Hadecain, the castle of Yukraine.
Gazing up at the moon hanging alone in the dark night sky, Yeriel let out a sigh.
“Are you worried about your brother?”
“…….”
At Primien’s words, she narrowed her eyes sharply and turned to look at her.
“No? I was thinking about the future state of affairs.”
The continent’s state of affairs.
The Altar’s Revelation spreading like bamboo shoots after rain, and the nations trembling one by one at it.
Yeriel pondered the path Yukraine should take while sifting through all those affairs.
“The Holy See issued a suppression decree this time.”
Emperor Sofien had only prohibited the unauthorized publication of the Revelation and religious incitement.
The phenomenon of territory residents enthralled by the Altar leaving for the frontier, the so-called “population exodus,” was left to the autonomy of the territories.
“Forcefully stopping them probably isn’t the answer.”
The Altar suppression decree personally proclaimed by the Pope. A very hardline stance, declaring excommunication against nations that did not cooperate.
Most nations on the continent—the Empire, Reok, Yuren, and others that had believed in the Holy See for generations—would now lash out fiercely. And within that whirlwind, the Crimson Path would naturally be swept up.
“The witch hunts will begin again.”
Yeriel looked back at Primien. Primien shrugged her shoulders.
“The gas chambers in Reok are said to be operating again.”
Crimson Path internment camp. After Sofien’s desert expedition, that place where they briefly caught their breath was now once again facing a crisis of death.
“By the way, will you be all right? These days, rumors are circulating in political circles that Lady Yeriel may be of the Crimson Path.”
Primien and Yeriel had already shared the fact that they were both of the Crimson Path quite some time ago.
“Yeah. I’m fine.”
Yeriel turned to look at Primien.
“More importantly, how is the situation on your end right now?”
“Rohallak and the outside of Rohallak are closely linked. The ‘Annihilation Team’ you mentioned is preparing for deployment.”
“……Good.”
Yeriel nodded.
This was a grand undertaking Yeriel had been preparing until now. Moving the Crimson Path members inside Rohallak internment camp to the outside, so that they could help Deculein from the shadows, like a hidden mastermind.
Their goals were, of course, the elimination of the Altar’s key figures, as well as the assassination of Imperial nobles with clear evidence of cooperating with the Altar.
No evidence would remain in any of those processes.
No, even if evidence remained, there would be no suspects to trace from that evidence.
When the work was done, they would all be back in the internment camp.
Yeriel crossed her arms and spoke.
“Proceed.”
* * *
“Hup!”
Yulri was doing pull-ups.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine…… the rapidly rising number stopped at one hundred.
Immediately after, she got off the bar and started doing push-ups. Another cadet latched onto the iron bar she had just been using.
——Too slow! Are you a slug?!
At that moment, the instructor’s bark rang out. Yulri instantly finished one hundred push-ups and threw herself into the mud.
Squelch—squelch—squelch—squelch—
The black mud of mana literally swallowed the soles of her feet. It pulled as if stretching her knees, but she advanced by kicking her legs up.
——Too slow!
The instructor still said she was too slow. Yulri turned her head to examine her surroundings.
The cadets’ complexions were ghastly. Their eyes were hollow, on the verge of death, and she saw one cadet completely swallowed by the mud.
She understood. From their perspective, this “hell training” had started immediately after their outdoor training ended.
——Move!
Yulri moved.
Passing through the mud, she reached the wooden wall that rose steeply. The height was over 10 meters. The angle was almost perpendicular.
But mana was forbidden in this physical training.
Therefore, she climbed the wall grabbing only the lone rope.
Relying solely on the rope, she climbed 10 meters…….
“Kup!”
A fall.
Yulri, who fell from a height of 10 meters without any gear, showed no sign of the impact on her body and ran to the instructor.
“……Cadet No. 273. First place.”
For reference, the instructors did not call cadets by name or house.
Only by numbers.
“Not a shabby parachute.”
Yulri shouted loudly.
“Thank you——!”
…….
The cafeteria immediately after training ended.
Yulri was eating. Sitting alone, forcing down the food.
Honestly, it tasted better than what they served in Phairden.
“Hey.”
