“This is a gift from Professor Dekyulrein to the Captain.”
A night when the campfire held back the darkness.
Peurimien handed the mirror to Ganesya. It was a hand mirror engraved with luxurious patterns.
“……?”
Ganesya’s eyes went wide. She had many questions.
From Dekyulrein? A gift? So suddenly?
No, why would he give us anything?
Ria asked on behalf of the flustered Ganesya.
“……A gift? From that Professor Dekyulrein?”
Peurimien nodded indifferently.
“Yeah. Got a problem with that?”
“No, it’s not that…….”
Ria didn’t think much of it. She merely twiddled her fingers and resumed her musings over which 「constitution」 to choose.
As Ganesya alternated her gaze between Ria and Peurimien, a thought suddenly—flashed through her mind.
“……No way?”
Snap! She flicked her fingers. A current swept through her body, raising chilling goosebumps.
“I think I know.”
Peurimien asked the muttering Ganesya, whose face had become quite serious.
“What.”
“…….”
Ganesya looked at Ria for a moment.
“……Why?”
The child who resembled Dekyulrein’s old love tilted her head innocently.
Dekyulrein’s heart must be quite complicated when he looked at this child.
Of course, never any ulterior motives. The professor wasn’t such despicable scum.
But wouldn’t those thoughts and feelings from that time faintly bubble up in his heart? Wouldn’t the person who once filled his heart to the brim resurface so painfully that it hurt?
“Ria. Did the professor say anything to you?”
Ganesya asked quite seriously. Ria shook her head with a clueless expression, but soon the memory of that moment surged—back.
“……Ah.”
“What?”
Just before passing out after being struck by Daeho, Dekyulrein’s words had drifted through her faint consciousness.
A voice that flickered like white fog.
“Um…… he did say something like this.”
Ria cleared her throat with a couple of coughs. Then she imitated Dekyulrein.
“———The personality is the same, too.”
“…….”
In that instant, everyone’s gazes converged.
Ihelreum, Yulli, and even Ruina, Geuwen, Sirio, and Raphel, who had appeared before anyone knew it…… Many of Dekyulrein’s classmates were present.
“Pfft.”
Before long, Ganesya burst into laughter.
“Then that settles it~ Ria~?”
“Huh?”
“This belongs to our Ria~”
She handed the mirror to Ria.
“Eh? Why?”
“You threw yourself to protect the professor, didn’t you? So it’s only right that you receive it~”
“……Ah.”
“Hurry up and take it.”
Though Ganesya herself looked a bit regretful, Ria took it for now. She discreetly checked its ‘item value’ first.
It was thanks to the adventurer’s class-specific trait—「Adventurer’s Intuition」.
[Dekyulrein’s Handmade Hand Mirror]
◆Value: Treasure
Treasure?! What do you mean, treasure?! It’s just a handmade hand mirror, but it’s a treasure?!
Just as Ria’s eyes were bulging—
“Lady Knight Yulli. Why don’t you come sit with us now~?”
Ganesya spoke to Yulli, who was nearby.
“…….”
Yulli approached with a slightly awkward expression. Ganesya nudged her shoulder with an elbow as if teasing.
“Did we talk too much about the professor~?”
“No. It’s fine.”
Yulli shook her head calmly. It was quite an unexpected reaction, so Ganesya raised her eyebrows mischievously.
“I see your feelings have fully subsided by now~?”
Ria stole a glance at Yulli. After all, the relationship between Dekyulrein and Yulli was quite an important element of the independent quest.
Fortunately, Yulli stated clearly.
“That is not the case.”
Clenching and swallowing her words, she glared at the campfire. At her gaze laden with mana—crack—the campfire froze over.
“I am not…… No.”
The knight simply fell silent.
The atmosphere chilled in an instant.
Deep silence enveloped the space. Ihelreum avoided the awkwardness by leaving his seat, and Geuwen and Sirio went out to spar with each other.
At that very moment.
A soft and warm tone flowed in like a warm breeze, dispelling the cold.
“The knight seems like a truly kind person.”
Yulli turned to look.
The child called Ria was looking at her with eyes that were anything but childlike.
“……Thank you.”
Then Ria grinned.
“And it’s so cool! That armor! I wanna wear tiger armor like that someday too!”
A child who had become a child again. Yulli was momentarily bewildered by the somehow alien display, but soon answered sincerely.
“Yes. I was the same when I was young. Miss Ria?”
“Huh? Ah, yes—”
“There is no need to be so impatient.”
“Huh? I’m not impatient—”
“Simply becoming an adventurer at that age is a great achievement. Therefore, from now on……”
Yulli’s advice and warnings lasted exactly thirteen minutes.
* * *
I tried moving my arm.
