An underground space made of magic stones and crystal. A place impossible to know when it had been made, or why.
Epherene was descending through its passage.
“Hoo…… Hoo……”
The deeper she went, the more ragged her breathing became. It was a side effect caused by the mana concentration being far too dense, and by Epherene’s mana sensitivity being far too exceptional.
“……?”
Even so, as she sweated and stubbornly made her way down, she suddenly arrived at a slippery floor.
Something mushy and damp touched her feet in the darkness.
“……What is this?”
Epherene released mana and illuminated the dark.
On the road surface revealed in blue, there was some sort of red fluid.
“……Blood?”
A viscous, vivid streak like blood. No, it was real blood.
Epherene blankly followed its trail.
“…….”
At the center of this underground. A place where a single chair stood alone.
Her eyes slowly widened as she looked toward it.
“Professor……?”
Deculein. He was sitting in the chair as though reading a book, as he usually did. But he was clearly different from usual.
The blood scattered across the floor was proof enough. Deculein would never leave his own domain in such disarray.
Gulp—
Swallowing, Epherene hesitantly approached him.
From behind, where only his back was visible, to the front, where she could see his face.
“…….”
In that instant, her heart trembled violently.
Her breath caught on its own.
“……Professor?”
Deculein’s eyes were closed. Without the slightest movement, his posture perfectly upright.
His complexion was pale, and his blood vessels glowed blue, looking as though they might burst at any moment.
“Ah…….”
Without thinking, Epherene reached out. She placed her middle and index fingers near Deculein’s neck. She had meant to check his pulse, to see whether he was dead or alive.
……But then.
—I thought you would avenge me.
Her chest surged violently, and a voice echoed from her heart.
Snap— the sound of something breaking.
Epherene went limp like a puppet.
“…….”
Her retinas were dyed blue. The world blurred, and mana gathered in her fingers. A straight flash of light rose sharply over her fingernails.
The moment it touched Deculein’s neck and left a tiny scratch—
──Wiiiiiiing!
Wood Steel vibrated noisily. Thanks to that, Epherene’s eyes, which had gone slack and unfocused, became clear once more. Her original consciousness returned.
“……Ah, Professor!”
Without knowing what she had just done, what she had tried to do, no, without even knowing what “phenomenon” had occurred to her, Epherene placed a hand on Deculein’s shoulder.
“Prof—”
“Epherene.”
“Whoa, you scared me!”
His eyes were looking at her. His half-lidded, sunken blue pupils were like a calm sea.
Epherene stepped back. For no reason, she folded both hands neatly in front of herself.
“……Are you all right?”
An unconscious pity seeped into her voice. A strange emotion stirred through her mind like fog.
Deculein’s not-so-long remaining life.
She knew how it would end, of course, but witnessing the process herself felt strangely desolate.
It was sad.
“…….”
Deculein silently looked at her.
“I’m sorry. I got sleepy…… Ah, but what’s that? It looked like beast blood. Were you researching chimeras down here or something……?”
Epherene quickly made an excuse. At the very least, she did not want to give him the shame of having been “caught.”
“……Professor?”
Even so, Deculein remained silent for a long time.
Was he in such a state that even speaking was difficult? Was he truly afflicted with an illness that grave? Or else…….
“Epherene.”
“……Yes?”
“…….”
Silence.
Deculein closed his mouth again and stared at her with eyes that, unlike him, were tinged with fatigue. As if trying to fathom something, as if trying to see through her insides.
Then, all of a sudden, he shook his head.
“Never mind.”
“…….”
At that moment, Epherene bit her lip. She deliberately avoided his eyes and pointed to the blood pooled on the floor.
“I’ll clean this up.”
The advanced spell, 「Gaze of Ignition」. With just her gaze, Epherene evaporated all the blood, then scratched the back of her neck and turned back to Deculein.
“That should do…… it.”
At that moment, Deculein had closed his eyes again.
“…….”
When she approached carefully, she heard the faintest sound of breathing.
Fortunately, he had not died. He seemed to have fallen asleep.
