Leaving the base and flying over the tropical forest felt exceedingly strange.
On Trappist, it had not felt particularly special, but this place was Earth.
To fly through Earth’s skies without any equipment whatsoever.
At any other time, I might have shouted at the top of my lungs.
But right now, I was in the middle of an operation.
Whoooosh!
I had to keep even the act of pushing the wind aside to a minimum in order to reduce sound.
Of course, perhaps there was no need to be that quiet.
Bang! Tatatatang! Kwaang!
Because for a tropical forest at night, it was incredibly noisy.
As I advanced toward that commotion, I soon arrived at a battlefield where flashbangs, flames, and flares were falling.
Floating in the sky, I surveyed the battlefield.
While I was checking the battlefield with my extrasensory perception, no one noticed me hovering in the air.
The sky where I was did not reach the light from the ground.
Since I was not moving, there was no need to make sound.
On top of that, I had reduced my presence with magic, so even soldiers accustomed to battle could not notice me floating in the sky.
As I observed the battlefield, Soph asked.
[Weren’t you going to strike the command center right away? That’s what they did in the movies I watched.]
If it had been before the battle began, Soph’s words would not have been wrong, but right now, the battle was in full swing.
[The orders have already been given. Even if the command center disappears, they’ll continue fighting according to those orders.]
Unless I could capture the command center and have them issue an order to turn back, simply killing them clearly would not be of much immediate help.
Moreover, the enemy was made up of rebels and mercenaries.
Soldiers who prioritized the situation on the ground over the orders of command.
To stop their attack, I had to destroy the command center and, at the same time, deal a major shock to the unit itself.
[Then does that mean you just need to hit them with one big blast?]
[No. It’ll be a problem if it’s too flashy. The American base mustn’t notice.]
[There are far too many bothersome restrictions. Just handle it yourself.]
Soph seemed a little sulky.
It did not matter much.
This time, I intended to handle it with my own power if at all possible.
While I was talking with Soph, the situation on the ground was fully mapped out in my head.
The terrain, the positions of the soldiers, the weapons they carried, and even their circumstances.
I could not know distant areas precisely because my senses did not reach that far, but that was not a problem.
My senses reached as far as the mortar unit.
“First, the mortars.”
I shot toward the mortar unit.
Crack!
Killing the soldiers firing the mortars and destroying the mortars was not difficult.
The soldiers were so focused on firing the mortars that they did not notice me landing behind them.
Perhaps because they were not proper soldiers, there were no soldiers keeping watch nearby either.
Even if there had been such soldiers, I would not have been discovered, but in any case, I was able to clear out the mortar unit with ease.
After wiping out a platoon-sized unit in an instant, I immediately plunged into the battlefield.
Starting from the rear of the unit, I killed the soldiers one by one.
After clearing out several platoons like that, I was eventually discovered.
Tatatata!
“It’s the enemy! Enemy in the rear!”
“Damn it! I can’t see him! Just spray fire!”
“Aaagh! Where are you shooting?! You hit me!”
“Damn it! Where is he hiding?! Come out— Guh!”
Killing them in secret had become difficult now, but the confusion only grew worse.
They fired wildly in every direction, and when they could no longer trust even the comrades beside them, there was no way the battle could proceed properly.
Bang... Bang...
The battle gradually bogged down.
I drove the wedge in further.
After flying back up into the sky, I launched fireballs all over the forest.
Even while sulking, Soph used magic for me.
Boom! Boom!
From afar, it was magic that looked like flares or shells falling.
But to the soldiers who witnessed it firsthand, it was punishment falling from the heavens.
Whoosh!
Fires began to burn throughout the forest.
The soldiers had already lost their momentum.
They believed in Islam, but they were also soldiers swayed just as much by folk beliefs.
To such soldiers, the falling fireballs were no different from divine judgment.
The soldiers scattered in every direction.
The Russian mercenaries were still present, but they could not stop the soldiers from scattering.
The mercenaries also began to withdraw.
Unlike the rebels, they retreated in orderly fashion.
The direction they were heading was sure to be where the command center was.