─[Quest Complete: Daeho Hunt]─
◆ Slay the Wicked Tiger of the Altar, 「Besilleta」
◆ Acquire Rare Constitution Catalog
────────
Up, down, left, right; east, west, south, north. The sutures held well, but it wasn’t as natural as before.
I would probably need about a month of recovery and training.
“……The constitution.”
More importantly than that, I looked at the constitution catalog.
In truth, I had already decided what to choose.
——「A Body Suited to Meditation」——
◆ Grade
：Rare
◆ Description
：A constitution that advances the more one remains unperturbed, the more one maintains mental composure. (Includes all mental interference-type status abnormalities.)
：Depending on the duration and degree of calmness, the quality of one’s physical body, traits, and mana becomes purer.
──────
In other words, it was a ‘stack’-type constitution where the calmer one’s mentality, the greater the benefits.
However, if one was greatly startled even once, the stacks would fly away entirely, so the penalty was huge and its versatility rather narrow.
It would probably be completely useless for an ordinary NPC.
—Will you acquire 「A Body Suited to Meditation」?—
Of course, I was not ordinary. This mind was rather close to a state of clear mirror, still water (明鏡止水); emotional turmoil rarely arose, and I was invincible against mental interference.
I acquired the constitution without hesitation.
「Constitution Acquired: A Body Suited to Meditation」
◆ Calmness Stack — [0]
Knock-knock— A mission-related report—
Right on cue, a knock and a voice rang out.
I opened the door.
Today’s reporter was Yulli, as expected.
She trudged over and submitted the documents in a businesslike manner.
“Third mission progress, no abnormalities. Zero casualties. Three injured. Total number of slain monsters: 1,305.”
After the Daeho’s death, the culling process resumed smoothly.
I nodded.
“Report acknowledged. Notify the knights that the slain Daeho has been dismantled. Half of the hide will be offered to His Majesty, and half will be mine. The adventurers and knights who felled the Daeho will receive the teeth, claws, and other useful parts.”
“Yes.”
Yulli acquiesced without much complaint and quickly went outside.
“Hmm…….”
Yet I was quite satisfied with this very brief time lately. Though it was only about thirty seconds a day, I could still see that face in the same space.
Of course, it was not enough to affect the ‘constitution’.
“……The hide.”
The Daeho’s hide, practically the true reward of the quest.
I would make a robe through tanning and the Hand of Midas. The hide pattern was too conspicuous, so I would make it black.
“…….”
In the middle of pleasant imaginings, I was suddenly curious.
The robe fragment placed on the desk.
The last belonging of Allen, no, Elli, which Ihelreum had intentionally preserved and handed over.
Looking at it made me wonder where this one was now, and what they were doing.
I found myself wanting to know for no particular reason…….
* * *
……Elli was in the desert.
“It’s hot.”
Having escaped the north, she arrived underground in the desert. The underground area, connected to the rock face near the oasis, was entirely a small village.
A resting place where the tribe called Jeokgwae carried on their lives, with narrow passages and various spaces connected like an ant tunnel.
“You’re here.”
Elli descended to the deepest heart of the burrow. It was a conference room with strategy boards and magical items strewn about chaotically.
“…….”
There, a short-haired woman who resembled Elli but had sharper features was glaring at her.
The next chieftain of the Jeokgwae—Ellesol.
Ellesol gritted her teeth and moved her hands. Those fingers formed words and sentences.
—You are too late.
It was sign language. Elli nodded.
“Yeah. Sorry.”
—Why. Did you not. Kill Dekyulrein.
Swing-swish-swish— The sign language connected at the speed of light.
“There was no need.”
—A large-scale Jeokgwae village subjugation. Will take place. We cannot merely watch. Dekyulrein is. The enemy of the Jeokgwae.
“Killing the professor won’t stop that subjugation.”
—The imperial bastards intend to annihilate the Jeokgwae. To survive, war is inevitable. Mutual. Assured. Destruction. That is the last path remaining to us.
Ellesol thrust a document at Elli. Then her fingers moved busily.
—The operation to capture him. Is already underway.
Elli quickly scanned the contents and spoke firmly.
“You won’t capture him.”
—You. Do you intend to leak this.
“No.”
Ellesol signed with a sullen face. Her gestures were even more violent than before.
—You. You. You. How did you. Stop listening to me. You didn’t before. Foolish. Were you brainwashed. You. You. You.
“It’s not that I won’t listen. I’m just saying it won’t work.”
—How can you be so sure.
“The professor is smart. Much smarter than Ellesol.”
“…….”
For a moment, Ellesol’s face hardened. Crunch—She clenched her molars and stormed out of the conference room.
Bam—!
The door closed, and Elli scratched the back of her neck, speculating on why Ellesol was angry.
