“Let us return now.”
Primien spoke. I raised my wrist and looked at my watch.
Three in the morning.
After waiting half a day, Sofien left word that it was impossible; the hour was too late.
“…….”
I had not truly expected otherwise.
If it was indeed Sofien’s decision, it would not be resolved in a day or two. Though she lived steeped in indolence and ennui, her stubbornness was one thing she never lacked.
“Primien.”
I turned around. She was gazing intently at a scrap of Rohakan’s robe.
“Can you track him?”
Rohakan. One of the important named characters and a major piece of the main quest. That he had sought out Sofien directly was a significant event.
At the same time, the fact that the task of pursuing him had fallen to me was also important. It meant I might not have to kill him.
Primien, who had been stealing glances this way, muttered.
“This robe is truly a luxury item. Every stitch bears the mark of a craftsman’s skill. I wonder how much it would cost—”
“Answer the question you were asked.”
“It is possible.”
Buzz—
Primien channeled mana into Rohakan’s robe. At once, the lingering mana particles within the fabric fluttered up and formed a distinct shape.
A pair of wings and curved antennae.
A butterfly.
“If we follow this butterfly first, we will come to know the detailed path in due time.”
Among the traits of Deputy Director Primien of the Public Security Bureau—the 『Printer』.
A skill that materializes intangible things: thoughts, emotions, mana, traces, plans. To the bureau, it was a treasure of a talent, specialized in intelligence and interrogation.
“However.”
Primien knelt on one knee. Then she looked at some trace left on the ground.
“Rohakan has made many uncharacteristic mistakes. There are footprints as well.”
“Can you see them? They must be quite old.”
“I can see them.”
Tap, tap—Primien stood up, dusted off her knee, and pulled out some documents.
“This is a separate matter, but here is the file on Silvia. The Intelligence Bureau is personally monitoring Silvia’s movements and traces, arranging the incidents in chronological order. Please read it when you have time.”
“…….”
Without a word, I gazed at the outer wall of the Imperial Palace, at the tightly shut door. Primien tucked the documents back into her breast.
“Do you intend to keep visiting?”
Sofien. The master of this world.
She was an immensely important figure, but coming to see her every day like this was something my personality could not tolerate. It was also improper.
However, the tutoring had not yet ended.
Sofien still had much to learn. Having spent her years in nothing but death and pain, she was—especially now that Keiron was also away—not even wrong to call a massive bundle of death variables.
“Tutoring is an Imperial Palace tradition. The period is one year following enthronement, is it not?”
The tutoring schedule was originally once every two weeks, but considering how much we had rested during the trip to the north…….
“I cannot defy that tradition. I shall visit once a week as scheduled.”
“You seem as though you would find it tedious, however.”
“It does not matter.”
There was one fortunate thing.
Sofien despised falsehood. She also detested excuses to the extreme. That discipline applied equally to herself, and thus, even if something was offered as an excuse, she would invariably carry it out herself.
In other words, even the excuse that she was attending to official duties was, in the end, the truth.
“Hmm…… Professor. Might I ask you one thing?”
I turned to Primien. With an expression as rigid as plaster, she asked.
“Is it truly loyalty? Or is it for the sake of advancement?”
“……What do you mean?”
“You spoke of tradition, so I wondered. It is common knowledge that the Yukrain family is not a house traditionally close to the Imperial Family.”
It was not wrong. The Imperial Family would naturally be wary of provincial nobles growing too powerful, and the Yukrains were one of the great families of the largest territories.
“…….”
I gazed at the Imperial Palace in silence.
The Imperial Palace at dawn was dark, but from its lower floors, it was slowly waking. The lights of lamps lit by early-rising palace attendants spread outward.
“……It is neither.”
If I lifted my eyes from there to the very top, there was a room faintly flickering.
The Emperor’s bedchamber, sealed by magic so that nothing outside could ever peer in.
“Then?”
Primien asked back. It grated on me, but in the grand scheme of things, Sofien was a duty for all of us in the end.
“Duty…….”
Therefore, now that I had become Deculein.
At least, so long as I lived on this continent.
“A fate greater than that.”
I must not give up on Sofien.
I must not allow Sofien to give up on me.
“To me, Your Majesty is such an existence.”
“…….”
Primien held her breath for a moment, then coughed dryly. Then she chirped in a tone of surprise.
“So the Professor believes in things like fate.”
“I do not.”
“What is that, then?”
“I cannot say I do not believe. It is the most fundamental attitude for a mage, and for a scholar.”
Primien seemed to mull over my words, then nodded without further comment.
“……Yes. Let us return now.”
