212. Make Up Your Mind (1)
“Well. Since the atmosphere is a bit heavy and awkward, why don’t we introduce ourselves? We’re not all from the same faction, but we’re all from the North, which is not a common sight in the South.”
“······.”
“······.”
Alicia clapped her hands and spoke cheerfully.
However, the atmosphere in the carriage was still filled with a cold silence, as if they were giving Alicia the cold shoulder.
Alicia’s smiling face gradually hardened.
‘I’m really useless.’
The two people sitting side by side opposite her.
The pale-skinned vampire, Transylvania, and the ghoul, Guiho.
It was a really awkward combination.
She had lost most of her strength and had to retire from the front lines three years ago due to an injury. She was a former commander, and she had brought down the former Four Heavenly Kings.
‘What on earth is my sister thinking?’
Alicia was on the verge of tears.
She had put these two people, who were like time bombs, together.
They were a team that had been organized to track down an unknown enemy, but it wouldn’t be strange at all if they started fighting each other before that.
‘Why am I even here?’
The most incomprehensible thing was Alicia’s involvement.
The murderous Transylvania and Guiho, who was still lacking in output after his injury, but was still top-notch in terms of skill.
These two alone would be enough, so why did she have to include me?
No, I think I know.
She must have put me in there to patch things up if there was a problem and to report back to Yerina.
If they were the only two, one of them could kill the other and bury them somewhere, and no one would know.
My head hurts. My head.
How did I end up with this kind of hard labor?
If it were the past, I would have stubbornly refused.
‘Well. It was a situation where I couldn’t refuse.’
A helpless smile spread across Alicia’s lips.
She couldn’t help it.
She couldn’t disobey the order.
Well, that’s because… I got caught.
Alicia still regretted thinking about it at that time.
‘I never thought I’d be thrown out like that.’
She knew that Yerina’s suspicions had not completely subsided after the incident where she was kidnapped by the sorcerer and rescued.
However, she thought that it would be fine as long as it was just a hunch, and there was no evidence.
Yerina came up with an unexpected card.
“You. Marry this man. Palana should start to connect with the Magic Society, shouldn’t we? Since there are three elders in the society, it will be helpful for Yevgenia as well.”
“What, sister?”
“Don’t worry too much. I checked, and he’s not the type to look down on you. You’ll be guaranteed a proper treatment as the official wife, so it’s not a bad deal. Don’t you think? Can you get a better deal than this?”
“······.”
She was cornered.
Certainly, it was about time for Alicia to get married.
The undead legion situation had also come to a standstill, and the excuse that it was a chaotic time would not work.
Above all, the problem was that she had promised to marry a suitable man if he appeared in order to pretend that she did not love Eugene before.
However, she could not have imagined that a man who met all the conditions she had set out would come looking for her.
“Why aren’t you saying anything? Do you hate it? He’s from a good family and he’s a good person. There’s no reason to refuse.””It’s just that······. I suddenly changed my mind······.”
“Aha. A change of heart. No, that’s not it. You never had any intention of marrying me from the beginning. Why? Because you already had a man in your heart. Let me guess, our brother? A man who you would throw away even if a man with perfect conditions appeared. And a man you can’t tell me about. Hmm? How come there’s only one left? This is strange. No matter how I look at it, isn’t it Eugene?”
“······.”
There was still no evidence.
It was just that a weak suspicion had turned into a very, very strong suspicion.
In fact, it was as if she had confessed it herself.
From that day on, Alicia had to atone for her sins by doing all the mean things Yerina told her to do.
The reason Yerina didn’t throw Alicia out and only gave her such a weak punishment was simple.
She couldn’t bring herself to be cruel to someone who missed and loved Eugene.
Even if Eugene had already disappeared, what good would it do to punish Alicia severely?
On the contrary, in a way, she was a little relieved.
There were so few people who knew about the man named Eugene, and even fewer who missed him and waited for him.
When Eugene was here, he was a thief, but now he was like a comrade who waited for him together.
The more people who thought about him, the stronger the force that would draw him to them.
Wouldn’t it be easier for Eugene, who was somewhere, to find us?
Wouldn’t it make the way back brighter?
Suddenly, Yerina, who had such thoughts, couldn’t bring herself to throw Alicia out.
Of course, that and punishment were separate matters.
“It’s highly likely that the enemy is from the underworld.”
“Wow!”
Alicia jumped up in surprise at the sudden sound of Guiho’s cracked voice.
She realized that she had been rude and quickly sat down again.
However, Guiho continued to speak as if he didn’t care about such things.
“The Great Demon? That’s not such a threatening demon. Judging from the torn and stitched space, his skill in handling magic is considerable. Not only does he far surpass all the sorcerers who have ever existed on this earth, but he is also a demon who is equal to or even greater than Wrath among demons.”
“You’re still as heavy as ever. Isn’t it the same as being cut in half anyway? Just like you, who put on airs and then got cut up badly by me, Guiho.”