I did not touch the retreating mercenaries and flew in the direction they were going.
Soon, I saw the mercenaries’ temporary base.
Several tents, crates filled with supplies, even helicopters and missile batteries.
It was a proper forward operating base.
There was a large tent at the center of the base.
Seeing an antenna set up beside the tent, I knew that was the command tent.
I asked Soph again.
[Soph, please hit that tent with one bolt of lightning.]
[They shouldn’t die, right?]
Soph seemed to have cheered up.
[Yes. We need to obtain information.]
Delicate control would be required, but that was not difficult for Soph.
Flash!
A single bolt of lightning struck down from the sky.
***
Time passed.
The mercenary commander, having spat out everything he knew, coughed blood and begged me.
“Cough! I-I told you everything. Please, please kill me.”
It was not because I had tortured him too harshly that he said that.
Rather, I had been keeping him alive until now.
The lightning magic that had struck the tent a little while ago, Soph’s magic, had failed.
The magic had been too strong.
[Earthlings have far too little resistance to magic. To think they cannot withstand magic this weak...]
Soph made excuses, but no matter what he said, the fact that the magic had failed did not change.
Thanks to that, almost everyone inside the tent died.
The remaining one person was on the verge of death as well.
Because of that, Soph and I had to pour our strength into keeping him breathing.
We covered the raw flesh exposed beneath his burned and peeling skin with water, forced his heart, which had stopped from the shock, to beat, and prayed he would not die.
Fortunately, he did not die right away.
The mercenary commander, who had stars on his uniform, regained consciousness under our care.
The moment he came to his senses, he screamed in pain.
There was no need to torture him separately.
He begged me to kill him.
After hearing his story, I withdrew the magic I had cast on him.
“Tha... thank you.”
He thanked me and closed his eyes.
Looking at the dead mercenary commander, I said to Soph,
“We found out why we were attacked, but things have become troublesome.”
[That is how all places where people live are. To humans, their own interests matter more than the safety of the whole.]
“If that whole is all of humanity, they should restrain themselves.”
[The moment they decide they are not included in that humanity, there are people who will grow greedy.]
“But I am included in that humanity.”
If someone endangered humanity for their own sake, then he was my enemy.
After hearing my resolve, Soph cautioned me.
[This is a political matter. You must not try to force it through.]
“I do not think you are in any position to say that, Soph.”
I was someone who had personally seen what Soph had done when he was alive.
[I say this because I regret what happened then. It would be better to deal with the other party after resolving things on the political side.]
He was not wrong.
I answered Soph.
“I’ll ask Magreta.”
[That should be enough. She is an excellent adviser.]
Now that I had learned everything I needed to know, it was time to clean up.
I moved the earth with magic.
Rumble.
The command tent and the corpses sank into the ground.
The other tents were the same.
Soph’s lightning had not fallen only on the command tent.
The soldiers in the other tents had all died as well.
After the tents disappeared, I stood before the wooden crates.
What was inside the crates were weapons and ammunition.
AK-series rifles and ammunition. Grenades and recoilless rifles as well.
“This time, Russian weapons, huh... Not bad in their own way.”
I could not bury these underground.
I put the wooden crates containing the weapons into the space-expanded box.
Once I had cleared away the weapon crates like that, what remained were the missile batteries and helicopters.
The capacity had continued to grow, and the monster samples had also decreased due to spatial transfer, so there was plenty of room in the box.
“There’s a high chance they’ll vanish entirely or be ruined because parts go missing, but I still can’t leave them here, can I?”
If I was lucky, they might remain intact.
Either way, it was better than burying them underground.
I put the missile batteries, the missiles, and even the helicopters into the box.
After that, I waited at the cleared-out base for the other mercenaries to return.
Around a hundred Russian mercenaries were heading here.
The several thousand Somali troops had all scattered, so those were the only forces left.
They were not all the Russian mercenaries remaining in Africa, but if I dealt with just them, the American base would be safe for the time being.
After that, the aircraft carriers coming here would take responsibility, so there was no need for me to worry any further.
Hidden in the darkness, I dealt with the returning mercenaries one by one.
