Outside the window, the morning sun rises. A cozy dawn light illuminates the dark bedchamber.
Sitting on the edge of the bed and studying the divine tongue, I suddenly lift my head and look out at the world.
“…….”
The most beautiful and antique place on this continent, where the oldest traditions dwell—the Imperial Palace.
The heart of the Empire, where not even a single blade of grass is neglected.
Taking in that immaculate scenery, I think about myself. About me, who once lived on Earth as “Kim Woojin,” modeling and designing games and characters, only to be brought to this world by a mere bolt of lightning.
Is there a purpose to this story?
Does there perhaps exist a reason?
When everything ends, what will become of me?
I erased such questions from my mind long ago.
I simply live in the present.
“……Your Majesty.”
I call Sophien. But no answer returns from her as she lies on the bed.
The Emperor is asleep. Still clutching my left hand tightly.
Thanks to that, I have been studying, taking notes, and conducting research with one hand all this time. 「Telekinesis」 was forbidden unless truly necessary.
For this is the Emperor’s bedchamber, the most sacred place in the Empire.
“…….”
I silently look down at Sophien.
[Main Quest: God and Emperor]
◆ The body always seeks its master’s soul.
The quest window overlaps with her face.
An outline stating that the body always pursues the soul of its “master.”
There is no separate clear reward, but should I fail, the continent will likely be destroyed according to Quay’s will.
“Your Majesty.”
I call Sophien once more.
The Myeolji expedition and Jeokgwe massacre will soon follow. In that process, countless people will die, and the continent’s fate will reach its final conclusion.
However, the easiest method actually exists right here.
A method that does not require so many people to die, nor require gambling with the continent as the stake.
Sophien.
At present, Sophien does not possess the authority of regression.
Therefore, if she is assassinated, Quay’s manifestation becomes impossible.
With only the body of a doll, he cannot possibly recreate the continent, so his plan will naturally be stopped.
“……Why do you call me?”
At that moment, Sophien awakens. Her face and body still slack with drowsiness, she stares blankly at me.
“Professor?”
“It is about time for me to go to work as well.”
I speak calmly, and Sophien lets out a small laugh.
“……I just saw Rohakan. It seems I had what one calls a dream.”
She moves her body like a worm. Wriggling, she places her head on my lap. In that state, she looks up at me.
“Rohakan said this.”
Her hand creeps up and grasps my tie.
“That someday…… I would come to love you.”
Then, slowly, she pulls me down and meets my eyes.
“That love would kill you. That I would end up killing everyone I hold dear. That I am an Emperor born with that cursed fate.”
Sophien speaks in a small, deep voice, as though tracing her own past.
“……But it is strange. I loved my mother. I cherished that old man Rohakan as well. Yet both of them died. Rohakan was killed by me, but my mother…….”
“Is Your Majesty feeling a little better now?”
“…….”
At my words, meant to shift the atmosphere, Sophien’s brow furrows.
She raises her upper body and wraps both arms around my neck.
“Hmm.”
Letting out a small moan, she brings her mouth to my ear.
With a heated breath, she whispers.
—Professor, I shall ask you. Was my mother truly murdered by Rohakan?
“…….”
Rohakan, the murderer of the Empress. The sin that smeared him for his entire life with the insult of Black Hand.
However, the sin of truly murdering the Empress was, in fact, not Rohakan’s.
The true culprit who murdered the Empress was……
“Yes. It was Rohakan.”
I tell a lie. Sophien’s pupils tremble transparently.
“Furthermore, it was not Your Majesty who killed Rohakan. It was I.”
She would be unable to distinguish whether my words were true or false, and therefore she smiled. Letting out a sigh of relief, she burrowed into my embrace.
“……In that case, I am fine. Now leave work.”
“Please let go of me.”
“……Very well.”
Charging complete.
Murmuring quietly, Sophien flopped back onto the wide bed.
After offering her the proper farewell courtesy, I left the bedchamber.
Creeeeak……
Beyond the door that opened thus, my steps down the corridor slowly quickened.
From one step to two, from two steps to three, from three steps to four.
In the end, to the speed of a knight running.
“It was Quay’s safeguard.”
Safeguard.
At my words, Chiron at my chest replied.
─A safeguard?
“Yes. I am certain of it now.”
─……Surely not.
Chiron’s groan flows in low. He, too, is a knight with fairly light-speed intuition.
“Quay placed a safeguard upon Her Majesty’s body. Since unexpected resistance might occur someday, he must have granted her an innate instinct ‘to kill those she loves.’”
Quay’s soul has already descended upon this continent long ago. Therefore, the less motivation Sophien has, the more lonely and indolent she becomes, the more her body will try to seek a better master.
Whether love or friendship, “positive emotions” that make a human grow as a human make her complete; but because Quay knew that as well, he planted a “safeguard” in her from the beginning.
The tragedy in which Sophien ended up killing her own mother also makes sense if interpreted that way.
─Then Rohakan’s prophecy was……
Sophien regains herself when she is with me.
Because she loves me.