“Phew.”
Epherene plopped down beside Deculein. She took off her robe and spread it on the floor.
Her strained breathing had adapted somewhat by now, so she was about to lie down on it and seek the sleep she had not gotten at all today, but then she looked up at Deculein again.
She looked at his future and present as though they overlapped.
“…….”
Deculein’s death.
If it had been her from just one year ago, she would have been pleased, calling it karma.
She might even have applauded, saying it served him right.
“Haa.”
But now, for some reason, her chest felt tight. Sighs kept escaping her, and her face grew sullen for no reason.
However, since it was not her fault, and not Deculein’s fault either.
Epherene simply conveyed, in a small and shy voice, the words that suited this moment best, the words she wanted to say to Deculein, whose time was limited, words he would not hear.
“……Sleep well. Professor.”
* * *
I opened my eyes. The underground, without even a gap for light to shine through, was still dark, and Epherene’s snoring rose from below.
I glanced that way.
Kuuul…… Kuuul…….
Her hair had become a tangled mess, perhaps because she had rolled around in her sleep. The robe she had spread like a sheet had already been flung far away, and she lay sideways on the hard floor.
If that was how she was going to sleep, why had she bothered spreading it out?
I stared quietly at that mountain-beast-like creature.
I recalled the certain “current” that had suddenly arisen last night.
“……Death variable.”
A death variable.
Epherene had clearly harbored the intent to kill me, and for a single instant, she had emitted an exceedingly dense death variable.
A current dozens of times denser than any threat I had ever encountered.
Within this girl, there still existed a death variable that would “certainly kill me.”
“…….”
However, it was something I had prepared myself for. If I had feared retaliation in the first place, I would not have kept this girl by my side.
Deculein had sinned against this child, and against her father as well. Thus, her resentment would probably be eternal.
“Catch…… kill……”
Just then, Epherene happened to talk in her sleep.
It was a meaningful dream, and I shook my head.
“It does not matter. Even if one day you surpass me—”
“Roahawk…… come here, you plump little……”
“…….”
First, I checked my body.
[Complete: Mana Quality Enhancement (Stage 3)]
Mana quality enhancement. The sensation was certain.
Within my body, the channels of mana had become even clearer, and the flow rate of the mana rushing through them had surged.
If before it had been an ordinary cable, now it was optical fiber.
Of course, because it had been a short-term “construction,” the pain had not yet disappeared.
Whenever I operated my mana, the agony that surged up felt as though it were breaking my bones and setting my organs on fire, but this much was bearable enough.
“……Let’s see.”
Next was checking the output of my magic.
The manifested spell was the most basic 「Psychokinesis」.
The target was the outer wall made of crystal and magic stone.
I extended my hand into the air.
Gooooooo……
A haze shimmered in my grasp. The atmosphere itself was being distorted.
A force on a completely different level from basic 「Psychokinesis」, its power manifesting visibly. The output value was difficult to control even for me, who had used psychokinesis like my own limbs until now—
Bang——!
A portion of the outer wall was torn away and dragged into my hand.
“…….”
I stared somewhat blankly at the blue fragment. I looked at the wound in the outer wall. Then I looked again at the blue fragment in my hand.
High-grade crystal and magic stone should generally possess quite sturdy resistance to magic. Yet this looked as though some giant had ripped it out……
“You scared me!”
Perhaps the sound had been fairly loud, because Epherene woke up.
“…….”
“Wh-what?! Whozzat!”
With a face that could not even open its eyes properly because of eye gunk, she looked around wildly.
“……Get up.”
That pathetic face was as ever, but at the same time, a belated question arose.
Had the Epherene I saw last night truly been Epherene?
“Epherene. Who told you to come here as you pleased?”
“……Professor, you always when I’m sleeping.”
“Clean your eye gunk.”
“Ah.”
Epherene cleaned her face with 「Cleanse」.
“When I’m sleeping, by your side, Professor—”
“Get out.”
“…….”
I left the cave with Epherene.
“Haaaaam……”
Epherene, trudging along, was still Epherene.