As they were mercenaries who had been through battlefields, they quickly sensed something was wrong and tried to fight me.
But it was useless.
There was no mercenary who could see me in the darkness, and no one who could keep up with my speed.
Their firepower was no comparison either.
Since we were farther from the base now, there was no worry of being discovered.
Soph and I poured out magic without restraint.
Boom! Kwa-boom!
“It’s a monster! Run!”
“It’s not a monster! If you scatter, you’ll be picked off!”
“Damn it, it is a monster! What kind of person shoots lightning and fire?! That’s a monster of the jungle! Everyone run!”
It seemed one of the mercenaries had seen my form in the middle of the fight.
But that appeared to frighten them even more.
The mercenaries scattered in every direction, and in the end, they lost their lives in the jungle.
“Magic really is terrifying.”
After burying all the dead mercenaries underground, I looked at the rising sun and said to Soph.
[That is because you are facing Earthlings who know nothing of magic. Besides, your ability can no longer be looked down upon either.]
Looked down upon?
Objectively speaking, my combat strength was truly extraordinary.
It was a bit of a workaround, but I could fly, move at tremendous speed, and use magic as well.
On top of that, with extrasensory perception, I could check places I could not see.
To put it simply, I could fight a controlled object alone.
“With this level, I might even be able to fight a proper division-level force.”
A mechanized unit might be difficult, but against ordinary troops, it seemed entirely possible.
Only after coming to Earth could I truly feel it.
I had really become a superhuman.
After finishing the job, I flew back to the base.
The tropical forest where the battle had ceased was incredibly peaceful.
A jungle and savanna where birds flew and animals ran about.
I flew over them and returned to the base.
Fortunately, people were not moving around yet.
After avoiding a few sentries, I landed in front of the lodging.
Magreta was waiting for me in front of the lodging.
“Welcome back.”
Looking at Magreta as she smiled, I could feel that I had returned to the ground again.
Superhuman or not, I was human.
Magreta asked me,
“Is everything taken care of?”
“Yes. The base is safe. The Somali troops have scattered, and the Russian mercenaries have disappeared.”
At my words that the mercenaries had disappeared, the corners of Magreta’s mouth lifted.
“There may be a few strange rumors, but they’ll think infighting broke out and they scattered.”
At my following words, Magreta smiled and said,
“You’re asking me to spread the rumor that way, aren’t you?”
“I’d be grateful if you did.”
“Understood. You worked hard.”
She told me to come in and rest, but I still had something left to say.
“I heard something from the Russian mercenary.”
At my words, Magreta stared intently at me.
I felt guilty for no reason. I immediately made an excuse.
“It wasn’t torture, but in any case, I obtained information.”
In the end, it came out sounding strange, but I relayed to Magreta what I had heard from the mercenary commander.
What I had asked was how they knew our transport plane was coming. That was all I had asked, and he had given me the answer I wanted.
After listening to me, a smile bloomed on Magreta’s lips.
“What a shame. It would have been nice if we had also learned which person in power leaked the information.”
What the mercenary commander knew was that one of the American power holders had leaked the information, and who had passed that information on to them.
Someone who was inside the base, could obtain information from an insider, and could inform the Russian mercenaries.
There was only one person like that in this base.
Magreta rose from her seat with a smile.
“I didn’t think I’d be seeing a Russian agent again after only a day. We didn’t get to greet each other properly yesterday, so today I’ll have to do it right.”
She wasn’t speaking to me, but her smile was truly frightening.
The way she said it with that bright smile sent chills crawling over my entire body.
Interrogation
Episode 153.
Day had fully broken.
Both those who had woken up and those who had been unable to sleep wondered at the gunfire that no longer rang out.
And at the news that the enemy had withdrawn, everyone rejoiced.
Waaah!
Cheers rose from several places, and some people even brought out alcohol from the morning and shared a toast.
They had looked fine on the outside, but everyone had been worried.
While everyone was celebrating like that, there was one person walking down the corridor with a grave expression.
Dmitry Alexeyevich Morozov.
He was the man who had come from Russia a few days ago with the title of policy officer.
