Creto was looking up at the lighthouse being built upon the altar. A long structure rising in the middle of Myeolji. Its majestic height seemed to reach the sky, so the word “tower” suited it far better, but the Altar stubbornly insisted it was a lighthouse.
“……What is this tower for?”
Creto asked the Altar’s high priest—the construction supervisor.
“It is a lighthouse.”
“I know. I asked what it was for.”
This lighthouse was the only aboveground structure in Myeolji, and thus a major undertaking for the Altar. All of the Altar’s ever-growing manpower was being poured into this place.
“First, it will be connected to the imperial capital. With this, we can corrupt nobles and knights blinded by power.”
Recently, the Altar had been secretly delivering a certain “drug” to the Magic Tower and the Knight Order. It was a spirit elixir that, the moment it was ingested, awakened a human’s potential and even artificially raised their limits.
Creto twisted his lips in a sneer.
“The side effects must be severe.”
“No. There are no side effects.”
“As if. Coming from bastards who used the Red Coffer to make human chimeras.”
“…….”
The Altar’s high priest took out a spirit elixir from within his robe.
“Analyze it yourself. The human chimeras were indeed our mistake, but they were also a necessary process. Without that strength, our Altar would not have survived until the god manifested.”
Blue liquid inside a reagent bottle.
Creto slipped it into his pocket and asked,
“Other than as a portal?”
“It observes the stars and comets.”
An observatory, then. Creto could not help but sneer.
“Have you become obsessed with astrology?”
“This lighthouse draws comets.”
“…….”
At that, Creto stiffened slightly.
“……Draws them, you say.”
“Yes.”
A faint smile spread across the priest’s lips. Creto glared at him for a moment, then shifted his gaze to the lighthouse.
“And if it draws a comet?”
“It can reset the continent.”
Quay appeared with those words. An ancient being who called himself a god—no, who wished to be called one.
The priest immediately dropped to his knees, and Creto silently looked at him.
“Comets each have their own names and characteristics, you see. They’re things that hold a great deal of cosmic mana.”
Quay pointed at the night sky.
But today, he was somehow different. The face that had always been brimming with ease was unusually expressionless and rigid. As though he were angry.
“Did something happen?”
At Creto’s question, Quay twitched his brows.
“You’re taking an interest in me.”
“You’re different from usual.”
“……I suppose it’s because I just heard something far too arrogant.”
Quay soon gave a small laugh and approached, standing beside Creto. Then he murmured faintly,
“I didn’t expect Deculein to be a ‘believer.’ This is unexpected.”
“……Deculein?”
“Yeah. He believes in a god too.”
Deculein had certainly mentioned a god.
The old god.
The god Quay had believed in, long ago.
Creto said,
“I think there has been a misunderstanding. Deculein is the very model of a nonbeliever.”
“……No. He says he’s looking for a god.”
“A god?”
“Yeah. A god that isn’t me. The god I once served. Though he is already dead and gone.”
Quay lowered his head. He gave a bitter smile.
“Does that bother you?”
“Yeah. He says he seems to know the name of the god even I don’t know.”
“…….”
Quay did not know the god’s true name. When the god had still been alive, he had never dared to even ask for it.
“Creto, could it be true?”
Quay lifted his face slightly and looked at Creto.
Creto was dumbfounded.
“Why are you asking me? If you’re going to become a god, shouldn’t you know everything?”
“That’s precisely why.”
Quay answered as though sighing.
“I have intuition. I can feel the correct answer to every situation, and I can face the future.”
The providence of the universe, the end of the continent, the regeneration that would follow…….
All of it was already within Quay’s clear mind.
It was what one might call a “god’s intuition.”
“And yet, because of that, I think I know. That Deculein’s words are true.”
The moment Deculein said those words, rage had boiled deep within Quay’s heart, and he had failed to show the aspect of a god. All of it was because of that.
“Deculein knows the god’s true name.”
Quay “intuited” that this was truly so.
“……Creto.”
Quay took Creto’s hand. Then he raised it toward the sky.
“In that distant universe, a comet is wandering.”
Perhaps, right now, Quay was afraid. Afraid of what “He” would say to him.
If, just as Deculein had said, the god truly manifested once more.
If Deculein found Him and discovered me, still serving You even now.
“When this lighthouse captures that comet, it will pull it down at a speed humans cannot even imagine.”
What would He say to me? What teaching would He impart?
If I am curious about such things, am I falling from godhood back into a human?
“……The continent will shatter.”
Creto said. Quay smiled faintly.
“Yeah. Every life except yours will burn away, and only the souls I have preserved will remain to await regeneration.”
“…….”
“There isn’t much time left.”
Once the lighthouse was completed, and the comet’s cycle approached.
Quay would wash away all the “original sin” of this continent.
“What if my sister invades before then?”
Creto asked. Quay smiled faintly.
“I can stop her. I know the answer.”