Thud—midway through, a cadet set down a tray in the seat next to her.
“……?”
Yulri turned to look that way.
It was a person of fairly androgynous beauty.
No, was it a man?
She asked.
“You're from a collateral branch of Phairden, right?”
“……Yes.”
“Oh. I’m from the north too. Nice to meet you.”
She extended a hand. Yulri took it for now.
“I’m Kwei.”
The name was quite unusual.
“Kwen, Kwing, Kwei. Did you say Kwei?”
Difficult enough just to pronounce.
“Yeah. Kwei. What’s your name?”
At the question for her name, Yulri hesitated slightly. It was probably right to hide her real name.
Yulri wasn’t a common name either.
“……I’m Yuri.”
It actually said Yuri on her identification card.
Taking into consideration that Yulri was not used to lying, Usephin had changed just one final consonant in a similar-sounding name.
“Yeah, Yullip. But what kind of suffering is this. Because of Deculein.”
“Deculein…… You mean the Chairman?”
“Yeah. We’re doing this hell training because Deculein is observing.”
Sigh. Letting out a breath, taking a handful of rice, she glanced at Yulri.
“Anyway. You. If you’re from Phairden, you probably don’t know the Empire well?”
“……Yes? Ah, yes. I don’t know it well.”
“Then. Good.”
Kwei extended her hand to Yulri.
“Let’s get along. I’ll introduce you to places here and there in the Empire.”
“…….”
Yulri worried for a moment, but there was no need to.
Too much had changed in the system over ten years, and she had come to know too little.
“Yes. Thank you.”
She took the hand of the cadet named Kwei.
* * *
……The grading of the Emperor Mage Selection Exam was finished.
There were a total of eight correct answerers.
It was fewer than I had thought, and since one was excluded, there were only five. However, among them were some quite strange names.
Ruina and Ihelm, and Sephin and Ephrin were understandable. However, the four professors from the Imperial Magic Tower, including Rellin and Siare, were quite difficult to accept.
“……Did you help them?”
I asked someone.
The self-proclaimed god sitting in the guest chair of the Chairman’s office right now, yawning insolently.
Kwei.
“Huh? No. I merely awakened their potential and drew out more than that. What they achieved up to that point is the professors’ power.”
Kwei grinned. I shook my head.
“But, is it okay to move around so easily like this?”
“What does it matter. We’ll eventually meet at the end anyway. It’s good to talk a lot.”
“…….”
I looked at Kwei. She was strangely peaceful, meeting my eyes and grinning as she asked back.
“What have you been doing these days?”
At first, I hadn’t intended to answer.
If I treated her like she was invisible, she’d talk on her own and leave.
“I went to meet Yulri.”
However, at that, a vein bulged on her forehead. In an instant, heat flared.
“…….”
I put the graded exams into an envelope. Sealing it with magic, I spoke.
“I am looking for a god.”
“……A god? Here?”
Kwei pointed at herself with her chest, but it was merely laughable.
I scoffed.
“Not you.”
“……Then?”
By now, her face had stiffened slightly.
A god, but not Kwei.
Only one.
“I mean the Primordial God you served.”
“…….”
Kwei’s teeth clenched. Her expression hardened frighteningly for the first time.
Was she indeed thinking that I was insulting her?
“It is not vanity or contempt. Even now, I am thinking of you and studying you.”
I floated the Altar’s scripture and the Crimson Path’s holy text simultaneously with [Telekinesis].
Though they were seditious texts punishable simply for possessing them, knowing yourself and your enemy ensures victory in every battle.
I interpreted all their contents with [Comprehension].
“Of course, you, as well as the Crimson Path’s scripture, deliver the common prophecy that ‘a god will descend.’ However, the target differs for each.”
“No. It’s the same.”
“If it were the same, the Crimson Path would not be divided.”
The Crimson Path was divided now. Some served the Altar, but more than half of the desert Crimson Path considered the Altar an enemy.
Because their religious meanings and interpretations of the prophecy differed.
I spoke.
“Kwei. The god you served might come to meet you.”
“…….”
At that, an aura surged through Kwei’s body for an instant.
She spoke in a furious tone.