“Don’t scratch me all of a sudden, you murderer······. It makes me very uncomfortable······.”
“But are you uncomfortable? Someone is waiting for their only friend, who they don’t even know if they’re alive or dead, for the fourth year. Then everyone should be mute in front of me, right?”
“Before that white body burns everything black with magic, come at me.”
“hahahahaha! Good! Good! I think you’re even stronger than before, Guiho, full of venom! How about we test our skills for the first time in a long time!”
“Yes. Stop the carriage.”
“H, hey coachman······. Please ignore these two and just keep going······.”
Alicia felt a throbbing pain in her head.
These great people.
No matter how she looked at it, they were not vessels that Alicia could seal.
.
.
.
‘I can see the way.’
I am rebuilding the world within me.
How long has it been since I got the answer from the underworld god?
Until then, I had no idea what to do, but now I can see the direction.
For now, the most important key will be, as expected, the Great Magic of the Nameless.
It is the magic that creates souls.
The problem is that the souls created in this way are one level lower in phase and do not last long.Two things are needed.
First, a tool that will expand the status of the inner world.
This sword energy that I have purely cultivated with my own will.
It may not seem very powerful now, but if I can acquire just one more profound truth, it will be usable enough.
And second, a way to permanently sustain a perfected soul.
There are actually quite a few ways to do this.
There is a way using machinery, and there is a way to engrave a semi-permanent magic circle······.
‘I have something else in mind, but I’m not sure.’
Of course, there are other methods that I am drawn to besides those.
However, it is not something that I can pursue alone, as the theory has not even been established yet.
I think it is right to keep several possibilities open and proceed.
For now, the first thing to try is to acquire a new profound truth.
“I need to approach Elina Frost.”
“Leave that to me! Lord Frost Monarch, she really likes me!”
“Are you sure it will be okay?”
“Yes?”
Mumin, who shouts confidently with an innocent face.
However, it is not as easy as he says.
Mumin is currently being misunderstood as having been kidnapped by an unknown enemy from the perspective of the Allied Forces.
Furthermore, he is even talking nonsense about seeing an invisible person.
Anyone can see that he is under a spell.
Such a guy suddenly returns to normal and wants to meet Elina?
It’s suspicious no matter how you look at it.
It’s like a trap.
At the very least, it seems right to release Mumin after waiting for the right time and timing.
“Let’s take a look at the atmosphere of the Alliance for now. I left something behind on purpose, so they may have noticed my existence by now.”
“How do you plan to investigate? If I go there right now, I will be captured as brainwashed as you said, and the alarm will go off and it will be chaos.”
“Didn’t you say that there is a network where all the information of the Alliance is gathered?”
“Oh, right? It’s called the Archive.”
“Who manages the Archive?”
“I heard it was some kind of high-performance computer······. Was it called Linda?”
“It’s not something like a high-performance computer. It’s an artificial soul. It’s no different from a human, but it’s not a human being. I’ll get the information from that guy.”
Mumin tilts his head.
Does he not know Linda well yet?
Well, I haven’t made it public since I took ownership······.
It’s no wonder that it is known as a high-performance computer to the outside world.
‘Mumin and Miso, who have no souls, can see me. So what about Linda?’
It’s still a hypothesis, but so far, no human with a soul has been able to recognize me.
The only two people who can see me are both special beings without souls.
So what about Linda?
Is the artificial soul created by Kern treated as a soul or not?
I’m going to find out from now on.
‘Come to think of it, I haven’t heard anything about her since she destroyed herself and Kern went into repair.’
In Linda’s case, in particular, I haven’t heard anything about her for a long time.
I haven’t seen her once since she broke her own parts and committed suicide.
But when I came back, I found out that she was in charge of managing the network that covered the entire Alliance.
I think I’ll have to charge her a lot for using my wind-up machine without permission later.
“The data storage of the Archive is this way······ Huh? How do you know the direction?”
“Well, it’s my house.”
“······?”
Wind-up City.It’s been a while since I’ve been here.
I wonder if Kern is doing well.
With such questions in mind, I walked along the familiar path and found Kern’s old mansion.
But this is…
“Huh?”
“What’s wrong?”
“No. It’s just that it’s much different from what I thought…”
Mansion… no, it’s not.
My body, standing in front of the archive data storage, stiffened.
I expected a neat building to be standing there since it was the center of the network.
Before my eyes, there were buildings and machines that stretched out in all directions without any order.
It looked like a giant tree.
From the thick trunk, branches made of angular iron stretched out in all directions.
There must be almost nothing in common except that it was huge, but strangely, I got the impression that it resembled the world tree.
And one more thing.
There was something else that resembled it.
“It brings back some bad memories…”
Linda’s old appearance.
In other words, when Linda was a dungeon boss.
It’s a visual reminiscent of a strangely shaped giant clock tower.