As usual, she was foolish, and the sight of her yawning with her mouth stretched wide open was pitiable.
“Huh? It’s raining.”
Tap— Tadududuk—
When we came out into the garden, just as she said, rain was falling from the sky over the Imperial Capital.
In the early morning, when the sun was not yet bright, a damp wind approached.
Rain falling to the earth always draws up the scent of the earth, and so today, the garden was filled with the smell of flowers, grass, and soil.
“Mmm~”
Epherene closed her eyes and lifted her head.
With rain falling on her bare face, smelling the cozy fragrance spreading around her, she wore an odd smile for no reason.
And I called the name of the girl who was still foolish.
“Epherene.”
“Yes?”
Then she opened her eyes wide and looked back at me.
“Whyyy?”
I looked into her eyes.
Spotless and clear, transparent pupils whose depths could be seen plainly.
The Epherene I knew could not lie. She was honest in proportion to her foolishness, an idiot whose displayed expressions and words were the truth itself.
Therefore, the Epherene I had seen yesterday was a clear question.
“……I will ask you one thing.”
“Hm?”
To Epherene, who blinked and tilted her head, I asked.
I did not hesitate, nor did I speak in circles.
“How much do you hate me?”
Assuming that she hated me, I asked the “size” of that hatred.
Epherene’s eyes trembled faintly. Perhaps it had been sudden, for she fiddled with her shoulder and licked her lips.
“Uh…… well…….”
She repeatedly pursed and opened her mouth, then lowered her head. Flicking her thumbnails against each other, she let out a low sigh.
Tap— Tadok— Cold raindrops struck her shoulders and shattered.
“……Can I ask first?”
After only agonizing over it, those were the words she uttered.
“It does not matter.”
Then Epherene raised her head. As though matching the rhythm of the pattering rain, she continued haltingly.
“Professor…… do you hate me?”
Not the size of hatred, but whether it existed.
I looked down at her without any emotion.
This was my answer.
“No.”
I do not hate her, nor do I like her. Deculein’s emotions are not designed so simply.
The emotion of love is for Yulie, the emotion of respect is for the Emperor, the emotion of hatred is for demons, Kim Woojin’s emotion of thinking of his younger sister is for Yeriel, and other contempt and disgust are for filthy or rotten people.
Between them, there is not much for Epherene to possess.
“You, as you are now, are not even worth that.”
“…….”
However, Epherene did not seem to understand the meaning well.
For this girl, it would indeed be right to give a clear answer.
I said,
“I do not hate you.”
“!”
In that instant, Epherene’s body trembled violently. The expression she wore as she looked up at me was strange. Her mouth formed a faint smile, but her eyes crumpled as though she were about to cry.
“……Th-then! Then I’ll be going nowww—!”
Then she suddenly shouted, sprinting across the middle of the garden. She fled without looking back.
“…….”
Watching her back recede like a moth to flame, my brow furrowed on its own.
Why was that creature running away after receiving only the answer to her own question?
Was it because she herself came from a random noble background?
“You still need proper education……”
I muttered like a sigh as I walked through the garden.
* * *
Three days later, the Imperial Palace of the Imperial Capital.
“……Your Majesty, at the university entrance ceremony, you say?”
At the court lady Ahan’s surprise, Sophien nodded.
“Indeed.”
“I beg your pardon, but since I am a fool of slow understanding…… you do not mean merely ‘attending’ the entrance ceremony……”
“I shall attend the university myself. These things called classes and lectures, I intend to hear them in person.”
“…….”
Ahan’s mouth fell open.
It was completely different from Sophien’s conduct until now, from the appearance notorious for indolence and ennui, laziness and annoyance—
“Why are you so surprised? The late Emperor also once attended university. He concealed his identity in order to experience for himself the lives of the subjects and the university.”
“Yes. That is true, but…… Your Majesty has already ascended the throne……”
“It does not matter. If I say I shall do it, then I shall.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Ahan never asks twice. He merely places his forehead upon his hands and bows.