Tall, brown-haired, with sharp features—the very image of a Slavic man.
He had certainly been smiling until yesterday, but today his expression was so grim that people avoided him.
He had every reason to be.
Everything he had taken part in had gone wrong overnight.
Contact with the mercenaries had been cut off, and the American line that had been sending information no longer responded either.
When he contacted his homeland because it seemed something had gone wrong, he received a strange answer from there as well.
The answer should have been an order to return home, but instead, his homeland told him to speak with the Americans he had been talking to all along.
Until yesterday, it would not have been a strange answer, but in the current situation, it was clearly odd.
Then came the summons from the deputy director of American intelligence.
He was on his way to the deputy director’s room now.
‘No, the work started going wrong from the moment the transport plane arrived safely. They brought in an anti-air missile battery and still let that huge transport get away. I’d heard mercenaries were incompetent, but I never imagined they’d be this incompetent.’
He continued cursing the mercenaries until he arrived in front of the room.
At the deputy director’s door.
He took a deep breath and composed his expression.
He changed back to the bright expression he usually wore and gripped the doorknob.
‘The atmosphere doesn’t feel good… I’ll listen to what he has to say and start preparing to slip out.’
After forming a plan in his head, he opened the door.
Click.
“It’s Dmitry. You called for me?”
He entered, greeting him in fluent English, then flinched.
There were unexpected people inside the room.
On the sofa in the center of the room, along with the deputy director, were Magreta and an Asian man he was seeing for the first time.
He was definitely the man who had come on the transport plane with Magreta.
Dmitry couldn’t understand why he was here.
But this was not the time to ask.
Dmitry asked the deputy director,
“What did you call me for?”
“Did you hear that the fighting has stopped?”
“Yes. I heard the mercenaries and rebels withdrew. That is fortunate.”
“Have you received any contact from the mercenaries regarding that matter?”
“I’m sorry. I have not received any separate contact. Ever since they refused my homeland’s orders, the mercenaries have not been taking my calls.”
While Dmitry answered, the deputy director was looking elsewhere.
Following his gaze, Dmitry saw that he was looking at his own fingers resting on the table.
On the finger he was looking at was a ring set with a strange jewel and a complicated electronic device.
The LED on that ring was glowing red.
“That’s a lie.”
“Pardon?”
Dmitry asked back, his eyes darting quickly.
The room was no different from before.
There was no one hiding, and neither Magreta nor the Asian man showed any particular movement.
There was only a cell phone on the table, still connected on a call.
‘On a call?’
As if he had noticed Dmitry looking at the phone, the deputy director told him who was on the other end.
“I was on a call with the director of the Federal Security Service. This isn’t something I can decide alone.”
At the words that the top official of the FSB, to which he belonged, was listening, a chill ran down the back of Dmitry’s neck.
He was so shaken that he did not even notice the respect had vanished from the deputy director’s speech.
‘No way. Is that ring something like a lie detector?’
He had never heard of a device that could detect lies by sound alone without being attached to the body.
But he could not relax.
As he had been trained, he calmed his mind and controlled his breathing.
He focused on a single thought in his head, gently bit his tongue, then opened his mouth.
“I didn’t realize this was an interrogation. Of course I’ve continued attempting to call them. I was the one in charge of the mercenaries.”
This time, the ring was glowing blue.
‘So it really was a lie detector.’
Seeing the light of the ring, Dmitry became even more cautious.
It was not as if he had only evaded lie detectors once or twice before using “countermeasures.”
If that ring was truly a lie detector, he could avoid it this time as well.
At Dmitry’s words, the deputy director chuckled.
“As expected, you avoid it like this. I suppose I’ll have to ask directly.”
“Ask away. If it isn’t classified, I’ll tell you everything.”
Dmitry spoke to the deputy director with a relaxed expression.
But when he heard what the deputy director said next, he could not maintain it.
“Did you obtain information from our side and inform the mercenaries of the time the transport plane would arrive?”
“…!”
Without realizing it, he clenched his fists.
“And did you order the mercenaries to shoot down that transport?”
He did not know how, but the deputy director knew everything.
