There was a blond child in that darkness.
The girl was as expressionless as ever. Her complexion was cold, her pupils sunk into shadow.
“Sylvia.”
Looking at the still-young girl, I imagined Sylvia in the distant future.
This child was a central named character in the worldview. A talent destined to become a great mage who would lead the continent. I did not know whether Epherene or Sylvia would be first, but that future was more or less certain.
“It’s been a while.”
Sylvia said nothing. She merely stood there like a doll.
I slowly rose to my feet. At that instant, mana surged around Sylvia’s body. A trace of killing intent dwelled within that sharp aura.
“Don’t come.”
Sylvia spoke. I stopped for a moment.
The hollow, emptied-out cavern.
In a place where a single tree was the only source of light, the girl sank briefly into thought.
As for me, I had many questions—how Sylvia had come here, why she had come—but I had no intention of asking.
Thud— thud—
I approached her again.
The air seemed stagnant, but Sylvia was not the cause.
Thud— thud—
My footsteps rang clearly, and Sylvia raised a hand to stop me.
“Stop.”
I did not listen to her. Instead, I spoke as though pressing forward.
“You stop.”
Whiiiiiiing—!
The Wood Steel moved. The nineteen pieces orbited the area, warming up their mana.
“……”
Sylvia glared at me with eyes filled with hostility. But the problem right now was not her.
A death variable.
That dark crimson energy was flickering behind me.
“Shh.”
At first I thought it was Sylvia’s killing intent, but if that were so, there was no way it would not have reached directly toward me.
Therefore, the strange yet unmistakable aura of death writhing in that darkness was…
“Don’t come clo—”
Misunderstanding my movement, Sylvia activated her mana.
Booom──!
I kicked off the ground and shot forward. In an instant, my body sprang out like a bullet and reached Sylvia. I immediately manifested 「Duct Tape」 and restrained her.
“……”
“You still have a long way to go, Sylvia.”
Her talent was vast, of course, but mages who could surpass me in “practical combat” were rare.
Unless they possessed overwhelming firepower like Adrienne or Rohakan, or were knights physically far stronger than me, like Julie.
“You brought a tail.”
“What are you……”
Sylvia, who had been about to mutter something, shut her mouth. She was still expressionless, but she looked rather startled.
I pointed into the darkness beyond. There was something there scattering death variables.
It was a grotesque human.
No, it was ambiguous whether it could even be called human.
A large body that looked to be three meters tall. A mouth gaping wide like a shark’s. A face paler than a corpse. Red, glossy eyes.
I had seen that composite somewhere before. More precisely, it was Epherene’s eyewitness account, and it had been the reason Sylvia came to be monitored as a person of interest.
“Is that the ‘ghost’ you made?”
If it could extend a death variable toward me, it was probably quite a troublesome thing.
“……”
At that, Sylvia clenched her teeth.
“Let me go.”
“So you’ve learned to speak informally now.”
“……”
Sylvia crumpled her lips, then forcibly twisted both arms. However, releasing mana would be difficult because of 「Duct Tape」.
Even for Sylvia, a magical analysis of the structure of the 「Tape」 would require at least three minutes.
Even so, Sylvia shook her arms this way and that. Since she looked ready to break her own wrists, I shook my head.
“Have you become hot-tempered in the meantime?”
“No.”
I dismantled 「Duct Tape」. At that instant Sylvia staggered, and the ghost on the far side suddenly launched its tongue. That tongue shot forward like some kind of awl.
Clang——!
The Wood Steel defended.
It was the friction of steel and flesh, yet sparks burst forth with a sharp metallic sound.
Wooooooo……!
Immediately after, Sylvia’s mana encroached upon the space. The manifestation of “Three Primary Colors.”
The entire area transformed into an open field of nothing but sand. There was no fault to be found in that magical skill.
“You’ve grown.”
“I don’t want your praise.”
Sylvia’s two eyes were busy glaring alternately at the ghost and at me.
I said,
“Good. In that case, do your best.”
“……”
At that, Sylvia’s brow furrowed. The girl’s golden eyes looked up at me again. Her face seemed a little puzzled.
“This is your chance to make up for your mistake yourself. If you tame that ghost, it will become a great strength for you as well.”
There was no need for me to help her. Of course, that ghost was a death variable for me, but it did not seem to be so for Sylvia. The proof was that it had deliberately launched its tongue so that Sylvia would not be hit.
Above all, even if I lent a hand, it would only hinder Sylvia’s magical development.
“I’ll be expecting results.”