He answered leisurely and looked up at the sky again, but a thick fog hung heavy over Quay’s heart.
His expression quickly grew complicated, and Deculein’s voice kept rewinding in his mind.
—I think I know the god’s true name.
“……True name.”
Quay murmured thus, then soon shook his head and laughed.
“I feel like I’ll know soon enough anyway. The god’s true name, and ‘your’ true name too.”
* * *
The Knight Order affiliated with the Imperial University.
Yuli was lying on her bed, reading a book. It was a magic text Professor Sepin had recommended. An intuitive theoretical book, easy enough for even Yuli, who knew no equations, to understand.
“……So resonance is important.”
Mm-hmm—convinced, Yuli set the book down for a moment.
Mana resonance was, literally, the power by which the body and mana responded to one another. Put simply, resonance was how “close” mana and the body were to each other.
“Phew…….”
Yuli sat cross-legged and drew up the mana within her body.
Fsssss…… A chill rose blue like frost, and within that cold focus, however, another scene appeared behind Yuli’s closed eyes.
A form.
A unique sword art she had seen for the first time in her life, one that existed in no sword manual.
Yet the swordsman performing it had vanished after showing only a single form, and now Yuli was curious about what came next.
Yuli slowly opened her eyes.
“……Deculein.”
She murmured that name.
He was said to be the root cause who had stained her with the curse, so she could not seek him out in person. Yusepin and Jaiteu would dislike it.
——Shh.
At that moment.
A very small noise rose from below the open window.
“……?”
Yuli’s ears perked up.
——Careful.
The clock pointed to eleven at night.
In other words…….
“It’s curfew.”
Very suspicious stealth, and movements that seemed guilty.
“…….”
The knight’s radar activated.
Yuli quickly put on her coat. She set a hat on her head and pressed it down firmly. Thanks to her small head, the hat swallowed her face.
Srrk—
She crossed the sill of the open window, clung to the wall of the dormitory, and slowly descended to the ground.
With her superhuman five senses, she identified the location of the group of students from just now and stealthily followed them.
…….
Movement that left not even a footstep.
After passing the dormitory, she arrived at a certain forest behind it. It was a training ground shared by the Magic Tower and the Knight Order, called the “Forest of Darkness.”
“A forest…….”
She hesitated for a moment, but considering her personality, it was hard to let it pass.
Yuli entered.
Shiiiiii—— Shiiiiiiii——
The leaves rustled eerily. As she advanced through the forest overflowing with unpleasant mana, her questions only grew.
Why had the students come into a place like this? If they were caught, they would be expelled without question.
At any rate, as Yuli followed the traces like a detective—
——Snap.
At some point, she stopped.
She saw the students.
Five in total.
“……?”
They were surrounding a well in the middle of the forest and conducting some kind of ritual.
With both hands clasped tightly together, they were chanting an incomprehensible prayer.
—Barqpagy. Cugody. Spqugy.
What they held in their hands was some scripture and a single sheet of paper.
The scripture was in an alien language, but if she looked closely at the paper…….
[Revelations].
“!”
The Altar, said to be the greatest problem of the current age and the empire’s foremost enemy. Their book of prophecy was in the hands of those students.
That meant—of course, it was still only suspicion—
—We regard you as a god and worship you.
It immediately became certainty.
Yuli considered how to respond.
Should she use this as evidence and report it? Or should she rush in and wipe them out?
Wiiiiing——
At that moment, a dark gas began rising from within the well.
The students’ faces brightened as they reached into it, and soon a grotesque spirit elixir was drawn out in their hands. At the same time, a thick fog spread.
“What is this?!”
Startled, Yuli closed her eyes, and the instant she opened them again—
The entire world was dyed in darkness.
…….
She could see nothing.
She could feel nothing.
She could hear nothing.
……What is this.
Yuli spoke. Her vocal cords and mouth had certainly moved.
And yet, there was no voice.
There was no sound that should have echoed by her ears.
…….
She looked around again.
It was pitch black.
As though she had been buried in space, everything was darkness.
…….
What she was looking at, what she was feeling, what she was doing.
Yuli did not know.
Whether she was walking, seeing, speaking, or being attacked by someone.
The darkness that severed her senses made all of it unclear…….
——.
Suddenly, a sensation arose behind her. Greatly startled, Yuli tried to turn that way, but someone’s powerful grip stopped her.
It was the strength of a warrior.
An enemy?
No, if it were an enemy, there would be no reason to leave her alive when she had been floundering helplessly.
Of course, it might simply be that they could not distinguish friend from foe…….
Swish— swish—
A finger moved across her back. That sensation was strangely distinct.
They were writing letters.
—Do not move. Do not open your mouth either.
For now, she kept her entire body still as instructed.
—Now speak slowly. Why did you come here?
Yuli spoke, but she could not hear her voice.
—I can hear your voice. It is all right, so speak.