Still, there was a chance.
The fact that he was using a lie detector meant there was no definite evidence or witness.
If he could just avoid that lie detector, he could buy time.
Dmitry desperately calmed himself.
Fortunately, his heartbeat and muscles returned to normal.
He answered slowly.
“…I did not. I have never heard such information, nor have I passed it to the mercenaries.”
Everyone’s gaze turned to the ring.
Ding!
There was no sound, but it felt as if he had heard one.
The ring was glowing red.
“That’s another lie.”
“How absurd! Is that all it takes? Bring in some strange ring and brand a person a liar?”
Dmitry shouted and tried to rise from his seat.
Thump.
But he could not stand.
Because someone was pressing down on his shoulder.
Startled, he looked up and saw the Asian man’s hand resting on his shoulder.
It was clearly only a lightly placed hand, yet he could not move his body.
The Asian man had definitely been sitting on the sofa just moments ago.
And yet now he was standing behind him like this.
Dmitry could not understand this either.
‘Is this a dream…?’
That was how far his thoughts went.
Seeing Dmitry freeze, the deputy director looked at the phone and said,
“We confirmed it with the artifact. He is the contact.”
The sound of someone clicking their tongue came from the phone.
—…I apologize. It seems we failed to manage our people properly.
It was Russian, but there was no one who could not understand it.
The deputy director accepted the other party’s apology.
“The information leaked from our side as well. Since both of us were at fault, let’s let it pass this time.”
The FSB director seemed satisfied with the deputy director’s words.
—Thank you. It seems you handled the mercenary side cleanly as well. I will leave the rest to you.
“Then we’ll speak again later.”
—Until next time.
With those words of thanks, the call ended.
Putting the phone away, the deputy director rose from his seat.
As he removed the ring, the deputy director asked Magreta,
“You can handle the cleanup properly, can’t you?”
“Leave it to me.”
The deputy director put the ring into his pocket and looked at me.
“I was extremely curious about both why the Somali soldiers and mercenaries suddenly withdrew after you two arrived, and how Magreta found out about this matter.”
At the deputy director’s words, Magreta promptly replied,
“We were lucky.”
The deputy director chuckled at Magreta’s words.
“Yes. So this time, I’ll consider it luck. One does not cut open the belly of a lucky goose.”
He waved at us and left the room.
Click.
The deputy director closed the door.
Looking at the closed door, I said to Magreta,
“It seems like he’s more or less caught on.”
“He’ll pretend not to know. The intelligence agency isn’t foolish enough to draw a knife on a dragon wearing goose skin.”
Magreta answered with a smile.
A smile entirely different from the one she showed me.
She was smiling that smile at the man sitting in front of her.
Magreta said,
“Isn’t that right? Foolish Dmitry?”
I withdrew the magic I had cast on Dmitry.
“Gah! What is this…?”
Dmitry gasped harshly for breath.
“Everything’s been exposed, so let’s not make this complicated. Answer what I ask.”
At Magreta’s words, Dmitry’s eyes moved quickly.
He looked around the room, checked Magreta, then glanced at me.
I infused magic into my finger and lightly touched his shoulder again.
“Ugh!”
Letting out a small groan, he raised both hands.
“What do you want from me?”
“Tell me the American line that gave you the transport plane information.”
At Magreta’s words, Dmitry frowned.
“If I tell you, can I live?”
“It won’t hurt.”
Magreta said with a radiant smile.
Dmitry clicked his tongue at her smile.
“Ha. You think I’ll talk when I can’t even survive? I know, but I won’t say. Torture will be useless.”
The Russian agent seemed to be looking for some way out, but unfortunately, I was here.
“He’s lying. This man doesn’t know anything.”
Through the hand I had placed on his shoulder, I could confirm everything he said.
At my words, Magreta sighed.
“This has become troublesome.”
The reason we had tortured the mercenaries and even arranged a scene like this was all to find the person trying to kill us.
But he didn’t know.
Just as Magreta said, things ahead seemed likely to become troublesome.
Hearing our conversation, Dmitry shouted,
“What do you mean I don’t know! I can give you a name right now!”
