“What number am I now?”
The moment Deculein’s voice spread—
The nature of this island came to a halt.
The wind lingered in one place, and the waves hardened stiffly. The clouds went rigid, and the sun grew hazy.
A bird stopped flapping its wings.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
Sylvia’s eyes sank coldly. Deculein took a step closer and said,
“I am thinking.”
“……Thinking what?”
“That you have grown too much, and that I, as I am now, might not be myself.”
“…….”
Sylvia pressed her lips shut. She glared at Deculein without a word.
He grasped a handful of sand from the beach.
“Time on this island must flow differently from outside. The ‘Voice’ was that sort of demon from the beginning.”
Deculein’s gaze touched her high heels.
The gait she had been skilled with since they met. Yet Sylvia had certainly been a child who liked wearing flats.
“Sylvia, you must have already spent quite a lot of time here. Three years, four years, or perhaps longer.”
Sylvia looked at Deculein as he said that.
No, she looked at the “painting” modeled after Deculein.
“Five years.”
She corrected him in a low voice. He released the sand he had been holding in one hand.
Srrrrrrr……
The sand fell in a straight line.
Without swaying in the wind or scattering into dust, with utmost honesty.
“Just as you said, time flows differently inside the ‘Voice.’ For those five years, I drew you.”
“Then, the original me—”
“He’s still in the sea. Swimming. Like an idiot.”
The sea of the Voice spread infinitely. The closer one approached, the farther it became.
From the beginning, it had been impossible for him to reach the island.
“Thanks to that, I learned.”
For Sylvia, however, it was something to be grateful for.
“I can draw Deculein.”
By analyzing Deculein trapped in the sea, and using him as reference, she could draw a “new Deculein.” Now that she had become one with the Voice, the sea of the Voice was no different from her own limbs.
She could caress him in the sea whenever she wished.
“Draw…… is it.”
“Yeah. You made me angry. I drew hundreds of Deculeins, but you were the first.”
Sylvia nodded with certainty.
“And you conveyed Deculein’s heart exactly as it was. I don’t think the words you said to me were merely made-up fakes.”
That he pitied her. That there was no paradise made only of happiness.
Those were not words that a mere fabricated fake could say.
The Deculein she drew was changing.
More like the real one, more perfect.
“……Sylvia. You are mistaken.”
However, Deculein said it. He muttered that it was a mistake when it was not.
Sylvia furrowed her brow.
“Mistaken.”
“Yes. Manifesting me is not something accomplished by your power alone. It is not possible with the power of someone like you.”
“Someone like me.”
As if he thought she was still some student from back then, it was outright contempt.
Heat rose to Sylvia’s forehead again.
This, too, must be a good sign.
“Even if you were the god of the world, you could not manifest me. My ego cannot be contained in a vessel like this.”
“……A total narcissist.”
She was slightly appalled, but this too must be a good sign. Sylvia quickly argued back.
“Deculein can be made. You’re the counterexample.”
“No. The reason I have become myself now is because I finally 「understood」 you, and because I permitted it.”
Deculein’s words were rather abstruse. A puzzled question mark floated above Sylvia’s head.
“You even resemble him in always making things hard to understand.”
“You will know soon. When I come, I will tell you.”
“……Deculein can’t come. He’ll be trapped in that sea forever.”
At that, he smiled. It was a smile unlike Deculein.
Once again, like a professor dealing with a mere student.
“We shall see.”
“……Enough.”
Sylvia glared at him.
“You’re discarded.”
In that instant, Deculein’s feet scattered— crumbling away. As if oil paint were being peeled off. The collapse that began at the soles of his feet slowly spread up his legs.
“Sylvia.”
Even so, Deculein’s smile remained unchanged.
“Remember this.”
That composure frightened Sylvia a little.
This was surely the deletion of his existence.
No matter how fake he was, the annihilation of the ego should be frightening.
That should have been normal.
“You did not draw me.”
With his entire lower body gone, Deculein murmured with only his upper body remaining.
However, this too must be a good sign. The previous Deculeins had not been this composed.
“I am the one coming to find you.”
Sarararara—
He vanished. His chest, his neck, his mouth, his nose, his eyes, all of him, as if melting like paint……
Soon, the only thing left on the sandy beach was Deculein’s crystal orb, which she used as a catalyst.
“……No.”
Sylvia shook her head.
“He can’t come.”
Muttering, she made a telescope.
She looked into the distant sea, into that faraway place.
“……There he is.”
Deculein.
She could see him.