Many of the nerves responsible for emotion were deficient in Elli, so sometimes reading these situations was too difficult.
“I don’t know.”
It was true that Dekyulrein was smarter than Ellesol. A fact reported through documents all this time. But if she got angry because of that…….
“……The professor wouldn’t get angry over things like this.”
Elli pouted her lips and looked at the closed door. Then she glanced around the conference room.
A landscape completely different from the Magic Tower.
A desolate desert.
An underground where not a single point of light entered.
There, all it would take was opening one door to meet the professor.
“…….”
Letting out a faint sigh, Elli was suddenly struck by a thought.
A single line of doubt circling her mind, perhaps nothing more than wind.
“Someday…… will we be able to meet again?”
* * *
……Ipeurin was in the north, in Rekoreudak.
She was haggard and wretched, but she was studying while looking at Dekyulrein’s advanced lecture exam papers.
“Sigh…….”
It had already been two weeks since Allen left our side.
Ipeurin still couldn’t adapt to that reality.
The void he had left behind was still hollow, still sad.
Whenever she looked around, it still felt like Assistant Professor Allen would appear and ask, “Are you alright, Miss Ipeurin?” with a clear and warm voice, worrying about her.
“Ah.”
Suddenly, tears flowed down her cheeks. Ipeurin wiped them with her robe hem.
Even though she had cried so much, there were still tears left to shed.
“……Why won’t my tear ducts dry up—!”
“Ah, you startled me.”
Drent, who had been studying for exams in the same laboratory, flinched. He handled Ipeurin with composure.
“Let it go now, Ipalla. The assistant professor wouldn’t like seeing you like this either. Do you know the New Year has passed?”
“……Of course.”
During that time, thirteen cullings in total. Two expeditions in total.
Ipeurin had participated in all of them and grew stronger by the day. Her sparring partners were now knights.
Last night, she had even fought and defeated her same-age junior, Holan.
“It’s not like I’m an idiot who can’t tell time……. Haaaaaam.”
Watching Ipeurin yawn widely, Drent grinned.
“Your mouth will tear. Get some sleep. You must be tired from yesterday’s sparring. I’ll wake you.”
“Huh? Oh, then…… okay! I’ll sleep for just five minutes. No, fifteen minutes.”
“Sure, sure.”
“Wake me up. Ah, don’t peek at what I was studying.”
“……I won’t.”
Haaaaaam—
Ipeurin yawned again and collapsed onto her desk.
She fell asleep at that very moment.
So exhausted, it was a sleep without dreams…….
……Ipeurin.
She had fallen into a dreamless sleep…….
……Ipeurin? Wake up.
At the voice calling her, Ipeurin opened her eyes. Shaking off her groggy mind, she muttered.
“What…… already fifteen minutes……?”
Ipeurin swallowed her words. Without realizing it, she blankly opened her mouth. With a vacant expression, she looked around.
“Here…….”
Inside her dazed pupils, a familiar, shabby house was reflected.
A precarious dwelling that looked as though it would collapse at any moment, a shelter for which the word “shack” was almost fitting.
She naturally knew where this place was.
It was her old “home.”
“Ipeurin.”
And then, a voice calling out to her.
Ipeurin started and turned toward it.
“……!”
For an instant, her brain stopped. Her thoughts halted.
It felt as if the entire world was contracting into this very space.
“Ipeurin. You’ve finally woken up.”
A face she missed so dearly.
A voice she had already forgotten.
The person she loved most in the world.
Standing at the vanishing point in the distance, his name was Keigeon Luna.
It was her father.
“Da…… Dad?”
“Yes.”
No more words were needed. Ipeurin’s legs moved on their own.
Toward him, toward her father whom she had missed so much, toward the person she had always longed for.
As if bewitched.
“Ipeurin. Hurry and come embrace me.”
Just as he put on a benevolent smile, a cold wind blew past, brushing Ipeurin’s hair.
Wheeeeeee──.
The Mokgangcheol inside her robe vibrated.
“……!”
Ipeurin flinched and stopped in her tracks.
Having already become a true mage, she possessed the proper attainments befitting one.
“Wait.”
Cold doubt. Analysis of the situation. Deduction of the present.
She drew the Mokgangcheol from her chest. The Mokgangcheol glared at Keigeon and vibrated.
“What are you doing, Ipeurin? Why aren’t you coming?”
He spoke. The smile at the corners of his mouth was much thicker than before.
“I’ve truly wanted to see you.”
The Mokgangcheol that had been trembling went *thud—* silent. Ipeurin stared at Keigeon and spoke.
“……Are you really Dad?”
“Of course.”
“August 13, ten years ago. Recite the contents of the letter I sent you.”
“……Haha.”