The Emperor’s bedchamber. Leaning against the window, Sofien gazed beyond. She watched Deculein leaving.
“…….”
Without a word, she sank as if submerged in still waters. Clutching a fountain pen in one hand and documents in the other.
Quietly, she repeated the phrase he had uttered.
That impudent voice that dared to leave Me behind and call it his own fate. Words that somehow drew a hollow laugh.
“……Fate.”
Does fate truly exist in this world?
In this precarious world where everything collapses and begins anew when I die, does something unchanging like fate…….
“How curious.”
Sofien felt doubt toward things she did not know. In over a hundred years of living—no, in over a hundred years of dying—events she had never once imagined were suddenly unfolding.
Sofien had no experience with this. She had merely suffered from illness and died in agony.
Back then, she had thought that death itself was a kind of destiny. The damned shackles of a curse.
But now, Sofien, grown far too old, realized some ‘truth’ with bizarre certainty.
“……I see.”
For a moment, she looked inside her own mind.
Before and after the regression, she recalled a certain human left in her memories.
“Deculein. You…….”
The man who had shared all her deaths and eventually died himself.
“Even within that regression.”
When she had regressed once more to save him.
He had forgotten all his memories of being with her, yet.
“He did not change in the slightest.”
The Deculein of that time and the Deculein of now were no different. He was always constant and immutable.
Like a metronome keeping the beat, like a clock telling time.
Therefore, one day, that man would recover his memories of the past. He would share the regression with her.
Sofien was certain of it.
“…….”
She pressed her forehead against the glass. The warmth of spring seeped in gently. Within it, Sofien suddenly realized.
Perhaps the words of that bastard Rohakan might become truth.
“……How absurd.”
Muttering a curse, she turned away from the window. She sat back in her work chair and gripped her pen.
—Sofien. If you truly cherish Deculein.
In the silent darkness, Rohakan’s voice flowed into her ear.
—or if you come to love him, I beg you. Please, stay away from him.
Sofien exhaled a shallow breath. That wind scattered Rohakan’s voice.
Between it, her resolve sank low.
“It is an easy thing. It will be easy…….”
* * *
The plaza of the Imperial Palace.
Winter vanished as if melting snow, and the land and sky where spring bloomed were vividly beautiful. The classical voices coming and going over the deep green lawn, the faint melody of classical classical music, were all so peaceful.
The Southern Incursion, the worst in the history of the Empire, had devastated the entire continent, erased hundreds of villages, and even now many subjects were dying somewhere, but at least this place was a completely different world.
“……To you, who offered your bodies to face countless demonic beasts, endured bone-scraping pain and freezing cold arctic enough to sever your tendons, and ultimately defended Recordak, protecting the livelihood of the north and the stability of the Empire…….”
On the day that marked ten days since the Recordak front, including Deculein, had returned to the capital. A commendation ceremony was being held to honor their achievements.
Not only the Imperial Knights including Delric, but golden medals were pinned to the chests of Gwen, Raphel, Sirio, and others.
“Hahaha……. Third-Class Imperial Medal……. Hahaha……. It’s far too precious to carry around. I’ll have to frame it and put it on display.”
Delric stored the medal in an expensive wooden case he had prepared in advance. At that, his aide Jerok playfully ribbed him.
“Come on. Sir Delric, you should have received at least Second Class. Wear that Third Class until it wears thin, and put the Second Class or Medal of Honor in a frame instead!”
“What? Haha, you rascal! Medal of Honor? Why, I…… ah!”
Then, spotting someone, Delric dashed off in a hurry. His aides quickly followed.
“Professor!”
Deculein. The true hero of Recordak, and the golden lifeline that Delric and his subordinates had clung to.
He welcomed them holding a champagne glass in one hand, his gaze as cold and blunt as ever.
So Delric spoke first to the young mage at his side.
“……Haha. Our assistant has come as well.”
“Ah, yes. Hello.”
Deculein’s assistant, Ifrin. She bowed her head, clutching a large velvet pouch in her arms.
“What is that?”
“The snacks here are delicious, so I thought I’d pack some to take.”
“Hm? Ah…… A~ hahaha. How thrifty of you.”
“Delric.”
Then Deculein called his name. Delric immediately straightened his back.
“Yes, Professor.”
“And knights.”
“““Yes!”””
The thirteen aides of Delric answered energetically as well. Sweeping his gaze over them, Deculein left them with a single low, heavy word.
“Good work.”
“…….”
In that moment, the knights briefly lost their words. Their throats tightened.
Of course, Deculein had already turned away as if he had no interest, but they gazed at his back for a long while.
The professor who had subtly threatened to kill their families in the north, upon returning to the capital, spoke these first words to them.