He was still swimming. He was forever circling within the infinite waves of the Voice.
—Manifesting me is not something accomplished by your power alone. It is not possible with the power of someone like you……. It is because I permitted it.
Therefore, those were foolish words. Nonsensical words.
“Even though you’re a fake.”
Even though you’re a fake, how dare you spout words only the real one would say.
Sylvia lowered the telescope. She picked up Deculein’s crystal orb left in the middle of the sand.
For reference, this orb was something Deculein had dropped while swimming.
Thanks to that, she was using it as a useful catalyst.
“Careless man.”
Sylvia placed Deculein’s crystal orb down on the sandy beach. She concentrated the three primary colors on that “single point.”
And then…… she slowly stepped back.
One step, two steps, three steps, four steps, five steps, six steps, seven steps, eight steps, nine steps, ten steps, eleven steps, twelve steps, thirteen steps.
Exactly thirteen steps.
At that moment, on a nearby shore, a person raised himself up.
Deculein, who had passed through the wildly raging magical disaster and finally arrived on the island of the Voice.
He soon discovered her. He gazed at her with an impassive face.
“……Sylvia.”
Calling the name “Sylvia,” he straightened his clothes. With 「Cleanse」, he blew away the water, and adjusted his hair and tie.
“It has been a long time.”
Facing him, Sylvia thought.
Perhaps this was obsession. Like her father Gilleon’s delusion, perhaps it was a love close to mental illness.
“……Follow me. I have something to say to you.”
However, what a mage pursued in the end was a miracle. A miracle that harmed no one.
Therefore, this too would be an achievement worthy of leaving in the world.
“Just what I hoped—”
“No. Don’t move yet.”
Sylvia stopped Deculein.
He asked back,
“Why?”
……Immediately after being drawn, one could not move rashly. Like any oil painting, there needed to be “time for the paint to dry.”
“This is the island of the Voice. There are many people who died long ago, and many extinct races. There are also many fanatics of the Voice.”
Thus, Sylvia approached first. Step by step, with strides that seemed hesitant yet unhesitating, filled with many complicated emotions.
“If they find you alone, they’ll try to kill you.”
As soon as she reached him, she stretched out her fingers. With her index finger and thumb, she caught his sleeve.
Carefully, so that not even a single edge would crumble.
“Don’t die yet.”
Now, at this moment when she met Deculein again.
Sylvia felt alive.
“If you stay with me, it won’t be dangerous.”
Ever since Ciel died, her life had been nothing but misfortune.
The light she first encountered in that hell.
No matter how much his portrait in her heart was stained with resentment and hatred.
A person she could never give up on, could never let go.
“Don’t leave my side.”
I want to live now, too.
Together with you.
* * *
“……So you are not a complete fool.”
Julie received praise for the first time. It was thanks to move 68. She felt extremely good, but quickly corrected herself. She did not show even the slightest hint of it.
“Thank you. However, they say a seven-stone handicap game has no meaning. Whether one wins or loses, there is nothing to learn—”
“Enough. Ask one thing.”
“……?”
Julie’s eyes widened. Sophien propped up her chin. She smiled bewitchingly with her eyes.
“It is a reward. I shall answer one thing you ask.”
“…….”
At that, Julie’s face grew solemn. She straightened her back. She placed both fists on her kneeling knees.
“Yes, Your Majesty. As a mere knight, may I dare ask why Your Majesty investigated the private matter between me and the Professor?”
Sophien nodded.
“I am searching for the Professor’s weakness.”
“Weakness…….”
“His power has expanded abnormally. It is only natural to have a safeguard for keeping him in check. Also, it can hardly be called an investigation. By compiling a few documents from the Intelligence Bureau, recalling the conversations I had with him, and looking over the circumstances, a suitable answer emerges. The confirmation was done through you, Julie.”
“…….”
Julie listened to the Emperor’s voice in the posture of a knight.
Sophien continued calmly.
“It was certain that the Professor killed Rockfell. Veron was ambiguous, but I knew from your reaction. You must have evidence the world does not know of.”
“……Yes.”
She was right. With Yusefin’s help, Julie had recovered Veron’s remains.
“However, killing a single knight will not bring him down.”
“It will be a blow.”
At Julie’s answer, Sophien raised one eyebrow.
“A blow? You truly intend to face Deculein.”
“…….”
“I wonder whether you will not regret it.”
“That is…… Your Majesty Sophien.”
Julie spoke the Emperor’s name in a low voice. Sophien silently picked up a white stone.