“God is dead. You killed him.”
“No. God died by his own will. So that humanity could advance.”
Kwei closed her eyes. A red flow flickered around her body.
It was the death variable.
“Kwei. I think I even know it.”
However, I didn’t stop.
Because even if Kwei wanted to kill me desperately, there was probably a reason she ultimately couldn’t kill me—something ‘I’ possessed.
“The god’s True Name.”
“…….”
Kwaaaaah——!
The death variable surged like lightning in an instant, but she only glared at me without causing harm.
Rather, the death variable that had flared up soon subsided—whoosh. It scattered like dust.
Kwei forced a calm smile.
“It’s so absurd because you sound so serious.”
“I am serious.”
“……I’ll be going now.”
To her, trying to leave without listening anymore, I spoke.
“You should have realized a little sooner.”
Her body, rising from her seat, stiffened rigidly.
With her back turned to me, she clenched her fist.
“If the one who created this world is a god.”
The god who created this world.
That is, in other words.
The one who created this game.
If he is a god.
“‘I’ already knew him. From long ago.”
‘I’.
That is, ‘Kim Woojin’ already knows.
……Fwoooooosh.
At that moment, wind blew. The autumn chill swept across my back. The curtains of the Chairman’s office fluttered wildly.
Even though the window wasn’t open.
“……She ran away.”
To her, who would be listening from somewhere, I delivered the message as if mocking.
“If you don’t have the confidence to handle it, you shouldn’t have started it.”
* * *
The garden of the Imperial University.
Silvia, who had been walking while eating a waffle, discovered a group of adventurers approaching her.
Tadadadak—
Light movements, seemingly of mana-assisted steps.
As expected, the time had finally come.
Silvia suppressed the smile rising to her lips with a cough and waited for the adventurer to arrive.
“Are you Miss Sephin?”
The adventurer who quickly ran up asked.
“Yes.”
Silvia showed her identification card.
The adventurer nodded and handed over a package.
“This is an item from the Imperial Palace. Please be sure to open it alone, in a place where no one is around.”
“Yes.”
“As for the other detailed schedule, palace personnel will visit your mansion separately to explain.”
Tadadadak—
The adventurer went back the way they came, and Silvia tore open the package to inspect its contents.
[Correct Answerer of the Imperial Wizard Selection Exam: Sephin]
She only needed to see that title. She put the rest back inside the package and walked lightly through the garden.
Then, suddenly reminded, she took out her communication orb and sent her voice to someone.
“Where are you.”
—On a garden bench.
Her first disciple. Perhaps because of her knight background, she answered crisply.
“Yes. I’ll be right there.”
—Yes.
Silvia walked toward where she was, then cleared her throat—ahem—and spoke again.
“By the way. Have you ever been to the Inner Court of the Imperial Palace?”
—……The Imperial Palace, the Imperial Palace Inner Court, did you say the Inner Court?
Her voice trembled the moment the Imperial Palace was mentioned.
Of course, to knights, the Imperial Palace—especially the Inner Court—must be an enormous source of longing. There must be many knights who dream of entering it even once.
“Yes. I think I have business at the Imperial Palace this time.”
—Ohh. Really, really?
“So, I think I need one escort knight. I can bring one more person with me besides myself.”
At that, the voice cut off abruptly.
So much so that she briefly wondered if the communication orb was broken.
However, the disciple soon answered in the gravest voice in the world.
“Where are you right now. I will run there immediately, Master Sephin.”
“I can already see you. Here, waffle.”
Silvia raised the waffle. At that moment, her disciple Yuri, who had been sitting on the bench, hurriedly rose to her feet.
Looking at her, Silvia thought to herself for a moment.
No matter how much she thought about it, her name and appearance resembled Yulri’s.
Even the mana flickering around that entire body felt like something ancient.
“……There’s something there.”
It wasn’t for nothing that she was trying to take her as a disciple.
Of course that talent, but that ‘Yuri’ was also full of peculiar and suspicious things—
“What is it, Master Sephin!”
“……It’s nothing. Anyway, let’s go. I have much to teach you.”
Silvia first placed the package into her disciple’s arms.
“You hold onto this.”
“Yes!”