Epherene arrived at the “Pig’s Flower” together with Rohakan. It was because Rohakan had told her to “guide me to the most delicious restaurant.”
“Mm. Quite tasty.”
As expected, even Rohakan was satisfied with the Roahawk.
“Right?”
But their names are kind of similar. Roahawk, Rohakan, Roahokan, Rohakan.
She muttered to herself inwardly and laughed alone.
“Keke······ No, but anyway. Why did you come? A devil?”
Epherene chewed on a Roahawk hind leg. For reference, she had given Rohakan a foreleg.
The hind leg was actually tastier, but without realizing it, she had lied and said the foreleg was the best part.
“It’s a fellow called the ‘Voice.’ Even I cannot dare fathom its depths. Of all the devils I’ve met so far, it is the most immense.”
“······Whoa. Then is the continent doomed?”
A devil even Rohakan couldn’t handle.
Epherene’s mouth fell open. The hind leg she had been gripping dropped—onto the plate.
Rohakan laughed heartily.
“No. If the continent were destroyed, even a devil would grow bored. That is not this devil’s objective.”
“Then what is?”
“I do not know yet, but it is certainly an opportunity for you all to grow.”
“······Grow?”
“Aye. It will be dangerous, but you’ll know once you go. ······Ah, right. If you ever enter the ‘World of the Voice.’”
Then he took some coin out of his pocket. It was a strangely shaped coin.
“What is it?”
“The currency of the ‘Voice.’ I’m giving one to each of your friends.”
“······.”
Epherene accepted it for now, then demanded an explanation with her bright, round eyes. Rohakan changed the subject without saying much.
“Has anything happened lately?”
“Anything? Ah, I met Dikailen.”
“······Dikailen?”
“Yes. In a dream.”
Rohakan’s face turned rather grave. He put the Roahawk bone into the bucket.
“······What did Deculein say?”
At that, Epherene placed the woodsteel on the table. It was her answer.
Rohakan nodded.
“It seems you managed to reconcile with that fellow somehow.”
“Reconcile······ is a bit.”
She did not bother saying more. Rohakan watched Epherene like that and smiled faintly.
“It seems that fellow likes you quite a bit.”
“Whaaat?! Wh-what, what are you talking about?!”
“Hahaha.”
Rohakan looked at her, who was reacting so noisily, as though she were adorable.
“I know that fellow’s personality well. If he didn’t like you, why would he entrust his own possession to you?”
“······Really?”
“Really, of course. He’s the sort who hates even other people’s hands touching his things. Or do you think his personality changed in an instant?”
“That’s something you don’t know······ Was he like that in the past?”
“I told you he was. He even turned red and blue at me, his teacher, just because I touched his staff. In the end, he didn’t even use that staff and threw it away, you know?”
“······.”
Epherene lowered her head without a word. She looked at the woodsteel set on the table.
Too many thoughts bloomed like clouds in her mind.
Rohakan chuckled and pointed at the Roahawk.
“That’s enough for now. For now, let us eat this meat. You can be moved later.”
“······Yes.”
Epherene gripped the Roahawk hind leg again.
“When things are complicated, there’s nothing like Roahawk······.”
“What does that mean now?”
“······It’s my saying.”
* * *
A dark night where clouds and the moon intertwined bleakly. Having returned to the Yukline mansion, I was looking at a dazzling source of light.
A treasure that could not be obtained even for hundreds of millions, the “Dragon’s Soul.”
“I do not know.”
However, because it was a gift from the Emperor that I had not expected at all, I was curious about her true intention.
Did she truly consider my heart loyal? Or was this also a test?
Whatever it was.
I bestowed “Midas’s Hand” upon the elixir.
──“Dragon’s Soul”──
◆ Information
······
◆ Special Effects
: Upon consumption, mana increases by ‘333.’
: Assists the body’s mana circulation.
: The five senses become clearer.
[Midas’s Hand: Level 4]
────────
‘The five senses become clearer.’
Aside from the absolute amount of mana, another effect had been added. It likely helped with sight and hearing, roughly speaking.
“······.”