At that, Keigeon—or someone wearing his mask—smiled as if he found it cute.
The moment he opened his mouth to recite something.
Thud—
A presence stirred behind her. Ipeurin turned around and was greatly startled.
“Wahk!”
She fell on her rear without realizing it. She propped her hands on the ground and looked up at him.
“Wh-what is it, Professor!”
Dekyulrein was right before her nose. He raised her fallen self with [Telekinesis].
Ipeurin asked.
“Where in the world did you come from all of a sudden, Professor?”
Dekyulrein did not answer. His expression was even more blank than usual.
“No, more importantly, Professor. Where on earth is this place?”
“I am not Master Dekyulrein.”
“Huh? No, what do you mea—”
“Your defense mechanism.”
“……?”
Blink blink—
Blink blink—
Ipeurin silently blinked her eyes and echoed back.
“What does that mean?”
“Exactly as it sounds. I am not the Master. Based on the mutual understanding I share with the Master, I am an artificial intelligence designed by your mana.”
“…….”
His words were ambiguous.
However, in any case, this Dekyulrein was not Dekyulrein.
“Then maybe…….”
Ipeurin showed him the Mokgangcheol. The steel fragment whose resonance had just ceased.
“Is this you?”
“Yes.”
Dekyulrein—no, the Mokgangcheol—nodded. Ipeurin gaped.
“You need not worry.”
The Mokgangcheol stepped forward and put Ipeurin behind its back.
“As long as the Master and I are here, those things won’t be able to kill you in your dreams…….”
Metal fragments shot up from inside the inner pocket of Dekyulrein—that is, the Mokgangcheol’s—robe.
The expression of the father—no, the thing imitating her father—distorted as it faced them.
……What kind of absurd trick is this?
The Mokgangcheol said.
“Now, go back.”
“!”
At those words, Ipeurin awoke from her slumber.
“Huaah!”
She sat up with a start, exhaling a great breath. She quickly checked her surroundings first.
Once again, it was Rekoreudak’s laboratory.
“Hm? You’re up early.”
Deurenteu said, looking at the clock.
“It hasn’t even been 15 minutes yet.”
“…….”
Without answering, she searched for her Mokgangcheol.
“Ah.”
It lay placed neatly on the table.
Ipeurin quickly reached out and grasped the steel. Looking at it, she let out a sigh of relief for no reason.
“……Thank you.”
Then, something slightly strange occurred.
The bracelet fitted around her wrist. Mana surged from within it with a *click—*, flowing into the Mokgangcheol.
“What is this now?”
Ipeurin furrowed her brow. However, she didn’t think much of it and simply got up. It was probably a mana phenomenon anyway.
Deurenteu asked.
“Where are you going?”
“Ah, I just had a crazy dream. Pissed me off so much. I’m going to get some fresh air.”
“There’s another blizzard today, so don’t go too far. Lots of beasts.”
“……Yeah.”
She opened the door and went outside.
But the moment she stepped out, she ran into someone.
“So anyway, for now the chairman is you, Dekyulrein. And I…….”
On the first-floor hallway was Dekyulrein. Beside him was Ihelreum as well.
“Hm?”
The two people conversing looked this way.
“Oh, is that Ipal?”
“…….”
Ihelreum smirked, and Dekyulrein said nothing.
“Ah…… Yes. Hello, hello…….”
“You’re not crying anymore? You cried every day.”
“……I didn’t cry every day.”
For some reason embarrassed, Ipeurin kept glancing at Dekyulrein. She remembered what had happened in the dream just now.
So, in other words, Professor Dekyulrein (the Mokgangcheol resembling him) is on standby in my dreams all the time……?
Ihelreum said.
“Enough of that. There’s a monster wave soon. Prepare yourself properly. Also, the Scarlet Garnet Adventurer Party was looking for you.”
“Huh? Y-yes…….”
Ipeurin answered roughly and tried to pass by, but Dekyulrein, who had been watching, caught her.
“Ipeurin.”
“……Gulp. Yes?”
“Did you perhaps have a dream?”
Hearing that, Ipeurin was greatly surprised. She placed both hands on her chest like a frog meeting a mantis—*heeeek—*.
How did he know!
“H-how—”
Instead of answering her question, Ihelreum replied.
“How do you think he knew? Your cheek is covered in hair and drool.”
“……Excuse me?”
Ipeurin touched the side of her cheek. A clump of hair, thoroughly soaked with saliva, was stuck to it.
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
She bowed her head while furtively glancing at Dekyulrein.
Even then, his blue eyes remained fixed on her.
As if he had caught some sort of “energy” far more offensive than her lack of cleanliness…….
Ipeurin stammered and asked again.
“Wh-why are you looking at me like that……?”