It seemed he was about to say any name at all, so I sealed his mouth again.
Magreta raised the hand she had kept under the table.
In her lifted hand was a pistol fitted with a suppressor.
I sensed Dmitry’s eyes widening.
“Mmph! Mmph!”
He tried to force his body to move, but he could not escape my magic.
Magreta fired.
Pffft! Thuk!
With a flat, air-leaking sound, blood sprayed from Dmitry’s chest.
Dmitry’s body went limp.
As I put the corpse into the box, I said to Magreta,
“I could have done it.”
“I can’t leave everything to you, Hyun. This side of things is my responsibility too.”
If that was what she thought, I could not stop her.
Dmitry’s life had already been settled between Russian and American intelligence.
All that remained was for his corpse to disappear.
With that unsatisfying conclusion, the commotion at the base came to an end.
Now that the base was safe, the ruins leading to Paradise were put back into operation, and the next day, Magreta and I were to go to Paradise.
The ruins were on the border a few kilometers away from the base, but to get there, we had to descend beneath the base.
The Americans had dug diagonally down from beneath the base all the way to the ruins.
Underground beneath the base, in front of the subterranean monorail that led to the ruins.
There, we met Catherine again.
She, too, would be going to Paradise with us.
As soon as she saw me, she asked,
“Was this your doing too, Hyun?”
The question had no context, but I knew what she meant.
She was asking whether I was the one who had stopped the enemy attacking the base.
I answered honestly.
“Yes, I did it.”
At my words, Catherine bit her lip. She seemed to have resolved herself to something.
“Did you find out who leaked the information?”
I shook my head.
“The line was cut off in the middle, so we couldn’t find the culprit.”
Catherine brought her mouth to my ear.
Magreta’s eyes sharpened, but Catherine kept her lips near my ear and whispered quietly,
“I know who the culprit is who gave the order. He’s in Paradise right now.”
Her words startled me.
I had obtained information from a place I had never expected.
At last, Catherine made her decision.
She held out her hand.
Catherine took my hand.
Paradise (1)
Chapter 154.
The monorail descended for several kilometers.
Unlike the vertical cavern connected to the Mount Baekdu ruins, the underground passage the monorail ran through was well maintained.
After several minutes of traveling underground by monorail, we arrived at the ruins.
The monorail stopped right in front of them.
When I got off the monorail, I could see the ruins beyond a short passage.
On the opposite side of the passage, I saw a collapsed cavern.
The Venusians who had arrived on Earth long ago must have gone to the surface through that cavern.
Now, however, it was blocked off and had lost all meaning.
I looked away from the cavern and headed toward the ruins.
After passing through the short corridor, the ruins we arrived at were similar to the ruins beneath Mount Baekdu, yet different.
Unlike the Mount Baekdu ruins, which had been neatly organized apart from the machinery attached to the altar, this place was extremely chaotic.
A large stone chamber filled with paintings and patterns, with an altar at its center—that much was the same as the Mount Baekdu ruins.
But there were many people here, and all sorts of equipment and objects were scattered everywhere.
Even the altar had a crude electronic device attached to it, several times larger than the one at the Mount Baekdu ruins.
“This place feels like an advance base that hasn’t been organized.”
At my words, Margreta explained the circumstances.
“That’s because these are ruins connected to Paradise. It can’t help but be different from the Mount Baekdu base, where it’s difficult to travel more than once a week.”
Perhaps thinking that explanation was insufficient, Catherine added more.
“Travel has been blocked recently, so more supplies and people have piled up. Once passage resumes starting today, it should get a little better.”
At Catherine’s words, I looked around the stone chamber again and noticed people I had seen yesterday.
The people who had listened to the explanation with me. It seemed they were going to Paradise this time as well.
“So ordinary people really can go to Paradise.”
Among those gathered to go to Paradise, more than half were ordinary people.
People who could not go to Trappist, and people who could not become dark energy users.
If they used the awakening agent I had brought, a few of them might be able to become energy users, but for now, they were merely ordinary people.
[So you can distinguish them now.]
After coming to Earth, I had kept observing people, and at some point, I had become able to tell.