I opened the glass bottle’s lid. The elixir that even the Yuren Duchy must have presented only after steeling itself, I drank it down as it was.
[ You consume the highest-grade “Dragon’s Soul.” ]
◆ Mana +333
◆ Physical Enhancement
That was the end of the system messages.
There was not the slightest pain, only warmth heating my entire body.
“······Hmm.”
I checked the mana stat that had increased by no less than ‘333.’
I felt pleased for no reason.
—Knock, knock.
Just then, a knock came.
It was the voice of the butler, Ren.
—Master. The item you mentioned······.
The item you mentioned······ the item you mentioned······ the item you mentioned······.
That voice rang like an echo.
I looked that way.
And.
“······.”
I perceived that the world had changed.
“Hmm.”
I looked around.
It was a dark corridor.
On the walls to the left and right hung paintings of unknown identity, and cobwebs clung to every corner like an abandoned mansion.
However, there was no need to panic. It was the world of the “Voice.”
“······It is the same.”
Fortunately, it was not much different from the scenery I had seen in the game.
I slowly walked down the corridor.
Signs of people were scarce, but the “gazes” watching me were distinct.
Step— step—
The moment I was walking calmly, a fork in the path appeared.
A corridor turning to the right. Above it was something resembling a doorplate.
[Dining Hall]
I willingly moved my legs.
The “dining hall” I soon arrived at was literally a “dining hall.”
—Auntie! One fried rice here!
—A beer over here.
Quite a few people were eating. Rather than a dining hall, it was closer to a tavern. It was that noisy and lively.
“······That fellow.”
As I looked around inside, I suddenly found three familiar heads.
Tiny backs of heads.
“······.”
I approached the table where those three were sitting. The veins throughout my body heated blue. A desire close to instinct surged up.
—So time passes here, but outside, time doesn’t pass.
—Really?! But how is that possible?
—How is it possible······? Hm?
The ones eating seemed to sense my presence as well. First, the girl swallowed her words, and then the other two boys stopped moving their spoons.
“······.”
Lia, Leo, Carlos.
The trio I had met on the Ghost Island.
Among them, especially the child with navy-blue hair, “Carlos.”
“You verminous half-breed······”
The instant I faced that half-human, half-devil, a blood vessel bulged at my temple.
Ruuuuuumble──!
The “Psychokinesis” I unconsciously raised shook the dining hall. Everything all around trembled like an earthquake.
“Guys, run—”
The moment Lia, her face pale, shouted that.
My time in the “World of the Voice” ended there.
“······.”
Before I knew it, I had returned to the Yukline mansion, and not even a single second had passed on the clock.
—······I have brought the item you mentioned.
Ren’s voice continued belatedly. I opened the door with “Psychokinesis.”
“Leave it and go.”
“Yes.”
Ren placed the item on the desk and left.
It was the go board and go stones in question.
“······.”
As I looked at the gridded wooden board, I recalled the incident from just now.
Carlos. I certainly remembered that face.
“Well, a half-human, half-devil would hardly be absent from an important event like the ‘Voice.’”
To begin with, the “Voice” was both a crisis and an opportunity. Even Deculein, who lacked talent, could grow through it.
However.
“Go, is it······.”
In any case, the “Voice” was not a world I could enter simply because I wished to, so for now, go came first.
“Shall I try?”
A culture of the East, and among them, the Archipelago. A game that evoked nostalgia for the old Earth.
Tap—!
I placed a go stone on the wooden board. Recalling the memory of the go master remaining in my mind, I began “Understanding.”
This was training solely for Emperor Sophien.
······.
Meanwhile, Lia’s group, still remaining in the “World of the Voice,” swept their hands over their chests in relief.
Deculein’s mana had been violent enough to tear apart the entire space, and everyone in the dining hall had felt that tremendous killing intent.
A fury like raging waves. As if to represent that passion, the area around where Deculein had stood had already been reduced to a mess.
To that extent, its Richter magnitude had been close to an instantaneous great earthquake.
“······That man just now. What did he call me? Half-fried?”
Carlos asked Lia. Lia merely shook her head.