“There is not much time left in my life.”
At that moment, the Emperor’s hand stopped briefly.
“Of course, I live in order not to die. In order to fulfill my duty as a knight, I strive to live. However, it is right to accept facts as facts.”
Julie placed a hand on her chest.
A heart bound by a curse. Though she had overcome that severe wound that was said to have no method of healing and no possibility of survival, she knew the truth.
If long, ten years.
If short, tomorrow.
“In this life, there are many comrades who went before me. Many people who died unfairly. It is not only Rockfell and Veron. I hope I can avenge them.”
“……I see.”
Sophien looked at the documents Julie had submitted.
Instigation of murder during his Academy days, urging suicide, collective bullying.
Plagiarism of papers during his university days, threats against Luina McQueen, and countless magical secrets of magical families that Deculein had stolen through schemes and stratagems.
There were many families that went bankrupt after failing to repay their debts to Deculein, and there was no need to even mention the companies and merchant guilds forcibly taken over.
“Even so, Deculein is still trying to commit crimes. Perhaps it will begin in earnest after he returns from the ‘Voice.’ Everyone knows that.”
“You wish to stop that?”
“Yes.”
“And the reason you first revealed a weakness that could have you expelled from the Imperial Palace was also with Deculein in mind?”
“……Yes. I will not let him use my injury.”
“Mmm.” Sophien let out a sound of admiration as she looked at Julie. Julie spoke with a reverent face.
“Also, Your Majesty. We are finding leads on the attempted poisoning.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. I will ensure that I never disappoint Your Majesty’s expectations.”
“Mmm. As expected, I prefer knights to the sort called professors.”
“……I am honored, Your Majesty.”
Julie’s face softened. Sophien, who smiled faintly, placed the next move in the game. Julie quickly focused as well.
And, for some reason, a sardonic smile appeared at the corner of Sophien’s lips.
Using humans was this easy. Though they appeared to be the most complex animals in the world, in the end, their principles of action and methods of operation were no different from dogs and pigs.
The “intelligence” that humans boasted of instead made humans even more foolish.
Perhaps it began from the moment she gave Julie the assignment.
From the moment she gave her the authority of the Intelligence Bureau.
While Julie, with the help of the Intelligence Bureau, pursued the mastermind behind the “attempted poisoning of Sophien” and at the same time ran to dig into Deculein’s truth, the one who watched quietly was Sophien.
No, not “quietly.”
Sophien had made minor manipulations to Julie’s evidence.
So that she might approach just close enough, yet absolutely never reach the truth. At the same time, so that she would come to hate Deculein endlessly. So that she would slowly, gradually fall into ruin.
This was called sowing discord.
Of course, Sophien’s trickery could not be described merely as “mischievous.”
Though she herself did not want to admit it, her heart was already leaning.
—I still do wish to see her, at least once.
The Professor’s words still lingered in her ears.
Sophien repeated countless times the phrase the Professor had merely left as a mutter. Through night and day, every single day as stars and moon circled sun and clouds.
Thus, at last, she came to acknowledge her own emotions.
“…….”
Sophien placed a white stone and stared at Julie’s face.
Julie.
She wanted this woman’s relationship with Deculein to break.
She wanted it to shatter into pieces, to smash apart and scatter.
So that Julie could not even become the Professor’s longing.
“Now, place your move.”
After making her move, Sophien sank into her chair, looked at the snow globe on the table, and recalled Keiron from some time ago.
In her heart, she spoke to him.
—……Simply as time passes naturally, even if the Professor adds no words or feelings, I find myself no longer believing even Rohakan’s prophecy. I find myself murmuring that there is no fate.
—…….
Keiron silently nodded.
—Moreover, I am rationalizing things right now.
—What sort of rationalization?
—The family that tried to poison me was Freyden, was it not? They say the continent will only live properly if I die.
Sophien stared at Julie’s face beyond the Go board, at her features, as though tearing them apart.
—Therefore, the child of such traitors has no right to possess the Professor’s longing, no right to receive the Professor’s heart…… That sort of rationalization.
—It is a rationalization premised on guilt by association.
A rationalization premised on guilt by association.
How damnably correct that was.
—But is that much punishment not all right? They are a family that killed me over a hundred times, so is it not too cruel for them to even take away my sole possibility?
—Is Professor Deculein Your Majesty’s sole possibility?
Keiron’s question.
The Emperor smiled faintly.
—For now, he is the most likely one. So much so that I cannot even think of any other possibility…….