.”
The world had returned to normal. The outer god that had mimicked the moon’s appearance had vanished, and the moon and sun had returned to their places. And Ian alone retained the memories of the previous world—the worldline that had perished. If one had to define it, he was no different from a regressor.
Of course, if one went into the details, he wasn’t a true regressor, but he figured he could at least be called a regressor-adjacent case.
Well, it wasn’t a particularly important title.
Ian’s identity was not that of a regressor, but a magician. Even if time had turned back, and even if Ian alone remembered the world before, nothing changed. He was still a magician.
“Phew……”
Ian roughly crushed out the cigarette he had finished smoking and tossed it into his portable ashtray.
The ashtray was starting to get dirty, too. It seemed it was about time to replace it.
It was a consumable anyway, and he had used it for a long time, so it seemed better to let it go now. It hadn’t been expensive in the first place.
‘Come to think of it, the Cartel was selling an ashtray too. Should I buy that one?’
Continuing his idle thoughts, he went back inside.
He decided not to think too much about regression or whatever anymore. In any case, it was all already in the past. The world’s time had returned, and Leah had personally killed the outer god, so there was no longer any reason to be wary of the moon. It was about time to face reality again.
That did not mean he intended to let his guard down completely. Since time had been turned back by an outer god’s power, there was no telling what side effects might occur.
Moreover, the head of Laplace might notice the regression and try something. It was only right to prepare as much as possible.
‘At this point in time…… I can remake the Dying Hearing too. Should I start with that?’
An alchemical item that cleanly ignored a regenerator’s ability and destroyed their hearing.
He wasn’t sure whether using a magician’s ear was what had produced that level of power. It was difficult to compare, since there was no control group.
But he had confirmed that using a magician’s ear as a material made it possible to bypass regeneration abilities. If he made one, it would be useful when needed.
Indeed, the corpse of a skilled magician was a precious object in and of itself. Apparently, Eddie had been the incarnation of a saint who gave generously both in life and in death.
After sending him his thanks, Ian took only the necessary items and left the house.
He put on his helmet and got on the bike. The bike, which had been quietly warming up, started its engine on its own as soon as it sensed his weight.
[Welcome, Shin Ian. Where shall I take you?]
“To the workshop. Just handle the gears on your own.”
[Understood. I will activate the heated grips and heated seat for a comfortable ride.]
Ziiing.
In an instant, the grips and seat warmed up. Ian chuckled, lowered his visor, and smoothly released the clutch. As power began to transmit, the bike slowly moved forward.
He rode the bike out to the public road, then opened the throttle on an empty stretch. The bike shifted automatically according to speed, and Ian raced toward the workshop through the cold wind.
Before long, he arrived at the officetel. He parked the bike in the empty parking lot and took the elevator up to the floor where the workshop was. The elevator ghost quietly pressed the button for him and vanished.
Ziiing.
The elevator rose quickly, then came to a stop. Ian rubbed his stiff neck with one hand, opened the workshop door, and stepped inside.
The room was pitch-dark because of the curtains completely covering the windows. He turned on the lights with practiced ease, checked the fish tanks, then set his helmet down carelessly on the sofa. Then he flung open the refrigerator.
“It’s been a while since I saw this face too.”
Inside the refrigerator, Eddie’s head sat there by itself, its skull opened.
As before, Ian cut off Eddie’s ear, steeped it thoroughly in salt, and ordered the security ghost to bring him insects. The ghost did a somersault and set off to exterminate the insects in the officetel.
Since it was an alchemy he had already tried before, he could take out the necessary materials without consulting the grimoire.
Ian neatly set the materials on the crafting table, then lay down on the sofa and flipped through the grimoire until the ear was sufficiently salted.
‘What’s the most amazing thing I can make with a Great One’s whatever?’
Thanks to Leah, he had learned that the “Great One” referred to in the grimoire meant an outer god.
But an outer god was not something that could be killed easily. It was a being that could only barely be neutralized after twisting and straining one’s entire body and then praying madly toward the sky. Moreover, he couldn’t unconditionally assert that the outer god would shed bodily fluids or drop pieces of flesh in the process.
That was how difficult the material was to obtain. The body of an outer god.
And as difficult as it was to obtain, the items that could be made with that material possessed astonishing abilities.
[Hourglass of Time]
[Turns the world’s time back to one week ago.]