However, the more she loves me like that……
“Yes. Her Majesty will try to kill me at any time. To be precise, some instinct implanted within Her Majesty will.”
─…….
Chiron gave no answer.
It was not that he was at a loss for words. It was because of a certain knight approaching from the far end of the corridor.
“Professor Deculein.”
The vice-captain of the Imperial Knights, Isaac.
Standing as though to block my path, he cleared his throat and asked.
“Could we speak for a moment?”
“…….”
The knight who had coaxed Yuli into directly participating in the Emperor’s hearing. In other words, a political enemy, but his face was more grave and serious than ever.
“His Highness Kreto has been kidnapped by the Altar.”
“…….”
It was indeed news worthy of such an expression.
I clenched my teeth, and Isaac also shook his head.
“First, to His Majesty—”
“Do not inform her. Isaac, who knows of this fact?”
“……For now, only the two of us, you and I.”
“How did you find out, Isaac?”
“…….”
Isaac took a letter from his bosom.
“A letter from the Altar. A man introducing himself as Quay sent this letter to the Imperial Knights. I am the only one who has read it so far, so only I know.”
I read the letter.
In broad terms, it said, “I have secured Kreto’s life, so do not worry even if there is no news.”
“Also…… take this.”
Isaac held out another document envelope.
“These are the pieces of evidence we intended to submit at the Emperor’s hearing.”
“……Why give this to me?”
I narrowed my brow. Isaac explained briefly.
“……Because it is already too late. Because war will break out with Myeolji and Jeokgwe. Whether that will be war or massacre, we will only know once it happens.”
That was all.
He passed right by me, and when he was about to disappear from sight, Chiron asked.
─Isaac is still the same.
“Is he?”
Isaac is one of the Empire’s named figures, but aside from being the vice-captain of the Imperial Knights, there is nothing particularly special about him.
─Do not hate that fellow too much. In his own way, he is merely doing his best to stop a war.
The one personality trait I do know is that he is an “anti-war advocate.” Having experienced war in the past, Isaac is a knight who opposes war more than anyone else.
“……How weak.”
Clicking my tongue, I put the document envelope into my bosom.
* * *
……These days, the University Magic Tower is terribly busy.
Whether midday, afternoon, night, or dawn, it always glitters with light, and now and then, thumping explosions occur. That is because all sorts of magical research and experiments for papers are in full swing ahead of the academic presentation.
“I’m fine.”
However, Epherene has a bit of leisure.
Her stocks have been on the road to success lately, and she has clearly decided the subject and direction of her paper.
“The paper has already been submitted to the academic society. Now I just need to supplement it with an empirical paper.”
This place is the 10th floor, exactly 67 floors down from the head professor’s office on the 77th floor.
Also known as [Epherene’s Office].
Having been assigned a one-room private laboratory by the Magic Tower, Epherene is preparing to write her paper here.
“You submitted it already?”
Of course, she also got herself one assistant.
Her name is Lia. She is an adventurer who is a bit unsuitable to use as an assistant, but apparently she wants to write a paper together or something.
“Yeah.”
“Then is Professor Deculein going to correct it for you and stuff?”
“No.”
Epherene shook her head. Her face was slightly displeased.
“I’d be happy if the professor corrected it with the proper mindset. But if I showed it to him, he’d reject it one hundred percent. He’d say, don’t even think about a subject like this.”
“Ah…… I guess so. Everyone would hate it. Mages seem to look down on science quite a lot.”
“Right? I’m prepared for that too. But I have to overcome it. I have to overcome it by advancing. If I show them the results of my research as something tangible, they won’t be able to refuse to believe it.”
It is a paper that will change the paradigm of the magical world. Resistance and backlash from the old paradigm will naturally be fierce.
Lia is worried about that as well. Epherene is a mage with no backing, after all.
“Then will you be teaching classes later too?”
“Who knows. I might open a lecture. But I probably will, if it comes to that.”
If this paper receives recognition somehow, she will now break free from Deculein’s shadow and be appointed as a full professor.
“My full professor appointment review isn’t that far off in the first place.”
“Wow, really?”
“Yeah. Once the professor becomes chairman.”
As soon as this semester ends, Deculein will rise to chairman, and the review for Epherene, an assistant professor, to become a full professor will also begin. The chairman has no need for an assistant professor, after all.
It feels strangely bittersweet, but for a mage’s career, this is naturally the right thing.
“Enough chatter! Now, shall we start~”
Epherene warmed up her mana. Ash-gray mana wavered around her body, then clung to her like armor.
Indeed, it was the incomplete reproduction of the “nanosuit” that Lia had given her as a hint.
“Um, but.”
“Yeah?”
Epherene dispelled the armor again. Lia fidgeted as she spoke.
“……Professor Deculein asked me if I had any thoughts of learning from him.”
At that, Epherene’s eyes went wide.
“He did? He must have seen some promise in you.”
“Promise?”
“Yeah. The professor takes interest in talented people. I think it’s fine for you to learn from him if you’re okay with it. Of course, it’ll be insanely tough, but you’ll grow that much too, you know?”
“…….”
Lia nodded as well. Deculein’s words did bother her a little.