[That’s not normally something done so easily. If it were, we wouldn’t have researched the “Mage’s Flower,” and you people wouldn’t have needed blood tests like that.]
Soph clicked his tongue as he spoke, but this had just happened naturally while I was doing it. It wasn’t something I could control.
“In truth, ordinary people can’t go alone. They travel together with energy users.”
After hearing my words, Catherine explained the situation.
In truth, I already knew from Soph.
Even if Paradise was closer than Trappist, it was still several light-years away from Earth.
A person who could not use energy could not travel such a distance alone.
In the end, they needed an energy user’s help.
Just as an energy user could spatially move while carrying luggage, they would bring an ordinary person along.
Margreta, Catherine, and I also headed to where the people were.
Dozens of energy users and dozens of ordinary people.
Altogether, over a hundred people were lined up in front of the altar.
I had seen this number of people at the Mount Baekdu ruins before, but these people moved in numbers like this every time.
And this was before they used the black stones I had brought, so I couldn’t even begin to guess how many people would travel from now on.
From behind, I saw people wearing name tags standing beside the lines and giving instructions.
“Energy users, before spatial transfer, you must be holding the hand of the person assigned to you in advance. If you do not hold hands, they will remain here, so please do not forget.”
“Users who have not been assigned a person must take the luggage we hand over to you. It will be very heavy, but you only need to endure it for a short while, so we ask for your patience.”
They had people hold hands with one another, and those who were not holding hands were made to carry heavy backpacks.
They were backpacks that looked so heavy ordinary people would have difficulty even standing while wearing them.
A person wearing a name tag also came to us.
He approached us with documents in hand, then bowed his head when he saw Margreta and Catherine.
“Welcome. The three of you may cross over last.”
I thought we would have to carry luggage or hold an ordinary person’s hand, but there was no need for that.
This was not because of me.
The people in line did not seem to know, but the others knew Margreta and Catherine.
They tried not to even meet Catherine’s or Margreta’s eyes.
Only now did I feel like I understood what it meant to be someone in power.
Power that made others lower their heads without a word.
We had not yet arrived in Paradise, but even here, I could feel their influence.
It was something I had expected anyway, and once we went to Paradise, it would be a scene I would see until I grew sick of it.
I pretended not to notice and changed the subject.
“This is the first time I’m not taking any luggage.”
“Paradise is close, so there’s almost no limit on luggage. As long as you can carry it, you can bring almost anything. That’s why there’s this much leeway.”
Margreta answered my words.
Of course, there was a greater reason, but for now, I decided to take Margreta’s words at face value.
Besides, I had to confirm the idea that had just occurred to me.
I immediately asked Soph.
[If other people can move people to Paradise... wouldn’t I be able to move ordinary people to Trappist?]
Perhaps he was at a loss for words, because Soph’s answer did not come right away.
[That is... something I have never considered.]
The answer that came a moment later was the same.
[If that works, animals or livestock should be possible too. I’ll have to make time to test it.]
If it succeeded, I would be able to do far more than I could now.
I could create farms in the underground city, and ordinary people might be able to live on Trappist as well.
The environment was worse than Paradise, and it was farther away too, but having more alternatives was always a good thing.
‘I might be able to bring my brother.’
If that became possible, then even in the worst-case scenario, I could bring the exploration team members’ families to Trappist.
The test itself would not be difficult either.
If it failed, the person or livestock would simply remain behind, just as luggage remained in place.
Of course, if the test succeeded, the ordinary person who ended up going to Trappist would become a problem, but that was not something to worry about right now.
It seemed I would have to check when I went back this time.
While I was coming up with that new idea, people stepped up onto the altar in order and entered the portal.
Whoosh!
People vanished into the circular hologram floating in the air.
As we gradually approached the altar, I was able to see the device connected to it in greater detail.
Up close, the device looked even cruder.
Unlike the clean device at the Mount Baekdu ruins, its wires were exposed, and various measuring instruments had been attached haphazardly all over it.
It seemed they were still conducting all sorts of experiments on the altar even now.
When I stared at the device, the man guiding us spoke confidently.