……The students seemed suspicious, so I followed them.
—You seem like a student too.
……Yes. That’s right.
—Then do not step forward. You could have died today.
In any case, it meant they had helped her.
……Who are you to say such a thing?
—Someone with greater responsibilities than you. Breathe each time you speak. Do not forget to breathe.
……Yes. But what is this darkness?
—Every day, a rather vicious “veil” spreads through the Forest of Darkness. That is why entry is strictly forbidden.
……How do you know? Can’t you tell me who you are?
She asked his identity again, but there was no answer.
Yuli spoke first.
……They are the Altar. The Altar has coiled itself inside the university. Measures must be taken at once. Please tell me your name.
—It is not something you can do. Nor is it something that will be solved by reporting it.
……Pardon?
—Because too many people in this university are already cooperating with the Altar.
……
At that moment, Yuli’s eyes widened.
—Because of the elixir you just saw. With one bottle of that elixir, they can seize more than a year’s worth of progress.
……A year?
—Yes. Those who have tasted power and talent too easily cannot easily let them go. Perhaps it is close to half.
Half?
Yuli was aghast.
She could not hear it, but she had probably shouted.
—So do not trust the people around you too easily.
Yuli immediately said,
……Let us cooperate.
—I just told you not to trust those around—
……I will not be blinded by convenience and choose an elixir from the Altar, and though I do not yet know who you are, of course, you appear to be the same.
—I am not so weak that I would seek cooperation from a greenhorn like you.
At his words, Yuli shook her head.
It was less obstinacy than a sense of justice, the bearing of a knight.
……I will come again at the same time next week. Better prepared than I am now.
—You are stubborn.
……It is not stubbornness. As a cadet of the Knight Order, if the university truly is being encroached upon by an outside force, I have a duty to investigate it.
He was silent for a moment.
Then, he wrote two letters on her back.
—Fair enough.
……?
At that moment, the bonds that had been fettering her body came undone, and the world revealed itself brightly once more.
The fog had cleared.
“Who……!”
Yulie hurriedly turned around.
“…….”
But he seemed to have already left.
There was not even a trace of footprints.
“……‘Fair enough’? Is it someone who knows me?”
It was, by and large, an incomprehensible situation.
Just as Yulie scratched the back of her neck and kept muttering fair enough—fair enough—to herself, the crystal orb in her breast rang.
—Yuri. Are you ready to go to the Imperial Palace?
It was a message from Sephine.
Only then did Yulie look up at the sky.
“……Already?”
It was morning.
* * *
The Imperial Palace of the capital.
Having returned there according to today’s schedule, I was for some reason being received by Sophien, whose face looked sullen.
“Deculein. You met Yulie.”
It seemed she was curt because of the person I had just met.
Seated and playing Go, she flicked a white stone with her finger and grumbled.
“Hmph. I can smell it. The smell of old mana.”
I lowered my head without a word.
“Did you enjoy it?”
“……She was as inflexible a woman as ever.”
“Ha. Enough. I do not wish to hear it. More importantly, I have already conducted the interviews for the mages you selected.”
“Yes. I heard.”
Eight people had answered the theory questions correctly.
However, the theory was merely the first test, and the most important thing in the end was the Emperor’s interview.
“Three of them were of use, but the rest were utterly lacking, so I drove them out. Classes begin today. Which brings me to this.”
Sophien rose to her feet. Then she crooked her left hand.
“Deculein. Stand. Stand and come to me. I have something to give you.”
“…….”
What was it this time?
I got up from my seat and approached her. Sophien looked at me with a satisfied smile.
“Deculein.”
Sophien called the name Deculein.
But for a moment, my ears went numb.
……Deculein.
The legs walking toward her wavered, and before I knew it, my body tilted as though collapsing.
It was a sense of estrangement I had never experienced before since becoming Deculein, as if the ceiling and floor were receding away from me……
I glimpsed Sophien’s startled face, but my thoughts did not continue beyond that.
Thud—
The sound of my body, freed from control, leaning against something.
That was my last memory.
……Bang!
The sound of bodies overlapping and falling together.
“…….”
Sophien held Deculein in her arms.
No, she ended up holding him.
“……Deculein.”
A small voice calling him.
But the unconscious man gave no response. His heartbeat seemed almost absent, and only the faintest breath wheezed from him.
Sophien, who had been dazed for a moment, soon smiled faintly.
“Do not worry.”
She slipped her hand into Deculein’s clothes.
Without realizing it, her heart pounded, and her face reddened because of his firm body; even the impulse and excitement of wanting to pounce on him stirred within her.
“I shall fix you now.”
But she did not do anything improper. With superhuman patience, she endured.
Only, with the “Divine Language” she had learned in preparation for such an event, she slowly healed his body, which had suddenly stopped……
“……What a fine body you have.”
Gulp—
As she stroked his body, she swallowed the saliva that had pooled in her mouth.