His remark that she was using her mana and talent in a very wrong way—she could not quite tell whether that was true or merely jealousy.
And also, in truth……
She was afraid that perhaps Deculein might come to like her.
Afraid that he had been programmed that way.
Knock, knock—Is Assistant Professor Epherene here?
Just then, a knock sounded along with a deliveryman’s voice.
“Yes~ I’m Epherene.”
“Your ordered new release is here.”
The moment she opened the door, a bundle of books slid in.
Epherene smiled brightly as she looked at it.
“Ah! It must be the new release.”
“A new release?”
“Yeah! That author Casey has been publishing quite a few new science books lately. I signed up for a subscription right away, so I get them delivered whenever a new one comes out.”
“……Let me see too!”
Lia quickly opened the bundle and scanned the book cover.
In the very next moment, her eyes went wide.
She was shocked once again.
“This person…… what on earth are they?”
The cover of a high-quality hardcover book.
Written boldly in the very center was the title of the book, as follows.
[Theory of Relativity]
Einstein’s idea, which completely changed the modern age. A grand theory that truly redefined the concept of time and traced the rules of the universe from the small planet called Earth.
Unaware of Lia’s seriousness, Epherene smiled cheerfully.
“Theory of Relativity…… I wonder what it’s about. And this person has apparently been getting famous lately. Even among our university scientists, there’s a lot of talk.”
“……Find them.”
“Huh? Find what?”
Lia’s face suddenly becomes heavy.
Epherene tilts her head, and Lia grabs Epherene’s hand while clenching her teeth hard.
“We absolutely have to find out who this person is!”
Whoooosh— Lia burned with enthusiasm so fiercely one could almost hear the sound effect.
Epherene found it strange, but soon nodded.
“Yeah, well. I’m practically a fan of this person too—”
“I’ve got adventurer connections too, y’know! We’ll definitely find them—!”
We’ll definitely find them.
No, perhaps this itself was a signal.
If you are someone from the modern age who knows this knowledge, please come find me.
Please look for me.
As intellectuals of the modern age, let us stand together. Let us join forces.
“Definitely—!”
As Lia shouted, Epherene backed away and pretended not to know her.
* * *
The 77th floor, the Head Professor’s office.
In that empty room, with Epherene busy doing her own work, I was looking over the “evidence documents for the Emperor’s hearing” that Isaac had handed me.
I stared intently at the evidence—eyewitness accounts and testimonies, ledgers listing corruption, and the like—then shook my head.
“They’ve been fabricated.”
Every piece of evidence here was fabricated. Some had merely had their figures altered with subtlety, while others had recruited witnesses with no connection whatsoever and passed them off as eyewitnesses.
It was obvious whose doing this was.
It certainly wasn’t Yuli, and Isaac wouldn’t fabricate them himself and then hand them directly to me.
“Most likely……”
──Professor!
Bang───!
Just then, a loud voice rang out along with a rough knock.
──Professor! This is serious!
I frowned and turned that way.
“Who is it?”
─It’s Relin! This is serious!
Fatty Relin. The moment I opened the door with 「Psychokinesis」, he strode inside and placed a thesis on the desk.
“Professor! Look at this!”
Relin shouted as he slapped the thesis on the desk.
If a coward like him was being this brave, he must have been truly furious.
“It’s the thesis that your assistant professor, Epherene or Eparene or whatever her name is, submitted to our academic society! Look at it!”
I looked at the thesis.
[The Proper Connection Between Magic and Science: Development Through Mutual Prosperity (Epherene Luna)]
“Th-this, this, does this make any sense?!”
“……You’re spitting.”
“Ah, yes. My apologies.”
Relin quickly wiped his mouth. Then he immediately continued.
“Just look at this. Look at this title.”
“I’m looking.”
“That is exactly what I mean! This is a thesis that damages your reputation, Professor, and furthermore brings shame upon our Magic Tower. How dare she—mutual prosperity? A connection between science and magic? This insane……”
Relin suddenly grabbed the back of his neck as if his blood pressure had spiked, then sat down in a chair.
Haa…… haa…… After panting for a while, he spoke in a slightly calmer voice.
“In any case, this dog-bone of a thesis is circulating through the academic world.”
As expected, Epherene had caused trouble.
She was seeking out the “hardship” necessary for her growth herself, just as I had anticipated.
They call this buying trouble for oneself.
“It’s fortunate I discovered it first, but the other professors will be here soon as well. You’ll be even more dumbfounded if you read it. I read about ten pages and got so angry that…… I came running here right away.”
However, true geniuses and revolutionaries had always been that way.
Always buying trouble for themselves, accepting hardship with their entire bodies, and achieving the most miraculous accomplishments.
“Ah, but perhaps……”
Relin, who had been ranting as though in a frenzy, suddenly stopped and gauged my reaction.
I eased his concern.
“I had no involvement in this thesis. This girl submitted it on her own, without saying a single word to me.”
“Ah, as I thought! No wonder there was no reviewer!”
There was no reviewer for the thesis.
As expected, the meticulous opportunist Relin had checked even that before coming to confront me…….