Half-breed. It was a derogatory term for mixed blood, but there was no need to explain it specifically.
“Who knows? I didn’t hear it well either. Don’t worry about it!”
“······Really?”
“Wow~ But Lia! I was shocked! His mana grabbed hold of my body and everything! Amazing, amazing! Professor Deculein!”
Leo bounced up and down. She had grown somewhat used to this immature behavior by now.
In truth, this itself was Leo’s characteristic.
When Leo faced an expert, that is, a strong person, his blood boiled. Not metaphorically, but literally, his blood “boiled up.”
What was he, a Saiyan?
“Enough. You guys finished eating, right?”
“Yeah! I finished!”
“······Yeah. I’m full.”
Leo answered energetically, while Carlos had sunk rather low. Lia smiled bitterly and stood up first.
“Then let’s go hunting! If we don’t want to die, we’ve got to get stronger, you know?”
“Right! Right!”
At those words, Leo sprang up like a coil. Carlos, too, though his face was heavy with thought for a while, stood beside Lia.
“Then let’s go~”
Lia smiled brightly and guided the two children.
* * *
······A pure-white world.
The sky and earth were dyed the same color, making the boundary between them vague, and this place, filled with nothing but snow beyond the horizon, was a prison located at the extreme north of the continent.
Reccordak.
“Ah, I’m telling you, it was so annoying! Seriously.”
Julie was approaching that hell at the end of the world.
However, she was not alone.
“It bruised. Bruised. Look.”
Two clever horses, and Reylie, who had appointed herself as her adjutant, were with her.
“He hit me with steel, so what was I supposed to defend against?”
Reylie had volunteered to be seconded from the Red Garnet Adventurer Party as Julie’s adjutant. Julie, too, knew Reylie’s kind and stubborn heart, so she had not refused.
“Still, we succeeded in shaking off that bastard. Let’s think of it as a blessing in disguise. Seriously.”
“Reylie. I see a book in your bundle.”
“······Huh.”
Reylie, who had been cursing Deculein for quite some time, followed Julie’s gaze.
A “Yukline Theory Text” was poking out of her bundle.
Among its sections, in particular, the line [Author: Deculein].
“Ah~ Ah, ah~ Th-this? This is, well, um······ I just accepted it! Should I throw it away? Should I toss it right now?”
“······.”
“Throw it away? I’ll throw this away right now? I’m throwing it away? I’m throwing it awaaay~?”
“······Do not throw it away. It would be a waste.”
At Julie’s words, Reylie smiled innocently.
“Come on, what waste? I could throw it away at any moment. Still, since you’re telling me not to, I’ll keep it. It’s not like it’s completely useless.”
“······I see.”
Julie nodded, saying it was all right. She was not so narrow-minded a knight as to sulk over something of that degree.
Just then, heeheeheehing— the horses snorted.
“Ah! There they are!”
It was because of the people waiting not far away.
Julie looked there. The warden, section chief, guards, and all the officials of Reccordak were standing in a line.
“Knight Julie! Adjutant Reylie!”
They greeted her with bright smiles. They seemed glad for reinforcements after a long while.
“Welcome, welcome!”
The duty of Reccordak Prison was “defense against demon beasts.”
When winter came, many starving demon beasts moved south, and defending against that wave like a tidal surge—or at least delaying it even slightly—was the reason for Reccordak’s existence.
Therefore, the importance of combat personnel was absolute.
“Welcome! My, to think two such famous people would come!”
The warden’s face was full of smiles, but Julie faced them with a knight’s expression.
“Good to meet you. Warden Derek.”
“Yes! Knight Julie, loyalty! I will guide you first. Hey! What are you doing! Take their horses!”
“Yes, sir!”
The guards ran over and took the horses’ reins.
Julie dismounted and looked across the grounds.
The first thing she saw was the yard… though it was hardly fitting to call the open space at the center of the prison a yard. Countless prisoners were gathered there.
They were the ones who would soon be expended as a “human wall.”
“…Reilly.”
“Yes?”
“Will you be all right?”
Julie asked in a low voice.