[Materials: A body part of a Great One, 1 hourglass, 500g of fine desert sand, 1 meteorite.]
[Defiant Brooch]
[Ignores death up to 3 times.]
[Materials: A body part of a Great One, 15 beast hearts, 25 gemstones, 1kg of silver.]
[Suicidal Lullaby]
[Any being that hears the song played from this device will take its own life.]
[Materials: A body part of a Great One, 1 radio, 2 meteorites, 3L of oil.]
Every single one was absurd.
The Hourglass of Time needed no explanation. In effect, it was no different from a disposable regression device. As long as he had it, no matter what happened to the world, he could return it to one week ago with a single click.
Compared to the hourglass, the Defiant Brooch’s effect was somewhat weaker. But the ability to ignore death three times was absolutely not something to be taken lightly. If combined with the summoning of Outer Sea creatures, it would essentially allow him to call forth an apex predator without any cost, so when considering synergy, this was better than the hourglass.
The lullaby was fraudulent in and of itself. The ability to make any being commit suicide. What mattered here was the phrase “any being.”
If, exactly as the words implied, it could make “any being” take its own life, then it should be possible to instantly kill an enemy that would otherwise be impossible to face. Outer gods would be no exception.
‘An outer god on Leah’s level could probably resist, but there are more who aren’t. Even the moon could have been killed easily if I’d had this.’
Not just the moon. Most outer gods that dared to stick their heads toward Earth could be dealt with using a single lullaby. The problem was that the radio’s range was an unknown, and it would be difficult to make only the outer god hear the song. If used incorrectly, everyone nearby might commit mass suicide.
But even with that risk, the effect itself was extremely attractive. If need be, it could be used for mass murder, so it was hard to see the risk as purely a risk.
Aside from these, there were quite a few alchemical items that used a Great One’s body. However, every single one required ominous materials in addition to the Great One’s body, so they were all difficult to make right away.
“……Mm.”
Just in case, Ian searched for meteorites on the Cartel app. Then, after confirming that the price easily exceeded hundreds of millions, he threw his phone away.
Perhaps because meteorites were highly valuable in a shamanic sense, their prices were insane. He had heard that astrologers bought them up whenever they could, but he hadn’t imagined it would be to this extent.
‘It’s not like I can’t buy one if I do some jobs, but even so, the bleeding is too severe. It’s hard to buy one on impulse.’
It couldn’t be helped, since supply couldn’t keep up with demand. Ian let out a deep sigh and lay back on the sofa.
‘The brooch is the most feasible one, at least…… No, I should look around a bit more first.’
It was not a material that could be obtained easily, so now was the time to think carefully.
And so Ian spent a long while reading through the grimoire, and only when night had nearly fallen did he close it, leaving the matter for another time.
*
Before he knew it, time had passed, and the day he had begun the vampire commission had dawned. Just as he had then, Ian stood alone in front of the tunnel, smoking a cigarette.
“……”
Inside the tunnel, evil spirits swarmed. A few of them even beckoned to Ian, who stood alone, as if telling him to come in.
Of course, he was not bewitched. His mental barrier was far too thick to be affected by mere evil spirits.
“Phew……”
An early March morning.
A light layer of snow had fallen in front of the tunnel leading into the village. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to dye the road white.
There were no footprints. There was no sign that anyone had entered or left.
For Ian, that was something to welcome. He crushed out the cigarette he had finished smoking in the newly purchased ashtray, then grinned and slipped his hand into his pocket.
“Shall we go?”
He slowly moved his feet toward the tunnel.
There was no companion moving with him. He hadn’t called anyone in the first place.
Even for him, it couldn’t be helped. It was a shame, considering the promises he had made to go together until now, but he had only recently experienced firsthand that calling people vulnerable to mental domination would make them nothing but burdens.
Mind reading was not an ability that imposed mental domination, but rather than have information exposed to the vampires because someone’s mental barrier was weak for no reason, it was far better to move alone. Calling comrades was better reserved for when he was facing enemies unrelated to the mind.
Of course, an outer god’s mental attacks and a vampire’s mind reading probably did not require mental barriers of the same level. There would certainly be people who could resist.
But there was always the possibility. Since the moon’s true beginning had taken place here, Ian had no choice but to proceed carefully with this commission in particular. That was why he chose to move alone.
Well, perhaps because there were no eyes watching him, his mind felt rather at ease.