How very pleasing. Though not quite as much as Deculein, who has never once asked a question in return.
Sophien propped her chin on her hand and gave a faint laugh.
“By the way, where is Deculein now?”
“The professor is said to be in Bahalla at present.”
“Bahalla.”
“Yes. According to the rumors reaching us… it is said to be somewhat dreadful.”
“Dreadful?”
“Yes.”
Ahan took out the report documents he had received from the ministers just before coming to the palace.
Knowing that Ahan was in favor these days, the ministers had pushed him forward to report in their stead.
“It is said that he… blew up the Jeokgwe resistance.”
“Blew them up?”
Sophien frowned and snatched the report from him.
Rustle— The moment she turned the first page, she let out a hollow laugh.
“…Hah. Just how deep is this man’s rage toward the Jeokgwe?”
Blown to death, in the literal sense. A photograph of corpses so torn apart that they could hardly be called human, flesh and muscle ripped to shreds across their entire bodies, their innards crushed.
It was truly as horrific as if bombs had exploded inside their bodies.
“The professor is Your Majesty’s loyal subject… Thus, what Your Majesty abhors, Professor Deculein must also abhor; and what Your Majesty regards favorably, Professor Deculein must also regard favorably. Furthermore, the professor defended the Jeokgwe at Bercht, yet the Jeokgwe clan betrayed that trust and—”
“You know quite a lot.”
As Ahan fluently recited the information he had acquired, Sophien looked at him with surprise.
“Yes. I am striving and studying.”
“In any case, enough. The professor will take care of Bahalla, so you prepare an identity.”
“An identity, Your Majesty…?”
“I cannot use Our own identity, and if I order those ministers to do it, they will of course blab it everywhere. So you are to procure, on your own, an identity suitable for enrolling in the university.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. I shall do so…”
The first practical command ever given to him by the Emperor.
Resolved to complete it perfectly without fail, Ahan bowed his head.
* * *
…Bahalla, the battlefield reached by the Emperor’s First Imperial Guard.
A land where the stench of blood hung thick, where all the sky and earth were dyed red.
“Tsk.”
Clicking my tongue, I removed my leather glove. Thud— I tossed it onto the road as if throwing away trash.
“Blood got on it.”
Drops of blood had spattered across its surface.
It was because, while the output of 「Telekinesis」 had risen sharply, I had yet to adapt to my mana. Fine applications, such as blocking every drop of blood splashing across the battlefield like before, were rather difficult now.
“…Is blood on your glove really the problem here?”
Ihelm spoke in a tone of disbelief. I turned to look at him.
Ihelm looked utterly dumbfounded, and the knights’ gazes toward me were thick with fear. As for the Jeokgwe prisoners, they had outright soiled themselves.
Uweeeek──!
Not far away, a knight was retching as well.
Most likely because of the corpses piled up here now.
“I do not see any particular problem.”
As soon as we entered Bahalla, the Jeokgwe—in other words, the Altar’s lackeys—ambushed us, and I responded to their preemptive attack.
In other words, I killed nearly all of them.
“Even so, doing this to people… isn’t it a bit much?”
Though perhaps the process had been somewhat problematic. Even Ihelm grimaced and shook his head.
“…It is not as if I wanted this either.”
To be precise, I had failed to control my strength. I also lacked the precision to handle Woodsteel, so I had faced them purely with 「Telekinesis」, and yet the ones on the receiving end had burst apart like firecrackers.
“They are men who deserved to die anyway. Think of it as making an example of them.”
“An example… Fine. Do as you like~ I follow my partner’s will.”
Ihelm shrugged. I turned to look back at the knights behind us.
The moment our eyes met, they straightened their backs, and I spoke to them.
“We march again.”
“““Yes! Loyalty!”””
And so, as we advanced toward the heart of Bahalla.
“……”
Suddenly, I felt a gaze fixed upon me.
That presence vanished soon after, but somehow, I felt I knew who it was.
Because it was someone I had been with for far too long, I knew it naturally.
Allen.
No, Ellie.
That one is here.