Reilly had committed no crime. There was no need for her to waste her time in a hell like Reccordak.
“Of course I’ll be all right. If anything, I wouldn’t be all right if you tried to send me away.”
But Reilly conveyed her resolve with a warm smile, and Julie answered with a single word from the heart.
“…Thank you.”
* * *
The Magic Tower, the Head Professor’s office.
“…Gulp.”
Epherene swallowed as she looked at Deculein. Sweat beaded on her forehead, and her hands trembled of their own accord.
A review of her thesis.
Such a simple process made her shiver this much.
Deculein’s eyes as they skimmed the page felt as though they were digging through her insides, and the rustle—of each turning page seemed to slice through her flesh.
“Gulp… gulp… gulp.”
When she swallowed three times in a row, Deculein looked at her. His eyes said she was getting on his nerves.
“Gulp. Sorry, hic— Ah. Why, hic—”
Her gulping had turned into hiccups. Epherene, greatly flustered, clamped her hand over her mouth, but it was no use.
“Ah, hic!”
“……”
“My diaphragm is—hic!”
“…Good grief. You are noisy.”
“Hic! Sorry, hic!”
Deculein shook his head and set the thesis down.
“That will do. I was finished anyway.”
“Ah, thank goodness, hic!”
“…Your thesis has improved to a certain degree. However.”
Deculein moved a pen with telekinesis.
Then he corrected a portion of her thesis, “Magic Formulas Utilizing Three Elements (Epherene’s. Peek and you die. Especially Drent),” more precisely the fifth formula on page thirty-eight.
“Look. This makes it a little more concise. It will reduce unnecessary mana consumption.”
Epherene peered at the formula Deculein had corrected. In that instant, her eyes widened.
“Wow! Hic! Then the mana consumption…”
Epherene deployed the magic herself and calculated the cost. Compared to the previous version, it saved about twenty percent of the mana.
“Yes, you’re right! Hic! I’ll keep it in mind! Thank you!”
It was a precious correction from Deculein. She committed every bit of it to memory.
“However, Epherene. Was there truly a need to use three elements here—earth, fire, and wind?”
“…Pardon?”
“Two elements should have sufficed.”
Deculein pointed to another paragraph. This time, it was a question.
Epherene nodded expressionlessly.
“Yes.”
“Is handling three elements not beyond your current ability?”
“…No, I can do it.”
Since it had touched her pride somewhat, Epherene stated it firmly.
Deculein furrowed his brow slightly.
“You still lack objectivity about yourself.”
“…Even so, there isn’t a problem with the thesis itself, is there?”
“There is no problem. But will you truly submit it as it is?”
Deculein looked at her with his characteristic gaze.
As if to say, How dare someone like you—you won’t be able to do it properly—it was a look overflowing with arrogance and haughtiness.
“Yes. I’ll submit it.”
“You will need a perfect demonstration at the Thesis Conference. I do not believe you can do it. Are you not the type whose heart trembles when there are many people watching?”
Deculein’s provocation did not cease.
However, Epherene already knew Deculein’s personality. She also knew how to make use of that personality in her own way.
“I’ll demonstrate it perfectly.”
To take the stimulus he directed at her and turn it into nourishment for growth.
To shatter his doubts with a drive close to infinity.
…No.
“Hmm… very well.”
In truth, Deculein did not doubt her.
Rather, because he believed in her more than anyone, he was pushing her forward.
“We shall see.”
Professor Deculein liked mages who challenged themselves. The faint smile now hovering at the corner of his mouth was proof of that.
Epherene realized his feelings a little late.
This man had always wanted her to improve.
More than anyone else, he had wanted me to grow.
“Yes. I’ll work hard.”
Epherene nodded resolutely.
“After the Thesis Conference ends, depending on the results, an appointment as an assistant professor may be possible. Have you decided on a path?”
Deculein suddenly asked. Epherene smiled tenderly. Then she looked at the nameplate on his desk that read “Head Professor Deculein.”
“Yes.”
Epherene answered.
“I’m thinking of becoming Head Professor Deculein’s official disciple. What do you think, Professor?”