The Wood Steel gathered beneath my feet like planks.
“Go.”
The girl said. I nodded expressionlessly.
“I believe in you, Sylvia.”
“……Why would you.”
Sylvia glared at me with a wronged expression. At that moment, the Wood Steel became a foothold and floated gently upward, and the ghost stretched its tongue toward me.
However, its attack never even came close and scattered into dust.
Sylvia’s magic—the most basic yet powerful manifestation of Three Primary Colors. It was “Eraser.”
* * *
……In the future North’s most luxurious restaurant, a restaurant called “Deer Antler’s Charancha,” Epherene was with Sophien.
Having been entrusted by Her Majesty with the right to choose the meal, she was diligently looking through the menu, but her gloomy heart would not clear in the slightest.
In any case, that low pressure seemed to be the same for the noble person sitting across from her.
“……”
Even as empty flattery, Sophien’s expression could not be called good. However, the reason was somewhat different from Epherene’s.
In truth, even if Deculein died in this future, it did not strike her all that deeply.
She could simply commit suicide.
“……What a damned environment.”
Thus, what displeased Sophien now was this “environment.”
Sophien had lived and died for nearly two hundred years in the Imperial Palace, where everything was tailored to her.
No matter how high-class these paltry chairs and tables might be, they were inferior to the Imperial Palace, and they were not as clean as the Imperial Palace either. Because of that, Sophien was feeling a serious urge to commit suicide.
It would be better to go inside the snow globe instead. At least the air there had been perfect.
“Pardon? What did Your Majesty say?”
“……Nothing.”
Itchy. Sleepy. Irritated. Uncomfortable. She was undergoing the greatest hardship of this life, but she did not show it.
“By the way, Your Majesty, how did you come together with me?”
Epherene, who had finished ordering, asked then. Sophien answered.
“Because the proof of this world is none other than me.”
At first glance it was a statement of supreme self-importance, but Epherene nodded as though it were obvious and asked again.
“The horse outside too?”
“No. That fellow is probably……”
Sophien smiled faintly and cut herself off.
No matter how much of a spiritual creature it was, there was no way a mere horse could come to the future.
However, her memory remembered every bit of this very moment.
Therefore, one conjecture was possible. That her future self had personally sent that fellow here.
“Mm?”
Sophien suddenly looked out the window and widened her eyes. Epherene tilted her head.
“……What is it?”
“Look. They’re playing baduk.”
Beyond the restaurant. In a cold park, a match was taking place. A war waged with black and white stones on the continent of wood.
“Ah. I see.”
Sophien smiled.
Indeed, it seemed baduk had spread properly in this future. For Sophien, something worth doing had appeared.
“……Here are the dishes you ordered.”
At that moment, the food Epherene had ordered came out in sequence. One, two, three, four, five, six…… there were nearly dozens of dishes.
Gulp— Epherene swallowed and then suddenly asked,
“By the way, Your Majesty. I ask just in case, but do you have money?”
“I do not.”
“……Pardon?”
Sophien lifted her knife and fork and cut into the steak. Every small movement was imbued with elegance.
Epherene, on the other hand, hurriedly rummaged through her own pockets. Fortunately, her salary pouch was there.
“Phew……”
Just as Epherene wiped the sweat from her forehead, Sophien lifted a napkin and spat the food in her mouth into it. Then she burned the napkin and the food together.
“Your Majesty……?”
“It does not suit my palate.”
Saying so, she ate another dish. This one, too, did not seem to suit her; she frowned, spat out the food again, and merely rinsed her mouth with water.
Fucking hell. It tasted like shit.
“……Tsk.”
“Your Majesty. Are you all right?”
“You remain here and eat.”
Sophien rose to her feet. The quality of the food was damned maggot filth, but thanks to it, her mind had cleared.
At this rate, she would be able to move for an hour or two without dozing off.
“I shall go satisfy some curiosity.”
Not only baduk, but to follow Deculein’s traces, absent in this future, Sophien moved her two legs.
“Ah…… yes. I, too, shall think in my own way about the professor.”
“Do as you please.”
Epherene did not dare follow behind the emperor and picked up her fork and knife.
She had received the command to “eat,” and so she intended to carry it out faithfully.
…….
“Whoa~ What an incredible master you are!”
Sophien visited Tapgol Park. And played baduk. She had intended to go to the library first, but she had been drawn in by those playing with these stones.
“Every single one of your moves shines. Truly remarkable……”
“Where on earth are you from? You don’t seem to be from the North.”