—Good work.
Neither praise nor commendation, merely a simple sentence, and yet…….
Their throats kept choking up. Their chests felt tight, saliva pooled in their mouths.
“……Are you pleased?”
Gwen broke that emotional atmosphere. Delric and the knights glared at her fiercely.
“What? Why are you all like this. What’s so good about that bastard who ran to save his own fiancée until she was on the brink of death and then acts like he doesn’t know her?”
“Hey! Watch your mouth. And it’s not ‘fiancée,’ but ‘former’ fiancée. Besides, it’s only natural for a knight to save the Professor. I would have saved him too.”
“What a lie.”
“What? A lie? Hah! You make no sense. Get lost!”
Delric snapped, and Gwen clicked her tongue and walked away. The knights glared at her back and muttered.
“Who’s the bastard here.”
“That’s right. That woman’s been running her mouth too much these days.”
“Honestly, never liked her since university.”
While gossiping with his aides, Delric spotted several reporters. They were the press corps permitted access to the Imperial Palace.
Ahem—
Pretending not to notice, Delric cleared his throat and approached them.
—Sir Delric!
“……Did someone call me?”
He turned smoothly to face the reporters.
They shoved their cameras forward and asked.
—Sir! Congratulations on your safe return from Recordak!
“Hm. Well, yes.”
—We heard you played a major role alongside Professor Deculein. Do you also plan to join the pursuit of Rohakan?
“…….”
He was tongue-tied from the very first question.
Rohakan’s infiltration had been kept secret during the Southern Incursion. Now that the situation had stabilized, the rumor was quietly spreading.
“Ahem. That is…….”
He turned around; his aides’ keen eyes were on him.
Ahem— *hak-hm*— hm— ahem—
Clearing his throat four times, Delric shook his head firmly.
“That is impossible.”
—Why is that impossible?
“It is……. Because it is a life-or-death duel between the Professor and Rohakan.”
—A life-or-death duel…….
The reporters wrote the phrase in their notebooks. The aides looked reasonably convinced.
Swallowing a sigh of relief, Delric rattled on however he pleased.
“That’s right. A life-or-death duel. A desperate gamble. A clash of dragon and tiger. Whatever. Do you not recall the previous bout between Professor Deculein and Rohakan, how that black-blooded bastard’s demonic arts ended in a draw? The Professor is going to settle that score; how could a mere knight dare interfere? I, as a knight, am not ignorant of the etiquette of a duel…….”
* * *
“……Is it enough to hand this over?”
The Imperial Palace. I held out a book to Sofien’s dedicated palace attendant.
“Her Majesty seems to be overburdened with work again today.”
[*Probability Magic*], written in Recordak. And [*Advanced Baduk Life and Death*].
“I have included only difficult problems in the life-and-death section, so Your Majesty should find it enjoyable.”
“Yes. I shall deliver it.”
Sofien had refused visitors again today. Since the Southern Incursion, she had shut herself in her bedchamber, nearly in seclusion, to handle the political situation.
Of course, judging by the flood of policies coming out, Sofien seemed to be working properly—no, working like an ox, really—so it was not entirely a bad thing.
“This hits the spot too.”
Ifrin, tearing into snacks beside me.
“Then I shall take my leave.”
The attendant bowed and left, and I watched his back before turning my gaze to Ifrin again.
The girl spoke, her mouth full like a squirrel.
“Ah, right, Professor…….”
———Then.
The world flipped.
“……Urk!”
Creak— creak—
The ceiling groaned, and beyond the window was a dark world. Where this was, was obvious.
Inside the world of the ‘Voice,’ a hotel room I had personally modified.
“Oh, fortune!”
Then Ifrin shouted loudly. I adjusted my clothes and asked.
“What is it.”
“Look at this!”
Ifrin held out the velvet pouch. A bundle bulging to bursting with the high-class refreshments from the gardens.
“I’m glad I packed snacks! This is all food! I had a feeling we’d come here!”
“You are noisy.”
I rose. And opened the room door.
“Come out. There is somewhere to go.”
“Ah, yes, yes!”
Stepping out of the hotel like that, the person we met the moment we stood in the corridor was.
“Kalos. This is delicious too. Want to try……?”
Lia, holding a skewer of rice cakes in one hand. Her eyes went wide upon seeing me, and my gaze naturally shifted to her side.
Standing beside Lia, a child with navy-blue hair.
The half-human, half-demon bloodline whose face turned deathly pale and whose body trembled like an aspen the instant he met my eyes.
Kalos.
The moment I tilted my head at this unexpected encounter, Lia’s shout rang out loudly.
“R-run, quickly──!”