“This was the first site we modified, so the device is quite crude. But please do not worry. It is safe. The scientists have finished their verification, and there has never been a problem in hundreds of transfers.”
The moment he finished speaking, Soph’s voice rang out.
Unlike the man’s words, his voice was extremely grave.
[This is bad.]
A chill ran down the back of my neck. When Soph said something like this, it was usually no ordinary problem.
I immediately asked Soph.
[What’s wrong?]
Soph said,
[Because they modified the spatial transfer device, its lifespan has been cut down significantly.]
I let out a sigh of relief.
I had been worried, but thankfully, it was something I already knew.
[That was the same with the Mount Baekdu ruins. Even modified, it had several decades of lifespan left, so there was nothing to worry about immediately.]
It seemed the fussiness of a mage ego who had lived for tens of thousands of years had activated again.
Thinking that, I grumbled to Soph, but that was not the case.
Soph spoke again.
[It is something you need to worry about immediately. Perhaps because this was the first modification, this place is much more damaged than the Mount Baekdu ruins.]
[It’s more damaged?]
I was startled by Soph’s words.
That would be troublesome. At the very least, these ruins had to last until the destruction.
However, at Soph’s next words, I could only tilt my head.
[These ruins won’t last more than a few years.]
It felt somehow ambiguous.
The worst, yet not quite the worst. That sort of feeling.
After all, the destruction itself was only a few years away.
If things went well, it might break down after the destruction.
Even so, it was true that things had become urgent.
[We’ll have to hurry.]
A moment later, Margreta, Catherine, and I entered the hologram.
Whoooosh!
The world turned white.
In that white world, I felt several paths.
Unfortunately, they were all paths I knew.
I did not move and entrusted my body to the path.
And so we left Earth, departed the solar system, and arrived in Paradise.
Its common name was Paradise.
Its official name was Tau Ceti F, the sixth planet of the Tau Ceti system, twelve light-years away from Earth.
The reason the Americans called this star Paradise was not only because it was the star where Earthlings would have to live.
When the white light disappeared, the first things I saw were the blue sky and a red sun different from Trappist’s.
A sun that closely resembled Earth’s sun.
The sun felt a little smaller and cooler than Earth’s, but the temperature itself was warm.
The reason I could see the sky and sun as soon as I arrived was that the ruins were on the surface.
It was different from Trappist, where the ruins had been hidden deep underground.
This seemed to be a planet safe enough to leave the ruins on the surface.
The sky and sun were not the only astonishing things.
The ruins were on a hill, so the surroundings were clearly visible.
Around the hill was a small city lined with buildings spewing black smoke, and beyond it lay plains filled with forests and grass.
On top of that, a boat floated on a river cutting across the plains.
It was like looking at a peaceful modern European city and nature.
It truly deserved to be called Paradise.
The people who had crossed over first were also overcoming their dizziness and marveling as they looked around.
I felt relieved.
If it was safe enough for the ruins to be on the surface, and if the planet was similar to Earth, then there did not seem to be any major problems.
“Fortunately, this planet really does seem to have an environment very similar to Earth’s.”
At my words, Margreta and Catherine shook their heads.
“It wasn’t originally such a good environment. It was similar to Trappist.”
“The people who came here first created this environment.”
I had no choice but to ask back at the two women’s words.
“They created it?”
And I was able to hear the answer from somewhere else.
“It seems everyone has crossed over, so first, I will explain about this place, Paradise!”
One of the people waiting for us had shouted.
The man, who had a pistol at his waist, saw Margreta and Catherine and his eyes lit up, then he continued speaking.
“This planet is a place built with the blood and sweat of those who came before us. On land where it was difficult for humans to live, they searched for ruins and unearthed artifacts.
In the end, they found the terraforming ruins and modified them together with scientists. This beautiful nature is the great achievement they created. And...”
His speech continued, but I could not hear it.
Because Soph’s shout filled my head.
[Insane! They modified the terraforming ruins? Does that mean they damaged them?]
I looked up at the sky again.
The star that resembled the sun felt terribly cold.
Trap (1)