Their praise was rather to her liking. It was not hollow flattery, but admiration that sincerely respected her skill.
Sophien said,
“Is there anyone nearby who plays baduk well?”
“Ah, that old man over there was number one.”
A woman pointed at the old man who had just been defeated by Sophien. The bald old man cleared his throat and avoided their gazes.
“There is nothing much, then. In that case, who is the strongest baduk master on this continent? A name worthy of being called a master of baduk.”
Inwardly, Sophien expected her own name. Something like, Her present Majesty, Great Emperor Sophien.
“If it’s this continent…… then still, the one who was once of Yukline—”
“That is enough.”
Sophien did not listen any further. It was a future she did not care to hear about. Her insides felt as though they were twisting, but she decided to leave open the possibility.
Perhaps they had mentioned Yukline because they were too afraid to dare speak the name of the emperor.
It was then.
“Excuse me! Excuse me~! Is Mr. ‘Deus’ here?”
A certain postman approached while shouting.
“Mr. Deus~ Mr. Deus?!”
At first, Sophien found the shout grating. The boy, whose voice had not even changed, was yelling noisily.
However, before long she recognized the meaning of the word “Deus,” and the very next moment.
“Mr. Deus who plays baduk?!”
Sophien seized the envelope the postman was waving with 「Psychokinesis」.
“Gah!”
The postman toppled over in surprise. Sophien silently looked at the surface of the envelope.
[To Deus, who should be playing baduk]
The meaning of “Deus” in runic was emperor.
In other words, it meant her.
Sophien examined the envelope thoroughly, then tore it open and took out the letter.
—Your Majesty. This is Deculein from the distant future.
This is Deculein from the distant future.
The bold first sentence caught her eye.
However, her true interest began with what followed.
—From now on, I intend to entrust my life to Your Majesty.
“……Hm.”
It was absurd, and also strange, yet the more she read the contents of the letter,
the deeper the smile that appeared on Sophien’s lips became.
* * *
The bottom of the crevasse.
With her mana exhausted from the battle against the ghost, her entire body drained, Sylvia was thinking blankly. Her mind was filled entirely with Deculein, Deculein, Deculein.
Only Deculein.
─Grrrrrrr.
“Shut up.”
She snapped at the growling ghost. The ghost, covered in blood from head to toe, coughed once, then curled up.
Although it had taken some time, Sylvia had succeeded in fully dominating that thing, which had been her creation from the very beginning.
Since she had succeeded……
……Deculein.
Sylvia thought of Deculein again.
The conversation she had just overheard.
Whether it had been Epherene from the future, or Deculein of the present, she repeated the confusing exchange between the two, not knowing what was what.
“……Hey.”
Sylvia approached the blue tree and spoke to it.
“Answer.”
Only stillness and silence. It had conversed just fine with Deculein, yet it gave her no answer at all.
Sylvia placed her hand on the tree.
“Arrogant Epherene. Answer.”
……It was empty.
It had exchanged all sorts of words with Deculein. Everything it should and should not say.
For some reason, it felt like she was doing something stupid.
“Epherene. It’s me, Sylvia.”
As she continued to fiddle with the tree, the ghost approached her.
“Sit down.”
—Grrung.
The obedient ghost sat as it was and looked at her. Sylvia fixed her gaze on the tree again.
“I’ll wait until you answer.”
Then she settled her backside on a nearby chair.
The chair Deculein had been sitting in until just now. When she thought of that fact, she grew needlessly nervous, and her body became strangely hot, and then she suddenly hated it—but at any rate.
Sylvia transformed this dark space into something bright and spoke to the girl who was somewhere unknown.
“I want to know too.”
She recalled the face of Deculein she had just met.
Those still beautiful blue eyes. His broad body and back. His clear, cold voice.
“……”
I clearly hate him so much. I despise him terribly.
And yet, simply being in the same space as him, simply having his breath touch her—no.
At every single one of those moments, her heart had trembled like mad.
“……Whether I’m the one who kills Deculein.”
That was what Sylvia was curious about.
Whether she would end up killing, with her own hands, the person she loved and hated so much.
And perhaps, by any chance.
Whether Deculein truly wanted her to kill him.
“Tell me.”
But there was no answer. Sylvia puffed out both cheeks and glared at the tree.
Ziiiiing—
She all but fired a laser, but the silence was eternal.
“You idiot.”
Epherene was arrogant after all.
With no other choice, Sylvia curled up at the tea table and waited.
Until this girl gave her an answer…….